Annual Performance Reviews Of, For and By Faculty: A Qualitative Analysis of One Department's Experiences

Purpose: Although annual performance reviews and feedback are recommended for faculty development, best practices and faculty perceptions have not been documented. The authors sought to evaluate the process in one medical school department that established and has sustained an innovative review tradition for 25 years. Method: Content analysis of faculty reports and immersion/crystallization to analyze interviews. Results: Faculty reports described satisfaction and dissatisfaction; facilitators and barriers to goals; and requests for feedback, with community, collaboration and mentorship integral to all three. Interviewees emphasized practical challenges, the role of the mentor and the power of the review to establish community norms. Conclusion: Respondents generally found reviews constructive and supportive. The process informs departmental expectations and culture

High frequency dynamics in liquid nickel: an IXS study

Owing to their large relatively thermal conductivity, peculiar, non-hydrodynamic features are expected to characterize the acoustic-like excitations observed in liquid metals. We report here an experimental study of collective modes in molten nickel, a case of exceptional geophysical interest for its relevance in Earth interior science. Our result shed light on previously reported contrasting evidences: in the explored energy-momentum region no deviation from the generalized hydrodynamic picture describing non conductive fluids are observed. Implications for high frequency transport properties in metallic fluids are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in "Journal of Chemical Physics

Influence of symmetry and Coulomb-correlation effects on the optical properties of nitride quantum dots

The electronic and optical properties of self-assembled InN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) are investigated by means of a tight-binding model combined with configuration interaction calculations. Tight-binding single particle wave functions are used as a basis for computing Coulomb and dipole matrix elements. Within this framework, we analyze multi-exciton emission spectra for two different sizes of a lens-shaped InN/GaN QD with wurtzite crystal structure. The impact of the symmetry of the involved electron and hole one-particle states on the optical spectra is discussed in detail. Furthermore we show how the characteristic features of the spectra can be interpreted using a simplified Hamiltonian which provides analytical results for the interacting multi-exciton complexes. We predict a vanishing exciton and biexciton ground state emission for small lens-shaped InN/GaN QDs. For larger systems we report a bright ground state emission but with drastically reduced oscillator strengths caused by the quantum confined Stark effect.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figure

The phonon dispersion of graphite by inelastic x-ray scattering

We present the full in-plane phonon dispersion of graphite obtained from inelastic x-ray scattering, including the optical and acoustic branches, as well as the mid-frequency range between the $K$ and $M$ points in the Brillouin zone, where experimental data have been unavailable so far. The existence of a Kohn anomaly at the $K$ point is further supported. We fit a fifth-nearest neighbour force-constants model to the experimental data, making improved force-constants calculations of the phonon dispersion in both graphite and carbon nanotubes available.Comment: 7 pages; submitted to Phys. Rev.

A supercritical series analysis for the generalized contact process with diffusion

We study a model that generalizes the CP with diffusion. An additional transition is included in the model so that at a particular point of its phase diagram a crossover from the directed percolation to the compact directed percolation class will happen. We are particularly interested in the effect of diffusion on the properties of the crossover between the universality classes. To address this point, we develop a supercritical series expansion for the ultimate survival probability and analyse this series using d-log Pad\'e and partial differential approximants. We also obtain approximate solutions in the one- and two-site dynamical mean-field approximations. We find evidences that, at variance to what happens in mean-field approximations, the crossover exponent remains close to $\phi=2$ even for quite high diffusion rates, and therefore the critical line in the neighborhood of the multicritical point apparently does not reproduce the mean-field result (which leads to $\phi=0$) as the diffusion rate grows without bound

Quadrupole Susceptibility of Gd-Based Filled Skutterudite Compounds

It is shown that quadrupole susceptibility can be detected in Gd compounds contrary to our textbook knowledge that Gd$^{3+}$ ion induces pure spin moment due to the Hund's rules in an $LS$ coupling scheme. The ground-state multiplet of Gd$^{3+}$ is always characterized by $J$=7/2, where $J$ denotes total angular momentum, but in a $j$-$j$ coupling scheme, one $f$ electron in $j$=7/2 octet carries quadrupole moment, while other six electrons fully occupy $j$=5/2 sextet, where $j$ denotes one-electron total angular momentum. For realistic values of Coulomb interaction and spin-orbit coupling, the ground-state wavefunction is found to contain significant amount of the $j$-$j$ coupling component. From the evaluation of quadrupole susceptibility in a simple mean-field approximation, we point out a possibility to detect the softening of elastic constant in Gd-based filled skutterudites.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

'I found myself a despicable being!':Medical students face disturbing moral dilemmas

CONTEXT: The psychological realm of medical students` moral experiences is explored tangentially in medical education literature, often in the context of ethics or professionalism education. This study deepens our understanding by (1) investigating the nature of moral dilemmas experienced at the onset of clinical practice, (2) exploring students` emotional response to these dilemmas, and (3) examining how students perceive the influence of these dilemmas on their professional development. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional qualitative study carried out in 2017 that applied Thematic Template Analysis to individual interviews performed with last-year medical students. The interviews followed the drawing of a Rich Picture representing moral dilemmas experienced by medical students at the onset of clinical practice. RESULTS: Moral dilemmas have four intertwined dimensions. The first relates to students` struggle to prioritize, balance and apply conflicting moral values; the second comprises the clash between students` inner motivation and the external constraints that limit the moral action; the third refers to the conflict between students' current attitudes with the desired/idealized attitudes of the doctor they intend to become; the forth corresponds to weighting conflicting ethical principles during the moral decision. Students` emotional responses are intense, long-lasting, and with a remarkable residue effect, particularly when the moral decision does not align with their moral beliefs. Moral dilemmas are impactful experiences that affect the professional development of medical students and can culminate in both detachment or growth in moral courage. CONCLUSION: Moral dilemmas are memorable, complex, and emotionally intense experiences that impact the professional development of medical students. Understanding students` moral dilemmas can help educators to devise pedagogical activities to anticipate and reflect on these experiences. These activities should happen under the guidance of a non-judgmental facilitator, capable of listening and legitimating students' thoughts and feelings while providing insights to nurture their professional development

Multipole State of Heavy Lanthanide Filled Skutterudites

We discuss multipole properties of filled skutterudites containing heavy lanthanide Ln from a microscopic viewpoint on the basis of a seven-orbital Anderson model. For Ln=Gd, in contrast to naive expectation, quadrupole moments remain in addition to main dipole ones. For Ln=Ho, we find an exotic state governed by octupole moment. For Ln=Tb and Tm, no significant multipole moments appear at low temperatures, while for Ln=Dy, Er, and Yb, dipole and higher-order multipoles are dominant. We briefly discuss possible relevance of these multipole states with actual materials.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Effect of pravastatin on survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. A randomized controlled trial

Chemotherapy is not effective for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HMG-CoA redutase inhibitors have cytostatic activity for cancer cells, but their clinical usefulness is unknown. To investigate whether pravastatin, a potent HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, prolongs survival in patients with advanced HCC, this randomized controlled trial was conducted between February 1990 and February 1998 at Osaka University Hospital. 91 consecutive patients <71 years old (mean age 62) with unresectable HCC were enroled in this study. 8 patients were withdrawn because of progressive liver dysfunction; 83 patients were randomized to standard treatment with or without pravastatin. All patients underwent transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) followed by oral 5-FU 200 mg−1d for 2 months. Patients were then randomly assigned to control (n = 42) and pravastatin (n = 41) groups. Pravastatin was administered at a daily dose of 40 mg. The effect of pravastatin on tumour growth was assessed by ultrasonography. Primary endpoint was death due to progression of HCC. The duration of pravastatin administration was 16.5 ± 9.8 months (mean ± SD). No patients in either group were lost to follow-up. Median survival was 18 months in the pravastatin group versus 9 months in controls (P = 0.006). The Cox proportional hazards model showed that pravastatin was a significant factor contributing to survival. Pravastatin prolonged the survival of patients with advanced HCC, suggesting its value for adjuvant treatment. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co