Studying Within-Person Changes in Work Motivation in the Short and Medium- Term: You Will Likely Need More Measurement Points than You Think!

En el estudio de la motivación laboral, el análisis intrapersona de datos provenientes de diseños longitudinales es hoy común en el área. Sin embargo, algunas características del diseño de investigación empleado pueden estar influyendo en la variabilidad intrapersona encontrada. En este trabajo analizamos cómo influye el número de medidas repetidas por participante en la varianza intrapersona de la motivación laboral. Mediante dos estudios (una revisión sistemática y un estudio empírico original) mostramos cómo el número de medidas repetidas influye significativamente en la varianza intrapersona encontrada, que llega a alcanzar valores máximos del 52%-54% sobre el total de la varianza. Para llegar a esos valores de varianza explicada en el caso de la motivación laboral se necesitarían un mínimo de 25-30 medidas repetidas para ser rigurosos en la medida de la varianza intraperson

Predicting the dynamic criteria of basketball players: The influence of the 'Big Five', job experience, and motivation

The present study analyses the prediction of the effectiveness and its fluctuations of 34 semi-professional basketball players throughout a sport season using the dynamic criteria as theoretical framework. The predictor variables (the Big Five personality factors, job experience and motivation) were obtained by means of self-report, while effectiveness was determined through objective data (statistics of matches). The predictive models were developed using generalized maximum entropy formulation, and results show that: (1) the relevance of the predictors of effectiveness is different each time they are analysed; (2) all variables except conscientiousness predict the fluctuations, and openness to experience is the most influential predictor; and (3) job experience is less relevant than personality and motivation. Finally, some recommendations are made regarding the choice of predictors for the selection of basketball players

Dynamic Criteria: a Longitudinal Analysis of Professional Basketball Players" Outcomes

This paper describes the fluctuations of temporal criteria dynamics in the context of professional sport. Specifically, we try to verify the underlying deterministic patterns in the outcomes of professional basketball players. We use a longitudinal approach based on the analysis of the outcomes of 94 basketball players over ten years, covering practically players" entire career development. Time series were analyzed with techniques derived from nonlinear dynamical systems theory. These techniques analyze the underlying patterns in outcomes without previous shape assumptions (linear or nonlinear). These techniques are capable of detecting an intermediate situation between randomness and determinism, called chaos. So they are very useful for the study of dynamic criteria in organizations. We have found most players (88.30%) have a deterministic pattern in their outcomes, and most cases are chaotic (81.92%). Players with chaotic patterns have higher outcomes than players with linear patterns. Moreover, players with power forward and center positions achieve better results than other players. The high number of chaotic patterns found suggests caution when appraising individual outcomes, when coaches try to find the appropriate combination of players to design a competitive team, and other personnel decisions. Management efforts must be made to assume this uncertainty

Teams as Complex Adaptive Systems: Reviewing 17 Years of Research

At the turn of the century Arrow, McGrath, and Berdahl (2000) portrayed teams as complex adaptive systems (CAS). And yet, despite broad agreement that this approach facilitates a better understanding of teams, it has only now been timidly incorporated into team research. To help fully incorporate the logic of teams as CAS in the science of teams, we review extant research on teams' approached from a nonlinear dynamical system theory. Using a systematic review approach, we selected 92 articles published over the last 17 years, in order to integrate what we know about teams as CAS. Our review reveals the evidence supporting teams as CAS, and the set of analytical techniques to analyze team data from this perspective. Our work contributes to teams' theory and practice by offering ways to identify both research methods and managing techniques that scholars and practitioners may apply to study and manage teams as CAS

Behavior patterns in hormonal treatments using fuzzy logic models

Assisted reproductive technologies are a combination of medical strategies designed to treat infertility patients. Ideal stimulation treatment has to be individualized, but one of the main challenges which clinicians face in the everyday clinic is how to select the best medical protocol for a patient. This work aims to look for behavior patterns in this kind of treatments, using fuzzy logic models with the objective of helping gynecologists and embryologists to make decisions that could improve the process of in vitro fertilization. For this purpose, a real-world dataset composed of one hundred and twenty-three (123) patients and five hundred and fifty-nine (559) treatments applied in relation to such patients provided by an assisted reproduction clinic, has been used to obtain the fuzzy models. As conclusion, this work corroborates some known clinic experiences, provides some new ones and proposes a set of questions to be solved in future experiments.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-46928-C3-3-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956- C3-2-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-71938-RED

A LoRaWAN testbed design for supporting critical situations: prototype and evaluation

The Internet of Things is one of the hottest topics in communications today, with current revenues of $151B, around 7 billion connected devices, and an unprecedented growth expected for next years. A massive number of sensors and actuators are expected to emerge, requiring new wireless technologies that can extend their battery life and can cover large areas. LoRaWAN is one of the most outstanding technologies which fulfill these demands, attracting the attention of both academia and industry. In this paper, the design of a LoRaWAN testbed to support critical situations, such as emergency scenarios or natural disasters, is proposed. This self-healing LoRaWAN network architecture will provide resilience when part of the equipment in the core network may become faulty. This resilience is achieved by virtualizing and properly orchestrating the different network entities. Different options have been designed and implemented as real prototypes. Based on our performance evaluation, we claim that the usage of microservice orchestration with several replicas of the LoRaWAN network entities and a load balancer produces an almost seamless recovery which makes it a proper solution to recover after a system crash caused by any catastrophic event.Postprint (published version

The role of age and emotional valence in word recognition: an ex-gaussian analysis

The aim of this work is to evaluate the roles of age and emotional valence in word recognition in terms of ex-Gaussian distribution components. In order to do that, a word recognition task was carried out with two age groups, in which emotional valence was manipulated. Older participants did not present a clear trend for reaction times. The younger participants showed significant statistical differences in negative words for target and distracting conditions. Addressing the ex-Gaussian τ parameter, often related to attentional demands in the literature, agerelated differences in emotional valence seem not to have an effect for negative words. Focusing on emotional valence for each group, the younger participants only showed an effect on negative distracting words. The older participants showed an effect regarding negative and positive target words, and negative distracting words. This suggests that the attentional demand is higher for emotional words, in particular, for the older participant

The effects of age and emotional valence on recognition memory: An ex-Gaussian components analysis

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Moret-Tatay, Carmen, Moreno-Cid, Amparo, Iracema de Lima Argimon, Irani , Quarty Irigaray, Tatiana , Szczerbinski, Marcin , Murphy, Mike , Vázquez-Martínez, Andrea , Vázquez-Molina, Joan , Saiz Mauleón, María Begoña, Navarro Pardo, Esperanza, Fernández de Córdoba, Pedro. (2014). The effects of age and emotional valence on recognition memory: An ex-Gaussian components analysis.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 55, 5, 420-426. DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12136, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12136. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] The aim of this work was to study the effects of valence and age on visual image recognition memory. The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) battery was used, and response time data were analyzed using analysis of variance, as well as an ex-Gaussian fit method. Older participants were slower and more variable in their reaction times. Response times were longer for negative valence pictures, however this was statistically significant only for young participants. This suggests that negative emotional valence has a strong effect on recognition memory in young but not in old participants. The tau parameter, often related to attention in the literature, was smaller for young than old participants in an ex-Gaussian fit. Differences on the tau parameter might suggest poorer attentional performance in old participants.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain (project MTM2006-14961-C05-02)Moret-Tatay, C.; Moreno-Cid, A.; Iracema De Lima Argimon, I.; Irigaray, TQ.; Szczerbinski, M.; Murphy, M.; Vázquez-Martínez, A.... (2014). The effects of age and emotional valence on recognition memory: An ex-Gaussian components analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 55(5):420-426. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12136S42042655

An Over-Massive Black Hole in the Compact Lenticular Galaxy NGC1277

All massive galaxies likely have supermassive black holes at their centers, and the masses of the black holes are known to correlate with properties of the host galaxy bulge component. Several explanations have been proposed for the existence of these locally-established empirical relationships; they include the non-causal, statistical process of galaxy-galaxy merging, direct feedback between the black hole and its host galaxy, or galaxy-galaxy merging and the subsequent violent relaxation and dissipation. The empirical scaling relations are thus important for distinguishing between various theoretical models of galaxy evolution, and they further form the basis for all black hole mass measurements at large distances. In particular, observations have shown that the mass of the black hole is typically 0.1% of the stellar bulge mass of the galaxy. The small galaxy NGC4486B currently has the largest published fraction of its mass in a black hole at 11%. Here we report observations of the stellar kinematics of NGC 1277, which is a compact, disky galaxy with a mass of 1.2 x 10^11 Msun. From the data, we determine that the mass of the central black hole is 1.7 x 10^10 Msun, or 59% its bulge mass. Five other compact galaxies have properties similar to NGC 1277 and therefore may also contain over-sized black holes. It is not yet known if these galaxies represent a tail of a distribution, or if disk-dominated galaxies fail to follow the normal black hole mass scaling relations.Comment: 7 pages. 6 figures. Nature. Animation at http://www.mpia.de/~bosch/blackholes.htm

The Mice at play in the CALIFA survey: A case study of a gas-rich major merger between first passage and coalescence

We present optical integral field spectroscopy (IFS) observations of the Mice, a major merger between two massive (>10^11Msol) gas-rich spirals NGC4676A and B, observed between first passage and final coalescence. The spectra provide stellar and gas kinematics, ionised gas properties and stellar population diagnostics, over the full optical extent of both galaxies. The Mice provide a perfect case study highlighting the importance of IFS data for improving our understanding of local galaxies. The impact of first passage on the kinematics of the stars and gas has been significant, with strong bars likely induced in both galaxies. The barred spiral NGC4676B exhibits a strong twist in both its stellar and ionised gas disk. On the other hand, the impact of the merger on the stellar populations has been minimal thus far: star formation induced by the recent close passage has not contributed significantly to the global star formation rate or stellar mass of the galaxies. Both galaxies show bicones of high ionisation gas extending along their minor axes. In NGC4676A the high gas velocity dispersion and Seyfert-like line ratios at large scaleheight indicate a powerful outflow. Fast shocks extend to ~6.6kpc above the disk plane. The measured ram pressure and mass outflow rate (~8-20Msol/yr) are similar to superwinds from local ULIRGs, although NGC4676A has only a moderate infrared luminosity of 3x10^10Lsol. Energy beyond that provided by the mechanical energy of the starburst appears to be required to drive the outflow. We compare the observations to mock kinematic and stellar population maps from a merger simulation. The models show little enhancement in star formation during and following first passage, in agreement with the observations. We highlight areas where IFS data could help further constrain the models.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures, accepted to A&A. A version with a complete set of high resolution figures is available here: http://www-star.st-and.ac.uk/~vw8/resources/mice_v8_astroph.pd