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Diverse virtual social networks: Implications for remote software testing teams
This paper evaluates offshore outsourcing in the IT testing industry and determines what conditions determine its success. There is particular focus on the influence of diversity in teams on group relationships. Two studies are described: the first, investigated the perceptions of professional software testers on the critical factors of offshore outsourcing; and the second study looked at the ability for diverse teams to form close working relationships through virtual networks. We find that overt diversity factors inhibit interaction across nationality boundaries. The limitations of virtual networks for fostering personal communications is apparent in preventing group members from overcoming the initial aversion to mix with out-group members, which could be achieved with closer and more personal communications between members with different diversity factors in normal face to face communications. Where software testing teams are outsourced globaly, and must rely on virtual communications, there seems potential for significant difficulties in developing close working relationships, which on the one hand, can be negative for group cohesion, but one the other hand, can be positive for encouraging imparitality
A High Phase Advance Damped and Detuned Structure for the Main Linacs of Clic
The main accelerating structures for the CLIC are designed to operate at an
average accelerating gradient of 100 MV/m. The accelerating frequency has been
optimised to 11.994 GHz with a phase advance of 2{\pi}/3 of the main
accelerating mode. The moderately damped and detuned structure (DDS) design is
being studied as an alternative to the strongly damped WDS design. Both these
designs are based on the nominal accelerating phase advance. Here we explore
high phase advance (HPA) structures in which the group velocity of the rf
fields is reduced compared to that of standard (2{\pi}/3) structures. The
electrical breakdown strongly depends on the fundamental mode group velocity.
Hence it is expected that electrical breakdown is less likely to occur in the
HPA structures. We report on a study of both the fundamental and dipole modes
in a CLIC_DDS_HPA structure, designed to operate at 5{\pi}/6 phase advance per
cell. Higher order dipole modes in both the standard and HPA structures are
also studied
Enhanced coupling design of a detuned damped structure for clic
The key feature of the improved coupling design in the Damped Detuned
Structure (DDS) is focused on the four manifolds. Rectangular geometry slots
and rectangular manifolds are used. This results in a significantly stronger
coupling to the manifolds compared to the previous design. We describe the new
design together with its wakefield damping properties.Comment: 3 pages, 8 figures, submitted to IPAC1
Width of the Zero-Field Superconducting Resistive Transition in the Vicinity of the Localization Threshold
Resistive superconducting zero-field transition in amorphous In-O films in
states from the vicinity of the insulator-superconductor transition is analyzed
in terms of two characteristic temperatures: the upper one, , where the
finite amplitude of the order parameter is established and the lower one,
, where the phase ordering takes place. It follows from the
magnetoresistance measurements that the resistance in between, ,
cannot be ascribed to dissipation by thermally dissociated vortex pairs. So, it
is not Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition that happens at .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Test particle motion in a gravitational plane wave collision background
Test particle geodesic motion is analysed in detail for the background
spacetimes of the degenerate Ferrari-Ibanez colliding gravitational wave
solutions. Killing vectors have been used to reduce the equations of motion to
a first order system of differential equations which have been integrated
numerically. The associated constants of the motion have also been used to
match the geodesics as they cross over the boundary between the single plane
wave and interaction zones.Comment: 11 pages, 6 Postscript figure
Propofol-alfentanil vs propofol-remifentanil for posterior spinal fusion including wake-up test
Background. Wake-up test can be used during posterior spinal fusion (PSF) to ensure that spinal function remains intact. This study aims at assessing the characteristics of the wake-up test during propofol-alfentanil (PA) vs propofol-remifentanil (PR) infusions for PSF surgery. Methods. Sixty patients with scoliosis and candidates for PSF surgery were randomly allocated in either alfentanil (PA) or remifentanil (PR) group. After an i.v. bolus of alfentanil 30 ĂÂŒg kg-1 in the PA group or remifentanil 1 ĂÂŒg kg-1 in the PR group, anaesthesia was induced with thiopental and atracurium. During maintenance, opioid infusion consisted of alfentanil 1 ĂÂŒg kg-1 min-1 or remifentanil 0.2 ĂÂŒg kg-1 min-1, in the PA group and the PR group, respectively. All patients received propofol 50 ĂÂŒg kg-1 min-1. Atracurium was given to maintain the required surgical relaxation. At the surgeon's request, all infusions were discontinued. Patients were asked to move their hands and feet. Time from anaesthetic discontinuation to spontaneous ventilation (T1), and from then until movement of the hands and feet (T2), and its quality were recorded. Results. The average T1 and T2 were significantly shorter in the PR group 3.6 (2.5) and 4.1 (2) min than the PA group 6.1 (4) and 7.5 (4.5) min. Quality of wake-up test, however, did not show significant difference between the two groups studied. Conclusion. Wake-up test can be conducted faster with remifentanil compared with alfentanil infusion during PSF surgery. Ă© 2006 Oxford University Press
A review of human error in marine engine maintenance
Maritime safety involves minimizing error in all aspects of the marine system. Human error hasreceived much importance, being responsible for about 80% of the maritime accident worldwide. Currently,more attention has been focused to reduce human error in marine engine maintenance. On-board marineengine maintenance activities are often complex, where seafarers conduct maintenance activities in variousmarine environmental (i.e. extreme weather, ship motions, noise, and vibration) and operational (i.e. workoverload and stress) conditions. These environmental and operational conditions, in combination with generichuman error tendencies, results in innumerable forms of error. There are numerous accidents that happeneddue to the human error during the maintenance activities of a marine engine. The most severe human errorresults in accidents due to is a loss of life. Moreover, there are other consequences too such as delaying theproductivity of marine operations which results in the financial loss. This study reviews methods that arecurrently available for identifying, reporting and managing human error in marine engine maintenance. As abasis for this discussion, authors provide an overview of approaches for investigating human error, and adescription of marine engine maintenance activities and environmental and operational characteristics
Role of bulk and surface phonons in the decay of metal surface states
We present a comprehensive theoretical investigation of the electron-phonon
contribution to the lifetime broadening of the surface states on Cu(111) and
Ag(111), in comparison with high-resolution photoemission results. The
calculations, including electron and phonon states of the bulk and the surface,
resolve the relative importance of the Rayleigh mode, being dominant for the
lifetime at small hole binding energies. Including the electron-electron
interaction, the theoretical results are in excellent agreement with the
measured binding energy and temperature dependent lifetime broadening.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Radiative corrections to deep-inelastic scattering. Case of tensor polarized deuteron
The model-independent radiative corrections to deep-inelastic scattering of
unpolarized electron beam off the tensor polarized deuteron target have been
considered. The contribution to the radiative corrections due to the
hard-photon emission from the elastic electron-deuteron scattering (the
so-called elastic radiative tail) is also investigated. The calculation is
based on the covariant parametrization of the deuteron quadrupole polarization
tensor. The numerical estimates of the radiative corrections to the
polarization observables have been done for the kinematical conditions of the
current experiment at HERAComment: 21 pages, 5 figure
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