1,003 research outputs found
Overcoming change fatigue: lessons from Glasgow's National Health Service
Structured Abstract
Purpose of this paper
This paper explores the practicalities of organizational change in complex settings where much change has already occurred. It therefore offers insights into tackling and overcoming change fatigue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a longitudinal study of change within a healthcare organization. The paper draws on interviews, focus groups and observations during a 2.5 year long action research project.
Findings
The paper reports findings on the speed at which change takes place, the importance of communication and the burden placed on senior officers during such communication and consultation processes, the use of appropriate external resources and expertise, the benefits of sharing best practice across sectors and the role of academic researchers in change processes.
What is original/value of paper
The paper offers valuable insights to those charged with effecting organizational change in change fatigued settings
Shaped pupil design for the Gemini Planet Imager
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is an instrument designed for the Gemini South
telescope to image young Jupiter-mass planets in the infrared. To achieve the
high contrast needed for this, it employs an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph
(APLC) to remove most of the starlight. Current designs use a
partially-transmitting apodizer in the pupil; we examine the use of binary
apodizations in the form of starshaped shaped pupils, and present a design that
could achieve comparable performance, along with a series of design guidelines
for creating shaped pupil versions of APLCs in other systems.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Discovery of a 66 mas Ultracool Binary with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics
We present the discovery of 2MASS J21321145+1341584AB as a closely separated
(0.066") very low-mass field dwarf binary resolved in the near-infrared by the
Keck II Telescope using laser guide star adaptive optics. Physical association
is deduced from the angular proximity of the components and constraints on
their common proper motion. We have obtained a near-infrared spectrum of the
binary and find that it is best described by an L5+/-0.5 primary and an
L7.5+/-0.5 secondary. Model-dependent masses predict that the two components
straddle the hydrogen burning limit threshold with the primary likely stellar
and the secondary likely substellar. The properties of this sytem - close
projected separation (1.8+/-0.3 AU) and near unity mass ratio - are consistent
with previous results for very low-mass field binaries. The relatively short
estimated orbital period of this system (~7-12 yr) makes it a good target for
dynamical mass measurements. Interestingly, the system's angular separation is
the tightest yet for any very low-mass binary published from a ground-based
telescope and is the tightest binary discovered with laser guide star adaptive
optics to date.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication to A
High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT): 1. Testbed design
Searching for nearby habitable worlds with direct imaging and spectroscopy
will require a telescope large enough to provide angular resolution and
sensitivity to planets around a significant sample of stars. Segmented
telescopes are a compelling option to obtain such large apertures. However,
these telescope designs have a complex geometry (central obstruction, support
structures, segmentation) that makes high-contrast imaging more challenging. We
are developing a new high-contrast imaging testbed at STScI to provide an
integrated solution for wavefront control and starlight suppression on complex
aperture geometries. We present our approach for the testbed optical design,
which defines the surface requirements for each mirror to minimize the
amplitude-induced errors from the propagation of out-of-pupil surfaces. Our
approach guarantees that the testbed will not be limited by these Fresnel
propagation effects, but only by the aperture geometry. This approach involves
iterations between classical ray-tracing optical design optimization, and
end-to-end Fresnel propagation with wavefront control (e.g. Electric Field
Conjugation / Stroke Minimization). The construction of the testbed is planned
to start in late Fall 2013.Comment: Proc. of the SPIE 8864, 10 pages, 3 figures, Techniques and
Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets V
Science yield estimate with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope coronagraph
The coronagraph instrument (CGI) on the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope will directly image and spectrally characterize planets and circumstellar disks around nearby stars. Here we estimate the expected science yield of the CGI for known radial-velocity (RV) planets and potential circumstellar disks. The science return is estimated for three types of coronagraphs: the hybrid Lyot and shaped pupil are the currently planned designs, and the phase-induced amplitude apodizing complex mask coronagraph is the backup design. We compare the potential performance of each type for imaging as well as spectroscopy. We find that the RV targets can be imaged in sufficient numbers to produce substantial advances in the science of nearby exoplanets. To illustrate the potential for circumstellar disk detections, we estimate the brightness of zodiacal-type disks, which could be detected simultaneously during RV planet observations
Identity dynamics as a barrier to organizational change
This article seeks to explore the construction of group and professional identities in situations of organizational change. It considers empirical material drawn from a health demonstration project funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, and uses insights from this project to discuss issues that arise from identity construction(s) and organizational change. In the course of the project studied here, a new organizational form was developed which involved a network arrangement with a voluntary sector organization and the employment of “lay-workers” in what had traditionally been a professional setting. Our analysis of the way actors made sense of their identities reveals that characterizations of both self and other became barriers to the change process. These identity dynamics were significant in determining the way people interpreted and responded to change within this project and which may relate to other change-oriented situations
Worlds Beyond: A Strategy for the Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets Executive Summary of a Report of the ExoPlanet Task Force Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Washington, DC June 23, 2008
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