The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix

Human Resource Flexibility as a Mediating Variable Between High Performance Work Systems and Performance

Much of the human resource management literature has demonstrated the impact of high performance work systems (HPWS) on organizational performance. A new generation of studies is emerging in this literature that recommends the inclusion of mediating variables between HPWS and organizational performance. The increasing rate of dynamism in competitive environments suggests that measures of employee adaptability should be included as a mechanism that may explain the relevance of HPWS to firm competitiveness. On a sample of 226 Spanish firms, the study’s results confirm that HPWS influences performance through its impact on the firm’s human resource (HR) flexibility

Comparison of the Odin/OSIRIS stratospheric ozone profiles with coincident POAM III and ozonesonde measurements

We present first statistical comparison results for stratospheric ozone density profiles retrieved from Odin/OSIRIS limb scattered radiance with 1220 coincident POAM III and 205 coincident ozonesonde measurements. Profiles are compared on a monthly basis from November 2001 to October 2002. Most of the time, differences between OSIRIS mean profiles and those measured by POAM III and ozonesondes were 5-7% between 15 km and 32 km, and within 15% above 32 km. In April-July 2002, OSIRIS mean profiles appear shifted downward by ∼1 km, introducing a difference of about 10% with POAM III and about 25% with ozonesonde profiles between 15 km and 32 km. This study demonstrates that outside the April-July 2002 period, the OSIRIS ozone profiles agree well with coincident ozonesonde and POAM III ozone profiles and make a valuable addition to the international ozone database available for research into global ozone change

Technical Note: Validation of Odin/SMR limb observations of ozone, comparisons with OSIRIS, POAM III, ground-based and balloon-borne instruments

International audienceThe Odin satellite carries two instruments capable of determining stratospheric ozone profiles by limb sounding: the Sub-Millimetre Radiometer (SMR) and the UV-visible spectrograph of the OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System) instrument. A large number of ozone profiles measurements were performed during six years from November 2001 to present. This ozone dataset is here used to make quantitative comparisons with satellite measurements in order to assess the quality of the Odin/SMR ozone measurements. In a first step, we compare Swedish SMR retrievals version 2.1, French SMR ozone retrievals version 222 (both from the 501.8 GHz band), and the OSIRIS retrievals version 3.0, with the operational version 4.0 ozone product from POAM III (Polar Ozone Atmospheric Measurement). In a second step, we refine the Odin/SMR validation by comparisons with ground-based instruments and balloon-borne observations. We use observations carried out within the framework of the Network for Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and balloon flight missions conducted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Laboratoire de Physique et de Chimie de l'Environnement (LPCE, Orléans, France), and the Service d'Aéronomie (SA, Paris, France). Coincidence criteria were 5° in latitude x in 10° longitude, and 5 h in time in Odin/POAM III comparisons, 12 h in Odin/NDACC comparisons, and 72 h in Odin/balloons comparisons. An agreement is found with the POAM III experiment (10–60 km) within -0.3±0.2 ppmv (bias±standard deviation) for SMR (v222, v2.1) and within -0.5±0.2 ppmv for OSIRIS (v3.0). Odin ozone mixing ratio products are systematically slightly lower than the POAM III data and show an ozone maximum lower by 1–5 km in altitude. The comparisons with the NDACC data (10–34 km for ozonesonde, 10–50 km for lidar, 10–60 for microwave instruments) yield a good agreement within -0.15±0.3 ppmv for the SMR data and -0.3±0.3 ppmv for the OSIRIS data. Finally the comparisons with instruments on large balloons (10–31 km) show a good agreement, within -0.7±1 ppmv

A ritual site with sacrificial wells from the Viking Age at Trelleborg, Denmark

The promontory facing Storebælt with the well-known circular Viking Age military fortress of Trelleborg erected by Harold Bluetooth in AD 980/981 seems to have been an important ceremonial space prior to the erection of the fortress and contemporary with a nearby high status settlement dated to the seventh to the eleventh century. This study presents new cross-disciplinary investigations focusing on three sacrificial well-like structures (47, 50 and 121) from the pre-Christian Viking Age at Trelleborg. Two of the sacrificial wells (47 and 121) included the only skeletal remains of four children hitherto recovered from Danish Viking Age wells. The strontium isotope results of the four children point to local provenance. However, the results of each well seem to pair up in a systematic way pointing to that the children might come from two different key surrounding areas at Trelleborg. Furthermore, the three wells contained animal remains of primarily domestic livestock partly representing consumption waste from either profane or ritual meals deriving from, for example, blót activities. Well 47 produced a young he-goat and well 121 a hindlimb of an above-average-size young horse, a large part of a young cow and a large dog. Altogether intentional offerings deposited while still enfleshed and interpreted to have served as propitiatory sacrifices to honour or appease the gods and to ensure fertility. This research provides new information that enlightens the formation processes underlying accumulation of cultural deposits in features such as ritual wells, in the period prior to Christianity