Encouraging the Returner: Maximizing Benefits from Training Investments in High Turnover Industry

No matter what they make, do, or sell, every single organization in the world relies ultimately on one thing: people. Whether working for a company, a campaign, or a cooperative, the quality of the people involved has a direct impact on the success achieved therein. In an attempt to make the most of the workers that they have nearly every organization across the globe undertakes some level of training. Whether demonstrating how to use a hammer or holding a week-long retreat on corporate culture and structure, it is difficult to find an organization that does not have some form of training or another. Through training the organization hopes to improve the quality or quantity (or both) of the produced output. Training is an improvement in human capital of the organization by means of an investment in the individual. This investment is not without costs. Instructional materials, foregone production of instructors, and travel costs are some of the ways in which organizations pay for training. As with any cost of production, the cost of training must be kept to a minimum for the organization to continue forward in its work. Since organizations create training curricula based on what they think their people might eventually need, it is difficult to measure the exact marginal returns from trailing. Perhaps the simplest way to maximize the return from training is not to focus on or limit the amount of training each individual receives, but rather to limit the number of people the firm has to train by reducing turnover in the workforce. In industries where turnover is traditionally high, such as retail sales, reduction in that turnover could improve the overall well-being of that industry. With applications ranging from strengthening a post-draft military to increasing volunteer hours at the local food bank, turnover reduction has important implications. Here, training investments will be explored in the context of a university’s residence life (or ‘dorm’) system, though extensions to many other applications may easily be made

Ecology and conditions of breeding of the cardinal-tetra Paracheirodon axelrodi (Pisces, Characoidea) in the area of the Rio Negro/Brazil

This paper covers the ecological development of the major ornamental fish Paracheirodon axelrodi found in rain forest streams (almost "clear-water") in the region of the middle and upper Rio Negro. Limnochemical conditions in these extremely nutrient-poor waters during both the low and high water seasons over the spawning period, as well as breeding conditions in captivity, are described. A comparison is made between the very slow rate of growth and limited age reached as a result of a food deficiency in its natural habitat, and the potential growth if bred under optimum feeding conditions

The element matrix of Amazon waters and its relationship with the mineral content of fishes (Determinations using Neutron Activation Analysis)

Thirty water samples from different water types of the Central Amazon, the southern (Rondonia) and northern (Roraima) border areas, and the Andes foothills (Bolivia, Province Beni) were analysed using the technique of neutron activation analysis. Qualitative analyses were carried out for the following 22 elements and trace elements (Table 2): Au, Ba, Br, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Fe, Hf, Hg, La, Mg, Mn, Na, Pa, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Yb and Zn. Of these, Ca, Mg, Ba, Na, Fe, and Mn (Table 3) were determined quantitatively. The qualitative analysis gave a surprisingly uniform picture in that 14 of the elements were present in all the water bodies sampled. Those not present in all waters were Au, Hf, Hg, Pa, Rb, Yb and, of particular importance in production biology and nutritional physiology, Ca and Mg. The quantitative analysis showed that the levels of the elements investigated decreased from the border areas and Andes foothills in the direction of the Central region; however, except for Ca and Mg, no elements are actually missing. The fact that Ca and Mg could not be detected at the sensitivity level of NAA in some water bodies which nevertheless had rich fish populations, prompted investigations into a postulated metabolic-physiological relationship between fish and water type. The fish genus investigated was Symphysodon (Cichlidae): S. d¡scus inhabits clear waters and S. aequifasciata inhabits white waters. The mineral content of the vertebrae of these two fish species differs clearly according to the limnochemistry of their respective habitats (Table 6)

The peculiar Na-O anticorrelation of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6440

Context. Galactic Globular Clusters (GCs) are essential tools to understand the earliest epoch of the Milky Way, since they are among the oldest objects in the Universe and can be used to trace its formation and evolution. Current studies using high resolution spectroscopy for many stars in each of a large sample of GCs allow us to develop a detailed observational picture about their formation and their relation with the Galaxy. However, it is necessary to complete this picture by including GCs that belong to all major Galactic components, including the Bulge. Aims. Our aim is to perform a detailed chemical analyses of the bulge GC NGC 6440 in order to determine if this object has Multiple Populations (MPs) and investigate its relation with the Bulge of the Milky Way and with the other Galactic GCs, especially those associated with the Bulge, which are largely poorly studied. Methods. We determined the stellar parameters and the chemical abundances of light elements (Na, Al), iron-peak elements (Fe, Sc, Mn, Co, Ni), $\alpha$-elements (O, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti) and heavy elements (Ba, Eu) in seven red giant members of NGC 6440 using high resolution spectroscopy from FLAMES@UVES. Results. We found a mean iron content of [Fe/H]=-0.50$\pm$0.03 dex in agreement with other studies. We found no internal iron spread. On the other hand, Na and Al show a significant intrinsic spread, but the cluster has no significant O-Na anticorrelation nor exhibits a Mg-Al anticorrelation. The $\alpha$-elements show good agreement with the Bulge field star trend, although they are at the high alpha end and are also higher than those of other GCs of comparable metallicity. The heavy elements are dominated by the r-process, indicating a strong contribution by SNeII. The chemical analysis suggests an origin similar to that of the Bulge field stars.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in A&

Counter Rotating Open Rotor Animation using Particle Image Velocimetry

This article describes the two accompanying fluid dynamics videos for the "Counter rotating open rotor flow field investigation using stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry" presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics in Baltimore, Maryland, November 20-22, 2011.Comment: Videos are include

Ultra-deep GEMINI near-infrared observations of the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624

We used ultra-deep $J$ and $K_s$ images secured with the near-infrared GSAOI camera assisted by the multi-conjugate adaptive optics system GeMS at the GEMINI South Telescope in Chile, to obtain a ($K_s$, $J-K_s$) color-magnitude diagram (CMD) for the bulge globular cluster NGC 6624. We obtained the deepest and most accurate near-infrared CMD from the ground for this cluster, by reaching $K_s$ $\sim$ 21.5, approximately 8 magnitudes below the horizontal branch level. The entire extension of the Main Sequence (MS) is nicely sampled and at $K_s$ $\sim$ 20 we detected the so-called MS "knee" in a purely near-infrared CMD. By taking advantage of the exquisite quality of the data, we estimated the absolute age of NGC 6624 ($t_{age}$ = 12.0 $\pm$ 0.5 Gyr), which turns out to be in good agreement with previous studies in the literature. We also analyzed the luminosity and mass functions of MS stars down to M $\sim$ 0.45 M$_{\odot}$ finding evidence of a significant increase of low-mass stars at increasing distances from the cluster center. This is a clear signature of mass segregation, confirming that NGC 6624 is in an advanced stage of dynamical evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication by ApJ. 39 pages, 19 figures, 1 tabl