2,087 research outputs found
Upstairs downstairs: how introducing computer technology changed skills and pay on two floors of Cabot Bank
Assessing the differing impacts of a new computer technology on skills and pay in two departments of a large bank.Checks ; Check collection systems ; Check float ; Job security ; Employees, Training of
A RESTful API for exchanging Materials Data in the AFLOWLIB.org consortium
The continued advancement of science depends on shared and reproducible data.
In the field of computational materials science and rational materials design
this entails the construction of large open databases of materials properties.
To this end, an Application Program Interface (API) following REST principles
is introduced for the AFLOWLIB.org materials data repositories consortium.
AUIDs (Aflowlib Unique IDentifier) and AURLs (Aflowlib Uniform Resource
locator) are assigned to the database resources according to a well-defined
protocol described herein, which enables the client to access, through
appropriate queries, the desired data for post-processing. This introduces a
new level of openness into the AFLOWLIB repository, allowing the community to
construct high-level work-flows and tools exploiting its rich data set of
calculated structural, thermodynamic, and electronic properties. Furthermore,
federating these tools would open the door to collaborative investigation of
the data by an unprecedented extended community of users to accelerate the
advancement of computational materials design and development.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Upstairs, Downstairs: Computer-Skill Complementarity and Computer-Labor Substitution on Two Floors of a Large Bank
We describe how a single technological innovation, the introduction of image processing of checks, led to distinctly different changes in the structure of jobs in two departments of a large bank overseen by one group of managers. In the downstairs deposit processing department, image processing led to the substitution of computers for high school educated labor in accomplishing core tasks and in greater specialization in the jobs that remained. In the upstairs exceptions processing department, image processing led to the integration of tasks, with an associated increase in the demand for particular skills. The case illustrates the interdependence of technological change and organizational change. It suggests that seeing the whole picture' and associated conceptual and problem-solving skills are made more valuable by information technologies. Finally, it underscores that the short-term consequences of technological changes may depend importantly on regulatory forces.
AFLOW-SYM: Platform for the complete, automatic and self-consistent symmetry analysis of crystals
Determination of the symmetry profile of structures is a persistent challenge
in materials science. Results often vary amongst standard packages, hindering
autonomous materials development by requiring continuous user attention and
educated guesses. Here, we present a robust procedure for evaluating the
complete suite of symmetry properties, featuring various representations for
the point-, factor-, space groups, site symmetries, and Wyckoff positions. The
protocol determines a system-specific mapping tolerance that yields symmetry
operations entirely commensurate with fundamental crystallographic principles.
The self consistent tolerance characterizes the effective spatial resolution of
the reported atomic positions. The approach is compared with the most used
programs and is successfully validated against the space group information
provided for over 54,000 entries in the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database.
Subsequently, a complete symmetry analysis is applied to all 1.7 million
entries of the AFLOW data repository. The AFLOW-SYM package has been
implemented in, and made available for, public use through the automated,
framework AFLOW.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure
Images of Energy
Six members of the Syracuse community discuss energy as it is understood in the fields of psychology, graphic arts, biology, architecture, physics, and literature. Professor Weissman provides an overview
Recommended from our members
CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e and tectonic controls on Antarctic climate and ice-sheet evolution in the mid-Miocene
Antarctic ice sheet and climate evolution during the mid-Miocene has direct relevance for understanding ice sheet (in)stability and the long-term response to elevated atmospheric CO2 in the future. Geologic records reconstruct major fluctuations in the volume and extent of marine and terrestrial ice during the mid-Miocene, revealing a dynamic Antarctic ice-sheet response to past climatic variations. We use an ensemble of climate – ice sheet – vegetation model simulations spanning a range of CO2 concentrations, Transantarctic Mountain uplift scenarios, and glacial/interglacial climatic conditions to identify climate and ice-sheet conditions consistent with Antarctic mid-Miocene terrestrial and marine geological records. We explore climatic variability at both continental and regional scales, focusing specifically on Victoria Land and Wilkes Land Basin regions using a high-resolution nested climate model over these domains. We find that peak warmth during the Miocene Climate Optimum is characterized by a thick terrestrial ice sheet receded from the coastline under high CO2 concentrations. During the Middle Miocene Climate Transition, CO2 episodically dropped below a threshold value for marine-based ice expansion. Comparison of model results with geologic data support ongoing Transantarctic Mountain uplift throughout the mid-Miocene. Modeled ice sheet dynamics over the Wilkes Land Basin were highly sensitive to CO2 concentrations. This work provides a continental-wide context for localized geologic paleoclimate and vegetation records, integrating multiple datasets to reconstruct snapshots of ice sheet and climatic conditions during a pivotal period in Earth\u27s history
Impairment of Methotrexate Transport Is Common in Osteosarcoma Tumor Samples
Osteosarcoma does not respond well to conventional dose methotrexate but does respond to high-dose methotrexate. Previous work has indicated that this resistance may be due to impaired transport of methotrexate across the cell membrane. In this study, the PT430 competitive displacement assay was adapted to evaluate methotrexate transport in 69 high-grade osteosarcoma tumor samples. All samples studied were shown to have relatively impaired methotrexate transport by PT430 assay. Ninety-nine percent of the samples had less than 20% PT430 displacement by methotrexate. Eighty-eight percent exhibited displacement by methotrexate at less than 50% of the displacement by trimetrexate. The high frequency of impaired transport suggests the presence of decreased functionality of the reduced folate carrier protein. The overwhelming presence of impaired transport may explain why methotrexate needs to be given in high doses to be effective in osteosarcoma therapy and suggests that reduced folate carrier-independent antifolates should be explored
Black carbon as an additional indicator of the adverse health effects of airborne particles compared with PM10 and PM2.5.
Current air quality standards for particulate matter (PM) use the PM mass concentration [PM with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 10 μm (PM(10)) or ≤ 2.5 μm (PM(2.5))] as a metric. It has been suggested that particles from combustion sources are more relevant to human health than are particles from other sources, but the impact of policies directed at reducing PM from combustion processes is usually relatively small when effects are estimated for a reduction in the total mass concentration
Quantum Clock Synchronization Based on Shared Prior Entanglement
We demonstrate that two spatially separated parties (Alice and Bob) can
utilize shared prior quantum entanglement, and classical communications, to
establish a synchronized pair of atomic clocks. In contrast to classical
synchronization schemes, the accuracy of our protocol is independent of Alice
or Bob's knowledge of their relative locations or of the properties of the
intervening medium.Comment: 4 page
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