584 research outputs found
A Comparative Analysis of the Capacity-building Industries in Pittsburgh and Central Texas
Five years ago, The Forbes Funds provided support for a new research series exploring challenges and strategic opportunities in nonprofit management in the Pittsburgh region.The intention of this research was to determine what works in strengthening nonprofits' organizational capacity and management abilities, as well as what may be the barriers or service gaps in building nonprofit capacity. As part of this research series, in 2004,The Forbes Funds commissioned Judith L. Millesen, at Ohio University, and Angela L. Bies, at Texas A&M University, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Pittsburgh's capacity-building "industry." This "Pittsburgh study" offered detailed findings about the degree to which Pittsburgh's "industry of consultants, firms, management support organizations, and academic centers offer accessible, quality services to the 1,600 nonprofit organizations in Allegheny County."1 With ongoing support from The Forbes Funds, Drs. Bies and Millesen also conducted continuing analyses during 2005, which explored the incentive to engage in capacity building (Millesen & Bies, 2005) and the role of 'learning' in building nonprofit performance (Bies & Millesen, 2005).During 2005-06, a replication study was conducted in and around Austin,Texas.2 A key purpose of the study was to help afford a comparative analysis of the nonprofit sectors in two metropolitan regions with differing environments, economies, and capacity-building industries. With support from The Forbes Funds, the Bremer Foundation, and the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits, a third replication study is planned for 2006-07 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.The Texas replication study shared the Pittsburgh study's focus on understanding the characteristics of effective capacity-building initiatives through an examination of a series of questions related to who (the capacity builders) is doing what (the kinds of support services provided) for whom (what types of nonprofits are engaging in capacity-building initiatives) and to what end (whether capacity-building initiatives produce desired organizational change).The core research purpose remained to describe and analyze several aspects of the capacity-building environment, including the quantity, accessibility, and quality of capacity building services, characteristics of effective capacity building, and challenges and barriers to implementing capacity-building interventions. Both the Austin study and the Pittsburgh study offered implications for practice and suggested directions for future research into capacity building's effectiveness and influence in the sector
Quantum correlations of two optical fields close to electromagnetically induced transparency
We show that three-level atoms excited by two cavity modes in a
configuration close to electromagnetically induced transparency can produce
strongly squeezed bright beams or correlated beams which can be used for
quantum non demolition measurements. The input intensity is the experimental
"knob" for tuning the system into a squeezer or a quantum non demolition
device. The quantum correlations become ideal at a critical point characterized
by the appearance of a switching behavior in the mean fields intensities. Our
predictions, based on a realistic fully quantum 3-level model including cavity
losses and spontaneous emission, allow direct comparison with future
experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Detecting phonons and persistent currents in toroidal Bose-Einstein condensates by means of pattern formation
We theoretically investigate the dynamic properties of a Bose-Einstein
condensate in a toroidal trap. A periodic modulation of the transverse
confinement is shown to produce a density pattern due to parametric
amplification of phonon pairs. By imaging the density distribution after free
expansion one obtains i) a precise determination of the Bogoliubov spectrum and
ii) a sensitive detection of quantized circulation in the torus. The parametric
amplification is also sensitive to thermal and quantum fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; new figures, revised version to appear as a Rapid
Communication in Physical Review
Evidence of Plasmonic Induced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production on Pd/TiO2 Upon Deposition on Thin Films of Gold
H2-production from renewables using sunlight is probably the holy grail of modern science and technology. Among the many approaches for increasing reaction rates, by increasing light absorption, plasmonic materials are often invoked. Yet, most plasmonic metals on semiconductors are also good for Schottky barrier formation. In this work, we are presenting evidences of de-coupling the plasmonic from Schottky effects on photoreaction. To conduct this we have systematically changed the under-layer gold film thickness and associated particle size. On top of the thin film layer, we have deposited the exact amount of a prototypical Schottky-based photo-catalyst (Pd/TiO2). We found up to 4 times increase in the H2-production rate at a critical Au film thickness (8 nm-thick). Below this thickness, the plasmonic response is not too strong while above it, the PR decays in favor of the Drude absorption mode. The reaction requires the presence of both UV (to excite the semiconductor) and visible light (to excite Au particles) in order to obtain high hydrogen production, 800 µmol/gCatal.min (probably the highest direct hydrogen (not current) production rate reported on a performing catalyst). The enhancement origin is quantitatively traced to its computed electric field strength (EFS). Adding a dielectric (SiO2) in between the Au thin layer and the catalyst exponentially decreased the reaction rate and EFS, with increasing its thickness. This work indicates the possibility of making an active and stable photo-catalyst from fundamental concepts yet further progress on the structural (technological) front is needed to make a practical catalyst
A pulsed atomic soliton laser
It is shown that simultaneously changing the scattering length of an
elongated, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate from positive to
negative and inverting the axial portion of the trap, so that it becomes
expulsive, results in a train of self-coherent solitonic pulses. Each pulse is
itself a non-dispersive attractive Bose-Einstein condensate that rapidly
self-cools. The axial trap functions as a waveguide. The solitons can be made
robustly stable with the right choice of trap geometry, number of atoms, and
interaction strength. Theoretical and numerical evidence suggests that such a
pulsed atomic soliton laser can be made in present experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
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Selfitis behavior: assessing the Italian version of the Selfitis Behavior Scale and its mediating role in the relationship of dark traits with social media addiction
Research on selfie-related behavior has recently flourished. The present study expands theoretical and empirical work on phenomenon by assessing the psychometric properties of the Selfitis Behavior Scale among an Italian sample and by examining its unexplored mediating role in the relationships between dark triad traits and social media addiction. A total of 490 participants (53.1% females) completed a self-report survey including socio-demographics, the Selfitis Behavior Scale (SBS), the Short Dark Triad Scale (SD3), and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). Results showed the SBS had a five-factor structure with good psychometrics properties in terms of reliability coefficients and measurement invariance across gender. In addition, findings from the path model supported the mediating role of selfitis behavior in the relationships of narcissism and psychopathy with social media addiction. Machiavellianism was found to be unrelated to selfitis behavior and social media addiction. The model shed light into the previous inconsistent findings on the associations between dark triad traits and social media addiction by taking into account the key role of selfitis behavior as an underlying mechanism. The findings may explain individual differences in personality traits associated with co-dependence (i.e., the combination of the dependence on self and others and social media addiction)
Videogame Addiction Scale for Children: Psychometric Properties and Gamer Profiles in the Italian Context
Given the few studies examining the evaluation of screening tools for videogame addiction among children aged 12 years and under, the present study analyzed (i) the psychometric properties (factorial structure, reliability indices and criterion validity) of the Italian version of the Videogame Addiction Scale for Children (VASC) and (ii) its construct validity using a person-centered approach. Two studies were carried out. In study 1, 728 participants completed a survey including demographic information, questions concerning the amount of time spent in playing videogames, and the Italian version of the VASC. In study 2, 1008 participants completed a survey comprising demographic information, the Italian version of the VASC, the Big Five Questionnaire for Children, and the social dimension subscale of the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale. Findings supported (i) the four-dimensional first-order factor structure, (ii) full scalar invariance across age groups and partial scalar equivalence across gender, and (iii) reliability and criterion validity of the VASC. The construct validity of the VASC was confirmed by the identification of two distinct profiles (high videogame players vs. low videogame players) and their specific patterns of associations with personality traits and social self-concept. Interaction effects of gender Ă— profiles on personality traits were evidenced. Overall, the findings provided validity for the use of the Italian version of the VASC and extending the body of literature on videogame addiction
Quantum corrections to the dynamics of interacting bosons: beyond the truncated Wigner approximation
We develop a consistent perturbation theory in quantum fluctuations around
the classical evolution of a system of interacting bosons. The zero order
approximation gives the classical Gross-Pitaevskii equations. In the next order
we recover the truncated Wigner approximation, where the evolution is still
classical but the initial conditions are distributed according to the Wigner
transform of the initial density matrix. Further corrections can be
characterized as quantum scattering events, which appear in the form of a
nonlinear response of the observable to an infinitesimal displacement of the
field along its classical evolution. At the end of the paper we give a few
numerical examples to test the formalism.Comment: published versio
Decay of multiply charged vortices at nonzero temperatures
We study the instability of multiply charged vortices in the presence of
thermal atoms and find various scenarios of splitting of such vortices. The
onset of the decay of a vortex is always preceded by the increase of a number
of thermal (uncondensed) atoms in the system and manifests itself by the sudden
rise of the amplitude of the oscillations of the quadrupole moment. Our
calculations show that the decay time gets shorter when the multiplicity of a
vortex becomes higher.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Use at the University Hospital ?Paolo Giaccone?, Palermo, Italy
Introduction. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance are well known major public health threats. The first goal of our study was to describe the prevalence of HAI, while the second goal was to describe the antibiotic consumption at our University Hospital, ?P. Giaccone? in Palermo, Italy. Methods. A standardized methodology for a combined Point Prevalence Survey (PPS) on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospital developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was piloted across Europe. The teaching Hospital ?P. Giaccone? in Palermo, Italy, participated in the study Results. Out of 328 surveyed patients, 12 (3.6%) had an HAI and 159 (48.5%) were receiving at least one antimicro- bial agent. Prevalence results were highest in intensive care units, with 17.6% patients with HAI. Bloodstream infections represented the most common type (50%) of HAI. Surgical prophylaxis was the indication for antimicrobial prescribing in 59 (37.1%) out of 159 patients and exceeded 24 hours in 54 (91.5%) cases. Discussion. The results suggest that in our hospital there was a frequent and inappropriate use of antimicrobials, especially in the setting of surgical prophylaxis
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