An Analysis of Generational Differences among Active Duty Members

There seems to be a widely held belief that different generations have different attitudes toward work, organizations, and co-workers. Clearly, these observed differences have implications for managers and leaders. Actions taken by leaders might be misunderstood by junior organizational members, leading to undesirable outcomes. Considering that many generational groups are represented within the Air Force, there is a need to analyze and understand potential generational differences. With the exception of the Smola and Sutton (2002) study, little empirical research has explored the extent to which these differences actually exist and whether differences exist among Air Force members. This research explores the extent to which differences exist among three generations of Air Force members, and the affects these potential differences have on leadership strategies. The generational groups studied were Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1978), and Millennials (1979-1994). Hypotheses were developed based on generational characteristics and tested using a questionnaire that includes 77 items to assess general work attitudes, attitudes towards job and organization, and individual preferences toward work processes. The results of the study indicate that while generational differences were shown to exist, significant differences among the groups accounted for a small proportion of the variables tested. Knowing these findings, if a leader or manager relies on generational stereotypes to establish human resource management policies and practices, they will be incorrectly applying leadership at least half of the time. Instead of focusing on generational stereotypes, leaders should focus on an individual\u27s current stage of life. An individual\u27s stage of life will more accurately reflect his/her attitudes towards work, loyalty to the organization, and job satisfaction

JT9D engine diagnostics. Task 2: Feasibility study of measuring in-service flight loads

The feasibility of measuring JT9D propulsion system flight inertia loads on a 747 airplane is studied. Flight loads background is discussed including the current status of 747/JT9D loads knowledge. An instrumentation and test plan is formulated for an airline-owned in-service airplane and the Boeing-owned RA001 test airplane. Technical and cost comparisons are made between these two options. An overall technical feasibility evaluation is made and a cost summary presented. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in regard to using existing inertia loads data versus conducting a flight test to measure inertia loads

Evidence for an Additional Heat Source in the Warm Ionized Medium of Galaxies

Spatial variations of the [S II]/H-Alpha and [N II]/H-Alpha line intensity ratios observed in the gaseous halo of the Milky Way and other galaxies are inconsistent with pure photoionization models. They appear to require a supplemental heating mechanism that increases the electron temperature at low densities n_e. This would imply that in addition to photoionization, which has a heating rate per unit volume proportional to n_e^2, there is another source of heat with a rate per unit volume proportional to a lower power of n_e. One possible mechanism is the dissipation of interstellar plasma turbulence, which according to Minter & Spangler (1997) heats the ionized interstellar medium in the Milky Way at a rate ~ 1x10^-25 n_e ergs cm^-3 s^-1. If such a source were present, it would dominate over photoionization heating in regions where n_e < 0.1 cm^-3, producing the observed increases in the [S II]/H-Alpha and [N II]/H-Alpha intensity ratios at large distances from the galactic midplane, as well as accounting for the constancy of [S II]/[N II], which is not explained by pure photoionization. Other supplemental heating sources, such as magnetic reconnection, cosmic rays, or photoelectric emission from small grains, could also account for these observations, provided they supply to the warm ionized medium ~ 10^-5 ergs s^-1 per cm^2 of Galactic disk.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Thermal Comptonization in Mildly Relativistic Pair Plasmas

We use a Monte Carlo simulation to calculate the spectra of mildly relativistic thermal plasmas in pair balance. We use the exact integral expression for the electron-positron thermal annihilation spectrum, and provide accurate expressions for the Gaunt factors of electron-ion, electron-electron, and electron-positron thermal bremsstrahlung in the transrelativistic temperature regime. The particles are assumed to be uniformly distributed throughout a sphere, and the pair opacity is self-consistently calculated from the energy and angular distribution of scattered photons. The resultant photon spectra are compared with the nonrelativistic diffusion treatment of Sunyaev and Titarchuk, the bridging formulas of Zdziarski, and the relativistic corrections proposed by Titarchuk. We calculate allowed pair-balanced states of thermal plasmas with no pair escape which include bremsstrahlung and internal soft photons. The results are presented in the spectral index/compactness plane, and can be directly compared with observations of spectra from AGNs and Galactic black hole candidates. By comparing with X-ray spectral indices of Seyfert AGNs and compactnesses inferred from X-ray variability data, we find that the allowed solutions for pair equilibrium plasma imply that the temperatures of Seyfert galaxies are $\lesssim 300$ keV. This prediction can be tested with more sensitive gamma-ray observations of Seyfert galaxies. We find that if the X-ray variability time scale gives an accurate measure of the compactness, pair-dominated solutions are inconsistent with the data.Comment: 32 pages with 9 figures, compressed and uuencoded postscrip

Distribution of the Galactic Bulge emission at |b|>2deg according to the RXTE Galactic Center scans

We present an analysis of the Galactic bulge emission observed by the RXTE/PCA during a set of scans over the Galactic Center field, performed in 1999-2001. The total exposure time of these observations is close to 700 ksec. We construct the distribution of Galactic ridge emission intensity and spectral parameters up to Galactic latitudes b=-10deg;+9deg. We show that the intensity distribution of the ridge emission at |b|>2deg could be well described by an exponential model with e-folding width b_0~ 3.3deg. Best-fit spectral parameters do not show statistically significant changes over Galactic latitudeComment: 6 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The Beaming Pattern of Doppler Boosted Thermal Annihilation Radiation: Application to MeV Blazars

The beaming pattern of thermal annihilation radiation is broader than the beaming pattern produced by isotropic nonthermal electrons and positrons in the jets of radio-emitting active galactic nuclei which Compton scatter photons from an external isotropic radiation field. Thus blueshifted thermal annihilation radiation can provide the dominant contribution to the high-energy radiation spectrum at observing angles theta > 1/Gamma, where Gamma is the bulk Lorentz factor of the outflowing plasma. This effect may account for the spectral features of MeV blazars discovered with the Compton Telescope on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Coordinated gamma-ray observations of annihilation line radiation to infer Doppler factors and VLBI radio observations to measure transverse angular speeds of outflowing plasma blobs can be used to determine the Hubble constant.Comment: 15 pages including 3 figures, requires AAS Latex macros, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Diffuse Galactic Soft Gamma-Ray Emission

The Galactic diffuse soft gamma-ray (30-800 keV) emission has been measured from the Galactic Center by the HIREGS balloon-borne germanium spectrometer to determine the spectral characteristics and origin of the emission. The resulting Galactic diffuse continuum is found to agree well with a single power-law (plus positronium) over the entire energy range, consistent with RXTE and COMPTEL/CGRO observations at lower and higher energies, respectively. We find no evidence of spectral steepening below 200 keV, as has been reported in previous observations. The spatial distribution along the Galactic ridge is found to be nearly flat, with upper limits set on the longitudinal gradient, and with no evidence of an edge in the observed region. The soft gamma-ray diffuse spectrum is well modeled by inverse Compton scattering of interstellar radiation off of cosmic-ray electrons, minimizing the need to invoke inefficient nonthermal bremsstrahlung emission. The resulting power requirement is well within that provided by Galactic supernovae. We speculate that the measured spectrum provides the first direct constraints on the cosmic-ray electron spectrum below 300 MeV.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figure, submitted to Ap

Annihilation Fountain in the Galactic Center Region

Two different model-independent mapping techniques have been applied to OSSE, SMM, TGRS and balloon data and reveal a feature in the 0.511 MeV electron-positron annihilation radiation pattern of our galaxy centered roughly at l=-2 deg. and b=10 deg. with a flux of 5x10^(-4) 0.511 MeV ph/cm^2/s. If near the galactic center, then positron sources are producing approximately 10^42 positrons/s which annihilate 1-2 kpc above the galactic plane. A starburst episode within the inner few hundred pc of our galaxy would drive hot pair-laden gas into the halo, with the one-sidedness pointing to the site of initial pressure release at the onset of the starburst activity. Positrons lose energy and annihilate as they are convected upward with the gas flow, and we calculate high-latitude annihilation patterns and fluxes in accord with the observations. Changes in the ionization state when the escaping gas cools could give annihilation radiation substructure. The fountain of hot (10^6-10^7 K) gas rising into the galactic halo would be seen through its enhanced dispersion measure, thermal emission, and recombination radiation.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, requires AASTEX macros and psfig.tex, 2 postscript figures, Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letter

High-Energy Spectral Complexity from Thermal Gradients in Black Hole Atmospheres

We show that Compton scattering of soft photons with energies near 100 eV in thermally stratified black-hole accretion plasmas with temperatures in the range 100 keV - 1 MeV can give rise to an X-ray spectral hardening near 10 keV. This could produce the hardening observed in the X-ray spectra of black holes, which is generally attributed to reflection or partial covering of the incident continuum source by cold optically thick matter. In addition, we show that the presence of very hot (kT=1 MeV) cores in plasmas leads to spectra exibiting high energy tails similar to those observed from Galactic black-hole candidates.Comment: 11 pages, uuencoded gziped postscript, ApJ Letters in pres