Forward-Thinking: HR\u27s Path To Improving Its Worth

[Excerpt] Human Resources has only just begun to move past its transactional roots into a truly strategic and value-adding role. Popular television characters like Toby from NBC’s The Office have all but glamorized HR, leaving individuals with a somewhat negative perception of the Human Resources function. When you add to this the personal interactions that individuals have had in the past with small and strictly transactional HR departments, it is understandable that these negative perceptions exist. For critics and skeptics of HR, these observations constitute reality. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. This essay will explore how focusing on a more results-driven analytical approach, adapting to an evolving workforce, and increasing visibility within the organization will help HR better convey its value and continue to evolve at all levels of the company

Method and apparatus for producing microshells

A method is described for forming hollow particles, or shells, of extremely small size. The shell material is heated to a molten temperature in the presence of a gas that is at least moderately soluble in the shell material, to form a solution of the molten shell material and the soluble gas. The solution is atomized to form a multiplicity of separate droplets that are cooled while in free fall. Cooling of a droplet from the outside traps the desolved gas and forces it to form a gas bubble at the center of the droplet which now forms a gas filled shell. The shell is reheated and then cooled in free fall, in an environment having a lower pressure than the gas pressure in the shell. This causes expansion of the shell and the formation of a shell having a small wall thickness compared to its diameter

The Effects of Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: A survey of the experiences and impact of marriage on same-sex couples

May 17th, 2009 marks the 5th year of marriage equality in the state of Massachusetts. To mark this anniversary, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health conducted the largest survey to date of married same-sex couples, the Health and Marriage Equality in Massachusetts (HMEM) survey. During the past year, four other states have extended marriage to same-sex couples and several other states are considering marriage legislation. The HMEM data allows us to address important questions that arise as other states consider whether to extend marriage to same-sex couples. The data provides answers to several key questions: Who is getting married? Why are same-sex couples getting married? What impact has marriage had on same-sex relationships? And, what impact has marriage had on the children of same-sex couples

The Fiscal Impact of Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Domestic Partners

This report finds that offering health and other benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees would add $41 million to the federal budget in the first year of coverage. Over ten years the report predicts the budgetary cost will be$675 million, a small percentage of the federal budget. The report also takes into account the added federal income taxes that will be paid by federal employees if they sign a partner up for health insurance. It estimates the cost of including partners in retirement benefits, work injury and death compensation, and travel and relocation expenses. Many benefits offered to federal employees, such as life insurance and family and medical leave, can be offered to domestic partners at no additional cost to the federal government

Factorization of e+e- Event Shape Distributions with Hadronic Final States in Soft Collinear Effective Theory

We present a new analysis of two-jet event shape distributions in soft collinear effective theory. Extending previous results, we observe that a large class of such distributions can be expressed in terms of vacuum matrix elements of operators in the effective theory. We match these matrix elements to the full theory in the two-jet limit without assuming factorization of the complete set of hadronic final states into independent sums over partonic collinear and soft states. We also briefly discuss the relationship of this approach to diagrammatic factorization in the full theory.Comment: 21 pages. Journal version. Defined an explicit thrust axis operator; clarified meaning of a delta function operato

Computerized Response Inhibition Training For Children With Trichotillomania

Evidence suggests that trichotillomania is characterized by impairment in response inhibition, which is the ability to suppress pre-potent/dominant but inappropriate responses. This study sought to test the feasibility of computerized response inhibition training for children with trichotillomania. Twenty-two children were randomized to the 8-session response inhibition training (RIT; n = 12) or a waitlisted control (WLT; n = 10). Primary outcomes were assessed by an independent evaluator, using the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I), and the NIMH Trichotillomania Severity (NIMH-TSS) and Impairment scales (NIMH-TIS) at pre, post-training/waiting, and 1-month follow-up. Relative to the WLT group, the RIT group showed a higher response rate (55% vs. 11%) on the CGI-I and a lower level of impairment on the NIMH-TIS, at post-training. Overall symptom reductions rates on the NIMH-TSS were 34% (RIT) vs. 21% (WLT) at post-training. The RIT\u27s therapeutic gains were maintained at 1-month follow-up, as indicated by the CGI-I responder status (= 66%), and a continuing reduction in symptom on the NIMH-TSS. This pattern of findings was also replicated by the 6 waitlisted children who received the same RIT intervention after post-waiting assessment. Results suggest that computerized RIT may be a potentially useful intervention for trichotillomania

Exclusive Radiative Decays of Upsilon in SCET

We study exclusive radiative decays of the $\Upsilon$ using soft-collinear effective theory and non-relativistic QCD. In contrast to inclusive radiative decays at the endpoint we find that color-octet contributions are power suppressed in exclusive decays, and can safely be neglected, greatly simplifying the analysis. We determine the complete set of Lorentz structures that can appear in the SCET Wilson coefficients and match onto them using results from a previous calculation. We run these coefficients from the scale \mups to the scale $\Lambda \sim 1 \textrm{GeV}$, thereby summing large logarithms. Finally we use our results to predict the ratio of branching fractions $B(\Upsilon \to \gamma f_2)/B(J/\psi \to \gamma f_2)$, $B(J/\psi \to \gamma f_2)/B(\psi' \to \gamma f_2)$, and the partial rate for $\Upsilon \to \gamma \pi \pi$.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures. Updated to reflect published versio

Transient x-ray absorption spectroscopy of hydrated halogen atom

Time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy monitors the transient species generated by one-photon detachment of an electron from aqueous bromide. Hydrated bromine atoms with a lifetime of ca. 17 ns were observed, nearly half of which react with excess Br- to form Br2-. The K-edge spectra of the Br atom and Br2- anion exhibit distinctive resonant transitions that are absent for the Br- precursor. The absorption spectra indicate that the solvent shell around a Br0 atom is defined primarily by hydrophobic interactions, in agreement with a Monte Carlo simulation of the solvent structure.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures + supplement, will be submitted to PR