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Brain segmentation from neonatal MRI images is a very challenging task due to large changes in the shape of cerebral structures and variations in signal intensities reflecting the gestational process. In this context, there is a clear need for segmentation techniques that are robust to variations in image contrast and to the spatial configuration of anatomical structures. In this work, we evaluate the potential of synthetic learning, a contrast‐independent model trained using synthetic images generated from the ground truth labels of very few subjects. We base our experiments on the dataset released by the developmental Human Connectome Project, for which high‐quality images are available for more than 700 babies aged between 26 and 45 weeks postconception. First, we confirm the impressive performance of a standard UNet trained on a few volumes, but also confirm that such models learn intensity‐related features specific to the training domain. We then confirm the robustness of the synthetic learning approach to variations in image contrast. However, we observe a clear influence of the age of the baby on the predictions. We improve the performance of this model by enriching the synthetic training set with realistic motion artifacts and over‐segmentation of the white matter. Based on extensive visual assessment, we argue that the better performance of the model trained on real T2w data may be due to systematic errors in the ground truth. We propose an original experiment allowing us to show that learning from real data will reproduce any systematic bias affecting the training set, while synthetic models can avoid this limitation. Overall, our experiments confirm that synthetic learning is an effective solution for segmenting neonatal brain MRI. Our adapted synthetic learning approach combines key features that will be instrumental for large multisite studies and clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mouse‐tracking has been taken as a real‐time window on different aspects of human decision‐making processes, whether purely semantic information affects response conflict at the level of motor output as measured through mouse movements is still unknown. Here, across two experiments, we investigated the effects of semantic knowledge by predicting participants' performance in a standard keyboard task and in a mouse‐tracking task through distributional semantics, a usage‐based modeling approach to meaning. In Experiment 1, participants were shown word pairs and were required to perform a two‐alternative forced choice task selecting either the more abstract or the more concrete word, using standard keyboard presses. In Experiment 2, participants performed the same task, yet this time response selection was achieved by moving the computer mouse. Results showed that the involvement of semantic components in the task at hand is observable using both standard reaction times (Experiment 1) as well as using indexes extracted from mouse trajectories (Experiment 2). In particular, mouse trajectories reflected the response conflict and its temporal evolution, with a larger deviation for increasing word semantic relatedness. These findings support the validity of mouse‐tracking as a method to detect deep and implicit decision‐making features. Additionally, by demonstrating that a usage‐based model of meaning can account for the different degrees of cognitive conflict associated with task achievement, these findings testify the impact of the human semantic memory on decision‐making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal event localisation (TEL) has recently attracted increasing attention due to the rapid development of video platforms. Existing methods are based on either fully/weakly supervised or unsupervised learning, and thus they rely on expensive data annotation and time‐consuming training. Moreover, these models, which are trained on specific domain data, limit the model generalisation to data distribution shifts. To cope with these difficulties, the authors propose a zero‐shot TEL method that can operate without training data or annotations. Leveraging large‐scale vision and language pre‐trained models, for example, CLIP, we solve the two key problems: (1) how to find the relevant region where the event is likely to occur; (2) how to determine event duration after we find the relevant region. Query guided optimisation for local frame relevance relying on the query‐to‐frame relationship is proposed to find the most relevant frame region where the event is most likely to occur. Proposal generation method relying on the frame‐to‐frame relationship is proposed to determine the event duration. The authors also propose a greedy event sampling strategy to predict multiple durations with high reliability for the given event. The authors' methodology is unique, offering a label‐free, training‐free, and domain‐free approach. It enables the application of TEL purely at the testing stage. The practical results show it achieves competitive performance on the standard Charades‐STA and ActivityCaptions datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Content‐based image retrieval (CBIR) is the problem of searching for items in an image database that are similar to the query image. Most of the existing image retrieval methods are trained based on metric learning loss functions (e.g. contrastive loss or triplet loss), however, which require the use of hard sample mining strategies (HMS) to better train the model. The HMS implies that picking out hard positive or negative samples increases the complexity of model training and requires a large amount of additional training time. To address this issue, lessons from recent work are leveraged on representation learning and a model called GS is proposed that combines the state‐of‐the‐art Generalized‐Mean (GeM) pooling and the smoothed average precision (AP). The entire network can be learned end‐to‐end by approximating the non‐differentiable AP function to a differentiable one‐without mining hard samples, only image‐level annotations. A model named GSA is also presented which achieves excellent retrieval performance jointly trained by two various loss functions. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and demonstrate the competitive performance on a common standard image retrieval dataset (Revisited Oxford and Paris). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power‐Flow (PF) solution in isolated microgrids has attracted notable attention recently, because these systems present various particularities compared with the traditional PF solution in large meshed transmission networks. In this sense, this paper develops a novel Newton‐like PF solver for isolated microgrids. The new proposal is based on the Modified Midpoint method and shows high convergence order with relatively low computational burden. These characteristics bring superior theoretical performance compared with the standard Newton–Raphson (NR) method and other high order techniques, which has been conventionally used. Extensive simulations are performed on various small‐, and large‐scale benchmark Microgrids under different loading conditions and R/X ratios. Results provided serve to confirm the theoretical features of the developed solver, outperforming the NR technique as well as other recently developed solvers in all the studied systems with acceptable reliability even under high stressed conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals regulate their nutrient consumption to maximize the expression of fitness traits with competing nutritional needs ("nutritional trade‐offs"). Nutritional trade‐offs have been studied using a response surface modeling approach known as the Geometric Framework for nutrition (GF). Current experimental design in GF studies does not explore the entire area of the nutritional space resulting in performance landscapes that may be incomplete. This hampers our ability to understand the properties of the performance landscape (e.g., peak shape) from which meaningful biological insights can be obtained. Here, I tested alternative experimental designs to explore the full range of the performance landscape in GF studies. I compared the performance of the standard GF design strategy with three alternatives: hexagonal, square, and random points grid strategies with respect to their accuracy in reconstructing baseline performance landscapes from a landmark GF dataset. I showed that standard GF design did not reconstruct the properties of baseline performance landscape appropriately particularly for traits that respond strongly to the interaction between nutrients. Moreover, the peak estimates in the reconstructed performance landscape using standard GF design were accurate in terms of the nutrient ratio but incomplete in terms of peak shape. All other grid designs provided more accurate reconstructions of the baseline performance landscape while also providing accurate estimates of nutrient ratio and peak shape. Thus, alternative experimental designs can maximize information from performance landscapes in GF studies, enabling reliable biological insights into nutritional trade‐offs and physiological limits within and across species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have the ability to learn surprisingly complicated statistical information in a variety of modalities and situations, often based on relatively little input. These statistical learning (SL) skills appear to underlie many kinds of learning, but despite their ubiquity, we still do not fully understand precisely what SL is and what individual differences on SL tasks reflect. Here, we present experimental work suggesting that at least some individual differences arise from stimulus‐specific variation in perceptual fluency: the ability to rapidly or efficiently code and remember the stimuli that SL occurs over. Experiment 1 demonstrates that participants show improved SL when the stimuli are simple and familiar; Experiment 2 shows that this improvement is not evident for simple but unfamiliar stimuli; and Experiment 3 shows that for the same stimuli (Chinese characters), SL is higher for people who are familiar with them (Chinese speakers) than those who are not (English speakers matched on age and education level). Overall, our findings indicate that performance on a standard SL task varies substantially within the same (visual) modality as a function of whether the stimuli involved are familiar or not, independent of stimulus complexity. Moreover, test–retest correlations of performance in an SL task using stimuli of the same level of familiarity (but distinct items) are stronger than correlations across the same task with stimuli of different levels of familiarity. Finally, we demonstrate that SL performance is predicted by an independent measure of stimulus‐specific perceptual fluency that contains no SL component at all. Our results suggest that a key component of SL performance may be related to stimulus‐specific processing and familiarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial transcriptomics is considered as an important part of spatiotemporal molecular images to bridge molecular information with clinical images. Of those potentials and opportunities, the excellent quality of human sample preparation and handling will ensure the precise and reliable information generated from clinical spatial transcriptome. The present study aims at defining potential factors that might influence the quality of spatial transcriptomics in lung cancer, para‐cancer, or normal tissues, pathological images of sections and the RNA integrity before spatial transcriptome sequencing. We categorised potential influencing factors from clinical aspects, including patient selection, pathological definition, surgical types, sample harvest, temporary preservation conditions and solutions, frozen approaches, transport and storage conditions and duration. We emphasis on the relationship between the combination of histological scores with RNA integrity number (RIN) and the unique molecular identifier (UMI), which is determines the quality of of spatial transcriptomics; however, we did not find significantly relevance between them. Our results showed that isolated times and dry conditions of sample are critical for the UMI and the quality of spatial transcriptomic samples. Thus, clinical procedures of sample preparation should be furthermore optimised and standardised as new standards of operation performance for clinical spatial transcriptome. Our data suggested that the temporary preservation time and condition of samples at operation room should be within 30 min and in 'dry' status. The direct cryo‐preservation within OCT media for human lung sample is recommended. Thus, we believe that clinical spatial transcriptome will be a decisive approach and bridge in the development of spatiotemporal molecular images and provide new insights for understanding molecular mechanisms of diseases at multi‐orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kappa‐correction is an easy‐to‐use method to correct for residual ionospheric errors in radio occultation (RO) data. It is a simple empirical model term that only depends on readily available data. While its basic utility was well proven in previous studies, including a recent predecessor study on RO climatologies under solar cycle variations, its performance for individual RO profile correction under diverse and extreme ionization conditions is unclear so far. Here we tackle this gap and focus on investigating (extremely) low and high solar activity and ionization conditions of individual RO events, including inspection of ionospheric symmetry between inbound and outbound raypaths. Using a global multi‐year ensemble of MetOp‐A and GRACE‐A RO events over 2008–2015 as basis, we applied a sampling approach leading to six characteristic condition cases. These cases also relate to day and night time variations and geographic variations from the equatorial to the high latitude region. We inspected the kappa‐correction and its performance relative to the standard bending angle correction for RO‐retrieved stratospheric profiles and found mean deviations in temperature of near −0.3 K in the upper stratosphere (40–45 km) for high ionization conditions, with extreme deviations exceeding −2 K for strong inbound/outbound asymmetry. The kappa‐correction term itself reaches a mean value near 0.05 μrad under these high conditions. Low solar activity and ionization conditions lead to a mean correction smaller than 0.005 μrad and mean temperature deviations smaller than 0.02 K. An intercomparison to other quality datasets, predominantly showed a decrease in mean temperature difference when applying the kappa‐correction. Key Points: The kappa‐correction of radio occultation profiles is explored for low and high ionization, solar activity, and asymmetryThe mean correction is most relevant under high ionization and symmetry, reaching near 0.05 μrad around 50 kmIntercomparison with other datasets shows it predominantly decreases retrieved stratospheric temperature errors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sonographers demonstrate a high standard of diagnostic performance and work with a considerable degree of professional independence. In Australasia, sonographers typically generate a preliminary report which is reviewed by the radiologist who issues a final report. The aim of this study was to determine whether radiologist's review is required in cases reported as normal by the sonographer. Methods: This study was a retrospective review of 1000 abdominal US examinations considered normal by sonographers that were subsequently reported by radiologists. Any findings reported by radiologists that were not reported by sonographers were analysed and separated into errors or discrepancies according to commonly accepted definition. Results: The 1000 abdominal examinations included 244 complete abdominal, 200 hepatobiliary, 506 urinary tract and 50 other abdominal examinations. Patients' age ranged from < 1 to 94 years (mean = 35 years, median = 32 years). US examinations were performed by any one of 14 sonographers with 1–21 years (mean = 6 years, median = 7 years) of clinical experience. Two diagnostic errors were made by sonographers and two errors by radiologists. In no single case did the radiologist uncover a case of an acute or serious illness, illness requiring admission or urgent clinical review, nor did the radiologist identify the cause for the presenting symptoms. Eighteen discrepancies were found, but these were of trivial nature and most were rated by specialist clinicians as irrelevant. Conclusion: Sonographers are accurate in distinguishing normal abdominal US examinations. The involvement of a radiologist in a second reading of normal abdominal US examinations is unnecessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of development projects (e.g., new roads, mines, dams) are frequently required to assess and manage their impacts on threatened biodiversity. Here, we propose that the environmental legislation and standards that mandate such assessments are failing those threatened species and ecological communities listed as vulnerable. Using a case study of Australia's key environmental legislation, we highlight that vulnerable ecological communities receive no statutory protection, while vulnerable species are held to a less stringent standard in the impact assessment process compared with those that are endangered or critically endangered. In the 19 years since Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was enacted, four times as many vulnerable species have declined in their threat status than have improved. Beyond Australia, we demonstrate the global relevance of this issue, as it applies to internationally recognized best practice impact assessment guidelines. These cases provide a cautionary tale: without greater attention and stricter assessment criteria in the impact assessment process, the vulnerable species of today risk becoming the endangered species of tomorrow, with all the attendant costs and missed opportunities for recovery that this implies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a well‐established therapeutic management programme for patients with chronic lung disease. Despite good clinical evidence, patient engagement can be poor. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the number of patients who are referred to PR at a District General Hospital, explore barriers and facilitators to attending and completing and identify strategies for improvement. Methods: All patients invited to attend PR in the calendar year 2016 were included in an analysis (N = 281). A structured questionnaire composed of barriers and facilitators was administered to patients that did not attend (non‐attenders, N = 20) and those that attended but did not complete the programme (non‐completers/"drop‐outs," N = 13). Improvement strategies were identified and implemented followed by analysis of patients invited to attend in 2017 and 2018. Results: Age, sex and smoking status are factors that affect both attendance and completion rates of patients attending PR. In our analysis, we were able to demonstrate that lack of awareness and low perceived benefits were important barriers for non‐attendance. In addition, overall uptake rate was improved but at the expense of completion rate. Conclusion: Our local non‐attendance rate in 2016 was 42%, with strategies aimed at improving patient and physician information, this was reduced to 11% (2018), below the national United Kingdom average. Unexpectedly, there was a worsening of completion rates and this raises questions about both appropriateness of referrals and whether completion rate rather than non‐attendance rate should be used as a performance indicator and standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Emergency Medicine (EM) Milestone Project provides guidance for assessment of resident trainee airway management proficiency (PC10). Although milestones provide a general structure for assessment, they do not define performance standards. The objective of this project was to establish comprehensive airway management performance standards for EM trainees at both novice and mastery levels of proficiency. Methods: Comprehensive airway management standards were derived using standard‐setting procedures. A panel of residency education and airway management experts was convened to determine how trainees would be expected to perform on 51 individual tasks in a standardized airway management simulation encompassing preparation, endotracheal intubation, backup airway use, and ventilation. Experts participated in facilitated exercises in which they were asked to 1) define which items were critical for patient safety, 2) predict the performance of a "novice" learner, and 3) predict the performance of a "mastery" learner nearing independent practice. Experts were given a worksheet to complete and descriptive statistics were calculated using STATA 14. Results: Experts identified 39 of 51 (76%) airway management items as critical for patient safety. Experts also noted that novice trainees do not need to complete all the items deemed to be critical prior to starting practice since they will be supervised by a board‐certified EM physician. In contrast, mastery‐level trainees would be expected to successfully complete not only the critical tasks, but also nearly all the items in the assessment (49/51, 96%) since they are nearing independent practice. Conclusion: In this study, we established EM resident performance standards for comprehensive airway management during a simulation scenario. Future work will focus on validating these performance standards in current resident trainees as they move from simulation to actual patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors mainly discuss the robust signal recovery by ℓ1−2 minimisation with incorporating prior support information, which is not considered in previous works. A robust recovery condition is established and an recovery error estimation is obtained, in particular, the obtained results generalise the state-of-the-art ones. In addition, by proposing a modified algorithm, the numerical experiments show that incorporating prior support information for ℓ1−2 minimisation exhibits better recovery performance than standard ℓ1−2 minimisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To identify high-performance work practices ( HPWP) associated with high frontline health care worker ( FLW) job satisfaction and perceived quality of care. Methods Cross-sectional survey data from 661 FLWs in 13 large health care employers were collected between 2007 and 2008 and analyzed using both regression and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Principal Findings Supervisor support and team-based work practices were identified as necessary for high job satisfaction and high quality of care but not sufficient to achieve these outcomes unless implemented in tandem with other HPWP. Several configurations of HPWP were associated with either high job satisfaction or high quality of care. However, only one configuration of HPWP was sufficient for both: the combination of supervisor support, performance-based incentives, team-based work, and flexible work. These findings were consistent even after controlling for FLW demographics and employer type. Additional research is needed to clarify whether HPWP have differential effects on quality of care in direct care versus administrative workers. Conclusions High-performance work practices that integrate FLWs in health care teams and provide FLWs with opportunities for participative decision making can positively influence job satisfaction and perceived quality of care, but only when implemented as bundles of complementary policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision makers always lay great emphasis on performance evaluation upon a group of peer business units to pick out the best performer. Standard data envelopment analysis models can evaluate the relative efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) and distinguish efficient ones from inefficient ones. However, when there are more than one efficient DMU, it is impossible to rank all of them solely according to standard efficiency scores. In this paper, a new method for fully ranking all DMUs is proposed, which is based on the combination of each efficient DMU's influence on all the other DMUs and the standard efficiency scores. This method is effective in helping decision makers differentiate all units' performance thoroughly and select the best performer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines team performance as affected by various trusting relationships: trust between team members and the team's trust in their direct manager and in top management. Data for the study were collected from a survey of 690 professional elite athletes (belonging to 59 different sports clubs) playing in the regular, top professional Spanish leagues. The model was tested at the team level. Findings reveal that team member trust with respect to the different foci has both a direct and indirect effect on team performance, and that team player trust and cohesion play a mediating role. This study illustrates the dynamic relationship within teams, and, as such, trust among teammates mediates the relationship between trust in the coach as well as team cohesion in determining team performance. The implications for managing teams in other contexts are also evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical professionals are a community of highly educated individuals with a commitment to a core set of ideals and principles. This community provides both technical and ethical socialization. The ideal physician is confident, empathic, forthright, respectful, and thorough. These ideals allow us to define broadly “the excellence” of being a physician. At the core of these ideals is the ability to be empathic. Empathy exhibits itself in attributes of an individual's moral character and also in actions that actualize and support communal life. Empathy, however, can be diminished or even lost and must be nurtured on an ongoing basis. The development of ethical physicians is strongly linked to experiences in the training period. Moral traits are situation-sensitive psychological and behavioral dispositions. The clinical environment of medical training programs can be so intense as to lead to conditions that may actually deprofessionalize trainees. Creating a clinical environment that is ethically nurturing and sustaining is an indispensable component of practicing medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research suggests the important role of gender in emotional labour, its effect on the relationship between emotional labour demands and wages has not been examined explicitly. The current study investigates this relationship by testing hypotheses derived from theories of vocational choice and labour market supply and demand. Hypotheses are tested using a unique within-person, between-jobs longitudinal dataset with information on two jobs for each worker in a national sample of U.S. workers (N = 5,488). After controlling for relevant variables related to wages, results suggest men incur wage penalties of approximately 6% when moving to occupations with higher emotional labour demands. Women do not experience statistically significant wage effects from moving to an occupation with higher emotional labour demands. These findings are discussed and interpreted based on the theoretical frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between team climate and team performance is moderated by climate strength. The study sample was composed of 155 bank branches, and a two-wave panel design was implemented. We measured four team climate facets (support, innovation, goal achievement and enabling formalization). We obtained two subjective indicators of team performance (ratings provided by team members and by team managers) and a financial indicator of team performance. Seven out of the 12 interaction effects tested were statistically significant and showed the expected sign. When financial team performance was the criterion, only the interaction term was significant. This suggests that only strong climates are related to financial team performance over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study conducted in two auto-parts after-market distribution centres, immediate performance goals and feedback were delivered to employees in a warehouse on wireless vehicle-mounted computers. Engineered labour standards (ELS) calculated work-unit goal times and presented the driver with immediate performance feedback. Ultimately, the ELS feedback was linked to the company's forklift driver team pallet-per-hour quota achievement. Replenishment performance for forklift drivers (N = 12) was improved by 2.14 pallets per hour when an intervention package that included the depiction of goal times and immediate performance feedback on wireless vehicle- mounted computers and a newly developed ELS. The implications of these findings, limitations, and safety issues are discussed in terms of operational issues regarding ELS in large industrial settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practical rationality is best regarded as a virtue: an excellence in the exercise of one’s cognitive capacities in one’s practical endeavors. The author develops this idea so as to yield a Humean conception of practical rationality. Nevertheless, one of the crucial features of the approach is not distinctively Humean and sets it apart from the most familiar neo-Humean approaches: an agent’s practical rationality has to do with the presence and form of his cognitive activity, as well as with how it engages his emotional and motivational states, rather than with the impact that his actions have on his utility or with how his actions relate to his expected utility. The approach also contrasts with full-information accounts of rationality. The paper ends with a discussion of our interest in operating with the conception of practical rationality that emerges from this approach, even if it is so demanding that it would be humanly impossible to be perfectly practically rational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although much of the systematic, over-time research on the presidency has focused on presidential approval and how it varies in response to economic conditions and world events, there is growing interest in the impact that the public's character evaluations of the president can have on presidential approval. In an age when “image is everything,” it is important to understand how these character evaluations of the president vary over time and to assess their impact on presidential approval. Here, I develop a measure of the favorability of the president and show its utility for studying the personal dimension of the public's assessment of the president and its impact on the president's job performance rating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the approaches for and benefits of CUSUM as a tool for ongoing assessment of clinical performance. CUSUM which stands for the cumulative sums method has been the most commonly used process control methods in medicine along with the sequential probability ratio test and the exponentially weighted moving average. Key considerations, processes and implications of CUSUM for improving clinical performance are cited.

The article discusses the implications of Immanuel Kant's moral humility for the perception of Aristotle and Saint Paul the Apostle that opposes traditional religious conceptions of humility. The Kantian moral humility has opposed Saint Paul who exhorts readers to humility over pride and Aristotle's perception that happy life is a life of human excellence which excellence based from humility and empty vanity. It was emphasized that Kant has acclaimed that virtue is attaching power, strength and authority emphasizing love of honor as the constant companion of virtue. It was affirmed that Kantian reflection on moral exemplars is necessary in the moral education of children and people.

A supervisor's behaviour may not be the only factor that determines the performance of team members (Kerr & Jermier, 1978). Taking this postulation as a basis, we formulated a model to describe how service climate moderates the effects of the leadership behaviour of supervisors. When the organization and working environment are not conducive to providing a good service to colleagues and customers, the supervisor's leadership behaviour makes an important difference. However, when the service climate is good, a supervisor's leadership behaviour makes no substantial difference. This hypothesis was supported in an examination of the service quality of 511 frontline service providers as sampled from 55 work groups in 6 service organizations. The employee service quality was low when both the service climate and the supervisor's leadership behaviour were lacking. However, when the service climate was unfavourable, effective leadership behaviour played a compensatory role in maintaining performance standards towards external customers. When the leadership was ineffective, a favourable service climate nullified the negative effect on service quality to internal customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lectures and two types of video modeling were compared to determine their relative effectiveness in training 3 staff members to conduct functional analysis sessions. Video modeling that contained a larger number of therapist exemplars resulted in mastery-level performance eight of the nine times it was introduced, whereas neither lectures nor partial video modeling produced significant improvements in performance. Results demonstrated that video modeling provided an effective training strategy but only when a wide range of exemplars of potential therapist behaviors were depicted in the videotape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined reactivity of staff behavior to observations of their work performance. After training 2 job coaches to reduce completion of break activities for supported workers, we evaluated job-coach behavior using both conspicuous and inconspicuous observations. Results indicated that both coaches completed none of the activities when observations were conspicuous but most of the activities when observations were inconspicuous. Subsequently, job coaches were taught to self-record their performances, and their completion of activities remained low with inconspicuous observations. Implications of reactivity are discussed for investigations that target staff behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research investigated questions that persist regarding the criterion-related and construct validity of situational (SI) versus past-behaviour (PBI) structured interview formats in predicting the job performance of managers. Analyses of data collected from 157 applicants to managerial positions showed that the PBI format significantly predicted job performance ratings (r = .32, p < .01), whereas the SI format did not (r = .09, ns). Investigation of potential construct differences between the SI and PBI formats showed that the PBI was more highly related to manager-relevant cognitive ability measures, assessment centre exercises and personality traits, as compared with the SI. Such differences help to explain the predictive validity differences between the SI and PBI observed in current and previous research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effectiveness of equating with very small samples using the random groups design. Of particular interest was equating accuracy at specific scores where performance standards might be set. Two sets of simulations were carried out, one in which the two forms were identical and one in which they differed by a tenth of a standard deviation in overall difficulty. These forms were equated using mean equating, linear equating, unsmoothed equipercentile equating, and equipercentile equating using two through six moments of log-linear presmoothing with samples of 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, and 200. The results indicated that identity equating was preferable to any equating method when samples were as small as 25. For samples of 50 and above, the choice of an equating method over identity equating depended on the location of the passing score relative to examinee performance. If passing scores were located below the mean, where data were sparser, mean equating produced the smallest percentage of misclassified examinees. For passing scores near the mean, all methods produced similar results with linear equating being the most accurate. For passing scores above the mean, equipercentile equating with 2- and 3-moment presmoothing were the best equating methods. Higher levels of presmoothing did not improve the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the criterion validity of the Big Five personality dimensions when assessed using Five-Factor Model (FFM)-based inventories and non-FFM-based inventories. A large database consisting of American as well as European validity studies was meta-analysed. The results showed that for conscientiousness and emotional stability, the FFM-based inventories had greater criterion validity than the non FFM-based inventories. Conscientiousness showed an operational validity of .28 (N=19,460, 90% CV=.07) for FFM-based inventories and .18 (N=5,874, 90% CV= 2.04) for non-FFM inventories. Emotional stability showed an operational validity of .16 (N=10,786, 90% CV=.04) versus .05 (N=4,541, 90% CV= 2.05) for FFM and non-FFM-based inventories, respectively. No relevant differences emerged for extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. From a practical point of view, these findings suggest that practitioners should use inventories based on the FFM in order to make personnel selection decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research investigating attributional style and job performance among sales staff has been limited by its focus on specific sales roles: notably selling insurance by telephone. Important questions therefore remain regarding the mechanism by which attributions influence job performance in sales roles more generally. This paper describes a field study comparing two attributional models of job performance: (1) a learned helplessness (LH) model, and (2) an achievement motivation (AM) model. Managers' performance ratings were collected for 452 retail sales assistants who completed a job-specific attribution questionnaire and a work-satisfaction questionnaire. Results indicate that sales assistants who made more internal-controllable attributions for positive outcomes received higher performance ratings (r=.20, p<.01) and were more satisfied in their work (r=.12, p<.05). The findings provide support for an AM model of job performance among retail sales assistants. They suggest that more successful sales assistants proactively manage their environment in order to create opportunities for successful interactions with customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined predictors of 150 managers' attitudes toward a 360-degree feedback system and their degree of involvement in on- and off-the-job development activity in response to the feedback, as reported an average of 10 months following receipt of feedback. Three sets of predictors were: (a) feedback ratings from four sources (supervisor, peer, subordinate, self), (b) individual characteristics of the feedback recipients and, (c) perceived characteristics of the feedback recipients' work contexts. Despite adequate statistical power, few relationships were observed between feedback ratings and subsequent involvement in development activities and attitudes toward the feedback system. Three exceptions were a positive relationship between subordinate and peer ratings of managers and managers' attitudes toward the system as well as an interaction between self and peer ratings: the more unique or different peer ratings were compared to self-ratings, the more favourable ratee attitudes toward the system were. Other predictors of these dependent variables were: (I) a work context that includes people who are supportive of skill development (i.e. social support) and, (2) beliefs by feedback recipients that it is not only possible for people to improve their skills (i.e. incremental implicit theory of skill malleability), but also that they themselves are capable of improving and developing (i.e. self-efficacy for development). These results suggest that there are variables which are just as important (or possibly even more important) than differences in feedback level for predicting attitudes toward the feedback system and subsequent involvement in development activity following feedback. Practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance appraisal has widened as a concept and as a set of practices and in the form of performance management has become part of a more strategic approach to integrating HR activities and business policies. As a result of this, the research on the subject has moved beyond the limited confines of measurement issues and accuracy of performance ratings and has begun to focus more of social and motivational aspects of appraisal. This article identifies and discusses a number of themes and trends that together make up the developing research agenda for this field. It breaks these down in terms of the nature of appraisal and the context in which it operates. The former is considered in terms of contemporary thinking on the content of appraisal (contextual performance, goal orientation and self awareness) and the process of appraisal (appraiser-appraisee interaction, and multi-source feedback). The discussion of the context of appraisal concentrates on cultural differences and the impact of new technology. In reviewing these emerging areas of research, the article seeks to explore some of the implications for appraisal practice at both organizational and individual levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daily logs collected over a 10-week period from a small, nonrepresentative sample of young, childless married couples were examined. Housework was conceptualized as a daily decision predicated upon personal standards, social rhythms, and stress variables that shape the perception of need for housework. Findings indicate that home-based stress, stress from outside the home, and standards are independent, additive predictors of housework time. In addition, stress and standards interact in ways suggesting that stress modifies the meaning of performance. High home-based stress and low imported stress lead to more critical evaluations of ones' own performance and more monitoring of one's spouse's contributions. Husbands do more when wives do more, but only when wives import little stress from outside the home or perceive high demand for housework. Results are interpreted in terms of patterns of meaning and obligation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between work attitudes and individual job performance was investigated using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANNs use pattern recognition algorithms that are well suited to capturing nonlinear relationships among variables thereby providing a new perspective on research on this topic area. Results from the neural network analysis provided strong evidence of nonlinearity suggesting that nonlinear models are needed to understand the work attitude-job performance relationship. In so doing, the neural network model had greater predictive accuracy than did traditional OLS regression. Implications of this finding for theory development and future research were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judgmental standard-setting methods, such as the Angoff(1971) method, use item performance estimate as the basis for determining the minimum passing score (MPS). Therefore the accuracy of these item performance estimates is crucial to the validity of the resulting, MPS. Recent researchers, (Shepard. 1995: Impara & Plake, 1998: National Research Council, 1999) have called into question the ability of judges to make accurate item performance estimates for target subgroups of candidates, such as minimally competent candidates. The purpose of this study was to examine the intra-and inter-rater consistancy of item performance estimates from an Angoff standard setting. Results provide evidence that item performance estimates were consistent within and across panels within and across years. Factors that might have influenced this high degree of reliability in the item performance estimates in a standard setting study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN power devices, the p-GaN etching process to define the gate region is critical to device performance. In some cases, the remained p-GaN in the ungated region can exist as a result of under-etching, and can act like a charge reservoir in the p-GaN gate power device. In this reported work, the effect of this remained p-GaN layer is investigated for the first time. The main effect of the thick remained p-GaN on the ungated region is the increments of turn-off energy loss (Eoff) in spite of the similar turn-on energy loss (Eon). This is related to the hole trapping in the remained p-GaN region which is observed by the change of turn-off gate voltages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proved that the choice of normalisation gain, which is used to synthesise the predistortion function, has significant influence on the linearity performance of linearised power amplifiers. A one-step method is proposed to extract the optimal normalisation gain. The proposed method is directly derived from physical logics to keep the gain of predistortion function unity. Thus, it has much lower complexity compared to the scanning strategy in the conventional method and has easy implementation. A experimental test shows that the linearity performance of the proposed method is comparable to the optimal normalisation gain and also outperforms other published ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel probabilistic algorithm for low duty-cycle dynamic (mobile sensors) wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is proposed. The rapid development of smart phones and mobile sensors had fostered a demand for opportunistic encounter-based networking to support mobile social networking and proximity-based gaming. However, the performance of such applications was restricted by a lack of specialised neighbour discovery algorithms. For existing algorithms, even though the probabilistic algorithms have good performance in average discovery latency, when working with a low duty-cycle, the performance is not so encouraging. Deterministic algorithms can provide bound time for the worst discovery latency, but they sacrificed the average discovery latency. In response, a novel prime-set-based neighbour discovery algorithm (PSBA) is proposed. The PSBA is a probabilistic algorithm tailored to low duty-cycle dynamic WSNs. Leveraging on the certainty of the deterministic algorithm and the randomness of the probabilistic algorithm, the inherent long tail of the probabilistic algorithm can be improved. Also, the average discovery latency of the PSBA can be drastically reduced compared to existing algorithms, which precisely meets the requirements in low duty-cycle dynamic WSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the results of a two-year longitudinal study regarding the relationship between mental health and work performance. Mental health as a trait; Subject participation and results; Discussion and implications.

There is little information available on the performance of UK managers on the 16PF when administered as part of a selection procedure. The present paper reports the results of analyses of data from 1796 short-listed managers who were given the 16PE (Form A). The assessment was part of a selection procedure carried out for a wide range of clients by an executive recruitment agency. Normative analyses of these data are presented and effects related to age and gender are examined. Internal consistencies of both primary and secondary scales are presented and the problem of low primary reliabilities is discussed. Factor analysis of the primary scale scores produced five second-order factors which closely match the 16PF second-order factor scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the agreement between superior and subordinate performance ratings and the correlations between these performance ratings and standardized measures of job satisfaction. Subjects were 261 members of the fire service, representing three ranks in the organizational hierarchy: chiefs (N = 12), captains (N = 76), and firefighters (N = 173). Subjects completed performance ratings of both their superiors and subordinates, and standardized measures of job satisfaction. Results indicated significant agreement between superior (chief) and subordinate (firefighter) ratings of captains' performance. These performance ratings were also positively correlated with both subordinate (firefighter) and supervisor (captain) job satisfaction, particularly satisfaction with supervisors and with co-workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a labor market model that allows as special cases a market paying equilibrium wages, one paying disequilibrium efficiency wages, and a market combining the two. Our analysis indicates that industrial wage differentials are not necessarily evidence of efficiency wages. Such differentials may be explained by differences across industries in labor performance standards or in the accuracy with which worker effort can be measured. We do find, however, that the relationship between wages and dismissals can be used to distinguish a market paying equilibrium wages from one paying efficiency wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between judicial independence and the use of training and performance appraisal in the judiciary. Analysis of the principle of judicial independence; Focus on distinguishing between external and internal interference in judicial functions; Perception of judges of the threat from training and performance appraisal as external interference; Fallacy of the perception.

The article presents guidelines and suggestions on how preparation for tenure evaluation must begin in graduate school and how to continue those efforts during the first few years of an academic appointment. Young professionals in the family science field will be evaluated continually on their performance with the eventual outcome of determining whether or not they receive tenure. It is important to begin the process of developing a productive record in graduate school and build upon those efforts in the first years as a professional. It informs that tenure requirements are becoming increasingly stringent and are based on evaluation in a number of areas, including teaching, research, and service. It describes tenure track as probationary period during which a faculty member, who is fully qualified for an initial appointment at a certain academic rank, must demonstrate excellence in performance in teaching, research, and service. It adds that importance of quality teaching varies among institutions, but quality teaching should be a goal of all faculty.

Purpose: To examine the diagnostic ability of saccadic vector optokinetic perimetry (SVOP), a new eye tracking perimeter, by assessing its capacity to differentiate healthy and glaucomatous participants, and to compare performance to standard automated perimetry (SAP). Methods: A prospective case‐control study including patients with glaucoma and healthy volunteers recruited from the glaucoma clinic at a university hospital and from the Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE). Participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination and performed SAP and SVOP in both eyes with the order of testing randomised. Results: 61 eyes of 31 participants with glaucoma and 47 eyes of 24 healthy participants were included in the study. Average SAP mean deviation (MD) in glaucomatous eyes was ‐8.72 ± 7.37 dB, with average SAP and SVOP sensitivities of 23.28 ± 0.89 dB and 22.1 ± 4.25 dB respectively. There was strong correlation between average SAP and SVOP sensitivities (r = 0.951 , P<0.001). On average, SAP sensitivity was 1.16 ± 1.43 dB higher than SVOP sensitivity, with 95% limits of agreement of ‐1.64 to 3.96 dB. SVOP average sensitivity had excellent ability to differentiate healthy and glaucomatous eyes with an AUC of 0.90 (95% CI 0.84 to 0.96), which was not significantly different to the performance of SAP average sensitivity (AUC = 0.92, 95% CI.0.86 to 0.97, P = 0.60) (Figure 6). SVOP had 85.2% sensitivity for 80% specificity, compared to 86.9% sensitivity for 80% specificity for SAP. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that eye tracking perimetry using SVOP could offer a feasible alternative to SAP for detection of glaucoma. Overall, there was good agreement between differential light sensitivity values measured using SVOP and those measured using SAP, and average SVOP and SAP sensitivities had similarly good ability to differentiate glaucomatous and healthy eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing resource demands are driving rapid development to new frontiers in developing countries with important biological diversity. The mitigation hierarchy is a critical tool to manage the impacts of development projects on biodiversity, embedded into numerous government, lender, and corporate policies. However, implementation faces obstacles, in particular deciding when impacts should be avoided. Offset design, the last step, faces difficult questions about location of offsets relative to impacts and how to address uncertainty and conflicts with future development. Planning for conservation and development are typically separate processes, and environmental impact assessments are typically conducted on a project‐by‐project basis that does not consider the landscape context and cumulative impacts of multiple projects. Here we present a mitigation framework for Mongolia with an example from the Mongolian Gobi Desert, a landscape with globally significant biodiversity facing rapid development. This landscape‐level planning approach has been replicated across Mongolia to produce a national level mitigation framework to guide both the government policy commitment to protect 30% of all natural lands and application of the mitigation hierarchy. This has led to protection of 177,000 km2 in new national and local protected areas, and development of an offset design mechanism based on the conservation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a significant problem for some patients presenting with snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. The ‘golden standard’ therapy in OSAS is considered to be nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The effects of CPAP on work performance in sleep apnoics has not been studied previously. One hundred and fifty-two patients with OSAS participated in an open label study. The patients were diagnosed as suffering from severe OSAS after they underwent overnight polysomnography showing that their apnea indexes were at least 20. The participants answered four questions concerning self-perceived work performance prior to and after using CPAP during 6 months. There were highly statistically significant decreases (P < 0.000001) in work performance difficulties as graded by the patient. The results of this study indicate that CPAP treatment improves subjective work performance in patients suffering from OSAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transfer function of the flyback continuous conduction mode (CCM) inverter has a right-half-plane (RHP) zero that may severely degrade the control performance. If the conventional proportional- integral controller is applied, its control gain is limited by the existence of RHP zero and the inverter suffers from output current distortion. The value of the nominal duty has been used as a feedforward controller to eliminate the effect of disturbances and reduce the burden of the feedback controller. However, the conventional nominal duty performed poorly when it was utilised as a feedforward controller in flyback CCM inverter. A new nominal duty is proposed for single-stage flyback CCM inverter. Its output tracking performance is compared with that of the conventional nominal duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]