Judgment: The Foundation of Professional Success.

Lists of core competencies or critical capabilities are popular and plentiful. This article makes the case that a single core competency or critical capability accounts for professional success: the exercise of judgment. Judgment is the critical determinant of the quality of professional decisions, actions, and evaluations. Practical models of judgment are presented. The elements and dynamics of judgment are detailed. Individual, group, and organization implications are explored. Coaching and consulting interventions are explained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

All-Optical Vestigial Sideband Generation Using a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

An all-optical setup to generate vestigial sideband signals based on self-phase modulation in a semiconductor optical amplifier is experimentally demonstrated at 10 Gb/s. Sideband suppressions higher than 15 dB are reported with improved eye opening. Wavelength-independent operation over 26 nm is demonstrated. Increased chromatic dispersion tolerance is verified: a receiver sensitivity penalty of 5.3 dB, relative to back-to-back, is obtained after transmission over 2720 ps/nm; whereas conventional double sideband is penalized by 4.0 dB after 1360 ps/nm     

Effects of solid retention time on the performance of submerged anoxic/oxic membrane bioreactor.

In this study, four similar bench-scale submerged Anoxic/Oxic Membrane Bioreactors (MBR) were used simultaneously to investigate the effects of solids retention time (SRT) on organic and nitrogen removal in MBR for treating domestic wastewater. COD removal efficiencies in all reactors were consistently above 94% under steady state conditions. Complete conversion of NH(4+)-N to NO(3-)-N was readily achieved over a feed NH(4+)-N concentration range of 30 to 50 mg/L. It was also observed that SRT did not significantly affect the nitrification in the MBR systems investigated. The average denitrification efficiencies for the 3, 5, 10 and 20 days SRT operations were 43.9, 32.6, 47.5 and 66.5%, respectively. In general, the average effluent nitrogen concentrations, which were mainly nitrate, were about 22.2, 27.6, 21.7 and 13.9 mg/L for the 3, 5, 10 and 20 days SRT systems, respectively. The rate of membrane fouling at 3 days SRT operation was more rapid than that observed at 5 days SRT. No fouling was noted in the 10 days and 20 days SRT systems during the entire period of study.     

Synthesis by sol-gel route and characterization of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia coatings for thermal barrier applications

This paper deals with the development of new synthesis techniques for functional materials such as Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) used in the field of thermal barriers coatings. Currently, Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) are manufactured by dry route technologies (EB-PVD or plasma spray) but such methods are directional and often require costly investments and complicated operations. We have carried out significant work aimed at developing sol-gel routes, which are nondirectional methods, to prepare, by suitable chemical modifications, nanocrystalline materials with a controlled morphology. The main advantage of this method is to decrease the crystallization temperature, much lower than the conventional processes, allowing the synthesis of reactive powders with nanometric particles size. In this paper, the formulation of an alkoxide sol has been optimized in order to obtain homogeneous YSZ films. Nature and quantity of binders have been studied. Superalloys have been then immersed in the sol and withdrawn at several controlled rates before being annealed at different temperatures. The films microstructures have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy. It appears that the combination of a slower withdrawal speed (17 cm/min) with a 3 wt.% content of DBP allows to obtain the most homogeneous and the thicker coatings. Moreover, SEM-FEG observations have shown that the deposit is present all over the rough surface of the substrate and is composed of two morphologies: a YSZ thin covering film and a thicker discontinuous layer duplicating the substrate topography.     

Neuronet Data Processing on the State of an Object After an Emergency

Neuronets are considered for processing data on the state of a potentially hazardous object after an emergency. An example is given of processing the data on the state of a potentially hazardous object in increments.Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 3, pp. 6–8, March, 2005.     

Distribution of investments in the stock market, information types, and algorithmic complexity

For a simplest mathematical model of a stock market, the problem of optimal distribution of investments among different securities (stocks, bonds, etc.) is considered. Our results, which are obtained in terms of algorithmic complexity, allow to discuss heuristically the properties of sufficiently complex security portfolios in the conditions of daily changing return rates. All considerations are given in the combinatorial framework and do not use any probabilistic models.