Virtual Teams: Work/Life Challenges - Keeping Remote Employees Engaged

Remotely located employees are quickly becoming a norm in the modern workplace in response to evidence that telecommuters save on costs and produce more efficiently. There are many intangible benefits also felt with the increasing prevalence of remote employees. Telecommuters are more satisfied with their work/life balance and report lower rates of job burnout. Though there are also many well-identified setbacks remotely located managers and employees may face. Employers see the most success with telecommuting by first recruiting the people best fit to fill these remote roles. However, the process of developing remote employees is a process that requires constant monitoring. The purpose of this paper is to identify the best practices being used by companies to keep remote employees engaged while simultaneously avoiding burnout

Worldsheet scattering in AdS(3)/CFT(2)

We confront the recently proposed exact S-matrices for AdS(3)/CFT(2) with direct worldsheet calculations. Utilizing the BMN and Near Flat Space (NFS) expansions for strings on AdS(3) x S(3) x S(3) x S(1) and AdS(3) x S(3) x T(4) we compute both tree-level and one-loop scattering amplitudes. Up to some minor issues we find nice agreement in the tree-level sector. At the one-loop level however we find that certain non-zero tree-level processes, which are not visible in the exact solution, contribute, via the optical theorem, and give an apparent mismatch for certain amplitudes. Furthermore we find that a proposed one-loop modification of the dressing phase correctly reproduces the worldsheet calculation while the standard Hernandez-Lopez phase does not. We also compute several massless to massless processes.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; v2: Some clarifications in comparison to literatur

Extrinsic curvature effects in brane-world scenarios

We consider models of bosons on curved 3+1 dimensional space-time embedded in a higher dimensional flat ambient space. We propose to derive (rather than postulate) equations of motions by assuming that a standard Klein-Gordon field on ambient space is restricted to space-time by a strong confining potential. This leads to a modified Klein-Gordon equation on space-time which includes, in addition to the standard terms, a term with a so-called induced potential which depends on intrinsic- and extrinsic curvature of the embedded space-time but not on the details of the confining potential. We compute this induced potential for natural, simple embeddings of Schwarzschild- and Robertson-Walker space-times. We also discuss possible observable implications of our results and, in particular, propose and study an extension of a standard model of cosmological inflation taking into account extrinsic curvature effects. We show that the modified model allows for a solution where the scaling function vanishes like a power law with exponent 0.6830.. at some initial time.Comment: 24 pages; v2: typos correcte

Supervisees' and supervisors' experiences of group climate in group supervision in psychotherapy. Effects of admission procedure

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of two different admission procedures (high school grades/scholastic aptitude test (SAT) versus high school grades/SAT + interview) to a program in professional psychology on students' and supervisors' experiences of the group climate in psychotherapy supervision groups during an eighteen-month clinical practicum. A self-rating scale constructed to measure experiences of group climate in group supervision in psychotherapy was used. The results showed that students who were admitted based on the alternative admission procedure reported that their supervision groups had a more beneficial climate compared to those who were admitted based on high school grades/SAT. The evaluation suggested that admission via interviews together with high school grades/SAT is a good alternative to traditional admission procedures

The AdS(n) x S(n) x T(10-2n) BMN string at two loops

We calculate the two-loop correction to the dispersion relation for worldsheet modes of the BMN string in AdS(n) x S(n) x T(10-2n) for n=2,3,5. For the massive modes the result agrees with the exact dispersion relation derived from symmetry considerations with no correction to the interpolating function h. For the massless modes in AdS(3) x S(3) x T(4) however our result does not match what one expects from the corresponding symmetry based analysis. We also derive the S-matrix for massless modes up to the one-loop order. The scattering phase is given by the massless limit of the Hernandez-Lopez phase. In addition we compute a certain massless S-matrix element at two loops and show that it vanishes suggesting that the two-loop phase in the massless sector is zero.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures; v2: References and comment on type IIB added, acknowledgements updated; v3: Comparison to proposed exact massless S-matrix in sec 5.3 corrected. Only non-trivial phase appears at one loop. Additional minor clarification

The Near-Flat-Space and BMN Limits for Strings in AdS4 x CP3 at One Loop

This paper studies type IIA string theory in AdS4 x CP3 in both the BMN limit and the Maldacena-Swanson or near-flat-space limit. We derive the simpler Lagrangian for the latter limit by taking a large worldsheet boost of the BMN theory. We then calculate one-loop corrections to the correlators of the various fields using both theories. In all cases the near-flat-space results agree with a limit of the BMN results, providing evidence for the quantum consistency of this truncation. The corrections can also be compared to an expansion of the exact dispersion relation, known from integrability apart from one interpolating function h(lambda). Here we see agreement with the results of McLoughlin, Roiban & Tseytlin, and we observe that it does not appear to be possible to fully implement the cutoff suggested by Gromov & Mikhaylov, although for some terms we can do so. In both the near-flat-space and BMN calculations there are some extra terms in the mass shifts which break supersymmetry. These terms are extremely sensitive to the cutoff used, and can perhaps be seen as a consequence of using dimensional regularisation.Comment: 32 page

From psychotherapist to supervisor

This study is a part of an ongoing research project examining group supervision in psychotherapy. The study was performed in a postgraduate training program for prospective supervisors. The two-year supervisor training program included theory seminars as well as group supervision of the prospective supervisor’s supervision of a trainee who had a patient in psychotherapy. The training program was based on psychoanalytic theory and the psychotherapy conducted was psychoanalytically oriented. Supervisees´ and supervisors´ experiences of the learning process, supervision format in group and supervisor styles were explored in semi-structured interviews. Both supervisees and supervisors emphasized the importance of a specific training program for psychotherapists who intend to work as supervisors. The didactic aspects of supervision were pointed out. The group format was experienced as particularly suitable for this training level. The “super-supervisor’s” style was important as a role model for the supervisors in training