In What Ways do Employee Business Resource Groups Positively Impact the Company\u27s Business Results?

[Excerpt] Employee resource groups (ERGs) are being utilized by 90% of Fortune 500 companies in their quest to create diverse and inclusive environments that reflect a changing workforce and marketplace. ERGs began as inward-looking affinity groups designed as safe spaces for underrepresented groups of employees and a means to recruit and retain diverse employees. ERGs are now becoming more strategic parts of the organization where their goals are mapped directly to the business’ objectives (Figure 1 highlights the evolution of ERGs). As these groups mature, businesses are now looking for new ways to utilize ERGs power and their diverse workforce to drive positive business results. Figure 2 highlights where businesses believe ERGs can have the most business impact

What are Companies Doing to Retain as Well as Develop People of Color and Women?

[Excerpt] Despite their best efforts, many corporations are unsuccessful in their attempts to create more inclusive environments that allow for progression and growth of women and minorities. More than 75% of CEOs include gender equality in their top ten business priorities, but gender outcomes across the largest companies are not changing. People of color represent 18% of directors and women of color represent only 4% of directors. Many leaders would theorize that this is a “pipeline” issue in that fewer qualified women and minorities are available in the workforce. However, the numbers just don’t support this hypothesis—the number of women and minorities in the workforce has been rising steadily since 1980; indeed, both groups have been in the workforce long enough to have been groomed for ascension to higher ranks. This research will identify key considerations for developing women and minorities as well as possible ways for building more inclusive mindsets

How are Pre-Hire Assessments Contributing to Unbiased and More Targeted, Successful Hires?

[Excerpt] New efforts to control unconscious biases are on the rise in business—some companies have already begun to transition towards removing the human element of recruiting by relying heavily on new tech platforms to help identify the right job candidates. These tools have evolved beyond the standard pen-and-paper assessment (see Appendix A) and come in new forms—gamification (e.g. Pymetrics) and AI-driven video interviewing (e.g. HireVue) just to name a few, which can provide an entirely digital recruiting experience for the candidate as well as the employer. However, this new “technology and talent” age does not come without its potential downfalls. This research will identify how companies are utilizing pre-hire assessments today while also explaining how these assessments are evolving

Cities versus agriculture: revisiting intersectoral water transfers, potential gains and conflicts

Water scarcity / Water demand / Water transfer / Water use / Water supply / Water allocation / Environmental effects / Water market

With This Ring, I Surrender: Politics, Religion, and Marriage in Shakespeare and Tudor England

The ideas I wish to explore are the overarching themes of politics, religion, and marriage in the Turor period under the rule of King Henry VIII from 1509 to 1547. The popular opinion of the period on Henry VIII\u27s behavior can be seen in William Shakespeare\u27s The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and Henry VIII

The Anelastic Approximation: Magnetic Buoyancy and Magnetoconvection

In this thesis I discuss a series of anelastic approximations and detail the assumptions used in the derivation. I derive an entropy and temperature formulation of the anelastic approximation along with a simplification to the entropy formulation introduced by Lantz (1992) and independently by Braginsky & Roberts (1995). I assess range of applicability of the anelastic approximation, which is often used in describing the dynamics of geophysical and astrophysical flows. I consider two linear problems: magnetoconvection and magnetic buoyancy and compare the fully compressible solutions with those determined by solving the anelastic problem. I further compare the Lantz-Braginsky simplification with the full anelastic formulation which I find to work well if and only if the atmosphere is nearly adiabatic. I find that for the magnetoconvection problem the anelastic approximation works well if the departure from adiabaticity is small (as expected) and determine where the approximation breaks down. When the magnetic field is large then the anelastic approximation produces results which are markedly different from the fully compressible results. I also investigate the effects of altering the boundary conditions from isothermal to isentropic and the effect of stratification on how some of the parameters scale with the Chandrasekhar number. The results for magnetic buoyancy are less straight-forward, with the accuracy of the approximation being determined by the growth rate of the instability. I argue that these results make it difficult to assess a priori whether the anelastic approximation will provide an accurate approximation to the fully compressible system for stably stratified problems. Thus, unlike the magnetoconvection problem, for magnetic buoyancy it is difficult to provide general rules as to when the anelastic approximation can be used. When the instability grows quickly or the magnetic field is large the results do not compare well with the fully compressible equations. I outline a method for a two-dimensional non-linear time-stepping computer program and explain some problems with current non-linear programs

Cities versus agriculture : revisiting intersectoral water transfers, potential gains and conflicts

The report is anchored in an annex that examines how cities round the world have in practice acquired water. While direct conflicts between urban and rural interests characterize some of the case studies presented (Ta'iz in Yemen being an extreme example), the empirical evidence suggests that, by-and-large, cities have been able to obtain supplies, often at greater cost than is necessary but without significantly compromising their ability to expand and prosper, even in most inauspicious locations. Where citizens face shortages or any other water problem, the report argues that this is predominantly due to development and financing constraints rather than to water shortages as such. Under conditions of scarcity, any transfers to cities will probably have some adverse impact on agriculture. However, the volume transferred is typically small and, though important social and equity issues arise, it is argued that farmers can often adjust. And where the environment is adversely affected by human impacts, this is predominantly an issue between the environment and agriculture and not between the environment and cities, at least in regard to water quantity. The section titled "Urban Water Scarcity and Its Links to Irrigation" sets the scene by reviewing what is meant by urban water scarcity and its links to irrigation, investigating its physical, political and economic dimensions. The section titled "Intersectoral Transfers" categorizes different types of transfers and transfer mechanisms. In the light of this typology, the section titled "Intersectoral Water Transfers in Practice" discusses how transfers are effected in practice with reference to the empirical evidence in the annex. The section titled "Are Urban Uses Constrained by Agriculture?" seeks to answer the question: are urban uses in practice constrained by agriculture. And, finally, the section titled "Where Are We Heading?" discusses some ways ahead and the conclusion summarizes the report's main findings