Graduate Employment in the UK: An Application of the Gottschalk-Hansen Model

There is an apparent inconsistency in the existing literature on graduate employment in the UK. While analyses of rates of return to graduates or graduate markups show high returns, suggesting that demand has kept up with a rapidly rising supply of graduates, the literature on over-education suggests that many graduates are unable to find employment in graduate jobs and the proportion over-educated has risen over time. Using a simple supply and demand model applied to UK data that defines graduate jobs in terms of the proportion of graduates and/or the graduate earnings markup within occupations, we find that the employment of graduates in non-graduate jobs has declined over time. Hence, there is no evidence of an over-production of graduates in the UK.employment, wages, education, graduates

Walking that family and business tightrope; the relationship between family business adviser and the family business

The initial paper in this series (Swaffin-Smith and O’Leary, 2019) focused on one company and examined the difficulties encountered in the transition from an owner-managed operation to that of a sibling partnership. Following a decade of support for that family business by the family business adviser author, this study uses various frameworks to explore several key learning points about the role of a family business adviser in interactions with family members in the organisation. These experiences have enhanced understandings of the complex nature of the interaction between the adviser and client, particularly how the relationship evolves and how frameworks can be adapted to achieve mutually agreed business and family outcomes. It also further reinforces the observed transitional and evolutionary nature of family firms as reflected in the Organic Model (O’Leary and Swaffin-Smith, 2016) of family businesses

Walking the tightrope between family and business; longitudinal reflections of a Family Business Advisor

This longitudinal study of the relationship between a Family Business Advisor (FBA) and client confirms that the advisory relationship is complex, evolutionary and influenced by multiple factors. The relationship passes through phases, the nature and relative importance of each varying with changes in the structure of the business, the role and expectations of the family, the level of trust between the FBA and the client, and the market in which the business is operating. Outcomes from one phase become inputs to the next and the interactions needs to be considered part of a process and not a series of individual events. Building upon the literature in this field, the experiences of the FBA in this case reveal four critical success factors; clarifying the identity of the client; making agreements with the client at key phases in the process; defining the nature of the process; and being clear on the desired outcomes. In some cases, the success of FBAs’ interventions may not mean ensuring that the business remains in family ownership; a successful outcome may be that the business continues under other ownership or management, but family unity has been preserved and individuals are doing what they want to do

Walking the tightrope between family and business; the owner-manager transition towards a sibling partnership

Successfully transitioning a family business or enterprise across successive generations of family members can be a difficult balancing act on the tightrope of achieving both family and commercial goals. It is perhaps the initial transitions that are the most critical for the long-term sustainability of the enterprise. Often, what may in effect be a personal initiative or enterprise evolves, through business successes, to become a family business that sustains several close family members. Extending that owner-manager status into one that is an effective family or sibling partnership presents several opportunities and challenges. This paper forms part of a series of case studies on such transitions, this first one illustrating what can go wrong if decisions are not made at earlier stages before age or illness catches up with the founders of a family business and suitable arrangements have not been anticipated and set in place

Total focussing method for volumetric imaging in immersion non destructive evaluation

This paper describes the use of a 550 (25x22) element 2MHz 2D piezoelectric composite array in immersion mode to image an aluminum test block containing a collection of artificial defects. The defects included a 1mm diameter side-drilled hole, a collection of 1mm slot defects with varying degrees of skew to the normal and a flat bottomed hole. The data collection was carried out using the full matrix capture; a scanning procedure was developed to allow the operation of the large element count array through a conventional 64-channel phased array controller. A 3D TFM algorithm capable of imaging in a dual media environment was implemented in MATLAB for the offline processing the raw scan data. This algorithm facilitates the creation of 3D images of defects while accounting for refraction effects at material boundaries. In each of the test samples interrogated the defects, and their spatial position, are readily identified using TFM. Defect directional information has been characterized using VTFM for defect exhibiting angles up to and including 45o of skew

Job Mismatches and Labour Market Outcomes: Panel Evidence on Australian University Graduates

The interpretation of graduate mismatch manifested either as overeducation or as overskilling remains problematical. This paper uses annual panel information on both educational and skills mismatches uniquely found in the HILDA survey to analyse the relationship of both mismatches with pay, job satisfaction and job mobility. We find that overeducation and overskilling are distinct phenomena with different labour market outcomes and that their combination results in the most severe negative labour market outcomes. Using panel methodology reduces strongly the size of many relevant coefficients, questioning previous cross-section results and suggesting the presence of considerable unobserved heterogeneity which varies by gender.overeducation, overskilling, wages, satisfaction, mobility

Bioinspired low-frequency material characterisation

New-coded signals, transmitted by high-sensitivity broadband transducers in the 40–200 kHz range, allow subwavelength material discrimination and thickness determination of polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, and brass samples. Frequency domain spectra enable simultaneous measurement of material properties including longitudinal sound velocity and the attenuation constant as well as thickness measurements. Laboratory test measurements agree well with model results, with sound velocity prediction errors of less than 1%, and thickness discrimination of at least wavelength/15. The resolution of these measurements has only been matched in the past through methods that utilise higher frequencies. The ability to obtain the same resolution using low frequencies has many advantages, particularly when dealing with highly attenuating materials. This approach differs significantly from past biomimetic approaches where actual or simulated animal signals have been used and consequently has the potential for application in a range of fields where both improved penetration and high resolution are required, such as nondestructive testing and evaluation, geophysics, and medical physics

Computational models in the age of large datasets.

Technological advances in experimental neuroscience are generating vast quantities of data, from the dynamics of single molecules to the structure and activity patterns of large networks of neurons. How do we make sense of these voluminous, complex, disparate and often incomplete data? How do we find general principles in the morass of detail? Computational models are invaluable and necessary in this task and yield insights that cannot otherwise be obtained. However, building and interpreting good computational models is a substantial challenge, especially so in the era of large datasets. Fitting detailed models to experimental data is difficult and often requires onerous assumptions, while more loosely constrained conceptual models that explore broad hypotheses and principles can yield more useful insights.Charles A King TrustThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2015.01.00

Nuclear alpha-clustering, superdeformation, and molecular resonances

Nuclear alpha-clustering has been the subject of intense study since the advent of heavy-ion accelerators. Looking back for more than 40 years we are able today to see the connection between quasimolecular resonances in heavy-ion collisions and extremely deformed states in light nuclei. For example superdeformed bands have been recently discovered in light N=Z nuclei such as $^{36}$Ar, $^{40}$Ca, $^{48}$Cr, and $^{56}$Ni by $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy. The search for strongly deformed shapes in N=Z nuclei is also the domain of charged-particle spectroscopy, and our experimental group at IReS Strasbourg has studied a number of these nuclei with the charged particle multidetector array {\sc Icare} at the {\sc Vivitron} Tandem facility in a systematical manner. Recently the search for $\gamma$-decays in $^{24}$Mg has been undertaken in a range of excitation energies where previously nuclear molecular resonances were found in $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C collisions. The breakup reaction $^{24}$Mg$+^{12}$C has been investigated at E$_{lab}$($^{24}$Mg) = 130 MeV, an energy which corresponds to the appropriate excitation energy in $^{24}$Mg for which the $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C resonance could be related to the breakup resonance. Very exclusive data were collected with the Binary Reaction Spectrometer in coincidence with {\sc Euroball IV} installed at the {\sc Vivitron}.Comment: 10 pages, 4 eps figures included. Invited Talk 10th Nuclear Physics Workshop Marie and Pierre Curie, Kazimierz Dolny Poland, Sep. 24-28, 2003; To be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

Payment by results and social impact bonds: Outcome-based payment systems in the UK and US

All right reserved. As public services budgets are cut, the 'Payment by Results' (or Pay for Success) model has become a popular choice in public sector commissioning. Social Impact Bonds are a variant of Payment by Results also promoted by proponents of social (or impact) investing. But how effective are these approaches? This short book asks whether the Payment by Results model is an efficient way to unlock new capital investment, help new providers to enter the 'market' and foster innovation, or whether the extension of 'neoliberal' thinking, complexity and the effects of managerialism undermine the effective delivery of social outcomes. Synthesising lessons from the UK and US for the first time, the book draws on published work in both countries together with insights from the authors' own research and consultancy experience to offer a balanced and bipartisan overview of a field where the evidence has been weak and there are strong ideological agendas in play