The Efficacy of Performance-Based Pay in Selected County Governments: What Motivates Adoption and is it Achieving what was Expected?

This exploratory study examines the degree to which counties had carefully thought-out motivations for the adoption of performance pay systems, the degree to which they were using objective measures to gauge whether it was achieving those objectives, and the degree to which they believed it was achieving its intended objectives. Results indicated that adopting a performance pay system is not something to be entertained lightly. It requires more work, more discipline, more managerial courage, more training, more support, and will cause more heated internal conversations about compensation than more traditional compensation system alternatives. It is equally clear that traditional compensation systems create more rewards for those doing the least effort and for those doing the least to advance an organization’s mission than a performance pay system. The traditional system relies almost exclusively on the intrinsic motivation of employees who seek employ in the public service. A well-crafted and executed performance management system that incorporates best management practices designed to thoroughly and constantly review the system’s efficacy and fairness, coupled with a market-driven performance pay system, coupled with a robust set of additional strategies to create a high quality of employee worklife (recognition programs, tenure recognition and other similar environmental programs) does have the potential to create a higher-performing, more mission-driven focus linking employee performance to organizational results. But, if an organization cannot or will not make the necessary investments for all of that to be true, a poorly administered system will do more harm than good

Exclusivity and memory for object location

Baguley et al. (2006) have demonstrated that location memories are retrieved exclusively: when a person has two or more memories for an object’s location (which show the same object from different perspectives), only one representation can be retrieved at any one time. Whilst this finding is counterintuitive it has received some empirical support in the literature, although exclusivity has only been demonstrated using simplified stimuli. The central aim of this thesis was to probe the finding of exclusivity in memory for object location. A series of experiments addressed this aim. Experiment 1 probed the exclusivity hypothesis using visually enriched stimuli in both an incidental and intentional paradigm. Experiment 2 explored the effect of removing an anchor (point of reference) at retrieval. Experiment 3 investigated the role and effectiveness of different types of recall cues in the current paradigm. Experiment 4 considered the function and importance of the anchors with the current experiment framework, and Experiment 5 attempted to encourage participants to use multiple frames of reference to locate a target object. The principal findings of the thesis were: 1) further evidence of exclusivity, 2) increased recall accuracy without a change in retrieval strategy, 3) anchors might not always be necessary for location retrieval but might be useful when identifying the target object, and 4) that target object identity and target object location appear to be tied together. Therefore, the thesis conclusions are that the finding of exclusivity is robust and that further research is needed on the role usefulness of the anchors in memory for object location judgements

Toward a Theory of Political Science and the Future of Exopolitics

The aim of this paper is to inform (or enlighten) the public about exopolitics, which is a sub-discipline of political science that puts a new spin on studying extraterrestrial life or non-human, intelligent entities — that is, as it especially relates to politics. And despite its contrary and controversial message, exopolitics pushes the political science envelope. Indeed, the discipline speaks volumes about a supposed relationship we (humans) may have with intelligent creatures outside our realm of understanding, particularly with an unprecedented wave of UFO sightings worldwide. Of course, human beings have always felt the need to connect with other humans; but will this position mean that we can also come together with humanoids from another planet? Exopolitics is also concerned with other alien worlds, and different academic thought processes that might led to profound misunderstandings about this specific political science discipline, and our understanding of the fabric of the universe. Further, we need objectivity and clarity when it comes to studying exopolitics. Finally, exopolitics, fortunately, has not caused some kind of academic backlash; nor is it some namby-pamby academic discipline that has no bearing on anything

Politics, Antisemitism, Anti-Blackness, Kanye West (aka Ye), and the Rise of the New “Uncle Toms” in America

This paper shatters the notion or myth that Kanye West (aka Ye) is some kind of cunning, musical genius, or a political mastermind, as he has waded into the trouble waters of American politics. Indeed, nothing can be further from the truth, as the rapper is the most obvious example of the “Uncle Tom” phenomenon. This is to say that Ye’s racial transgressions will never be overlocked, as he is tarred forever because of his association with white supremacists. West’s (or Ye’s) hatred of Black people in the United States is quite evident in his public antisemitism and anti-black speeches, and “know-it-all,” disgusting antics. Moreover, West’s outlandish rhetoric is not particularly easy to ignore, especially on certain social media platforms. It goes without saying that West (aka Ye) has a misguided, and weak constitution, particularly since he has involved himself with very bad and disreputable people. Finally, his disdain for the daily struggles of Black people, Jews and other people of color is a testament to his lack of compassion and empathy. Hence, this paper will explore the political issues of antisemitism and anti-blackness in relation to Ye

Reawakening the Sleeping Giant: A Multi-Faceted Strategy to Economic Recovery in Japan

The end of World War II ushered in a new era for Japan as a global economic powerhouse. The lost decade of the 1990’s coupled with the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998 and the Global Recession of 2008-2009 further complicated the already dire Japanese economic situation. To address the country’s protracted economic stagnation, Prime Minister Abe has resorted to the Keynesian approach known as “Abenomics” which focuses on aggressive government spending in public works projects. The rationale behind this is that such investments will lead to creation of jobs needed to lift the economy out of stagnation. The paper starts off by recognizing that economic policies do not exist in a vacuum as there are several variables that impact on them. The essay posits that addressing the economic stagnation in Japan requires a holistic perspective as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Hence, political, social and cultural factors all have crucial roles to play in shaping the economic policies in Japan. The paper argues that each of these variables must be accorded utmost importance as economic reforms are not stand-alone policies. This research proposes some solutions some of which are: adoption of a points-based immigration system to attract skilled workers, raising the birth rate, introduction a more inclusive policy to encourage more participation of women in the work force, increasing foreign direct investment, opening up the country’s energy, breaking up monopolies and the implementation of medical insurance reforms that cater more to the needs of working women. Overall, vision not structure remains the key to recovery in Japan. Keywords: Japan, Abenomics, Economic Growth, Politics, Cultur

Higher Un-Learning and the Attack on Black Scholarship: The Political and Racialist Demagoguery of David Horowitz

To say that popular writer David Horowitz is a staunch conservative is not very useful or important to the following discussion about this strange and confused Jewish man. Indeed, whatever happened to Horowitz’s integrity and commitment (as a young man) to the cause of liberal ideas and principles, such as racial equality, equal rights for all; and specifically, justice for the poor and the downtrodden? Did Horowitz sell his soul to the devil for selfish reasons (and recognition), and/or for money? Horowitz, no doubt, enjoys his role immensely as an academic provocateur or troublemaker, and champion of the new conservative right. We are dumbfounded by Horowitz’s neo-ignorance. But he is certainly making more money as a rabid conservative than when he was an avowed left-wing radical of the sixties. So Horowitz has essentially sold-out the traditional liberal cause with his hackneyed criticism of black, public intellectuals and black liberal scholarship. But he should know that all Americans do not share his conservative points of view and mistaken philosophy on many political issues

EXPRESS: Time is of the essence: Exploring temporal and spatial organisation in episodic memory.

There is disagreement in the literature as to whether episodic memory maintains an inherent temporal organisation, that is, whether learned items are necessarily organised along some temporal dimension or whether temporal organisation is a task-specific occurrence. The current series of experiments explored this issue. In Experiment 1, we tested whether temporal or spatial contiguity was present in an incidental encoding task where either strategy (but not both together) could be employed at test. In Experiment 2, we attempted to facilitate the use of a spatial retrieval strategy at test by asking participants to recall the location where target items had been displayed at study, after incidental encoding. Experiment 3 explored the role of study-test congruency by informing participants at encoding that they would be tested on either their memory for the temporal sequence or spatial locations, and then testing both at retrieval. Finally, Experiment 4 employed a masking task at encoding to ensure participants could not predict the true nature of the task, despite it being incidental, and a surprise free recall task. Predominantly, participants displayed recall performance consistent with temporal contiguity, although there was evidence for spatial contiguity under certain conditions. These results are consistent with the notion that episodic memory has a stable and predictable temporal organisation

Rapid denaturing organic digestion method for targeted protein identification and characterization

Bottom-up mass spectrometry-based protein analysis methods employing protease digestion are routinely used to identify and characterize proteins with high specificity and sensitivity. Method performance is generally measured by sequence coverage capability and the total number of characteristic peptides identified, when compared to predicted databases. Limitations to commonly used solvent-based digestion methods currently employed include long digestion times (18–24 h or more), leading to protease autolysis, which also precludes automation, decreases sensitivity, and increases both intra- and inter-day performance variability. This report describes the development and validation of a simple, 5 min tryptic denaturing organic digestion (DOD) method for use with tandem mass spectrometry in bottom-up protein identification and characterization. It has been evaluated across select protein toxins and diagnostic clinical protein targets, substantially improving digestion performance when compared to other solution-based and enzyme-immobilized methods. The method was compared to two currently used bottom-up methods, the 24 h filter-aided sample prep (FASP) and Flash Digest (1 and 4 h) methods. Single proteins used to compare the methods included the ricin light chain, ricin heavy chain, ricin holotoxin, serotype A Clostridium botulinum toxin, Staphylococcus enterotoxin B, ribonuclease A, and thyroglobulin. In tests, across the proteins investigated, the 5 min DOD digestion method resulted in sequence coverages ranging from 55 to 100%, with relatively high reproducibility and precision; results were better than or equal to FASP method results and were greatly enhanced when compared to Flash method results. Importantly, DOD method intra- and inter-day precision was much improved as compared to results for both FASP and Flash digestions. These data indicated that the DOD method, when compared to the FASP and Flash Digest methods, dramatically reduced digestion time, while maintaining or improving the ability to detect and characterize targeted proteins, and reduced analytical variability for tryptic digestion, resulting in markedly faster and more precise analyses