A Case study of pay-for-performance compensation programs

A well conceived pay-for-peformance program that aligns measurable financial and non-financial results with the companies publicly stated goals can create synergy in regards to productivity, efficiency and competition. The problem with some pay-for-peformance programs is that they can be poorly conceived, measure outcomes improperly, administered inconsistently or reward an unethical result. A balanced scorecard approach to pay-for-peformance programs can measure both hard and soft metrics that lead to both company and manager/employee success

Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites: Concerns and Consequences

Over the past 25 years there have been reports of more than 400 unplanned explosions at munitions sites in almost half the world\u27s countries. The UEMS rate is quickly increasing. Whereas the Small Arms Survey\u27s UEMS Database shows 70 such incidents for the 10-year period between 1987 and 1996, more than this number was registered in the past two years alone. These events occur in large part because states store their munitions improperly. This article reviews the direct and indirect consequences of these explosions on peace and security. It also notes steps states are taking—or should take—to improve practice in stockpile management

Promoting Secure Stockpiles and Countering Diversion

Poor management of government stockpiles of small arms and ammunition poses significant safety and security concerns—both for the country in question and often for its neighbors. Challenges to safety are readily apparent by the frequent occurrence and consequences of unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS). Security shortcomings include oversight limitations that facilitate corrupt practices and seizures of state materiel by armed groups that undercut a state’s legitimate use of force, and undermine good governance and the rule of law. The Small Arms Survey (hereafter referred to as the Survey) actively contributes to efforts to promote physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) and life-cycle management of ammunition (LCMA), and works with—and benefits from—practitioners and policy makers focusing on these agendas.The development of the Survey’s UEMS-related research, for example, was made possible in large part by the active engagement of the Multinational Small Arms and Ammunition Group (MSAG) and the financial support of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA). The Survey also works closely with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in support of the Swiss Safe and Secure Management of Ammunition (SSMA) Initiative and other joint efforts, such as the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affair’s (UNODA\u27s) SaferGuard program to promote the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines (IATG). Survey databases and tools are frequently used to develop national capacities and to raise awareness among decision makers on the importance of adequately funding and meaningfully improving PSSM and LCMA practices

Reduction of open membrane moduli

We perform a general reduction of the open membrane metric in a worldvolume direction of the M5-brane. Using reduction rules analogous to the bulk, we show that the open membrane metric leads to the standard open string metric and open string coupling constant on the D4-brane only for an ``electric'' reduction in which case the open membrane metric has no off-diagonal components and the Born-Infeld curvature tensor is a matrix of rank 2. Instead, if we perform a general reduction, with nonzero off-diagonal components of the open membrane metric, we obtain a rank 4 Born-Infeld tensor corresponding to a bound state of an open string with an open D2--brane. Next, we identify and reduce a 3-form open membrane ``noncommutativity'' tensor on the M5-brane. This open membrane parameter only reduces to the open string noncommutativity tensor on the D4-brane provided we constrain ourselves to an ``electric'' or a ``magnetic'' reduction.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, uses JHEP.cls and JHEP.bst style file

Education Equity and Taxpayer Equity: A Review of the Alaska Public School Foundation Funding Program

The Alaska Legislature asked ISER to examine what has driven up costs of Alaska's school districts in the past two decades, and to assess how the state's School Foundation Program could better achieve both taxpayer and education equity. This summary describes what we studied, reports how much specific categories of school costs went up and why, and outlines our conclusions and suggestions about taxpayer and education equity and the foundation program. We examined changes in the major categories of school operating costs over the past two decades. We studied operations spending not only because it makes up most of school district spending, but also because it is recurring, with a similar pattern year after year. Capital projects, by contrast, differ each year, depending on what districts and the legislature decide is most urgent, and on how much money the state has to spend for capital projects.Alaska Legislature Budget and Audit Committe

Neurophysiological Measures and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD): Hypothesizing Links between Clinical Severity Index and Molecular Neurobiological Patterns

In 1987, Cloninger proposed a clinical description and classification of different personality traits genetically defined and independent from each other. Moreover, he elaborated a specific test the TCI to investigate these traits/states. The study of craving in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) assumed a greater significance, since ever more data seems to suggest a direct correlation between high levels of craving and a higher risk of relapse in alcoholics. Thus, our study aim is to explore the possible correlations among TCI linked molecular neurobiological pattern (s), craving and alcohol addiction severity measures in a sample of Italian alcoholics

SL(2,R)-invariant IIB Brane Actions

We give a universal SL(2,R)-invariant expression for all IIB p-brane actions with p=-1,1,3,5,7,9. The Wess-Zumino terms in the brane actions are determined by requiring (i) target space gauge invariance and (ii) the presence of a single Born-Infeld vector. We find that for p=7 (p=9) brane actions with these properties only exist for orbits that contain the standard D7-brane (D9-brane). We comment about the actions for the other orbits.Comment: 15 pages, additional references and remarks in subsection on 3-branes, accepted for publication in JHE