Job Satisfaction and Employment Equity in South Africa

This paper is the first to estimate job satisfaction equations in post-Apartheid South Africa. Earnings and relative earnings are both found to contribute to greater job satisfaction. Racial group is also an important predictor of job satisfaction but when interacted with a proxy for affirmative action legislation it is found that black job satisfaction is positively correlated with this legislation whereas coloured and to a lesser extent white job satisfaction is diminished.employment equity; job satisfaction; ordered probit; south africa

Individualism and attitudes towards reporting corruption: Evidence from post-communist economies

Individualistic values are often presented as promoting economic development; however, their links to relevant behaviour and preferences at the micro-level remain under-explored. Here we investigate the relationship between individualistic values and personal attitudes towards reporting corruption. Unlike much of the previous research which focuses on attitudes towards corruption, we analyse the micro-level mechanisms relating to one's willingness to escape the status quo and act against corruption. We also focus on a region associated with persistently high levels of perceived corruption. Our findings indicate that individualism is associated with a greater likelihood to act against corruption. The effect estimated is small but highly significant and robust to changes in estimators and specifications. We also find evidence that institutional trust and individualism strengthen each other to generate greater willingness to report corruption

Crime and happiness amongst heads of households in Malawi

This paper uses 2005 Malawian data to investigate the link between crime and happiness in Malawi. Detailed descriptive statistics reveal that crime is a gendered issue and econometric analyses show that males and females respond differently to different crime variables. In particular, for males being attacked has a negative impact on happiness and neighbourhood crime rates have a U-shaped effect on happiness with happiness at its lowest when 11. 2% of respondents in a neighbourhood reported being a victim. For females only a subjective feeling of insecurity impacts negatively on happiness. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Reconstructed Fermi Surface of Underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ Cuprate Superconductors

The Fermi surface topologies of underdoped samples of the high-Tc superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ have been measured with angle resolved photoemission. By examining thermally excited states above the Fermi level, we show that the observed Fermi surfaces in the pseudogap phase are actually components of fully enclosed hole pockets. The spectral weight of these pockets is vanishingly small at the magnetic zone boundary, creating the illusion of Fermi ‘‘arcs.’’ The area of the pockets as measured in this study is consistent with the doping level, and hence carrier density, of the samples measured. Furthermore, the shape and area of the pockets is well reproduced by phenomenological models of the pseudogap phase as a spin liquid

The ocean sampling day consortium

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits

The Ocean Sampling Day Consortium

Ocean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits