Real Wage Determinatioan in Collective BArgaining Agreements

This paper studies the determinants of real wage rates using data on Canadian labour contracts signed between 1978 and 1984. Its results are consistent with Dunlop's neglected (1944) hypothesis that real pay movements are shaped by product price changes (contrary to the predictions of implicit contract theory and other models of wage inflexibility). The level of the unemployment rate is found to lower the real wage level with an elasticity between -0.04 and -0.13, whereas a Phillips Curve specification which relates wage changes to the level of the unemployment rate is not convincingly supported by the data. These results may be seen as consistent with the view that collective bargaining is a form of rent-sharing in which external unemployment weakens workers' bargaining strength.

Determining char burning and sulfur sorption rates from dynamic analysis of CO2 and SO2 profiles

This work introduces a method for determining coal devolatilization, char burning, limestone calcination, and sulfur sorption rates based on the analysis of CO[subscript]2 and SO[subscript]2 profiles from a fluidized bed combustor. The technique is non-intrusive and can be performed under realistic combustion conditions. The method involves batching coal or limestone samples in a fluidized bed heated with propane gas or other fuel. Carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide profiles are analyzed with linear models to obtain characteristic time constants for coal devolatilization, char burning, and sulfur sorption. Time constants for coal devolatilization and char burning can be directly related to devolatilization times and char burnout times, respectively, for a coal sample. Characteristic times for calcination and sulfur sorption can be related to the rate of limestone calcination and sulfation in the fluidized bed, respectively;Experiments to validate the technique were carried out in a 0.2 m dia. pilot fluidized bed combustor. Single sized coal and limestone samples were used for the validation tests. Coal devolatilization and char burning times obtained by this technique are comparable to times measured by more conventional thermogravimetric and visual techniques. Activation energies obtained for limestone calcination are quite close to those obtained by thermogravimetric methods. However, lower than expected activation energies obtained for the sulfation of limestone were attributed to complex pore diffusion processes;Time constants for calcination were found to be proportional to particle size, suggesting that chemistry is rate limiting during this process. Sulfation time constants were weakly related to particle size, an idication that both chemistry and pore diffusion are rate limiting

Disrupted Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Order Release Delay

With the popularity of the just-in-time system, more and more companies are operating with little or no inventories, which make them highly vulnerable to delays on supply. This paper discusses a situation when the supply of the commodity does not arrive at the depot on time, so that not enough of the commodity is available to be loaded on all vehicles at the start of the delivery period. New routing plans need to be developed in such a case to reduce the impact the delay of supply may have on the distribution company. The resulting vehicle routing problem is different from other types of vehicle routing problems as it involves waiting and multiple trips. Two approaches have been developed to solve the order release delay problem, both of which involve a Tabu Search algorithm. Computational results show the proposed approaches can largely reduce the disruption costs that are caused by the delayed supply and they are especially effective when the length of delay is long

The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics Policy Statement No. 6.1: Recommended Guidelines on National Registration Schemes for Medical Physicists

This EFOMP Policy Statement is an update of Policy Statement No. 6 first published in 1994. The present version takes into account the European Union Parliament and Council Directive 2013/55/EU that amends Directive 2005/36/EU on the recognition of professional qualifications and the European Union Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM laying down the basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation. The European Commission Radiation Protection Report No. 174, Guidelines on Medical Physics Expert and the EFOMP Policy Statement No. 12.1, Recommendations on Medical Physics Education and Training in Europe 2014, are also taken into consideration. The EFOMP National Member Organisations are encouraged to update their Medical Physics registration schemes where these exist or to develop registration schemes taking into account the present version of this EFOMP Policy Statement (Policy Statement No. 6.1"Recommended Guidelines on National Registration Schemes for Medical Physicists")

Physics and society : the medical physics profession and its contribution to healthcare

Physicists have been actively involved in the development of healthcare for over a hundred years. However the medical physics profession as an organized profession is relatively young and less familiar than the other healthcare professions. Even among university and pre-university mainstream physics educators little is known about the precise responsibilities of the role. We describe and discuss the function of the profession based on a review of the literature and a document analysis of the policy statements of the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics. We hope that in this way physics educators would be in a better position to encourage more young physicists to grasp the opportunities offered by this highly challenging and rapidly expanding profession.peer-reviewe

Exploring Graphs with Time Constraints by Unreliable Collections of Mobile Robots

A graph environment must be explored by a collection of mobile robots. Some of the robots, a priori unknown, may turn out to be unreliable. The graph is weighted and each node is assigned a deadline. The exploration is successful if each node of the graph is visited before its deadline by a reliable robot. The edge weight corresponds to the time needed by a robot to traverse the edge. Given the number of robots which may crash, is it possible to design an algorithm, which will always guarantee the exploration, independently of the choice of the subset of unreliable robots by the adversary? We find the optimal time, during which the graph may be explored. Our approach permits to find the maximal number of robots, which may turn out to be unreliable, and the graph is still guaranteed to be explored. We concentrate on line graphs and rings, for which we give positive results. We start with the case of the collections involving only reliable robots. We give algorithms finding optimal times needed for exploration when the robots are assigned to fixed initial positions as well as when such starting positions may be determined by the algorithm. We extend our consideration to the case when some number of robots may be unreliable. Our most surprising result is that solving the line exploration problem with robots at given positions, which may involve crash-faulty ones, is NP-hard. The same problem has polynomial solutions for a ring and for the case when the initial robots' positions on the line are arbitrary. The exploration problem is shown to be NP-hard for star graphs, even when the team consists of only two reliable robots

Comparative study of the environmental footprints of marinas on European Islands

Ports have been key elements in Europe's economic development. This situation is even more relevant on islands, which are highly dependent on the maritime sector. Consequently, over the years, ports with diverse functionalities have been established both in mainland Europe and on its outlying islands. This article discusses the environmental impact of leisure marinas on European islands, especially as they are closely linked to economic development through tourism. The aim is to study the environmental impact of these infrastructures by determining the carbon and water footprints of marinas on European islands in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The results obtained enable the authors to make recommendations in order to reduce the overall environmental footprint of marinas on islands, considering that these territories are much more vulnerable to climate change than mainland locations in Europe

Efficient and Inefficient Employment Outcomes: A Study Based on Canadian Data

This paper estimates employment equations based on the traditional labour demand model and modern efficient bargain theory using data drawn from wage contracts signed in the Canadian private unionized sector between 1978 and 1984. Contrary to the labour demand model predictions, the alternative wage rate is consistently significant and has the negative coefficient predicted by efficient bargain theory. Though a credible labour demand model can sometimes be estimated, the results are sensitive to the assumed market structure and to the introduction of alternative wage and unemployment insurance variables. Non-nested tests favour efficient bargain specifications.

The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics Policy Statement No. 10.1: Recommended Guidelines on National Schemes for Continuing Professional Development of Medical Physicists

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is vital to the medical physics profession if it is to embrace the pace of change occurring in medical practice. As CPD is the planned acquisition of knowledge, experience and skills required for professional practice throughout one's working life it promotes excellence and protects the profession and public against incompetence. Furthermore, CPD is a recommended prerequisite of registration schemes (Caruana et al. 2014 [1]; [2]) and is implied in the Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM (EU BSS) [3] and the International Basic Safety Standards (BSS) [4]. It is to be noted that currently not all national registration schemes require CPD to maintain the registration status necessary to practise medical physics. Such schemes should consider adopting CPD as a prerequisite for renewing registration after a set period of time. This EFOMP Policy Statement, which is an amalgamation and an update of the EFOMP Policy Statements No. 8 and No. 10, presents guidelines for the establishment of national schemes for CPD and activities that should be considered for CPD