Employee Pay and Benefit Preferences

Malgré une augmentation continue de la proportion des avantages sociaux dans la masse salariale totale, peu d'employeurs connaissent d'une façon précise les véritables préférences des employés. Cet article analyse les résultats d'une étude qui s'efforçait d'apprécier les préférences des travailleurs pour certaines formes de compensation dans six entreprises localisées en Ontario. Les recherches de cette étude se fondent sur la définition du concept d'avantages sociaux, sur la description de la raison d'être de l'accroissement de ces avantages tant pour ce qui est des employeurs que des employés et sur l'importance de la méthodologie dans la détermination du choix des travailleurs.On a défini ainsi les avantages sociaux : tout coût de la main-d'oeuvre ajouté à la rémunération normale (salaires et traitements) versé pour une période de travail. On présume que les employeurs les offrent afin d'attirer et de garder les employés à leur service ou afin de les inciter à augmenter leur productivité. Les employés préfèrent les régimes d'avantages sociaux faits sur mesure. La raison en est que leurs besoins diffèrent selon leur âge, leur état matrimonial, etc. Quant aux jeunes travailleurs, la plupart d'entre eux s'opposent à toute forme d'embrigadement.L'importance de la méthodologie dans la détermination de la préférence des employés est une question ardue. Il y est discuté du pour et du contre en ce quitouche les trois façons d'apprécier leurs préférences : ce sont le questionnaire général, la technique du choix par ordre de préférence et la méthode comparative par jumelage.Dans cette étude, les auteurs ont eu recours à la méthode comparative par jumelage. L'échantillonnage portait sur 128 employés de six entreprises du sud de l'Ontario. On a choisi au hasard les employés à qui le questionnaire fut remis. Le questionnaire offrait cinq options qu'ils pouvaient comparer l'une par rapport à une autre. Les options étaient les suivantes : pension, assurance sur la vie, vacances, augmentation de salaire, assurance médicale.En résumé, la préférence, par ordre d'importance décroissante, s'est ainsi manifestée : augmentation de salaire, prolongement des vacances, abonnissement du régime de retraite, du régime d'assurance sur la vie et du régime d'assurance médicale. Dans les six entreprises, les employés ont exprimé d'une façon générale leur préférence pour l'augmentation de salaire. Ce qu'ils recherchèrent le moins, ce fut l'amélioration des régimes d'assurance sur la vie et d'assurance médicale. Analysées en regard des données démographiques recueillies, les divergences se sont exprimées suivant l'âge et la durée du service.Despite a continuing growth of fringe benefits as a proportion of the total wage bill, few employees have any definite knowledge of what fringes employees really prefer. This article reports the results of a study which attempted to measure employees preferences for alternative forms of compensation in six organizations located in Ontario, Canada

Dialogue and conflict in the meeting of two cultures : an analysis of the movie "Bagdá Café"

In this article we present an analysis of the main characters in the film "Bagdad Café" focusing on dialogical processes and cultural conflicts which influence the identity formation and decentering of these characters. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the identity shift in these film characters relying on the works by Bakhtin and Bhabha in cultural theory. The aim is therefore to identify and describe conflicts in this cultural space that is characterised by change and fluidity.Neste artigo, apresentamos uma análise dos processos de diálogo e conflito cultural que influenciam a formação e o deslocamento de identidade das personagens no filme "Bagdá Café". O objetivo principal deste trabalho é analisar o movimento identitário das personagens à luz das teorias culturais de Bakthin e Bhabha. Para tanto, buscamos identificar e descrever os conflitos de cunho cultural neste espaço, caracterizado pela mudança e fluidez

Endo-cannibalism in the making of a recent British ancestor

Following his death in 1975, the ashes of Wally Hope, founder of Stonehenge People's Free Festival, were scattered in the centre of Stonehenge. When a child tasted the ashes the rest of the group followed this lead. In the following decades, as the festival increasingly became the site of contest about British heritage and culture, the story of Wally's ashes was told at significant times. His name continues to be invoked at gatherings today. This paper discusses these events as 'the making of an ancestor', and explores wider contexts in which they might be understood. These include Druidic involvement in the revival of cremation, Amazonian bone-ash endo-cannibalism, and popular means of speaking of and to dead relatives. In addition to considering the role of 'ancestors' in contemporary Britain, the paper contributes to considerations of 'ancestry' as a different way of being dead, of a particular moment in the evolution of an alternative religious neo-tribal movement, of the meanings of 'cannibalism', and of the ways in which human remains might be treated by the bereaved and by various other interested parties

Synthesis of N-arylpyridinium salts bearing a nitrone spin trap as potential mitochondria-targeted antioxidants

The generation of excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mitochondria is responsible for much of the oxidative stress associated with ageing (aging), and mitochondrial dysfunction is part of the pathology of neurodegeneration and type 2 diabetes. Lipophilic pyridinium ions are known to accumulate in mitochondria and this paper describes a general route for the preparation of nitrone-containing N-arylpyridinium salts having a range of lipophilicities, as potential therapeutic antioxidants. The compatibility of nitrones with the Zincke reaction is the key to their synthesis. Their trapping of carbon-centred radicals and the EPR spectra of the resulting nitroxides are reported

The Debye-Waller Factor in solid 3He and 4He

The Debye-Waller factor and the mean-squared displacement from lattice sites for solid 3He and 4He were calculated with Path Integral Monte Carlo at temperatures between 5 K and 35 K, and densities between 38 nm^(-3) and 67 nm^(-3). It was found that the mean-squared displacement exhibits finite-size scaling consistent with a crossover between the quantum and classical limits of N^(-2/3) and N^(-1/3), respectively. The temperature dependence appears to be T^3, different than expected from harmonic theory. An anisotropic k^4 term was also observed in the Debye-Waller factor, indicating the presence of non-Gaussian corrections to the density distribution around lattice sites. Our results, extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit, agree well with recent values from scattering experiments.Comment: 5 figure

Study protocol: A comprehensive multi-method neuroimaging approach to disentangle developmental effects and individual differences in second language learning

Background While it is well established that second language (L2) learning success changes with age and across individuals, the underlying neural mechanisms responsible for this developmental shift and these individual differences are largely unknown. We will study the behavioral and neural factors that subserve new grammar and word learning in a large cross-sectional developmental sample. This study falls under the NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [Dutch Research Council]) Language in Interaction consortium (website: https://www.languageininteraction.nl/). Methods We will sample 360 healthy individuals across a broad age range between 8 and 25 years. In this paper, we describe the study design and protocol, which involves multiple study visits covering a comprehensive behavioral battery and extensive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols. On the basis of these measures, we will create behavioral and neural fingerprints that capture age-based and individual variability in new language learning. The behavioral fingerprint will be based on first and second language proficiency, memory systems, and executive functioning. We will map the neural fingerprint for each participant using the following MRI modalities: T1‐weighted, diffusion-weighted, resting-state functional MRI, and multiple functional-MRI paradigms. With respect to the functional MRI measures, half of the sample will learn grammatical features and half will learn words of a new language. Combining all individual fingerprints allows us to explore the neural maturation effects on grammar and word learning. Discussion This will be one of the largest neuroimaging studies to date that investigates the developmental shift in L2 learning covering preadolescence to adulthood. Our comprehensive approach of combining behavioral and neuroimaging data will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms influencing this developmental shift and individual differences in new language learning. We aim to answer: (I) do these fingerprints differ according to age and can these explain the age-related differences observed in new language learning? And (II) which aspects of the behavioral and neural fingerprints explain individual differences (across and within ages) in grammar and word learning? The results of this study provide a unique opportunity to understand how the development of brain structure and function influence new language learning success

Iron Age hunting and herding in coastal eastern Africa: ZooMS identification of domesticates and wild bovids at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya

The morphological differentiation of African bovids in highly fragmented zooarchaeological assemblages is a major hindrance to reconstructing the nature and spread of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa. Here we employ collagen peptide mass fingerprinting, known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), coupled with recently published African ZooMS reference datasets, to identify domesticates and wild bovids in Iron Age assemblages at the cave site of Panga ya Saidi in southeast Kenya. Through ZooMS we have identified all three major African livestock—sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus) and cattle (Bos taurus)—at the site for the first time. The results provide critical evidence for the use of domesticates by resident foraging populations during the Iron Age, the period associated with the arrival of food production in coastal Kenya. ZooMS results show that livestock at Panga ya Saidi form a minor component of the assemblage compared to wild bovids, demonstrating the persistence of hunting and the secondary role of acquiring livestock in hunter-gatherer foodways during the introduction of agro-pastoralism. This study sheds new light on the establishment of food production in coastal eastern Africa, particularly the role of interactions between hunter-gatherers and neighbouring agro-pastoral groups in what was a protracted regional transition to farming.1. Introduction 2. Background 2.1. Problems with differentiating domesticates in African zooarchaeology 2.2. ZooMS in Africa 2.3. Panga ya Saidi, southeastern Kenya 2.3.1. Ecological setting 2.3.2. Archaeological background 3. Materials and methods 3.1. Sample Selection 3.2. ZooMS protocol 4. Results 5. Discussion 5.1. The impact of domestic livestock on hunting economies at PYS 5.2. Livestock trading or herding? 5.3. The role of domesticates in forager-farmer interactions 5.4. Behavioural and ecological implications of klipspringers at PYS 6. Conclusio