ILR Impact Brief - Pathways to Success: Human Resource Practices Do Matter

[Extract] Most researchers agree that human resource (HR) practices affect attitudes and discretionary behavior on the job and that employee actions and motivations influence company performance. The academic literature also suggests that investing in employees, through high-commitment HR practices such as internal labor markets, selecting new employees who “fit” the company rather than a particular job, compensating employees on the basis of group and company results, and training and development programs that stress team building and long-term growth, are all indirectly related to organizational success. Missing from the literature is an exploration of the causal mechanisms that mediate between these HR practices and favorable outcomes for companies operating in dynamic environments; this research begins filling the void

Human Resource Practices, Knowledge-Creation Capability And Performance In High Technology Firms

This study examines the relationship among key HR practices (i.e., effective acquisition, employee-development, commitment-building, and networking practices), three dimensions of knowledge-creation capability (human capital, employee motivation, and information combination and exchange), and firm performance. Results from a sample of 78 high technology firms showed that the three dimensions of knowledge creation interact to positively affect sales growth. Further, the HR practices were found to affect sales growth through their affect on the dimensions of knowledge-creation capability

An HI census of Loose Groups of Galaxies

We present results from our Parkes Multibeam HI survey of 3 loose groups of galaxies that are analogous to the Local Group. This is a survey of groups containing only spiral galaxies with mean separations of a few hundred kpc, and total areas of approximately 1 sq. Mpc; groups similar to our own Local Group. We present a census of the HI-rich objects in these groups down to an M(HI), 1-sigma sensitivity ~7x10^5 M(sun), as well as the detailed properties of these detections from follow-up Compact Array observations. We found 7 new HI-rich members in the 3 groups, all of which have stellar counterparts and are, therefore, typical dwarf galaxies. The ratio of low-mass to high-mass gas-rich galaxies in these groups is less than in the Local Group meaning that the ``missing satellite'' problem is not unique. No high-velocity cloud analogs were found in any of the groups. If HVCs in these groups are the same as in the Local Group, this implies that HVCs must be located within ~300-400 kpc of the Milky Way.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in the ASP proceedings of IAU Symposium 217, "Recycling intergalactic and interstellar matter", eds. Pierre-Alain Duc, Jonathan Braine, Elias Brink

Seismicity in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the period October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2006

This report describes earthquake activity within approximately 65 km of Yucca Mountain site during the October 1, 2004 to September 30, 2006 time period (FY05-06). The FY05-06 earthquake activity will be compared with the historical and more recent period of seismic activity in the Yucca Mountain region. The relationship between the distribution of seismicity and active faults, historical patterns of activity, and rates of earthquakes (number of events and their magnitudes) are important components in the assessment of the seismic hazard for the Yucca Mountain site. Since October 1992 the University of Nevada has compiled a catalog of earthquakes in the Yucca Mountain area. Seismicity reports have identified notable earthquake activity, provided interpretations of the seismotectonics of the region, and documented changes in the character of earthquake activity based on nearly 30 years of site-characterization monitoring. Data from stations in the seismic network in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain is collected and managed at the Nevada Seismological Laboratory (NSL) at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). Earthquake events are systematically identified and cataloged under Implementing Procedures developed in compliance with the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Quality Assurance Program. The earthquake catalog for FY05-06 in the Yucca Mountain region submitted to the Yucca Mountain Technical Data Management System (TDMS) forms the basis of this report

CEO Demographics and Accounting Fraud: Who is More Likely to Rationalize Illegal Acts?

This article proposes that key CEO demographic factors reflect alternative modes of rationalizing the choice to engage in and/or facilitate accounting fraud. Specifically the authors theorize that younger, less functionally experienced CEOs and CEOs without business degrees will be more likely to rationalize accounting fraud as an acceptable decision. Based on a sample of 312 fraud-committing and control firms, the study finds support for the authors’ predictions. It also finds that CEO stock options (a form of executive equity incentive) also predict fraud, and that this relationship is not moderated by CEO demographics. The study thus extends upper echelon theory by demonstrating how key demographic variables influence CEO decisions to rationalize accounting fraud

Seismicity in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the period October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003

Earthquake activity in the Yucca Mountain from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003 (FY03) is assessed and compared with previous activity in the region. FY03 is the first reporting year since the 1992 M 5.6 Little Skull Mountain earthquake with no earthquakes greater than M 3.0 within 65 km of Yucca Mountain. In addition, FY03 includes the fewest number of earthquakes greater than M 2.0 in any reporting year since the LSM event. With 3075 earthquakes in the catalog, FY03 represents the second largest number of earthquakes (second to FY02) since FY96 when digital seismic network operations began. The largest event during FY03 was M 2.78 in eastern NTS and there were only 8 earthquakes greater than M 2.0

Reflexive and Selective Competitive Behaviors—Inertia, Imitation, and Interfirm Rivalry

Competitive dynamics research has established the important impact that the level of firm competitive activity has on rival response and firm performance. Less understood, however, are inputs that influence firm activity, specifically, the extent to which firms reflexively repeat prior activity versus selectively taking actions. Drawing from the awareness–motivation–capability framework, we develop and test theory that firm decision makers are not only predisposed to behave reflexively, but are also influenced by contextual factors, suggesting cognitive selection. Utilizing a longitudinal sample of marketing activity of 58 firms and 2,164 firm–rival dyads in 11 industries, we find that firms undertake both reflexive and selective competitive processes. Positive effects of prior levels of activity are moderated by the firm’s own prior performance, as well as the rivals’ similarity and industry standing

On the validity of the reduced Salpeter equation

We adapt a general method to solve both the full and reduced Salpeter equations and systematically explore the conditions under which these two equations give equivalent results in meson dynamics. The effects of constituent mass, angular momentum state, type of interaction, and the nature of confinement are all considered in an effort to clearly delineate the range of validity of the reduced Salpeter approximations. We find that for $J\not{\hspace*{-1.0mm}=}0$ the solutions are strikingly similar for all constituent masses. For zero angular momentum states the full and reduced Salpeter equations give different results for small quark mass especially with a large additive constant coordinate space potential. We also show that $\frac{1}{m}$ corrections to heavy-light energy levels can be accurately computed with the reduced equation.Comment: Latex (uses epsf macro), 24 pages of text, 12 postscript figures included. Slightly revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Precarious rock methodology for seismic hazard: Physical testing, numerical modeling and coherence studies

This report covers the following projects: Shake table tests of precarious rock methodology, field tests of precarious rocks at Yucca Mountain and comparison of the results with PSHA predictions, study of the coherence of the wave field in the ESF, and a limited survey of precarious rocks south of the proposed repository footprint. A series of shake table experiments have been carried out at the University of Nevada, Reno Large Scale Structures Laboratory. The bulk of the experiments involved scaling acceleration time histories (uniaxial forcing) from 0.1g to the point where the objects on the shake table overturned a specified number of times. The results of these experiments have been compared with numerical overturning predictions. Numerical predictions for toppling of large objects with simple contact conditions (e.g., I-beams with sharp basal edges) agree well with shake-table results. The numerical model slightly underpredicts the overturning of small rectangular blocks. It overpredicts the overturning PGA for asymmetric granite boulders with complex basal contact conditions. In general the results confirm the approximate predictions of previous studies. Field testing of several rocks at Yucca Mountain has approximately confirmed the preliminary results from previous studies, suggesting that the PSHA predictions are too high, possibly because the uncertainty in the mean of the attenuation relations. Study of the coherence of wavefields in the ESF has provided results which will be very important in design of the canisters distribution, in particular a preliminary estimate of the wavelengths at which the wavefields become incoherent. No evidence was found for extreme focusing by lens-like inhomogeneities. A limited survey for precarious rocks confirmed that they extend south of the repository, and one of these has been field tested