Flexible contract workers in inferior jobs: reappraising the evidence

There has been concern that the increase in non-standard or flexible employment contracts witnessed in many OECD economies is evidence of a growth in low-pay, low-quality jobs. In practice, however, it is difficult to evaluate the `quality' of flexible jobs. Previous research has either investigated objective measures of job quality such as wages and training or subjective measures such as job satisfaction. In this paper, we seek to jointly evaluate objective and subjective elements of flexible employment contracts. Specifically we develop and use an index of job quality that incorporates both subjective and objective elements. Analysis of this index demonstrates that flexible jobs are of a lower quality. However, this approach suggests that analysis of, for instance, job satisfaction alone overstates the negative impact of flexible contracts on workers.

ICT Integration in Teaching and Learning: Empowerment of Education with Technology

Information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching learning means making the effective use of ICT to teach the subject matter in a more interesting manner to make learning easy and fast for the students. It makes use of projectors, internet, multimedia, audio- visual aids and much more for teaching. The use of ICT in teaching learning have changed the whole concept of education and had proved to be of great benefit both for the teachers as well as the students. Through ICT, teachers get an opportunity to use new innovations in their teaching and present the study material in a more refined manner which is easily understood by the students and apart from this, ICT usage in teaching learning by the teachers gives an opportunity to the teacher to get acquainted with the new innovation and become contributors to its use in education. The students gain a lot by learning through ICT and they learn to seek knowledge on their own by using ICT. They also get an opportunity to share their knowledge with others through ICT. But there are certain factors which effect the successful ICT integration in teaching learning. This paper throws light on the benefits of ICT usage in teaching learning, three phases to successful ICT integration, factors influencing ICT by teachers, the barriers to successful ICT integration, implications to check barriers, and the changed role of the teachers

Metal oxide nanomaterials and their application in solar photoelectrolysis of water

Solar generated hydrogen as an energy source is green, sustainable, with a high energy density. One day the majority of current fossil fuel based technology could be replaced with hydrogen technology reducing CO2 emission drastically. The goal in this research is to explore hybrid metal oxide photocatalysts in the pursuit of achieving highly efficient photoanodes for use in photoelectrochemical cells (PEC). Achieving high efficiencies of hydrogen production in photoelectrochemical cells is the key challenge for the commercialisation of PEC technology as a viable, sustainable, hydrogen source; limited only by the lifetime of the sun and the resources of the metal oxide materials. In this research TiO2, Fe-Ti-O, ZnO, and Zn2TiO4 are the photocatalysts explored. Alloys of Ti-Fe-O showed improvement over TiO2, whilst a hybrid heterostructure of ZnO/Zn2TiO4/TiO2 enhanced photocurrent densities significantly. A barrier layer in the photoanode achieved localised exciton separation and reduction of recombination rates by inhibiting back flow of electrons after injection into the TiO2 layer. Nanotubes are created by the simple electrochemical process of anodisation. The nanotube composition depends on the anode material. To control the composition ofthe anode, iron and titanium are co-deposited onto a substrate using electron beam evaporation. The introduction of iron into titania nanotubes engineered the band gap, lowering the band gap energy to that of iron oxide whilst the positions of the conduction and valence bands with respect to the oxidation and reduction potentials of water remained favourable. Fe-Ti-O nanotubes showed remarkable photocurrent density improvement compared to TiO2 nanotubes. ZnO nanostructures deposited by vapour transport mechanisms showed variability in the morphology of the structures, as governed by the growth dynamics. Herein, it is shown that an electronically favourable situation arises by the formation of a ZnO-Zn2TiO4-TiO2 heterostructure and a high photocatalytic activity is reported. The structure is composed of a large surface area ZnO nanorod photoabsorber formed on a Ti foil which forms a Zn2TiO4 barrier layer between ZnO and TiO2. The Zn2TiO4 layer inhibits electron transport toward the surface of the photoanode whilst encouraging charge transport to the hydrogenation electrode. The heterostructure interfacial surface area is extended through the utilisation of TiO2 nanotubes, which demonstrated a 20.22 % photoelectrochemical efficiency under UV illumination. Surface modification of ZnO nanorods with aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposited TiO2 nanoparticles enhanced photocurrent densities of the ZnO rods, improving charge separation of excitons created within the TiO2 nanoparticles. ZnO nanotubes formed via a novel route using chemical bath deposition of ZnO is investigated, an annulus ZnO seed layer facilitated the site specific growth of ZnO nanotubes whilst a uniform seed layer formed ZnO nanorods

Immigrant overeducation : evidence from recent arrivals to Australia.

Australian immigration policy, in common with the US and Canada, has increased the emphasis on skill-based selection criteria. A key premise of this policy is that skilled immigrants are more employable and can add to the productive capacity of the economy. However, this effect will be diminished if immigrants are working in occupations that fail to utilise their skills. We examine the extent of overeducation for recently arrived immigrants to Australia. We find that they are more likely to be overeducated than the native population, even if they enter on skill assessed visas. Overeducation is greater for immigrants from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) and generates lower returns to education. Tighter restrictions to welfare support on entry raised employment levels but increased overeducation. This will serve to reduce the potential productivity gains from skill biased immigration policies

Overeducation and the Assimilation of Recently Arrived Immigrants: Evidence from Australia

Australian immigration policy, in common with the US and Canada, has increased the emphasis on skill based selection criteria. We examine immigrant overeducation in the early phases of settlement in Australia. In particular, we assess the role of visa category of entry and region of origin. In contrast to expectations, skill based visa immigrants did not experience markedly lower overeducation rates than those on family based visas. Whereas immigrants from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds, especially Asian, faced higher rates of overeducation. Overeducation translates into a earnings penalties. Based on the results in this study, the aggressive pursuit of skill based immigration policies may not lead to any substantial reduction in immigrant overeducation

Flexible contract workers in inferior jobs: reappraising the evidence

There has been concern that the increase in non-standard or flexible employment contracts witnessed in many OECD economies is evidence of a growth in low-pay, low-quality jobs. In practice, however, it is difficult to evaluate the `quality' of flexible jobs. Previous research has either investigated objective measures of job quality such as wages and training or subjective measures such as job satisfaction. In this paper, we seek to jointly evaluate objective and subjective elements of flexible employment contracts. Specifically we develop and use an index of job quality that incorporates both subjective and objective elements. Analysis of this index demonstrates that flexible jobs are of a lower quality. However, this approach suggests that analysis of, for instance, job satisfaction alone overstates the negative impact of flexible contracts on workers

Narrow QRS Tachycardia with Alternate Wide QRS Beats: What is the Mechanism?

A 44-year old lady underwent electrophysiology study for recurrent palpitations and documented narrow QRS regular tachycardia. The baseline ECG showed subtle preexcitation that was easily manifest on atrial pacing. The retrograde atrial activation sequence during ventricular pacing was eccentric suggesting retrograde conduction over the accessory pathway. A regular narrow QRS tachycardia with cycle length 280 ms was easily inducible on programmed atrial stimulation. The earliest ventricular activation during sinus rhythm & atrial pacing, and the retrograde atrial activation during ventricular pacing & tachycardia were diagnostic of left free wall accessory pathway and orthodromic atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia (AVRT). During an episode of tachycardia, an ablation catheter was placed in the region of the lateral mitral annulus using retrograde trans-aortic approach. Once the ablation catheter was stabilized in that region, an interesting change in the AVRT was seen with appearance of wide QRS complexes of right bundle branch block (RBBB) morphology and left axis deviation in the alternate beats (Figure 1). The atrial activation sequence during both narrow and wide QRS beats was same with earliest activation in the distal coronary sinus. What is the mechanism of the alternate wide QRS beats during the AVRT

Is There a 'Rising Tide' of Graduate Overeducation in Australia?

This paper studies the extent of graduate overeducation and graduate gender income differences in Australia. As well, the paper tests for non-linear returns to overeducation. It is found that the rates of graduate overeducation vary by both gender and time and range between 16% - 22%. Returns to graduate overeducation increased over the time period but were consistent with the stylised facts found in the literature. Non-linear returns to overeducation is weakly evident for female graduates in 1996. The graduate gender income gap narrowed by 5.6% between 1991-1996, mainly due to the improvement of the position of female graduates within the male graduate income distribution and improvements in their human capital characteristic endowments relative to male graduates

Demystifying Academics to Enhance University : Business Collaboration

Hillier is grateful to NERC for support (i.e. grant NE/R003297/1).Briefing notePublisher PD