Do investments in human capital lead to employee share ownership? Evidence from French establishments.

Investments in human capital can create a hold-up problem whereby both employers and employees exploit the bargaining weaknesses of the other. Employee share ownership (ESO) can mitigate this hold-up problem because it can align interests, develop loyalty, signal good-will and lock in employees. Previous studies have shown positive relationships between company investments in human capital and the use of ESO consistent with this argument but have been unable to identify the direction of causality. Using panel data from the French REPONSE survey, the findings indicate that significant and continuous investments in human capital take place prior to the implementation of ESO

A photoelastic study of the effect of certain geometric variables on the plane stress distribution in an electrical insulator body

Photoelastic models were used to indicate stress patterns in various geometrically designed shapes. Each model represented a two-dimensional cross-section of the interior portion of an axially symmetrical porcelain electrical insulator. Five different loading pins were combined with three loading heads to produce eleven models. The maximum stress in each model was determined using a photoelastic method of stress analysis. An attempt was made to select the best structural design to be used in an electrical insulator. The test results indicate that the most desirable stress distribution is obtained using a single step loading pin and that the loading head angle and loading pin angle should be approximately equal to twenty-five degrees measured from the vertical plane --Abstract, page ii

Long-Term (9-Year) Response of Two Semiarid Grasslands to Prescribed Fire in the Southwestern USA

Historically, arid grasslands of SW USA experienced fire return intervals of 5-10 years. During the last 100 years, however, fire has been a rare event. Recent expansion of woody plants in arid grasslands has prompted managers to re-introduce fire as a tool to reduce abundance of woody plants and maintain perennial grass cover. The use of fire in desert grasslands poses unique challenges, however, due to extreme variability in rainfall patterns. Our research examines vegetation response to repeat fire in 2 desert grassland ecotones near Albuquerque, New Mexico (35.05o N 106.60o W)

BATSE Gamma-Ray Burst Line Search: V. Probability of Detecting a Line in a Burst

The physical importance of the apparent discrepancy between the detections by pre-BATSE missions of absorption lines in gamma-ray burst spectra and the absence of a BATSE line detection necessitates a statistical analysis of this discrepancy. This analysis requires a calculation of the probability that a line, if present, will be detected in a given burst. However, the connection between the detectability of a line in a spectrum and in a burst requires a model for the occurrence of a line within a burst. We have developed the necessary weighting for the line detection probability for each spectrum spanning the burst. The resulting calculations require a description of each spectrum in the BATSE database. With these tools we identify the bursts in which lines are most likely to be detected. Also, by assuming a small frequency with which lines occur, we calculate the approximate number of BATSE bursts in which lines of various types could be detected. Lines similar to the Ginga detections can be detected in relatively few BATSE bursts; for example, in only ~20 bursts are lines similar to the GB 880205 pair of lines detectable. Ginga reported lines at ~20 and ~40 keV whereas the low energy cutoff of the BATSE spectra is typically above 20 keV; hence BATSE's sensitivity to lines is less than that of Ginga below 40 keV, and greater above. Therefore the probability that the GB 880205 lines would be detected in a Ginga burst rather than a BATSE burst is ~0.2. Finally, we adopted a more appropriate test of the significance of a line feature.Comment: 20 pages, AASTeX 4.0, 5 figures, Ap.J. in pres