The Consequences of Fiscal Stimulus on Public Debt : A Historical Perspective

Peer reviewedPostprin

Some are Punished and Some are Rewarded: A Study of the Impact of Performance Pay on Job Satisfaction

Using an econometric procedure that corrects for both self-selection of individuals into their preferred compensation scheme and wage endogeneity, this study investigates whether significant differences exist in the job satisfaction of individuals receiving performance- related pay (PRP) compared to those on alternative compensation plans. Using data from four waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), it is found that PRP exerts a positive effect on the mean job satisfaction of (very) high-paid workers only. A potential explanation for this pattern could be that for lower-paid employees PRP is perceived to be controlling, whereas higher-paid workers derive a utility benefit from what they regard as supportive reward schemes. Using PRP as an incentive device in the UK could therefore be counterproductive in the long run for certain low-paid occupations.Performance-related pay, job satisfaction, self-selection

Exposure to noise and ototoxic chemicals in the Australian workforce

Objective: To determine the current prevalence of exposure to workplace noise and ototoxic chemicals, including co-exposures. Method: A cross-sectional telephone survey of nearly 5000 Australian workers was conducted using the web-based application, OccIDEAS. Participants were asked about workplace tasks they performed and predefined algorithms automatically assessed worker's likelihood of exposure to 10 known ototoxic chemicals as well as estimated their full shift noise exposure level (LAeq,8h) of their most recent working day. Results were extrapolated to represent the Australian working population using a raked weighting technique. Results: In the Australian workforce, 19.5% of men and 2.8% of women exceeded the recommended full shift noise limit of 85 dBA during their last working day. Men were more likely to be exposed to noise if they were younger, had trade qualifications and did not live in a major city. Men were more likely exposed to workplace ototoxic chemicals (57.3%) than women (25.3%). Over 80% of workers who exceeded the full shift noise limit were also exposed to at least one ototoxic chemical in their workplace. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that exposures to hazardous noise and ototoxic chemicals are widespread in Australian workplaces and co-exposure is common. Occupational exposure occurs predominantly for men and could explain some of the discrepancies in hearing loss prevalence between genders

High resolution infrared absorption spectra, crystal field, and relaxation processes in CsCdBr_3:Pr^3+

High resolution low-temperature absorption spectra of 0.2% Pr^3+ doped CsCdBr_3 were measured in the spectral region 2000--7000 cm-1. Positions and widths of the crystal field levels within the 3H5, 3H4, 3F2, and 3F3 multiplets of the Pr^3+ main center have been determined. Hyperfine structure of several spectral lines has been found. Crystal field calculations were carried out in the framework of the semiphenomenological exchange charge model (ECM). Parameters of the ECM were determined by fitting to the measured total splittings of the 3H4 and 3H6 multiplets and to the observed in this work hyperfine splittings of the crystal field levels. One- and two-phonon relaxation rates were calculated using the phonon Green's functions of the perfect (CsCdBr_3) and locally perturbed (impurity dimer centers in CsCdBr_3:Pr^3+) crystal lattice. Comparison with the measured linewidths confirmed an essential redistribution of the phonon density of states in CsCdBr_3 crystals doped with rare-earth ions.Comment: 16 pages, 5 tables, 3 figure

Terrane history of the Iapetus Ocean as preserved in the northern Appalachians and western Caledonides

The Iapetus Ocean was the first ancient ocean to be identified following the development of plate tectonics; its history has been fundamental in relating orogenesis and plate motion. The ocean probably formed following 3-way rifting between Laurentia, Baltica, and Amazonia – West Africa (a block that became incorporated in Gondwana). Closure of the ocean trapped numerous terranes during the development of the Appalachian–Caledonide Orogen. Subsequent deformation, including late Paleozoic strike slip, transpression, and transtension, and Mesozoic stretching during Pangea breakup, must be taken into account in models for orogen development. Traditional analyses of Iapetan terranes have focussed on Cambrian sedimentary successions, and on isotopic criteria, to classify terranes into larger domains: Ganderia, Avalonia and Megumia. Detrital zircon data show that these domains did not cross the Iapetus as single entities, while paleomagnetic data reveal significant vertical-axis terrane rotations. We here review and interpret 17 paleomagnetic poles and >350 published detrital zircon data sets from the northern Appalachians and western Caledonides, using consistent and rigorous criteria for the selection and presentation of data. We place these data on an integrated stratigraphic chart to show timing relations and to seek constraints on the provenance and travel of terranes in the Iapetus Ocean. We distinguish groups of terranes that likely travelled together as terrane assemblages. In the Taconian/Grampian Orogeny, Furongian to Katian continent–arc collision involved off-margin blocks along the hyperextended Laurentian margin. In New England, early Taconian collision by 475 Ma involved the Gondwana-derived Moretown assemblage. An assemblage of the Bronson and Popelogan arc terranes probably arrived at the main Laurentian margin 25-30 Myr later. Subduction polarity reversal then led to the progressive accretion of additional terrane assemblages (Salinian Orogeny). The Miramichi–Victoria assemblage arrived close to the Ordovician–Silurian boundary. The Miramichi terrane underwent partial subduction in the Québec re-entrant, whereas the Victoria terrane was juxtaposed with the Newfoundland promontory without major metamorphism. In mid-Silurian time, an assemblage including the Gander terrane of Newfoundland and related portions of Britain and Ireland was accreted to Laurentia, along with Baltica (Scandian Orogeny). The St. Croix – La Poile assemblage may have been accreted slightly later, but is distinguished by the development of a Silurian arc–backarc system (coastal igneous belt) above a northwest-dipping subduction zone. The Avalon–Brookville assemblage encountered this system in Přídolí to Middle Devonian time (Acadian Orogeny), leading to the collapse of the backarc basin and northwest-vergent thrust emplacement onto Laurentia during sinistral transpression in the Appalachian Orogen. Acadian deformation involved mainly sinistral strike slip in Britain and Ireland. Several of the terranes that were accreted to the Laurentian margin carried internal records of earlier deformation that took place near Amazonia – West Africa in Early Ordovician time and earlier (Monian/Penobscottian Orogeny). The Iapetus Ocean thus contained a complex array of terranes, small ocean basins, arcs, and previously emplaced ophiolites analogous to modern southeast Asia. It closed to form a complex array of sutures in an orogen within which no single Iapetus suture can be clearly identified

Western Irish Sea Nephrops Grounds (FU15) 2017 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2018

This report provides the main results and findings of the 15th annual underwater television survey on the ‘Irish sea west Nephrops grounds’ ICES assessment area, Functional Unit 15. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. The 2017 design consisted of a randomised isometric grid of 100 stations at 4.5 nautical mile intervals out over the full known extent the stock. The resulting krigged burrow abundance estimate was 5.3 billion burrows. This was a similar result of that obtained in 2006, and 4% higher than the abundance in 2016. In contrast to 2016 the spatial distribution of burrows appears more homogenous across the survey area. Overall densities are high and abundance remains stable, well above MSY Btrigger. Reducing the number of stations compared to 2011 has not affected the accuracy of the survey estimate to date. The CV (or relative standard error) of 3% is in line with previous estimates and well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Total catches and landings options at various different fishing mortalities were calculated and fishing at Fmsy in 2017 implies a total catch option at Fmsy (=Fmax) of 11,807 tonnes which results in landings of no more than 9,630 tonnes. The only sea-pen species observed in 2017 was Virgularia mirabilis and this was found at 16% of stations ranging from occasional to common, with high densities observed in the south-west of the ground. Trawl marks were noted at 36% of the UWTV stations

Seismic and geodetic constraints on Cascadia slow slip

Automatically detected and located tremor epicenters from episodic tremor and slip (ETS) episodes in northern Cascadia provide a high-resolution map of Washington’s slow slip region. Thousands of epicenters from the past four ETS events from 2004 to 2008 provide detailed map-view constraints that correlate with geodetic estimates of the simultaneous slow slip. Each of these ETS events exhibits remarkable similarity in the timing and geographic distribution of tremor density and geodetically inferred slip. Analysis of the latest 15-month inter-ETS period also reveals ageodetic tremor activity similar both in duration and extent to ETS tremor. Epicenters from both ETS and inter- ETS tremor are bounded between the 30- and 45-km plate interface depth contours and locate approximately 75 km east of previous estimates of the locked portion of the subducting Juan de Fuca plate. Inter-ETS tremor overlaps but is generally downdip of ETS tremor and does not yet correlate with geodetically observed slip, but this is likely because the slip is below current GPS detection levels. Based on the tremor and slip correlation and the tremor-duration and slip magnitude relationship, we suggest that the well-resolved, sharp updip edge of tremor epicenters reflects a change in plate interface coupling properties. The region updip of this boundary may accumulate stress with the potential for coseismic shear failure during a megathrust earthquake. Alternatively, plate convergence in this region could be accommodated by continuous slow slip with no detectable tremor or by slow slip events with sufficiently long recurrence intervals that none have been detected during the past 10 years of GPS observations

Western Irish Sea Nephrops Grounds (FU15) 2014 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2015

This report provides the main results and findings of the 12th annual underwater television survey on the ‘Irish sea west Nephrops grounds’ ICES assessment area, Functional Unit 15. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. The 2014 design consisted of a randomised isometric grid of 101 stations at 4.5 nautical mile intervals out over the full known extent the stock. The resulting krigged burrow abundance estimate was 4.6 billion burrows. This was a similar result of that obtained in 2009, and slightly higher than the abundance in 2013. The spatial distribution shows a decline in abundance in the south-eastern area compared to 2013 figure, while a slight increase is apparent in the North and in the middle of the area. Overall densities remain high and abundance remains relatively stable, well above MSY Btrigger. Reducing the number of stations compared to 2011 is not expected to have significantly affected the accuracy of the survey estimate. The CV (or relative standard error) of 3% is in line with previous estimates and well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Total catches and landings options at various different fishing mortalities were calculated and fishing at Fmsy in 2015 implies a total catch option at Fmsy (=Fmax) of 9,922 tonnes which results in landings of no more than 8,223 tonnes. The only sea-pen species observed in 2014 was Virgularia mirabilis and the frequency of occurrence was lower than the average during the investigated period, but higher than in 2013. Trawl marks were noted at 24% of the UWTV stations

Western Irish Sea Nephrops Grounds (FU15) 2013 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2014

Use the URI link below to search the Marine Institute Data Discovery Catalogue for datasets relevant to this report.This report provides the main results and findings of the eleventh annual underwater television survey on the ‘Irish sea west Nephrops grounds’ ICES assessment area, Functional Unit 15. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. The 2013 design consisted of a randomised isometric grid of 80 stations at 5 nautical mile intervals out over the full known extent the stock. The resulting krigged burrow abundance estimate was 4.3 billion burrows. This was a 16% decrease relative to 2012. The spatial distribution shows higher abundance in the south of the area and a larger decline in abundance is apparent in the North. Overall densities remain high and abundance remains relatively stable, well above MSY Btrigger. Reducing the number of stations in 2013 is not expected to have significantly affected the accuracy of the survey estimate. The CV (or relative standard error) of 3% is in line with previous estimates and well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Total catches and landings options at various different fishing mortalities were calculated and fishing at Fmsy in 2014 implies a total catch option at Fmsy (=Fmax) of 9,914 tonnes which results in landings of no more than 8,244 tonnes. The only sea-pen species observed in 2013 was Virgularia mirabilis and the frequency of occurrence was lower than in 2012. Trawl marks were noted at 43% of the UWTV stations

Western Irish Sea Nephrops Grounds (FU15) 2019 UWTV Survey Report and catch options for 2020

This report provides the main results and findings of the 17th annual underwater television survey on the ‘Irish sea west Nephrops grounds’ ICES assessment area, Functional Unit 15. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV and other ecosystem data. The 2019 design consisted of a randomised isometric grid of 100 stations at 4.5 nautical mile intervals out over the full known extent the stock. The resulting krigged burrow abundance estimate was 4.4 billion burrows. This was a similar result of that obtained in 2015, but a 10% lower than the abundance in 2018. In contrast to 2017 the spatial distribution of burrows shows a high density band on the central western area of the survey ground. The abundance remains within previously observed ranges and is above MSY Btrigger. The CV (or relative standard error) of 3% is in line with previous estimates and well below the upper limit of 20% recommended by SGNEPS 2012. Total catches and landings options at various different fishing mortalities were calculated and fishing at Fmsy in 2020 implies a total catch option at Fmsy (=Fmax) of 10,377 tonnes estimated to result in landings of no more than 8,546 tonnes. Sea-pens were observed at 21% of stations with high densities observed in the south-west of the ground. Trawl marks were noted at 15% of the UWTV stations