Entitled or misunderstood? Towards the repositioning of the sense of entitlement concept in the generational difference debate

This paper contributes to debates in the broad area of generational differences at work. Specifically, we locate this study within the literature of the work values and expectations of the ‘Millennial generation’, also known as ‘GenMe’ (Twenge, 2006; 2010). Much has been made in the media and popular practitioner literature about how the latest generation of workers have a ‘sense of entitlement’ and therefore expect more from the workplace than previous generations. In this paper, we argue that this mainstream view of the sense of entitlement as a concept is problematic and requires a more critical examination. We consider two divergent bodies of literature on the sense of entitlement in relation to generational differences at work – a manageralist approach, which conceptualises sense of entitlement to work-life balance (WLB) as a negative trait, and a second body, based on the seminal work by Sue Lewis and colleagues, that treats sense of entitlement as a situated process rather than an internal characteristic. We use data from a study of young adults leaving university in the UK, inspired by Sue’s work. Our analysis challenges the notion of today’s younger workers as more ‘entitled’ than previous generations. This study extends existing research by providing a contextualised analysis of young people’s situated accounts of sense of entitlement at work

Focus group methodology in a life course approach – individual accounts within a peer cohort group

This paper explores the use of focus group methodology as part of a life course approach building on Julia Brannen’s pioneering work in these two areas. Much life course research uses individual interviews, including biographical interview techniques. It is less usual to find focus groups used within the life course perspective. This paper draws on a PhD study of young British and Asian adults’ experiences of the transition from university to full-time employment, using focus groups as part of a multi-method approach, within a life course perspective. The study drew explicitly on Julia Brannen’s approach to life course transitions. Three focus group excerpts are presented and discussed to illustrate how focus group data can further the understanding of the ways in which a group of peers discuss the transition to work and especially future work–life balance. We show how focus group discussions about individual choice for future work and ‘life’ or ‘lifestyle’ can highlight shared assumptions of this birth cohort group as well as areas of disagreement and contention, rooted in both individual experiences and societal and socio-cultural expectations. We relate this to Julia Brannen’s conceptualisation of the three different modalities which young people draw on to talk about the future

From theory to impact: bringing work-life initiatives into the mainstream

In this special issue we focus on the work and influence of Sue Lewis, one of the Community, Work and Family’s two founding editors. In launching this journal Sue, together with Carolyn Kagan, aimed to encourage debate and critical examination of, and reflection on, existing perspectives, frameworks and practices (Kagan and Lewis, 2015). They also explicitly aimed “to publish work that challenged the status quo, encouraged personal reflection and reflexivity, and put professional and lay views side by side” (Kagan and Lewis, 2015). For this special issue we invited researchers who have worked with Sue at different stages of her career – from her Ph.D. supervisor (Cary Cooper), some of her international research partners (Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ellen Kossek), her previous colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan University (Carolyn Kagan, Rebecca Lawthom), her national and international research partners on a series of European projects (Julia Brannen, Ann Nilsen, Laura den Dulk, Bram Peper), through to one of Sue’s former Ph.D. students and colleague at Middlesex University (Uracha Chatrakul Na Ayudhya) and early career researchers (Sweta Rajan-Rankin). In the articles that are to follow, the authors draw upon and highlight the considerable and invaluable influences that Sue’s work has had in the field of Community, Work and Family

The initial temporal evolution of a feedback dynamo for Mercury

Various possibilities are currently under discussion to explain the observed weakness of the intrinsic magnetic field of planet Mercury. One of the possible dynamo scenarios is a dynamo with feedback from the magnetosphere. Due to its weak magnetic field Mercury exhibits a small magnetosphere whose subsolar magnetopause distance is only about 1.7 Hermean radii. We consider the magnetic field due to magnetopause currents in the dynamo region. Since the external field of magnetospheric origin is antiparallel to the dipole component of the dynamo field, a negative feedback results. For an alpha-omega-dynamo two stationary solutions of such a feedback dynamo emerge, one with a weak and the other with a strong magnetic field. The question, however, is how these solutions can be realized. To address this problem, we discuss various scenarios for a simple dynamo model and the conditions under which a steady weak magnetic field can be reached. We find that the feedback mechanism quenches the overall field to a low value of about 100 to 150 nT if the dynamo is not driven too strongly

Dynamically stabilized decoherence-free states in non-Markovian open fermionic systems

Decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs) provide a strategy for protecting the dynamics of an open system from decoherence induced by the system-environment interaction. So far, DFSs have been primarily studied in the framework of Markovian master equations. In this work, we study decoherence-free (DF) states in the general setting of a non-Markovian fermionic environment. We identify the DF states by diagonalizing the non-unitary evolution operator for a two-level fermionic system attached to an electron reservoir. By solving the exact master equation, we show that DF states can be stabilized dynamically.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Any comments are welcom

Faster algorithms for 1-mappability of a sequence

In the k-mappability problem, we are given a string x of length n and integers m and k, and we are asked to count, for each length-m factor y of x, the number of other factors of length m of x that are at Hamming distance at most k from y. We focus here on the version of the problem where k = 1. The fastest known algorithm for k = 1 requires time O(mn log n/ log log n) and space O(n). We present two algorithms that require worst-case time O(mn) and O(n log^2 n), respectively, and space O(n), thus greatly improving the state of the art. Moreover, we present an algorithm that requires average-case time and space O(n) for integer alphabets if m = {\Omega}(log n/ log {\sigma}), where {\sigma} is the alphabet size

Neuro-fuzzy application for concrete strength prediction using combined non-destructive tests

The application of the neuro-fuzzy inference system to predict the compressive strength of concrete is presented in this study. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is introduced for training and testing the data sets consisting of various parameters. To investigate the influence of various parameters which affect the compressive strength, 1551 data pairs are collected from the technical literature. These data sets cover early and late compressive strengths from 3 to 365 days and low and high strength in the range 6·3–107·7 MPa. To reflect the effects of other uncertain parameters and in situ conditions, the results of non-destructive tests (NDTs) such as ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and rebound hammer test are also included as input parameters, in addition to mix proportion and curing histories. For the testing of trained ANFIS models, 20 cube specimens and 210 cylinders are prepared, and compressive test and NDTs are conducted. For the comparative study of the applicability of ANFIS models combined with NDT results, four ANFIS models are developed. Depending on whether the input parameters of ANFIS models include NDT results or not, these are distinguished from each other. Among the four models, the ‘ANFIS-UR' model having the parameters for both UPV and rebound hammer test results shows the best accuracy in the prediction of compressive strength

Multi instanton tests of holography

Gauge theories living on stacks of D7-branes are holographically related to IIB gravitational backgrounds with a varying axion-dilaton field (F-theory). The axion-dilaton field is generated by D7, O7 and D-instanton sources and can be written in terms of the chiral correlators of the eight dimensional gauge theory living on the D7-branes. Using localization techniques, we prove that the same correlators determine the gauge coupling of the four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) gauge theories living on the elementary D3-brane which probes the F-theory geometries.Comment: 18 page

On Budget-Feasible Mechanism Design for Symmetric Submodular Objectives

We study a class of procurement auctions with a budget constraint, where an auctioneer is interested in buying resources or services from a set of agents. Ideally, the auctioneer would like to select a subset of the resources so as to maximize his valuation function, without exceeding a given budget. As the resources are owned by strategic agents however, our overall goal is to design mechanisms that are truthful, budget-feasible, and obtain a good approximation to the optimal value. Budget-feasibility creates additional challenges, making several approaches inapplicable in this setting. Previous results on budget-feasible mechanisms have considered mostly monotone valuation functions. In this work, we mainly focus on symmetric submodular valuations, a prominent class of non-monotone submodular functions that includes cut functions. We begin first with a purely algorithmic result, obtaining a $\frac{2e}{e-1}$-approximation for maximizing symmetric submodular functions under a budget constraint. We view this as a standalone result of independent interest, as it is the best known factor achieved by a deterministic algorithm. We then proceed to propose truthful, budget feasible mechanisms (both deterministic and randomized), paying particular attention on the Budgeted Max Cut problem. Our results significantly improve the known approximation ratios for these objectives, while establishing polynomial running time for cases where only exponential mechanisms were known. At the heart of our approach lies an appropriate combination of local search algorithms with results for monotone submodular valuations, applied to the derived local optima.Comment: A conference version appears in WINE 201

Resonances in a two-dimensional electron waveguide with a single delta-function scatterer

We study the conductance properties of a straight two-dimensional electron waveguide with an s-like scatterer modeled by a single delta-function potential with a finite number of modes. Even such a simple system exhibits interesting resonance phenomena. These resonances are explained in terms of quasi-bound states both by using a direct solution of the Schroedinger equation and by studying the Green's function of the system. Using the Green's function we calculate the survival probability as well as the power absorption and show the influence of the quasi-bound states on these two quantities.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Physical Review