Valuing human resources: perceptions and practices in UK organisations.

Despite Government and academic interest in valuing human resources, there has been relatively little progress in reflecting the value of human resources in UK organisations. This research uses a survey questionnaire to identify perceptions and practices in the area of valuing human resources in three types of UK organizations; traditional companies, knowledge intensive companies and local authorities. The survey focuses on the importance of valuing human resources, current measurement practices, key barriers to the valuation of human resources and the progress expected in this field over five years in UK organisations. Although the majority of respondents identified that the measurement/valuation of human resources was important to their organization, only little or moderate progress in recognizing the worth of human resources in financial statements was expected. The main reasons for this were identified to be lack of understanding and support of the area by others in the organization, particularly senior management, lack of resources, uncertainty as to what information should be reported and lack of precision and reliability in current human resource measures. The research identified that there is more interest in the area from human resource professionals than accounting professionals and that valuation of human resources should be included in internal reports rather than reported externally. More research is now needed, both on conceptual models for valuing human resources within organizations and empirical research focusing on issues such as gaining commitment to valuing of human resources by senior management, the development of systems of valuing human resources, how systems to value employees, when developed, are implemented in organisations and the consequences, both intended and unintended of how the systems operate in practice

Simulating the Performance of a Heat Exchanger During Frosting

Factors affecting frost distribution are explored using a finite element model, developed and validated using a full-scale 8-row heat exchanger in a wind tunnel. The heat exchanger is typical of the type used in supermarket display cases; so face velocities and air inlet temperatures were varied from 0.5-2.3 m/s and 0 to -20 ??C, respectively, and inlet humidities from 70-90%. In order to focus on frost distribution, the prototype was designed to have a simple geometry and single-phase refrigerant to provide maximum certainty on parameters not directly related to frost. Measured and predicted total and sensible heat transfer agreed within RMS 6% and 8%, respectively, over the range of operating conditions. For latent heat, there was more scatter due to frost nonuniformities induced by the experimental apparatus. The simulation model was used to illustrate how the point of maximum frost thickness moved from the front to the rear of the heat exchanger, depending on face velocity, inlet humidity and fin surface temperature. Heat transfer and pressure drop were calculated from standard correlations, with fin thickness and tube diameter increasing as a function of frost thickness. The model was further extended to simulate the performance of the heat exchanger under the effect of a fan curve. A comparison is made between DX and indirect refrigeration system performance with respect to capacity, pressure drop and air flow variations under frosting conditions.Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Project 10

Rescue Packages and Output Losses Following Crises

This paper examines the role of the third party (the IMF) in resolving sovereign default on external debt. We first show that the effects of third party intervention in debt negotiations are quite sensitive to the assumed enforcement mechanism for sovereign debt. The model is then adapted to an insurance crisis. The main result is that the unanticipated component of third party intervention can either intensify or mitigate the dead weight loss following default.