Employee Share Ownership Plans: A Review

This paper reviews the main strands of research on employee share ownership over the last forty years. It considers research findings in the literature on types of share ownership, the incidence of share ownership plans, the ‘determinants’ of the use of share plans by companies, influences upon employee participation in share plans, the effect of share ownership on employee attitudes and behaviour, the effect on company performance, and the relationship between share ownership plans and other forms of employee participation. The paper does not provide a comprehensive review of the literature on these topics: instead it highlights the main findings that have emerged in the literature to date, and suggests some avenues for future research. It is suggested that majority worker ownership is different in character and effects from ‘mainstream’ minority employee share plans in large companies but the literature has tended to conflate the two. It is argued that future research needs to distinguish the various forms of employee share ownership if the impact of share ownership is to be more precisely calibrated

Synthesis and characterization of model polymers for use in the investigation of char forming heat shields status report no. 1

Model polymer synthesis for use in char forming heat shield

Genomic and Transcriptomic Alterations Associated with STAT3 Activation in Head and Neck Cancer.

BackgroundHyperactivation of STAT3 via constitutive phosphorylation of tyrosine 705 (Y705) is common in most human cancers, including head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSCC). STAT3 is rarely mutated in cancer and the (epi)genetic alterations that lead to STAT3 activation are incompletely understood. Here we used an unbiased approach to identify genomic and epigenomic changes associated with pSTAT3(Y705) expression using data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).Methods and findingsMutation, mRNA expression, promoter methylation, and copy number alteration data were extracted from TCGA and examined in the context of pSTAT3(Y705) protein expression. mRNA expression levels of 1279 genes were found to be associated with pSTAT3(705) expression. Association of pSTAT3(Y705) expression with caspase-8 mRNA expression was validated by immunoblot analysis in HNSCC cells. Mutation, promoter hypermethylation, and copy number alteration of any gene were not significantly associated with increased pSTAT3(Y705) protein expression.ConclusionsThese cumulative results suggest that unbiased approaches may be useful in identifying the molecular underpinnings of oncogenic signaling, including STAT3 activation, in HNSCC. Larger datasets will likely be necessary to elucidate signaling consequences of infrequent alterations

The Effects of Some Nitrogen Fertilizers on Nitrification

A number of investigations have shown the effects of certain nitrogen fertilizers on the nitrification process and it has generally been noted that nitrates would stimulate the production of nitrates. The work of Coleman, Brown and Gowda and Greaves may be referred to in this connection

Importance of coastal change variables in determining vulnerability to sea- and lake-level change

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Journal of Coastal Research 26 (2010): 176-183, doi:10.2112/08-1102.1.In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey began conducting scientific assessments of coastal vulnerability to potential future sea- and lake-level changes in 22 National Park Service sea- and lakeshore units. Coastal park units chosen for the assessment included a variety of geological and physical settings along the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Alaska, Caribbean, and Great Lakes shorelines. This research is motivated by the need to understand and anticipate coastal changes caused by accelerating sea-level rise, as well as lake-level changes caused by climate change, over the next century. The goal of these assessments is to provide information that can be used to make long-term (decade to century) management decisions. Here we analyze the results of coastal vulnerability assessments for several coastal national park units. Index-based assessments quantify the likelihood that physical changes may occur based on analysis of the following variables: tidal range, ice cover, wave height, coastal slope, historical shoreline change rate, geomorphology, and historical rate of relative sea- or lake-level change. This approach seeks to combine a coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, and it provides a measure of the system's potential vulnerability to the effects of sea- or lake-level change. Assessments for 22 park units are combined to evaluate relationships among the variables used to derive the index. Results indicate that Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico parks have the highest vulnerability rankings relative to other park regions. A principal component analysis reveals that 99% of the index variability can be explained by four variables: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, water-level change rate, and mean significant wave height. Tidal range, ice cover, and historical shoreline change are not as important when the index is evaluated at large spatial scales (thousands of kilometers)

H2 reformation in post-shock regions

H2 formation is an important process in post-shock regions, since H2 is an active participant in the cooling and shielding of the environment. The onset of H2 formation therefore has a strong effect on the temperature and chemical evolution in the post shock regions. We recently developed a model for H2 formation on a graphite surface in warm conditions. The graphite surface acts as a model system for grains containing large areas of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon structures. Here this model is used to obtain a new description of the H2 formation rate as a function of gas temperature that can be implemented in molecular shock models. The H2 formation rate is substantially higher at high gas temperatures as compared to the original implementation of this rate in shock models, because of the introduction of H atoms which are chemically bonded to the grain (chemisorption). Since H2 plays such a key role in the cooling, the increased rate is found to have a substantial effect on the predicted line fluxes of an important coolant in dissociative shocks [O I] at 63.2 and 145.5 micron. With the new model a better agreement between model and observations is obtained. Since one of the goals of Herschel/PACS will be to observe these lines with higher spatial resolution and sensitivity than the former observations by ISO-LWS, this more accurate model is very timely to help with the interpretation of these future results.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted in MNRAS Letter

Spectral Hardness Decay with Respect to Fluence in BATSE Gamma-Ray Bursts

We have analyzed the evolution of the spectral hardness parameter Epk as a function of fluence in gamma-ray bursts. We fit 41 pulses within 26 bursts with the trend reported by Liang & Kargatis (1996) which found that Epk decays exponentially with respect to photon fluence. We also fit these pulses with a slight modification of this trend, where Epk decays linearly with energy fluence. In both cases, we found the set of 41 pulses to be consistent with the trend. For the latter trend, which we believe to be more physical, the distribution of the decay constant is roughly log-normal, with a mean of 1.75 +/- 0.07 and a FWHM of 1.0 +/- 0.1. Regarding an earlier reported invariance in the decay constant among different pulses in a single burst, we found probabilities of 0.49 to 0.84 (depending on the test used) that such invariance would occur by coincidence, most likely due to the narrow distribution of decay constant values among pulses.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure pages, 2 table pages, submitted to The Astrophysical Journa

Affinities and differences between Giovanni Pascoli and English and French poets

Part I: The poet's life, character and spiritual development, 1855-1891. Life at Bologna, 1873-1882 - family tragedy - anarchism -Pascoli's sentimental mysticism begins to assert itself against the positivistic tendencies of his environment - cultural atmosphere of Bologna alien to him - spiritual isolation -condemnation of contemporary ideas. Affinities with Leopardi - differences in temperament and art - reasons why his inspiration could not have guided Pascoli to complete poetical expression - affinities between Pascoli and mystical romantic poets - interest in foreign literature - shares dominant characteristics of romanticism - differences between his qualities and ideals and those of many romantic poets. Foreign influence disputed by critics - inspiration of Poe and Galletti's assertion that Pascoli guided by him to foreign poets - evidence to support this theory, Part II : Affinities and differences between Pascoli and English and French poets: possible reminiscences from their poetry. Pascoli's conception of poetry, spontaneous expression of the poet's purest self revealed to him by emotion. Identification of "fanciullino" with "Imagination" of English romantic poets - found also in Baudelaire and Rimbaud - neo-platonism in Pascoli and other poets. Poetry of childhood in Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Coppee, Hugo and Pascoli. Broad conception of poetry - language - attitude towards nature. "Cosmic" poetry of Shelley, Lamartine, Byron, Wordsworth, Baudelaire, Hugo, Rimbaud - affinities, differences, possible reminiscences in Pascoli - preoccupation with evil in Pascoli and Hugo -obsession with death in Pascoli, Poe, Hugo, Baudelaire, Carducci, Maeterlinck - "romantic" atmosphere in Pascoli - mystic awe in poetry - Wordsworth Poetry, objectified dreams in Pascoli, German, English and French poets. Mystery and super-natural elements in Pascoli, Coleridge, Novalis, Baudelaire, French symbolists, Shelley, Poe, Maeterlinck, Hugo. Intuitions of mystery conveyed by symbol and music. Resemblance between Pascoli's use of symbolism and that of Rossetti and Hugo. Conclusion Pascoli has less affinity with French symbolists than with English romantic poets - nearest in spirit to Poe and Hugo -Pascoli's originality.<p

The Ebony Flyer

Illustration of African Americanshttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cht-sheet-music/2931/thumbnail.jp