Inducing Employees to Leave: A Comparison of Four Severance Options

This study examines the demographic, economic, and psychographic characteristics of 324 blue‐collar workers who were offered four options for either retirement or severance from the organization. Consistent with previous research, individuals who accepted retirement options have more organizational tenure and believed that the packages would provide stable financial futures. A key finding for those who accepted the nonretirement options is that comparable employment would be available. The study concludes with research limitations and suggestions for future research.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97191/1/21526_ftp.pd

Breaking Down the Silos Between the Introductory Financial Accounting and Corporate Finance Courses

In this paper, we provide a broad overview of the topics that are taught in undergraduate financial accounting and corporate finance classes. We document the overlaps in these introductory courses and describe the similarities and differences in how topics are taught in both disciplines. We then discuss, topic-by-topic, how instructors can reinforce the connections between the two fields in the classroom for more effective teaching and deeper learning. Our paper will help instructors to reinforce the connections between the two disciplines in the classroom for more effective teaching and deeper learning. It also provides the first step towards building effective teaching materials for accounting and finance courses for successful integration

Unfortunately The Introduction Of Our New Product Will Be Delayed: An Exploratory Examination Of Factors That Influence A Firm To Announce Changes In Its New Product Plans

New product preannouncement research investigates formal and deliberate communications by a firm regarding its future new product introductions (e.g., types of new products, new product attributes, plans for distribution, planned launch date). However, previous studies have primarily focused on communication related to the firm’s intent to introduce a new product and largely ignored communications regarding changes in their status, such as launch delays as well as cancellation of the new product introduction. The goal of this study is to address this shortfall by examining antecedents factors  influencing a preannouncing firm (i.e., one that preannounces its new products) to also announce changes in to its new product introduction plans (NPCs); specifically, delays in the introduction of a new product or its cancellation. This topic is particularly relevant given the importance that recent studies have placed on the investigation of false new product preannouncements or bluffs, especially in the software industry where they are termed vaporware.  Furthermore, in the wake of the many recent high-profile corporate scandals (e.g., Enron and Tyco), a growing emphasis on corporate disclosure, particularly regarding performance shortfalls (e.g., new product delays and cancellations), also highlights the need for further research on corporate communication regarding changes to new product introduction plans.  Additionally, unlike most extant preannouncement research that attempts to examine differences between preannouncers and non-preannouncers, our study only examines firms that preannounce their new product introductions and then, goes further, by examining post-preannouncement behavior. In developing our framework, we propose five antecedents that motivate a preannouncing firm’s propensity, when the situation arises, to issue announcements regarding delays in a new product introduction or its cancellation. Additionally, we highlight the use of NPCs as strategic marketing communication tools that can continually inform and influence a wide range of target audiences (e.g., buyers, employees, supply chain participants, investors, and business media). The hypotheses are tested via factor score regression with a sample of 221 U.S. – based manufacturers. Our findings indicate that it is not the firm’s desire to communicate in a general sense through information sharing nor its concerns regarding competitors that motivates preannouncing firms to issue NPCs. Instead, the preannouncing firm’s desire to build its reputation, the innovativeness of its industry, and the degree to which buyers must make substantial pre-purchase investments are the main drivers of communication regarding changes to its new product introduction plans. As a set, these findings are particularly interesting as they indicate that the preannouncing firm’s desire to reduce uncertainty, often in its own favor, underlies its decision to issue NPCs

Multispeckle diffusing-wave spectroscopy: a tool to study slow relaxation and time-dependent dynamics

A multispeckle technique for efficiently measuring correctly ensemble-averaged intensity autocorrelation functions of scattered light from non-ergodic and/or non-stationary systems is described. The method employs a CCD camera as a multispeckle light detector and a computer-based correlator, and permits the simultaneous calculation of up to 500 correlation functions, where each correlation function is started at a different time. The correlation functions are calculated in real time and are referenced to a unique starting time. The multispeckle nature of the CCD camera detector means that a true ensemble average is calculated; no time averaging is necessary. The technique thus provides a "snapshot" of the dynamics, making it particularly useful for non-stationary systems where the dynamics are changing with time. Delay times spanning the range from 1 ms to 1000 s are readily achieved with this method. The technique is demonstrated in the multiple scattering limit where diffusing-wave spectroscopy theory applies. The technique can also be combined with a recently-developed two-cell technique that can measure faster decay times. The combined technique can measure delay times from 10 ns to 1000 s. The method is peculiarly well suited for studying aging processes in soft glassy materials, which exhibit both short and long relaxation times, non-ergodic dynamics, and slowly-evolving transient behavior.Comment: 11 pages 13 figures Accepted in Review of Scientific Instrument (june 02

Spaceborne Processor Array

A Spaceborne Processor Array in Multifunctional Structure (SPAMS) can lower the total mass of the electronic and structural overhead of spacecraft, resulting in reduced launch costs, while increasing the science return through dynamic onboard computing. SPAMS integrates the multifunctional structure (MFS) and the Gilgamesh Memory, Intelligence, and Network Device (MIND) multi-core in-memory computer architecture into a single-system super-architecture. This transforms every inch of a spacecraft into a sharable, interconnected, smart computing element to increase computing performance while simultaneously reducing mass. The MIND in-memory architecture provides a foundation for high-performance, low-power, and fault-tolerant computing. The MIND chip has an internal structure that includes memory, processing, and communication functionality. The Gilgamesh is a scalable system comprising multiple MIND chips interconnected to operate as a single, tightly coupled, parallel computer. The array of MIND components shares a global, virtual name space for program variables and tasks that are allocated at run time to the distributed physical memory and processing resources. Individual processor- memory nodes can be activated or powered down at run time to provide active power management and to configure around faults. A SPAMS system is comprised of a distributed Gilgamesh array built into MFS, interfaces into instrument and communication subsystems, a mass storage interface, and a radiation-hardened flight computer

Noise in laser speckle correlation and imaging techniques

We study the noise of the intensity variance and of the intensity correlation and structure functions measured in light scattering from a random medium in the case when these quantities are obtained by averaging over a finite number N of pixels of a digital camera. We show that the noise scales as 1/N in all cases and that it is sensitive to correlations of signals corresponding to adjacent pixels as well as to the effective time averaging (due to the finite sampling time) and spatial averaging (due to the finite pixel size). Our results provide a guide to estimation of noise level in such applications as the multi-speckle dynamic light scattering, time-resolved correlation spectroscopy, speckle visibility spectroscopy, laser speckle imaging etc.Comment: submitted 14 May 201

Characterization of anisotropic nano-particles by using depolarized dynamic light scattering in the near field

Light scattering techniques are widely used in many fields of condensed and sof t matter physics. Usually these methods are based on the study of the scattered light in the far field. Recently, a new family of near field detection schemes has been developed, mainly for the study of small angle light scattering. These techniques are based on the detection of the light intensity near to the sample, where light scattered at different directions overlaps but can be distinguished by Fourier transform analysis. Here we report for the first time data obtained with a dynamic near field scattering instrument, measuring both polarized and depolarized scattered light. Advantages of this procedure over the traditional far field detection include the immunity to stray light problems and the possibility to obtain a large number of statistical samples for many different wave vectors in a single instantaneous measurement. By using the proposed technique we have measured the translational and rotational diffusion coefficients of rod-like colloidal particles. The obtained data are in very good agreement with the data acquired with a traditional light scattering apparatus.Comment: Published in Optics Express. This version has changes in bibliograph

A 32-channel photon counting module with embedded auto/cross-correlators for real-time parallel fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is a well-established technique to study binding interactions or the diffusion of fluorescently labeled biomolecules in vitro and in vivo. Fast FCS experiments require parallel data acquisition and analysis which can be achieved by exploiting a multi-channel Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) array and a corresponding multi-input correlator. This paper reports a 32-channel FPGA based correlator able to perform 32 auto/cross-correlations simultaneously over a lag-time ranging from 10 ns up to 150 ms. The correlator is included in a 32 × 1 SPAD array module, providing a compact and flexible instrument for high throughput FCS experiments. However, some inherent features of SPAD arrays, namely afterpulsing and optical crosstalk effects, may introduce distortions in the measurement of auto- and cross-correlation functions. We investigated these limitations to assess their impact on the module and evaluate possible workarounds

An Investigation of Longwall Gob Gas Behavior and Control Methods

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has initiated the use of a tracer gas in field studies to characterize geologic and mining factors influencing the migration of longwall gob gas. Three studies have been conducted using sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) at a coal mine in the Northern Appalachian Basin operating in the Pittsburgh Coalbed. Eight underground tracer gas releases and one gob gas venthole release are summarized. The results indicate that the gas flow in the bleeder network and in the interior regions of longwall panel gobs do not strongly interact and that the negative pressure provided by gob gas venthole exhausters is very significant in maintaining this behavior. The data also show that ventilation practices employed in a large multi-panel gob area are functioning in accordance with the intent of the engineering design, a fact which would be difficult to evaluate using conventional mine ventilation measurement methods

Flight Qualified Micro Sun Sensor

A prototype small, lightweight micro Sun sensor (MSS) has been flight qualified as part of the attitude-determination system of a spacecraft or for Mars surface operations. The MSS has previously been reported at a very early stage of development in NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 1 (January 2004). An MSS is essentially a miniature multiple-pinhole electronic camera combined with digital processing electronics that functions analogously to a sundial. A micromachined mask containing a number of microscopic pinholes is mounted in front of an active-pixel sensor (APS). Electronic circuits for controlling the operation of the APS, readout from the pixel photodetectors, and analog-to-digital conversion are all integrated onto the same chip along with the APS. The digital processing includes computation of the centroids of the pinhole Sun images on the APS. The spacecraft computer has the task of converting the Sun centroids into Sun angles utilizing a calibration polynomial. The micromachined mask comprises a 500-micron-thick silicon wafer, onto which is deposited a 57-nm-thick chromium adhesion- promotion layer followed by a 200-nm-thick gold light-absorption layer. The pinholes, 50 microns in diameter, are formed in the gold layer by photolithography. The chromium layer is thin enough to be penetrable by an amount of Sunlight adequate to form measurable pinhole images. A spacer frame between the mask and the APS maintains a gap of .1 mm between the pinhole plane and the photodetector plane of the APS. To minimize data volume, mass, and power consumption, the digital processing of the APS readouts takes place in a single field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The particular FPGA is a radiation- tolerant unit that contains .32,000 gates. No external memory is used so the FPGA calculates the centroids in real time as pixels are read off the APS with minimal internal memory. To enable the MSS to fit into a small package, the APS, the FPGA, and other components are mounted on a single two-sided board following chip-on-board design practice