The measurement and determinants of skill acquisition in young workers' first job

The article analyses participation in five types of training (formal on-site, formal off-site, informal co-worker training, learning by watching and learning by doing) and self-assessed skill acquisition in young Flemish workers' first job. A skill production function is estimated whereby the simultaneity of participation in the different types of training and skill acquisition is taken into account. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of informal training. Formal training participation is found to be only a fraction of total training participation. Moreover, the determinants of total training participation and skill acquisition differ from those of formal training participation. While some training types are complementary, others are clearly substitutes. Finally, most types of training generate additional skills. Nonetheless, learning by doing is found to be complementary to formal education in the production of both specific and general skills, whereas formal training serves as a substitute

Spatial And Quantitative Approache to Incorporating Stakeholder Values into Total Maximum Daily Loads: Dominguez Channel Case Study Final Report

Under the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) states are required to develop and implement Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for waters that are not achieving water quality standards. A TMDL specifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive, and allocates the pollutant loadings to point and non-point sources. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) developed a tool to assist in improving the TMDL process. We developed a stakeholder allocation model (SAM) which uses multi-attribute utility theory to quantitatively structure the preferences of the major stakeholder groups. We then applied a Geographic Information System (GIS) to visualize the results. We used the Dominguez Channel Watershed in Los Angeles County, CA as our case study

Spatial and Quantitative Approach to Incorporating Stakeholder Values into Total Maximum Daily Loads: Dominguez Channel Case Study

The Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d)(1)(A) requires each state to identify those waters that are not achieving water quality standards. The result of this assessment is called the 303(d) list. The CWA also requires states to develop and implement Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for these waters on the 303(d) list. A TMDL specifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and allocates the pollutant loadings to point and non-point sources. Nationwide, over 34,900 segments of waterways have been listed as impaired by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2006). The EPA enlists state agencies and local communities to submit TMDL plans to reduce discharges by specified dates or have them developed by the EPA. The Department of Energy requested Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to develop appropriate tools to assist in improving the TMDL process. An investigation of this process by LLNL found that plans to reduce discharges were being developed based on a wide range of site investigation methods. Our investigation found that given the resources available to the interested and responsible parties, developing a quantitative stakeholder input process and using visualization tools to display quantitative information could improve the acceptability of TMDL plans. We developed a stakeholder allocation model (SAM) which uses multi-attribute utility theory to quantitatively structure the preferences of the major stakeholder groups. We then applied GIS to display allocation options in maps representing economic activity, community groups, and city agencies. This allows allocation options and stakeholder concerns to be represented in both space and time. The primary goal of this tool is to provide a quantitative and visual display of stakeholder concerns over possible TMDL options

The Effects of Cost and Asset Retrenchment on Firm Performance: The Overlooked Role of a Firm’s Competitive Environment

When firms face declining financial performance, research suggests that cost and asset retrenchment can lead to improved performance among poorly performing firms. However, previous studies have largely focused on firms operating in mature industries. This research develops and tests arguments that cost and/or asset retrenchment strategies will have different effects on firm performance in competitive environments characterized as growing and declining. In growth industries, asset retrenchment was positively related to performance improvement while cost retrenchment was unrelated. In declining industries, cost retrenchment was positively related to improved performance while asset retrenchment had a negative effect on firm performance. Implications of these findings for turnaround strategies are discussed.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline