The Stairway to the Top: The Remuneration of Academic Executives

Australian universities have in recent times been undergoing a substantial transformation in the way in which they are managed. They have moved away from the (British-based) traditional collegiate model to one in which professional managers play a centre-stage role. This paper investigates an important element of the managerialism at Australian universities, the market for what we call “academic executives” (AEs). We analyse the remuneration of the top AEs at Australian universities over the past six years and show that institutional size is a dominant driving factor of remuneration, as has been found with compensation of CEOs in the private sector. We also find the pay-size elasticity to be about 0.25 and is the same for both the university and private sectors; and remarkably, this value has also been found in previous studies on executive remuneration for the US and the UK. The remuneration schedule for the university sector is about half as steep as that for the private sector, suggesting that it is a much harder climb to the top of the corporate ladder. We analyse the structure of remuneration among AEs and the Group of Eight universities are found to have a pay parity structure that is closest to that for the private sector.

The Pay Parity Matrix A Toll For Analysing The Structure of Pay

This paper introduces a new tool for measuring relative pay within organisations, which we call the “pay parity (PP) matrix” and discusses its advantages and useful properties. The PP matrix allows us to conveniently measure, and draw inferences about, the nature of the whole remuneration schedule, such as its gradient and smoothness. We illustrate the application of the PP matrix by using data on the remuneration of academic executives. This tool has wider uses whenever matrix comparisons are involved.

Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by brown trout (Salmo trutta) in the Arkansas River: importance of food chain transfer

December, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (pages 13-14).This study examined uptake and transfer of heavy metals form benthic invertebrates to brown trout in the Arkansas River. Metals in water, aufwuchs, benthic invertebrates, and fish were measured at stations upstream and downstream from California Gulch (GC). Aufwuchs and benthic invertebrates were highly contaminated by heavy metals downstream from California Gulch. The diet of brown trout at the Arkansas River was dominated by benthic invertebrates. These accounted for 40 to 95 percent of the diet of the brown trout. Differences in prey availability between upstream and downstream resulted in the differences. Ephemeroptera comprised a greater portion of the diet of the fish collected upstream from GC, whereas metal-tolerant organisms were more common in the diet of fish from downstream. Elevated metal levels in water and invertebrates downstream resulted in increased metals in gill and gut tissue; however, metal concentrations in brown trout liver and kidney tissue were generally similar both upstream and downstream. The data suggest that fish regulated metal accumulation. The implications of these findings for the recovery of brown trout populations at the Arkansas River are discussed.Grant no. 14-08-0001-2008, Project no. 10; financed in part by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey, through the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute

Nuclear gas dynamics in Arp 220 - sub-kiloparsec scale atomic hydrogen disks

We present new, high angular resolution (~0.22") MERLIN observations of neutral hydrogen (HI) absorption and 21-cm radio continuum emission across the central ~900 parsecs of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy, Arp220. Spatially resolved HI absorption is detected against the morphologically complex and extended 21-cm radio continuum emission, consistent with two counterrotating disks of neutral hydrogen, with a small bridge of gas connecting the two. We propose a merger model in which the two nuclei represent the galaxy cores which have survived the initial encounter and are now in the final stages of merging, similar to conclusions drawn from previous CO studies (Sakamoto, Scoville & Yun 1999). However, we suggest that instead of being coplanar with the main CO disk (in which the eastern nucleus is embedded), the western nucleus lies above it and, as suggested by bridge of HI connecting the two nuclei, will soon complete its final merger with the main disk. We suggest that the collection of radio supernovae (RSN) detected in VLBA studies in the more compact western nucleus represent the second burst of star formation associated with this final merger stage and that free-free absorption due to ionised gas in the bulge-like component can account for the observed RSN distribution. (Abridged)Comment: 26 pages including 8 figures and 1 table; accepted for publication in Ap

Optical Imaging of Very Luminous Infrared Galaxy Systems: Photometric Properties and Late Evolution

A sample of 19 low redshift (0.03$<$z$<$0.07) very luminous infrared galaxy (VLIRG: $10^{11}L_\odot<$ L[8-1000 $\mu$m] $< 10^{12} L_\odot$) systems (30 galaxies) has been imaged in $B$, $V$, and $I$. These objects cover a luminosity range that is key to linking the most luminous infrared galaxies with the population of galaxies at large. We have obtained photometry for all of these VLIRG systems, the individual galaxies (when detached), and their nuclei, and the relative behavior of these classes has been studied in optical color-magnitude diagrams. The photometric properties of the sample are also compared with previously studied samples of ULIRGs. The mean observed photometric properties of VLIRG and ULIRG samples, considered as a whole, are indistinguishable at optical wavelengths. This suggests that not only ULIRG, but also the more numerous population of VLIRGs, have similar rest-frame optical photometric properties as the submillimeter galaxies (SMG), reinforcing the connection between low-{\it z} LIRGs -- high-{\it z} SMGs. When the nuclei of the {\it young} and {\it old} interacting systems are considered separately, some differences between the VLIRG and the ULIRG samples are found. In particular, the old VLIRGs are less luminous and redder than old ULIRG systems. If confirmed with larger samples, this behavior suggests that the late-stage evolution is different for VLIRGs and ULIRGs. Specifically, as suggested from spectroscopic data, the present photometric observations support the idea that the activity during the late phases of VLIRG evolution is dominated by starbursts, while a higher proportion of ULIRGs could evolve into a QSO type of object.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures (degraded to reduce space). Figures 1 and 2 are multiple page figures (i.e. Fig 1a,b and Fig2a-g

Excitations in confined helium

We design models for helium in matrices like aerogel, Vycor or Geltech from a manifestly microscopic point of view. For that purpose, we calculate the dynamic structure function of 4He on Si substrates and between two Si walls as a function of energy, momentum transfer, and the scattering angle. The angle--averaged results are in good agreement with the neutron scattering data; the remaining differences can be attributed to the simplified model used here for the complex pore structure of the materials. A focus of the present work is the detailed identification of coexisting layer modes and bulk--like excitations, and, in the case of thick films, ripplon excitations. Involving essentially two--dimensional motion of atoms, the layer modes are sensitive to the scattering angle.Comment: Phys. Rev. B (2003, in press

Modeling the growth of multicellular cancer spheroids in a\ud bioengineered 3D microenvironment and their treatment with an\ud anti-cancer drug

A critical step in the dissemination of ovarian cancer cells is the formation of multicellular spheroids from cells shed from the primary tumor. The objectives of this study were to establish and validate bioengineered three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments for culturing ovarian cancer cells in vitro and simultaneously to develop computational models describing the growth of multicellular spheroids in these bioengineered matrices. Cancer cells derived from human epithelial ovarian carcinoma were embedded within biomimetic hydrogels of varying stiffness and cultured for up to 4 weeks. Immunohistochemistry was used to quantify the dependence of cell proliferation and apoptosis on matrix stiffness, long-term culture and treatment with the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel.\ud \ud Two computational models were developed. In the first model, each spheroid was treated as an incompressible porous medium, whereas in the second model the concept of morphoelasticity was used to incorporate details about internal stresses and strains. Each model was formulated as a free boundary problem. Functional forms for cell proliferation and apoptosis motivated by the experimental work were applied and the predictions of both models compared with the output from the experiments. Both models simulated how the growth of cancer spheroids was influenced by mechanical and biochemical stimuli including matrix stiffness, culture time and treatment with paclitaxel. Our mathematical models provide new perspectives on previous experimental results and have informed the design of new 3D studies of multicellular cancer spheroids

Quantum sticking, scattering and transmission of 4He atoms from superfluid 4He surfaces

We develop a microscopic theory of the scattering, transmission, and sticking of 4He atoms impinging on a superfluid 4He slab at near normal incidence, and inelastic neutron scattering from the slab. The theory includes coupling between different modes and allows for inelastic processes. We find a number of essential aspects that must be observed in a physically meaningful and reliable theory of atom transmission and scattering; all are connected with multiparticle scattering, particularly the possibility of energy loss. These processes are (a) the coupling to low-lying (surface) excitations (ripplons/third sound) which is manifested in a finite imaginary part of the self energy, and (b) the reduction of the strength of the excitation in the maxon/roton region

Growth of confined cancer spheroids: a combined experimental and mathematical modelling approach

We have integrated a bioengineered three-dimensional platform by generating multicellular cancer spheroids in a controlled microenvironment with a mathematical model to investigate\ud confined tumour growth and to model its impact on cellular processes