Delegation and Performance Pay: Evidence from Industrial Sales Forces

Delegation is a central feature of organizational design that theory suggests should be aligned with the intensity of incentives in performance pay schemes. We explore a specific form of delegation, namely price delegation, whereby firms allow sales people to offer a maximum discount from the list price to their customers. We first develop a model of the price delegation decision based on the notions of information acquisition and constrained delegation that match the context of industrial sales. Using data on individual sales people, specifically one sales person per firm from a survey of 261 firms, we show that, consistent with predictions from our model, sales people are given more pricing authority when they are more experienced and more capable, when there is less environmental uncertainty, and to a lesser extent, when customer valuations for the product are more variable. Finally, also consistent with the predictions of our model, we show that price delegation is increasing in the intensity of incentives given to the agent.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98981/1/1190_Ghosh.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98981/4/1190_LaFontaine_March2015.pdfDescription of 1190_LaFontaine_March2015.pdf : March 2015 Revisio

The Historical Deveopment of the Postcommunion Collects for the Sundays and Some Feast Days of the Church Year

This study surveys the historical development of the post-communion collects according to the Sundays and some feast days of the Church year

Les Marguerites : The Daisies

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1750/thumbnail.jp

A Dangerous Preoccupation with Future Danger: Why Expert Predictions of Future Dangerousness in Capital Cases Are Unconstitutional

In Furman v. Georgia, the United States Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to administer the death penalty upon the sole, unguided discretion of juries. In response to Furman, some states amended their statutes to suggest or require that a jury assess the defendant\u27s future dangerousness before issuing a death sentence. Generally, this assessment is based on psychiatric expert testimony. This author explores the reliability and accuracy of psychiatric expert testimony of future dangerousness in light of the Court\u27s more recent Barefoot v. Estelle and Dauber, v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals decisions. The author argues that because the death penalty is so extreme and utterly final, heightened standards of reliability and accuracy should be used when determining the admissibility of evidence at the sentencing phases of capital trials

Understanding the structure of minerals at the atomic scale: a new perspective enabled by advanced microscopy

From oxides to ores and rocks, minerals are the most prevalent materials on Earth. The majority of their properties are the direct result of their microstructure. The investigation of their structure at the nano and micron scale is routinely carried out using techniques such as optical and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction or secondary ion mass spectrometry. However, these techniques are usually limited in resolution, either spatially or chemically. More recently, atom probe tomography (APT) has emerged as a powerful microscopy technique that can provide 3D maps showing the position and atomic mass of individual atoms with sub-nanometre resolution. The non-conductive character of most minerals, both thermally and electrically, makes their investigation by APT challenging, from sample preparation to data interpretation. However, with the relatively recent development of focused ion beam sample preparation techniques and ultra-violet laser-assisted local electrode atom probe, the APT study of large band gap materials such as oxides has become more successful in the last decade. Advanced microscopy techniques such as transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) or electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) can also be used in combination with APT, and bring a new perspective to the investigation of the atomic scale structure of minerals, leading to a better understanding of their structure – properties relationships. The overall purpose of this thesis is to develop and apply new methods and techniques for the characterization of the structure of minerals at the atomic scale. This is achieved by means of various advanced microscopy techniques, which are applied to a selection of important scientific questions. By using a combination of APT, TKD, EBSD and transmission electron microscopy we investigate intergranular corrosion in stainless steels, the atomic structure of dental enamel and the robustness of zircon as a geological dating accessory. In this work, intergranular corrosion mechanisms in a commercial austenitic stainless steel (ASS) were revealed using EBSD and correlative TKD/TEM. Characterization by APT of the intergranular iron-chromium spinel formed during corrosion of the ASS revealed new insights at the atomic scale on its role towards the fast corrosion rate of the ASS. With the combined use of EBSD, TKD and APT, the atomic scale distribution of trace elements within dislocations in deformed mineral zircons was investigated for the first time to review the robustness of zircon for radiogenic dating. By using APT and TEM, new structural and elemental analysis of human dental enamel at the atomic scale provided unprecedented information for our understanding of human tooth decay

Taveta Customs and Beliefs in Connection With Religion, Burial, and Disease

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FACIES ARCHITECTURE AND CONTROLS ON RESERVOIR BEHAVIOR IN THE TURONIAN WALL CREEK MEMBER OF THE FRONTIER FORMATION, POWDER RIVER BASIN, WYOMING

Inter-well heterogeneities influencing fluid migration in deltaic reservoirs are controlled by lateral lithofacies changes and vertical complexities such as low permeability thin-beds. Subsurface tools often cannot predict the spatial and stratigraphic organization of these architectural elements, nor their influence on effective reservoir properties and connectivity. This study integrates sedimentological, stratigraphic, and fluid simulation data to 1) document the facies architecture and depositional evolution of the Turonian Wall Creek Member (WCM) of the Frontier Formation, and 2) quantify the role of multi-scale stratigraphic heterogeneity on reservoir behavior. Upscaled permeability properties derived from fluid simulation of nested, small-scale facies models condition the observed architecture within a 500m x 715m geocellular model. Key surfaces recognized across the study area separate the WCM into three depositional sequences, each of which contain multiple parasequences that form the geomodel framework. Sequence 1 consists of a top-truncated package of river-dominated delta lobes, interpreted as highstand deposits (HST1); sequence 2 is made of wave-dominated delta sandstones deposited during subsequent highstand (HST2); sequence 3 consists of heterolithic tidal bar deposits of a tidally-influenced delta (LST). Detailed mapping of the HST1/HST2 show the spatial distribution of intra-parasequence lithofacies is largely controlled by their proximity to high energy conditions above wave-base and near distributary channels. Modelling results show that permeability of the fine-grained component within heterolithic deposits is the most critical parameter in reservoir behavior. In wave-dominated environments, relatively simple bed geometries of thin-beds induce low vertical permeability. Conversely, more architecturally complex tidal deposits maintain better vertical connectivity but limited horizontal permeability. Flow compartmentalization on any scale happens only when thin-beds are assumed to be impermeable barriers; mud drapes with lower clay content act only as flow baffles. Fine-scale heterogeneities carry through as controlling factors in geomodel (500m x715m) reservoir simulations. In the wave-dominated setting, continuous horizons of low vertical permeability facies delineate parasequence-scale flow units. Within individual parasequences, the lithofacies distribution plays an important role on effective permeability pathways and total volume in place. Results from this outcrop-to-geomodel study can be applied to WCM reservoirs in the subsurface and used as guidance to build more accurate geomodels in other basins

Energy density of foods and beverages in the Australian food supply: influence of macronutrients and comparison to dietary intake.

OBJECTIVES: The energy density (ED) of the diet is considered an important determinant of total energy intake and thus energy balance and weight change. We aimed to compare relationships between ED and macronutrient content in individual food and beverage items as well as population diet in a typical Western country. DESIGN: Nutrient data for 3673 food items and 247 beverage items came from the Australian Food and Nutrient database (AusNut). Food and beverage intake data came from the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey (a 24-h dietary recall survey in 13 858 people over the age of 2). Relationships between ED and macronutrient and water content were analysed by linear regression with 95% prediction bands. RESULTS: For both individual food items and population food intake, there was a positive relationship between ED and percent energy as fat and negative relationships between ED and percent energy as carbohydrate and percent water by weight. In all cases, there was close agreement between the slopes of the regression lines between food items and dietary intake. There were no clear relationships between ED and macronutrient content for beverage items. Carbohydrate (mostly sucrose) contributed 91, 47, and 25% of total energy for sugar-based, fat-based, and alcohol-based beverages respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between ED and fat content of foods holds true across both population diets and individual food items available in the food supply in a typical Western country such as Australia. As high-fat diets are associated with a high BMI, population measures with an overall aim of reducing the ED of diets may be effective in mediating the growing problem of overweight and obesity