Broadbanding Brunswick: High-speed broadband and household media ecologies

New research from the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University has found that 82% of households in the NBN first release site of Brunswick, Victoria, think the NBN is a good idea. The study, Broadbanding Brunswick: High-speed Broadband and Household Media Ecologies, examines the take-up, use and implications of high-speed broadband for some of its earliest adopters. It looks at how the adoption of high-speed broadband influences household consumption patterns and use of telecoms. The survey of 282 Brunswick households found there had been a significant uptake of the NBN during the course of the research. In 2011, 20% of households were connected to the NBN and in 2012 that number had risen to 34%. Families, home owners, higher income earners and teleworkers were most likely to adopt the NBN. Many NBN users reported paying less for their monthly internet bills, with 49% paying about the same. In many cases those paying more (37%) had elected to do so.Download report: Broadbanding Brunswick: High-speed Broadband and Household Media Ecologies [PDF, 2.5MB] Download report: Broadbanding Brunswick: High-speed Broadband and Household Media Ecologies [Word 2007 document, 5MB

Capalictus, a new subgenus of Lasioglossum Curtis, 1833 from South Africa, with description of three new species (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Halictidae)

Capalictus, a new subgenus of Lasioglossum Curtis, 1833 (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Halictidae), endemic to the South African Cape Province, is described. The type species is Halictus mosselinus Cockerell, 1945. Evylaeus (Sellalictus) fynbosensis (Pauly et al., 2008) is a new junior synonym of L. (C.) mosselinum. Three new species are described: Lasioglossum (Capalictus) hantamense sp. nov., L. (C.) tigrinum sp. nov. and L. (C.) timmermanni sp. nov. DNA sequence data from three nuclear genes support morphologically-determined species limits. Capalictus is a basal clade of the Hemihalictus series of Lasioglossum

Mergers of Equals & Unequals

We examine the organizational dynamics of integration post merger. Our basic question is whether there is evidence of conflict between employees from the two merging firms. Such conflict can arise for several reasons, including firm-specific human capital, corporate culture, power, or favoritism. We examine this issue using a sample of Danish mergers. The results are consistent with the basic hypothesis. Controlling for other effects, employees from the acquirer fare better than employees from the acquired firm, suggesting that they have greater power in the newly merged hierarchy. As a separate effect, the more that either firm dominates the other in terms of number of employees, the better do its employees fare compared to employees from the other firm. This suggests that majority / minority status is also important to assimilation of workers, much as in ethnic conflicts. Finally, greater overlap of operations decreases turnover. This finding is inconsistent with the view that workers of the two firms may be better substitutes for each other. However, the result and our other findings are consistent with the view that more similar workers (in terms of either firm- or industry-specific human capital) are easier to integrate post mergerMergers; internal organization; conflicts; personnel economics

Globalization, Superstars, and the Importance of Reputation: Theory & Evidence from the Wine Industry

We develop a simple model of the effects of reputation on wine prices. An increasing fraction of consumers who are “naïve” (less well informed about wine quality) results in a stronger sensitivity of wine prices to ratings of quality. We then use data on prices and Robert Parker’s ratings of wines, to show that prices have become more related to Parker ratings over time. In addition, we find that a change in Parker rating has a stronger effect on price, the stronger is the wine’s reputation.No; keywords

Users and non-users of next generation broadband

This paper explores the contexts and motivations that underpin the uptake of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN). The findings are drawn from a mixed-methods research study of households using surveys and interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012 in an early release site of the NBN rollout. Whilst use and non-use have traditionally been treated as questions of digital access, inequality and exclusion, there is evidence for emerging forms of non-use characterized by more critical and discriminating approaches. We contribute to this evidence, but our findings suggest that use and non-use of high speed broadband do not occur in isolation or as an expression of individual choice, but as part of increasingly dense household media ecologies of digital infrastructures, devices, services and knowledge

Optimizing Incentive Plan Design: A Case Study

We study effects of a firm's attempt to optimize an existing incentive scheme to increase sales growth for direct store delivery workers. Before optimization workers reported Ratchet Effects that lowered productivity. The altered incentive plan offered higher compensation for increased sales relative to a sales growth target, and lower compensation for failing to meet the target. We gathered data on performance and attitudes at pilot and control sites before and after the change. Relative to control sites, sales growth increased in the pilot sites by two percent, a meaningful contribution to firm profits. We find no change in distortion of effort or manipulation of the performance measure. Workers did not substantially change number of hours worked, though allocation of time across tasks changed slightly. Despite increased productivity, workers continued to report Ratchet Effects after the change. We also find that an unplanned price increase midway through a fiscal year affected the extent of Ratchet Effects that year.incentives, ratchet effect

Skin Effects Due to Perforations -- A Study of Analysis Techniques

Until 1991, two methods could be used to evaluate the skin effect due to perforations, the Brons and Marting Method and the Harris Method. Due to the simplicity of the technique, the Brons and Marting Method has been the preferred method of use in the petroleum industry. However, with the recent development of a third technique to evaluate the skin effect due to perforations, the need has arisen to evaluate each of these techniques to determine which method is the most accurate under given conditions. This paper reviews and compares each of the three methods for evaluating the perforations skin. Recommendations concerning the use of these methods have also been made by the author

Empirically identified industry classification

Dissertation supervisor: Dr. Dan French.Includes vita.This study examines return based correlations between industry returns and firm returns to create more objective and comparable industry classifications. In my first essay I model a market with firms that invest in one or more categories of assets. Firms that invest in assets with similar return correlations are grouped into categories that are comparable to industry groups in the standard scheme of classifying firms into industries based on offering a common product or service. Because these categories are based on objective rather than subjective criteria, use of these categories by investors might have advantages when using industry information to make investment decisions and construct portfolios. I also derive estimable equations to measure firms' exposures to category risk thereby identifying in which category or categories the firm belongs, and we use simulation to explore the efficacy of three different estimation methods. In my second essay I evaluate the question does the number of industry exposures (i.e. diversification level) affect corporate value. I find an unconditional diversification premium. However, there is substantial time series variation in the relation between diversification and valuation. This variation is able to reconcile many of the conflicting conclusions in the prior literature. In my third essay I perform empirical tests to determine whether industry returns can be refined by applying an iterative regression of firm returns on industry returns to create returns than are more inter-correlated but also more orthogonal to other industries' returns. I find strong evidence that an iterative process of return generation provides benefits to researchers as well as practitioners.Includes bibliographical references (pages 140-143)