New Directions in Compensation Research: Synergies, Risk, and Survival

We describe and use two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory, as lenses for examining three promising areas of compensation research. First, we examine the nature of the relationship between pay and effectiveness. Does pay typically have a main effect or, instead, does the relationship depend on other human resource activities and organization characteristics? If the latter is true, then there are synergies between pay and these other factors and thus, conclusions drawn from main effects models may be misleading. Second, we discuss a relatively neglected issue in pay research, the concept of risk as it applies to investments in pay programs. Although firms and researchers tend to focus on expected returns from compensation interventions, analysis of the risk, or variability, associated with these returns may be essential for effective decision-making. Finally ,pay program survival, which has been virtually ignored in systematic pay research, is investigated. Survival appears to have important consequences for estimating pay plan risk and returns, and is also integral to the discussion of pay synergies. Based upon our two theoretical frameworks, we suggest specific research directions for pay program synergies, risk, and survival

Envisat - taking the measure of North Atlantic storms

Envisat carries a number of sensors able to provide quantitative information on raining clouds: AATSR delivers information on cloud microphysics (particle size, temperature etc.), MWR-2 gives columnar totals for liquid and vapour forms of water, and RA-2 yields rain rate and wind speed. This paper examines the complementarity of these sensors, with a focussed study on significant rain events in the N. Atlantic, covering both coherent large storms and fronts with smaller scale structure. The difference in liquid water estimates from the infra-red and passive systems appears to be related to the temperature and sizes of drops being detected

Steady Hands Needed

In this monograph, five former secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reflect on their experiences and the challenges of their times. A far cry from the pukka fantasies of ‘Yes Minister’, their recollections reveal the realpolitik of the policy front line where the secretary must stay ahead of emerging themes and issues in Australia’s international relations while simultaneously exercising governance oversight and providing leadership to a large, professional, diverse and dispersed organisation. From the Cold War to the War on Terror; from the floating of the dollar to GATT and the WTO; managing relations big and small, within our region and without; through relentless administrative reforms, technological change and changes of government; steering DFAT requires ‘steady hands’. This collection of public lectures presented in 2006 to the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) offers an invaluable resource for those with an interest in recent Australian history, foreign policy and public sector administratio

The Study of Hepatitis B Virus Using Bioinformatics

Hepatitis refers to the inflammation of the liver. A major cause of hepatitis is the hepatotropic virus, hepatitis B virus (HBV). Annually, more than 786,000 people die as a result of the clinical manifestations of HBV infection, which include cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Sequence heterogeneity is a feature of HBV, because the viral-encoded polymerase lacks proof-reading ability. HBV has been classified into nine genotypes, A to I, with a putative 10th genotype, “J,” isolated from a single individual. Comparative analysis of HBV strains from various geographic regions of the world and from different eras can shed light on the origin, evolution, transmission and response to anti-HBV preventative, and treatment measures. Bioinformatics tools and databases have been used to better understand HBV mutations and how they develop, especially in response to antiviral therapy and vaccination. Despite its small genome size of ~3.2 kb, HBV presents several bioinformatic challenges, which include the circular genome, the overlapping open reading frames, and the different genome lengths of the genotypes. Thus, bioinformatics tools and databases have been developed to facilitate the study of HBV

Steady Hands Needed

In this monograph, five former secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) reflect on their experiences and the challenges of their times. A far cry from the pukka fantasies of ‘Yes Minister’, their recollections reveal the realpolitik of the policy front line where the secretary must stay ahead of emerging themes and issues in Australia’s international relations while simultaneously exercising governance oversight and providing leadership to a large, professional, diverse and dispersed organisation. From the Cold War to the War on Terror; from the floating of the dollar to GATT and the WTO; managing relations big and small, within our region and without; through relentless administrative reforms, technological change and changes of government; steering DFAT requires ‘steady hands’. This collection of public lectures presented in 2006 to the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) offers an invaluable resource for those with an interest in recent Australian history, foreign policy and public sector administratio

Development of a 3D printer using scanning projection stereolithography

We have developed a system for the rapid fabrication of low cost 3D devices and systems in the laboratory with micro-scale features yet cm-scale objects. Our system is inspired by maskless lithography, where a digital micromirror device (DMD) is used to project patterns with resolution up to 10 µm onto a layer of photoresist. Large area objects can be fabricated by stitching projected images over a 5cm2 area. The addition of a z-stage allows multiple layers to be stacked to create 3D objects, removing the need for any developing or etching steps but at the same time leading to true 3D devices which are robust, configurable and scalable. We demonstrate the applications of the system by printing a range of micro-scale objects as well as a fully functioning microfluidic droplet device and test its integrity by pumping dye through the channels

Measuring rainfall from above and below the sea surface

Satellites play a major role in the determination of the rainfall at sea. Researchers at Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC) have been involved in two projects addressing this task. First they have been instrumental in developing techniques to retrieve rain rate information from the 10+ years of dual-frequency altimeter data. The TOPEX radar measures rainfall via the attenuation it causes, producing a climatology that is independent of those derived from passive microwave (PM) and infrared (IR) sensors. Because TOPEX is an active microwave sensor, it can have a much smaller footprint than PM sensors. Therefore it can be used to estimate the size of rain cells, showing that the ITCZ and mid-latitude storm tracks are characterized by larger rain systems than elsewhere. TOPEX’s simultaneous recording of wind and wave data reveal that, for mid-latitude systems, rain is most likely in association with developing seas.All satellite-based datasets require validation, and SOC's work on the development and testing of acoustic rain gauges is the second aspect of this paper. By listening at a range of frequencies, an underwater hydrophone may distinguish the spectra of wind, rain, shipping etc., and estimate the wind speed or rain rate according to the magnitude of the signals. All our campaigns have shown a good acoustic response to changes in wind speed. However the quantitative inversion for recent trials has given values that are too high, possibly because of significant acoustic reflection from the sea bottom. The changes in spectral slope often agree with other observations of rain, although validation experiments in coastal regions are hampered by the extraneous sources present. Acoustic rain gauges would eventually see service not only for routine satellite validation, but also for real-time monitoring of locations of interest

Weathering the storm: developments in the acoustic sensing of wind and rain

An Acoustic Rain Gauge (ARG) analyses the underwater sound levels across a wide frequency range, classifies the observed spectrum according to likely source and then determines the local wind speed or rain rate as appropriate. Thispaper covers a trial on the Scotian Shelf off Canada, comparing the geophysical information derived from the acoustic signals with those obtained from other sources

Investigating social class inequalities in educational attainment : The effects of schools and the validity of free school meal status as a proxy for scio-economic status

I examine one explanation of social class differences in educational achievement, school allocation. Class differences in achievement are decomposed. One term of the decomposition is class differences in "Type A" school effectiveness. This is the effect of class differences in school allocation on class differences in achievement. Sufficient conditions to estimate causal "Type A" school effects in non-experimental data are stated. \ud Uniquely rich birth cohort data, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), matched to the National Pupil Database (NPD), are used. The difference in effectiveness of the 20 percent most and least effective schools is two-thirds to threequarters of a standard deviation during Key Stage 2 (KS2). The majority of class differences in school effectiveness are significant. Over 20 percent of class differences in KS2 progress are explained by class differences in school allocation. \ud Much quantitative educational research in the UK relies on free school meal (FSM) status to proxy measures of socio-economic status. In ALSP AC-NPD data, FSM status is a quite imperfect measure of low income or employment, or one-parenthood. There is a large bias when using FSM status to estimate differences in average KS2 achievement by low-income status. When used as a control variable in a model ofKS2 achievement, FSM status reduces the bias from omitting measures of socio-economic status to a limited extent only.\u