23,733 research outputs found
Firm Performance, Worker Commitment and Loyalty
Using matched employer-employee level data drawn from the UK Workplace and Employee Relations Survey, we explore the influence of worker commitment and loyalty on firm level labour productivity and financial performance. Our empirical findings suggest that worker commitment and loyalty enhance both labour productivity and financial performance at the firm level thereby highlighting a hitherto neglected conduit for improved firm performance. Using employee level data, we also explore the determinants of worker commitment and loyalty in order to ascertain how such attachments to the firm may be engendered. In general, our employee level analysis suggests that it is firm level characteristics (such as appraisal schemes, supervision, suspensions and redundancies) that influence attachments to the firm. Such findings suggest that firms may be able to exert some influence over the loyalty and commitment of its workforce, which, in turn, may affect firm performance
Orthodontistsâ and patientsâ preferences in website design in the selection of an orthodontic practice: a comparative study
Objective: To determine which website characteristics are preferred by orthodontists, adult patients, and parents of patients.
Materials and Methods: 1,000 active members of the American Association of Orthodontists and 750 active orthodontic patients/parents were sampled. Participants rated the importance of website characteristics, indicated presence of those characteristics on the current website, and ranked sample website images. Preferences were compared between orthodontist and the patient/parent group using t-tests and sample websites were compared using ANOVA models and Tukeyâs adjusted post-hoc tests. Significance level was set at 0.05.
Results: 11 of the 16 website features showed significant differences between patients/parents and orthodontists. Participants preferred sample websites with images of people, information at the top of the page, and an âabout the doctorâ page with a greater amount of information.
Conclusion: This study showed significant differences in preferences between orthodontists and patients/parents, by gender, and between adult patients and parents of adolescent patients
Sediment management for Southern California mountains, coastal plains and shoreline
The Environmental Quality Laboratory at Caltech and the Shore
Processes Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography have jointly
undertaken a study of regional sediment balance problems in coastal
southern California (see map in Figure 1). The overall objective in
this study is to define specific alternatives in sediment management that
may be implemented to alleviate a) existing sediment imbalance problems
(e.g. inland debris disposal, local shoreline erosion) and b) probable
future problems that have not yet manifested themselves. These
alternatives will be identified through a consideration of economic,
legal, and institutional issues as well as an analysis of governing
physical processes and engineering constraints.
The first part of this study (Phase I), which is currently under
way, involves a compilation and analysis of all available data in
an effort to obtain an accurate definition of the inland/coastal
regional sediment balance under natural conditions, and specific
quantitative effects man-made controls have on the overall natural process.
During FY77, substantial progress was made at EQL and SPL in
achieving the objectives of the initial Planning and Assessment Phase
of the CIT/SIO Sediment Management Project. Financial support came
from Los Angeles County, U.S. Geological Survey, Orange County,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and discretionary funding provided by
a grant from the Ford Foundation. The current timetable for completion
of this phase is Fall 1978.
This report briefly describes the project status, including
general administration, special activities, and research work as of
January 1978
The Integrated Polarization of Spiral Galaxy Disks
We present integrated polarization properties of nearby spiral galaxies at
4.8 GHz, and models for the integrated polarization of spiral galaxy disks as a
function of inclination. Spiral galaxies in our sample have observed integrated
fractional polarization in the range < 1% to 17.6%. At inclinations less than
50 degrees, the fractional polarization depends mostly on the ratio of random
to regular magnetic field strength. At higher inclinations, Faraday
depolarization associated with the regular magnetic field becomes more
important. The observed degree of polarization is lower (<4%) for more luminous
galaxies, in particular those with L_{4.8} > 2 x 10^{21} W/Hz. The polarization
angle of the integrated emission is aligned with the apparent minor axis of the
disk for galaxies without a bar. In our axially symmetric models, the
polarization angle of the integrated emission is independent of wavelength.
Simulated distributions of fractional polarization for randomly oriented spiral
galaxies at 4.8 GHz and 1.4 GHz are presented. We conclude that polarization
measurements, e.g. with the SKA, of unresolved spiral galaxies allow
statistical studies of the magnetic field in disk galaxies using large samples
in the local universe and at high redshift. As these galaxies behave as
idealized background sources without internal Faraday rotation, they can be
used to detect large-scale magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Differential dependencies of monocytes and neutrophils on dectin-1, dectin-2 and complement for the recognition of fungal particles in inflammation
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
HTC Scientific Computing in a Distributed Cloud Environment
This paper describes the use of a distributed cloud computing system for
high-throughput computing (HTC) scientific applications. The distributed cloud
computing system is composed of a number of separate
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds that are utilized in a unified
infrastructure. The distributed cloud has been in production-quality operation
for two years with approximately 500,000 completed jobs where a typical
workload has 500 simultaneous embarrassingly-parallel jobs that run for
approximately 12 hours. We review the design and implementation of the system
which is based on pre-existing components and a number of custom components. We
discuss the operation of the system, and describe our plans for the expansion
to more sites and increased computing capacity
Long-Wavelength, Free-Free Spectral Energy Distributions from Porous Stellar Winds
The influence of macroclumps for free-free spectral energy distributions
(SEDs) of ionized winds is considered. The goal is to emphasize distinctions
between microclumping and macroclumping effects. Microclumping can alter SED
slopes and flux levels if the volume filling factor of the clumps varies with
radius; however, the modifications are independent of the clump geometry. To
what extent does macroclumping alter SED slopes and flux levels? In addressing
the question, two specific types of macroclump geometries are explored: shell
fragments ("pancake"-shaped) and spherical clumps. Analytic and semi-analytic
results are derived in the limiting case that clumps never obscure one another.
Numerical calculations based on a porosity formalism is used when clumps do
overlap. Under the assumptions of a constant expansion, isothermal, and fixed
ionization wind, the fragment model leads to results that are essentially
identical to the microclumping result. Mass-loss rate determinations are not
affected by porosity effects for shell fragments. By contrast, spherical clumps
can lead to a reduction in long-wavelength fluxes, but the reductions are only
significant for extreme volume filling factors.Comment: to appear in MNRA
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