Structural analysis using signed evaluations: Distance learning into the new millennium

The advent of new technologies has spawned a growth in open and distance learning in various parts of the world. Exciting new ways of information storage and communications offer higher education students greater choice of where, when, what and how to study. This paper applies the Signed–Weighted Impact Structural Evaluation (S-WISE) method to a number of technological, market, environmental and regulatory variables thought to influence the take-up of distance learning globally. Structured interactions using signed assessments and related values are identified, aimed at producing a simplified scenario that ranks the relative importance of identified variables. The factors are then described in brief detail and a knowledge base created in order to draw conclusions on how and why they might (or might not) be exerting an influence on one another.     

Estimating the Value of an Early-Warning System

An early-warning system generates economic value to the extent that it improves decision making. The value of the information hinges on the degree to which a timely response, aided by warnings, facilitates successful damage mitigation. USDA's Coordinated Framework for Soybean Rust includes a network of sentinel soybean plots and wild kudzu stands monitored by extension agents for the presence of soybean rust, a potentially recurring threat to the U.S. soybean crop since 2005. The linchpin in this early-warning system is a website that provides near real-time, county-level information on the location of the disease. We consider factors that may influence information value.     

可编程逻辑脱"门"而出

多年来,Alacron都在使用现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)芯片处理为医学、军事的和其他高端机器视觉设备建立的子系统图像.     

Preferences for environmental quality under uncertainty

Although the expected effects of environmental policies and interventions are rarely known with certainty, stated preference surveys rarely elicit preferences over uncertain environmental outcomes. This article presents empirical results challenging the view that ignoring such uncertainty during preference elicitation is of no consequence so long as people only care about final environmental states. We show that measured preferences for final environmental states, water quality in this case, depend on whether people choose between final states or between lotteries over final states. In contrast to the typical finding for monetary lotteries, we find significant under-weighting of low probability events related to water quality.     

Women's leisure time — using time budget data to examine current trends and future predictions

This paper draws on the findings from 551 interviews among 16–20-year-olds from high unemployment areas in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Wolverhampton. It argues that theories about responses to unemployment, derived from the experiences of earlier generations, cannot be reconciled with the behaviour and attitudes of contemporary youth. To make sense of current developments, and in particular to understand the relevance of recreation in an age of rising youth unemployment, the authors insist that we need to reappraise work and leisure, and recognize the qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of the changes in process.     

Part-time work and health among older workers in Ireland and Britain

Part-Time (PT) work is viewed as a viable option for people who wish to have a gradual transition to retirement. From a policy viewpoint, this may help to alleviate some labour supply shortages and fiscal pressures, especially in the context of the ageing population. Factors such as health or pension provision may influence a person's decision to work PT. This article considers the impact of health on the work decision of people aged 50 and over in the UK and Ireland. Methodological issues are discussed and the impact of unobserved individual effects is estimated using the Mundlak (1978) estimator applied to the multinomial probit model. We find that health problems increase the probability of retirement for this age group in both countries. In Britain, those with health problems are less likely to work full time and more likely to work PT, however in Ireland, health problems appear to have no effect on the probability of PT work. This article discusses the potential reasons for these impacts and current policies on PT work.     

The Differential Effects of Noneconomic Damage Cap Levels on Medical Malpractice Insurers

This study examines the effect of tort reform on medical malpractice insurers with an emphasis on the effect of cap levels on noneconomic damages. While previous research finds that caps on noneconomic damages have a beneficial effect on insurer performance, these studies do not evaluate the effects of caps of varying size. Examining insurer data from 1997 to 2007, we test whether cap levels matter. We find that insurer performance generally improves when the cap is set at $250,000, but caps exceeding $250,000 are not associated with improved performance, as they are possibly not binding on award amounts.     

Corporate Political Strategy: An Examination of the Relation between Political Expenditures, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure

Two fundamental business ethics issues that repeatedly surface in the academic literature relate to business’s role in the development of public policy [Suarez, S. L.: 2000, Does Business Learn? (The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI); Roberts, R. W. and D. D. Bobek: 2004, Accounting, Organizations and Society 29(5–6), 565–590] and its role in responsibly managing the natural environment [Newton, L.: 2005, Business Ethics and the Natural Environment (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford)]. When studied together, researchers often examine if, and how, corporations influence environmental policy decisions. Drawing from literatures on?corporate political activity, corporate social and environmental performance, and corporate environmental disclosure, we develop and empirically examine two research questions concerning the relations between corporate political expenditures, environmental performance, and environmental disclosure. The questions are: (1) Do corporations that are poorer environmental performers spend more on political activities than their better-performing counterparts? (2) Is there an association between corporations’ spending on political activities and the extent of their financial report environmental disclosures? We investigated these questions through analyses of data we gathered on a sample consisting of 119 U.S. environmentally sensitive firms for the 2001–2002 election cycle. After controlling for firm size and specific industry effects, our tests reveal a significant, inverse relationship between firm environmental performance and political spending. This is consistent with the notion that U.S. firms with relatively poorer environmental performance records engage more intensely in corporate political activities as part of their overall strategic management of their relationship with the state. In addition, a significant and positive association between the amount of political spending and the extent of environmental disclosure suggests that environmental disclosure and political spending are both proactive, complementary tactics to strategically manage public policy pressure. If corporations’ strategies are intentionally designed to unreasonably limit their environmental responsibilities or to misrepresent firm environmental performance, then we argue that these activities reflect a significant lapse in ethical conduct.     

首席执行官薪资揭秘

对首席执行官薪资的详细审查很可能要增加,特别是当美国证券交易委员会要求委托书中增加相关内容的公布力度时情况更是如此。