Looking into the Eye with REAP

Keratoprosthesis is an artificial cornea that is surgically implanted in the eye to replace damaged cornea, correcting corneal blindness. Keratoprosthesis offers a unique solution that eliminates the possible rejection of donor cornea, a common problem with keratoplasty. The design used currently for this procedure is Boston Keratoprosthesis (KPro), but it has some flaws. Boston KPro needs donor cornea for its design, which is in high demand and short supply. The design is also open to the environment, creating a pathway for bacteria to enter the eye and cause permanent damage. My research through the Research Experience and Apprenticeship Program (REAP) at the University of New Hampshire involved creating a new artificial cornea that fixes both of these issues. I started fabricating a cornea out of silk fibroin and gelatin, called a hydrogel, to replace the need for donor cornea. These hydrogels were tested using a rheometer and a scanning electron microscope for the stiffness, mechanical strength, and porousness of the structure, as these qualities have to be similar to a real cornea. It was a success. We created hydrogels that replicated the characteristics of a human cornea and fixed the issues Boston KPro has. REAP was a great opportunity to explore my interests in bioengineering while potentially changing peoples’ lives

Strategic Knowledge Measurement and Management

Knowledge and intellectual capital are now recognized as vital resources for organizational survival and competitive advantage. A vast array of knowledge measures has evolved, spanning many disciplines. This chapter reviews knowledge measures focusing on groups of individuals (such as teams, business and organizations), as they reflect the stock or flow of knowledge, as well as enabling processes that enhance knowledge stocks and flows. The chapter emphasizes the importance of organizational value chains, pivotal talent pools and the link between knowledge and competitive success, in understanding the significance of today’s knowledge measures, and opportunities for future research and practice to enhance them

Preference Structure and Random Paths to Stability in Matching Markets

This paper examines how preference correlation and intercorrelation combine to influence the length of a decentralized matching market's path to stability. In simulated experiments, marriage markets with various preference specifications begin at an arbitrary matching of couples and proceed toward stability via the random mechanism proposed by Roth and Vande Vate (1990). The results of these experiments reveal that fundamental preference characteristics are critical in predicting how long the market will take to reach a stable matching. In particular, intercorrelation and correlation are shown to have an exponential impact on the number of blocking pairs that must be randomly satisfied before stability is attained. The magnitude of the impact is dramatically different, however, depending on whether preferences are positively or negatively intercorrelated.

HR Information Systems: Exploiting the Full Potential

[Excerpt] Human resource management has always faced a fundamental paradox: Top managers in any company will readily agree that the people are the keys to success, but few believe they know whether their people are well managed or if they are prepared to fortify and enhance the transformations facing the organization. The information tools applied to the employees of an organization pale by comparison with the tools used to analyze markets, financial resources and production design

Future Utility Analysis Research: Continue, but Expand the Cognitive and Strategic Focus

[Excerpt] Does utility analysis research have a future? I believe the answer depends on how we contemplate the nature of such research. The distinction between two potential paths has never been more apparent. On the one hand, as researchers, industrial psychologists and others have accumulated decades of utility analysis applications and proposals for new utility approaches and estimation methods. Numerous utility applications exist, especially in selection. Spirited debates have occurred in the scholarly journals on such topics as the value of capital budgeting (Hunter, Schmidt & Coggin, 1988), the appropriate underlying conceptual utility model for scaling performance differences into dollars (Raju, Burke & Normand, 1990), and the appropriate measure of dollar-valued performance variability (SDy) (see Boudreau, 1991 for a review). One would think that after such a long and public history, we would have a set of accepted principles that might guide utility analysis applications, measurement and theory. Unfortunately, we do not. The title of this symposium testifies to the ongoing consternation faced by the scientific community about utility analysis

Staffing Planning at COMPUTERCO: A Personal Computer Analysis

[Excerpt] This case study is used for student and executive development. It is intended to be used with the computer program EXTMOY, which is described in an accompanying Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies working paper #91-13 (Boudreau, 1991)

The Effect of Framing on Layoff Decisions: Are More-Experienced Managers More Rational? Does Computerized Data Make Any Difference?

[Excerpt] The effects of framing on decisions has been widely studied, producing research that suggests individuals respond to framing in predictable and fairly consistent ways (Bazerman, 1984, 1990; Tversky & Kahneman, 1986; Thaler, 1980). The essential finding from this body of research is that individuals treat risks concerning perceived gains (for example, saving jobs and plants) differently from risks concerning perceived losses (losing jobs and plants) (Bazerman, 1990, pp. 49-50). Specifically, individuals tend to avoid risks concerning gains, and seek risks concerning losses

Sustainability and the Talentship Paradigm: Strategic Human Resource Management Beyond the Bottom Line

[Excerpt] This paper proposes such a framework that simultaneously shifts the prize to reflect Sustainability and shifts the paradigm of HRM toward a decision science called “Talentship” (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2002). It defines Sustainability and its measures, defines the typical connection between HRM and sustainability using the traditional HRM paradigm. Then, the HC BRidge® talent decision framework that connects HRM, talent, and competitive/financial strategic success, is used to logically make similar connections between HRM, talent and sustainability. Examples from Shell and DuPont show how the combination of shifting the prize and the paradigm reveals pivotal roles for talent that are not apparent with traditional definitions of strategic success and the traditional HRM paradigm

Mobile Advertising and its Acceptance by American Consumers

Mobile advertising creates opportunities for marketers to capture the attention of consumers on a one-to-one basis. However, there is little data proving the success of mobile advertising models. This study examined the drivers that influence consumer’s acceptance of SMS-based mobile advertisements and the differences in responses between two cultures, Finland and the United States. My questionnaire and conceptual model was taken from a study done in Finland in 2007. My results indicated that utility, context and trust are positively related to the acceptance of mobile advertising while sacrifice is negatively related. Control did not have a clear relationship to acceptance because three of the four questions about control averaged more than 6.0 on a seven-point scale meaning there was no variation in the responses. However, when a separate regression was done on the remaining control question, a strong positive relationship between that question and acceptance was found

EXTMOV: A Computer Spreadsheet Program For Analyzing Staffing Costs and Benefits

[Excerpt] EXTMOV is a LOTUS 1-2-3 spreadsheet program specially designed to assist those managing their human resources. The program allows you to construct a simulation of your workforce that can depict the dollar-valued implications of various selection, recruitment and turnover management strategies. The relationships in the computer program are based on the external employee movement utility model described in Boudreau and Berger\u27s Monograph, Decision- Theoretic Utility Analysis Applied to Employee Separations and Acquisitions (Boudreau & Berger, 1985). A case study illustrating how this program can be used to suppon managerial decisions about investments in recruitment, selection and turnover management is contained in another Center working paper #91-12 (Boudreau, 1991)