How amenities affect job and wage choices over the life cycle

The current wage at a job may not fully reflect the "value" of that job. For example, a job with a low starting wage may be preferred to one with a high starting wage if the growth rate of wages is higher in the former than in the latter. In fact, differences in wage growth can potentially explain why a worker might want to quit a high-paying job for one with a lower starting wage. Job amenities are another important factor that not only influences the value of a job but also provides an independent rationale for why workers change jobs. Including a job's amenities as part of its "value" can also generate a move from high-paying to low-paying jobs (or vice versa) as part of an optimal consumption plan over the life cycle. Both the direction of movement and the timing of a job change depend critically on the relationship between a worker's rate of time preference and the market interest rate.Job satisfaction ; Wages ; Employment (Economic theory)

A beautiful theory

It wasn’t A Beautiful Mind—the book or the movie—that made John Forbes Nash, Jr., famous. It was his work in game theory, a theory that models strategic interactions between people as games. Before Nash, the only games theorists could get a handle on were artificial ones with no real-world applications. Nash’s insights enabled economists to expand the use of game theory to interesting practical problems.Game theory

The social context of school playground games: Sex and ethnic differences, and changes over time after entry to junior school

This short term longitudinal study examined activities at recess and peer relations. Interest was in changes over the school year, and the sex and ethnic mix of groups. Data came from systematic observations of 129 pupils (61 boys and 68 girls) aged 7-8 years. Results showed that peer interaction dominated recess. Ball games increased over the year, and chasing games decreased. Aggression was most common during vigorous play and conversation, but not ball games. Cleavage in boys' and girls' play and activity was common but not inevitable. Mixed sex play was not supported by particular game types. Boys’ game networks were larger than those of girls but there were no sex differences in active networks. There was little ethnic group segregation on playgrounds, and games became more integrated with time. Results indicate that playground activities can have a positive role in social relations between different ethnic groups

Improving the effectiveness of collaborative group work in primary schools: effect on Science attainment

This longitudinal research tests the effectiveness of the SPRinG programme which was developed through a collaboration between researchers and teachers and designed to provide teachers with strategies for enhancing pupil group work in ‘authentic’ classroom settings. An evaluation study involved comparing pupils in SPRinG classrooms and trained in group work skills with those who were not in terms of science attainment. There were 560 and 1027 pupils (8-10 years) in the experimental and control groups respectively. ‘Macro’ attainment data were collected at the start of the year. ‘Micro’ attainment data were collected in the spring and summer before and after science lessons involving either group work (intervention) or the control teachers’ usual approach. SPRinG pupils made greater academic progress than control pupils. Findings are discussed relative to enhancing the quantity and quality of group work in schools and a social pedagogic approach to classroom learning

Sex differences in the structure and stability of children’s playground social networks and their overlap with friendship relations

Gender segregated peer networks during middle childhood have been highlighted as important for explaining later sex differences in behaviour, yet few studies have examined the structural composition of these networks and their implications. This short-term longitudinal study of 119 children (7-8 years) examined the size and internal structure of boys' and girls' social networks, their overlap with friendship relations, and their stability over time. Data collection at the start and end of the year involved systematic playground observations of pupils' play networks during team and non-team activities and measures of friendship from peer nomination interviews. Social networks were identified by aggregating play network data at each time point. Findings showed that the size of boy's play networks on the playground, but not their social networks, varied according to activity type. Social network cores consisted mainly of friends. Girl's social networks were more likely to be composed of friends and boys' networks contained friends and non-friends. Girls had more friends outside of the social network than boys. Stability of social network membership and internal network relations were higher for boys than girls. These patterns have implications for the nature of social experiences within these network contexts

Ambulatory Measurement of Ground Reaction Forces

The measurement of ground reaction forces is important in the biomechanical analysis of gait and other motor activities. It is the purpose of this study to show the feasibility of ambulatory measurement of ground reaction forces using two six degrees of freedom sensors mounted under the shoe. One sensor was mounted under the heel, the other under the forefoot, thus allowing normal gait with flexion of the foot during push-off. The measurement of the ground reaction force was evaluated in a healthy subject, who walked repeatedly over a force plate. The ground reaction force reconstructed from the instrumented shoe sensor signals corresponded well with the force plate measurements, the RMS difference between the moduli of both ground reaction force measurements was 18.4 /spl plusmn/ 3.1 N (2.3 /spl plusmn/ 0.4% of maximal vertical ground reaction force) over 12 evaluated trials. The RMS distance of the center of pressure estimates of both measurement systems after optimal alignment was 3.1 /spl plusmn/ 0.4 mm

Classroom contexts: Connections between class size and within class grouping

Background. There has been a vigorous debate for many years about the educational effects of class size differences, but even if differences have an impact on pupils' academic progress this still leaves unanswered important questions about what mediates the effect. Aims. This paper is informed by a classroom contextual perspective, and examines associations between class size and within class groupings (in terms of size and number of groups, adult presence in groups, and type of interaction between grouping members). Age differences in these relationships are also explored. Samples. The quantitative study is based on analysis of 3157 groupings, from 672 Reception, Year 2 and Year 5 classes in 331 schools. The qualitative study was based on 12 classes in 8 case study schools, and questionnaire responses completed by over 100 class teachers. Methods. Links between size of class and within class groupings were examined on the basis of a 'grouping mapping survey', in which teachers at a given time in the school day provided information on group size and number, adult presence, and type of interaction between pupils, and complementary qualitative analyses of data from teacher-completed questionnaires, and interviews. Results. The number of groups in a class increased with the size of the class. Over all three year groups, small classes had on average just over three groups, while large classes approached six groups. The size of groups in the class decreased with size of class. In class sizes over 25, pupils were more likely to be in a large group of 7-10, while in classes under 25 they were more likely to be in whole class groupings. Qualitative analyses showed that teachers felt that groups of 7-10 pupils had negative educational effects, for example, in terms of the quality and quantity of teaching and children's concentration and contribution in groups. Conclusions. Results suggest that the effects of class size can be best seen as through the size and number of groups, which will then have implications for learning experiences. So while debate about size of class has often been in terms of reduced size of class resulting in pupil academic gains, it is also important educationally to consider within class grouping size and number, and their effects.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Life cycle wage and job changes

Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics shows that while the majority of job changers who state they were not fired or laid off choose jobs with wages that are higher than their previous jobs, a substantial proportion of these job changers choose jobs that have lower wages. A model is constructed that is consistent with workers choosing a career path that entails a job change to either a higher paying or lower paying job. In the model, a job consists of a tied wage and amenity package. Due to compensating wage differentials, higher wages are paid where other job amenities are unattractive. Given this, a worker chooses a career path that leads to a job change where the wage in the new job may be higher or lower than in the previous job, with the actual choice being determined by the rate of time preference.Wages ; Employment (Economic theory)

The impact of unintentional knowledge leakages and spillovers on the longevity of inter-firm relationships

Research suggests that forming strategic alliances and cultivating networks promotes learning and can help firms gain economic rents (Uzzi & Gillespie, 2002; Lavie, 2006). However, such ties can leave organisations susceptible to knowledge spillovers, defined as the unintended transfer of knowledge to a partner (Inkpen, 1998). If a firm inadvertently transfers valuable knowledge, especially to a competing firm, this could undermine its competitive advantage, as rare knowledge is made available to others. This paradox of openness has been highlighted in the growing literature on open innovation (Huang, Rice & Galvin, 2012). Some literature suggests that it is in the firm’s interests to endeavour to capitalize on incoming spillovers from a collaborative relationship, and attempt to limit the amount of outgoing (outbound) knowledge, spilled out to the partner firm (Cassiman et al., 2002; Martin, 1999; Amir et al., 2003, Carrie & Lokshin, 2004 in Belderbos, Lavie, 2006). Consequently, some research recommends firms establish stringent protective measures to shut off their proprietary knowledge from partners (Sammarra & Biggiero, 2008). Following on from the logic of Lavie’s (2006) spillover rents concept, that any significant, outgoing knowledge spillover should be of growing concern to a firm, if an organisation cannot effectively mitigate against this eventuality, it would be in their interest to terminate the relationship in order to protect their key knowledge. However, this reasoning may be too simplistic and overlook key contextual variables which may impact management’s judgement to end or maintain an inter-firm relationship, especially in an increasingly open business environment where the sharing of firm resources is encouraged (Chesbrough, 2003).This ongoing research investigates the impact knowledge spillovers have on the longevity of inter-firm relationships. Are ties severed, or diluted, once managers become aware their organisation is unwittingly transferring more than they intended? Or is it possible for a relationship to become stronger, or at least maintained, despite the fact that outbound knowledge spillover is occurring? Our objective is to explore some of the conditions which might act as a catalyst to these respective outcomes. The research project takes place within an open innovation context where sharing discrete sets of knowledge are standard

Introduction to the new usability

This paper introduces the motivation for and concept of the "new usability" and positions it against existing approaches to usability. It is argued that the contexts of emerging products and systems mean that traditional approaches to usability engineering and evaluation are likely to prove inappropriate to the needs of "digital consumers." The paper briefly reviews the contributions to this special issue in terms of their relation to the idea of the "new usability" and their individual approaches to dealing with contemporary usability issues. This helps provide a background to the "new usability" research agenda, and the paper ends by posing what are argued to be the central challenges facing the area and those which lie at the heart of the proposed research agenda