EQUAL PAY – THE TIME-BOMB UNDER PAY STRUCTURES IN ROMANIA

One of the major consequences of Romania joining the European Union is its obligation to implement European Directives with regard to employment protection. One aspect of that is likely to have major social and cost implications is the legislation regarding equal pay for men and women. The dimension of equal pay for work that is the same or broadly similar is relatively straightforward. The more complicated and more far reaching requirement is for equal pay for men and women for work of equal value. In determining whether jobs are of equal value regard has to had in particular to effort, skill and decision making. Comparisons are valid with other jobs in the same organisation but not between organisations. In addition comparisons are only legally valid if they are on the basis that a person of the opposite sex is being paid more for work of equivalent value. Such comparisons are subjective and often very complicated. Job evaluation schemes can help in creating a framework for comparison but being inherently subjective are open to challenge. The situation is further complicated by the fact that comparisons can also be made on any one element of the remuneration package. Experience in the U.K. and other member EU countries is that equal pay claims are very much on the rise, can take years to resolve and can be hugely expensive. Although legal costs can be significant the main costs are in settling group claims and the ‘knock-on’ effect on the rest of an organisation’s pay structure. Whilst it may take time for this development to gather pace in Romania now is the time for organisations to review their pay structures and take preventative action to try and reduce the conflict that will inevitably occur.employment protection, equal pay, equal pay for work of equal value, pay structures

Effect of impact ionization in the InGaAs absorber on excess noise of avalanche photodiodes

The effects of impact ionization in the InGaAs absorption layer on the multiplication, excess noise and breakdown voltage are modeled for avalanche photodiodes (APDs), both with InP and with InAlAs multiplication regions. The calculations allow for dead space effects and for the low field electron ionization observed in InGaAs. The results confirm that impact ionization in the InGaAs absorption layer increases the excess noise in InP APDs and that the effect imposes tight constraints on the doping of the charge control layer if avalanche noise is to be minimized. However, the excess noise of InAlAs APDs is predicted to be reduced by impact ionization in the InGaAs layer. Furthermore the breakdown voltage of InAlAs APDs is less sensitive to ionization in the InGaAs layer and these results increase tolerance to doping variations in the field control layer

Field dependence of impact ionization coefficients in In0.53Ga0.47As

Electron and hole ionization coefficients in In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As are deduced from mixed carrier avalanche photomultiplication measurements on a series of p-i-n diode layers, eliminating other effects that can lead to an increase in photocurrent with reverse bias. Low field ionization is observed for electrons but not for holes, resulting in a larger ratio of ionization coefficients, even at moderately high electric fields than previously reported. The measured ionization coefficients are marginally lower than those of GaAs for fields above 250 kVcm/sup -1/, supporting reports of slightly higher avalanche breakdown voltages in In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As than in GaAs p-i-n diodes

The effects of nonlocal impact ionization on the speed of avalanche photodiodes

The nonlocal enhancement in the velocities of charge carriers to ionization is shown to outweigh the opposing effects of dead space, increasing the avalanche speed of short avalanche photodiodes (APDs) over the predictions of a conventional local model which ignores both of these effects. The trends in the measured gain-bandwidth product of two short InAlAs APDs reported in the literature support this result. Relatively large speed benefits are predicted to result from further small reductions in the lengths of short multiplication regions

Avalanche noise characteristics of single Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As(0.3

Avalanche multiplication and excess noise have been measured on a series of Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As-GaAs and GaAs-Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As (x=0.3,0.45, and 0.6) single heterojunction p/sup +/-i-n/sup +/ diodes. In some devices excess noise is lower than in equivalent homojunction devices with avalanche regions composed of either of the constituent materials, the heterojunction with x=0.3 showing the greatest improvement. Excess noise deteriorates with higher values of x because of the associated increase in hole ionization in the Al/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As layer. It also depends critically upon the carrier injection conditions and Monte Carlo simulations show that this dependence results from the variation in the degree of noisy feedback processes on the position of the injected carriers

H∞ controller design for networked predictive control systems based on the average dwell-time approach

This brief focuses on the problem of H∞ control for a class of networked control systems with time-varying delay in both forward and backward channels. Based on the average dwell-time method, a novel delay-compensation strategy is proposed by appropriately assigning the subsystem or designing the switching signals. Combined with this strategy, an improved predictive controller design approach in which the controller gain varies with the delay is presented to guarantee that the closed-loop system is exponentially stable with an H∞-norm bound for a class of switching signal in terms of nonlinear matrix inequalities. Furthermore, an iterative algorithm is presented to solve these nonlinear matrix inequalities to obtain a suboptimal minimum disturbance attenuation level. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed method

Can we improve participation in university course surveys using mobile tools? A practical experiment

Student course surveys provide an important feedback mechanism for universities. However the quality of this feedback depends largely on the level of participation. New technologies have enabled course surveys to evolve from written paper-based tools to web-based and mobile channels, but using these channels does not necessarily lead to better response rates. This paper discusses the results of a survey designed and administered at Massey University, New Zealand, to gain insights into students’ attitudes towards course surveys and factors that might impact on their participation. The survey also explored the potential interest in mobile channels for providing course feedback. The responses to this survey informed a pilot study that tested a mobile course survey tool. The results of our experiment suggest that, whilst a mobile channel may lead to improved participation, more significant results would depend on its integration into a broader set of strategies and tools for student engagement

A perfect storm: An archaeological management crisis in the Mississippi River Delta

Engineered projects resulting in unintended consequences, coastal erosion, subsidence, and sea-level rise are rapidly destroying archaeological sites in the Mississippi River Delta (MRD). The processes of site obliteration are intensifying and accelerating due to anthropogenic transformation of the environment, including cumulative engineered alterations of the landscape and climate change. Combined with increased inundation and erosion from storm surges, hundreds of terrestrial sites formerly located on natural levees, barrier islands, and other coastal landforms are progressively eroded, redeposited, deeply buried, and submerged. These include thousand-year-old earthen mounds and shell middens constructed by Native Americans, as well as centuries-old fishing communities along the coast. These irreplaceable cultural properties can provide crucial information on the unique history and ecology of the MRD. Ongoing studies include consulting with interested parties and implementing data sharing agreements. Re- searchers have formed a consortium of universities and state and federal agencies, and are partnering with culturally affiliated Native American tribes, descendant groups, and coastal communities. The consortium is developing a robust GIS-enabled risk matrix for analyzing threats and effects to endangered sites. It is using the risk matrix to select 30 sites for monitoring, assessment, aerial photogrammetry, and recording environmental data on water table fluctuations. Analysis of action-based scientific data on these imperiled and rapidly disappearing places is urgently needed and will provide the impetus and baseline for future studies. Otherwise, ongoing site destruction will erase any remaining opportunities for learning about Louisiana’s deep history and diverse cultural heritage

Low multiplication noise thin Al0.6Ga0.4As avalanche photodiodes

Avalanche multiplication and excess noise were measured on a series of Al0.6Ga0.4As p+in+ and n+ip+ diodes, with avalanche region thickness, w ranging from 0.026 μm to 0.85 μm. The results show that the ionization coefficient for electrons is slightly higher than for holes in thick, bulk material. At fixed multiplication values the excess noise factor was found to decrease with decreasing w, irrespective of injected carrier type. Owing to the wide Al0.6Ga0.4As bandgap extremely thin devices can sustain very high electric fields, giving rise to very low excess noise factors, of around F~3.3 at a multiplication factor of M~15.5 in the structure with w=0.026 μm. This is the lowest reported excess noise at this value of multiplication for devices grown on GaAs substrates. Recursion equation modeling, using both a hard threshold dead space model and one which incorporates the detailed history of the ionizing carriers, is used to model the nonlocal nature of impact ionization giving rise to the reduction in excess noise with decreasing w. Although the hard threshold dead space model could reproduce qualitatively the experimental results, better agreement was obtained from the history-dependent mode