Inequality in Human Development across the Globe

The Human Development Index is the world's most famous indicator of the level of development of societies. A disadvantage of this index is however that only national values are available, whereas within many countries huge subnational variation in development exists. We therefore have developed the Subnational Human Development Index (SHDI), which shows within-country variation in human development across the globe. Covering more than 1,600 regions within 161 countries, the SHDI and its underlying dimension indices provide a 10 times higher resolution picture of human development than previously available. The newly observed within-country variation is particularly strong in low- and middle-developed countries. Education disparities explain most SHDI inequality within low-developed countries, and standard of living differences are most important within the more highly developed ones. Strong convergence forces operating both across and within countries have compensated the inequality enhancing force of population growth. These changes will shape the twenty-first century agenda of scientists and policy-makers concerned with global distributive justice.     

Social Ecology of Premature Mortality in Three Australian Cities

Variations in mortality from ischaemic heart disease and cancer in the age group 50–64 for the period 1969–1973 inclusive were found to be statistically highly significant, with the highest incidences in certain inner local government areas (LGA) and some exurban LGAs. Correlation and regression analysis were undertaken between a small number of social indicator independent variables and the dependent mortality variables. These variables represented three constructs, social isolation-housing class, crowding-density and socioeconomic status which together accounted for more than 40% of the variance in Sydney and Adelaide, but not in Melbourne, although the relationship there was still highly significant. Schematic models of factors in higher or lower disease incidence in particular areas are presented in the concluding section.     

Penta-Extensions of Hereditary Classes of Graphs

Penta is the configuration shown in figure 1(a), where continuous lines represent edges and dotted lines represent non-edges. The vertex u in figure 1(a) is called the center of Penta. A graph G is called a pentagraph if every induced subgraph H of G has a vertex v which is not a center of induced Penta in H. The class of pentagraphs is a common generalization of chordal [triangulated] graphs and Mahadev graphs. We construct a polynomial-time algorithm that either find a maximum stable set of G or concludes that G is not a pentagraph. We propose a method for extending α-polynomial hereditary classes based on induced Pentas.     

Cross-domain consequences of workplace bullying: A multi-source daily diary study

In this multi-source daily diary study, we examine the effect of exposure to workplace bullying behaviours on family domain outcomes (conflicts at home, relationship satisfaction), and the mediating role that psychological detachment and affective distress play in this relationship. A sample of 68 employees and their spouses filled in a quantitative diary for five consecutive working days twice a day (number of occasions?=?680). Multilevel analyses showed that daily workplace bullying positively predicted both self-report and spouse-report conflicts at home, and daily psychological detachment mediated this relationship. In addition, daily affective distress was the mediator only for self-report conflicts at home. Further, an indirect effect of both affective distress and detachment on the relationship between bullying and self-reported relationship satisfaction was found. Detachment also showed an indirect role in the association between bullying and spouse-reported relationship satisfaction. This is one of the first studies in showing that negative effects of workplace bullying go beyond the work setting and beyond the employee. Moreover, this study adds to an emerging line of research exploring how daily negative work experiences are transferred to and interferes with the non-work domain. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

A Load‐based and Due‐date‐oriented Approach to Order Review/Release in Job Shops*

In this paper, a new order review/release (ORR) method is proposed for shop floor control systems. The proposed method utilizes both job due date and shop load information to improve the effectiveness of the ORR function in production systems. The performance of the new method is compared to those of a few well‐known ORR methods under four experimental conditions. The results of extensive simulation experiments indicate that the proposed method is superior with respect to the mean absolute deviation measure. In general, it is also better than existing methods for the other performance measures. Furthermore, we show that the proposed method is more robust to variations in system load and processing times than the other ORR methods examined.     

Quantitative analyses of misclassification rates in the hazard classification of environmental chemicals: Evaluation of procedures for deriving predicted no-effect concentrations in the Chemical Substance Control Law in Japan

The quality of chemical management depends more or less on practical procedures used to assess chemicals. This study quantitatively assessed the efficacy of a derivation procedure for calculating no-effect concentrations for screening assessment of environmental hazards under the Chemical Substance Control Law in Japan. We first evaluated the derivation procedure by applying a series of test ecotoxicity datasets to the procedure and calculating the resulting misclassification rates of the hazardous class of chemicals. In this study, a chemical was deemed to have been misclassified if its classification differed from its classification based on the full dataset (chronic toxicity data for three trophic levels), which was defined as the correct assignment. We also calculated the effects of additional uncertainty factors to decrease the variance (i.e., to improve the consistency) of the misclassification rates among cases with different data availability in the derivation procedure. The results showed that the derivation procedure resulted in very high rates of misclassification when only particular sets of ecotoxicity data were available (e.g., only chronic toxicity data of algae were available). Our analyses also showed that the use of additional uncertainty factors improved the consistency of the misclassification rates within the derivation procedure. Our study presents a broadly applicable calculation framework for quantifying error rates in assessment procedures and serves as a case study for future development and reforms of chemical assessment processes and policies, while additional analyses using more extensive ecotoxicity data with various modes of actions are needed in the future.     

How feedback about leadership potential impacts ambition,organizational commitment,and performance

In the present research we report results from two experimental studies that examine how feedback about leadership potential impacts leadership ambition, organizational commitment, and performance. Study 1 used an experimental vignette methodology that controls for prior performance. Results show that individuals who receive feedback that they have low potential to be a future leader have lower ambition and organizational commitment relative to those who receive feedback that they have high potential to be a future leader. Study 2 provides evidence of the causal behavioral effects of feedback about leadership potential using a real task effort environment. Results show that participants informed to be unlikely future leaders display lower performance in a subsequent task than participants informed to be likely future leaders. The findings from the two studies demonstrate that information about leadership potential affects subsequent ambition to become leaders as well as performance. We discuss the implications of these findings for the importance of followership, talent management, and leadership succession.     

The integration of TQM and technology/R&D management in determining quality and innovation performance

This paper presents an empirical study which examines the co-alignment between Total Quality Management (TQM) and technology/research and development (R&D) management in predicting organizational performance in terms of quality and innovation. This study improves our understanding of the relationship between TQM and innovation based on the following two major issues. First, this study contributes to the understanding of the co-alignment between TQM and technology management along with R&D management by bridging the gap between the two areas which are often addressed in a separate fashion. Second, this study also examines the impact of the integration between TQM and technology/R&D on quality and innovation performance which have been considered as the primary sources of a competitive advantage. The empirical data was drawn from 194 Australian organizations and analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. The findings indicate that TQM shows a strong predictive power against quality performance but no significant relationship against innovation performance. On the other hand, technology and R&D management shows a significant relationship with quality performance but at a lower level than that of TQM, and shows much stronger relationship with innovation performance. In addition, there is strong and positive correlation between TQM and technology/R&D management. The major implication of this study is that technology/R&D management is an appropriate resource to be used in harmony with TQM to enhance organizational performance, particularly innovation.     

Stimulating lifelong professional growth by guiding job characteristics

This article reports some findings from a broader study concerning the development of professional expertise. The aim of the part that is described in this article was to find out whether certain job-related factors situated in the domain of socio-technical systems design (STSD), that is, control capacity, job satisfaction, and learning value of the job, influence the development of professional knowledge, skills, and capabilities throughout the career. The sample consisted of 559 middle- and higher-level employees working in eight large Dutch companies. Theoretical contributions from learning theory, human resource management and work, and organizational psychology are used to conceptualize the phenomenon of professional expertise and to develop a theory of expertise development in careers. By providing insight into the relationships between several job-related factors, on the one hand, and the development of professional expertise, on the other, this research is intended to contribute to theory building in adult development and learning. Influential job characteristics that are situated in the domain of STSD seem to be of high importance in view of a further human resource development. Paying close attention to an individual's job and its content is indispensable in order to guide growth throughout the career and to enable life-long development of professional expertise.