Multinationals and Skills Policy Networks: HRM as a Player in Economic and Social Concerns

This paper uses an embeddedness framework to reconceptualize HRM agency over the external labour market, and in so doing bring into focus the societal implications of HRM. Drawing on qualitative data from 53 key informants in two English regions, we identify the ways in which the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals (MNCs) engage with labour market skills actors. Our findings reveal how power structures are mobilized by local economic actors to align labour market skills with MNCs’ demand priorities. We show that multinationals may seek to partially endogenize (i.e. take ownership of) the resources of local labour markets when their competitive value is redefined in social as well as economic terms, and demonstrate that the social structure of sub‐national institutional governance arrangements and firm strategic action on skills creates the conduit through which resource endogenization may occur. Theoretically, this paper identifies the social structure of networks as a casual mechanism to bridge divergent skill interests, which is mobilized when network actors have the capacity to frame fields within the social structure of the network around ideas on economic sustainability and moral interest.     

U.K. Foot and Mouth Disease: A Systemic Risk Assessment of Existing Controls

This article details a systemic analysis of the controls in place and possible interventions available to further reduce the risk of a foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in the United Kingdom. Using a research‐based network analysis tool, we identify vulnerabilities within the multibarrier control system and their corresponding critical control points (CCPs). CCPs represent opportunities for active intervention that produce the greatest improvement to United Kingdom's resilience to future FMD outbreaks. Using an adapted ‘features, events, and processes’ (FEPs) methodology and network analysis, our results suggest that movements of animals and goods associated with legal activities significantly influence the system's behavior due to their higher frequency and ability to combine and create scenarios of exposure similar in origin to the U.K. FMD outbreaks of 1967/8 and 2001. The systemic risk assessment highlights areas outside of disease control that are relevant to disease spread. Further, it proves to be a powerful tool for demonstrating the need for implementing disease controls that have not previously been part of the system.     

Call my bluff

Poker used to be the card game of choice for hard men late at night in smoke-filled rooms. Now online poker is bidding for respectability and a site on the home computer. Phil Woodward gives us the straight dope.     

A flexible statistical and efficient computational approach to object location applied to electrical tomography

In electrical tomography, multiple measurements of voltage are taken between electrodes on the boundary of a region with the aim of investigating the electrical conductivity distribution within the region. The relationship between conductivity and voltage is governed by an elliptic partial differential equation derived from Maxwell’s equations. Recent statistical approaches, combining Bayesian methods with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms, allow to greater flexibility than classical inverse solution approaches and require only the calculation of voltages from a conductivity distribution. However, solution of this forward problem still requires the use of the Finite Difference Method (FDM) or the Finite Element Method (FEM) and many thousands of forward solutions are needed which strains practical feasibility. Many tomographic applications involve locating the perimeter of some homogeneous conductivity objects embedded in a homogeneous background. It is possible to exploit this type of structure using the Boundary Element Method (BEM) to provide a computationally efficient alternative forward solution technique. A geometric model is then used to define the region boundary, with priors on boundary smoothness and on the range of feasible conductivity values. This paper investigates the use of a BEM/MCMC approach for electrical resistance tomography (ERT) data. The efficiency of the boundary-element method coupled with the flexibility of the MCMC technique gives a promising new approach to object identification in electrical tomography. Simulated ERT data are used to illustrate the procedures.     

Reactions to Genetically Modified Food Crops and How Perception of Risks and Benefits Influences Consumers'' Information Gathering

Previous research has reported strong consumer perception that genetically modified (GM) food crops may lead to adverse outcomes in a number of different areas. This is despite the widespread promulgation of the potential benefits and opportunities ascribed to the same technology by many scientists and other experts. A computer-based information gathering and evaluation task was completed by 198 adults to assess the extent to which their initial focus on the dangers or opportunities of genetic modification, or both, could be ascribed to the manner in which they gathered information on the topic (heuristically vs. systematically). Results did not confirm the hypothesis that initial focus (risks, benefits, or both) predicted ongoing information gathering and evaluation behavior. Moreover, also contrary to prediction, most participants primarily used systematic strategies when deriving their initial position, regardless of that opinion. Participants found it difficult to achieve a balanced perspective on GM food crop, even though balanced argument, as measured by order of story selection and time spent reading, was preferred as the source of information. Perceived importance is probably the most influential variable determining information gathering about issues or events to which a level of risk is attached.     

Top tip: ways of dealing with analytical constraints in pharmaceutical technology

In this paper several methods are presented for managing analytical constraints in support of formulation optimization and drug delivery studies. These methods rely on the sequential analytical analysis of pharmaceutical technology studies. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visualising interaction effects

In drug discovery, statisticians often work with biologists and chemists to uncover relationships between the various chemical properties and the biological effects of compounds. The aim is to "design" drugs that have exactly the desired pharmaceutical effects. Phil Woodward and Mark Whitlock of Pfizer Global R&D show how a graph can uncover deeply hidden relationships and guide chemists in their efforts to find the next blockbuster drug.     

Atheism,Secularity, and Well‐Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assumptions

What do we currently know about atheists and secular people? In what ways are atheism and secularity correlated with positive societal outcomes? This article offers a thorough presentation and discussion of the latest social scientific research concerning the identities, values, and behaviors of people who don’t believe in God or are non‐religious, and addresses the ways in which atheism and secularity are positively correlated with societal well‐being.     

Rural Community and Rural Resilience: What is important to farmers in keeping their country towns alive?

Many studies have highlighted the phenomenon of rural decline in parts of the developed world, summarised as a loss in agricultural employment leading to a decline in the number and size of rural settlements. This study of small towns in part of Australia’s inland rural “heartland” employs the concepts of interactional rural community of place and rural resilience to identify how farmers perceive their interactions with their local town. This study suggests that robust levels of ongoing engagement between farmers and town communities are important in maintaining rural populations and services along with both a strong local economy and environment. Face-to-face interviews with 115 farmers in two rural regions of New South Wales, Australia, highlight the importance of the local economy and jobs, the quality of the local environment and a strong sense of belonging, in contributing to a strong sense of local community and potential for resilience.