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Organisational slack, corporate reputation and financial performance
No full textThis discussion paper aims to fill the gap left by the latest research on organisational slack that has been focused on emerging economies or on a single company or on a single industry. Senior executives’ perceptions that contribute to a measure of corporate reputation are tested as a proxy measure of unabsorbed slack. Disaggregating the components that make up reputation enables the perceptions of a company’s ‘ability to innovate’ and how efficiently they ‘use their corporate assets’ to also be tested as measures of unabsorbed, perceptual or discretionary slack. The impact of these variables is considered in terms of company performance
Boron isotopes in tourmaline from hydrothermal ore systems
No full textA new compilation of published data on the boron isotope composition of hydrothermal tourmaline is presented here. The database is provided in the excel file (Trumbull_etal_B-isotopes_Tourmaline_OreDeposits.xlsx) and contains ca. 4000 boron isotope analyses of tourmaline gathered from 57 publications (see References.docx), as well as additional information about the deposit, host rocks, age and temperature of the mineralization, particulars of tourmaline occurrence, etc. The file permits filtering based on the data and all other attributes. Some filter options that may be useful are: “Publication”, “Deposit category”, “Country”, “Tourmaline host category”, “Tourmaline origin”, “Fluid source”, “Zoning”, “Mineralization”. It is important to note that the article linked to this database (“Application of boron isotopes in tourmaline to understanding hydrothermal ore systems” by Trumbull et al.; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2020.103682) discusses only tourmaline designated as “Hydrothermal” or “Hydrothermal?” in the database and reported in ISI-listed, English-language publications. This selection resulted in a total of 2622 d11B values reported in 49 publications.
Cite this dataset
Trumbull, Robert B.; Codeço, Marta S.; Jiang, Shao-Yong; Palmer, Martin R.; Slack, John F. (2020), “Boron isotopes in tourmaline from hydrothermal ore systems”, Mendeley Data, V4, doi: 10.17632/tv5y7xt9fb.4
Cite the article:
Trumbull, Robert B.; Codeço, Marta S.; Jiang, Shao-Yong; Palmer, Martin R.; Slack, John F. (2020), “Boron isotope variations in tourmaline from hydrothermal ore deposits: A review of controlling factors and insights for mineralizing systems”, Ore Geology Reviews, 125: 103682, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2020.103682
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Towards minimizing the energy of slack variables for binary classification
No full text20.09.13 KB. Ok to add to spiral, author says conference already available online.This paper presents a binary classification algorithm that is based on the minimization of the energy of slack variables, called the Mean Squared Slack (MSS). A novel kernel extension is proposed which includes the withholding of just a subset of input patterns that are misclassified during training. The later leads to a time and memory efficient system that converges in a few iterations. Two datasets are exploited for performance evaluation, namely the adult and the vertebral column dataset. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with respect to computation time and scalability. Accuracy is also high. In specific, it equals 84.951% for the adult dataset and 91.935%, for the vertebral column dataset, outperforming state-of-the-art methods. © 2012 EURASIP
What’s inside the Mind of a CEO? The Effects of Discretionary Slack Resources on R&D Investment
No full textThis study investigates the effects of discretionary slack resources on a firm’s R&D investment. Specifically, we examine whether and how a CEO’s psychological traits play a role in the relationship between discretionary slack and R&D investment. Using a panel sample from U.S. manufacturing firms in 2006–2010, we found that slack resources lead to an increase in R&D intensity. Furthermore, this positive effect is stronger when CEOs have a strong promotion focus and perceive an addressable negative attainment discrepancy. Thus, our findings show how (a) the level of discretionary slack and (b) CEOs’ promotion focus and aspiration level jointly shape R&D investment decisions. Considering CEOs’ psychological traits contributes to a more comprehensive view of the conditions under which discretionary slack resources matter for a firm’s strategic decisions
Global Slack and Domestic Inflation Rates: A Structural Investigation for G-7 Countries
No full textRecent papers have argued that one implication of globalization is that domestic inflation rates may have now become more a function of ``global", rather than domestic, economic conditions, as postulated by closed-economy Phillips curves. This paper aims to assess the empirical importance of global output in determining domestic inflation rates by estimating a structural model for a sample of G-7 economies. The model can capture the potential effects of global output fluctuations on both the aggregate supply and the aggregate demand relations in the economy and it is estimated using full-information Bayesian methods. The empirical results reveal a significant effect of global output on aggregate demand in most countries. Through this channel, global economic conditions can indirectly affect inflation. The results, instead, do not seem to provide evidence in favor of altering domestic Phillips curves to include global slack as an additional driving variable for inflation.Globalization; Global Slack; Inflation Dynamics; Phillips Curve; Bayesian Estimation
Product market competition and organizational slack under profit target contracts
No full textIn a framework à la Martin (1993) we introduce a common component in the managers' private information in order to address three related questions: What is the impact of contracts that reward managers on the basis of realized profits on firms' productive and allocative efficiency relative to cost-target contracts? How do these contracts shape the relationship between competition and organizational slack? Can we then explain the existing evidence of an inverted-U shaped relationship between competition and cost-reducing activities, as documented in Aghion et al. [Aghion, P., Bloom, N., Blundell, R., Griffith, R., Howitt, P., “Competition and innovation: an inverted-U Relationship”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120: pp. 701–728, 2005]? We show that profit-target contracts introduce a horizontal (contractual) externality between the competing firms that mitigates organizational slack and improves upon productive efficiency relative to cost-plus mechanisms. Moreover, when executive compensations are conditioned on profits, an inverted-U shaped relationship between product market competition and managerial effort obtains. Finally, we also show that when contractual instruments are endogenous, i.e., when shareholders can choose between profit- and cost-target rules, the equilibrium with profit-target contracts always exists and is the only one that survives to standard refinements
An examination of budget slack within an expectancy theory framework
No full textA major problem facing all organizations is that of maximizing efficiency. Modern organizations exert much effort to improve operational efficiency and yet there is much evidence to suggest that this goal is very difficult to attain. The behavioral theory of the firm states that managers often tend to satisfice rather than maximize. This often causes organizational efficiency to be at a suboptimal level. There is theoretically a minimum payment which organizations can make and still retain participation by individuals within the organization. Organizational slack is defined as payments made by the organization in excess of the minimum required to retain participation. When these payments are made to internal groups, internal slack is said to exist. Since internal allocations are usually formulated in the budget, internal slack is often called budget slack. Prior studies of the budget process provide evidence that the budget system is a major factor in the creation of slack. However, the concept has received a limited amount of research attention. The slack variable has been primarily treated in conceptual terms and has not been effectively operationalized. This study had five basic objectives. The first objective was to identify from the literature certain factors which have been associated with budget slack. Another objective was to obtain an objective budget slack indicator from published financial data. The third objective of the study was to obtain from a field study a subjective measure of budget slack and a subjective measure of certain factors which contribute to budget slack. Fourthly, the study sought to test the significance of correlation between the subjectively determined measure of budget slack and the objective indicator obtained from published financial statements. A final objective of the study was to test the significance of correlation between the measures of budget slack and the measures obtained for each budget slack contributing factor. Regression analysis and Spearman's Rank Order Correlation were used to test the relationships of the variables under study. The objective and subjective slack indicators were found to have a moderately positive relationship, though the result was not significant. Of the five slack contributing factors identified, the budget's link to the company reward system showed the strongest relationship to budget slack. The variables budget participation and budget pressure produced inconclusive results. No evidence was found to support the decentralization variable or the economic environment variable as contributors to budget slack.Business, C. T. Bauer College o
Dominant genes for colorectal cancer are not rare
No full textThe genetic basis for colorectal cancer was investigated by complex segregation analysis of a published series of consecutive pedigrees ascertained through patients undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer. Analysis favoured a dominant gene or genes with a frequency of 0·006 with a lifetime penetrance of 0·63. These genes account for 81% of colorectal cancer in patients under 35, however, by 65 about 85% are phenocopies
Wetwang Slack : an Iron Age cemetery on the Yorkshire Wolds.
No full textThis work is an examination of a large Iron Age cemetery which was
excavated by the writer at Wetwang Slack on the Yorkshire Wolds between
1975 and 1979.
The chief features which make this site exceptional are the large number
of inhumation burials involved (446), the unusually good stratigraphical
evidence for the relative chronology of the cemetery, and the extensive
remains of the contemporary settlement which the cemetery served.
In an introduction British Iron Age studies and the extent of
archaeological research in the region are summarised to indicate the
extent of knowledge at the time when excavations were underway.
Part 1 describes the circumstances of excavation and the location of the
site, isolates the ditched enclosures and graves which were the principle
constituents of the cemetery, and details the types of burial which were
encountered.
In Part 2 the evidence for a relative chronology of the cemetery is
considered at length and from the stratification, the artifacts, and some
changing characteristics recognisable among the burials and enclosures
different chronological horizons can be recognised. Unlike artifacts
found on settlement sites those found in graves can reasonably be assumed
to have been in use up until the time of their burial. For this reason
the cemetery provides a much needed guide to the relative date of
artifacts, many of which are types with a widespread distribution.
The skeletal evidence is examined in Part 3 for evidence of physical
type, disease etc. and the data is searched for signs of social
organisation.
The settlement evidence in the form of buildings, land boundaries and
trackways is described in Part 4 and the inter-relationship of burials
and settlement is examined. Finally, the cultural affinities of the whole complex with the East
Yorkshire "Arras Culture" and other traditions of Iron Age Britain are
sought and an interpretation is given which identifies population growth
as a principle underlying cause of changes which took place in society,
settlement patterns and economy in the region during the Iron Age
Neonatal pain detection in videos using the iCOPEvid dataset and an ensemble of descriptors extracted from Gaussian of Local Descriptors
No full textDiagnosing pain in neonates is difficult but critical. Although approximately thirty manual pain instruments have been developed for neonatal pain diagnosis, most are complex, multifactorial, and geared toward research. The goals of this work are twofold: 1) to develop a new video dataset for automatic neonatal pain detection called iCOPEvid (infant Classification Of Pain Expressions videos), and 2) to present a classification system that sets a challenging comparison performance on this dataset. The iCOPEvid dataset contains 234 videos of 49 neonates experiencing a set of noxious stimuli, a period of rest, and an acute pain stimulus. From these videos 20 s segments are extracted and grouped into two classes: pain (49) and nopain (185), with the nopain video segments handpicked to produce a highly challenging dataset. An ensemble of twelve global and local descriptors with a Bag-of-Features approach is utilized to improve the performance of some new descriptors based on Gaussian of Local Descriptors (GOLD). The basic classifier used in the ensembles is the Support Vector Machine, and decisions are combined by sum rule. These results are compared with standard methods, some deep learning approaches, and 185 human assessments. Our best machine learning methods are shown to outperform the human judges
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