A Comparison of the Implementation of the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) in the United States and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 in the United Kingdom

This summarizes the results of recently conducted surveys in the United States and Britain to assess employer response in each of these countries to their respective employment disability nondiscrimination legislation.

Griggs' Folly: An Essay on the Theory, Problems, and Origin of the Adverse Impact Definition of Employment Discrimination and a Recommendation for Reform

This Article examines the adverse impact theory of employment discrimination under Title VII. The author begins by discussing the development of adverse impact in the case law, and by scrutinizing its theoretical underpinnings. He demonstrates that Congress did not intend to mandate adoption of adverse impact theory when it established Title VII. The author then argues that the Courts have exceeded their authority under Title VII by embracing the theory of adverse impact. He concludes that the courts should therefore return to a narrower theory of employment discrimination, namely, a theory based on the legal concept of “intent.”

Seabed discrimination data from SeaScan™

Raw data from SeaScan™ transects off Wide Bay (south Queensland) taken in August 2007 as part of a study of ecological factors influencing the distribution of spanner crabs (Ranina ranina). The dataset (comma-delimited ascii file) comprises the following fields: 1. record number 2. date-time (GMT) 3. date-time (AEST) 4. latitude (signed decimal degrees) 5. longitude (decimal degrees) 6. speed over ground (knots) 7. depth (m) 8. seabed roughness (v) 9. hardness (v) Indices of roughness and hardness (from the first and second echoes respectively) were obtained using a SeaScan™ 100 system (un-referenced) on board the Research Vessel Tom Marshall, with the ship’s Furuno FCV 1100 echo sounder and 1 kW, 50 kHz transducer. Generally vessel speed was kept below about 14 kt (typically ~12 kt), and the echo-sounder range set to 80 m. The data were filtered to remove errors due to data drop-out, straying beyond system depth limits (min. 10 m), or transducer interference.

The Impact of Emissions Trading on the Price of Electricity in Nord Pool : Market Power and Price Determination in the Nordic Electricity Market

The objective of this thesis is to find out how dominant firms in a liberalised electricity market will react when they face an increase in the level of costs due to emissions trading, and how this will effect the price of electricity. The Nordic electricity market is chosen as the setting in which to examine the question, since recent studies on the subject suggest that interaction between electricity markets and emissions trading is very much dependent on conditions specific to each market area. There is reason to believe that imperfect competition prevails in the Nordic market, thus the issue is approached through the theory of oligopolistic competition. The generation capacity available at the market, marginal cost of electricity production and seasonal levels of demand form the data based on which the dominant firms are modelled using the Cournot model of competition. The calculations are made for two levels of demand, high and low, and with several values of demand elasticity. The producers are first modelled under no carbon costs and then by adding the cost of carbon dioxide at 20€/t to those technologies subject to carbon regulation. In all cases the situation under perfect competition is determined as a comparison point for the results of the Cournot game. The results imply that the potential for market power does exist on the Nordic market, but the possibility for exercising market power depends on the demand level. In season of high demand the dominant firms may raise the price significantly above competitive levels, and the situation is aggravated when the cost of carbon dioixide is accounted for. Under low demand leves there is no difference between perfect and imperfect competition. The results are highly dependent on the price elasticity of demand.

Development of a Multiplexed Bead-Based Suspension Array for the Detection and Discrimination of Pospiviroid Plant Pathogens

Efficient and reliable diagnostic tools for the routine indexing and certification of clean propagating material are essential for the management of pospiviroid diseases in horticultural crops. This study describes the development of a true multiplexed diagnostic method for the detection and identification of all nine currently recognized pospiviroid species in one assay using Luminex bead-based suspension array technology. In addition, a new data-driven, statistical method is presented for establishing thresholds for positivity for individual assays within multiplexed arrays. When applied to the multiplexed array data generated in this study, the new method was shown to have better control of false positives and false negative results than two other commonly used approaches for setting thresholds. The 11-plex Luminex MagPlex-TAG pospiviroid array described here has a unique hierarchical assay design, incorporating a near-universal assay in addition to nine species-specific assays, and a co-amplified plant internal control assay for quality assurance purposes. All assays of the multiplexed array were shown to be 100% specific, sensitive and reproducible. The multiplexed array described herein is robust, easy to use, displays unambiguous results and has strong potential for use in routine pospiviroid indexing to improve disease management strategies.

Get ready for a fruit fight: the fallout from Coles' price war on produce

Amid tough trading conditions and intense competition, Coles has fired the latest salvo in its ongoing supermarket war with Woolworths, announcing it will reduce the price of some fruit and vegetables by 50%. The move is the latest in a battle between the supermarket giants to wrest market share and follows previous cuts to staples such as milk and bread, beer and chicken. However, Australia’s peak industry body of vegetable growers, Ausveg, is concerned about the impact the price decision will have on growers' livelihoods.

Predicting the last brand standing in the supermarket price wars

On January 26, 2011, grocery retailer Coles fired the first salvo in what would soon be dubbed the “supermarket price wars” by reducing the price of its own-brand milk to A$1 per litre. Woolworths immediately responded. In the three years since, grocery prices have been tumbling, with 85 cent bread being the latest “sacrificial lamb”. This period of intense competition has brought about not just lower grocery prices, but a senate enquiry, and increasing media and analyst interest.

Food price and affordability update

This presentation outlines recent achievements in development of tools, protocols and methods to monitoring and benchmark food prices and affordability globally under International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support(INFORMAS)

Application of z-COSY experiment and its variant for accurate chiral discrimination by H-1 NMR

We report the application of z-COSY experiment and a band selected version of it by employing a selective 90 degrees pulse entitled BASE-z-COSY for precise chiral discrimination, quantification of enantiomeric excess and the analyses of the H-1 NMR spectra of chiral molecules aligned in the chiral liquid crystalline solvent poly-gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG). We have demonstrated their applicability for obtaining very high resolution in the H-1 NMR spectra of small organic molecules. It is well known that the commonly employed z-COSY experiment disentangles the spectral complexity, provides pure phase spectra with high resolution, aids in the complete spectral analyses, in addition to yielding information on relative signs of the Couplings. The BASE-z-COSY experiment possesses all these properties, permits the measure of enantiomeric excess, in addition to large saving of instrument time.

The effects of the 2004 reduction in the price of alcohol on alcohol-related harm in Finland : A natural experiment based on register data

Changes in alcohol pricing have been documented as inversely associated with changes in consumption and alcohol-related problems. Evidence of the association between price changes and health problems is nevertheless patchy and is based to a large extent on cross-sectional state-level data, or time series of such cross-sectional analyses. Natural experimental studies have been called for. There was a substantial reduction in the price of alcohol in Finland in 2004 due to a reduction in alcohol taxes of one third, on average, and the abolition of duty-free allowances for travellers from the EU. These changes in the Finnish alcohol policy could be considered a natural experiment, which offered a good opportunity to study what happens with regard to alcohol-related problems when prices go down. The present study investigated the effects of this reduction in alcohol prices on (1) alcohol-related and all-cause mortality, and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, (2) alcohol-related morbidity in terms of hospitalisation, (3) socioeconomic differentials in alcohol-related mortality, and (4) small-area differences in interpersonal violence in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Differential trends in alcohol-related mortality prior to the price reduction were also analysed. A variety of population-based register data was used in the study. Time-series intervention analysis modelling was applied to monthly aggregations of deaths and hospitalisation for the period 1996-2006. These and other mortality analyses were carried out for men and women aged 15 years and over. Socioeconomic differentials in alcohol-related mortality were assessed on a before/after basis, mortality being followed up in 2001-2003 (before the price reduction) and 2004-2005 (after). Alcohol-related mortality was defined in all the studies on mortality on the basis of information on both underlying and contributory causes of death. Hospitalisation related to alcohol meant that there was a reference to alcohol in the primary diagnosis. Data on interpersonal violence was gathered from 86 administrative small-areas in the Helsinki Metropolitan area and was also assessed on a before/after basis followed up in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005. The statistical methods employed to analyse these data sets included time-series analysis, and Poisson and linear regression. The results of the study indicate that alcohol-related deaths increased substantially among men aged 40-69 years and among women aged 50-69 after the price reduction when trends and seasonal variation were taken into account. The increase was mainly attributable to chronic causes, particularly liver diseases. Mortality due to cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality, on the other hand, decreased considerably among the-over-69-year-olds. The increase in alcohol-related mortality in absolute terms among the 30-59-year-olds was largest among the unemployed and early-age pensioners, and those with a low level of education, social class or income. The relative differences in change between the education and social class subgroups were small. The employed and those under the age of 35 did not suffer from increased alcohol-related mortality in the two years following the price reduction. The gap between the age and education groups, which was substantial in the 1980s, thus further broadened. With regard to alcohol-related hospitalisation, there was an increase in both chronic and acute causes among men under the age of 70, and among women in the 50-69-year age group when trends and seasonal variation were taken into account. Alcohol dependence and other alcohol-related mental and behavioural disorders were the largest category in both the total number of chronic hospitalisation and in the increase. There was no increase in the rate of interpersonal violence in the Helsinki Metropolitan area, and even a decrease in domestic violence. There was a significant relationship between the measures of social disadvantage on the area level and interpersonal violence, although the differences in the effects of the price reduction between the different areas were small. The findings of the present study suggest that that a reduction in alcohol prices may lead to a substantial increase in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity. However, large population group differences were observed regarding responsiveness to the price changes. In particular, the less privileged, such as the unemployed, were most sensitive. In contrast, at least in the Finnish context, the younger generations and the employed do not appear to be adversely affected, and those in the older age groups may even benefit from cheaper alcohol in terms of decreased rates of CVD mortality. The results also suggest that reductions in alcohol prices do not necessarily affect interpersonal violence. The population group differences in the effects of the price changes on alcohol-related harm should be acknowledged, and therefore the policy actions should focus on the population subgroups that are primarily responsive to the price reduction.

Predicting price-tag for customized goods

We discuss a dynamic pricing model which will aid automobile manufacturer in choosing the right price for customer segment. Though there is oligopoly market structure, the customers get "locked" into a particular technology/company which virtually makes the situation akin to a monopoly. There are associated network externalities and positive feedback. The key idea in monopoly pricing lies in extracting the customer surplus by exploiting the respective elasticities of demand. We present a Walrasian general equilibrium approach to determine the segment price. We compare the prices obtained from optimization model with that from Walrasian dynamics. The results are encouraging and can serve as a critical factor in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and thereby effectively manage the lock-in.

Strain-Temperature Discrimination Using a Single Fiber Bragg Grating

The out-diffusion of germanium from the core of a photosensitive fiber under elevated temperature is exploited to form a Fabry-Perot filter within a single fiber Bragg grating, by subjecting the diffused region to a single exposure using the standard phase-mask technique. A key aspect of our work is the measurement of the out-diffusion through energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Furthermore, we demonstrate the use of the above single-grating filter for discrimination and simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature. The proposed technique provides a significant advantage over other existing methods that require at least two gratings.