Employee Satisfaction in Agencies with Merit-Based Pay: Differential Effects for Three Measures

While many studies have sought to understand the association between merit-based pay and organizational performance, few have assessed the psychological well-being of employees in agencies with such incentive schemes. We show that employees in agencies with merit-based pay are less satisfied with their organization than are those working in agencies that do not implement the incentive systems. We also show that this negative effect is larger in the case of organizational satisfaction than for pay satisfaction or employee satisfaction with the job itself.     

习近平主席访韩和韩中关系的新里程碑

2014年7月3日习近平主席对韩国进行了国事访问。通过这次在东北亚安全环境急剧变化的情况下进行的访韩,韩中两国建立了"成熟的"战略合作伙伴关系。在这次访韩中,习主席首次提出了韩中关系的"四个坚持"原则。以此为基础,为了在外交和安全领域中实现韩中关系的实质性成熟,双方决定将各种战略对话和高层会谈机制化;在经济领域中决定年内尽早完成韩中自由贸易协定谈判,建立包括金融在内的高度经济合作框架。此外,在加强两国未来青年领导人的交流和搞活公共外交合作等人文交流方面也取得了重大成果。另外,在外交安全领域也给我们留下了韩国和中国为了追求共同利益需要进一步加强相互理解的课题。尤其是从韩国和中国的外交均处于发展之中,以及朝鲜半岛问题正在中美关系和东北亚国际关系这个更大的框架内运作这一点出发,两国都需要发展更加灵活、更为积极的韩中关系。     

Development and testing of a comprehensive ageing problem scale for community-living older adults in South Korea

This study was undertaken to develop and validate an instrument for gerontological policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to comprehensively assess the nature and severity of problems experienced by older adults. The Comprehensive Ageing Problem Scale (CAPS) for older adults living in the community was created as a reliable and valid instrument that is easy to use. A cross-sectional strategy was utilized, in which a total sample of 1060 older South Korean adults was selected (through a proportionate random-stratified sampling method) from four regions nationwide. The psychometric properties of the instrument were verified using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). To achieve cross-validity, the total sample was randomly divided into two groups. The first group (for the EFA) was employed to identify the factor structure of the initial scale. The second group (for the CFA) was used to confirm the factor structure of the revised scale with the first group. The final version of the 19-item CAPS with four factors showed good internal consistency and a CFA confirmed the acceptability of the model fit.     

Who Becomes a Bullying Perpetrator After the Experience of Bullying Victimization? The Moderating Role of Self-esteem

It is well known that victims of bullying could become a bullying perpetrator later on. However, there are some cases where victims do not become bullies after being bullied. What constitutes the differences between the two groups, who show different response strategies despite the similar experiences of victimization, is the main question that the current study poses. Based on the threatened egotism theory, the current longitudinal study postulates that there could be possible moderating effects of self-esteem in the relationship between prior bullying victimization and subsequent bullying perpetration. The data was drawn from 3,660 Korean secondary students (51.5% male) in the Seoul Education Longitudinal Study for 2 waves (7th to 8th grades). The results from structural equation modeling indicated that there is a significant interaction effect between bullying victimization and self-esteem in the 7^th grade, in prediction to bullying perpetration in the 8th grade, after controlling for the prior level of bullying victimization and perpetration experiences, demographic and background characteristics (i.e., gender and family income), students’ school-environmental factor (i.e., perceived seriousness of school bullying), individual factor (i.e., self-control) and family-environmental factor (i.e., parent–child relationship). Students with higher self-esteem were the most likely to engage in future bullying perpetration in response to bullying victimization, while the students with lower self-esteem were the least likely to engage in future bullying perpetration. Educators who examine adolescents’ social problems should pay closer attention to self-esteem, as well as their bullying and victimization experiences, in order to provide appropriate interventions.     

More than a primitive imperialism: The colonial government and the social relief of Hong Kong in the early twentieth century

The implication of the social relief of Hong Kong in the early twentieth century has not been stressed sufficiently by researchers on social administration. The post‐colonial historiography, which would likely be dominated by Chinese communist historians, most probably will reinforce the reductionist view ‘British imperialist was indifferent to the social relief for Hong Kong grassroots’ to fit in the political correctness of the upcoming hegemony. This documentary analysis shows a different picture to the above common sense. Based on the new picture, we try to unveil the danger lurking in the anti‐imperialist nationalism, and suggest a possible new understanding of the history of Hong Kong's social welfare development.     

Morphine in lymph nodes of heroin users

During the autopsy of heroin users, the most consistent morphologic finding is the enlargement of hepatic lymph nodes. Nodes from seven heroin addicts were analyzed for morphine and a concentration range of 0.02 to 0.87 mg/100 g was found. Morphine was detected in all of the nodes examined and the concentration was generally higher than that in the blood.     

Race, Bureaucratic Discretion, and the Implementation of Welfare Reform

This article explores the impact of the race of individual clients and of the local racial context on the implementation of sanctions for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in a Midwestern state. We find that although nonwhites are sanctioned at lower rates than whites overall, nonwhites are sanctioned more compared to whites in each local area. This paradox occurs because nonwhites tend to live in areas with lower sanction rates. Consistent with the literature on race and policy, we find that sanction rates increase as the nonwhite population increases until a threshold is reached where nonwhites gain political power .     

Korean population genetic data for eleven STR loci.

Allele frequency and forensic parameters for eleven STR loci were surveyed in a random sample from the Korean population.     

Development of Latent Fingermarks on Surfaces of Food‐A More Realistic Approach

Latent fingermark developing methods from food (mandarin, egg, banana, apple, potato, carrot, eggplant, onion, bell pepper, and tomato) surface has been studied by 10 methods, including powdering method, small particle reagent method, and cyanoacrylate fuming method. The foods were stored under two conditions (room temperature and refrigerator) before fingermark deposition and aged for 2, 24, 48, and 72 h before fingermark development. In most of the food surfaces used in this study, cyanoacrylate fuming with 80% relative humidity was superior to the powder or small particle reagent methods. The quality of the fingermarks varied depending on the storage conditions before the fingermark deposition (in the refrigerator or at ambient temperature) and the time elapsed since the fingermark deposition. However, the storage conditions before the fingermark deposition and the time elapsed since the fingermark deposition did not show any correlation with the quality of the fingermark.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the DLA Piper column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside websites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.