James E. Everett

The fit of the continents around the Atlantic

The geometrical fit of the continents now separated by oceans has long been discussed in relation to continental drift. This paper describes fits made by numerical methods, with a ‘least squares’ criterion of fit, for the continents around the Atlantic ocean. The best fit is found to be at the 500 fm. contour which lies on the steep part of the continental edge. The root-mean-square errors for fitting Africa to South America, Greenland to Europe and North America to Greenland and Europe are 30 to 90 km. These fits are thought not to be due to chance, though no reliable statistical criteria are available. The fit of the block assembled from South America and Africa to that formed from Europe, North America and Greenland is much poorer. The root-mean-square misfit is about 130 km. These geometrical fits are regarded as a preliminary to a comparison of the stratigraphy, structures, ages and palaeomagnetic results across the joins.

Geomagnetic variations and electrical conductivity structure in south-western Australia

Abstract Magnetic field variations have been recorded in digital form at ten stations on a traverse from the Nullabor Plain to Perth, across the pre-Cambrian shield of south-western Australia. The records are Fourier analysed. It is shown that a “transfer function” can be obtained for each station, relating the anomalous vertical magnetic field variations to the horizontal variations. The stations can thus be compared even when their records are not simultaneous. The coast effect for the shield area is found to persist about 2 1 2 times further inland than do the coast effects for California and eastern Australia. Therefore the electrical conductivity is less under the shield than elsewhere. This conclusion suggests that the temperature gradient is less, and agrees with the low heat flow values found for the shield area. The west coast is anomalous because the coast effect initially increases going inland. We conclude that the coastal area west of the Darling fault is not part of the continental shield but has a larger electrical conductivity. An attempt is made to correct for the coast effect in south-western Australia and the residual transfer functions are discussed in relation to the geological structure of the area.

Response Styles in a Cross-Cultural Managerial Study

Summary An examination was made of the response sets of a total of 1647 expatriate and local managers from nine countries who were respondents to a study of stereotyping undertaken in American, British, and Japanese firms in Singapore, and in Japanese firms in Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The data consisted of responses to semantic differential items. There were marked differences between various nationalities in terms of their tendency to use extreme responses and midpoint responses. Moreover, age and education were shown to have an effect in certain instances.

An Examination of the Correlates of Job Involvement

Rabinowitz and Hall (1977) suggested that the relationships between job involvement and personal situational characteristics and work outcomes are approximately equal in size. This study explored the portions of common variance shared with job involvement by combinations of personal and situational characteristics and outcome variables. Correlation and regression generally supported Rabinowitz and Halls profile of the job-involved employee. Situational characteristics and outcome variables are each found to display comparable amounts of common variance with job involvement and considerably more than do personal characteristics.

Spherical coils for uniform magnetic fields

The design of a spherical coil system to produce a region of uniform magnetic field is discussed. The construction of a set of spherical coils is described, and it is shown that a field uniformity of one part in ten thousand is obtained throughout a region having two-thirds the radius of the sphere. Comparison with the Helmholtz coil array shows that a suitably designed spherical coil carrying 100 turns of wire is equivalent to a Helmholtz coil system having a radius more than seven times greater.

Iron ore production scheduling to improve product quality

Abstract Iron ore quality depends upon successive shipments being uniform in composition, not only in iron but also in several other minerals. The production process involves several stages of scheduling, from the mine face, through railing, stockpiling and ship loading. At each of these stages there is potential to improve the composition uniformity through appropriate scheduling procedures. This paper discusses a variety of algorithms and simulation models developed to aid these scheduling decisions.

Culture's consequences: A methodology for comparative management studies in Southeast Asia?

Hofstedes model of culture and many reviews of his work are discussed to investigate the relevance of his paradigm to management research, particularly in the culturally diverse region of Southeast Asia. The issue is analyzed with the results of a replication carried out by the authors, applying Hofstedes questionnaire to 170 Hong Kong, Malaysian and Singapore managers.

Changing attitudes of Australian academics

This article reports on the changing work-related attitudes and demographics of academic staff in Australia, in four universities and four former colleges of advanced education (CAEs, comparable to polytechnics), surveyed in 1979, 1984 and 1990. The surveys were of all academic staff in each institution, with response rates averaging 47%. As in other countries, the former binary system of education has recently been ended by reconstituting colleges of advanced education as universities. Differences in work-related attitude are examined, and shown to differ consistently between the types of institution, across the elapsed time, and between the sexes, ranks and academic disciplines of the respondents. In particular, each institution has shown a sustained increase in academic staff alienation and dissatisfaction over the eleven-year period. The differences in demographics and in work-related attitudes between original universities and former colleges of advanced education remain after the ending of the binary system. The differences are discussed in relation to a number of current policy issues, including the ending of the binary system of higher education. Since similar policy changes and similar pressures are occurring in a number of countries, the findings of the study have implications beyond Australia.

Tertiary Entrance Predictors of First-Year University Performance

This paper reports a study of the extent to which the Tertiary Entrance Score (TES) and Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test (ASAT) score predict the first-year performance of the 1695 full-time students entering The University of Western Australia in 1987. The criterion of performance is successful completion of the normal load of four first-year units. Using hierarchical logit models, the relation of performance to TES and ASAT scores and to sex and field of study is established and graphically displayed. It is shown that the ASAT quantitative subscale (presently accounting for less than 1% of the TES) is comparable to the total TES score as a predictor of performance, for both humanities and science students. Implications for policy are discussed, together with suggestions for a more far-ranging study of the predictive power of Tertiary Entrance data.

Mapping the scholarly development of strategic management

In an effort to move from speculative to scientific discourse, a key meta-issue in strategic management is addressed by systematically tracing the intellectual development of this sub-discipline. The flow of scholarly knowledge is mapped over time by combining multivariate statistics and other techniques. Observed citation frequencies are fitted to a chi-square model of importance, receptivity and similarity, while cluster analysis is employed to map changes in journal relationships over time. The results contradict at least one widely espoused and previously uncontested assertion, by revealing that the strategic management sub-discipline has evolved from a receptor to a transmitter of interdisciplinary knowledge and entered the mainstream of social science. The study demonstrates the potential to shed objective light on the social construction of knowledge and to address important issues in other scholarly disciplines.