http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A comparison of public sector workers in Illinois with their peers in the private sector shows a general wage and salary penalty for state and local government employees, according to research by a University of Illinois labor expert. http://phys.org/news282294331.html Other Sciences Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:05:37 EST news282294331 South Africa will introduce a tax on carbon emissions in 2015 amid concerns of global warming, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced on Wednesday. http://phys.org/news281201877.html Space & Earth Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:38:05 EST news281201877 While women have gained ground, accounting for 31.2% of senior leadership roles in Montreal, visible minorities remain more markedly underrepresented in these ranks. In spite of accounting for 22.5% of the population, only 5.9% of senior leaders were visible minorities according to a study led by researchers from McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management and Ryerson University's Diversity Institute.   http://phys.org/news279797831.html Other Sciences Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:50:02 EST news279797831 In Michigan's worst techno-horror story, the state's major utilities get hacked in the wintertime. Power in the state shuts down, and nobody can figure out how to regain control of the systems needed to turn it back on. Millions of people are left in the dark and in the cold. http://phys.org/news275583431.html Technology Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:30:02 EST news275583431 With the cloud computing business still in its relatively early days, the European Union moved on Thursday to secure a toehold in a potentially lucrative market it says could deliver 2.5 million new jobs. http://phys.org/news267952033.html Technology Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:07:38 EST news267952033 Teacher productivity is a large concern for the current coalition government.  A new study, published today [22 August] investigated the relationship between centralised pay setting of teachers’ salaries and school performance and found a negative impact on pupil learning. The findings reveal that centralised pay setting leads to an average loss of one GCSE exam grade per pupil. http://phys.org/news264828419.html Other Sciences Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:27:06 EST news264828419 The head of the powerful National Security Agency, General Keith Alexander, said the US must adopt a law to protect the country from cyberattacks while insisting that it would respect privacy. http://phys.org/news261116182.html Technology Tue, 10 Jul 2012 05:16:33 EST news261116182 Having a powerful member of congress could have unintended consequences for a state's economy, according to a study published today in the Journal of Political Economy. http://phys.org/news249661861.html Other Sciences Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:31:18 EST news249661861 An undersea fibre optic Internet cable that was sliced by a ship's anchor in the Kenyan port of Mombasa will be fully repaired in about three weeks, an official said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news249652225.html Technology Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:50:30 EST news249652225 US senators, warning of potentially catastrophic cyberattacks, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at protecting critical infrastructure such as power, water and transportation systems. http://phys.org/news248524203.html Technology Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:30:11 EST news248524203 Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has stirred strong passions by claiming he will establish a permanent moon base by 2020 if elected, but experts say he is living on another planet. http://phys.org/news246773680.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:14:49 EST news246773680 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched on Monday an initiative designating 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, with the aim of reaching its set goals by 2030. http://phys.org/news245928664.html Technology Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:31:10 EST news245928664 New research has found that individuals and the private sector have an important role to play in the provision of public policies to help society adapt to the impacts of climate change. http://phys.org/news245677533.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:45:48 EST news245677533 A bill intended to increase sharing of information about cybersecurity threats between government and the private sector was introduced in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday. http://phys.org/news241882103.html Technology Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:28:37 EST news241882103 Brazil on Tuesday proposed the creation of a fiber optic broadband connection network linking all South American countries to bring down the cost of Internet and cellular phone access. http://phys.org/news241805179.html Technology Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:40:01 EST news241805179 The government is set to announce new measures to tackle cyber crime on Friday as Britain's internet and electronic communications network comes under increased attack from hackers and foreign intelligence agencies. http://phys.org/news241435158.html Technology Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:19:27 EST news241435158 A joint study of the Bank of Spain and the Pablo de Olavide University (UPO) confirms that public salaries are clearly influential throughout the whole of Europe's economy. For the study, researchers chose a representative sample of four EU countries: Italy, Spain, Germany and France. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the public sector employs an average of 20% of Europe's working population. http://phys.org/news239621488.html Other Sciences Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:31:37 EST news239621488 The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released for public comment a draft "roadmap" that is designed to foster federal agencies' adoption of cloud computing, support the private sector, improve the information available to decision makers and facilitate the continued development of the cloud computing model. http://phys.org/news239438043.html Technology Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:34:34 EST news239438043 (AP) -- A United Nations panel has given governments a target of connecting half the world's poor citizens to broadband Internet by 2015. http://phys.org/news238759751.html Technology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:09:22 EST news238759751 Global crises and the slow burn of climate change are having a profound impact on the lives and livelihoods of poor people around the world, and bringing into question core ideas about what development is and how it happens, according to a new report. http://phys.org/news236426140.html Other Sciences Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:55:48 EST news236426140 (AP) -- A Texas-based defense and aerospace firm says one of its top officials has had his email account broken into by the hacking group Anonymous. http://phys.org/news232972110.html Technology Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:28:43 EST news232972110 Union membership in America has declined significantly since the early 1970s, and that plunge explains approximately a fifth of the increase in hourly wage inequality among women and about a third among men, according to a new study in the August issue of the American Sociological Review. http://phys.org/news230870560.html Other Sciences Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:42:49 EST news230870560 Private companies, aided by NASA's cash and expertise in human space flight, are rushing to be the first to build a space capsule to replace the retiring US shuttle in the next few years. http://phys.org/news229746317.html Space & Earth Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:25:39 EST news229746317 As public sector prisons move towards the thin staffing level model of profit-making institutions, with their high turnover of personnel who are less connected to their occupation, a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) warns of a potentially detrimental impact on prison quality. http://phys.org/news224852794.html Other Sciences Tue, 17 May 2011 19:20:01 EST news224852794 The Obama Administration outlined what it called sweeping cybersecurity legislation Thursday (May 12), but the proposed new law still provides few incentives, and even fewer legal requirements, for the private sector to provide appropriate security for sensitive personal information, according to an Indiana University cybersecurity expert. http://phys.org/news224749578.html Technology Mon, 16 May 2011 07:27:09 EST news224749578 New research by a University of Illinois expert in employment relations and labor economics shows that, for more than a decade, Wisconsin teacher salaries have fallen behind changes in the cost of living as well as wage growth in the private sector. http://phys.org/news218292521.html Other Sciences Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:48:48 EST news218292521 A new study from the University of Haifa shows that within the private sector high levels of emotional intelligence empower positive attitudes towards the workplace; however, the same effect was not found within the public sector. http://phys.org/news212328722.html Other Sciences Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:12:34 EST news212328722 With unemployment in the region lingering at record levels, and job security a wistful memory for many, it’s easy to look for scapegoats. Thus a familiar refrain--government workers are overpaid, and our tax dollars are going towards outsized benefit and salary packages--has come back again. But as with most scapegoating, there’s not much truth to the accusation: the reality is just the opposite. Once age and education are factored in, state and local workers actually earn less, on average, than their private-sector counterparts. The wage penalty for state and local government workers in New England is close to 3 percent. http://phys.org/news203874436.html Other Sciences Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:10:03 EST news203874436 In the latest Health Policy Outlook from the American Enterprise Institute and the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC, Schaeffer Center researchers investigated whether geographic variations in utilization of health services and spending differed between Medicare and the private sector. http://phys.org/news199099288.html Medicine & Health Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:21:56 EST news199099288 A study forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy suggests that government regulation of nurses' pay leads to higher death rates in U.K. hospitals. http://phys.org/news192900139.html Other Sciences Wed, 12 May 2010 16:50:01 EST news192900139