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In the business sector, the relationship between performance and pay is mostly measured with reference to an organization's business results on the one hand and the pay awarded to its senior management on the other hand. The present research shifts the analytical focus to the third sector and to higher-education institutions, assessed in their case—where the notion of profitability loses its relevance—on their performance as perceived by their clients, namely the student body. Our research results point to a positive, strong and significant relationship between performance and executive pay (with a one-year lag) and to a positive, weak and significant relationship between executive pay and performance (again, with a one-year lag). Furthermore, it is the state-funded (hereinafter: budgeted) colleges, where executive pay was by far the lowest, that achieved the highest satisfaction score (averaging 2011 and 2013), despite a slight drop in satisfaction observed in this category from 2011 to 2013. Taken together, however, higher-education institutions saw their satisfaction scores increase in 2013 compared to 2011. The paper leaves aside research performance rankings of higher-education institutions, due to the fact that most institutions in Israel are teaching oriented. As a matter of fact, only few Israeli universities are ranked by international ranking organizations. Furthermore, unfortunately, Israel does not have a formal system of higher education institutions research rankings. In the paper, a large body of literature on performance-related pay in school teaching is not covered.

To assess whether morphometric and clinical parameters influence accessibility to the upper calyx through a lower calyx tract during supine percutaneous nephrolithotomy (SPCNL).Data for 114 consecutive SPCNLs performed between June 2014 and March 2016 in an academic medical center were analyzed. Successful approachability was defined as rigid nephroscopic access to the upper calyx introduced through a lower calyx access as attested by direct visualization of the upper calyx papillae and position of the nephroscope on intraoperative pyelography. Demographic, morphometric, and clinical parameters were assessed. Analysis of variance, Fisher's exact, chi-square tests, and univariate and multivariate models were applied.Successful approach was achieved in 94 (82%) patients. In univariate analyses previous kidney operations (p = 0.03), body weight (p = 0.04), and acute lower calyx access to the upper calyx axis angle (p = 0.01SPCNL offers effective endoscopic accessibility through a lower calyx access. Previous kidney operations and body weight tend to negatively influence this accessibility. An acute angle between the lower calyx and the upper calyx is the single independent factor associated with failed accessibility.

The economic weaknesses of Israel’s periphery have attracted media attention and have shifted upwards as a priority in the national agenda. There has been a heightened awareness of gaps between the haves and the have-nots and of growing inequality. One important facet of the public debate on issues of centre and periphery has been the degree of professionalism of the leaders running local government compared to that of their counterparts in the centre. In this paper, there is an examination of the relationship between three variables – periphery, professionalism and (to a lesser extent) local government stability. A vicious cycle has been identified which seems to perpetuate the economic and political weakness of local government in the periphery.

The performance of local authority heads in times of emergency is a topic that has apparently received very little attention in the research literature. The same is true with regards to the relationship between performance and re-election chances in crisis situations. The hybrid macro polity view makes it possible to ‘pit’ the rational school of objective performance against the bounded rationality school of perceived performance. We examine which of the two is better at explaining the replacement or re-election of the incumbent local authority head in 17 local authorities in the North of Israel, after the Second Lebanon War. In the “Beauty Queen” contest between perceived and objective performance, the perceived performance appears to be a clear winner.