A revision of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous dragonfly family Tarsophlebiidae, with a discussion on the phylogenetic positions of the Tarsophlebiidae and Sieblosiidae (Insecta, Odonatoptera, Panodonata)

The Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous dragonfly family Tarsophlebiidae is revised. The type species of the type genus Tarsophlebia Hagen, 1866, T eximia (Hagen, 1862) from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Limestones, is redescribed, including important new information on its head, legs, wings, anal appendages and male secondary genital apparatus. The type specimen of Tarsophlebiopsis mayi Tillyard, 1923 is regarded as an aberrant or unusually preserved Tarsophlebia eximia. One new species of Tarsophlebia and three new species of Turanophlebia are described, i.e. Tarsophlebia minor n. sp., Turanophlebia anglicana n. sp., T mongolica n. sp., and T. vitimensis n. sp. A new combination is proposed for Turanophlebia neckini (Martynov, 1927) n. comb. The phylogenetic relationships of the Mesozoic Tarsophlebiidae are discussed on the basis of new body and wing venation characters. The present analysis supports a rather derived position for the Tarsophlebiidae, as sister group of the the Epiproctophora rather than of (Zygoptera + Epiproctophora). Also, through the present discussion, the Oligo-Miocene family Sieblosiidae seems to be more closely related to the Epiproctophora than to the Zygoptera. But the present study and previous analyses suffer of the lack of informations concerning the more inclusive groups of Odonatoptera, viz. Protozygoptera, Triadophlebiomorpha, Protanisoptera, etc. The significance of the tarsophlebiid secondary male genital apparatus for the reconstruction of the evolution of odonate copulation is discussed.

Antecedent priming at trace positions in children's sentence processing

The present study examines whether children reactivate a moved constituent at its gap position and how children's more limited working memory span affects the way they process filler-gap dependencies. 46 5-7 year-old children and 54 adult controls participated in a cross-modal picture priming experiment and underwent a standardized working memory test. The results revealed a statistically significant interaction between the participants' working memory span and antecedent reactivation: High-span children (n = 19) and high-span adults (n = 22) showed evidence of antecedent priming at the gap site, while for low-span children and adults, there was no such effect. The antecedent priming effect in the high-span participants indicates that in both children and adults, dislocated arguments access their antecedents at gap positions. The absence of an antecedent reactivation effect in the low-span participants could mean that these participants required more time to integrate the dislocated constituent and reactivated the filler later during the sentence.

Objects and positions in visual scenes: effects of perirhinal and postrhinal cortex lesions in the rat

The authors assessed rats' encoding of the appearance or egocentric position of objects within visual scenes containing 3 objects (Experiment 1) or I object (Experiment 2A). Experiment 2B assessed encoding of the shape and fill pattern of single objects, and encoding of configurations (object + position, shape + fill). All were assessed by testing rats' ability to discriminate changes from familiar scenes (constant-negative paradigm). Perirhinal cortex lesions impaired encoding of objects and their shape; postrhinal cortex lesions impaired encoding of egocentric position, but the effect may have been partly due to entorhinal involvement. Neither lesioned group was impaired in detecting configural change. In Experiment 1, both lesion groups were impaired in detecting small changes in relative position of the 3 objects, suggesting that more sensitive tests might reveal configural encoding deficits.

Does managerial turnover affect football club share prices?

This paper analyses the 53 managerial sackings and resignations from 16 stock exchange listed English football clubs during the nine seasons between 2000/01 and 2008/09. The results demonstrate that, on average, a managerial sacking results in a post-announcement day market-adjusted share price rise of 0.3%, whilst a resignation leads to a drop in share price of 1% that continues for a trading month thereafter, cumulating in a negative abnormal return of over 8% from a trading day before the event. These findings are intuitive, and suggest that sacking a poorly performing manager may be welcomed by the markets as a possible route to better future match performance, while losing a capable manager through resignation, who typically progresses to a superior job, will result in a drop in a club’s share price. The paper also reveals that while the impact of managerial departures on stock price volatilities is less clear-cut, speculation in the newspapers is rife in the build-up to such an event.

Can perceptual differences account for managerial success?: the case of Japanese aid workers

Purpose – There is a wealth of studies which suggest that managers' positive perceptions/expectations can considerably influence the organisational performance; unfortunately, little empirical evidence has been obtained from development studies. This research aims to focus on the perceptual and behavioural trait differences of successful and unsuccessful aid workers, and their relationship with organisational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Through web-based survey, 244 valid responses were obtained from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-aid managers worldwide. Five perception related factors were extracted and used for cluster analysis to group the respondents. Each cluster's perception/behaviour-related factors and organisational performance variables were compared by ANOVA. Findings – It was discovered that Japanese's positive perception/expectation about work and their local colleagues was related to higher organisational performance, and conversely, the negative perception on their part was generally associated with negative behaviour and lower organisational performance. Moreover, in a development context, lower work-related stress and feelings of resignation toward work were strongly associated with the acceptability of cross-cultural work environment. Practical implications – The differences in perceptual tendencies suggest that cautious consideration is advised since these findings may mainly apply to Japanese aid managers. However, as human nature is universal, positive perception and behaviour would bring out positive output in most organisations. Originality/value – This study extended the contextualised “Pygmalion effect” and has clarified the influence of perception/expectation on counter-part behaviour and organisational performance in development aid context, where people-related issues have often been ignored. This first-time research provides imperial data on the significant role of positive perception on the incumbent role holder.

Engineering the electronic bandgaps and band edge positions in carbon-substituted 2D boron nitride: a first-principles investigation

Modification of graphene to open a robust gap in its electronic spectrum is essential for its use in field effect transistors and photochemistry applications. Inspired by recent experimental success in the preparation of homogeneous alloys of graphene and boron nitride (BN), we consider here engineering the electronic structure and bandgap of C2xB1−xN1−x alloys via both compositional and configurational modification. We start from the BN end-member, which already has a large bandgap, and then show that (a) the bandgap can in principle be reduced to about 2 eV with moderate substitution of C (x < 0.25); and (b) the electronic structure of C2xB1−xN1−x can be further tuned not only with composition x, but also with the configuration adopted by C substituents in the BN matrix. Our analysis, based on accurate screened hybrid functional calculations, provides a clear understanding of the correlation found between the bandgap and the level of aggregation of C atoms: the bandgap decreases most when the C atoms are maximally isolated, and increases with aggregation of C atoms due to the formation of bonding and anti-bonding bands associated with hybridization of occupied and empty defect states. We determine the location of valence and conduction band edges relative to vacuum and discuss the implications on the potential use of 2D C2xB1−xN1−x alloys in photocatalytic applications. Finally, we assess the thermodynamic limitations on the formation of these alloys using a cluster expansion model derived from first-principles.

Endogenous managerial compensation contracts in experimental quantity-setting duopolies

Given the ongoing debate on managerial compensation schemes, our paper offers empirical insights on the strategic choice of firms' owners over the terms of a managerial compensation contract, as a commitment device aiming at gaining competitive advantage in the product market. In a quantity setting duopoly we experimentally test whether firms' owners compensate their managers through contracts combining own profits either with revenues or with relative performance, and the resulting managerial behaviour in the product market. Prominent among our results is that firms' owners choose relative performance over profit revenue contracts more frequently. Further, firms' owners successfully induce a more aggressive behaviour by their managers in the market, by setting incentives which deviate from strict profit maximization.