Ownership, Incentives and Hospitals

This article analyzes hospital privatization by comparing costs and quality between different ownership forms. We put the attention on the distinction between public hospitals and private hospitals with public funding. Using information about Spanish hospitals, we have found that private hospitals provide services at a lower cost at expenses of lower quality. We observe that property rights theory is fulfilled at least for the Spanish hospital market. The way that Heath Authorities finance publicly funded hospitals may be responsible for the differences in incentives between public and private centers. We argue that the trade-off between costs and quality could be minimized by designing financing contracts with fixed and variable components.

Distinct contributions of Brodmann areas 1 and 2 to body ownership.

Although body ownership-i.e. the feeling that our bodies belong to us-modulates activity within the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), it is still unknown whether this modulation occurs within a somatotopically defined portion of S1. We induced an illusory feeling of ownership for another person's finger by asking participants to hold their palm against another person's palm and to stroke the two joined index fingers with the index and thumb of their other hand. This illusion (numbness illusion) does not occur if the stroking is performed asynchronously or by the other person. We combined this somatosensory paradigm with ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging finger mapping to study whether illusory body ownership modulates activity within different finger-specific areas of S1. The results revealed that the numbness illusion is associated with activity in Brodmann area (BA) 1 within the representation of the finger stroking the other person's finger and in BA 2 contralateral to the stroked finger. These results show that changes in bodily experience modulate the activity within certain subregions of S1, with a different finger-topographical selectivity between the representations of the stroking and of the stroked hand, and reveal that the high degree of somatosensory specialization in S1 extends to bodily self-consciousness.

Le sentiment de gratitude en soins palliatifs : un facteur contribuant au bien-être et à la qualité de vie ? [Gratitude in palliative care: is it a psychological factor contributing to well-being and quality of life?]

En s'appuyant sur la littérature scientifique et l'état de la recherche, cet article a pour objectif de montrer pourquoi la prise en compte du sentiment de gratitude peut s'avérer utile dans le contexte palliatif en mettant en évidence dans quelle mesure cette émotion ou disposition individuelle: 1) entre en résonance avec le concept de croissance posttraumatique et certains enjeux relationnels chez les patients en fin de vie; 2) représente un facteur favorisant le bien-être et la qualité de vie; 3) peut être considérée comme un facteur protecteur contre les troubles psychopathologiques. Based on the scientific literature and the state of research, this article aims to show why the feeling of gratitude may represent a point of interest for palliative care. We will highlight the following in this article: 1) why this feeling of gratitude resonates with the concept of post-traumatic growth and relational challenges in end-of-life patients; 2) in which measure this feeling represents a factor contributing to well-being and quality of life; 3) in which measure this feeling may be considered as a protective factor against psychopathological troubles.

Ownership Effects on Unrelated Diversification: An Institutions' Perspective

Purpose To show that differences in the extent to which firms engage in unrelated diversification can be attributed to differences in ownership structure. Methodology/approach We draw on longitudinal data and use a panel analysis specification to test our hypotheses. Findings We find that unrelated diversification destroys value; pressure-sensitive Anglo-American owners in a firm’s equity reduce unrelated diversification, whereas pressure-resistant domestic owners increase unrelated diversification; the greater the firm’s free cash flow, the greater the negative effect of pressure-sensitive Anglo-American owners on unrelated diversification. Research limitations/implications We contribute to corporate governance and strategy research by bringing in owners’ institutional origin as a shaper of owner preferences in particular with regards to unrelated diversification. Future research may expand our investigation to more than one home institutional context, and theorize on institutional origin effects beyond the dichotomy between Anglo-American and non-Anglo-American (not oriented toward shareholder value maximization) owners. Practical implications Policy makers, financial analysts, owners, and managers may want to reflect about the implications of ownership structure, as well as promoting or joining corporations with particular ownership configurations. Social implications A shareholder value-destroying strategy, such as unrelated diversification has adverse consequences for society at large, in terms of opportunity costs, that is, resources could be allocated to value-creating activities instead. Promoting an ownership configuration that creates value should contribute to social welfare. Originality/value Owners may not be exclusively driven by shareholder value maximization, but can be influenced by normative beliefs (biases) stemming from the institutional context they originate from.

The relationship between virtual body ownership and temperature sensitivity.

In the rubber hand illusion tactile stimulation seen on a rubber hand, that is synchronous with tactile stimulation felt on the hidden real hand, can lead to an illusion of ownership over the rubber hand. This illusion has been shown to produce a temperature decrease in the hidden hand, suggesting that such illusory ownership produces disownership of the real hand. Here we apply immersive virtual reality (VR) to experimentally investigate this with respect to sensitivity to temperature change. Forty participants experienced immersion in a VR with a virtual body (VB) seen from a first person perspective. For half the participants the VB was consistent in posture and movement with their own body, and in the other half there was inconsistency. Temperature sensitivity on the palm of the hand was measured before and during the virtual experience. The results show that temperature sensitivity decreased in the consistent compared to the inconsistent condition. Moreover, the change in sensitivity was significantly correlated with the subjective illusion of virtual arm ownership but modulated by the illusion of ownership over the full virtual body. This suggests that a full body ownership illusion results in a unification of the virtual and real bodies into one overall entity - with proprioception and tactile sensations on the real body integrated with the visual presence of the virtual body. The results are interpreted in the framework of a"body matrix" recently introduced into the literature.

Measuring the effects through time of the influence of visuomotor and visuotactile synchronous stimulation on a virtual body ownership illusion

Previous studies have examined the experience of owning a virtual surrogate body or body part through specific combinations of cross-modal multisensory stimulation. Both visuomotor (VM) and visuotactile (VT) synchronous stimulation have been shown to be important for inducing a body ownership illusion, each tested separately or both in combination. In this study we compared the relative importance of these two cross-modal correlations, when both are provided in the same immersive virtual reality setup and the same experiment. We systematically manipulated VT and VM contingencies in order to assess their relative role and mutual interaction. Moreover, we present a new method for measuring the induced body ownership illusion through time, by recording reports of breaks in the illusion of ownership ("breaks") throughout the experimental phase. The balance of the evidence, from both questionnaires and analysis of the breaks, suggests that while VM synchronous stimulation contributes the greatest to the attainment of the illusion, a disruption of either (through asynchronous stimulation) contributes equally to the probability of a break in the illusion.

Evidence on the role of ownership structure on firms' innovative performance

Based on the Knowledge Production Function framework given by Griliches -1979-, we slightly modify it so that the innovative output depends upon a set of factors related to the firm internal characteristics and are influenced by the environment. Specifically, regarding the firm internal determinants the effect of the concentration of the ownership, the composition of the boards of directors and the effect of the nature of the ownership (foreign and public) are analyzed. Additionally, in order to capture the determinants of the environment in which the firm operates other variables concerning the internationalization of market, the agglomeration economies and the regional knowledge externalities are also considered. In order to assess the impact of these determinants on the number of patents and models of use awarded by the firm, the discreteness of the latter variable has to be taken into account. We apply Poisson and Negative Binomial models for a more comprehensive evaluation of the hypothesis in a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results show patenting activity is positively favoured by being located in an environment with a high innovative activity, due to the existence of knowledge spillovers and agglomeration economies.

És possible l'espai europeu d'educació superior?: l'ensenyament de la psicologia al Institute of Psychological Sciences de la Universitat de Leeds

L'Espai Europeu d'Educació Superior s'ha convertit en un repte, un desafiament que implica assolir una convergència de titulacions universitàries equivalents. Per això es requereix una modificació del tradicional ensenyament, en el nostre cas, de la psicologia. En aquest article s'examina l'ensenyament de la psicologia al Institute of Psychological Sciences de la Universitat de Leeds (metodologia docent; avaluació i contingut curricular)

Psychological and Family Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Pre-Adolescents

To assess the psychological and family factors associated with suicidal ideation in preadolescent children, we studied a sample of 361 students, average age 9 years old. Twogroups were formed, on the basis of the presence (n = 34) or absence (n = 44) of suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation was assessed with the Children’s Depression Inventory and the Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised. Depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and perceived family environment were compared in both the suicidal ideation and the control groups. Students with suicidal ideation generally presented greater depressive symptoms and hopelessness, and lower self-esteem and family expressiveness, although there weredifferences both between sexes, and when the variable depression was controlled. Identifying these risk factors in pre-adolescents may have an impact on prevention of suicidal behavior at higher risk ages

Total Cost of Ownership - Elinkaarilaskennan sovellus

Ostotapahtumassa kiinnitetään usein huomiota hintaan, mutta hankintapäätökseen vaikuttavat myös muutkin kustannukset. Ongelman asiassa aiheuttaa kokonaiskustannusvaikutuksien arvioinnin ja mittauksen haasteellisuus, sekä kunnollisen raportointijärjestelmän puuttuminen. Hankinnan kokonaiskustannusten selvittäminen pitkällä aikavälillä on kuitenkin tärkeää, koska hankintojen osuus yritysten liikevaihdoista on jatkuvassa kasvussa. Työn tarkoituksena oli tarkastella Total cost of ownershipia, eli TCO:ta, elinkaarilaskennan sovellusta. Tarkastelun aluksi työlle luotiin teoreettinen pohja käyttäen hyväksi kirjallisuutta, artikkeleita sekä www-dokumentteja. Teoriaosuus rakentui kustannuslaskennan osalta kustannusten tunnistamisesta, jakamisesta ja kohdistamisesta. TCO:sta luotiin mahdollisimman laaja-alainen teoreettinen kuvaus. Seuraavaksi työssä käsiteltiin TCO:n soveltamista sen perinteisimpiin käyttökohteisiin: taloudellisesti merkittäviin hankintoihin, ulkoistamispäätöksiin, hinnoitteluun sekä toimittajien suorituskyvyn seurantaan ja analysointiin. TCO:n soveltamista käsittelevä osuus päätettiin kotimaisilla esimerkeillä TCO:n soveltamisesta IT-hankintojen apuvälineenä. Työ päätettiin käymällä läpi työtä tehdessä kypsyneet ajatukset sekä johtopäätökset.

Work-related crisis exposure : psychological trauma and PTSD in news journalists

I avhandlingen undersöktes hur journalister själva reagerar efter att ha arbetat med en plötslig krissituation, samt vilka faktorer som kan bidra till en förhöjd risk för allvarliga långsiktiga stressymptom. Temat undersöktes (1) genom att se på hur journalisters tidigare erfarenheter av krisuppdrag och traumatiska upplevelser i privatlivet var relaterade till stressymptom (posttraumatiskt stressyndrom, sekundär traumatisk stress, depression och utmattningssyndrom), och (2) genom att studera riskfaktorer i en identifierad typ av kris, de finländska skolskjutningarna 2007-08. Avhandlingens resultat baserades på enkätsvar från finländska nyhetsjournalister (N = 503) och intervjuer med personer som jobbat på plats vid skolskjutningar (N = 28). En klar majoritet av journalisterna hade inte allvarliga långsiktiga stressymptom vid tiden för undersökningen. De som varit på ett tidigare krisuppdrag där man bevittnat många obehagliga detaljer hade fler allvarliga stressymptom. En annan riskfaktor var att ha ett förflutet med fler traumatiska händelser i privatlivet. Bland de som arbetat med skolskjutningar var starka kortsiktiga reaktioner, t.ex. hjälplöshet och chock, relativt vanliga. Reaktionerna hörde ändå oftast till den normala återhämtningsprocessen, och ledde inte till en långsiktig försämring av måendet. Journalister som i hög grad identifierade sig med krisen, t.ex. personer med egna barn, hade större risk för att drabbas av allvarliga symptom på lång sikt. Detsamma gällde de som på plats upplevt journalistiska etiska dilemman, t.ex. att beordras av överordnade till uppdrag som gick emot egna principer. För att förebygga psykisk stress bland journalister är det viktigt att inom branschen sprida kunskap om stressreaktioner och utveckla rekommendationer för etisk krisjournalistik. Därmed kan journalister få bättre verktyg för att minimera risken att via sitt yrkesutövande orsaka ytterligare skada åt krisdrabbade.