Family-friendly employment laws (re)assessed: the potential of care ethics

In light of various reforms in recent years, this article provides a (re)assessment of the broad package of family-friendly employment rights and relevant dispute resolution procedure now available to pregnant workers and working carers. It exposes how the realities of working life for many pregnant workers and carers and the long standing desire to promote gender equality in informal care-work remain at odds with the legal framework. An argument is presented in favour of an approach that, based upon the concept of care ethics, better engages with the impact of the provisions upon crucial interdependent care relationships.

Are central bank independence reforms necessary for achieving low and stable inflation?

Using data on the occurence of central bank independence (CBI) reforms in 131 countries during 1980-2005, we test whether they were important in reducing inflation and maintaining price stability. CBI reforms are found to have reduced inflation on average 3.31% when countries with historically high inflation rates are included. But countries with lower inflation have reduced it without institutional reforms granting central banks more independence, undermining the theoretical time-inconsistency case for CBI. There is furthermore no evidence that CBI reforms have helped reduce inflation variability.

Determinants and effects of central bank independence reforms

This thesis consists of four empirically oriented papers on central bank independence (CBI) reforms.    Paper [1] is an investigation of why politicians around the world have chosen to give up power to independent central banks, thereby reducing their ability to control the economy. A new data-set, including the possible occurrence of CBI-reforms in 132 countries during 1980-2005, was collected. Politicians in non-OECD countries were more likely to delegate power to independent central banks if their country had been characterized by high variability in inflation and if they faced a high probability of being replaced. No such effects were found for OECD countries.    Paper [2], using a difference-in-difference approach, studies whether CBI reform matters for inflation performance. The analysis is based on a dataset including the possible occurrence of CBI-reforms in 132 countries during the period of 1980-2005. CBI reform is found to have contributed to bringing down inflation in high-inflation countries, but it seems unrelated to inflation performance in low-inflation countries.    Paper [3] investigates whether CBI-reforms are important in reducing inflation and maintaining price stability, using a random-effects random-coefficients model to account for heterogeneity in the effects of CBI-reforms on inflation. CBI-reforms are found to have reduced inflation on average by 3.31 percent, but the effect is only present when countries with historically high inflation rates are included in the sample. Countries with more modest inflation rates have achieved low inflation without institutional reforms that grant central banks more independence, thus undermining the time-inconsistency theory case for CBI. There is furthermore no evidence that CBI-reforms have contributed to lower inflation variability    Paper [4] studies the relationship between CBI and a suggested trade-off between price variability and output variability using data on CBI-levels, and data the on implementation dates of CBI-reforms. The results question the existence of such a trade-off, but indicate that there may still be potential gains in stabilization policy from CBI-reforms.

Effects of central bank independence reforms on inflation in different parts of the world

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of CBI-reforms on inflation in different parts of the world from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Compared to previous studies, this study focuses on whether CBI-reforms have different effects on reducing inflation in different parts of the world. The study is based on a 132 country data-set from 1980 to 2005 compiled by Daunfeldt et al. (2008). The result indicates that the reduction in inflation due to the CBI-reforms varies between 2.2 and 12.32 percentage points in Asia, Europe, South America and Oceania, supporting the claim that implementing CBI-reforms can be successful in reducing inflation in most of the parts of the world.

Stochastic Assessment Of Environmental Flows In Semiarid Environments

The regimen of environmental flows (EF) must be included as terms of environmental demand in the management of water resources. Even though there are numerous methods for the computation of EF, the criteria applied at different steps in the calculation process are quite subjective whereas the results are fixed values that must be meet by water planners. This study presents a friendly-user tool for the assessment of the probability of compliance of a certain EF scenario with the natural regimen in a semiarid area in southern Spain. 250 replications of a 25-yr period of different hydrological variables (rainfall, minimum and maximum flows, ...) were obtained at the study site from the combination of Monte Carlo technique and local hydrological relationships. Several assumptions are made such as the independence of annual rainfall from year to year and the variability of occurrence of the meteorological agents, mainly precipitation as the main source of uncertainty. Inputs to the tool are easily selected from a first menu and comprise measured rainfall data, EF values and the hydrological relationships for at least a 20-yr period. The outputs are the probabilities of compliance of the different components of the EF for the study period. From this, local optimization can be applied to establish EF components with a certain level of compliance in the study period. Different options for graphic output and analysis of results are included in terms of graphs and tables in several formats. This methodology turned out to be a useful tool for the implementation of an uncertainty analysis within the scope of environmental flows in water management and allowed the simulation of the impacts of several water resource development scenarios in the study site.

Nonparametric entropy-based tests of independence between stochastic processes

This paper develops nonparametric tests of independence between two stationary stochastic processes. The testing strategy boils down to gauging the closeness between the joint and the product of the marginal stationary densities. For that purpose, I take advantage of a generalized entropic measure so as to build a class of nonparametric tests of independence. Asymptotic normality and local power are derived using the functional delta method for kernels, whereas finite sample properties are investigated through Monte Carlo simulations.

A rapid, environmentally friendly, and reliable method for pesticide analysis in high-fat samples

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Correlation between balance and the level of functional independence among elderly people

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

An environmentally friendly reflectometric method for ranitidine determination in pharmaceuticals and human urine

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

An Environmentally Friendly Reflectometric Method for Bumetanide Determination in Pharmaceuticals

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

MODEL INDEPENDENCE OF SCATTERING OF 3 IDENTICAL BOSONS IN 2 DIMENSIONS

Within the framework of scattering integral equations in momentum space, we present numerical results of scattering of three identical bosons at low energies in two dimensions for short-range separable potentials. An analysis of the present numerical results reveals the three-particle scattering observables to be independent of potential shape provided the low-energy two-particle binding energy and scattering length are held fixed throughout the investigation. We think that the present conclusion of model independence will be valid for any potential, local or nonlocal, whose range is much smaller than the size of the two-particle bound state.

An eco-friendly protocol for synthesis of thiourea derivatives: 1-benzoyl-3-benzylguanidine and 1-benzoyl-3-benzyl-O-ethylisourea. A possible non-purely thermal microwave assisted reaction

1-Benzoyl-3-benzylguanidine and 1-benzoyl-3-benzyl-O-ethylisourea were synthesized in good yields (68 and 76%, respectively) from 1-benzoyl-3-benzylthiourea and benzoyl-ethylthiocarbamate in dry media conditions using KF-Al2O3 under microwave irradiation. Strong nucleophilic amines promoted the sulfur elimination by attack on the thiocarbonyl group in both thiourea and thiocarbamates to afford guanidines and isourea, respectively. Transesterification products were obtained from p-TsOH catalyzed reaction of thiocarbamate with alcohols under MW-solvent-free conditions. Very important non-purely thermal MW specific effects were evidenced and attributed to stabilization by coulombic interactions between materials and waves. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.