Performance-based compensation vs. guaranteed compensation: contractual incentives and performance

Top management from retail banks must delegate authority to lower-level managers to operate branches and service centers. Doing so, they must navigate through conflicts of interest, asymmetric information and limited monitoring in designing compensation plans for such agents. Pursuant to this delegation, the banks adopt a system of performance targets and incentives to align the interests of senior management and unit managers. This paper evaluates the causal relationship between performance-based salaries and managers’ effective performance. We use a fixed effects estimator to analyze an unbalanced panel of data from one of the largest Brazilian retail banks during the period from January 2007 to June 2009. The results indicate that agents with guaranteed variable salary contracts demonstrate inferior performance compared with agents who have performance-based compensation packages. We conclude that there is a moral hazard that can be observed in the behavior of agents who are subject to guaranteed variable salary contracts.

A new insight about pharmaceutical dosage forms for benzathine penicillin G

In this work, a micellar system of benzathine penicillin G (BPG) in sodium deoxycholate (NaDC) was developed and evaluated physicochemically. The solubility profile of the drug in water and buffer solutions at various pH was determined, as well as its n-octanol/water partition coefficient. The Critical Micellar Concentration of NaDC and its ability to incorporate BPG were also assessed. The study was carried out at low and high ionic strength which was adjusted by the addition of sodium chloride. The results demonstrated the ability of the micellar system to incorporate BPG, as well as to increase its apparent solubility in water. The enhancement of the solubility of BPG by the presence of NaDC micelles could be analyzed quantitatively within the framework of the pseudo-phase model. Concentration analysis showed that the micellar system could attain up to 90% incorporation of BPG. The incorporated drug is expected to exhibit improved stability, since the antibiotic enclosed in the hydrophobic core of micelles is rather shielded from the aqueous external environment

Microbiological assay for cefoxitin sodium in dosage form

A microbiological assay applying the cylinder-plate method is described for determination of the activity of cefoxitin sodium in injectables. Using a strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12226 as the test organism, cefoxitin sodium was measured in concentrations ranging from 50.0 to 200.0 mu g/mL. The validation showed that the method was linear (r = 0.9998), precise (RSD 0.81%), and accurate. It was concluded that the microbiological assay is satisfactory for quantitation of cefoxitin sodium in injectables.

Load compensation in four-wire electrical power systems

This work describes a methodology for power factor control and correction of the unbalanced currents in four-wire electric circuits. The methodology is based on the insertion of two compensation networks, one wye-grounded neutral and another in delta, in parallel to the load. The mathematical development has been proposed in previous work [3]. In this paper, however, the methodology was adapted to accept different power factors for the system to be compensated. on the other hand, the determination of the compensation susceptances is based on the instantaneous values of the load currents. The results are obtained using the MatLab - Simulink environment.

Design of fuzzy regulators with optimal initial conditions compensation

In almost all cases, the goal of the design of automatic control systems is to obtain the parameters of the controllers, which are described by differential equations. In general, the controller is artificially built and it is possible to update its initial conditions. In the design of optimal quadratic regulators, the initial conditions of the controller can be changed in an optimal way and they can improve the performance of the controlled system. Following this idea, a LNU-based design procedure to update the initial conditions of PI controllers, considering the nonlinear plant described by Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models, is presented. The importance of the proposed method is that it also allows other specifications, such as, the decay rate and constraints on control input and output. The application in the control of an inverted pendulum illustrates the effectively of proposed method.

Real-time multi-sensors measurement system with temperature effects compensation for impedance-based structural health monitoring

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ventilatory compensation of the alkaline tide during digestion in the snake Boa constrictor

The increased metabolic rate during digestion is associated with changes in arterial acid-base parameters that are caused by gastric acid secretion (the 'alkaline tide'). Net transfer of HCl to the stomach lumen causes an increase in plasma HCO3- levels, but arterial pH does not change because of a ventilatory compensation that counters the metabolic alkalosis. It seems, therefore, that ventilation is controlled to preserve pH and not P-CO2, during the postprandial period. To investigate this possibility, we determined arterial acid-base parameters and the metabolic response to digestion in the snake Boa constrictor, where gastric acid secretion was inhibited pharmacologically by oral administration of omeprazole. The increase in oxygen consumption of omeprazole-treated snakes after ingestion of 30% of their own body mass was quantitatively similar to the response in untreated snakes, although the peak of the metabolic response occurred later (36 h versus 24 h). Untreated control animals exhibited a large increase in arterial plasma HCO3- concentration of approximately 12 mmol 1(-1), but arterial pH only increased by 0.12 pH units because of a simultaneous increase in arterial P-CO2 by about 10 mmHg. Omeprazole virtually abolished the changes in arterial pH and plasma HCO3- concentration during digestion and there was no increase in arterial P-CO2. The increased arterial P-CO2 during digestion is not caused, therefore, by the increased metabolism during digestion or a lower ventilatory responsiveness to ventilatory stimuli during a presumably relaxed state in digestion. Furthermore, the constant arterial P-CO2, in the absence of an alkaline tide, of omeprazole-treated snakes strongly suggests that pH rather than P-CO2 normally affects chemoreceptor activity and ventilatory drive.

The Influence of Solutes on the Enthalpy/Entropy Change of the Actinomycin D Binding to DNA: Hydration, Energy Compensation and Long-Range Deformation on DNA

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Enthalpy-entropy compensation based on isotherms of mango

Dados de equilíbrio da umidade da polpa de manga foram determinados utilizando-se o método estático gravimétrico. As isotermas de adsorção e dessorção foram obtidas na faixa de 30-70 ºC e as atividades de água (a w) de 0,02 a 0,97. A utilização do modelo de GAB nos resultados experimentais, através da análise de regressão não linear, proporcionou um bom ajuste entre os dados experimentais e os valores calculados. O calor isostérico de sorção foi estimado a partir dos dados de equilíbrio de sorção, utilizando-se a equação de Clausius-Clayperon. Notou-se que os calores isostéricos de sorção crescem com o aumento da temperatura e pode ser bem ajustado através de uma relação exponencial. A teoria da compensação entalpia-entropia foi aplicada às isotermas de sorção e gráficos deltaH versus deltaS forneceram as temperaturas isocinéticas, indicando um processo de sorção entalpicamente controlado.

Water sorption enthalpy-entropy compensation based on isotherms of plum skin and pulp

The net isosteric heat and entropy of water sorption were calculated for plum, based on sorption isotherms obtained by the static gravimetric method at different temperatures (20 to 70 degrees C). The Guggenheim-Anderson-deBoer model was applied to the experimental data giving a good agreement between experimental and calculated values. The net isosteric heat of water sorption, estimated by applying Claussius-Clapeyron equation to sorption isotherms, was found to be different for plum skin and pulp, mainly at low moisture contents, and could be well adjusted by an empirical exponential relationship. Plots of enthalpy in contrast to entropy provided the isokinetic temperatures for skin and pulp, indicating an enthalpy-controlled sorption process. Thermodynamic data on water sorption for plums are not found in literature, as opposed to prunes for which the data are abundant.

Methodology for load compensation in four-wire electrical power systems based on instantaneous sampling

This work describes a methodology for power factor control and correction of the unbalanced currents in four-wire electric circuits. The methodology is based on the insertion of two compensation networks, one wye-grounded neutral and other in delta, in parallel to the load. The mathematical development has been proposed in previous work [3]. In this paper, however, the determination of the compensation susceptances is based on the instantaneous values of load currents. The results are obtained using the MatLab-Simulink enviroment

Voltammetric assay of albendazole in pharmaceutical dosage forms

A simple, rapid inexpensive voltammetric method have been developed for the quantitative determination of albendazole (ABZ) as the pure assay, by direct dissolution of commercial tablets in HCl solutions. Studies with linear sweep (LSV), square-wave (SWV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were carried out ABZ in aqueous medium at a glassy carbon electrode. A well defined irreversible oxidation peak current was obtained at 1,00V vs. SCE. The method permits a precise quantitative determination of ABZ using the standard addition method. The detection limits for the three voltammetric techniques were found to be 3.0 x 10(-5) M (LSV), 6.2 x 10(-5) M (SWV) and 4.0 x 10(-5) M (DPV).