Stable retrograde orbits around the triple system 2001 SN263

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

O movimento ambientalista e as propostas de implantação de usinas de álcool no pantanal de Mato Grosso do Sul (1979-2009): um espaço sócio-ocupacional para o Serviço Social de MS

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

The Probe, Issue 164 – April 1996

Opportunities and Challenges Within Wildlife Damage Management, by Robert H. Schmidt, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Utah State University, Logan Utah 84322-5210 IVFDM Not IVPDM by Robert H. Giles, Jr., Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321 Letter to Editor RE: Pet Sterilization and Animal Rights Correspondence Course Announcement-- Utah State University Virus "Cure" for Rabbit Problem Eludes Human Controls Call for Nominations for Berryman Institute Awards Video Review: Review of "Professional Coyote Trapping" Produced by Fur-Fish-Game, 2878, E. Main St., Columbus, OH 43209. 80 minutes. Wildlife Control Seminar Makes Points With Michigan Man

L'anno che non fu? L'anno dell'Europa e la crisi nelle relazioni transatlantiche, 1973/74

The 1970s are in the limelight of a growing historiographic attention, partly due to the recent opening of new archival resources. 1973, in particular, has a special interest in the historian’s eyes, as many are the events that happened that year: to name but a few, the Chilean coup, the October War, the ensuing oil crisis, the Vietnamese peace treaty. So it is may be not entirely surprising that not much attention has been paid to the Year of Europe, a nebulous American initiative destined to sum up to nothing practical - as Kissinger himself put it, it was destined to be the Year that never Was.1 It is my opinion, however, that its failure should not conceal its historical interest. Even though transatlantic relations have sometimes been seen as an uninterrupted history of crisis,2 in 1973 they reached what could then be considered as their unprecedented nadir. I believe that a thorough analysis of the events that during that year found the US increasingly at odds with the countries of Western Europe is worth carrying out not only to cast a new light on the dynamics of transatlantic relations but also to deepen our comprehension of the internal dynamics of the actors involved, mainly the Nixon administration and a unifying Europe. The Nixon administration had not carefully planned what the initiative actually should have amounted to, and its official announcement appears to have been one of Kissinger’s coups de theatre. Yet the Year of Europe responded to the vital priority of revitalising the relations with Western Europe, crucial ally, for too long neglected. But 1973 did not end with the solemn renewal of the Atlantic Declaration that Kissinger had sought. On the contrary, it saw, for the first time, the countries of the newly enlarged EC engaged in a real, if short-lived, solidarity on foreign policy, which highlighted the Nixon administration’s contradictions regarding European integration. Those, in addition to the numerous tensions that already strained transatlantic relations, gave birth to a downward spiral of incomprehensions and misperceptions, which the unexpected deflagration of the October war seriously worsened. However, even though the tensions did not disappear, the European front soon started to disintegrate, mainly under the strains imposed by the oil crisis. Significant changes in the leadership of the main European countries helped to get the tones back to normal. During the course of 1974-5, the substantial failure of the Euro-Arab dialogue, the Gymlich compromise, frequent and serene bilateral meetings bear witness that the worst was over.

Understanding Recent Developments in the Turkish Labor Market: Empirical Essays with a Gender Focus

This dissertation comprises three essays on the Turkish labor market. The first essay characterizes the distinctive characteristics of the Turkish labor market with the aim of understanding the factors lying behind its long-standing poor performance relative to its European counterparts. The analysis is based on a cross-country comparison among selected European Union countries. Among all the indicators of labor market flexibility, non-wage cost rigidities are regarded as one of the most important factors in slowing down employment creation in Turkey. The second essay focuses on an employment subsidy policy which introduces a reduction in non-wage costs through social security premium incentives granted to women and young men. Exploiting a difference-in-difference-in differences strategy, I evaluate the effectiveness of this policy in creating employment for the target group. The results, net of the recent crisis effect, suggest that the policy accounts for a 1.4% to 1.6% increase in the probability of being hired for women aged 30 to 34 above men of the same age group in the periods shortly after the announcement of the policy. In the third essay of the dissertation, I analyze the labor supply response of married women to their husbands' job losses (AWE). I empirically test the hypothesis of added worker effect for the global economic crisis of 2008 by relying on the Turkey context. Identification is achieved by exploiting the exogenous variation in the output of male-dominated sectors hard-hit by the crisis and the gender-segmentation that characterizes the Turkish labor market. Findings based on the instrumental variable approach suggest that the added worker effect explains up to 64% of the observed increase in female labor force participation in Turkey. The size of the effect depends on how long it takes for wives to adjust their labor supply to their husbands' job losses.

Justified Belief Change

Justification Logic is a framework for reasoning about evidence and justification. Public Announcement Logic is a framework for reasoning about belief changes caused by public announcements. This paper develops JPAL, a dynamic justification logic of public announcements that corresponds to the modal theory of public announcements due to Gerbrandy and Groeneveld. JPAL allows us to reason about evidence brought about by and changed by Gerbrandy--Groeneveld-style public announcements.

Cancer classification using the Immunoscore: a worldwide task force

Prediction of clinical outcome in cancer is usually achieved by histopathological evaluation of tissue samples obtained during surgical resection of the primary tumor. Traditional tumor staging (AJCC/UICC-TNM classification) summarizes data on tumor burden (T), presence of cancer cells in draining and regional lymph nodes (N) and evidence for metastases (M). However, it is now recognized that clinical outcome can significantly vary among patients within the same stage. The current classification provides limited prognostic information, and does not predict response to therapy. Recent literature has alluded to the importance of the host immune system in controlling tumor progression. Thus, evidence supports the notion to include immunological biomarkers, implemented as a tool for the prediction of prognosis and response to therapy. Accumulating data, collected from large cohorts of human cancers, has demonstrated the impact of immune-classification, which has a prognostic value that may add to the significance of the AJCC/UICC TNM-classification. It is therefore imperative to begin to incorporate the 'Immunoscore' into traditional classification, thus providing an essential prognostic and potentially predictive tool. Introduction of this parameter as a biomarker to classify cancers, as part of routine diagnostic and prognostic assessment of tumors, will facilitate clinical decision-making including rational stratification of patient treatment. Equally, the inherent complexity of quantitative immunohistochemistry, in conjunction with protocol variation across laboratories, analysis of different immune cell types, inconsistent region selection criteria, and variable ways to quantify immune infiltration, all underline the urgent requirement to reach assay harmonization. In an effort to promote the Immunoscore in routine clinical settings, an international task force was initiated. This review represents a follow-up of the announcement of this initiative, and of the J Transl Med. editorial from January 2012. Immunophenotyping of tumors may provide crucial novel prognostic information. The results of this international validation may result in the implementation of the Immunoscore as a new component for the classification of cancer, designated TNM-I (TNM-Immune).

Practical sources of error in measuring pulmonary artery occlusion pressure: a study in participants of a special intensivist training program of The Scandinavian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (SSAI)

BACKGROUND: Physiological data obtained with the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) are susceptible to errors in measurement and interpretation. Little attention has been paid to the relevance of errors in hemodynamic measurements performed in the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this study was to assess the errors related to the technical aspects (zeroing and reference level) and actual measurement (curve interpretation) of the pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP). METHODS: Forty-seven participants in a special ICU training program and 22 ICU nurses were tested without pre-announcement. All participants had previously been exposed to the clinical use of the method. The first task was to set up a pressure measurement system for PAC (zeroing and reference level) and the second to measure the PAOP. RESULTS: The median difference from the reference mid-axillary zero level was - 3 cm (-8 to + 9 cm) for physicians and -1 cm (-5 to + 1 cm) for nurses. The median difference from the reference PAOP was 0 mmHg (-3 to 5 mmHg) for physicians and 1 mmHg (-1 to 15 mmHg) for nurses. When PAOP values were adjusted for the differences from the reference transducer level, the median differences from the reference PAOP values were 2 mmHg (-6 to 9 mmHg) for physicians and 2 mmHg (-6 to 16 mmHg) for nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of the PAOP is susceptible to substantial error as a result of practical mistakes. Comparison of results between ICUs or practitioners is therefore not possible.

Corporate dividencs and seasoned equity issues: an empirical investigation

This paper investigates whether managers rely on dividends to obtain a higher price in a stock offering and whether the stock price reaction to dividend and offering announcements justifies such a coordination. The evidence does not support either conjecture. Issuing firms are not more likely to pay or increase dividends than nonissuing forms. Moreover, there is little evidence that firms time stock offering announcements right after dividend declarations to befefit from the attendant information disclosure. The analysis of dividend and stock offering announcement effects suggests few if any benefits from linking divbidend and stock offering announcements.

The price elasticity of demand for common stock

We study the price elasticity of demand for the common stock of an individual corporation. Despite the prevelance of assumptions that demand is perfectly elastic, there is little if any direct evidence in the literature to either support or reject that contention. Consistent with the notion of finite price elasticities, we find that the announcement of primary stock oferings by regulated firms depresses their stock prices and little if any evidence that this decline is the result of adverse information about future cash flows. Attempts to relate offer announcement effects directly to possible determinants of price elasticities, however, are inconclusive.

Stock offerings in a different institutional setting: the Swiss case, 1973-1983

This paper analyzes the stock price effect of equity issues in Switzerland. There, insiders are not legally prevented from using their information for personal trades, and security offerings are with almost no exception rights issues. Unlike what we find for a comprehensive sample of U.S. rights issues and a sample of U.S. general cash offerings, a significant majority of firms experiences a positive monthly announcement effect. The average abnormal return itself, however, is not significant. Also, we find evidence inconsistent with infinitely price-elastic demand functions for common stock, as well as some evidence that offer prices convey new information.

Merger decisions and executive stock ownership in acquiring firms

This study supports the proposition that managerial welfare affects merger decisions. The abnormal stock returns experienced by bidder firms, from the time of the announcement of a merger bid through the stockholder approval date, are positively relaterd to the percentage of own-company stock held by the senior management of the bidder. The results suggest that substantial amounts of own-company share ownership help align the interests of stockholders and management.

Group abilities, individual group-efficacy beliefs and performance motivation: A mediation analysis

Introduction Research has shown that individuals infer their group-efficacy beliefs from the groups’ abilities to perform in specific tasks. Group abilities also seem to affect team members’ performance motivation adding a psychological advantage to teams already high on task relevant abilities. In a recent study we found the effect of group abilities on individual performance motivation to be partially mediated by the team members’ individual group-efficacy beliefs which is an example of how attributes on a group-level can be affecting individual-level parameters. Objectives The study aimed at testing the possibility to reduce the direct and mediated effects of low group abilities on performance motivation by augmenting the visibility of individual contributions to group performances via the inclusion of a separate ranking on individual performances. Method Forty-seven students (M=22.83 years, SD=2.83, 34% women) of the University of Bern participated in the study. At three collection points (t1-3) subjects were provided information about fictive team members with whom they had to imagine performing a group triathlon. Three values (low, medium, high) of the other team members’ abilities to perform in their parts of the triathlon (swimming and biking) were combined in a 3x3 full factorial design yielding nine groups with different ability profiles. At t1 subjects were asked to rate their confidence that the teams would perform well in the triathlon task, at t2 and t3 subjects were asked how motivated they were to perform at their best in the respective groups. At t3 the presence of an individual performance ranking was mentioned in the cover story. Mixed linear models (SPSS) and structural equation models for complex survey data (Mplus) were specified to estimate the effects of the individual performance rankings on the relationship between group-efficacy beliefs and performance motivation. Results A significant interaction effect for individual group-efficacy beliefs and the triathlon condition on performance motivation was found; the effect of group-efficacy beliefs on performance motivation being smaller with individual performance rankings available. The partial mediation of group attributes on performance motivation by group-efficacy beliefs disappeared with the announcement of individual performance rankings. Conclusion In teams low in task relevant abilities the disadvantageous effect of group-efficacy beliefs on performance motivation might be reduced by providing means of evaluating individual performances apart from a group’s overall performance. While it is believed that a common group goal is a core criterion for a well performing sport group future studies should also aim at the possible benefit of individualized goal setting in groups.

Group abilities, individual group-efficacy beliefs and performance motivation: A mediation analysis

Introduction Research has shown that individuals infer their group-efficacy beliefs from the groups’ abilities to perform in specific tasks. Group abilities also seem to affect team members’ performance motivation adding a psychological advantage to teams already high on task relevant abilities. In a recent study we found the effect of group abilities on individual performance motivation to be partially mediated by the team members’ individual group-efficacy beliefs which is an example of how attributes on a group-level can be affecting individual-level parameters. Objectives The study aimed at testing the possibility to reduce the direct and mediated effects of low group abilities on performance motivation by augmenting the visibility of individual contributions to group performances via the inclusion of a separate ranking on individual performances. Method Forty-seven students (M=22.83 years, SD=2.83, 34% women) of the University of Bern participated in the study. At three collection points (t1-3) subjects were provided information about fictive team members with whom they had to imagine performing a group triathlon. Three values (low, medium, high) of the other team members’ abilities to perform in their parts of the triathlon (swimming and biking) were combined in a 3x3 full factorial design yielding nine groups with different ability profiles. At t1 subjects were asked to rate their confidence that the teams would perform well in the triathlon task, at t2 and t3 subjects were asked how motivated they were to perform at their best in the respective groups. At t3 the presence of an individual performance ranking was mentioned in the cover story. Mixed linear models (SPSS) and structural equation models for complex survey data (Mplus) were specified to estimate the effects of the individual performance rankings on the relationship between group-efficacy beliefs and performance motivation. Results A significant interaction effect for individual group-efficacy beliefs and the triathlon condition on performance motivation was found; the effect of group-efficacy beliefs on performance motivation being smaller with individual performance rankings available. The partial mediation of group attributes on performance motivation by group-efficacy beliefs disappeared with the announcement of individual performance rankings. Conclusion In teams low in task relevant abilities the disadvantageous effect of group-efficacy beliefs on performance motivation might be reduced by providing means of evaluating individual performances apart from a group’s overall performance. While it is believed that a common group goal is a core criterion for a well performing sport group future studies should also aim at the possible benefit of individualized goal setting in groups.

Realizing public announcements by justifications

Modal public announcement logics study how beliefs change after public announcements. However, these logics cannot express the reason for a new belief. Justification logics fill this gap since they can formally represent evidence and justifications for an agent's belief. We present OPAL(K) and JPAL(K) , two alternative justification counterparts of Gerbrandy–Groeneveld's public announcement logic PAL(K) . We show that PAL(K) is the forgetful projection of both OPAL(K) and JPAL(K) . We also establish that JPAL(K) partially realizes PAL(K) . The question whether a similar result holds for OPAL(K) is still open.