Personal relations and their effect on behavior in an organizational setting: an experimental study

We study how personal relations affect performance in organizations. In the experimental game we use a manager has to assign different degrees of decision power to two employees. These two employees then have to make distributive decisions which affect themselves and the manager. Our focus is on the effects on managers' assignment of decision power and on employees' distributive decisions of one of the employees and the manager knowing each other personally. Our evidence shows that managers tend to favor employees that they personally know and that these employees tend, more than other employees, to favor the manager in their distributive decisions. However, this behavior does not affect the performance of the employees that do not know the manager. All these effects are independent of whether the employees that know the manager are more or less productive than those who do not know the manager. The results shed light on discrimination and nepotism and its consequences for the performance of family firms and other organizations.

Political institutions and the development of telecommunications

It has traditionally been argued that the development of telecommunications infrastructure is dependent on the quality of countries' political institutions. We estimate the effect of political institutions on the diffusion of three telecommunications services and find it to be much smaller in cellular telephony than in the others. By evaluating the importance of institutions for technologies rather than for industries, we reveal important growth opportunities for developing countries and offer policy implications for alleviating differences between countries in international telecommunications development. Keywords: Political constraints, telecommunications, GMM, economic development. JEL codes: O1, O3.

The Paranuclear corpuscles in poikilothermic vertebrates: description of a new species of Pirhemocyton in Iguana iguana of Venezuela, with remarks on the nature of these organisms and their relation to applied parasites

This paper discusses the relations between the genera Toddia and Pirhemocyton, describing certain cytochemical reactions that clarify their nature, and discussing the position of these organisms as being of a parasitic or viral nature. A new species of Pirhemocyton is described form Iguana iguana from Mamo, Marapa (Dto. Federal) of Venezuela; characterized by rectangular globoids with rounded borders. Attempts at experimental infections of other genera of lizerds indicate that the new species, Pirhemocyton iguanae, is specific to the natural host, Iguana iguana. The course of the parasitemia in the lizard is described.

Academic Institutions and the Olympic Movement

This paper was presented in the V Forum on Sport, Education and Culture Forum by the IOC undertaken in Beijing, in October, 2006. This aim of this paper is to explore the potential of the relations between the Olympic Movement and academic institutions, and in particular the role of universities.

Occurrences of flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) on human cadavers in Switzerland, and their importance as forensic indicators.

From 1993 to 2008, criminal investigations were conducted in the western part of Switzerland with special attention to blowfly and flesh fly species in order to estimate the post-mortem interval when requested by the police authorities. Flesh flies were found in only 33 cases out of 160. Five species of the genus Sarcophaga were identified (S. africa, S. argyrostoma, S. caerulescens, S. similis and S. sp.). The main species found on corpses (larval stage) was S. argyrostoma. The thermal constant (K) calculated for this species in Switzerland is 380.6 ± 16.3 (mean ± S.D.) degree-days. With the exception of S. caerulescens, found three times in the larval stage on corpses, the three other species are of minor forensic importance. S. argyrostoma is found during summer and indoors. This species colonises dead bodies, usually the same day as blowfly species, and it could be used to estimate the post-mortem interval. Other species are discussed in the light of current knowledge on their biology and ecology. It is recommended that voucher material be deposited in a museum, allowing further studies by relevant specialists, thereby helping investigators and avoiding misidentifications.

Use of limitations of radiolabeled anti-CEA antibodies and their fragments for photoscanning detection of human colorectal carcinomas.

Fifty-three patients with histologically proven carcinoma were injected with highly purified [131I]-labeled goat antibodies or fragments of antibodies against carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Each patient was tested by external photoscanning 4, 24, 36 and 48 h after injection. In 22 patients (16 of 38 injected with intact antibodies, 5 of 13 with F(ab')2 fragments and 1 of 2 with Fab' fragments), an increased concentration of 131I radioactivity corresponding to the previously known tumor location was detected by photoscanning 36-48 h after injection. Blood pool and secreted radioactivity was determined in all patients by injecting 15 min before scanning, [99mTc]-labeled normal serum albumin and free 99mTc04-. The computerized subtraction of 99mTc from 131I radioactivity enhanced the definition of tumor localization in the 22 positive patients. However, in spite of the computerized subtraction, interpretation of the scans remained doubtful for 12 patients and was entirely negative for 19 additional patients. In order to provide a more objective evaluation for the specificity of the tumor localization of antibodies, 14 patients scheduled for tumor resection were injected simultaneously with [131I]-labeled antibodies or fragments and with [125I]-labeled normal goat IgG or fragments. After surgery, the radioactivity of the two isotopes present either in tumor or adjacent normal tissues was measured in a dual channel scintillation counter. The results showed that the antibodies or their fragments were 2-4 times more concentrated in the tumor than in the normal tissues. In addition, it was shown that the injected antibodies formed immune complexes with circulating CEA and that the amount of immune complexes detectable in serum was roughly proportional to the level of circulating CEA.

Political institutions and the development of telecomunications

It has traditionally been argued that the development of telecommunications infrastructure is dependent on the quality of countries’ political institutions. We estimate the effect of political institutions on the diffusion of three telecommunications services and find it to be much smaller in cellular telephony than in the others. By evaluating the importance of institutions for technologies rather than for industries, we reveal important growth opportunities for developing countries and offer policy implications for alleviating differences between countries in international telecommunications development.

Institutions and the Scale Effect

Growth models which imply a scale effect are commonly refuted on the basis of empirical evidence. A focus on the extent of the market as opposed to the scale of the country has led recent studies to reconsider the role that country scale plays when conditioning on other factors. We consider a variant of a simple learning by doing model to account for the potential role for institutions in determining the strength – and direction – of the scale effect. Using cross-country data, we find a significant interaction between property rights institutions and the effect of scale on long-run growth: In countries with poor property rights institutions, scale is positively related with income per capita; where property rights institutions are good, higher scale is associated with lower per capita ncomes. We find no evidence of such role for contracting institutions.

Simultaneous LC-MS/MS quantification of P-glycoprotein and cytochrome P450 probe substrates and their metabolites in DBS and plasma.

BACKGROUND: An LC-MS/MS method has been developed for the simultaneous quantification of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and cytochrome P450 (CYP) probe substrates and their Phase I metabolites in DBS and plasma. P-gp (fexofenadine) and CYP-specific substrates (caffeine for CYP1A2, bupropion for CYP2B6, flurbiprofen for CYP2C9, omeprazole for CYP2C19, dextromethorphan for CYP2D6 and midazolam for CYP3A4) and their metabolites were extracted from DBS (10 µl) using methanol. Analytes were separated on a reversed-phase LC column followed by SRM detection within a 6 min run time. RESULTS: The method was fully validated over the expected clinical concentration range for all substances tested, in both DBS and plasma. The method has been successfully applied to a PK study where healthy male volunteers received a low dose cocktail of the here described P-gp and CYP probes. Good correlation was observed between capillary DBS and venous plasma drug concentrations. CONCLUSION: Due to its low-invasiveness, simple sample collection and minimal sample preparation, DBS represents a suitable method to simultaneously monitor in vivo activities of P-gp and CYP.