Using negotiated budgets for planning and performance evaluation: An experimental study : an experimental study

Budgets are often simultaneously used for the conflicting purposes of planning and performance evaluation. While economic theory suggests that firms should use separate budgets for conflicting purposes this contrasts with existing evidence that firms rarely do so. We address two open questions related to these observations in an experiment. Specifically, we investigate how a planning task that is in conflict with the performance evaluation task affects behavior in budget negotiations and their outcomes. Additionally, we analyze whether a single budget can be effectively used for both purposes compared to two separate budgets. We develop theory to predict that adding a planning task that is in conflict with the superior’s performance evaluation task increases the subordinate’s cooperation in and after the negotiation of a performance evaluation budget. Moreover, we predict that subordinate cooperation increases even more when the superior is restricted to use a single budget for both purposes. Our results broadly support our hypotheses. Specifically, we find that when budgets are used for both planning and performance evaluation, this increases the subordinate’s budget proposals during the negotiation and his performance after the negotiation. These effects tend to be even larger when the superior is restricted to a single budget rather than separate budgets for planning and performance evaluation, particularly with respect to subordinate performance. In our experimental setting, the benefits of increased subordinate cooperation even more than offset the loss in flexibility from the superior’s restriction to a single budget. The results of this study add to the understanding of the interdependencies of conflicting budgeting purposes and contribute to explain why firms often use a single budget for multiple purposes.

"Of course I will...": The combined effect of certainty and level of expectancies on persistence and performance

The importance of performance expectancies for the prediction of regulation of behavior and actual performance has long been established. Building on theories from the field of social cognition, we suggest that the level of performance expectancies, as well as the certainty of the expectancy, have a joint influence on an individual’s beliefs and behavior. In two studies (one cross sectional using a sample of secondary school students and one longitudinal using a sample of university students) we found that expectancies more strongly predicted persistence, and subsequent performance, the more certain the expectancy was. This pattern was found even if prior performance was controlled, as in Study 2. The data give an indication that it may be useful to include certainty as an additional variable in expectancy models.

Firm-level strategic orientation and performance: a synthesis and extension of the knowledge base on entrepreneurial, market and learning orientation

Should a firm stay focused or should it rather adopt a broader strategic perspective? This dissertation summarizes and extends the existing knowledge base on entrepreneurial, market, and learning orientation. Building on multiple theoretical perspectives, empirical evidence from prior studies, as well as on survey and archival data collected in two economic contexts, performance effects from individual orientations, their dimensions and combinations are explored. Results reveal that the three strategic orientations are highly interrelated and that their relationship to firm performance is more complex than previously assumed.

Characterization and performance of carbonaceous materials obtained from exhausted sludges for the anaerobic biodecolorization of the azo dye Acid Orange II.

This work presents the preliminary study of new carbonaceous materials (CMs) obtained from exhausted sludge, their use in the heterogeneous anaerobic process of biodecolorization of azo dyes and the comparison of their performance with one commercial active carbon. The preparation of carbonaceous materials was conducted through chemical activation and carbonization. Chemical activation was carried out through impregnation of sludge-exhausted materials with ZnCl2 and the activation by means of carbonization at different temperatures (400, 600 and 800°C). Their physicochemical and surface characteristics were also investigated. Sludge based carbonaceous (SBC) materials SBC400, SBC600 and SBC800 present values of 13.0, 111.3 and 202.0m(2)/g of surface area. Biodecolorization levels of 76% were achieved for SBC600 and 86% for SBC800 at space time (τ) of 1.0min, similar to that obtained with commercial activated carbons in the continuous anaerobic up-flow packed bed reactor (UPBR). The experimental data fit well to the first order kinetic model and equilibrium data are well represented by the Langmuir isotherm model. Carbonaceous materials show high level of biodecolorization even at very short space times. Results indicate that carbonaceous materials prepared from sludge-exhausted materials have outstanding textural properties and significant degradation capacity for treating textile effluents.

People, protected areas and ecosystem services: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of local people's perception and preferences in Côte d'Ivoire

The long-term integrity of protected areas (PAs), and hence the maintenance of related ecosystem services (ES), are dependent on the support of local people. In the present study, local people's perceptions of ecosystem services from PAs and factors that govern local preferences for PAs are assessed. Fourteen study villages were randomly selected from three different protected forest areas and one control site along the southern coast of Côte d'Ivoire. Data was collected through a mixed-method approach, including qualitative semi-structured interviews and a household survey based on hypothetical choice scenarios. Local people's perceptions of ecosystem service provision was decrypted through qualitative content analysis, while the relation between people's preferences and potential factors that affect preferences were analyzed through multinomial models. This study shows that rural villagers do perceive a number of different ecosystem services as benefits from PAs in Côte d'Ivoire. The results based on quantitative data also suggest that local preferences for PAs and related ecosystem services are driven by PAs' management rules, age, and people's dependence on natural resources.

A picture paints a thousand words: Heart drawings reflect acute distress and illness perception and predict posttraumatic stress symptoms after acute myocardial infarction

The aim of this study was to examine whether heart drawings of patients with acute myocardial infarction reflect acute distress symptoms and negative illness beliefs and predict posttraumatic stress symptoms 3 months post-myocardial infarction. In total, 84 patients aged over 18 years drew pictures of their heart. The larger the area drawn as damaged, the greater were the levels of acute distress (r = 0.36; p < 0.05), negative illness perceptions (r = 0.42, p < 0.05), and posttraumatic stress symptoms (r = 0.54, p < 0.01). Pain drawings may offer a tool to identify maladaptive cognitions and thus patients at risk of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Genome-wide association studies based on sequence-derived genotypes reveal new QTL associated with conformation and performance traits in the Franches-Montagnes horse breed

To identify novel quantitative trait loci (QTL) within horses, we performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) based on sequence-level genotypes for conformation and performance traits in the Franches-Montagnes (FM) horse breed. Sequence-level genotypes of FM horses were derived by re-sequencing 30 key founders and imputing 50K data of genotyped horses. In total, we included 1077 FM horses genotyped for ~4 million SNPs and their respective de-regressed breeding values of the traits in the analysis. Based on this dataset, we identified a total of 14 QTL associated with 18 conformation traits and one performance trait. Therefore, our results suggest that the application of sequence-derived genotypes increases the power to identify novel QTL which were not identified previously based on 50K SNP chip data.

Evaluation of Medical Students’ Attitudes and Performance of Basic Surgery Skills in a Training Program Using Fresh Human skin, Excised During Body Contouring Surgeries

BACKGROUND: Learning surgical skills in the operating room may be a challenge for medical students. Therefore, more approaches using simulation to enable students to develop their practical skills are required. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that (1) there would be a need for additional surgical training for medical students in the pre-final year, and (2) our basic surgery skills training program using fresh human skin would improve medical students' surgical skills. DESIGN: We conducted a preliminary survey of medical students to clarify the need for further training in basic surgery procedures. A new approach using simulation to teach surgical skills on human skin was set up. The procedural skills of 15 randomly selected students were assessed in the operating room before and after participation in the simulation, using Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills. Furthermore, subjective assessment was performed based on students' self-evaluation. The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 21 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). SETTING: The study took place at the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 186 pre-final-year medical students were enrolled into the preliminary survey; 15 randomly selected medical students participated in the basic surgical skills training course on the fresh human skin operating room. RESULTS: The preliminary survey revealed the need for a surgical skills curriculum. The simulation approach we developed showed significant (p < 0.001) improvement for all 12 surgical skills, with mean cumulative precourse and postcourse values of 31.25 ± 5.013 and 45.38 ± 3.557, respectively. The self-evaluation contained positive feedback as well. CONCLUSION: Simulation of surgery using human tissue samples could help medical students become more proficient in handling surgical instruments before stepping into a real surgical situation. We suggest further studies evaluating our proposed teaching method and the possibility of integrating this simulation approach into the medical school curriculum.

Schools and Housing Markets: An Examination of School Segregation and Performance in Connecticut

This paper examines the relationship between house price levels, school performance, and the racial and ethnic composition of Connecticut school districts between 1995 and 2000. A panel of Connecticut school districts over both time and labor market areas is used to estimate a simultaneous equations model describing the determinants of these variables. Specifically, school district changes in price level, school performance, and racial and ethnic compositions depend upon each other, labor market wide changes in these variables, and the deviation of each school district from the overall metropolitan area. The specification is based on the differencing of dependent variables, as opposed to the use of level or fixed effects models and lagging level variables beyond the period over which change is considered; as a result the model is robust to persistence in the sample. Identification of the simultaneous system arises from the presence of multiple labor market areas in the sample, and the assumption that labor market changes in a variable due not directly influence the allocation of households across towns within a labor market area. We find that towns in labor markets that experience an inflow of minority households have greater increases in percent minority if those towns already ahve a substantial minoritypopulation. We find evidence that this sorting proces is reflected in housing price changes in the low priced segment of the housing market, not in the middle and upper segments.

Molecular interactions and signal transfer between sensory rhodopsin-I and its cognate transducer

SRI is unique among known photoreceptors in that it produces opposite signals depending on the color of light stimuli. Absorption of orange light (587 nm) triggers an attractant response by the cell, whereas absorption of orange light followed by near-UV light (373 run) triggers a repellent response. Using behavioral mutants that exhibit aberrant color-sensing ability, we tested a two-conformation equilibrium model, using FRET and EPR spectroscopy. The essence of the model applied to SRI-HtrI is that the complex exists in a metastable two-conformer equilibrium which is shifted in one direction by orange light absorption (producing an attractant signal) and in the opposite direction by a second UV-violet photon (producing a repellent signal). First, by FRET we found that the E-F cytoplasmic loop of SRI moves toward the RAMP domain of the HtrI transducer during the formation of the orange-light activated signaling state of the complex. This is the first localization of a change in the physical relationship between the receptor and transducer subunits of the complex and provides a structural property of the two proposed conformers that we can monitor. Second, EPR spectra of a spin label probe at this cytoplasmic position showed shifts in the dark in the mutants toward shorter or longer EF loop-RAMP distances, explaining their behavior in terms of their mutations causing pre-stimulus shifts into one or the other conformer. ^ Next, we applied a novel electrophysiological method for monitoring the directionality of proton movement during photoactivation of SRI, to investigate the process of proton transfer in the photoactive site from the chromophore to proton acceptors on both the wildtype and aberrant color-response mutants. We observed an unexpected and critical difference in the two signaling conformations of the SRI-HtrI complex. The finding is that the vectoriality (i.e. movement away or toward the cytoplasm) of the light-induced proton transfer from the chromophore to the protein is opposite in formation of the two conformations. Retinylidene proton transfer is a common critical process in rhodopsins and these results are the first to show differences in vectoriality in a rhodopsin receptor, and to demonstrate functional importance of the direction of proton transfer. ^