The STEP scale: a measure of short-term export performance improvement

This article is a direct response to a recent observation in the literature that managers appear to be short-term oriented in their assessment of the performance of an export venture (Madsen 1998). On the basis of a cross-national survey of exporting firms, the authors present a three-dimensional scale for assessing managerial judgment of short-term export performance (i.e., the STEP scale). The three dimensions are (1) satisfaction with short-term performance improvement, (2) short-term exporting intensity improvement, and (3) expected short-term performance improvement. The scale presents evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity, and it reveals factorial similarity and factorial equivalence across both samples. The authors outline managerial and public policy implications that stem from the scale and identify avenues for further export marketing research.

Representation errors and retrievals in linear and nonlinear data assimilation

This article shows how one can formulate the representation problem starting from Bayes’ theorem. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of the formal solutions,so that approximations can be placed in a proper context. The representation errors appear in the likelihood, and the different possibilities for the representation of reality in model and observations are discussed, including nonlinear representation probability density functions. Specifically, the assumptions needed in the usual procedure to add a representation error covariance to the error covariance of the observations are discussed,and it is shown that, when several sub-grid observations are present, their mean still has a representation error ; socalled ‘superobbing’ does not resolve the issue. Connection is made to the off-line or on-line retrieval problem, providing a new simple proof of the equivalence of assimilating linear retrievals and original observations. Furthermore, it is shown how nonlinear retrievals can be assimilated without loss of information. Finally we discuss how errors in the observation operator model can be treated consistently in the Bayesian framework, connecting to previous work in this area.

Observational and energetics constraints on the non-conservation of potential/Conservative Temperature and implications for ocean modelling

This paper seeks to elucidate the fundamental differences between the nonconservation of potential temperature and that of Conservative Temperature, in order to better understand the relative merits of each quantity for use as the heat variable in numerical ocean models. The main result is that potential temperature is found to behave similarly to entropy, in the sense that its nonconservation primarily reflects production/destruction by surface heat and freshwater fluxes; in contrast, the nonconservation of Conservative Temperature is found to reflect primarily the overall compressible work of expansion/contraction. This paper then shows how this can be exploited to constrain the nonconservation of potential temperature and entropy from observed surface heat fluxes, and the nonconservation of Conservative Temperature from published estimates of the mechanical energy budgets of ocean numerical models. Finally, the paper shows how to modify the evolution equation for potential temperature so that it is exactly equivalent to using an exactly conservative evolution equation for Conservative Temperature, as was recently recommended by IOC et al. (2010). This result should in principle allow ocean modellers to test the equivalence between the two formulations, and to indirectly investigate to what extent the budget of derived nonconservative quantities such as buoyancy and entropy can be expected to be accurately represented in ocean models.

Environmental controls on the distribution and diversity of lentic Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) across an altitudinal gradient in tropical South America

To predict the response of aquatic ecosystems to future global climate change, data on the ecology and distribution of keystone groups in freshwater ecosystems are needed. In contrast to mid- and high-latitude zones, such data are scarce across tropical South America (Neotropics). We present the distribution and diversity of chironomid species using surface sediments of 59 lakes from the Andes to the Amazon (0.1–17°S and 64–78°W) within the Neotropics. We assess the spatial variation in community assemblages and identify the key variables influencing the distributional patterns. The relationships between environmental variables (pH, conductivity, depth, and sediment organic content), climatic data, and chironomid assemblages were assessed using multivariate statistics (detrended correspondence analysis and canonical correspondence analysis). Climatic parameters (temperature and precipitation) were most significant in describing the variance in chironomid assemblages. Temperature and precipitation are both predicted to change under future climate change scenarios in the tropical Andes. Our findings suggest taxa of Orthocladiinae, which show a preference to cold high-elevation oligotrophic lakes, will likely see range contraction under future anthropogenic-induced climate change. Taxa abundant in areas of high precipitation, such as Micropsectra and Phaenopsectra, will likely become restricted to the inner tropical Andes, as the outer tropical Andes become drier. The sensitivity of chironomids to climate parameters makes them important bio-indicators of regional climate change in the Neotropics. Furthermore, the distribution of chironomid taxa presented here is a vital first step toward providing urgently needed autecological data for interpreting fossil chironomid records of past ecological and climate change from the tropical Andes.

Bank loan terms and conditions: is there a macro effect?

We examine whether macroeconomic factors contain significant information for bank loan contracting terms and conditions (T&Cs), over and above that of standard firm-specific or country-level institutional factors. Our estimation is based on a seemingly unrelated mixed-processes methodology that accommodates two salient data properties: (i) the fact that loan contract terms are determined jointly as a single lending contract, and (ii) the fact that the elements of loan T&Cs are generated by different distributional formats. Our findings indicate that cross-country variation accounts for a significant portion of observed variation in loan T&Cs. In addition, macroeconomic fundamentals significantly explain the “package” of loan T&Cs offered to corporate borrowers, with this effect being distinct from any influence that T&Cs receive from firm-specific factors, and also from country-specific institutional factors.

Metacognition and proofreading: the roles of aging, motivation, and interest

Objectives: The current study examined younger and older adults’ error detection accuracy, prediction calibration, and postdiction calibration on a proofreading task, to determine if age-related difference would be present in this type of common error detection task. Method: Participants were given text passages, and were first asked to predict the percentage of errors they would detect in the passage. They then read the passage and circled errors (which varied in complexity and locality), and made postdictions regarding their performance, before repeating this with another passage and answering a comprehension test of both passages. Results: There were no age-related differences in error detection accuracy, text comprehension, or metacognitive calibration, though participants in both age groups were overconfident overall in their metacognitive judgments. Both groups gave similar ratings of motivation to complete the task. The older adults rated the passages as more interesting than younger adults did, although this level of interest did not appear to influence error-detection performance. Discussion: The age equivalence in both proofreading ability and calibration suggests that the ability to proofread text passages and the associated metacognitive monitoring used in judging one’s own performance are maintained in aging. These age-related similarities persisted when younger adults completed the proofreading tasks on a computer screen, rather than with paper and pencil. The findings provide novel insights regarding the influence that cognitive aging may have on metacognitive accuracy and text processing in an everyday task.

Geographical distribution of American cutaneous leishmaniasis and its phlebotomine vectors (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Background: American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is a re-emerging disease in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is important to understand both the vector and disease distribution to help design control strategies. As an initial step in applying geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) tools to map disease-risk, the objectives of the present work were to: (i) produce a single database of species distributions of the sand fly vectors in the state of Sao Paulo, (ii) create combined distributional maps of both the incidence of ACL and its sand fly vectors, and (iii) thereby provide individual municipalities with a source of reference material for work carried out in their area. Results: A database containing 910 individual records of sand fly occurrence in the state of Sao Paulo, from 37 different sources, was compiled. These records date from between 1943 to 2009, and describe the presence of at least one of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species in 183/645 (28.4%) municipalities. For the remaining 462 (71.6%) municipalities, we were unable to locate records of any of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species (Nyssomyia intermedia, N. neivai, N. whitmani, Pintomyia fischeri, P. pessoai and Migonemyia migonei). The distribution of each of the six incriminated or suspected vector species of ACL in the state of Sao Paulo were individually mapped and overlaid on the incidence of ACL for the period 1993 to 1995 and 1998 to 2007. Overall, the maps reveal that the six sand fly vector species analyzed have unique and heterogeneous, although often overlapping, distributions. Several sand fly species - Nyssomyia intermedia and N. neivai - are highly localized, while the other sand fly species - N. whitmani, M. migonei, P. fischeri and P. pessoai - are much more broadly distributed. ACL has been reported in 160/183 (87.4%) of the municipalities with records for at least one of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vector species, while there are no records of any of these sand fly species in 318/478 (66.5%) municipalities with ACL. Conclusions: The maps produced in this work provide basic data on the distribution of the six incriminated or suspected sand fly vectors of ACL in the state of Sao Paulo, and highlight the complex and geographically heterogeneous pattern of ACL transmission in the region. Further studies are required to clarify the role of each of the six suspected sand fly vector species in different regions of the state of Sao Paulo, especially in the majority of municipalities where ACL is present but sand fly vectors have not yet been identified.

Emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from gasohol and ethanol vehicles

The exhaust emission of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) considered toxic to human health were investigated on two spark ignition light duty vehicles, one being gasohol (Gasohol, in Brazil, is the generic denomination for mixtures of pure gasoline plus 20-25% of anhydrous ethyl alcohol fuel (AEAF).)-fuelled and the other a flexible-fuel vehicle fuelled with hydrated ethanol. The influence of fuel type and quality, aged lubricant oil type and use of fuel additives on the formation of these compounds was tested using standardized tests identical to US FTP-75 cycle. PAH sampling and chemical analysis followed the basic recommendations of method TO-13 (United States. Environmental Protection Agency, 1999. Compendium Method TO-13A - Determination of polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in Ambient Air Using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (CG/MS). Center for environmental research information, Cincinnati, p. 78), with the necessary modification for this particular application. Results showed that the total PAH emission factor varied from 41.9 mu g km(-1) to 612 mu g km(-1) in the gasohol vehicle, and from 11.7 mu g km(-1) to 27.4 mu g km(-1) in the ethanol-fuelled vehicle, a significant difference in favor of the ethanol vehicle. Generally, emission of light molecular weight PAHs was predominant, while high molecular weights PAHs were not detected. In terms of benzo(a)pyrene toxicity equivalence, emission factors varied from 0.00984 mu g TEQ km(-1) to 4.61 mu g TEQ km(-1) for the gasohol vehicle and from 0.0117 mu g TEQ km(-1) to 0.0218 mu g TEQ km(-1) in the ethanol vehicle. For the gasohol vehicle, results showed that the use of fuel additive causes a significant increase in the emission of naphthalene and phenanthrene at a confidence level of 90% or higher; the use of rubber solvent on gasohol showed a reduction in the emission of naphthalene and phenanthrene at the same confidence level; the use of synthetic oil instead of mineral oil also contributed significantly to a decrease in the emission of naphthalene and fluorene. In relation to the ethanol vehicle, the same factors were tested and showed no statistically significant influence on PAH emission. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The comparative field body temperature among Liolaemus lizards: Testing the static and the labile hypotheses

Two competing hypotheses have been suggested to explain thermal sensitivity of lizards to environmental conditions. These are the static and the labile hypotheses. The static hypothesis posits that thermal physiology is evolutionary conservative and consequently relatively insensitive to directional selection. Contrarily, the labile hypothesis states that thermal physiology does respond readily to directional selection in some lizard taxa. In this paper, we tested both hypotheses among species of Liolaemus lizards. The genus Liolaemus is diverse with about 200 species, being broadly distributed from central Peru to Tierra del Fuego at the southern end of South America. Data of field body temperature (T(b)) from Liolaemus species were collected from the literature. Based on the distributional range of the species we also collected data of mean annual ambient temperatures. We observed that both the traditional analysis and the phylogenetic approach indicate that in the genus Liolaemus T(b) of species varies in a manner that is consistent with ecological gradient of ambient temperature. The data suggest that the thermal physiology of Liolaemus lizards is evolutionarily flexible, and that this plasticity has been partially responsible for the colonization of a wide array of thermal environments. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biogeography of Glandulocaudinae (Teleostei : Characiformes : Characidae) revisited: phylogenetic patterns, historical geology and genetic connectivity

The biogeography of the Glandulocaudinae ( former Glandulocaudini) is reviewed. The major pattern of diversification presented by this group of freshwater fishes can be clearly associated to the main aspects of the tectonic evolution of the southern portion of the Cis-Andean South American Platform. The phylogenetic relationships within the group suggest that the clade represented by Lophiobrycon is the sister-group of the more derived clade represented by the genus Glandulocauda and Mimagoniates. Lophiobrycon and Glandulocauda occur in areas of the ancient crystalline shield of southeastern Brazil and their present allopatric distribution is probably due to relict survival and tectonic vicariant events. Populations of Glandulocauda melanogenys are found in contiguous drainages in presently isolated upper parts of the Tiete, Guaratuba, Itatinga, and Ribeira de Iguape basins and this pattern of distribution is probably the result of river capture caused by tectonic processes that affected a large area in eastern and southeastern Brazil. The species of Mimagoniates are predominantly distributed along the eastern and southeastern coastal areas, but M. microlepis is additionally found in the rio Iguacu and Tibagi basins. Mimagoniates barberi occurs in both SW margin of the upper rio Parana basin and the lower Paraguay and Mimagoniates sp. occurs in the upper Paraguay river basin. Tectonic activations of the Continental Rift of Southeastern Brazil along the eastern margin of the Upper Parana basin promoted population fragmentation responsible of the present day distribution presented by Glandulocauda melanogenys. We hypothesize that occurrence of Mimagoniates along the lowland area around the Parana basin was due to a single or a multiple fragmentation of populations along the W-SW border of the upper Parana Basin, probably due to the major tectonic origin of the Chaco-Pantanal wetland foreland basins since the Miocene as well as Cenozoic tectonic activity along the borders of the upper Parana basin, such as in the eastern Paraguay, in the Asuncion Rift. Distributional pattern of Mimagoniates suggests that its initial diversification may be related to the tectonic evolution of the Chaco-Pantanal foreland basin system and a minimum age of 2.5 M.Y are proposed for this monophyletic group. Previous hypotheses on sea level fluctuations of the late Quaternary as being the main causal mechanism promoting cladogenesis and speciation of the group are critically reviewed. Phylogeographic studies based on molecular data indicate significant differences among the isolated populations of M. microlepis. These findings suggest that a much longer period of time and a paleogeographic landscape configuration of the Brazilian southeastern coastal region explain the present observed phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns.

Use of Bayesian Methods for Multivariate Bioequivalence Measures

In this paper, we introduce a Bayesian analysis for bioequivalence data assuming multivariate pharmacokinetic measures. With the introduction of correlation parameters between the pharmacokinetic measures or between the random effects in the bioequivalence models, we observe a good improvement in the bioequivalence results. These results are of great practical interest since they can yield higher accuracy and reliability for the bioequivalence tests, usually assumed by regulatory offices. An example is introduced to illustrate the proposed methodology by comparing the usual univariate bioequivalence methods with multivariate bioequivalence. We also consider some usual existing discrimination Bayesian methods to choose the best model to be used in bioequivalence studies.

SINGULARITY THEORY AND FORCED SYMMETRY BREAKING IN EQUATIONS

A theory of bifurcation equivalence for forced symmetry breaking bifurcation problems is developed. We classify (O(2), 1) problems of corank 2 of low codimension and discuss examples of bifurcation problems leading to such symmetry breaking.

On the continuity of pullback attractors for evolution processes

In this paper we give general results on the continuity of pullback attractors for nonlinear evolution processes. We then revisit results of [D. Li, P.E. Kloeden, Equi-attraction and the continuous dependence of pullback attractors on parameters, Stoch. Dyn. 4 (3) (2004) 373-384] which show that, under certain conditions, continuity is equivalent to uniformity of attraction over a range of parameters (""equi-attraction""): we are able to simplify their proofs and weaken the conditions required for this equivalence to hold. Generalizing a classical autonomous result [A.V. Babin, M.I. Vishik, Attractors of Evolution Equations, North Holland, Amsterdam, 1992] we give bounds on the rate of convergence of attractors when the family is uniformly exponentially attracting. To apply these results in a more concrete situation we show that a non-autonomous regular perturbation of a gradient-like system produces a family of pullback attractors that are uniformly exponentially attracting: these attractors are therefore continuous, and we can give an explicit bound on the distance between members of this family. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

STABILITY FOR RETARDED FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

It is known that retarded functional differential equations can be regarded as Banach-space-valued generalized ordinary differential equations (GODEs). In this paper, some stability concepts for retarded functional differential equations are introduced and they are discussed using known stability results for GODEs. Then the equivalence of the different concepts of stabilities considered here are proved and converse Lyapunov theorems for a very wide class of retarded functional differential equations are obtained by means of the correspondence of this class of equations with GODEs.

Plane curve diagrams and geometrical applications

We look at plane curve diagrams (f,alpha), which are given by a plane curve multigerm alpha : (R, S) -> R(2) and a function on it f : (R, S) -> R. We obtain a classification of all such diagrams, where alpha has e-codimension <= 2 and f has finite order. Then we define an equivalence between plane curves which we call Ah(alpha)-equivalence and which is determined by the class of the diagram (h(alpha), alpha). Here, h alpha denotes the height function of alpha with respect to its normal vector. This is an equivalence which not only takes into account the topology of the singularity of alpha, but also its flat geometry. Finally, we apply our results in order to obtain a classification of all the plane projections of a generic space curve gamma embedded in R(3).