Impact of Ownership Structure on the Performance of China’s Feed Mill Sector, April 2005

In the decade of the 1990s, China’s feed sector became increasingly privatized, more feed mills opened, and the scale of operation expanded. Capacity utilization remained low and multi-ministerial supervision was still prevalent, but the feed mill sector showed a positive performance overall, posting a growth rate of 11 percent per year. Profit margin over sales was within allowable rates set by the government of China at 3 to 5 percent. Financial efficiency improved, with a 20 percent quicker turnover of working capital. Average technical efficiency was 0.805, as more efficient feed mills increasingly gained production shares. This study finds evidence that the increasing privatization explains the improved performance of the commercial feed mill sector. The drivers that shaped the feed mill sector in the 1990s have changed with China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. With the new policy regime in place, the study foresees that, assuming an adequate supply of soy meal and an excess capacity in the feed mill sector, it is likely that China will allow corn imports up to the tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 7.2 mmt since the in-quota rate is very low at 1 percent. However, when the TRQ is exceeded, the import duty jumps to a prohibitive out-quota rate of 65 percent. With an import duty for meat of only 10 to 12 percent, China would have a strong incentive to import meat products directly rather than bringing in expensive corn to produce meat domestically. This would be further reinforced if structural transformation in the swine sector would narrow the cost differential between domestic and imported pork.

ePortfolio Unil: un projet pilote en sciences du langage

Le projet pilote e-Portfolio offre aux étudiant-e-s la possibilité de créer un dossier portfolio personnalisé et disponible en ligne sur une plateforme informatique. Les dossiers portfolio se partagent en deux familles : les dossiers d'apprentissage (a.), permettant de documenter un cheminement d'apprentissage, et les dossiers de présentation(b.), ayant pour rôle de valoriser les acquis d'une formation ou d'un parcours professionnel. Un e-Portfolio, par la plasticité des outils informatiques qui en forment le support, permet de combiner les deux approches - pédagogique et biographique - en intégrant sur un mode dynamique le parcours de formation, le questionnement des acquis et la présentation curriculaire. (http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/riset-notice/2010/09/)

Transposase and cointegrase: specialized transposition proteins of the bacterial insertion sequence IS21 and related elements.

The bacterial insertion sequence IS21 shares with many insertion sequences a two-step, reactive junction transposition pathway, for which a model is presented in this review: a reactive junction with abutted inverted repeats is first formed and subsequently integrated into the target DNA. The reactive junction occurs in IS21-IS21 tandems and IS21 minicircles. In addition, IS21 shows a unique specialization of transposition functions. By alternative translation initiation, the transposase gene codes for two products: the transposase, capable of promoting both steps of the reactive junction pathway, and the cointegrase, which only promotes the integration of reactive junctions but with higher efficiency. This review also includes a survey of the IS21 family and speculates on the possibility that other members present a similar transpositional specialization.

Domain shuffling in a sensor protein contributed to the evolution of insect pathogenicity in plant-beneficial Pseudomonas protegens.

Pseudomonas protegens is a biocontrol rhizobacterium with a plant-beneficial and an insect pathogenic lifestyle, but it is not understood how the organism switches between the two states. Here, we focus on understanding the function and possible evolution of a molecular sensor that enables P. protegens to detect the insect environment and produce a potent insecticidal toxin specifically during insect infection but not on roots. By using quantitative single cell microscopy and mutant analysis, we provide evidence that the sensor histidine kinase FitF is a key regulator of insecticidal toxin production. Our experimental data and bioinformatic analyses indicate that FitF shares a sensing domain with DctB, a histidine kinase regulating carbon uptake in Proteobacteria. This suggested that FitF has acquired its specificity through domain shuffling from a common ancestor. We constructed a chimeric DctB-FitF protein and showed that it is indeed functional in regulating toxin expression in P. protegens. The shuffling event and subsequent adaptive modifications of the recruited sensor domain were critical for the microorganism to express its potent insect toxin in the observed host-specific manner. Inhibition of the FitF sensor during root colonization could explain the mechanism by which P. protegens differentiates between the plant and insect host. Our study establishes FitF of P. protegens as a prime model for molecular evolution of sensor proteins and bacterial pathogenicity.

Organisational Values as "Attractors of Chaos": An Emerging Cultural Change to Manage Organisational Complexity

Business organisations are excellent representations of what in physics and mathematics are designated "chaotic" systems. Because a culture of innovation will be vital for organisational survival in the 21st century, the present paper proposes that viewing organisations in terms of "complexity theory" may assist leaders in fine-tuning managerial philosophies that provide orderly management emphasizing stability within a culture of organised chaos, for it is on the "boundary of chaos" that the greatest creativity occurs. It is argued that 21st century companies, as chaotic social systems, will no longer be effectively managed by rigid objectives (MBO) nor by instructions (MBI). Their capacity for self-organisation will be derived essentially from how their members accept a shared set of values or principles for action (MBV). Complexity theory deals with systems that show complex structures in time or space, often hiding simple deterministic rules. This theory holds that once these rules are found, it is possible to make effective predictions and even to control the apparent complexity. The state of chaos that self-organises, thanks to the appearance of the "strange attractor", is the ideal basis for creativity and innovation in the company. In this self-organised state of chaos, members are not confined to narrow roles, and gradually develop their capacity for differentiation and relationships, growing continuously toward their maximum potential contribution to the efficiency of the organisation. In this way, values act as organisers or "attractors" of disorder, which in the theory of chaos are equations represented by unusually regular geometric configurations that predict the long-term behaviour of complex systems. In business organisations (as in all kinds of social systems) the starting principles end up as the final principles in the long term. An attractor is a model representation of the behavioral results of a system. The attractor is not a force of attraction or a goal-oriented presence in the system; it simply depicts where the system is headed based on its rules of motion. Thus, in a culture that cultivates or shares values of autonomy, responsibility, independence, innovation, creativity, and proaction, the risk of short-term chaos is mitigated by an overall long-term sense of direction. A more suitable approach to manage the internal and external complexities that organisations are currently confronting is to alter their dominant culture under the principles of MBV.

Pharmaceutical Generics, Vertical Product Differentiation, and Public Policy

This paper studies oligopolistic competition in off-patent pharmaceutical markets using a vertical product differentiation model. This model can explain the observation that countries with stronger regulations have smaller generic market shares. It can also explain the differences in observed regulatory regimes. Stronger regulation may be due to a higher proportion of production that is done by foreign firms. Finally, a closely related model can account for the observed increase in prices by patent owners after entry of generic producers.

Financial Markets and Real Ecinomy: Four Essays in International Trade

Financial markets play an important role in an economy performing various functions like mobilizing and pooling savings, producing information about investment opportunities, screening and monitoring investments, implementation of corporate governance, diversification and management of risk. These functions influence saving rates, investment decisions, technological innovation and, therefore, have important implications for welfare. In my PhD dissertation I examine the interplay of financial and product markets by looking at different channels through which financial markets may influence an economy.My dissertation consists of four chapters. The first chapter is a co-authored work with Martin Strieborny, a PhD student from the University of Lausanne. The second chapter is a co-authored work with Melise Jaud, a PhD student from the Paris School of Economics. The third chapter is co-authored with both Melise Jaud and Martin Strieborny. The last chapter of my PhD dissertation is a single author paper.Chapter 1 of my PhD thesis analyzes the effect of financial development on growth of contract intensive industries. These industries intensively use intermediate inputs that neither can be sold on organized exchange, nor are reference-priced (Levchenko, 2007; Nunn, 2007). A typical example of a contract intensive industry would be an industry where an upstream supplier has to make investments in order to customize a product for needs of a downstream buyer. After the investment is made and the product is adjusted, the buyer may refuse to meet a commitment and trigger ex post renegotiation. Since the product is customized to the buyer's needs, the supplier cannot sell the product to a different buyer at the original price. This is referred in the literature as the holdup problem. As a consequence, the individually rational suppliers will underinvest into relationship-specific assets, hurting the downstream firms with negative consequences for aggregate growth. The standard way to mitigate the hold up problem is to write a binding contract and to rely on the legal enforcement by the state. However, even the most effective contract enforcement might fail to protect the supplier in tough times when the buyer lacks a reliable source of external financing. This suggests the potential role of financial intermediaries, banks in particular, in mitigating the incomplete contract problem. First, financial products like letters of credit and letters of guarantee can substantially decrease a risk and transaction costs of parties. Second, a bank loan can serve as a signal about a buyer's true financial situation, an upstream firm will be more willing undertake relationship-specific investment knowing that the business partner is creditworthy and will abstain from myopic behavior (Fama, 1985; von Thadden, 1995). Therefore, a well-developed financial (especially banking) system should disproportionately benefit contract intensive industries.The empirical test confirms this hypothesis. Indeed, contract intensive industries seem to grow faster in countries with a well developed financial system. Furthermore, this effect comes from a more developed banking sector rather than from a deeper stock market. These results are reaffirmed examining the effect of US bank deregulation on the growth of contract intensive industries in different states. Beyond an overall pro-growth effect, the bank deregulation seems to disproportionately benefit the industries requiring relationship-specific investments from their suppliers.Chapter 2 of my PhD focuses on the role of the financial sector in promoting exports of developing countries. In particular, it investigates how credit constraints affect the ability of firms operating in agri-food sectors of developing countries to keep exporting to foreign markets.Trade in high-value agri-food products from developing countries has expanded enormously over the last two decades offering opportunities for development. However, trade in agri-food is governed by a growing array of standards. Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards (SPS) and technical regulations impose additional sunk, fixed and operating costs along the firms' export life. Such costs may be detrimental to firms' survival, "pricing out" producers that cannot comply. The existence of these costs suggests a potential role of credit constraints in shaping the duration of trade relationships on foreign markets. A well-developed financial system provides the funds to exporters necessary to adjust production processes in order to meet quality and quantity requirements in foreign markets and to maintain long-standing trade relationships. The products with higher needs for financing should benefit the most from a well functioning financial system. This differential effect calls for a difference-in-difference approach initially proposed by Rajan and Zingales (1998). As a proxy for demand for financing of agri-food products, the sanitary risk index developed by Jaud et al. (2009) is used. The empirical literature on standards and norms show high costs of compliance, both variable and fixed, for high-value food products (Garcia-Martinez and Poole, 2004; Maskus et al., 2005). The sanitary risk index reflects the propensity of products to fail health and safety controls on the European Union (EU) market. Given the high costs of compliance, the sanitary risk index captures the demand for external financing to comply with such regulations.The prediction is empirically tested examining the export survival of different agri-food products from firms operating in Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania. The results suggest that agri-food products that require more financing to keep up with food safety regulation of the destination market, indeed sustain longer in foreign market, when they are exported from countries with better developed financial markets.Chapter 3 analyzes the link between financial markets and efficiency of resource allocation in an economy. Producing and exporting products inconsistent with a country's factor endowments constitutes a serious misallocation of funds, which undermines competitiveness of the economy and inhibits its long term growth. In this chapter, inefficient exporting patterns are analyzed through the lens of the agency theories from the corporate finance literature. Managers may pursue projects with negative net present values because their perquisites or even their job might depend on them. Exporting activities are particularly prone to this problem. Business related to foreign markets involves both high levels of additional spending and strong incentives for managers to overinvest. Rational managers might have incentives to push for exports that use country's scarce factors which is suboptimal from a social point of view. Export subsidies might further skew the incentives towards inefficient exporting. Management can divert the export subsidies into investments promoting inefficient exporting.Corporate finance literature stresses the disciplining role of outside debt in counteracting the internal pressures to divert such "free cash flow" into unprofitable investments. Managers can lose both their reputation and the control of "their" firm if the unpaid external debt triggers a bankruptcy procedure. The threat of possible failure to satisfy debt service payments pushes the managers toward an efficient use of available resources (Jensen, 1986; Stulz, 1990; Hart and Moore, 1995). The main sources of debt financing in the most countries are banks. The disciplining role of banks might be especially important in the countries suffering from insufficient judicial quality. Banks, in pursuing their rights, rely on comparatively simple legal interventions that can be implemented even by mediocre courts. In addition to their disciplining role, banks can promote efficient exporting patterns in a more direct way by relaxing credit constraints of producers, through screening, identifying and investing in the most profitable investment projects. Therefore, a well-developed domestic financial system, and particular banking system, would help to push a country's exports towards products congruent with its comparative advantage.This prediction is tested looking at the survival of different product categories exported to US market. Products are identified according to the Euclidian distance between their revealed factor intensity and the country's factor endowments. The results suggest that products suffering from a comparative disadvantage (labour-intensive products from capital-abundant countries) survive less on the competitive US market. This pattern is stronger if the exporting country has a well-developed banking system. Thus, a strong banking sector promotes exports consistent with a country comparative advantage.Chapter 4 of my PhD thesis further examines the role of financial markets in fostering efficient resource allocation in an economy. In particular, the allocative efficiency hypothesis is investigated in the context of equity market liberalization.Many empirical studies document a positive and significant effect of financial liberalization on growth (Levchenko et al. 2009; Quinn and Toyoda 2009; Bekaert et al., 2005). However, the decrease in the cost of capital and the associated growth in investment appears rather modest in comparison to the large GDP growth effect (Bekaert and Harvey, 2005; Henry, 2000, 2003). Therefore, financial liberalization may have a positive impact on growth through its effect on the allocation of funds across firms and sectors.Free access to international capital markets allows the largest and most profitable domestic firms to borrow funds in foreign markets (Rajan and Zingales, 2003). As domestic banks loose some of their best clients, they reoptimize their lending practices seeking new clients among small and younger industrial firms. These firms are likely to be more risky than large and established companies. Screening of customers becomes prevalent as the return to screening rises. Banks, ceteris paribus, tend to focus on firms operating in comparative-advantage sectors because they are better risks. Firms in comparative-disadvantage sectors finding it harder to finance their entry into or survival in export markets either exit or refrain from entering export markets. On aggregate, one should therefore expect to see less entry, more exit, and shorter survival on export markets in those sectors after financial liberalization.The paper investigates the effect of financial liberalization on a country's export pattern by comparing the dynamics of entry and exit of different products in a country export portfolio before and after financial liberalization.The results suggest that products that lie far from the country's comparative advantage set tend to disappear relatively faster from the country's export portfolio following the liberalization of financial markets. In other words, financial liberalization tends to rebalance the composition of a country's export portfolio towards the products that intensively use the economy's abundant factors.

Alternativas de Investimentos Financeiros para as empresas em São Vicente

A tendência, hoje em dia, é para a captação directa das poupanças aos investidores. Esta captação faz-se através da emissão de produtos financeiros. Dada a incerteza e diversidade de produtos financeiros, o investidor terá de analisar cuidadosamente as múltiplas alternativas existentes e tomar a decisão de investir de acordo com a rendibilidade que pretende obter e o nível de risco que está disposto a correr. O trabalho ora apresentado espelha uma análise dos Riscos/Rendibilidade associados aos Investimentos Financeiros tais como Depósitos a Prazos, Obrigações, Acções e Bilhetes de Tesouro, com foco nos dois primeiros. O desenvolvimento da temática foi orientado numa primeira etapa para através da pesquisa necessária a construção do referencial teórico centrado por um lado, nos conceitos associados a mercados financeiros bem como os riscos associados as transacções desses produtos financeiros nesse mercado. Mencionamos diferentes tipos de produtos financeiros transaccionados neste mercado, bem como a importância da cotação destes produtos na Bolsa de Valores. A sustentabilidade deste rico referencial teórico ficou evidenciada através de um estudo de caso de uma empresa que dedica ao comércio - geral de Materiais de Construção, partindo de uma análise gráfica comparada que irá demonstrar qual o risco e a rendibilidade que há em canalizar parte do valor aplicado no depósito a prazo para investir em obrigações do BCA emitidas em Dezembro de 2010. Nowadays the tendency is for the reception all-nighter of the savings to the investors. This reception is made through the emission of financial products. Owing to the uncertainty and diversity of financial products, the investor has to analyze carefully the multiple existent alternatives and then decide to invest according to the profitability he intends to obtain and the risk level he is willing to run. The work for now presented mirrors an analysis of the risks / profitability associated to the Financial Investments as Deposits to periods, Obligations, Shares, Tickets of Treasury, with focus in the first two. The development of the theme was guided in a first stage for through the necessary research for the construction of the theoretical referential system centered on one side, in the concepts associated to financial markets as well as the risks associated to the transactions of those financial products in that market. We referred to different types of financial products transacted in this market, as well as the importance of the quotation of these products in the stock exchange. The sustainability of this rich theoretical referential system was evidenced through a study of case of a company that dedicates to the trade of construction materials, leaving from a compared analysis that will demonstrate Which the risk and the profitability that there is in channeling part of the applied value in the deposit to period to invest in obligations of „BCA‟ emitted in December of 2010.

Bundling and competition for slots: Sequential pricing

In this paper we study, as in Jeon-Menicucci (2009), competition between sellerswhen each of them sells a portfolio of distinct products to a buyer having limitedslots. This paper considers sequential pricing and complements our main paper (Jeon-Menicucci, 2009) that considers simultaneous pricing.First, Jeon-Menicucci (2009) find that under simultaneous individual pricing, equilibriumoften does not exist and hence the outcome is often inefficient. By contrast,equilibrium always exists under sequential individual pricing and we characterize it inthis paper. We find that each seller faces a trade-off between the number of slots heoccupies and surplus extraction per product, and there is no particular reason thatthis leads to an efficient allocation of slots.Second, Jeon-Menicucci (2009) find that when bundling is allowed, there alwaysexists an efficient equilibrium but inefficient equilibria can also exist due to purebundling (for physical products) or slotting contracts. Under sequential pricing,we find that all equilibria are efficient regardless of whether firms can use slottingcontracts, and both for digital goods and for physical goods. Therefore, sequentialpricing presents an even stronger case for laissez-faire in the matter of bundling thansimultaneous pricing.

Are rules-based government programs shielded from special-interest politics? Evidence from revenue-sharing transfers in Brazil

Manipulation of government finances for the benefit of narrowly defined groups is usuallythought to be limited to the part of the budget over which politicians exercise discretion inthe short run, such as earmarks. Analyzing a revenue-sharing program between the centraland local governments in Brazil that uses an allocation formula based on local population estimates,I document two main results: first, that the population estimates entering the formulawere manipulated and second, that this manipulation was political in nature. Consistent withswing-voter targeting by the right-wing central government, I find that municipalities withroughly equal right-wing and non-right-wing vote shares benefited relative to opposition orconservative core support municipalities. These findings suggest that the exclusive focus ondiscretionary transfers in the extant empirical literature on special-interest politics may understatethe true scope of tactical redistribution that is going on under programmatic disguise.

Characterization of NALP2 and NALP3 IL-1β processing inflammasomes

Résumé II y a cinq ans, la découverte d'un nouveau domaine, le PYD domaine, lié aux domaines de la mort, a permis la description de la nouvelle famille des NALP protéines. L'analyse structurelle de cette famille de protéines révéla la présence de deux autres domaines, impliqués dans l'oligomerisation, NACHT, et la détection des ligands, Leucine rich repeats ou LRR. Cette architecture protéique est homologue à celle qui est décrite pour les NODs, les Tol1 récepteurs et tes protéines de résistance chez les plantes. Cette homologie suggère une possible implication des NALPs dans la régulation de l'immunité innée. Premièrement, nous avons décrit les composants minimaux qui permettent à l'inflammasomeNALP3 d'activer la caspase pro-inflammatoire, caspase-1. En comparaison à NALP1, NALP3 ne contient pas de FIIND domaine, ni de CARD domaine en C-terminus et n'interagit pas avec caspase-5. Nous avons découvert une protéine très homologue au C-terminus de NALP1, Cardinal, qui se lie au NACHT domaine de NALP2 et NALP3 par l'intermédiaire de son FIIND domaine. Cardinal possède la capacité d'interagir avec caspase-l, mais seul ASC semble être nécessaire à la maturation de la prointerleukine-1β suite à la stimulation de NALP3. Deuxièmement, notre étude s'est concentrée sur la nature du stimulus capable d'induire la formation et l'activation de l'inflammasome-NALP3. Nous avons démontré que l'ajout de muramyl dipeptide (MDP), produit à partir de la digestion enzymatique de peptidoglycaris bactériens, induit à la fois l'expression de la proIL-1β par la voie NOD2 et sa maturation en IL-1β active par la voie NALP3. Bien que le MDP active l'inflammasome-NALP3, il est incapable d'induire la sécrétion de l'IL-1β mature dans la lignée cellulaire THP1, comparé aux monocytes primaires humains. Cette différence pourrait être liée à l'absence, dans les THP1, de la protéine Filamin, qui est proposée d'interagir avec Cardinal. L'implication de NALP3 dans la maturation de l'IL-lb est confirmée suite à la découverte de mutations sur le gène CIAS1/NALP3/cryopyrin associées à trois maladies auto-inflammatoires : le syndrome de Muckle-Wells (MWS), l'urticaire familial au froid (FCU) et le syndrome CINCA/NOMID. Une élévation constitutive de la maturation et de la sécrétion de la proIL-1β en absence de stimulation MDP est détectée dans les macrophages des patients Muckle-Wells. En conclusion, nos études ont démontré que l'inflammasome-NALP3 doit être finement régulé pour éviter une activité incontrôlée qui représente la base moléculaire des symptômes associés aux syndromes auto-inflammatoires liés à NALP3. Summary Five years ago, the description of the NALP family originated from the discovery of a new death-domain fold family, the PYD domain. NALP contains aprotein-protein interaction domain (PYD), an oligomerization domain (NACHT) and a ligand-sensing domain, leucine rich repeats or LRR. This protein architecture shares similarity with receptors involved in immunity, such as NODS, Toll receptors (TLRs) and related plant resistance proteins, and points to an important role of NALPs in defense mechanisms. We first described the minimal complex involved in the pro-inflammatory Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) cytokine maturation, called the inflammasome, which contains NALP3. In contrast to NALP1, NALP3, like other members of the NALP family, is devoid of C-terminal FIIND and CARD domains and does not interact with the pro-inflammatory caspase-5. Interestingly, a homolog of the C-terminal portion of NALP1 was found in the human genome and was named Cardinal. We found that NALP2 and NALP3 interact with the CARD-containing proteins Cardinal. Cardinal is able to bind to caspase-1 but is not required for IL-1β maturation through NALP3 activation, as demonstrated for the adaptor ASC. Secondly, our study focused on the stimuli involved in the activation of the NALP3 inflammasome. MDP was shown to induce the expression of proIL1β through NOD2 and then the maturation into active IL-1β by activation of the NALP3 inflammasome. However, in the monocytic THP1 cell line, secretion of IL-1β upon MDP stimulation seems to be independent of the inflammasome activation compared to human primary monocytes. This difference might be linked to a Cardinal-interacting protein, filamin. Until now, the role of Cardinal and filamin is still unknown and remains to be elucidated. Finally, mutations in the NALP3/cryopyrin/CIAS1 gene are associated with three autoinflammatory diseases: Muckle-Wells syndrome, familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome, and CINCA. Constitutive, elevated IL-1β maturation and secretion, even in the absence of MDP stimulation, was observed in macrophages from Muckle-Wells patients and confirmed a key role for the NALP3 inflammasome in innate immunity In conclusion, our studies describes the formation of the NALP3 inflammasome and suggests that this complex has to be tightly regulated to avoid an increased deregulated inflammasome activity that is the molecular basis for the symptoms associated with NALP3-dependent autoinflammatory disorders.

Productivity and the welfare of nations

We show that the welfare of a representative consumer can be related to observable aggregatedata. To a first order, the change in welfare is summarized by (the present value of) the Solowproductivity residual and by the growth rate of the capital stock per capita. We also show thatproductivity and the capital stock suffice to calculate differences in welfare across countries, withboth variables computed as log level deviations from a reference country. These results hold forarbitrary production technology, regardless of the degree of product market competition, and applyto open economies as well if TFP is constructed using absorption rather than GDP as the measureof output. They require that TFP be constructed using prices and quantities as perceived byconsumers. Thus, factor shares need to be calculated using after-tax wages and rental rates, andwill typically sum to less than one. We apply these results to calculate welfare gaps and growthrates in a sample of developed countries for which high-quality TFP and capital data are available.We find that under realistic scenarios the United Kingdom and Spain had the highest growth ratesof welfare over our sample period of 1985-2005, but the United States had the highest level ofwelfare.

Money doctors

We present a new model of money management, in which investors delegate portfolio management to professionals based not only on performance, but also on trust. Trust in the manager reduces an investor's perception of the riskiness of a given investment, and allows managers to charge higher fees to investors who trust them more. Money managers compete for investor funds by setting their fees, but because of trust the fees do not fall to costs. In the model, 1) managers consistently underperform the market net of fees but investors still prefer to delegate money management to taking risk on their own, 2) fees involve sharing of expected returns between managers and investors, with higher fees in riskier products, 3) managers pander to investors when investors exhibit biases in their beliefs, and do not correct misperceptions, and 4) despite long run benefits from better performance, the profits from pandering to trusting investors discourage managers from pursuing contrarian strategies relative to the case with no trust. We show how trust-mediated money management renders arbitrage less effective, and may help destabilize financial markets.

Organisational values as "attractors of chaos": An emerging cultural change to manage organisational complexity

Business organisations are excellent representations of what in physics and mathematics are designated "chaotic" systems. Because a culture of innovation will be vital for organisational survival in the 21st century, the present paper proposes that viewing organisations in terms of "complexity theory" may assist leaders in fine-tuning managerial philosophies that provide orderly management emphasizing stability within a culture of organised chaos, for it is on the "boundary of chaos" that the greatest creativity occurs. It is argued that 21st century companies, as chaotic social systems, will no longer be effectively managed by rigid objectives (MBO) nor by instructions (MBI). Their capacity for self-organisation will be derived essentially from how their members accept a shared set of values or principles for action (MBV). Complexity theory deals with systems that show complex structures in time or space, often hiding simple deterministic rules. This theory holds that once these rules are found, it is possible to make effective predictions and even to control the apparent complexity. The state of chaos that self-organises, thanks to the appearance of the "strange attractor", is the ideal basis for creativity and innovation in the company. In this self-organised state of chaos, members are not confined to narrow roles, and gradually develop their capacity for differentiation and relationships, growing continuously toward their maximum potential contribution to the efficiency of the organisation. In this way, values act as organisers or "attractors" of disorder, which in the theory of chaos are equations represented by unusually regular geometric configurations that predict the long-term behaviour of complex systems. In business organisations (as in all kinds of social systems) the starting principles end up as the final principles in the long term. An attractor is a model representation of the behavioral results of a system. The attractor is not a force of attraction or a goal-oriented presence in the system; it simply depicts where the system is headed based on its rules of motion. Thus, in a culture that cultivates or shares values of autonomy, responsibility, independence, innovation, creativity, and proaction, the risk of short-term chaos is mitigated by an overall long-term sense of direction. A more suitable approach to manage the internal and external complexities that organisations are currently confronting is to alter their dominant culture under the principles of MBV.

Relationship Between the Development of the Spinal Canal and the Etiopathogenesis of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

INTRODUCTION: The presence of a pre-existing narrow spinal canal may have an important place in the ethiopathogenesis of lumbar spinal stenosis. By consequence the study of the development of the spinal canal is crucial. The first goal of this work is to do a comprehensive literature search and to give an essential view on the development of spinal canal and its depending factors studied until now. The second goal is to give some considerations and hypothesize new leads for clinically useful researches. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A bibliographical research was executed using different search engines: PubMed, Google Schoolar ©, Ovid ® and Web Of Science ©. Free sources and avaible from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) were used. At the end of the bibliographic researches 114 references were found, 85 were free access and just 41 were cited in this work. Most of the found references are in English or in French. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The spinal canal is principally limited by the vertebrae which have a mesodermal origin. The nervous (ectodermal) tissue significantly influences the growth of the canal. The most important structure participating in the spinal canal growth is the neurocentral synchondrosis in almost the entire vertebral column. The fusion of the half posterior arches seems to have less importance for the canal size. The growth is not homogeneous but, depends on the vertebral level. Timing, rate and growth potentials differ by regions. Especially in the case of the lumbar segment, there is a craniocaudal tendency which entails a greater post-natal catch-up growth for distal vertebrae. Trefoil-shape of the L5 canal is the consequence of a sagittal growth deficiency. The spinal canal shares some developmental characteristics with different structures and systems, especially with the central nervous system. It may be the consequence of the embryological origin. It is supposed that not all the related structures would be affected by a growth impairment because of the different catch-up potentials. Studies found that narrower spinal canals might be related with cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms, lower thymic function, bone mineral content, dental hypoplasia and Harris' lines. Anthropometric correlations found at birth disappear during the pediatric age. All factors which can affect bone and nervous growth might be relevant. Genetic predispositions are the only factors that can never be changed but the real impact is to ascertain. During the antenatal period, all the elements determining a good supply of blood and oxygen may influence the vertebral canal development, for example smoking during pregnancy. Diet is a crucial factor having an impact on both antenatal and postnatal growth. Proteins intake is the only proved dietetic relationship found in the bibliographic research of this work. The mechanical effects due to locomotion changes are unknown. Socioeconomic situation has an impact on several influencing factors and it is difficult to study it owing to numerous bias. CONCLUSIONS: A correct growth of spinal canal is evidently relevant to prevent not-degenerative stenotic conditions. But a "congenital" narrower canal may aggravate degenerative stenosis. This concerns specific groups of patient. If the size of the canal is highly involved in the pathogenesis of common back pains, a hypothetical measure to prevent developmental impairments could have a not- negligible impact on the society. It would be interesting to study more about dietetic necessities for a good spinal canal development. Understanding the relationship between nervous tissues and vertebra it might be useful in identifying what is needed for the ideal development. Genetic importance and the post-natal influences of upright standing on the canal growth remain unsolved questions. All these tracks may have a double purpose: knowing if it is possible to decrease the incidence of narrower spinal canal and consequently finding possible preventive measures. The development of vertebral canal is a complex subject which ranges over a wide variety of fields. The knowledge of this subject is an indispensable tool to understand and hypothesize the influencing factors that might lead to stenotic conditions. Unfortunately, a lack of information makes difficult to have a complete and satisfactory interdisciplinary vision.