Cashing by the hour: Why large law firms prefer hourly fees over contingent fees

Large law firms seem to prefer hourly fees over contingent fees. Thispaper provides a moral hazard explanation for this pattern of behavior.Contingent legal fees align the interests of the attorney with those ofthe client, but not necessarily with those of the partnership. We showthat the choice of hourly fees is a solution to an agency problem withmultiple principals, where the interests of one principal (law firm)collide with the interests of the other principal (client).

Asymptotic robust inferences in the analysis of mean and covariance structures

Structural equation models are widely used in economic, socialand behavioral studies to analyze linear interrelationships amongvariables, some of which may be unobservable or subject to measurementerror. Alternative estimation methods that exploit different distributionalassumptions are now available. The present paper deals with issues ofasymptotic statistical inferences, such as the evaluation of standarderrors of estimates and chi--square goodness--of--fit statistics,in the general context of mean and covariance structures. The emphasisis on drawing correct statistical inferences regardless of thedistribution of the data and the method of estimation employed. A(distribution--free) consistent estimate of $\Gamma$, the matrix ofasymptotic variances of the vector of sample second--order moments,will be used to compute robust standard errors and a robust chi--squaregoodness--of--fit squares. Simple modifications of the usual estimateof $\Gamma$ will also permit correct inferences in the case of multi--stage complex samples. We will also discuss the conditions under which,regardless of the distribution of the data, one can rely on the usual(non--robust) inferential statistics. Finally, a multivariate regressionmodel with errors--in--variables will be used to illustrate, by meansof simulated data, various theoretical aspects of the paper.

Towards equivalent health care of prisoners: European soft law and public health policy in Geneva.

Prisoners have a right to health care and to be protected against inhumane and degrading treatment. Health care personnel and public policy makers play a central role in the protection of these rights and in the pursuit of public health goals. This article examines the legal framework for prison medicine in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland and provides examples of this framework that has shaped prisoners' medical care, including preventive measures. Geneva constitutes an intriguing example of how the Council of Europe standards concerning prison medicine have acquired a legal role in a Swiss canton. Learning how these factors have influenced implementation of prison medicine standards in Geneva may be helpful to public health managers elsewhere and encourage the use of similar strategies.

Influence of the timing of cardiac surgery on the outcome of patients with infective endocarditis and stroke.

BACKGROUND: The timing of cardiac surgery after stroke in infective endocarditis (IE) remains controversial. We examined the relationship between the timing of surgery after stroke and the incidence of in-hospital and 1-year mortalities. METHODS: Data were obtained from the International Collaboration on Endocarditis-Prospective Cohort Study of 4794 patients with definite IE who were admitted to 64 centers from June 2000 through December 2006. Multivariate logistic regression and Cox regression analyses were performed to estimate the impact of early surgery on hospital and 1-year mortality after adjustments for other significant covariates. RESULTS: Of the 857 patients with IE complicated by ischemic stroke syndromes, 198 who underwent valve replacement surgery poststroke were available for analysis. Overall, 58 (29.3%) patients underwent early surgical treatment vs 140 (70.7%) patients who underwent late surgical treatment. After adjustment for other risk factors, early surgery was not significantly associated with increased in-hospital mortality rates (odds ratio, 2.308; 95% confidence interval [CI], .942-5.652). Overall, probability of death after 1-year follow-up did not differ between 2 treatment groups (27.1% in early surgery and 19.2% in late surgery group, P = .328; adjusted hazard ratio, 1.138; 95% CI, .802-1.650). CONCLUSIONS: There is no apparent survival benefit in delaying surgery when indicated in IE patients after ischemic stroke. Further observational analyses that include detailed pre- and postoperative clinical neurologic findings and advanced imaging data (eg, ischemic stroke size), may allow for more refined recommendations on the optimal timing of valvular surgery in patients with IE and recent stroke syndromes.

Capacidades de Timing e Selectividade dos Gestores de Fundos de Investimento Mobiliário: Evidência Empírica para o Caso Português

Com esta investigação propomos analisar o desempenho de uma amostra de fundos de investimento mobiliário portugueses, durante o período Janeiro de 2002 a Dezembro de 2009, utilizando a medida de Jensen (1968) e a metodologia de timing proposta por Henriksson e Merton (1981). Os resultados obtidos pela medida de Jensen sugerem que, no geral, os fundos têm desempenhos inferiores ao mercado na ordem dos 0,34% ao ano. Contudo este valor não é estatisticamente significante. Os fundos internacionais conseguem “bater” o mercado, enquanto os fundos nacionais e fundos da União Europeia têm desempenhos inferiores. Tendo por base a medida de Henriksson e Merton (1981), verificamos que os gestores possuem poucas capacidades de selectividade (0,42% ao ano) e falham nas suas previsões quanto à evolução do mercado – timing. Enquanto os gestores internacionais parecem evidenciar melhores capacidades de selectividade, os gestores nacionais registam melhores capacidades de timing. Os resultados sugerem igualmente que existe uma acentuada correlação negativa entre ambas as componentes do desempenho e uma distance effect na componente timing. Os testes realizados através de metodologias não condicionais e condicionais confirmam a robustez dos resultados iniciais em relação à especificação do modelo. No entanto, sugerem que, em média, a introdução de factores de risco adicionais e sua posterior combinação com informação condicional em pouco afecta as estimativas de timing, mas melhora os coeficientes de determinação e as estimativas de selectividade, sendo, em média, os alfas condicionais maiores que os alfas não condicionais.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, The "Right-to-Cancel" Law - Know Your Rights!, May 2006

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: The "Right-to-Cancel" Law - Know Your Rights!

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, "Lemon Law" -- Know Your Rights!, February 2003

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Iowa's "Lemon Law" -- Know Your Rights!

It's parties that choose electoral systems (or Duverger's Law upside down)

This article presents, discusses and tests the hypothesis that it is the number of parties what can explain the choice of electoral systems, rather than the other way round. Already existing political parties tend to choose electoral systems that, rather than generate new party systems by themselves, will crystallize, consolidate or reinforce previously existing party configurations. A general model develops the argument and presents the concept of 'behavioral-institutional equilibrium' to account for the relation between electoral systems and party systems. The most comprehensive dataset and test of these notions to date, encompassing 219 elections in 87 countries since the 19th century, are presented. The analysis gives strong support to the hypotheses that political party configurations dominated by a few parties tend to establish majority rule electoral systems, while multiparty systems already existed before the introduction of proportional representation. It also offers the new theoretical proposition that strategic party choice of electoral systems leads to a general trend toward proportional representation over time.

Characterization of functional role of α-ketoglutarate receptor in the kidney : role of the intrinsic circadian timing system in renin expressing cells

Le rein joue un rôle essential dans le maintien de l'homéostasie des fluides extracellulaires (FEC) et la pression artérielle. L'objectif de notre groupe est d'identifier de nouveaux mécanismes impliqués dans le contrôle de l'homéostasie des FEC et de la pression artérielle par le rein. Projet 1) Caractérisation du rôle fonctionnel du récepteur à l'a-cétogluatarate Oxgrl dans le rein Oxgrl est le récepteur spécifique de l'a-cétogluatarate, une moléule intermédiaire du cycle de l'acide citrique, filtrée par le rein et réabsorbée ou secrétée au niveau des tubules proximaux. Le rôle fonctionnel de ces deux récepteurs reste inconnu. Nos résultats montrent qu'Oxgrl est localisé au niveau des cellules intercalaires du tube collecteur (CCD). Des souris (Oxgrr/_) montrent une diminution du pH urinaire ,une augmentation de la concentration de l'acide urinaire titrable et une augmentation des niveaux d'a-cétoglutarate. Le traitement au Na-bicarbonate provoque une augmentation plus prononcée de l'alcalose métabolique chez les souris Oxgrl"7"' accompagnée d'une augmentation de la concentration de bicarbonate et une diminution du niveau de chlore plasmatique. En parallèle, des études de microperfusion ont montré que a-cétoglutarate stimule la réabsorption éléctroneutre de NaCl dans le CCD des souris de type sauvage mais pas des souris Oxgrl"7". En résumé, ces résultats montrent que l'a-cétoglutarate joue un rôle de molécule messagère du tubule proximal jusqu'au tube collecteur au niveau du rein et qu'Oxgrl pourrait être impliqué dans la régulation de l'échange Cl/bicarbonate et la réabsorption du NaCl dans les cellules intercalées. Projet 2) Rôle du système circadien dans les cellules productrices de rénine. Le système chronologique circadien est un mécanisme moléculaire ubiquitaire qui permet à l'organisme de coordonner ses fonctions principales en fonction du temps géophysique. Comme l'activité de la rénine plasmatique montre une rythmicité circadienne nette chez l'homme et la souris ; dans ce projet, nous avons abordé la question à savoir dans quelle mesure le système circadien est impliqué dans cette variabilité circadienne. Pour cela, le gène Bmall, élément principal de l'horloge moléculaire, a été perturbé dans les cellules granulaires productrices de rénine par le système Cre-LoxP. Nos résultats montrent que les souris Renld- Cre/Bmalllox/lox (cKO) présentent de faibles taux d'ARNm de Reni, altèrent la dynamique d'expression de la protéine rénine, mais il le niveau de concentration plasmatique de la rénine reste le même. Cependant, les souris cKO montrent une réduction significative de la concentration plasmatique de l'aldostérone. Nos analyses de l'urine récupérée dans des intervalles de temps de 24 et 1 heure montrent une augmentation du volume urinaire, une tendance à une hypercalciurie, ainsi qu'une altération de la dynamique d'excrétion urinaire de sodium chez les souris cKO. Plusieurs gènes impliqués dans la production/sécrétion de la rénine et dans le contrôle de la fonction rénale montrent une altération de l'expression circadienne d'ARNm. Par ailleurs, les souris cKO montrent une baisse significative de la pression artérielle. Nos résultats suggèrent que l'horloge intrinsèque des cellules productrices de la rénine joue un rôle important dans le control des FEC et l'homéostasie de la pression artérielle via régulation de la fonction rénale.

Le juge en droit européen et international = The Judge in European and International Law

Le juge et son rôle ont été thématisés abondamment en théorie du droit, mais toujours sous l'angle du droit et du juge internes. On pensera ainsi aux questions des rapports entre justice et politique ou démocratie, ou encore au rôle créateur de droit du juge en cas de lacune juridique et à la légitimité du droit dit prétorien. Pour autant que l'on considère qu'il s'agisse bien d'un juge, le juge international ou européen et sa fonction judiciaire posent des problèmes de même type certes bien que plus aigus, mais aussi des difficultés nouvelles auxquelles la théorie du droit n'a pas encore donné de réponses. Le présent ouvrage tente d'identifier ces difficultés théoriques propres au juge international ou européen et d'apporter des débuts de réponse. Fruit du sixième colloque doctoral de l'Ecole doctorale Fondements du droit européen et international et quatrième volume de la collection du même nom, il réunit des contributions en anglais et en français rédigées par des doctorants des universités suisses romandes et alémaniques et d'universités européennes partenaires, mais aussi d'intervenants externes invités aux différentes sessions du colloque.

Iowa Tax Expenditures Report 2000

Exemptions, exclusions, credits against tax and reductions in tax base that are tied to specific provisions in tax law; estimation of the annual dollar effect for each of those provisions. Phase 1 Report including Corporate Income, Individual Income, Sales Tax Use Tax.

Contrasting magma types and timing of intrusion in the Permian layered mafic complex of Mont Collon (Western Alps, Valais, Switzerland): evidence from U/Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar amphibole dating

We have selected and dated three contrasting rock-types representative of the magmatic activity within the Permian layered mafic complex of Mont Collon, Austroalpine Dent Blanche nappe, Western Alps. A pegmatitic gabbro associated to the main cumulus sequence yields a concordant U/Pb zircon age of 284.2 +/- 0.6 Ma, whereas a pegmatitic granite dike crosscutting the latter yields a concordant age of 282.9 +/- 0.6 Ma. A Fe-Ti-rich ultrabasic lamprophyre, crosscutting all other lithologies of the complex, yields an 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 260.2 +/- 0.7 Ma on a kaersutite concentrate. All ages are interpreted as magmatic. Sub-contemporaneous felsic dikes within the Mont Collon complex are ascribed to anatectic back-veining from the country-rock, related to the emplacement of the main gabbroic body in the continental crust, which is in accordance with new isotopic data. The lamprophyres have isotopic compositions typical of a depleted mantle, in contrast to those of the cumulate gabbros, close to values of the Bulk Silicate Earth. This indicates either contrasting sources for the two magma pulses - the subcontinental lithospheric mantle for the gabbros and the underlying asthenosphere for the lamprophyres - or a single depleted lithospheric source with variable degrees of crustal contamination of the gabbroic melts during their emplacement in the continental crust. The Mont Collon complex belongs to a series of Early Permian mafic massifs, which emplaced in a short time span about 285-280 Ma ago, in a limited sector of the post-Variscan continental crust now corresponding to the Austroalpine/ Southern Alpine domains and Corsica. This magmatic activity was controlled in space and time by crustal-scale transtensional shear zones.

An adaptation of correspondence analysis for square tables

The application of correspondence analysis to square asymmetrictables is often unsuccessful because of the strong role played by thediagonal entries of the matrix, obscuring the data off the diagonal. A simplemodification of the centering of the matrix, coupled with the correspondingchange in row and column masses and row and column metrics, allows the tableto be decomposed into symmetric and skew--symmetric components, which canthen be analyzed separately. The symmetric and skew--symmetric analyses canbe performed using a simple correspondence analysis program if the data areset up in a special block format.

Impact of navigator timing on free-breathing submillimeter 3D coronary magnetic resonance angiography.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of navigator timing on image quality in navigator-gated and real-time motion-corrected, free-breathing, three-dimensional (3D) coronary MR angiography (MRA) with submillimeter spatial image resolution. Both phantom and in vivo investigations were performed. 3D coronary MRA with real-time navigator technology was applied using variable navigator time delays (time delay between the navigator and imaging sequences) and varying spatial resolutions. Quantitative objective and subjective image quality parameters were assessed. For high-resolution imaging, reduced image quality was found as a function of increasing navigator time delay. Lower spatial resolution coronary MRA showed only minor sensitivity to navigator timing. These findings were consistent among volunteers and phantom experiments. In conclusion, for submillimeter navigator-gated and real-time motion-corrected 3D coronary MRA, shortening the time delay between the navigator and the imaging portion of the sequence becomes increasingly important for improved spatial resolution.