Audit report on the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency, Des Moines, for the year ended June 30, 2006

Audit report on the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency, Des Moines, for the year ended June 30, 2006.

The Swiss Business Elite (1980-2000): How the Changing Composition of the Elite Explains the Decline of the Swiss Company Network

In this paper we analyse the decline of the Swiss corporate network between 1980 and 2000. We address the theoretical and methodological challenge of this transformation by the use of a combination of network analysis and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Based on a sample of top managers of the 110 largest Swiss companies in 1980 and 2000 we show that, beyond an adjustment to structural pressure, an explanation of the decline of the network has to include the strategies of the fractions of the business elites. We reveal that three factors contribute crucially to the decline of the Swiss corporate network: the managerialization of industrial leaders, the marginalization of law degree holders and the influx of hardly connected foreign managers.

Midwest Regional Rail Passenger Initiative Status Report December 2006

This report is submitted as required per Code of Iowa section 327J.3(5), "The director shall report annually to the general assembly concerning the development and operation of the midwest regional rail system and the state's passenger rail service." The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) is a nine-state effort to develop an implementation plan for a 3,000-mile, high-speed rail system hubbed in Chicago. Studies done since 1996 have concluded that such a regional system, including a line from Chicago to Omaha through Davenport, Iowa City and Des Moines, is viable. Most of the system would be upgraded to allow 110 mile-per-hour service. Some low volume lines, including the Iowa portions, would be upgraded for 79 mile-per-hour service. The nine-state coalition released an updated 2004 executive report for the system. As reported, the updated cost estimate for the Chicago to Omaha corridor, which includes a branch to Quincy, Ill., is $638 million for infrastructure and $167 million for rolling stock. These costs are higher than first estimated in 1998 and are given in 2002 dollars, (not adjusted for the cost of inflation). Operating subsidies would be required during an extended start-up phase. The allocation of these subsidy costs among the various states has not been determined, and is still a subject for analysis and negotiation. Little progress on implementation is expected unless a federal funding package is passed for passenger rail initiatives. Continued congressional discussion on policy directions relative to Amtrak clouds the issue of passenger rail funding. However, Congress is expected to address passenger rail issues and funding in 2007. Participation of the Iowa Department of Transportation in the MWRRI is authorized under Iowa Code section 327J.3.

COMUNICAÇÃO INTERNA COMO FACTOR DE MUDANÇA ORGANIZACIONAL ESTUDO DE CASO: Hospital Regional Santiago Norte

O presente trabalho aborda o Tema «Comunicação Interna como Factor de Mudança Organizacional», que tem como objectivo analisar o impacto de Comunicação Interna na Mudança Organizacional. Utilizou-se a pesquisa exploratória de cunho qualitativo e quantitativo, tendo como método o Estudo de Caso o Hospital Regioinal Santiago Norte. Os dados foram obtidos através de estudos bibliográficos e aplicação de questionários aos colaboradores da instituição e mostra a divergência de opiniões dos inquiridos.

Audit report on the South Central Iowa Regional E-911 Service Board for the year ended June 30, 2006

Audit report on the South Central Iowa Regional E-911 Service Board for the year ended June 30, 2006

Rivers Regional Patterns in Historic Data

A report produced by the Department of Natural Resources on the historical pattern the rivers take.

The effect of university culture and stakeholders' perceptions on university-business linking activities

The present work discusses the effects of university culture and structure on university-business relations, focusing on knowledge transfer activities. It puts forward the thesis that when links between university and business are introduced into the university system as a turn-key proposition rather than as developmental process, the prevailing university culture and structure will exert resistance against change and will oppose the creation of appropriate structures to promote them, with deleterious effects for the university.

Regional cortical volumes and congenital heart disease: a MRI study in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) who survive surgery often present impaired neurodevelopment and qualitative brain anomalies. However, the impact of CHD on total or regional brain volumes only received little attention. We address this question in a sample of patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), a neurogenetic condition frequently associated with CHD. Sixty-one children, adolescents, and young adults with confirmed 22q11.2 deletion were included, as well as 80 healthy participants matched for age and gender. Subsequent subdivision of the patients group according to CHD yielded a subgroup of 27 patients with normal cardiac status and a subgroup of 26 patients who underwent cardiac surgery during their first years of life (eight patients with unclear status were excluded). Regional cortical volumes were extracted using an automated method and the association between regional cortical volumes, and CHD was examined within a three-condition fixed factor. Robust protection against type I error used Bonferroni correction. Smaller total cerebral volumes were observed in patients with CHD compared to both patients without CHD and controls. The pattern of bilateral regional reductions associated with CHD encompassed the superior parietal region, the precuneus, the fusiform gyrus, and the anterior cingulate cortex. Within patients, a significant reduction in the left parahippocampal, the right middle temporal, and the left superior frontal gyri was associated with CHD. The present results of global and regional volumetric reductions suggest a role for disturbed hemodynamic in the pathophysiology of brain alterations in patients with neurodevelopmental disease and cardiac malformations.

International business cycles, financial markets and household production

This paper investigates the properties of an international real business cycle model with household production. We show that a model with disturbances to both market and household technologies reproduces the main regularities of the data and improves existing models in matching international consumption, investment and output correlations without irrealistic assumptions on the structure of international financial markets. Sensitivity analysis shows the robustness of the results to alternative specifications of the stochastic processes for the disturbances and to variations of unmeasured parameters within a reasonable range.

Loss of interactions with ants under cold climate in a regional myrmecophilous butterfly fauna

Aim Specialized mutualistic clades may revert and thus increase their autonomy and generalist characteristics. However, our understanding of the drivers that trigger reductions in mutualistic traits and of the consequences for the tolerance of these species to various environmental conditions remains limited. This study investigates the relationship between the environmental niche and the degree of myrmecophily (i.e. the ability to interact with ants) among members of the Lycaenidae. Location The western Swiss Alps. Methods We measured the tolerance of Lycaenidae species to low temperatures by comparing observations from a random stratified field sampling with climatic maps. We then compared the species-specific degree of myrmecophily with the species range limits at colder temperatures while controlling for phylogenetic dependence. We further evaluated whether the community-averaged degree of myrmecophily increases with temperature, as would be expected in the case of environmental filters acting on myrmecophilous species. Results Twenty-nine Lycaenidae species were found during sampling. Ancestral state reconstruction indicated that the 24 species of Polyommatinae displayed both strong myrmecophily and secondary loss of mutualism; these species were used in the subsequent statistical analyses. Species with a higher degree of ant interaction were, on average, more likely to inhabit warmer sites. Species inhabiting the coldest environments displayed little or no interaction with ants. Main conclusions Colder climates at high elevations filter out species with a high degree of myrmecophily and may have been the direct evolutionary force that promoted the loss of mutualism. A larger taxon sampling across the Holarctic may help to distinguish between the ecological and evolutionary effects of climate.