State bank transformation in Brazil - choices and consequences

The authors analyze the different options-liquidation, federalization, privatization, and restructuring-that the Brazilian state government had for the transformation of state banks under the Programa de Incentivo á Redução do Setor Público Estadual na Atividade Bancária (PROES) in the late 1990s. Specifically, they explore the factors behind the states'choices and the effects of the transformation process on bank performance and efficiency. The authors find that states that were more dependent on federal transfers, whose banks were already under federal intervention and that established development agencies were more likely to relinquish control over their banks and transformation processes. They also find that privatized banks had improved performance, while restructured banks did not.

Sediment and phosphorus dynamics within the channel and floodplain of Walnut Creek, Iowa

Excessive loadings of sediment and phosphorus (P) to waterways are prime water quality impairments within both the agricultural Midwestern United States of America (USA) and globally. Streambanks, floodplains, and channel beds may all significantly influence watershed export of suspended sediment (SS) and total phosphorus (TP), yet mechanisms at the watershed scale are poorly understood. This study seeks to investigate the dynamic influences of streambank erosion, channel-floodplain connectivity, and in-channel storage on SS and TP export within Walnut Creek, a third-order, alluvial stream channel in central Iowa, USA. Channel cross sectional change data suggest that Walnut Creek is currently experiencing degradation and widening (stage IV of channel evolution) in response to historic land use and hydrologic alterations. Over study duration, Walnut Creek’s streambanks were estimated to contribute the equivalent of 4.0 to 43.9% of previously reported annual watershed SS loads, and the equivalent of 2.7 to 37.5% of TP loads. It was estimated that colluvial material, generated from streambank mass wasting and subaerial weathering and erosion processes, dominated bank SS and TP contributions to loads. An increase in channel cross sectional area of ~17% over 16 years has reduced the lateral connectivity between Walnut Creek and its floodplain. Overbank discharge threshold (i.e., discharge required to force streamflow to exit channel and inundate floodplain) increased 15% over the same time period, resulting in decreases in annual suspended sediment (-24%) and TP (-26%) fluxes to floodplain storage. Walnut Creek was estimated to store sediment at the rate of ~2.7 Mg per m channel length, and TP at the rate of 0.7 Mg per m channel length. Sinuous reaches (sinuousity \u3e 1.2) stored a significantly greater (p \u3c 0.001) volume of sediment than straight reaches, and also exhibited significantly greater (p \u3c 0.001) sediment depth. In-channel storage may be a significant component of watershed sediment and TP budgets. Total in-channel sediment storage was estimated at 36,554 Mg, ~3.25 times greater than the 2015 watershed SS load. Rehabilitation strategies that decrease channel conveyance and velocities (e.g., introduced meandering) may increase streambank stability, restore channel-floodplain connectivity, and reduce watershed export of SS and TP

The Meaning of Philippians 2:6

My aim was to find out what the text means. Some of the conclusions differ from the doctrinal statements of men whom I respect very highly. I made no special effort to uphold Lutheran doctrine. It was therefore reassuring to see how the text, freed of all encumbrances, strands there in its simple doctrinal glory

Innovation and Foreign Investment Behavior of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry

This paper deals with the links between the development of new drugs, and particularly of innovative new drugs, and the international activities of U.S. drug companies. While U.S. drug companies have developed new production processes - the most notable being the fermentation process for making penicillin - we concentrate in this paper on new products. Since production costs comprise less than 40 percent of the selling price of drugs and since the person choosing the drug rarely pays for it, growth in company sales and profits comes more from introducing new products than from cutting costs and prices of old products. The main novelty of our study is our examination of "innovative" as contrasted with "imitative" new drugs. Previous studies have generally focused on the total number of new drugs produced each year, but since our interest is in the causes and consequences of innovation, we have concentrated on the products we have rated as innovative. Section I explains our criteria for this distinction and presents our enumeration of the innovative new drugs for each of the 22 companies in our sample. In Section II we discuss trends in the rate of drug innovation and the factors influencing those trends. Section III describes our sample of drug companies and characterizes them with respect to their size, research investment, and innovativeness. Section IV examines the relation of innovativeness to the foreign activities of individual firms. In Section V we analyze, for a sample of 7 new drugs introduced by two companies, the rate at which use of the drugs was diffused among various countries arid the impact of the presence of manufacturing plants on the rate of diffusion.

Development of Small Molecules as Chemical Tools for Investigating the Role of Metal-Protein Interactions in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Metals play an essential part in biological processes in humans. When these beneficial metal ions become misregulated, the resulting metal ion dyshomeostasis can be catastrophic. This occurs in several neurodegenerative diseases where the aberrant interactions of metal ions with proteins can lead to their abnormal aggregation, production of oxidative stress, and neuronal death (reactivity). To better understand the role of metal−protein complexes in the pathogenesis of these diseases, small molecules have been developed as chemical tools that target these complexes and mediate their reactivity. In this thesis, first, design considerations along with the approaches of developing and studying the activity of such molecules were discussed in the context of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Next, one such compound, L2-b, was demonstrated to target metal complexes of amyloid-beta (Abeta), an AD pathological feature, over metal-free Abeta, and reduce the reactivity of these species using biochemical and biophysical techniques. Upon application of L2-b to 5XFAD AD model mice, metal−Abeta was targeted and modulated in the brain; amyloid pathology was reduced; and AD-associated cognitive deficits were improved. These in vivo studies are the first time experimental evidence has directly linked metal−Abeta to AD pathogenesis. Subsequent investigations developed new small molecules that could target and mediate abnormal metal-free and metal-induced reactivity. Initial studies began with a small series of stilbene-based compounds that were found to have different activity toward controlling metal-free Abeta and metal−Abeta reactivity despite their structural similarity. In-depth (bio)chemical and DFT calculations were also performed to propose modes of action for these molecules. This knowledge was then used to create a library of chemical tools that have different abilities toward mediating abnormal metal-free and metal-induced Abeta reactivity. Additionally, two more frameworks were developed and their ability to control metal−Abeta reactivity was explored. Overall, the small molecules designed and analyzed here demonstrate that increased mechanistic understanding of their activity allows for the development of compounds with targeted abilities to control the reactivity of metal−protein complexes. Application of such compounds in vivo could lead to the elucidation of the pathogenesis of these devastating diseases, which could result in effective therapeutic discovery.PhDChemistryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113567/1/beckmw_3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113567/2/beckmw_2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113567/3/beckmw_1.pd

Maritime mechanisms of contact and change: archaeological perspectives on the history and conduct of the Queensland labour trade

This thesis examines, from an archaeological perspective, the ‘maritime mechanisms’ of contact and change between Europeans and Indigenous populations (Islanders) in Oceania in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; in particular, how those mechanisms might be better understood through the application of archaeological methodology. For the purposes of this thesis, maritime mechanisms are defined as those mechanisms of contact and change associated with human activities on the sea. The Queensland labour trade is used as a case study. The key research questions are: • How were the Islanders being changed as a result of their participation in the Queensland labour trade? • Was the Queensland labour trade affected, changed or controlled by the Islanders involved in the trade, and • Did Victorian society and its values, as expressed in part through a changing legislative framework, have any influence on the Queensland labour trade? The thesis begins with a re-analysis of the historical sources, in particular citing the changing legislation that pertained to the Queensland labour trade. This analysis concentrates on understanding the nature of trade relationships within the islands before European influence and what changes seem to have come about after. Archaeological research centred on the wreck of the Foam, combined with my analysis of the artefacts recovered from this site by the Queensland Museum, are also key to this dissertation. The main conclusions fall into two groups. First, the more practical outcomes include the following; 1. schooners were the favoured types of vessels used across the labour trade, 2. some island groups were frequented more by recruiters than others, and 3. the ceramic armbands used as items of trade were not specifically manufactured for the Queensland labour trade but were part of a larger European trading system in which ceramic copies of Indigenous status goods were used as trade items from Africa across to Papua New Guinea and the South Sea Islands. Secondly, the broader conclusions are that; 1. when analysed as artefacts in their own right and due to their nature as ‘built environments’, the vessels themselves should be considered as sites of change for the Islanders as they were being transported, 2. the Islanders’ identity continued to transform during their participation in the various stages of the trade, 3. part of the reason for these transformations is that the existence of the Queensland labour trade allowed individuals to bypass traditional restrictions on travel and provided the opportunity to increase status and/or develop new trading relationships, 4. people of influence on the islands exploited the Europeans, their vessels and trade goods to maintain and enhance their status, and 5. given the prevailing position on slavery and with ongoing lobbying from Missionary groups, legislation did bring about changes in the European method of operation. In sum, the Queensland labour trade was a catalyst for change in indigenous social, political and economic systems. Further, it is argued that it is critical to recognise that the Queensland labour trade was as much a Melanesian system as it was a European one. Finally, it is recommended that further field work on the wreck of the Foam be conducted, together with an investigation of the extent to which trade goods are present in the South Sea Island archaeological record. A major question that remains to be answered is whether the labour trade challenged, subverted or inflated traditional systems

Petrology and Geochemistry of Olivine-Bearing Diogenites and a Group of Paired Howardites

Asteroid 4 Vesta, the largest differentiated body in the asteroid belt, is a protoplanet, much like those that accreted to form the Earth. Understanding the geology of Vesta furthers understanding of early differentiation processes that occurred on Earth and helps define igneous processes occurring on other differentiated bodies in the early solar system. Howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites, which are thought to have originated from Vesta, can be analyzed to better understand the geology of that asteroid. Here my colleagues and I investigate the petrology and geochemistry of two groups of HEDs. This work is timely, in that the insights gained from these studies can be used to interpret data from the Dawn spacecraft, which has just been placed into orbit around Vesta. In the first four parts of this dissertation we investigate the origin of olivine in diogenites, which are ultramafic cumulates from Vesta. We discover that the majority of these samples are dimict (two-component) breccias, composed of harzburgitic and orthopyroxenitic lithologies. This is contrary to the traditional belief that all diogenites are orthopyroxenites with small amounts of cumulus olivine. Using bulk and in situ trace element chemistries, along with mineral major/minor element compositions, we demonstrate that these two lithologies were likely related through fractional crystallization. We also examine an anomalous achondritic dunite, and use geochemistry and petrology to demonstrate that it is the first recognized dunite belonging to the HED group. This sample likely also fractionated from a melt prior to the fractionation of harzburgitic and orthopyroxenitic diogenites. In the final part of this dissertation, we investigate compositional and textural heterogeneity in a large group of paired howardites, Vestan regolith breccias composed of diogenite and eucrite. We find significant compositional and textural variation within the group, and a preferential distribution of eucritic material in the finer grain sizes. This suggests an immature regolith, and has implications for interpretation of spectral data to be collected by the Dawn orbiter at Vesta