Incentives, Informational Economies of Scale, and Benchmarking

In this paper, we analyze the problem of providing incentives when there are more than one project. A principal has access to two (possibly correlated) projects which are managed by a single agent. Before undertaking a project, the agent-manager can spend some resources to investigate its quality, namely its probability of success. Only projects with a high probability of success are profitable, and therefore should be invested in. There are two classes of strategies. First, the manager may investigate only one project to save on investigation costs, but still use the acquired information to make an investment decision on the noninvestigated project. Second, the manager could investigate both projects, and make the investment decision based on the acquired information on each project. Comparing these two strategies, it would seem that the more correlated are the projects, the better it is to investigate only one project and use the acquired information to learn about the other project. And, when correlation is low, both projects should be investigated. There is, however, a third strategy that the principal could use. He could hire two agents, each managing one project. By making each agent's compensation dependent on the outcome of the project of the other agent, the principal creates some form of competition between them. When projects are highly correlated, endogenous competition provides incentives but duplicate investigation costs, while having one manager investigating only one project exploits informational economies of scale by economizing on investigation costs, but does not always yield the best investment decision since information on the noninvestigated project is not perfect. We assume that the investigation decision is private to the manager (moral hazard), as well as the information obtained doing so (adverse selection). We then show that the optimal structure depends, among other things, on the degree of correlation between the returns of the two projects. In general, delegating to one manager and investigating both projects is optimal when the projects are weakly correlated; delegating to two managers is optimal for intermediate values of the correlation coefficient, while delegating to one manager and investigating only one project may be optimal when projects are strongly correlated, depending on parameter values. We show that, for some parameter values, it may never be optimal to delegate to one manager and investigate only one project, and this even when projects are perfectly correlated. Endogenous competition is then optimal as it minimizes the cost of providing incentives to the managers, even though investigation costs are duplicated. In that case, delegating to two managers becomes optimal for intermediate and high values of the correlation coefficient.

Tissue culture and somaclonal variation of Cuphea viscosissima Jacq accessions

Two experiments were undertaken in the course of this study. In the first experiment, thirty-two accessions of Cuphea viscosissima Jacq. collected from the central U.S. were analyzed for differences in callus growth and ability to regenerate plantlets. Calli were initiated from immature embryos on a modified Murashige and Skoog medium containing 1 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 1mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (BA). Calli were incubated in the dark for three weeks. Plantlets were initiated by transferring calli to new medium containing 0.5 mg/L of BA and for root initiation by removing the hormones from the medium. Variability was observed among accessions for callus weight and plantlet regeneration and only the epicotyl was able to form shoots in vitro. There was no correlation between callus weight and shoot initiation, however there was high correlation between the number of calli that produced shoots and the number of shoots produced;A total of 15 donor plant introductions and their 51 callus regenerated plants were used in the second experiment. The R[subscript]1 families from calli induced from immature embryos were evaluated in the field for somaclonal variation at two Iowa locations: Ames and Crawfordsville. Comparisons were made among the parents and their R[subscript]1 families for the following traits: seed yield, 100-seed weight, percent seed germination, plant height, leaf area, percent oil content, and fatty acid composition. Variability was observed for all traits except for total oil content. R[subscript]1 families had significant increases (P ≥ 0.05) over their parents for yield, percent seed germination, leaf area, plant height, lauric acid (C12:0), capric acid (C10:0), and caprylic acid (C8:0). This somaclonal variation is the first reported in Cuphea. Further evaluation is needed to determine the stability of these possible mutants

The implicit threatening acts: the case of the indirect insults

The aim of studying the indirect insult, based on the analysis of the tropes, is double. We shall, on one hand, try to show that verbal abuse emanates not only from the use of the forbidden expressions, but also relations between the words from which the sense can be diverted. On the other hand, opting for a corpus established by statements of spontaneous French and Tunisian dialect, we shall try to see if the argumentative strategies adopted by speakers of tongues and different cultures are the same. For that purpose, we are going to rely on the cognitive pragmatics.L’objectif de notre étude sur l’insulte indirecte, qui est fondée sur l’analyse des tropes, est double. Nous tenterons, d’une part, de montrer que la violence verbale n’émane pas seulement de l’usage des expressions interdites, parce que considérées comme grossières, mais également des relations entre les mots dont les sens peuvent être détournés. D’autre part, optant pour un corpus constitué d’énoncés du français spontané et du dialecte tunisien, nous essaierons de voir si les stratégies argumentatives adoptées par des locuteurs natifs de langues et cultures différentes sont les mêmes. À cet effet, nous allons nous appuyer sur l’approche de la pragmatique cognitive contextualisée

DESAGREGATION DES ACCRUALS DISCRETIONNAIRES ET PERTINENCE DU BENEFICE COMPTABLE

International audienceDe nombreux travaux récents ont mis en évidence le rôle informationnel des accruals en général et ceux des accruals discrétionnaires en particulier. Certains ont testé cette relation d'une manière directe en étudiant l'effet des accruals sur la pertinence des bénéfices. D'autres l'ont fait d'une manière indirecte en étudiant leur effet sur les cash flows futurs ou sur la valeur de l'entreprise. Toutefois, aucune recherche ne s'est posée la question de voir si la désagrégation des accruals discrétionnaires augmenterait le pouvoir explicatif et prédictif du bénéfice. Les résultats de notre étude ont montré que les accruals discrétionnaires sont valorisés par les investisseurs français et que la désagrégation de ce type d'accruals améliore la pertinence du bénéfice comptable

DESAGREGATION DES ACCRUALS DISCRETIONNAIRES ET PERTINENCE DU BENEFICE COMPTABLE

De nombreux travaux récents ont mis en évidence le rôle informationnel des accruals en général et ceux des accruals discrétionnaires en particulier. Certains ont testé cette relation d'une manière directe en étudiant l'effet des accruals sur la pertinence des bénéfices. D'autres l'ont fait d'une manière indirecte en étudiant leur effet sur les cash flows futurs ou sur la valeur de l'entreprise. Toutefois, aucune recherche ne s'est posée la question de voir si la désagrégation des accruals discrétionnaires augmenterait le pouvoir explicatif et prédictif du bénéfice. Les résultats de notre étude ont montré que les accruals discrétionnaires sont valorisés par les investisseurs français et que la désagrégation de ce type d'accruals améliore la pertinence du bénéfice comptable.accruals discrétionnaires; désagrégation; pertinence du bénéfice comptable

Tunisia. Supervising Tunisian Elections by civil society: How to improve it? Arab Citizenship Review No. 7. January 2015

Introduction. On October 26, 2014, Tunisia held its second democratic legislative elections. Participation among more than 5 million registered voters was at about 60%, a relatively good turnout for the country, compared to the 52% voters in 2011. Preliminary results for the 33 constituencies (27 within the country and 6 for expatriates) reveal that secular frontrunner Nidaa Tounes (Call of Tunisia) won around 37% percent of votes while moderate Islamist party Ennahdha, winner of the 2011 elections and leader of Tunisia’s post-revolution government, received 27% of votes. Other parties with notable percentages are the Free Patriotic Union (French: UPL) with 4.4% and the leftist party, Popular Front, with 3.7%. Legislative were immediately followed by two round presidential elections the first one held on November 23, the second one after one month. Conversely to what was expected, people were more attracted by presidential elections even though president has notably less prerogatives than the parliament: representing the state, he is mainly responsible for determining the general state policies in the domains of defense, foreign relations and national security (article 76.) This paradox is ascribed to national imaginary more confident in a “Zaïm” (leader) rather than a collective institution such as a parliament. The turnout was at about 64% within the national 27 constituencies. Out of 70 candidates (including 5 female), 27 (with only one female) met the legal requirements to run for the presidency. The result confirms the legislative trend and Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of Nidaa, was proclaimed the third President of Tunisia. He gained 39.46% of the votes at the first round elections. Essebsi was followed by Moncef Marzouki who received an unexpected score (33.43%) at the first round, thanks to the support of Ennahdha audience and to an active and insistent campaign focused on the idea that revolution is threatened by old regime guard “come-back.” Rewarded for his long militant live, the extreme leftist Hamma Hammami in a new look gained 7,8% of the votes while the new comer Slim Riahi received 5,5% despite rumors circulating on his personal reputation. Notably, Kalthoum Kennou gained 0,55% (18.287 votes) but listed eleventh out of 27

Cultural contingency on the antecedents of the complexity of management accounting systems: Evidence from a meta-analysis of individual data

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that there is a cultural contingency on the antecedents of the complexity of management accounting systems. After briefly reviewing the theoretical debate on this hypothesis, we present our results which provide support for cultural contingency on these antecedents. However, the data studied could be criticized. Thus, further research will be needed to explore this cultural contingency.Cultural contingency ; complexity of management accounting systems ; meta-analysis of individual data ; small and medium sized enterprise

Cholinesterase activity and histopatological changes in the Mediterranean crab, Carcinus maenas, exposed to environmental contaminants

Marine environments are continuously being threatened by a large number of pollutants including heavy metals and organophosphorous pesticides from anthropogenic sources. These compounds can cause a serious environmental problem. The present study aimed: (1) to measure sensitivity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity to in vivo exposure to the organophosphorous chlorpyriphos-ethyl (CPF) and to the heavy metals cadmium (Cd) and copper (Cu) and (2) to use the histopathological lesions as tissue biomarkers for biomonitoring of different contaminations. The results clearly showed that the AChE activity in different tissues (digestive gland, muscle and eyes) of Carcinus maenas was relatively sensitive to the concentrations of CPF and tended to have different patterns in response to Cd, Cu and Cu+Cd mixture exposure. The transfer of treated crabs to the clean sea water allowed to recover totally or partially the lost activity depending on selected tissues and contaminant exposure (metals or organophosphorous compounds). Histopathological biomarkers in C. maenas exposed to different contaminants showed the presence of different lesions which altered the digestive gland after 7 days of contamination