Environmental Audits and Incentive Compensation

This paper studies the link between environmental audits and employee compensation. The context is a one-period principal-agent relationship where the agent must allocate effort between financial and environmental tasks. The former are routinely monitored while the latter are audited (at some cost) only under specific circumstances. We find that the optimal wages have a lower mean and greater variance when there is an environmental audit than when there is not. This puts more risk on the agent, so the expected wage ex ante is higher and the agent's effort on the environmental task greater than in a situation with no environmental audits. Ce papier étudie le lien entre les audits environnementaux et la rémunération des employés. Dans un modèle d'agence à une période, l'agent doit partager son attention entre les aspects environnementaux et ceux strictement financiers de sa tâche. La performance de l'agent sur le plan financier est constamment surveillée; sur le plan environnemental, par contre, l'employeur n'effectue que des contrôles ponctuels au moyen d'audits environnementaux. On trouve que le salaire optimal a une moyenne inférieure et une variance supérieure quand l'employeur a recours à un audit environnemental. La menace d'un audit environnemental augmente donc le risque pesant sur l'agent, ce qui entraîne que le salaire attendu intialement par l'agent sera plus élevé et son attention aux aspects environnementaux plus forte que si cette menace n'existait pas.Environmental audits ; Employee compensation, Audits environnementaux ; Rémunération des employés

Environmental Auditing in Management Systems and Public Policy

New international standards for environmental auditing are now being actively promoted by public authorities and adopted by private firms. One important feature of these standards is their emphasis on managerial systems and incentives that support a wiser use of environmental resources. This paper studies such a system, in which incentive compensation may be based in part on the results of an environmental audit. It is found that optimal wages after an environmental audit is performed should have a greater range than wages paid when no audit has occured. It is also shown that the decision to conduct an environmental audit and the size of the expected wage in this case depend crucially on whether the agent's prudence (or precautionary motives) dominates or not his aversion to risk. It is finally found that the insertion of environmental audits within current management systems would certainly induce a manager to care more about the environment; moreover, although this may come at the expense of less concern for other activities, we find plausible circumstances in which properly designed environmental audits overcome such a tradeoff and increase the manager's attention to both environmental and traditional tasks. The public policy maker's role and interest in promoting environmental auditing standards is also discussed briefly. De nouvelles normes pour les audits environnementaux sont actuellement en train d'être élaborées et implantées par les gouvernements et les entreprises. Ces normes mettent principalement l'accent sur les systèmes de gestion et les incitations qui encouragent un meilleur usage des ressources environnementales. Cet article étudie un tel système, où la rémunération pourrait dépendre en partie des conclusions d'un audit environnemental. On trouve que le salaire versé après la tenue d'un audit devrait varier davantage que celui versé lorsqu'il n'y a pas eu d'audit. On montre aussi que la décision d'effectuer un audit environnemental et le niveau du salaire espéré dans ce cas dépendent essentiellement de la relation entre la prudence (ou la précaution) et l'aversion pour le risque du manager. On montre finalement que l'insertion d'audits environnementaux au sein des systèmes managériaux usuels poussera certainement un manager à se préoccuper davantage de l'environnement,0501s la redistribution de l'effort de ce dernier pourrait bien ne pas survenir au détriment de ses activités principales au sein de l'entreprise. On discute enfin brièvement du rôle et de l'intérêt du décideur public dans l'élaboration et la promotion de nouvelles normes pour les audits.Multi Task Principal Agent Analysis, Environmental Auditing, Risk Aversion, Prudence, Analyse principal-agent multi-tâches, Audits environnementaux, Aversion pour le risque, Prudence

Equine Intestinal Surgery

In professional literature pertaining to veterinary medicine very little has been published on surgery of the equine digestive tract. Many veterinarians are endowed with the belief that abdominal surgery in the equine patient is very rarely successful and that to attempt such would only seal the death warrant of the patient. Undoubtedly within recent years this belief has been many times disproven. The fact is, that major abdominal surgery can be performed with success in the Equidae and that this type of surgery is rapidly becoming more feasible than we were taught to believe 10 or 15 years ago. Probably some of the success can be attributed to improved aseptic and operative technics. However, one must admit that recent advances in chemo-therapy have played an important role. At any rate, chemotherapeusis is rather extensively employed, certainly not as a substitute for asepsis and good technic, but rather as an added safeguard in the prevention of peritonitis

Die 'Westforschung' zum europäischen Nordwesten als Gegenstand der Zeit- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte

The German \"Westforschung\" (Western Research) of the 1920s to 1960s, i.e. the interdisciplinary cross-border study of the region west of the Rhine into Germany\'s neighbouring countries, has recently become topical within the wider discussion on the contribution of German scholars to National Socialism. Developed after World War I in a defensive stance against French claims on the Rhineland, it later served, intentionally or not, as a (pseudo-)legitimisation for the national-socialist aggression to the west in 1940. The article presents an overview of the northern variant of Westforschung regarding the Low Countries, a special case, not the least because important contributions came from Dutch and Belgian scholars and because this paradigm did not end in 1945 but continued to prevail until the early 1960s

Life History of Elsinoe panici

Elsinoe panici Tiffany and Mathre is widespread on native Panicum virgatum L. in Iowa. In June Sphaceloma (imperfect stage) conidia develop from acervuli on overwintered stromata of wind-dispersed leaf litter and culms. Germ cubes penetrate between epidermal cells of young leaves, and 2 wk later tiny yellowish, subepidermal stromata are visible. Secondary conidia develop from acervuli on these stromata within 2 wk and are spread to adjacent leaves. Stromata become black, raised, shiny, ovoid-elongate patches, composed of thick-walled pseudoparenchymatous cells. Chlorosis or necrosis does not develop around the stromata. Stromata are visible on all leaves throughout the season. Acervuli, appearing as white spots in black stromata, open by irregular tears in the epidermis. Ascostromata develop on lower leaves infrequently from late July into September. They are tan-bronze, raised, ovoid-elongate, softer, and more loosely structured than stromata. Asci mature at different times. Ascospores are discharged from the bitunicate asci and germinate directly by budding or by germ tubes

3114 Optical zone centration of excimer laser photo-refractive keratectomy for myopia relative to the pupil with and without the use of an active eye tracking system

Explosive volcanic eruptions can eject large quantities of particulate matter that, along with other aerosol droplets and trace gases, are carried upwards into the atmosphere by the buoyant eruption column and then dispersed by winds aloft. The presence in the atmosphere of volcanic ash is a sporadic yet important factor that can threaten human health, affect the urban built environment, disrupt aerial navigation and, for very large eruptions, alter both atmospheric composition and chemistry. Once volcanic ash is injected into the atmosphere, it can be transported over great distances, even circumnavigating the entire planet. Volcanic ash modeling systems are used to simulate the atmospheric dispersion of volcanic ash and to generate operational short-term forecasts to support civil aviation and emergency management. The efficiency of response and mitigation actions is directly associated to the accuracy of the volcanic ash cloud detection. Volcanic ash modeling systems normally require an emission or source term model to characterize the eruption column; a dispersal model to simulate the atmospheric transport, dispersion and ground deposition of ash particles; and a meteorological model for the description of the atmospheric conditions. Traditional forecasts for volcanic ash build on off-line coupled modeling systems, where meteorological variables are only updated at the specified coupling intervals. Although this approach is computationally advantageous is some cases, there is a concern that it can lead to a number of accuracy issues and limitations that can be corrected by on-line modeling strategies. Despite these concerns, to date, no on-line coupled model is available for operational forecast of volcanic ash. In addition, the quantification of the limitations associated to the off-line systems has received no attention. This Ph.D. thesis describes and evaluates NMMB-MONARCH-ASH, a novel fully coupled on-line multiscale meteorological and atmospheric transport model designed to predict ash cloud trajectories, concentration of ash at relevant flight levels, and the expected deposit thickness for both regional and global domains in research and operational set-ups. The first activity targeted a model validation against several well-characterized events including, the Mt. Etna 2001, Eyjafjallajökull 2010, and Cordón Caulle 2011 eruptions. The model has shown to be robust, scalable, and capable to reproduce the spatial and temporal dispersal variability of the ash cloud and tephra deposits, showing promising results and improving the performance from well-known off-line operational models. The second activity quantified the model shortcomings and systematic errors associated to traditional off-line forecasts employed in operational set-ups. NMMB-MONARCH-ASH demonstrated that off-line forecasts could fail to reproduce up to 45-70% of the ash cloud of an on-line forecast, considered to be the best estimate of the true outcome. The uncertainty associated to off-line systems was found to be as relevant (same order of magnitude) as those uncertainties attributed to the source term. The third activity focused on a global application of NMMB-MONARCH-ASH to analyze the potential impacts of ash dispersal from Antarctic volcanoes. Numerical simulations suggested that volcanic ash emitted from Antarctic volcanoes could potentially encircle the globe, leading to significant consequences for global aviation safety. The last activity included a novel computational inversion method to account, for the first time, for the Plinian and co-ignimbrite phases of the 39 ka Campanian Ignimbrite super-eruption. This particular application employed the off-line coupled FALL3D model, found to be more suitable from a computational point of view. The outcome of this Ph.D. thesis encourages operational groups responsible for real-time advisories for aviation to consider using computationally efficient on-line coupled ash dispersal models.Las erupciones volcánicas explosivas pueden emitir una gran cantidad de material que, junto con otros aerosoles y gases traza, son inyectados en la atmósfera por la columna eruptiva para luego ser dispersados por los vientos en altura. La presencia en la atmósfera de cenizas volcánicas es un factor esporádico aunque importante, que puede llegar a amenazar la salud humana, afectar las infraestructuras urbanas, interrumpir la navegación aérea y, en el caso de grandes erupciones, alterar la composición atmosférica y química. Una vez en la atmósfera, la ceniza puede ser transportada a grandes distancias, llegando incluso a circunnavegar todo el planeta. Los sistemas de modelado de cenizas volcánicas se utilizan para simular la dispersión atmosférica de estas partículas, y para generar pronósticos operacionales a corto plazo empleados para dar soporte a la aviación civil y a la gestión de emergencias. La eficacia para responder a estos eventos está directamente asociada a la precisión de los modelos de transporte de cenizas volcánicas. Los sistemas de modelado de cenizas volcánicas requieren de un modelo de emisión de partículas para la caracterización de la columna eruptiva; un modelo de dispersión para la simulación del transporte atmosférico y la deposición de cenizas; y de un modelo meteorológico para la descripción de las condiciones atmosféricas. Los pronósticos tradicionales se basan en sistemas de modelado desacoplados (off-line), donde las variables meteorológicas sólo se actualizan a intervalos de tiempo especificados. Aunque este enfoque presenta ventajas desde el punto de vista computacional, existe la preocupación de que puede estar asociado a limitaciones y problemas de precisión que, por el contrario, pueden ser corregidos mediante estrategias de modelado acoplado (on-line). A pesar de estas preocupaciones, hasta la fecha no hay un modelo acoplado on-line disponible para el pronóstico operativo de la cenizas volcánicas. Además, tampoco existe una cuantificación de las limitaciones asociadas a los sistemas off-line. Este doctorado describe y evalúa NMMB-MONARCH-ASH, un modelo de transporte meteorológico y atmosférico multiescalar (regional/global) completamente acoplado on-line, para su uso en investigación y predicción operacional. El modelo está diseñado para predecir trayectorias de cenizas volcánicas, concentración de ceniza en niveles de vuelo (flight levels), y el correspondiente espesor de depósito. La primera actividad de esta tesis se centra en la validación de modelo mediante erupciones bien caracterizadas (Mt. Etna 2001, Eyjafjallajökull 2010, y del Cordón Caulle 2011). El modelo ha demostrado ser robusto, escalable y capaz de reproducir la variabilidad de la dispersión espacial y temporal de los depósitos y de las nubes de ceniza, ostrando resultados prometedores y mejorando el rendimiento de modelos operacionales. La segunda actividad cuantifica los errores sistemáticos asociados a los pronósticos off-line. NMMB-MONARCH-ASH demuestra que estps pronósticos podrían no reproducir hasta un 45-70% de la nube de cenizas de un pronóstico on-line, considerado éste último como la mejor estimación de la realidad. Esta actividad concluye que la incertidumbre asociada a los sistemas off-line puede llegar a ser tan relevante como aquellas incertidumbres atribuidas al término fuente. La tercera actividad se centra en una aplicación global de NMMB-MONARCH-ASH para analizar los posibles impactos asociados a la dispersión de ceniza de volcanes antárticos. Los resultados alertan de las posibles consequencias de estas erupciones en la aviación a nivel mundial . La última actividad incluye un nuevo método de inversión computacional para identificar, por primera vez, las fases Pliniana y coignimbrita de la super-erupción de la Ignimbrita Campaniana (39 ka) con FALL3D. Los resultados de este Ph.D. alientan a considerar el uso de modelos acoplados on-line para generar pronósticos operacionales de ceniza volcánica

Mariner c-64- trapped radiation detector, unit 25 final engineering report, 17 may 1963 - 30 dec. 1964

Trapped radiation detector for Mariner C progra

The AGN Outflow in the HDFS Target QSO J2233-606 from a High-Resolution VLT/UVES Spectrum

We present a detailed analysis of the intrinsic UV absorption in the central HDFS target QSO J2233-606, based on a high-resolution, high S/N (~25 -- 50) spectrum obtained with VLT/UVES. This spectrum samples the cluster of intrinsic absorption systems outflowing from the AGN at radial velocities v ~ -5000 -- -3800 km/s in the key far-UV diagnostic lines - the lithium-like CNO doublets and H I Lyman series. We fit the absorption troughs using a global model of all detected lines to solve for the independent velocity-dependent covering factors of the continuum and emission-line sources and ionic column densities. This reveals increasing covering factors in components with greater outflow velocity. Narrow substructure is revealed in the optical depth profiles, suggesting the relatively broad absorption is comprised of a series of multiple components. We perform velocity-dependent photoionization modeling, which allows a full solution to the C, N, and O abundances, as well as the velocity resolved ionization parameter and total column density. The absorbers are found to have supersolar abundances, with [C/H] and [O/H] ~0.5 -- 0.9, and [N/H] ~ 1.1 -- 1.3, consistent with enhanced nitrogen production expected from secondary nucleosynthesis processes. Independent fits to each kinematic component give consistent results for the abundances. The lowest-ionization material in each of the strong absorbers is modeled with similar ionization parameters. Components of higher-ionization (indicated by stronger O VI relative to C IV and N V) are present at velocities just redward of each low-ionization absorber. We explore the implications of these results for the kinematic-geometric-ionization structure of the outflow.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, emulateapj, accepted for publication in Ap

Raman and fluorescence contributions to resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering on LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 heterostructures

We present a detailed study of the Ti 3$d$ carriers at the interface of LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructures by high-resolution resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering (RIXS), with special focus on the roles of overlayer thickness and oxygen vacancies. Our measurements show the existence of interfacial Ti 3$d$ electrons already below the critical thickness for conductivity and an increase of the total interface charge up to a LaAlO$_3$ overlayer thickness of 6 unit cells before it levels out. By comparing stoichiometric and oxygen deficient samples we observe strong Ti 3$d$ charge carrier doping by oxygen vacancies. The RIXS data combined with photoelectron spectroscopy and transport measurements indicate the simultaneous presence of localized and itinerant charge carriers. However, it is demonstrated that the relative amount of localized and itinerant Ti $3d$ electrons in the ground state cannot be deduced from the relative intensities of the Raman and fluorescence peaks in excitation energy dependent RIXS measurements, in contrast to previous interpretations. Rather, we attribute the observation of either the Raman or the fluorescence signal to the spatial extension of the intermediate state reached in the RIXS excitation process.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure