Do CEOs Ever Lose? Fairness Perspective on the Allocation of Residuals Between CEOs and Shareholders

In this study we introduce a justice perspective to examining the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards over the allocation of firm residuals that ultimately determines CEO compensation. Framing CEO pay as the result of bargaining between CEOs and boards focuses attention on the power of CEOs to increase their share of firm residuals in the form of increased compensation, and the diligence of boards of directors to constrain CEO opportunism. Framing this negotiation through a theory of justice offers an alternative perspective to the search for pay-performance sensitivity. We predict and find that as board diligence in controlling opportunism declines and CEO power increases, CEOs are increasingly able to capture a larger portion of firm residuals relative to shareholders. This finding supports critics who charge that CEO pay violates norms of distributive and procedural justice

Detection of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia in East Turkey

A study was implemented to investigate the presence of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) in East Turkey. This study was based on clinical surveillance in the field, surveillance at regional slaughterhouses and regular submission of suspected lesions to regional laboratories. The results showed that the agent of CCPP, Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp), could be detected by culture and specific polymerase chain reaction from 37.5% (12/32) of lung samples taken from goats of ten different herds. This agent was also isolated from two of 13 sheep samples (one from the lung and the other from a nasal swab). Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae was isolated in pure culture and characterised at a finer molecular level. The East Turkish isolate was found to be closely related to another strain of Turkish origin, as well as to Mccp strains isolated in Tunisia. The isolation of Mccp from sheep lung lesions brings the strict host-specificity of this pathogen into question. It may also indicate that Mccp presents a risk for wildlife in the region. Such results, the authors believe, demonstrate that adequate risk assessments should be undertaken in Turkey and neighbouring countries. (Résumé d'auteur

Post-Brexit implications for transboundary groundwater management along the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland border

There are multiple transboundary groundwater bodies shared between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that are currently managed jointly through the EU Water Framework Directive. In 2016 the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and consequently, there are uncertainties regarding the future status of groundwater management between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in regards to future UK environmental policy. This paper explores the post 'Brexit' transboundary groundwater implications, if a transboundary groundwater agreement is required between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and, should it transpire, what form should it take

Economic burden of ventilator associated pneumonia in a developing country

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) developed in 96 (60%) of 159 patients with 37.2 cases per 1000 ventilation-days in a medical intensive care unit (MICU). Median time for VAP development was 5.5 days (range: 2-25). The most significant risk factors for VAP were stay in hospital before MICU and length of stay in MICU. The mean length of stay in MICU for VAP patients was 23.8 +/- 19.8 days, which was four-fold higher than for non-VAP patients. The daily cost for VAP patients was half that for non-VAP patients. The total costs for VAP patients were about three-fold higher than for non-VAP patients. (C) 2012 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

454 pyrosequencing assessment of biodegradative bacteria from thermal hydrolysis processes

Anaerobic treatment process is a cost-effective method for treating organic wastes, since the biogas formed can be used for heat/electricity production and the digester residues can be recycled for other applications. An innovative use of the digestate could be as biodegradative and methanogenic inoculum for the stimulation of methane production in gas-producing or depleted wells. The microbial communities involved in the biodegradation of petrochemical waste are similar to the indigenous microorganisms typically found in unconventional basins. These communities also follow the same cascade of reactions: from the initial breakdown of complex molecules to the production of intermediate compounds used by methanogens. This study carried out a culture-independent assessment of the bacterial community composition of a digestate from the Bran Sands Advanced Digestion Facility (Middleborough, UK) and compared the results with the microbial populations found in unconventional gas basins. The 454 pyrosequencing analyses revealed a bacterial community dominated by Thermotogae, Bacteroidia, Clostridia and Synergistia, which are typically found in unconventional gas systems. The classification of nucleotide sequence reads and assembled contigs revealed a genetic profile characteristic for an anaerobic microbial consortium running fermentative metabolic pathways. The assignment of numerous sequences was related to hydrocarbon decomposition and digestion of cellulosic material, which indicates that the bacterial community is engaged in hydrolysis of plant-derived material. The bacterial community composition suggest that the effluent of the digester can be used as a biodegradative inoculum for the stimulation of methane generation in unconventional wells, where events of microbial methanogenesis have been previously observed

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Tritium in Groundwater and the Dendrochronology of Tritium in Trees at the Savannah River Site. Final report

This project was supported through ERDA to demonstrate that the temporal distribution of tritium can be documented by the analysis of bound hydrogen in annual tree-ring samples. The project focuses on two sample locations at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a nuclear material production facility located in Aiken, SC. The SRS provided samples of cross-sections from a single tree that were to be pooled together for analysis. Annual tree-rings were identified in each cross-section sample and separated for the period 1954 to 1993. These annual samples were ground and chemically treated to separate the hollocellulose fraction of the wood, then subsequently combusted and the resulting water counting using low-level liquid scintillation counting equipment. Additionally, the ground annual tree-rings were gamma-counted to determine any temporal variation in radionuclide activity and analyzed with x-ray fluorescence to find any temporal variation in trace-element concentrations. This report presents the results and is intended to be a compilation of the work

Micropedologia de um Argissolo amarelo com horizontes antrópicos (Terra Preta de Índio) na Amazônia Central.

Estudos micropedológicos foram carreados em Terra Preta de Índio (TPI) com o objetivo de elucidar os processos envolvidos em sua gênese, bem como suas formas de utilização pré-colombiana. Blocos indeformados de solo foram coletados por horizonte e em suas respectivas transições em um perfil de Argissolo Amarelo A Antrópico (TPI) localizado no município de Iranduba, AM. As lâminas delgadas confeccionadas a partir dos blocos foram descritas por meio de microscopia óptica. Os resultados mostraram que os processos envolvidos na gênese desse solo envolveram: i) condições pedoambientais diferentes das atuais (pedorrelíquias - nódulos ferruginosos); ii) argiluviação, indicada por revestimentos de ferri-argilãs orientados na parede de poros entre agregados e canais; iii) migração de ferro impregnando o fundo matricial (cutãs de difusão); iv) bioturbação, atestada por preenchimento de poros por pelotas fecais e microagregação zoogenética e v) antropismo, que contribuiu com a queima de resíduos (partículas de carvões) e descarte de artefatos cerâmicos. A análise dos fragmentos cerâmicos corroborou a utilização de cauixi (Tubella reticulata e Parnula betesil) e cariapé (Bignoniacea) como antiplástico para o seu fabrico

The Marco Gonzalez Maya site, Ambergris Caye, Belize: assessing the impact of human activities by examining diachronic processes at the local scale

Research at the Maya archaeological site of Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Caye in Belize is socio-ecological because human activities have been a factor in the formation and fluctuation of the local marine and terrestrial environments over time. The site is one of many on Belize's coast and cayes that exhibit anomalous vegetation and dark-coloured soils. These soils, although sought for cultivation, are not typical 'Amazonian Dark Earths' but instead are distinctive to the weathering of carbonate-rich anthropogenic deposits. We tentatively term these location-specific soils as Maya Dark Earths. Our research seeks to quantify the role of human activities in long-term environmental change and to develop strategies, specifically Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that can be applied to environmental impact modelling today

Fate and transport of volatile organic compounds in glacial till and groundwater at an industrial site in Northern Ireland

Volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination of subsurface geological material and groundwater was discovered on the Nortel Monkstown industrial site, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the characteristics of the geological material and its influences on contaminated groundwater flow across the site using borehole logs and hydrological evaluations, and (2) identify the contaminants and examine their distribution in the subsurface geological material and groundwater using chemical analysis. This report focuses on the eastern car park (ECP) which was a former storage area associated with trichloroethene (TCE) degreasing operations. This is where the greatest amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particularly TCE, were detected. The study site is on a complex deposit of clayey glacial till with discontinuous coarser grained lenses, mainly silts, sands and gravel, which occur at 0.45-7.82 m below ground level (bgl). The lenses overall form an elongated formation that acts as a small unconfined shallow aquifer. There is a continuous low permeable stiff clayey till layer beneath the lenses that performs as an aquitard to the groundwater. Highest concentrations of VOCs, mainly TCE, in the geological material and groundwater are in these coarser lenses at similar to 4.5-7 m bgl. Highest TCE measurements at 390,000 mu g L-1 for groundwater and at 39,000 mu g kg(-1) at 5.7 m for geological material were in borehole GA19 in the coarse lens zone. It is assumed that TCE gained entrance to the subsurface near this borehole where the clayey till was thin to absent above coarse lenses which provided little retardation to the vertical migration of this dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) into the groundwater. However, TCE is present in low concentrations in the geological material overlying the coarse lens zone. Additionally, VOCs appear to be associated with poorly drained layers and in peat < 3.0 m bgl in the ECP. Some indication of natural attenuation as VOCs degradation products vinyl chloride (VC) and dichloromethane (DCM) also occur on the site

Trait-Like Brain Activity during Adolescence Predicts Anxious Temperament in Primates

Early theorists (Freud and Darwin) speculated that extremely shy children, or those with anxious temperament, were likely to have anxiety problems as adults. More recent studies demonstrate that these children have heightened responses to potentially threatening situations reacting with intense defensive responses that are characterized by behavioral inhibition (BI) (inhibited motor behavior and decreased vocalizations) and physiological arousal. Confirming the earlier impressions, data now demonstrate that children with this disposition are at increased risk to develop anxiety, depression, and comorbid substance abuse. Additional key features of anxious temperament are that it appears at a young age, it is a stable characteristic of individuals, and even in non-threatening environments it is associated with increased psychic anxiety and somatic tension. To understand the neural underpinnings of anxious temperament, we performed imaging studies with 18-fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) high-resolution Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in young rhesus monkeys. Rhesus monkeys were used because they provide a well validated model of anxious temperament for studies that cannot be performed in human children. Imaging the same animal in stressful and secure contexts, we examined the relation between regional metabolic brain activity and a trait-like measure of anxious temperament that encompasses measures of BI and pituitary-adrenal reactivity. Regardless of context, results demonstrated a trait-like pattern of brain activity (amygdala, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, hippocampus, and periaqueductal gray) that is predictive of individual phenotypic differences. Importantly, individuals with extreme anxious temperament also displayed increased activity of this circuit when assessed in the security of their home environment. These findings suggest that increased activity of this circuit early in life mediates the childhood temperamental risk to develop anxiety and depression. In addition, the findings provide an explanation for why individuals with anxious temperament have difficulty relaxing in environments that others perceive as non-stressful