Contraception methods in wild animal species: a literary review

openHuman interactions with the environment have altered the delicate equilibrium that defines relationships between animals and the ecosystem. As the population growth rates have been modified, humans have to support an equilibrated coexistence between species. The implementation of contraception can be used to control the number of animals without the need to cull them. A wide variety of contraceptive methods have been developed, ranging from synthetic hormones to Immunocontraceptive vaccines. Each formulation stops reproduction with a different approach, giving the opportunity to select the most appropriate ones for animal species that are supposed to be treated. Contraceptives have also been used to treat conditions, usually related to reproductive diseases or hormonal imbalances. Elephants can be regarded as a case study for the implementation of contraception in wild animals. With their numbers rapidly increasing in reserves as a result of human management, contraceptives have been employed to reduce the population growth rate. Immunocontraceptive vaccines have been tested, proving their efficacy in reducing the fertility of female elephants and consequently the population growth rate.Human interactions with the environment have altered the delicate equilibrium that defines relationships between animals and the ecosystem. As the population growth rates have been modified, humans have to support an equilibrated coexistence between species. The implementation of contraception can be used to control the number of animals without the need to cull them. A wide variety of contraceptive methods have been developed, ranging from synthetic hormones to Immunocontraceptive vaccines. Each formulation stops reproduction with a different approach, giving the opportunity to select the most appropriate ones for animal species that are supposed to be treated. Contraceptives have also been used to treat conditions, usually related to reproductive diseases or hormonal imbalances. Elephants can be regarded as a case study for the implementation of contraception in wild animals. With their numbers rapidly increasing in reserves as a result of human management, contraceptives have been employed to reduce the population growth rate. Immunocontraceptive vaccines have been tested, proving their efficacy in reducing the fertility of female elephants and consequently the population growth rate

The Impact of Cultural Dimensions on Sales Force Compensation

Financial compensation has long been held as the primary motivator of salespeople. Motivation however may be achieved differently in various countries, as the large disparities in pay schemes across countries seem to indicate. In this paper, the authors explore the impact of cultural dimensions on sales force compensation structures. Using data collected from financial companies of three European countries, they (1) assess transnational cultural profiles of managers (i.e., market, group-centric and hybrid), (2) confirm discrepancies in terms of managerial preferences for compensation structures and (3) uncover associated rationales such as rejection of incentive compensation due to its perceived immorality. The results indicate that cultural dimensions explain managers choice for (1) the use of incentive pay in the compensation package (i.e., fixed versus variable compensation) as well as (2) the basis for its allocation (i.e., individual versus group). The authors conclude by discussing the implications of their research for designing compensation plans in the global market place.sales force compensation; cross-cultural research

La "Terza Ricerca" del Gesù storico e il suo paradigma postmoderno nel quadro della ricerca moderna

Utilizant el principi eucarístic del paradigma científic de Thomas S. Kuhn i el seu canvi en el transcurs de la història de la recerca, es disenya la recerca del Jesús històric en tres paradigmes succesius, els elements dels quals són la precomprensió, la metodologia i la finalitat: la fugida del dogma, la fugida de la història, la complexitat i la fragmentació de l’acutal paradigma postmodern, que es caracteritza per acostar Jesús a l’ambient judaic i de les comunitats cristianes dels orígens (del record i/o del testimoni) amb la recuperació de la plausibilitat històrica dels evandelis. Al final ens referim al panorama actual, caracteritzat per la fragmentació debuda sobretot a la publicitat, a l’actualitat contextual i a la globalització de la recerca.Applying Thomas S. Kuhn’s Eucharistic principle of the scientific paradigm and its subsequent transformation throughout the history of the quest, the search for the Historical Jesus is presented according to three successive paradigms, the elements of which are: pre-comprehension, methodology and finality – leaving dogma and history to one side, the complexity and fragmentation of the contemporary postmodern paradigm, characterized by placing Jesus in a Judaic context and in the earliest Christian communities (memory and/or witness) together with restating the historical plausibility of the Gospels. In conclusion, we present the present state of affairs, characterized by fragmentation due mostly to publicity, the contextual situation and the globalization of the quest

Empire and Catastrophe

"Empire and Catastrophe examines natural and anthropogenic disasters during the years of decolonization in Algeria, Morocco, and France, and explores the ways in which environmental catastrophes both shaped and were shaped by struggles over the dissolution of France’s empire in North Africa. Four disasters make up the core of the book: the 1954 earthquake in Algeria’s Chélif Valley, just weeks before the onset of the Algerian Revolution; a mass poisoning in Morocco in 1959 caused by toxic substances from an American military base; the 1959 Malpasset dam collapse in Fréjus, France, which devastated the Algerian immigrant community in the town but which was blamed on Algerian sabotage; and the 1960 earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, which set off a public relations war between the United States, France, and the Soviet Union, and which ignited a Moroccan national debate over modernity, identity, architecture, and urban planning. Empire and Catastrophe is the first book-length study of environmental disasters during the decolonization of the French empire. Interrogating distinctions between agent and environment and between political and environmental violence, through the lenses of state archives and through the remembered experiences and literary representations of disaster survivors, this book argues for the integration of environmental events into narratives of political and cultural decolonization. Empire and Catastrophe will be sought after by environmental historians and North Africa area studies specialists as well as historians of France and French imperialism. Written in engaging prose, the book will appeal to the broader public’s interest in natural disasters, and will become required reading for undergraduates in courses on natural disasters in world history.

Extracting Firm Information from Administrative Records: The ASSD Firm Panel

This paper demonstrates how firm information can be extracted from administrative social security records. We use the Austrian Social Security Database (ASSD) and derive firms from employer identifiers in the universe of private sector workers. To correctly pin down entry end exits we use a worker flow approach which follows clusters of workers as they move across administrative entities. This procedure enables us to define different types of entry and exit such as start-ups, spinoffs, closures, or take-overs. We show that our firm definition results in a demography which is comparable to official statistics of firm registers. The resulting database, covering the period of 1976 to 2006, is a valuable resource for future research on industry evolution in Austria.administrative data, definition of firms, entry and exit types, worker flows

Empire and Catastrophe: Decolonization and Environmental Disaster in North Africa and Mediterranean France since 1954

Empire and Catastrophe examines natural and anthropogenic disasters during the years of decolonization in Algeria, Morocco, and France and explores how environmental catastrophes both shaped and were shaped by struggles over the dissolution of France’s empire in North Africa. Four disasters make up the core of the book: the 1954 earthquake in Algeria’s Chélif Valley, just weeks before the onset of the Algerian Revolution; a mass poisoning in Morocco in 1959 caused by toxic substances from an American military base; the 1959 Malpasset Dam collapse in Fréjus, France, which devastated the town’s Algerian immigrant community but which was blamed on Algerian sabotage; and the 1960 earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, which set off a public relations war between the United States, France, and the Soviet Union and which ignited a Moroccan national debate over modernity, identity, architecture, and urban planning. Interrogating distinctions between agent and environment and between political and environmental violence through the lenses of state archives and through the remembered experiences and literary representations of disaster survivors, Spencer D. Segalla argues for the integration of environmental events into narratives of political and cultural decolonization

The Determinants of Bank Interest Spread in Brazil

The behavior of bank interest spreads in Brazil reveal two stylized facts. First, a remarkable fall in the average rates since early 1999. Second, a strong and persistent dispersion of rates across banks. Such stylized facts suggest that both the time series and the cross section dimensions are important elements to understand the trend of the bank interest spread in the country. This paper makes use of panel data techniques to uncover the main determinants of the bank interest spreads in Brazil. A question that the paper aims to address is whether macro or microeconomic factors are the most relevant ones affecting the behavior of such rates. A two-step approach due to Ho and Saunders (1981) is employed to measure the relative relevance of the micro and the macro elements. The roles played by the inflation rate; risk premium, economic activity, required reserves (all macroeconomic factors) and CAMEL-type indicators (microeconomic factors) are highlighted. The results suggest that macroeconomic variables are the most relevant factors to explain the behavior of bank interest spread in Brazil.