The Relationship of the value of the Dollar, and the Prices of Gold and Oil: A Tale of Asset Risk

This paper investigates the relationship between the value of the dollar and the prices of two commodities, gold and oil. Granger causality is used on monthly data from January of 1970 through July of 2008. The empirical results show that the hypothesis that there is no causal relation between the value of the dollar and the prices of gold and oil is not supported by the evidence. There are causal relations between each of the prices, and there is a negative relation between the value of the dollar and the price of each of the commodities, as predicted by standard economic theory. Also consistent with the predictions of classical economic theory is that there is a positive statistical association between the prices of gold and oil. The implication is that gold and oil represent safe havens from fluctuations in the value of the dollar.Dollar, Gold, Oil, Exchange Rates, Commodity Prices, Granger Causality

The Effect of Mediators' Qualities and Strategies on Mediation Outcomes

La médiation est probablement la question la moins étudiée de tous les moyens de solution des impasses utilisés à la fois dans les secteurs public et privé. Ceci est malheureux puisque la médiation est le mécanisme de règlement des différends auquel on a recours le plus aux États-Unis. La médiation a été étudiée tant par les tenants de l'approche institutionnelle que par ceux de l'approche empirique et ces deux groupes en sont venus à la conclusion que le travail des médiateurs, leur personnalité et les perceptions des parties sont à la base de l'efficacité de ce mécanisme. Mais ceci reste cependant incomplet. Le but du présent article consiste à vérifier l'effet des qualités et des stratégies des médiateurs dans le règlement réussi des impasses. Cette étude se fonde sur une analyse discriminante pour déterminer si les qualités personnelles des médiateurs et les stratégies qu'ils utilisent permettent de prédire le succès de la médiation dans le règlement des impasses dans le secteur public en Iowa. On a tiré les données de questionnaires distribués aux négociateurs patronaux et syndicaux dans 214 situations d'impasse qui se sont produites en Iowa en 1986.Les questions portaient sur divers aspects des négociations, sur l'impasse elle-même et sur le rôle joué par le médiateur assigné à leur dossier. Pour quantifier les données, on a utilisé l'échelle de Likert.Les résultats obtenus confirment les hypothèses selon lesquelles la personnalité du médiateur et sa façon d'agir permettent de prédire l'issue de la médiation. De plus, plusieurs tactiques et qualités personnelles jugées significatives sont importantes pour les deux parties. Trois des six caractéristiques significatives sont les mêmes pour les syndicats et les employeurs, soit (1) leur habileté à 'parler' le langage des parties, (2) la ténacité et la maîtrise de soi et (3) l'impartialité et la franchise. Huit des quatorze tactiques ou stratégies du médiateur considérées comme significatives sont également communes aux deux parties. La plus importante d'entre elles consiste dans la formulation de propositions de nature à éviter une apparence de défaite d'une partie ou de l'autre.Ces résultats, lorsqu'on les considère à la lumière d'un certain nombre d'autres études récentes, permettent de voir que la personnalité des médiateurs peut être une des conditions préalables pour que leurs stratégies deviennent efficaces dans la solution des impasses. La constance avec laquelle la personnalité des médiateurs est perçue par les syndicats et par les employeurs ainsi que l'importance relative de certaines de leurs stratégies supportent l'hypothèse voulant que les théories sur les comportements dans la médiation sont exactes; cependant, ces théories doivent faire l'objet de recherches plus poussées.Il est clair que les stratégies et la personnalité des médiateurs permettent de prédire l'issue de la médiation, mais il faut en savoir plus sur la façon dont elles en influencent les résultats. Les conclusions de cette étude confirment que la perception qu'ont les parties du médiateur est un facteur déterminant dans l'aide que la médiation peut apporter dans la solution des impasses.This study utilizes discriminant analysis to determine if the characteristics of mediators and the strategies they employ predict the success of mediation in resolving impasses in the public sector in lowa. The data were obtained from questionnaires administered to management and union negotiators in the 214 impasses reported in lowa during 1986. Mediators' characteristics and the strategies they employ are found to predict the success of mediation for both management and union negotiators in lowa during 1986

Thermochemistry of Alane Complexes for Hydrogen Storage: A Theoretical and Experimental Comparison

Knowledge of the relative stabilities of alane (AlH3) complexes with electron donors is essential for identifying hydrogen storage materials for vehicular applications that can be regenerated by off-board methods; however, almost no thermodynamic data are available to make this assessment. To fill this gap, we employed the G4(MP2) method to determine heats of formation, entropies, and Gibbs free energies of formation for thirty-eight alane complexes with NH3-nRn (R = Me, Et; n = 0-3), pyridine, pyrazine, triethylenediamine (TEDA), quinuclidine, OH2-nRn (R = Me, Et; n = 0-2), dioxane, and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Monomer, bis, and selected dimer complex geometries were considered. Using these data, we computed the thermodynamics of the key formation and dehydrogenation reactions that would occur during hydrogen delivery and alane regeneration, from which trends in complex stability were identified. These predictions were tested by synthesizing six amine-alane complexes involving trimethylamine, triethylamine, dimethylethylamine, TEDA, quinuclidine, and hexamine, and obtaining upper limits of delta G for their formation from metallic aluminum. Combining these computational and experimental results, we establish a criterion for complex stability relevant to hydrogen storage that can be used to assess potential ligands prior to attempting synthesis of the alane complex. Based on this, we conclude that only a subset of the tertiary amine complexes considered and none of the ether complexes can be successfully formed by direct reaction with aluminum and regenerated in an alane-based hydrogen storage system.Comment: Accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Managing Risks in Human Resources: Employment Arbitration

In recent years the high cost of litigation of employment disputes has resulted in the many employers adopting alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Employment arbitration has been the choice of many firms to minimize the risk associated with wrongful dismissal and other employment related issues. Arbitration is faster and simpler than courtroom litigation. However, perhaps the main reason for this move to employment arbitration is that arbitrators are limited to a make whole remedy virtually eliminating the pain and suffering and exemplary damages which may be awarded in court. There are specific issues which must be addressed if employment arbitration is to be enforced in the courts and is going to serve the purposes of minimizing litigation risks, these are reviewed in this paper. There are also questions which should be examined in deciding if employment arbitration will serve a useful purpose in any organization

Cases in Collective bargaining and industrial relations

One-Third of the cases in this edition are new