Suchergebnisse

In a sample of 104 closely monitored magpie goose nests, all of 66 successful
nests contained substantial numbers of eggshell fragments
(52–1000+), many embedded deeply in the nest matrix. Detached shell
membranes were also found in all successful nests. All but one of 38
unsuccessful nests contained no shell fragments. The exception contained about
60% of the shell from one egg, but fragments were clearly
distinguishable from shells of hatched eggs because they were contaminated
with egg yolk. Weight of eggshell in individual nests could be related to the
number of hatchlings (excluding failed nests:
r2 = 0.67,
P < 0.0001, n = 39), but
the time required to retrieve and process shell fragments is perhaps too long
to justify routine use to estimate hatchling production for individual nests.
Rather, we suggest that the presence of substantial quantities of eggshell
fragments (>12 g or the equivalent of more than 1 egg) embedded in the nest
matrix be regarded as diagnostic of hatching success. We interpret the clear
discrimination between successful and failed nests as a direct result of
consistent features of magpie goose biology and the breeding environment. The
most important of these are: (i) the prolonged hatching and on-nest brooding
period, during which eggshells from hatched eggs are crushed and their
movement into the nest matrix promoted; (ii) the continuous addition of
vegetation to the nest, often covering shells; (iii) the removal of shells
from damaged (but not hatched) eggs by attending adults; and (iv) the dominant
egg predator being a large snake (the water python, Liasis fuscus) which
consumes eggs whole and hence leaves no shells at the nest site. We suggest
that post-hatch surveys of nest structures should be used to improve
understanding of spatial variation in nest success within colonies, and to
compare success between colonies of different size.

Zu Beginn der neunziger Jahre suchen alle europäischen Regierungen beinahe händeringend nach neuen Politikansätzen zur Förderung eines beschäftigungsintensiven Wachstums. Da vor allem geringer qualifizierte Arbeitnehmer von konjunktureller und zunehmend struktureller Arbeitslosigkeit betroffen sind, erscheint die Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplätze im personennahen Dienstleistungssektor eine der erfolgversprechendsten Lösungen zu sein. Nachdem die Wirtschaftstheorie für lange Jahre dieser Idee eine Absage erteilt hat, erlebt der Dienstleistungsgedanke zur Zeit eine Renaissance. Im Mittelpunkt dieser politischen Debatte steht der sogenannte Dienstleistungsscheck. Nach Frankreich und Belgien ist Deutschland das dritte Land, welches dieses Instrument in grossem Stil einsetzt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie unterstützen die Ansicht, dass direkte Transferleistungen besser dazu geeignet sind, den personennahen Dienstleistungssektor zu fördern, als Systeme, die Steuererleichterungen verwenden. Andererseits zeigt die vorliegende Analyse, dass Transfermodellen eine hohe Output- Elastizität innewohnt, welche das Risiko von unkontrollierbaren Einbussen öffentlicher Gelder bei gleichzeitig schwachen Beschäftigungseffekten beinhalten. Alternativmodelle sollten deshalb ebenso berücksichtigt werden. ; In the mid-nineties, near all european governments look almost desperately for a panacea against sluggish growth and high unemployment. Since this problem concerns mainly low-skilled workers, the creation of low-profile jobs in the personal service sector still seems to be one of the most promising solutions. After a long period of scepticism dominating economic thinking about the growth potential of this sector, a renaissance of the service-idea is taking place at the moment. The so called service cheque finds itself at the centre of this new policy approach. Its objective is twofold: to subsidize the demand and to reduce the cost of labour. After France and Belgium, Germany is the third country introducing it at a large scale. The findings of this essay back up the opinion that direct welfare benefits, promoting the use of service-cheques, are preferable to those that rely on tax-relief incentives. On the other hand, the idea to provide households with a special welfare benefit in terms of service-cheques could prove risky once the system's high elasticity of output provokes uncontrollable budget deficits. Alternative models should therefore also be considered.

The Humanitarian Demining Information Center (HDIC) at James Madison University is developing a plan for identifying, analyzing, enhancing, and disseminating electronic and hard copy information relating to humanitarian demining. The first step toward realizing this objective was identifying the information needs, information availability and optimal methods for organizing and delivering information to the humanitarian demining community. Broadly conceived, the humanitarian demining community consists of ten components. • U.S. government agencies that have as part of their mission the development of programs for humanitarian demining in selected countries • volunteer organizations that are directly involved in the task of humanitarian demining • for-profit organizations that are directly involved in the task of humanitarian demining • those who devise or provide technologies for this activity • volunteer organizations whose primary mission is that of providing short emergency aid or long term development assistance to victims of natural disasters and civil unrest that brings them into contact with the landmine threat • organizations whose interest in the field of humanitarian demining lies in the area of public advocacy • academic and research organizations whose involvement in humanitarian demining is largely tangential through their broader interest in world politics • relief organizations that have a sustained and direct exposure to humanitarian demining projects • UN or international organizations' agencies that are charged with demining as a subset of responding to complex human emergencies and promoting disaster prevention and preparedness • Local or host government agencies that provide an indigenous capability to undertake humanitarian demining operations Data from these organizations was obtained by a variety of means including: telephone surveys, analysis of printed material, analysis of organizational web sites, a conference on humanitarian demining held at James Madison University, and a survey of the existing literature on humanitarian demining. When significant differences exist in the nature of the response by these organizations to the questions asked in the telephone survey or in their printed material and web sites, these differences are noted in the analysis.

With no revenue requirement, or where government can use lump-sum taxes, Arthur C. Pigou (1947) shows that the first-best tax on pollution is equal to the marginal environmental damage. Consumers then pay the social marginal cost of each item, the direct cost of resources, plus the indirect cost of pollution. Suppose government needs more revenue, however, and cannot use lump-sum taxes. In this second-best world, our intuition might tell us to raise all tax rates: the tax on any "clean" commodity should be raised above its first-- best level of zero, and the tax on a "dirty" good should be raised above its first-best Pigovian level (the marginal environmental damage) . Despite this intuition, a recent paper by A. Lans Bovenberg and Ruud A. de Mooij ( 1994 p. 1085 ) claims to ". demonstrate that, in the presence of preexisting distortionary taxes, the optimal pollution tax typically lies below the Pigovian tax." This note argues that nothing is necessarily wrong with the intuition that all taxes should be raised. Nothing is wrong with the Bovenberg and de Mooij model either, but the above quote could be misinterpreted. I generalize their model to reconcile these opposing views. Earlier writers have expressed several versions of the "double-dividend hypothesis."1 These views are discussed more below, but a strong version of this hypothesis might claim that a revenue-neutral switch toward a tax on the dirty good and away from taxation of clean goods can improve environmental quality and reduce the overall cost of tax distortions. By implication, this view might suggest that any additional revenue requirements should be met by raising the tax on the dirty good by more than taxes on clean goods. The important and correct result of Bovenberg and de Mooij is that this strong view is flawed.2 Even if the pollution tax

The European Community Directive on Working Time, which should have been implemented in member states of the European Community by November 1996, contains several requirements related to working hours, including the right of employees to refuse to work more than 48 hours a week. The United Kingdom government attempted to oppose the Directive, arguing that there is no convincing evidence that hours of work should be limited on health and safety grounds. Much of the research in this area has focused on the problems of shiftworking and previous reviews have therefore tended to emphasise this aspect of working hours. However, there is much less information about the effects of overtime work, which is a central element of the terms of the Directive. This paper reviews the current evidence relating to the potential effects on health and performance of extensions to the normal working day. Several gaps in the literature are identified. Research to date has been restricted to a limited range of health outcomes--namely, mental health and cardiovascular disorders. Other potential effects which are normally associated with stress--for example, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and problems associated with depression of the immune system, have received little attention. Also, there have been few systematic investigations of performance effects, and little consideration of the implications for occupational exposure limits of extensions to the working day. Existing data relate largely to situations where working hours exceed 50 a week and there is a lack of information on hours below this level, which is of direct relevance to the European Community proposal. Finally, it is clear from investigations relating to shiftwork that a range of modifying factors are likely to influence the level and nature of health and performance outcomes. These include the attitudes and motivation of the people concerned, the job requirements, and other aspects of the organisational and cultural climate. It is concluded that ...

BACKGROUND: The primary care setting has been regarded in government policy and the scientific literature as an ideal setting for the work needed to meet the Health of the Nation drug and alcohol targets. Although studies have pointed to the negative attitudes held by general practitioners (GPs) towards alcohol- and drug-misusing patients, there has been no direct comparison of the work and attitudes of the GP towards these patients. AIM: To compare the work and attitudes of GPs towards alcohol- and drug-misusing patients. METHOD: All GPs in an outer London area (157 doctors) were surveyed, using an eight-page postal questionnaire, collecting clinical and attitudinal data alongside demographics and practice information. A response rate of 52% was achieved. RESULTS: General practitioners reported working with only 3.5 patients drinking above recommended guidelines in the previous four working weeks, and even fewer drug-using patients (0.75). While they viewed the alcohol-misusing patients negatively, the drug misuser elicited substantially more negative attitudes. The primary care setting was seen as appropriate to work with the alcohol-misusing patient but not with drug users. Training and support from local services would encourage substantially more GPs to work with alcohol misusers but not with drug misusers. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that there are some cautious grounds for optimism that GPs are willing to work with alcohol misusers; however, with regard to drug misusers, we find a GP workforce that is only minimally involved with this group and would not be greatly encouraged by the provision of additional training, support, or incentives. The Health of the Nation targets are not being met, and GPs are not detecting adequate numbers of the patients at whom these targets are aimed. Emphasis has been placed on the role of primary care, but the real achievements that can be made require detection of the less severe drinkers and injecting drug misusers.

Granting collateral to secure loans is a prominent feature of the U.S. economy, but, surprisingly, we do not understand how borrowers and lenders decide whether to engage in a secured or an unsecured transaction. In this Article, Professor Mann argues that existing theories of secured lending are inadequate because the theories' predictions have not been tested against empirical data. To understand the actual pattern of secured credit, Professor Mann interviewed more than twenty borrowers and lenders in various sectors of the economy. Based on the evidence gathered in these interviews, as well as on preexisting empirical studies, this Article develops a model of the borrower's decision to grant collateral that focuses on the borrower's perceptions of the costs and benefits of secured and unsecured transactions. Granting collateral lowers the aggregate costs of a lending transaction by lowering the pre-loan perception of the risk of default. Secured credit can do this not only by increasing the lender's ability to collect the debt forcibly through liquidation of the collateral, but also in less direct ways: by decreasing the borrower's ability to obtain subsequent loans; by increasing the lender's leverage over the borrower's activities; and by repairing the loan-induced differentiation of the incentives of the borrower and the lender. Conversely, a grant of collateral can increase the costs of a lending transaction by increasing the costs of entering the transaction as well as the costs of administering the loan. In the Article's final section, Professor Mann uses the decision-based model to explain three separate aspects of the pattern of secured credit: the relatively infrequent use of secured credit by companies with strong financial records, the relation between the use of collateral and the duration of the debt, and the apparently low rate of retention of security interests by suppliers.

Despite persistent constitutional questions, United States administrative agencies have grown in influence during this century.' Much of this controversy has centered around Congress's ability to control the removal of administrative officials constitutionally. In an effort to retain control of administrative agencies and in recognition of the need to conduct certain adjudicative functions outside the executive's domain, Congress has sought to create some agencies free from presidential influence. In particular, Congress has focused on at- tempting to limit the President's power to remove administrative officials. Although such limitations have always been controversial, the Supreme Court is generally thought to have resolved this particular constitutional issue: while Congress itself may not control the removal of a government official performing executive duties, Congress may limit the President's power to remove. Congress has therefore won the constitutional battle to establish its power to limit the President's removal authority. The essential question now is how this victory affects the larger struggle to create agencies independent of presidential control. How much legal protection has Congress actually secured for government agency heads, and what legal rights vest in these officials as a result? Congress has sought to limit the President's removal power, and thereby insulate some administrative activities from direct presidential control,s by including "for-cause" removal provisions in the enabling statutes of certain administrative agencies. Such clauses allow the President to remove officers only "for cause," and they typically limit "cause" to "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." Theoretically, this limitation, along with other measures enacted by Congress, frees an agency head from the need to defer to presidential opinion, creating a "body which shall be independent of executive authority, except in its selection, and free to exercise its judgment without the leave or hindrance ...

Democracy is indeed an elusive concept and any effort to develop the constituent elements of so important a political idea ought to be encouraged. From any number of perspectives it is clear that democracy must include more than simply ratifying the outcomes of either citizen or representative voting., And when a court is asked to set aside the results of a process some describe as democratic, the challenge to enrich the concept becomes even more pressing, particularly when the judicial power is invoked in the name of enhancing democracy. The Supreme Court's decision in Romer v. Evan dramatically poses the problem. The Court there invalidated a state constitutional provision that had been adopted by a direct vote of the citizens of the state of Colorado. For Justice Scalia in dissent, it was inconceivable for the Court to set aside this purest expression of democracy. In her Article, Professor Schacter addresses the challenge posed by Romer, and in doing so seeks to broaden and enrich the concept of democracy. Professor Schacter rejects the narrow, conventional approach that undergirds Justice Kennedy's majority opinion and the Court's general equal protection analysis. Rather than focusing-as the Court does-on the problem of the rights of the minority to be free from majority abuse, Professor Schacter attempts to offer two substantive refinements to the idea of democracy. First, Professor Schacter argues that democracy must include a fundamental right to participate in the political process. Thus, the evil of the law in Romer was not just majority discrimination, but the ultimate disenfranchisement of gays from the political process. With no ability to seek the protection of the government, gays were virtually frozen out of the ordinary give and take of interest group politics. Second, Professor Schacter argues that democracy must include the social dimensions of citizenry and identity. These social dimensions of democracy occur outside of formal law and outside of what is normally considered the political ...

by Tsang Ka Fai. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-168). ; ABSTRACT --- p.i-ii ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.iii -iv ; ABBREVIATIONS --- p.v ; TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.vi -viii ; LIST OF FIGURES --- p.ix -x ; LIST OF TABLES --- p.xi ; CHAPTER ; Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION ; Chapter 1.1 --- The Research Problem --- p.1 ; Chapter 1.2 --- Research Objectives --- p.5 ; Chapter 1.3 --- Research Methodology --- p.7 ; Chapter 1.4 --- Significance of the Research --- p.9 ; Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.10 ; Chapter 2. --- RESETTLEMENT PROJECT : A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ; Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.12 ; Chapter 2.2 --- The Resettlement Experience in the Developing Countries: A Review of the English Literature --- p.12 ; Chapter 2.3 --- The Resettlement Project in China --- p.22 ; Chapter 2.3.1 --- Little Concern of the Affected People --- p.22 ; Chapter 2.3.2 --- Deficiencies of IRP Studies --- p.23 ; Chapter 2.3.3 --- Policy Implementation in China --- p.26 ; Chapter 2.4 --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.30 ; Chapter 3. --- THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ; Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.33 ; Chapter 3.2 --- The Political-economic Reality of Post-Mao China: A Call for a Relevant Framework --- p.34 ; Chapter 3.2.1 --- The Collapse of a Total Society and the Emergence of an Ungovernable Differentiated Society --- p.34 ; Chapter 3.2.2 --- A Shift from Direct to Indirect State Management --- p.37 ; Chapter 3.2.3 --- The Requirement to Take Note of Local Interests in a Changing Central-local Relation --- p.39 ; Chapter 3.2.4 --- The Emergence of Rural Society with More Diverse Interests and Decision-making Mechanisms --- p.40 ; Chapter 3.3 --- The Actor-Network Approach --- p.45 ; Chapter 3.3.1 --- General Background --- p.45 ; Chapter 3.3.2 --- Its Arguments --- p.47 ; Chapter 3.3.3 --- The Role of Space --- p.57 ; Chapter 3.4 --- Implications for the Study of IRP Implementation in China --- p.63 ; Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.68 ...

Analysis of data provided by the Virginia Departments of Motor Vehicles, Transportation, and Education all show school buses as having a significantly higher number of accidents per hundred million miles of travel than other forms of transportation. Such statistics are alarming and formal study of school bus accident factors has been limited. The purposes of this study were to (a) establish the adequacy of the school bus driver training programs of Local Education Agencies (LEAs) of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and (b) assess the results of various training programs on the reduction of school bus accidents. Descriptive data were gathered using two surveys. The driver survey included items regarding driver training and accident history. In addition, the survey included driver history, driver demographics, and inquiries into the adequacy of training preparation for the Commercial Drivers License (CDL). The transportation directors survey included items regarding training topics, training methods, program description, and employer expectations. Other topics included were the impact of the CDL, and government mandated training programs. Data analysis was conducted by developing cross-tabulation matrices, chi square tests of significance, correlation coefficients, paired t-tests, and multifactor analysis of variance (ANOVA). Conclusions formulated from this study include: (a) training programs in many LEAs do not meet national standards for adequacy; (b) there is no direct relationship between the number of school bus accidents and the adequacy of the training program; (c) there are few LEAs that analyze accident statistics to make modifications to training programs; and (d) most LEAs use the Virginia School Bus Driver Curriculum Guide as their major training resource. Findings such as these provided beneficial data to the Virginia Department of Education, LEA officials, and directors of transportation on training modification and effectiveness, as well as accident reduction. ; Ed. D.

30 Pag., 4 Tabl., 6 Fig. The definitive version is available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/0032-079x/ ; The establishment of proper agronomical practices and plant breeding programs for saline environments is limited by the lack of adequate field screening methods. We assessed the relationships between leaf ion concentration and grain yield in a set of barley cultivars and compared their ranking for salinity tolerance established with a triple-line-source (TLS) sprinkler system, where the absorption of salts is through the leaves and the roots, with that obtained with a drip-irrigation (DI) system, where the absorption of salts is only through the roots. The saline solution in both systems was made up of sodium and hydrated calcium chloride (1:1 w/w). Except for the highest saline treatments, direct leaf absorption of toxic Na+ and Cl- was minor or negligible, but it was substantial for Ca2+. Irrespective of barley cultivar and leaf age, the accumulation of Cl- in the TLS was 1.5 to 2.5 times greater than Na+. There was no significant correlation between grain yield and leaf sap ion concentration among eighteen barley cultivars. Thus, leaf ion concentrations should not be used as screening tools in breeding programs for increasing salinity tolerance in barley. The highest-yielding cultivars under non-saline conditions were also most productive under moderately saline conditions, though not under high-saline conditions. Although grain yields of the eighteen barley cultivars in the TLS were substantially lower than in the DI, the salinity tolerances estimated in both systems were significantly correlated (P<0.05), indicating that the simple and inexpensive TLS irrigation system could be successfully used in screening for salinity tolerance in barley. ; This work was financed by the European Union STD program and by a grant to R. Isla given by Diputación General de Aragón (Spain). ; Peer reviewed

The big "cartulaire" of the Mas Déu and the existence of a "capbreu" written in 1264 allow to study the running of the Templars's possessions in Roussillon during the Xlllth century. Cereals, grown in the central plain, were mostly produced by lands cultivated by domestics and salaried employees; parcels of land rented to peasants represented a minimal part of the Templars's incomes. Templars have also, as they did in other countries, encouraged the growth of vineyards; but in this area, this product didn't become a speculative one. We can, at last, have some informations about the Templar's herd and the way it was runned, thanks to the notarial documents. The Templars seemed to have the habit to sell sheeps and wool to some craftsmen of Perpignan and, by this way, they took part of the development of cloth industry in this town. ; [fr] L'exploitation du vaste domaine constitué par les Templiers en Roussillon (sept maisons dépendent de la commanderie du Mas Déu; elles couvrent les terroirs de la plaine, du Gonflent, du Vallespir et du Fenouillèdes) peut être étudiée grâce au cartulaire des Templiers du Mas Déu, composé à la fin du XIIIᵉ siècle, ainsi qu'à un terrier (capbreu) daté de 1264. La plaine fournit à l'ordre des ressources céréalières (orge) provenant essentiellement de l'exploitation de terres en faire-valoir direct: la seigneurie templière est fondée sur la réserve, la rente tirée des tenures ne constituant qu'une ressource de complément. Le Temple, à la suite d'une politique de bonification des étangs de la plaine, encourage également la culture de la vigne, qui ne devient pas pour autant une culture spéculative. Les sources notariales permettent, enfin, de combler une lacune de la documentation templière: celle relative aux revenus de l'élevage. Le Temple a acquis de nombreux pâturages, il possède un troupeau composite, en grande partie ovin, qu'il exploite en vendant bêtes et laine à des artisans de Perpignan, contribuant ainsi à l'essor des activités txtiles dans cette région.

On 29 October 1956 Israeli paratroopers landed deep inside the Sinai Desert, launching the second Arab-Israeli war and adding another level to the bloody edifice of Israel's relations with its neighbors. The Israeli leadership justified its decision to go to war by pointing to "the mini-war which the Arab rulers have waged against us for eight years." Many scholars have accepted that version of the events, which seeks to connect the multitude of border incidents from 1949 to 1956 with the war in the latter year. Indeed, a central approach in the study of the period viewed the Sinai campaign as the inevitable consequence of the succession of violent events which occurred between Israel and its neighbors, Egypt in particular, beginning shortly after the 1948 war. Benny Morris, in fact, describes Israel's participation in the 1956 war as the direct continuation of the border clashes with Egypt, finding no regional connection in Israel's involvement. Similarly, Nadav Safran, Mordechai Bar-On, and Michael Oren have argued that the border clashes, the infiltrations, and the Israeli reprisals followed one another in a relentless sequence until the final explosion in October 1956. This approach draws a connection between two "types of security" which are a permanent component of the Israeli defense doctrine: "basic security" and "day-to-day security." The latter incorporates operational activity, unrelated to preparations for war, which the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) constantly engages in during peacetime; whereas the former refers to a situation of total war for which the IDF has prepared itself. Conventionally, events falling within the domain of day-to-day security are considered the cause of the aggravation in relations between Israel and Egypt during the early 1950s; the Sinai campaign thus becomes the inevitable end of a process of deterioration engendered by the border clashes and incidents of the preceding eight years.

U radu se analizira stanje participacije zaposlenih u Srbiji, na osnovu istraživanja sprovedenog u deset novosadskih preduzeća. Konstatovano je da su radnički saveti u društvenim preduzećima ili nestali, ili su potpuno obesmišljeni stavljanjem pod direktnu kontrolu direktora (koji, opet, stoje pod direktnom kontrolom bivših komunista - nomenklature Socijalističke partije Srbije). Slična je situacija i sa sindikatima, koji su i dalje uglavnom uključeni u organizacioni sistem takozvanog Samostalnog sindikata Srbije, koga takođe kontroliše Socijalistička partija Srbije. Autor je identifikovao četiri tipa odnosa poslovodstva prema sindikatima u istraživanim preduzećima: 1) autoritarna kooperacija, 2) ignorisanje, 3) potpuna kontrola i 4) progon. Loše stanje u kojem se nalaze svi oblici participacije zaposlenih u Srbiji posledica je napora socijalista da pod svoju apsolutnu kontrolu dovedu ne samo politički, nego i ekonomski život cele Srbije. ; The paper analyses the situation with respect to employee participation in Serbia on the basis of a research carried out in ten enterprises in Novi Sad. It has been noted that the workersÆ councils in social enterprises have either disappeared or become completely meaningless. They are subjected to the direct control of managers, who, are, on their part, directly controlled by former communists - the nomenclature of the Socialist Party of Serbia. A similar situation is found with the trade unions which are still predominantly incorporated in the organizational system of the so-called Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, also controlled by Socialist Party of Serbia. The author has identified four types of the management - trade unions relations in the surveyed enterprises: 1) authoritarian cooperation 2) disregard, 3) complete control and 4) persecution. The poor state of affairs of all forms of employee participation in Serbia is the consequence of the socialistÆs endeavours to place under their absolute control not only the political but also the economic life of entire Serbia.