Reattraction of needed skills to developing countries of origin

This research note briefly outlines International Labour Organization concerns about return migration in developing countries, research being done in the field, and activities in related fields. Attention is being focused on the following topics and areas of study: 1) recommendations and conventions which cover workers generally and migrant workers particularly; 2) measures to avoid the departure of skilled workers from developing countries; 3) special problems encountered in improving migrant professionals' working conditions; 4) developing a central pool of information on labor markets and employment at the international level; 5) bilateral or multilateral migration agreements to optimize the flows of health personnel, scientific workers, engineers, and high level technicians, protecting their rights, and facilitating their reintegration into the country of origin; 6) creating a compensation scheme for skill outflows and training substitutes to fill the gaps left behind by migration; 7) classifying migratory policies adopted by developing countries; 8) reattraction of needed skills to developing countries of origin; 9) transfer of know-how through expatriate nationals; 10) labor reinsertion patterns of migrants returning to Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain; 11) Socioeconomic reintegration of migrants returning to Pakistan and Uruguay; and 12) Sri Lanka's experience with self-employment schemes for returned migrants.     

Premarital information efforts under way

Premarital couples are among priority targets of family planning information in the Philippines national population program as they can serve a pivotal role in slowing population growth. Applicants for marriage licenses are required to attend a family planning session as a prerequisite. Following recommendations of a training effort and seminar on Premarital Family Planning Counseling, on July 20, 1976, premarital information was institutionalized in the country by Presidential DEcree 965 which made family planning counseling obligatory to the marriage license applicants. Shortly after that, a multiagency effort gathered information on the status of the Premarital information program in the Philippines, which showed that there is no full-time specialist for the work. Medical officers; social workers; community welfare supervisors; and program and training officers do this work of information in addition to their usual duties. Distribution of the applicants varied greatly in age groups, educational levels, and professional category. The size of the group, length of session and topics of discussion varied greatly. Necessary efforts should be made to solve the major problems by selecting better sites for group sessions and training more personnel for the purpose. There is a great need fordeveloping more effective and research oriented information, education and communication materials, according to the needs and cultural traits of the target audience.     

No reliable evidence for immediate noise-induced song flexibility in a suboscine

Urban Ecosystems - Vermilion flycatchers, a suboscine, sing songs with more elements in territories with higher urban noise levels. We tested the hypothesis that this pattern is achieved through...     

The Impact of Corporate Reputation on Firm Risk: A Panel Data Analysis of Spanish Quoted Firms

Researchers have traditionally addressed the influence of corporate reputation on firm performance, but have not considered the influence of corporate reputation on firm risk. This research develops hypotheses regarding the opposing influence of corporate reputation on a firm's systematic risk, unsystematic risk and total risk, as well as the moderation effect of firm size and industry concentration. Using a panel data method, these relationships are analysed, controlling for the effects of endogeneity, for a sample of Spanish quoted firms in the period 2001–2007. Specifically, two complementary analyses are performed. The first distinguishes firms included and not included in the MERCO index of the most reputable firms. The second analyses the impact of corporate reputation for the sub‐sample of most reputable firms. Being reputable reduces a firm's unsystematic risk and total risk, but increases systematic risk. In addition, firm size weakens these influences of corporate reputation on firm risk. However, among the most reputable firms, differences in reputation score have a lower effect on risk. Specifically, the corporate reputation level only influences firm unsystematic risk. It seems that what matters is not the degree of corporate reputation, but whether being or not being reputable is the question in terms of risk.     

Too Negative to Take Risks? The Effect of the CEO's Emotional Traits on Firm Risk

Except for some recent survey and experimental studies, strategic management research has tended to neglect the influence of emotions on managers' strategic choices. This paper analyses the influence of the stable, long‐term emotional traits of CEOs on an actual business outcome: risk taking. The hypotheses are tested on a sample of 51 Spanish banks and savings banks. Our results show that CEO affective traits influence banks' risk taking. Specifically, our analyses show that managers' negative affective traits are related to lower risk taking as reflected in a lower variability in performance, a lower level of credit risk and a less risky composition of the loan portfolios of the banks they manage. Positive affective traits do not seem to influence the level of risk. These findings partially support ‘affect congruency and generalization’ arguments, and show the need to consider the role of affects when analysing CEOs' strategic choices.     

A Three-factor Model of Teasing: The Influence of Friendship, Gender, and Topic on Expected Emotional Reactions to Teasing during Early Adolescence

This research examined the effects of three factors (friendship, gender, and topic of teasing) on adolescents’ predicted emotional reactions to hypothetical teasing episodes regarding appearance and academic competence. The 8th graders (n =131) in Study 1 made predictions regarding the negative emotions and humor experienced when teasing occurred in a same‐sex dyad of either friends or classmates. The 6th and 8th graders (n=211) in Study 2 responded to hypothetical teasing interactions between same‐sex or cross‐sex dyads of friends or classmates. The results revealed that teasing by friends was interpreted with a more benevolent frame than that accorded to classmates. Overall, girls expected greater negative affect to result from the teasing than did the boys, especially when teasing was regarding weight. Although 8th graders reported more frequent teasing at school among same‐sex peers, there were few grade differences in the predicted emotional reactions. For all students, teasing about weight was predicted to generate the most negative affect and least humor. The results support the relevance of the three factors for understanding the interpretation of teasing.     

Modeling the problem of locating collection areas for urban waste management. An application to the metropolitan area of Barcelona

Reverse logistics problems arising in municipal waste management are both wide-ranging and varied. The usual collection system in UE countries is composed of two phases. First, citizens leave their refuse at special collection areas where different types of waste (glass, paper, plastic, organic material) are stored in special refuse bins. Subsequently, each type of waste is collected separately and moved to its final destination (a recycling plant or refuse dump). The present study focuses on the problem of locating these collection areas. We establish the relationship between the problem, the set covering problem and the MAX-SAT problem and then go on to develop a genetic algorithm and a GRASP heuristic to, respectively, solve each formulation. Finally, the quality of the algorithms is tested in a computational experience with real instances from the metropolitan area of Barcelona, as well as a reduced set of set covering instances from the literature.