Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Policy-Making and the Machinery of Italian Government

Abstract This article analyzes Italy's attempts to adapt its central government machinery to the demands of European policy-making since the mid-1980s. It shows how the introduction of a more complex and articulated form of cross-departmental coordination at both the policy formation and the implementation stages of the policy cycle was affected by the Italian institutional culture. Institutional adaptation did come, but was delayed and often distorted by uncertainty over the broader changes to the machinery of government which were taking place over the same period, and by a culture in which cohesion and purpose in public policy goals tended to be sustained more through formal legal definitions of the policy process than through the development of shared attitudes towards the role of programmatic political leadership.
The Performance and Competitive Advantage of Small Firms: A Management Perspective

PETERJENNINGS, NOW WITH SOUTHAMPTON Institute, England, was at the time of writing with Sheffield Hallam University, England, and Graham Beaver is with Nottingham Trent University, England. Successful small firms practice strategic management either consciously and visibly or unconsciously and invisibly. Failure and success are interpreted as measures of good or indifferent management and are usually defined rational criteria which ignore stakeholder aspirations. Many owner managers pursue personal objectives which inhibit the probability of success if measured using these rational criteria. The majority of existing studies of small business performance tend to focus on either the symptoms arising from problems within the firm or upon the reason cited for failure. Comparatively little analysis of the ingredients that promote and sustain competitive advantage has been undertaken. Notwithstanding the fact that generic skills and abilities are required, the management process in small firms is unique and cannot be considered to be the same as professional management in larger organisations practised on a reduced scale. The multiplicity of roles expected of the owner-manager as the principal stakeholder often causes dissonance which enhances the probability of poor decision-making and inappropriate action. The authors consider that the root cause of either small business failure of poor performance is almost invariably a lack of management attention to strategic issues.
Factors predicting smoking behavior through multilevel interventions in the Royal Thai Army conscripts.

OBJECTIVE To determine factors predicting smoking behavior through multilevel interventions in the Royal Thai Army Conscripts. MATERIAL AND METHOD The present study was apart ofquasi-experimental research designed to evaluate the effectiveness of smoking cessation program based on ecological model for improving smoking behavior among the conscripts in the three levels ofbehavior change interventions; intrapersonal level, interpersonal level and organizational level. The 89 participants were purposively selected from the first infantry regiment of conscripts who were current smokers from the King's Royal Guards recruited into the Army in the first section of the year 2009 and put into a trial run-through of the three influential factors process throughout the first six months. The instruments used to collect data was a self-dministered questionnaire used between May 2009 and November 2009. In addition, the individual interviews and checklists of observations were employed to collect data related to organizational intervention. Data mining classification was used to predict the influential factors improving smoking behavior after the end of smoking cessation program at six months. RESULTS The conscripts were able to change their smoking behaviors. 62.9% ofparticipants reduced smoking, and 4.5% could quit smoking. Data mining analysis showed self-efficacy in intrapersonal level was the crucial variable to predict smoking behavior which correctly classified in the model 77.78%, subsequently, behavioralfactors, e.g., duration of smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Additionally, organizational intervention also had an influence on the change of smoking behavior by strengthening the policy related to tobacco control, settingsmoke free workplace and supportingfrom the commander. For interpersonal intervention, family support alone did not improve their smoking behaviors. CONCLUSION Self-efficacy and organizational intervention can help the conscripts improve their smoking behaviors during service in the army.
Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Models for the Antioxidant Activity of Polysaccharides

In this study, quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) models for the antioxidant activity of polysaccharides were developed with 50% effective concentration (EC50) as the dependent variable. To establish optimum QSAR models, multiple linear regressions (MLR), support vector machines (SVM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were used, and 11 molecular descriptors were selected. The optimum QSAR model for predicting EC50 of DPPH-scavenging activity consisted of four major descriptors. MLR model gave EC50 = 0.033Ara-0.041GalA-0.03GlcA-0.025PC+0.484, and MLR fitted the training set with R = 0.807. ANN model gave the improvement of training set (R = 0.96, RMSE = 0.018) and test set (R = 0.933, RMSE = 0.055) which indicated that it was more accurately than SVM and MLR models for predicting the DPPH-scavenging activity of polysaccharides. 67 compounds were used for predicting EC50 of the hydroxyl radicals scavenging activity of polysaccharides. MLR model gave EC50 = 0.12PC+0.083Fuc+0.013Rha-0.02UA+0.372. A comparison of results from models indicated that ANN model (R = 0.944, RMSE = 0.119) was also the best one for predicting the hydroxyl radicals scavenging activity of polysaccharides. MLR and ANN models showed that Ara and GalA appeared critical in determining EC50 of DPPH-scavenging activity, and Fuc, Rha, uronic acid and protein content had a great effect on the hydroxyl radicals scavenging activity of polysaccharides. The antioxidant activity of polysaccharide usually was high in MW range of 4000–100000, and the antioxidant activity could be affected simultaneously by other polysaccharide properties, such as uronic acid and Ara.
Internal Restructuring and Firm Survival

We examine the impact of two common methods of internal restructuring, layoffs and divestitures on the survival of a sample of UK firms. Using a Poisson regression model, we find that divestitures improve survival likelihood by reducing the probability and speed of market exit via takeover or bankruptcy, whereas layoffs increase the probability and speed of market exit via bankruptcy. Surprisingly, classifying firms into financially distressed and healthy groups, we find that distressed firms are less likely to restructure. Furthermore, while divestitures improve survival likelihood in both groups, layoff firms are less likely to survive, irrespective of whether they are distressed or healthy. Our findings are consistent with event studies that examine the market reaction to layoffs and divestiture decisions, and so provide some support for the view that the market correctly values the consequences of these restructuring actions on firm survival. The results are robust to several econometric and modeling issues, including controlling for potential self‐selection bias.
Sustained benefit after 2 years of growth hormone on body composition, fat utilization, physical strength and agility, and growth in Prader-Willi syndrome.

BACKGROUND Obesity and hypotonia in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) are accompanied by abnormal body composition resembling a growth hormone (GH)-deficient state. Hypothalamic dysfunction in PWS includes decreased GH secretion, suggesting a possible therapeutic role for GH treatment. Although recent studies have demonstrated short-term benefits of treatment with GH, a critical question is whether beneficial changes persist or wane with prolonged therapy. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS Effects of 24 months of GH treatment (1 mg/m(2)/d) on growth, body composition, strength and agility, pulmonary function, resting energy expenditure, and fat utilization were assessed in 35 children with PWS. Percent body fat, lean muscle mass, and bone mineral density were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Indirect calorimetry was used to determine resting energy expenditure and to calculate the respiratory quotient. RESULTS Compared with baseline evaluations, increased height velocity (SD score -1.1 +/- 2.5 to 2.2 +/- 2.3; P <. 001), reduced percent body fat (46.4% +/- 8.4% to 40.3% +/- 10.0%, P <.001), and improved respiratory muscle function and physical strength and agility (sit-ups, weight-lifts, running speed, and broad jump; P <.01) were observed after 24 months of GH treatment. A decline in respiratory quotient (0.81 +/- 0.07 to 0.75 +/- 0.06; P <. 01) and a trend toward increased resting energy expenditure were also observed. Changes in response to GH occurred predominantly during the initial 12 months of GH therapy. CONCLUSIONS Children with PWS had sustained increases in lean body mass, decreases in percent body fat, improvements in physical strength and agility, and increased fat oxidation after 24 months of GH therapy. However, between 12 and 24 months, the growth rate slowed. Consequently, encouraging initial results require even more prolonged study to draw conclusions regarding the long-term value of GH therapy in changing body composition in children with PWS.
Poverty in Egypt: Modeling and Policy Simulations

Poverty profiles are a useful way of summarizing information on the levels of poverty and the characteristics of the poor in a society, but they are limited by the bivariate nature of their informational content. Using the 1997 Egypt Integrated Household Survey (EIHS), this article estimates models of household consumption in the first stage and then predicts poverty rates corresponding to changes in potential policy variables. The key results of the study point to the important instrumental role of education, parental background, land redistribution, and access to health facilities in alleviating poverty in Egypt.
Does Stock Price Synchronicity Represent Firm-Specific Information? The International Evidence

Note: This paper has been superseded by Gassen, LaFond, Skaife and Veenman: Illiquidity and Stock Price Synchronicity, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2405465. Much of prior international accounting research implicitly assumes that stock prices capture similar amounts of firm-specific information across countries. Recent research asserts that stock price synchronicity, defined as the R2 from asset pricing regressions, is a useful measure of the amount of firm-specific information impounded in stock prices in international markets. However, the results of our empirical tests provide little support for using stock price synchronicity as a measure of firm-specific information internationally. We develop an alternative measure of firm-specific information impounded in stock price based on the percentage of zero-return days, i.e., the zero-return metric, and repeat the analyses. Overall, our results suggest that the zero-return metric is a better measure of firm-specific information impounded into share prices than the synchronicity measure internationally.
Event rate and event-related potentials in ADHD.

BACKGROUND It has been repeatedly found that performance of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is more impaired when a long inter-stimulus interval (ISI) is used than when a short ISI is used. According to the cognitive-energetic model, this may reflect difficulty in remaining in an optimal motor activation state because of insufficient effort allocation. METHOD Event-related potentials (ERPs) were evaluated during a Go/No-Go task that incorporates a condition with a fast and a slow presentation rate. RESULTS ADHD, whether or not comorbid with oppositional defiant/conduct disorder (ODD/CD), was associated with a steeper increase in reaction time (RT) from the fast to the slow condition accompanied by a missing increment of the parietal P3. Speed of responding was found to be correlated with P3 amplitude. In the fast condition, children with ADHD made more errors of commission, accompanied by a smaller No-Go N2, a component thought to be related to inhibition; however, after controlling for ODD/CD these differences disappeared. CONCLUSIONS The association between the steeper increase in RT and reduced parietal P3s may indicate that the children with ADHD did not allocate enough extra effort to adjust to a potentially under-activated state. However, the event rate effects could not account for all of the differences between groups and also early automatic information processing stages seem disturbed in this disorder as indexed by larger P2 amplitudes. Alternative explanations are discussed.
Detection and discrimination of chromatic targets in hemianopic macaque monkeys and humans

We measured the ability of three macaque monkeys with unilateral removal of primary visual cortex to detect 9°, 200‐ms targets presented at random in the upper or lower quadrants of the normal and hemianopic visual fields. The white or variously coloured target could differ from the background in both colour and luminance, or in either of them. Blue and red targets were detectable at any luminance contrast, but green and white targets were barely or not at all detectable at and near isoluminance in the hemianopic field. Blue and red targets were better detected than white targets at the same luminance difference. However, when both the target and the background were dynamically luminance‐masked, detection in the hemianopic field failed at isoluminance whatever the colour. In addition, the monkeys were unable to discriminate between simultaneously presented red and green or blue and green targets in the hemianopic field when both targets had similar luminance contrast with the background. Two hemianopic patients tested on a subset of the tasks performed similarly to the monkeys. Together, the results indicate that the residual colour‐opponent system that survives damage to V1 is involved in the detection of chromatic changes but cannot sustain simultaneous discrimination between pairs of colours.
Privatization of Public Services : Impacts for Employment, Working Conditions, and Service Quality in Europe

1. Introduction Christoph Hermann and Jorg Flecker 2. The Process of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Marketisation Christoph Hermann and Koen Verhoest 3. Concentration and Disintegration: Company Responses in the Electricity Sector and Consequences for Employment Christoph Hermann and Richard Pond 4. Between Former Monopolists and New Competitors: Fragmentation and Deterioration of Employment Conditions in Postal Services Torsten Brandt and Christoph Hermann 5. Outsourcing, Competitive Tendering and Changing Working Conditions in Local Public Transport Jorg Flecker and Christer Thornqvist 6. Hospitals under Growing Pressure from Marketisation and Privatisation Thorsten Schulten and Nils Bohlke 7. Company Responses to Liberalisation and Privatisation and Consequences for Employment and Working Conditions Jorg Flecker and Christoph Hermann 8. Privatisation and the Impact on Employment Wieslawa Kozek, Beata Radzka and Christoph Hermann 9. Privatisation and the Impact on Labour Relations Thorsten Schulten and Torsten Brandt 10. The Struggle for Public Services Christoph Hermann, Julia Kubisa and Thorsten Schulten 11. The Citizen-User Perspective: Results From a Cross-Country Survey Guy van Gyes and Sem Vandekerckhove 12. Conclusion: Impacts of Public Service Liberalisation and Privatisation Christoph Hermann and Jorg Flecker. Contributors. Notes. Index
Trade Openness and Inflation Performance: A Panel Data Analysis in the Context of African Countries

This paper tests the hypothesis of a negative relation between openness and inflation in the context of African countries. A dynamic model of inflation in which openness enters alternately as an endogenous and exogenous variable is estimated with different panel data estimation procedures. The paper finds no robust evidence that openness served as a mechanism to restrain inflation in the region. On the contrary, the results suggest that increased openness, treated as an endogenous variable, is associated with higher inflation on holding constant such factors as food supply constraint and level of economic development which are found significant co-determinants.
The Metrics of Subjective Wellbeing: Cardinality, Neutrality and Additivity

The use of subjective wellbeing (SWB) data in economic analysis has increased dramatically in recent years and has now become mainstream, despite some lingering concerns about the quality of these data. Although the psychology literature to a certain extent has succeeded in addressing the issues of interpersonal, intertemporal and international comparison of SWB data, the issues of cardinality, neutrality and additivity continue to be contentious among economists. This article surveys the existing literature relevant to these issues in an effort to provide clarity and thus assist SWB data users to develop more robust research designs.
Happiness and the Welfare State

Does a more generous welfare state make people happier and increase their life satisfaction? Available empirical research gives a clear and positive answer to this question. This goes counter to many arguments that the welfare state creates a culture of dependency, leads to heavy-handed bureaucratic intrusions into private life, creates problems concerning personal integrity, is bad for economic growth, implies stigmatization of the poor, and crowds out civil society and voluntarism. This counterintuitive result is explained by to which degree social programs are universal in the coverage and structure. Four common misunderstandings of universal welfare states are discussed and refuted: This it is too costly for the economy, that it cannot be combined with individual choice, that it does not redistribute in favour of the poor and that it should be detrimental to economic growth. Using a "social mechanism" approach, it is argued that the relation between subjective well-being and universal welfare states operates in a complicated causal pattern with two other variables, the degree of corruption and the level of social trust in society. This approach is used to explain why empirically, countries tend to cluster so that countries with large and mostly universal welfare state programs also have low levels of corruption, a high degree of social trust, and high levels of happiness and social well-being. And vice versa, why countries with smaller welfare systems tend to be higher on corruption, have lower levels of social trust, and lower levels of social well-being.
Leadership and Design of Data-Driven Professional Networks in Schools

Using data from a multi-method comparative case study of two matched schools, this paper adds to the growing body of applications of social network analysis to the study of distributed leadership and accountability.We contrast two approaches to instructional leadership, prescriptive and discretionary, to investigate how leaders design professional networks to increase the availability and access of individuals with the expertise needed to perform the analysis required to conduct data-driven instructional improvement. We found that the prescriptive approach to instructional leadership uses comprehensive school reform as a focal artifact to facilitate the widespread use of data for learning when compared to a leadership perspective that aimed at cultivating teacher discretion. We conclude with a discussion of how the concept of cognitive load helps illustrate the design principles leaders can use to create data-driven professional networks in schools.
Approaching the Limit: Long‐Term Trends in Late and Very Late Fertility

In this article we discuss trends in the limits to late childbearing, their determinants and potential implications from an empirical long-term perspective. Although the high levels observed in non-contracepting populations have not been reached, fertility in Europe at ages 40+ and 45+ has increased substantially in recent years. This trend received considerable attention, especially in combination with the emergence of new reproductive technologies and often low levels of general fertility. Nevertheless, physiological studies agree on the fact that age limits to childbearing, at least for women, have not shifted to later ages. Our empirical analyses of high-quality long-term data from Sweden document an increase in the absolute and relative number of births at ages 40+ and 45+, together with an increase in first birth occurrence-exposure rates at ages close to 40.
Tax Competition Between Sub-Central Governments

Tax competition is the strategic interaction of tax policy between sub-central governments (SCG) with the objective to attract and retain mobile tax bases. Tax competition rests on firms’ and households’ willingness and ability to shift the tax base – i.e. profits, capital, income, consumption etc. – after SCG tax policy changes. There is no tax competition without tax base mobility. The views on the benefits and costs of tax competition differ widely: while some consider that tax competition brings sub-central fiscal policy closer to citizen’s preferences, increases the efficiency of the public sector and avoids tax and spending excesses, others argue that tax competition leads to a distorted tax structure, to growing tax rate disparities and to an under-provision of publicly provided services. The degree of tax competition is likely to vary across countries and over time and is strongly shaped by the fiscal and institutional framework. Tax competition is not only an issue for federal countries, but also for unitary countries where local governments often have far-reaching tax autonomy.
Spatial analysis and socio-economic burden of road crashes in south-western Nigeria

Road traffic accidents are a major health problem in Nigeria. Death and injuries resulting from road crashes in the country have been on the increase over the years. For instance, fatality rate rose from 5.3 in 1970 to 5.8 in 2005. The purpose of the paper is to assess the pattern and socio-economic burden of road crashes on road accident victims in south-western Nigeria. The study relied on the administration of 438 questionnaires to road accident victims in both public and private hospitals in south-western Nigeria. The data were presented using descriptive statistics. Findings indicated that more than 70% of the accident victims were within the productive age group of between 15–45 years, with over 60% of them living below the poverty line. Motorcycles and buses accounted for 70% of the vehicles while about 40% of the victims were pedestrians. Each victim on average spent a minimum of US$17 per day on medical expenses and had at least one person attached to him/her throughout the period of admission. This has grave implications on the welfare of the families and the socio-economic development of the country. The paper calls for the use of preventive methods and post-crash management initiatives in order to reduce the magnitude and burden of road crashes on members of the society in south-western Nigeria.