Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does Europeanization lead to policy convergence? The role of the Single Market in shaping national tax policies

In this contribution, I review and test the quantitative and qualitative evidence on tax policy convergence for four major fields of taxation in European Union (EU) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. I interpret the empirical results using major causal mechanisms observed in the literature on international policy convergence. I find that competition and co-ordination alone are insufficient to explain the role of Europeanization of national tax systems. In direct taxation, competition is enhanced by forms of supranational imposition, whereas indirect taxation co-ordination efforts seemed to be enhanced by policy learning.
Clinical outcomes of a scapular-focused treatment in patients with subacromial pain syndrome: a systematic review

Objective To systematically review the literature on the clinical outcomes of scapular-focused treatments in participants with subacromial pain syndrome (SPS). Design Systematic literature review. Studies were appraised by two reviewers using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale, and a best-evidence synthesis was performed. Data sources The literature search was conducted in the databases PubMed, Embase and Cinahl up to February 2015. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Randomised controlled trials evaluating the clinical outcomes of a physiotherapeutic scapular-focused treatment in participants with SPS. Results Four studies were included describing various scapular-focused interventions, including scapular-focused exercise therapy, scapular mobilisation and scapular taping. All included studies had a PEDro score of 6 or higher, indicating low risk of bias. There was moderate evidence that scapular-focused treatment compared with other physiotherapeutic treatment is effective in improving scapular muscle strength in participants with SPS. Conflicting evidence was found for improvements in pain, function and clinical measures of scapular positioning. No evidence was found for improvements in shoulder range of motion or rotator cuff muscle strength. Conclusions There is some support for the use of scapular-focused exercise therapy in patients with SPS. Owing to the low number of studies, no firm conclusions can be drawn. Therefore, more randomised controlled trials are needed to determine the clinical outcomes of scapular-focused exercise therapy, scapular mobilisation techniques and scapular taping in patients with SPS.
Optimal Hedge Fund Allocations

Hedge funds have return peculiarities not commonly associated with traditional investment vehicles. They are more inclined to produce return distributions with significantly non–normal skewness and kurtosis. Investor preferences may be better represented by bilinear utility functions or S–shaped value functions than by neoclassical utility functions, and mean–variance optimization is thus not appropriate for forming portfolios that include hedge funds. Portfolios of hedge funds formed using both mean–variance and full–scale optimization, given a wide range of assumptions about investor preferences, reveal that higher moments of hedge funds do not meaningfully compromise the efficacy of mean–variance optimization if investors have power utility; mean–variance optimization is not particularly effective for identifying optimal hedge fund allocations if preferences are bilinear or S–shaped; and, contrary to conventional wisdom, investors with S–shaped preferences are attracted to kurtosis as well as negative skewness.
Soka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion

Copyright Notice Digital copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no charge is made and no alteration is made to the content. Reproduction in any other format with the exception of a single copy for private study requires the written permission of the author. All enquiries to jgb-general@jgb.la. psu.edu. Soka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion. By Phillip E. Hammond and David W. Machacek
Forest Product Sale as Natural Insurance: The Effects of Household Characteristics and the Nature of Shock in Eastern Honduras

The rural poor are known to turn to tropical forest resources in times of need. But what explains differential use of this “natural insurance” policy among households? Drawing from a 1998 survey of 116 indigenous households in Honduras, this article shows that households sell forest products to pay for crop shortfalls and illness, but that loans from kin are a more common way to weather calamity. Young households with few liquidatable assets and little land are the most likely to sell forest products to self-insure. Development policies that build on the “natural insurance” concept should anticipate major variation within target populations; meanwhile, conservationists should recognize that the lack of formal safety nets in rural communities will motivate the sale of forest products.
Crisis and Responses: The Federal Reserve in the Early Stages of the Financial Crisis

Realizing that their traditional instruments were inadequate for responding to the crisis that began on August 9, 2007, Federal Reserve officials improvised. Beginning in mid-December 2007, they implemented a series of changes directed at ensuring that liquidity would be distributed to those institutions that needed it most. Conceptually, this meant America's central bankers shifted from focusing solely on the size of their balance sheet, which they use to keep the overnight interbank lending rate close to their chosen target, to manipulating the composition of their assets as well. In this paper, I examine the Federal Reserve's conventional and unconventional responses to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
The Value‐Relevance of Voluntarily Disclosed Quarterly Foreign Sales Data of U.S. Multinational Corporations

This paper examines the value‐relevance of voluntarily disclosed quarterly sales data on the foreign operations of U.S. multinational corporations included in quarterly earnings announcements. Using a short‐window event‐study methodology with risk‐adjusted returns, we find that voluntarily disclosed quarterly foreign sales of U.S. multinational corporations is value‐relevant to equity investors. The empirical results also show that in most instances, quarterly foreign sales data are valued at a substantially higher rate than quarterly domestic sales data.
Return Chasing in Bond Funds

We use a unique dataset of SEC Form N-SAR filings to examine the gross flows of U.S. bond funds. We find that gross inflows and outflows average around 4% of total net assets per month, but net flows average only 0.26%. When modeling these flows, we see that, as with equity funds, bond fund investors chase returns. Most of the return chasing is done by inflows. Funds with the highest decile of returns average 1% higher net flow and inflow per month, and the lowest-decile funds lose nearly 0.6% in assets per month. Next, we find that positive net flows cause bond funds to diversify their holdings regardless of fund size. Finally, we test whether flows predict returns and find that an inflow-weighted portfolio generates alphas of 0.8% per year. Bond inflows appear to be “smart money. ”
Davunetide: a review of safety and efficacy data with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases

Davunetide is the first neuroprotective peptide in its class, and has preclinical evidence for neuroprotective, neurotrophic and cognitive protective properties. Davunetide has also been shown to prevent apoptosis or programmed-cell death in a range of in vitro and in vivo models by promoting microtubule stabilization. Potential clinical uses of davunetide include neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or cognitive impairment in other diseases such as schizophrenia where microtubule structure and function is known to be impaired. The nonclinical and clinical safety of davunetide is reviewed here in detail. Pre-clinical toxicology studies in rats and dogs using the maximum feasible dose of davunetide provide strong evidence that davunetide is well-tolerated. Similarly, data from 10 separate clinical trials of davunetide, investigating safety and efficacy provide evidence that davunetide is generally safe and well-tolerated, and has shown some signs of clinical efficacy.
Home alone and often unprepared – intercultural communication training for expatriated partners in German MNCs

This article reports the results of a study of partners who accompany the expatriated representatives of multinational corporations (MNCs) on overseas missions and identifies that they are mostly home alone and often unprepared. Following a review of the literature on issues related to expatriated partners, in particular intercultural communication training (ICT), the article presents the findings of empirical research conducted in Germany on current ICT trends for expatriated partners. The study identifies the ICT methods German MNCs use to support these partners before and during international assignments. The authors surveyed 141 German expatriated partners who went on overseas missions to 36 countries. The results of this research project indicate that traditional ICT is only provided to the minority of partners in German MNCs, follows no predictable time pattern, and is mostly perceived as rather useless by participants. Particular attention is paid, however, to the target culture in the ICT design. Non-traditional ICT methods, such as Look-&-See Trips, are rather generously taken advantage of.
The Contribution of Leadership Style and Practices to Family and Business Success

Based on Dyer's (1986) study of family business cultures, this study derives five approaches to leadership: participative, autocratic, laissez-faireqmission, expert, and referent. It argues that participative, expert, and referent leadership should produce positive outcomes for the business and the family, and high levels of employee satisfaction and commitment. It also argues that autocratic and laissez-faireqmission leadership should be associated with relatively negative outcomes for the business and the family and produce low levels of employee satisfaction and commitment. A study of 59 small family businesses produced the following significant results: participative leadership is positively related to both family and business outcomes as well as to employee satisfaction and commitment; referent leadership is positively related to family outcomes and employee satisfaction; and, unexpectedly, laissez-faireqmission leadership is positively related to employee commitment. Using correlational data as the basis, the paper discusses practices that might promote participative, referent, and laissez-faireqmission leadership.
Income Policy and Wage Differentials

Periodic incomes policies have by now become a feature of most Western economies. It has also become clear that there is a trade-off between the features of an incomes policy that make it initially acceptable and the features that make it ultimately effective. For example, most British incomes policies of the 1970s have provided higher permissible proportionate wage increases for low-wage than for high-wage workers. As we argue in Section II below, the primary advantage (and perhaps cause) of such policies is that they can more readily secure the ex ante support of a majority of workers for any specified overall increase in the wage bill or inflation target. If they are effective, however, such policies also result in the narrowing of wage differentials, and this results in new problems. Some economists consider such wage equalization the inevitable cost that an economy must bear for the sake of an effective incomes policy. Others believe the arbitrary narrowing of wage differentials creates industrial relations problems that ultimately cause the incomes policy to fail. In either case, it is important to know how much equalization has been caused by the actual incomes policies and how this compares with what would have been expected from strictly adhered-to policies. In consequence, the first (and major) part of this paper contains a simple analysis of the movement of differentials in Britain in the last decade. Most incomes policies have been explicitly equalizing, but how much equalization occurred, compared with the equalization that would have occurred if the policies had been explicitly adhered to? We show that the 1973 formula of ? 1 plus 4 per cent was associated with the full equalizing effect it implied, but the 1975 ? 6 a week was largely submerged in other changes and was associated with less than a third of the equalization implied by the formula. Indeed, such mild equalization as occurred between 1975 and 1977 may be explained partly by the lower inflation rate, which reduced that part of the inequality of instantaneous earnings that is caused by different groups of workers settling at different times of year. Against this, higher unemployment may have been tending to increase inequality at the same time. In 1974 threshold payments were associated with an effect of about one-half of their predicted level. The main force that offset the equalizing nature of the threshold formula and the ? 6 a week was, we believe, the pressure of employers bidding up the relative earnings of the more skilled workers. Having looked at the overall picture, we then examine more closely which groups have gained and lost from recent changes in relative wages, and what equalization has occurred within the different groups. The groups are defined by occupation and by collective agreement. Our general conclusion is that, however finely the labour force is subdivided, equalization between groups has played a very small role in the overall equalization and the main changes
Intellectual Skills and Competitive Strength: Is a radical change necessary?

This paper aims to analyse the character of workers' skills by making clear the processes by which their skills contribute to competitive strength. In orthodox economic analyses these skills have often been seen as a 'black box' which has remained unexplained. Utilising the Toyota survey that investigates nearly 30 production workshops, this paper reveals that intellectual skills dealing with uncertainty and change have played a central role in elevating efficiency. Two implications are developed. First, information technology does not reduce but rather elevates the importance of skill, since uncertainty cannot be handled by IT. This is disclosed in the analysis of workshops that are equipped with the IT. Second, the current chorus amongst some Japanese and overseas commentators who insist on the necessity for radical changes in employment systems turns out not to be persuasive, since they neglect the crucial role of intellectual skills in competitive production.
A Neurotoxicity Assessment of High Flash Aromatic Naphtha

Catalytic reforming is a refining process that converts naphthenes to aromatics by dehydrogenation to make higher octane gasoline blending components. A portion of this wide-boiling range hydrocarbon stream can be separated by distillation and used for other purposes. One such application is a mixture of predominantly 9-carbon aromatic molecules (C9 Aromatics, primarily isomers of ethyltoluene and trimethylbenzene), which is removed and used as a solvent also known as High Flash Aromatic Naphtha (HFAN). A program was initiated to assess the toxicological properties of HFAN since there may be human exposure, especially in the workplace. The current study was conducted to assess the potential for neurotoxicity in the rat. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats of approximately 300 grams body weight, in groups of twenty, were exposed by inhalation to HFAN for 90 days at concentrations of 0, 100, 500, and 1500 ppm. During this period the animals were tested monthly for motor activity and in afunctional observation battery. After three months of exposure, for 6 hours/day, 5 days/week, 10 animals/group/sex were sacrificed and selected nervous system tissue was examined histopathologically. No signs of neurotoxicity were seen in any of the evaluated parameters, nor was there evidence of pathologic changes in any of the examined tissues.
Technological Capability Growth and Performance Outcome: Foreign versus Local Firms in China

This study examines the growth and performance impact of technological capability (TC) in China. The authors posit that foreign and local firms exhibit different TC growth patterns and that TC has differential performance effects for these two types of firms. From a multilevel analysis of five-year panel data of 448 technology-oriented firms, they find that, in general, foreign firms possess higher levels of TC, whereas local firms can develop their TC faster than foreign firms. Furthermore, compared with foreign firms, local firms experience a stronger performance return from their TC; however, foreign firms have a higher growth rate in the contribution of TC to their performance over time. Moreover, firms can develop TC faster in regions with better intellectual property protection, and TC exerts a stronger effect on performance when industrial uncertainty is higher.
Rapid Detection of Gram-Positive Organisms by Use of the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture Nucleic Acid Test and the BacT/Alert Pediatric FAN System in a Multicenter Pediatric Evaluation

ABSTRACT Assays that expedite the reporting of organism identification and antibiotic susceptibility status in positive blood cultures can fast track interventions that improve clinical outcomes. We evaluated the Verigene Gram-positive blood culture nucleic acid test (BC-GP) in two pediatric hospitals. Positive BacT/Alert Pediatric FAN blood cultures with Gram-positive organisms were tested using the BC-GP in tandem with routine laboratory procedures. To test organisms underrepresented in the clinical blood culture evaluation, blood culture bottles were spiked with diluted organism suspensions at concentrations of 10 to 100 CFU per milliliter. A total of 249 Gram-positive bacterial isolates were recovered from 242 blood cultures. The BC-GP detected Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus with sensitivities of 100%, 99%, and 100% and specificities of 100%, 100%, and 99.5%, respectively. The BC-GP detected Staphylococcus epidermidis, methicillin-susceptible S. epidermidis, and methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis with sensitivities of 95%, 80%, and 96%, respectively, and 100% specificity. The BC-GP correctly identified 14/15 cases of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium bacteremia and 9 cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae. It misidentified 5/15 clinical blood cultures with Streptococcus mitis/Streptococcus oralis and 1/3 blood cultures spiked with Streptococcus anginosus group as S. pneumoniae. The BC-GP detected a case of Streptococcus pyogenes bacteremia but failed to detect 2/3 clinical blood cultures with Streptococcus agalactiae. BC-GP's rapid accurate detection of Staphylococcus spp. , E. faecium, and E. faecalis and its ability to ascertain mecA, vanA, and vanB status may expedite clinical decisions pertaining to optimal antibiotic use. False-positive S. pneumoniae results may warrant reporting of only “Streptococcus spp. ” when this organism is reported by the BC-GP.
Geographic, ethnic, age-related and temporal variation in the incidence of end-stage renal disease in Europe, Canada and the Asia-Pacific region, 1998-2002.

BACKGROUND Only unbiased estimates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) incidence and trends are useful for disease control-identification of risk factors and measuring the effect of intervention. METHODS Age- and sex-standardized incidences (with trends) were calculated for all-cause and diabetic/non-diabetic ESRD for persons aged 0-14, 15-29, 30-44 and 45-64 years in 13 populations identified geographically, and six populations identified by ethnicity. RESULTS The incidence of ESRD varied most with age, ethnicity and prevalence of diabetes. All non-Europid populations had excess ESRD, chiefly due to rates of type 2 diabetic ESRD that were greater than accounted for by community prevalences of diabetes. Their rates of non-diabetic ESRD also were raised, with contributions from most common primary renal diseases except type 1 diabetic nephropathy and polycystic kidney disease. The ESRD rates generally were low, and more similar than different, in Europid populations, except for variable contributions from type 1 (high in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Canada) and type 2 (high in Austria and Canada) diabetes. In Europid populations during 1998-2002, all-cause ESRD declined by 2% per year in persons aged 0-44 years, and all non-diabetic ESRD by a similar amount in persons aged 45-64 years, in whom diabetic ESRD had increased by 3% per year. CONCLUSIONS Increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes and to kidney disease progression characterizes excess ESRD in non-Europid peoples. The decline in all-cause ESRD in young persons, and non-diabetic ESRD in the middle-aged, probably reflects improving management of progressive renal disease.
The Return of Non-DAC Donors to Africa: New Prospects for African Development?

This article examines the consequences of the return to Africa of donors that are not members of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC). It categorises these donors according to form, content, size and modality of their aid. It finds that their return increases external financial flows, in particular to countries not targeted by DAC donors. Moreover, for some donors like China and India the flows are closely related to other financial flow s such as trade and investment. Furthermore, it finds that the return of non-DAC donors may conflict with plans to harmonise aid and may simultaneously raise transaction costs for recipients.
The impact of economic crisis on the change in motivation of furniture company employees - case study

This work analyses the level of motivation of workers employed in Ekoltech s. r. o. Fiľakovo in Slovakia in the period till 2008, i.e. before the beginning of economic crisis, and after the crisis’ start, i.e. at the beginning of 2009. Using Duncan test, which is a suitable tool for independent choices, the average rates were compared and significance level p for individual motivational factors was calculated. The result of this work is definition of significant change in average rates of individual motivational factors and the comparison of sequence of importance of motivational factor before and after the crisis. Based on the observations made, it can be said that the world economic crisis caused change in employee motivation in companies. The employees were willing to work even in worse conditions, for they wanted to keep their jobs. Therefore, it was recommended that the management of the analysed enterprise motivate the employees by non-financial motivational factors, which nowadays are critical to maintain sufficient job performance.