Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond Parliament's Reach? The Role of the European Parliament in the CFSP

The European Parliament is confident of its democratic credentials. Portraying itself as the true embodiment of the citizens’ will it has been repeatedly empowered by national governments in consecutive Treaty reforms and successfully shifted the institutional balance in its favour in the day-to-day management of inter-institutional decision-making. Despite this remarkable success the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CSFP) continues to defy calls for enhanced parliamentarization. As early as 1986 when the Single European Act incorporated the previous practice of European Political Cooperation into the legal framework of the present European Union, the European Parliament (EP) “emphasis(ed) its consternation with the codification of the existing split between Community activities and Political Cooperation” and “deem(ed) necessary to be more closely involved in the development of Political Cooperation through adequate mechanisms. ” Surprisingly at first sight, not much has changed until this day with the Parliament still being largely excluded from the course of CFSP which remains by far the most intergovernmental area of European decision-making.This article explores the role of the EP in the European Union’s CFSP with a view to conceptual reasons underlying the EP’s pervasive exclusion from decision-making in foreign and security policy. The constitutional status quo of the Treaty of Nice lays the starting-point for our survey, whose course not even the Constitutional Treaty would have altered substantially (section I). The EP’s budgetary powers are the only instrument through which it can exercise measurable influence on the course of CFSP – albeit with considerable drawbacks on its standing in the eyes of the Council lamenting about the EP’s reluctance to provide “adequate” financial resources (section II). A closer look at the living constitution of institutional activities in Brussels and Strasbourg reveals a reinforced activism of the MEPs in the foreign policy field, although its substantive contributions may not necessarily transcend the “virtual” world of parliamentary discourse and influence the actual decision-making in the Council (section III). The continued involvement of national parliaments in CFSP does not substantially alter the situation (section IV). Eventually, national constitutional arrangements confirm that the EP’s limited role in CFSP is not necessarily an atypical deviation from the orthodoxy of the Community method but follows an underlying constitutional rationale of executive prerogatives in foreign affairs (section V).
The Effect of Taxation on Human Capital

This study finds a significant negative effect of proportional income taxation on human capital. Of the few earlier studies to address this issue, most suggested a negligible effect of taxation on investment in human capital. This earlier conclusion is shown to be incorrect by using a model that is more general in several respects than the models used previously.
Structural Shifts In Namibian Energy Use: An Input‐Output Approach

This thesis consists of four papers studying economic aspects of natural resource and environmental management in Namibia. Paper [I] analyses changes in Namibian energy use patterns between 1980 and 1998. The study finds that, unlike their counterparts in many other developing countries where energy use has been studied, Namibian energy users appear to have been quite flexible in changing to energy-saving technologies and to technologies using different energy sources altogether. One explanation for this difference may be that Namibia has had relatively high energy prices and has had high taxes on oil-based fuels, which may have made Namibian energy users more interested in potential energy savings. Paper [II] studies variables affecting property pricing in the township areas of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital city. Plots close to a garbage dump sell at substantial discounts, while plots close to a recreation area sell at premium prices. These results suggest that environmental quality may be more important for households in township areas than has previously been believed. Neglecting issues of environmental quality in town planning for township areas may thus be a serious omission. Paper [III] uses Namibian farm price data to study the impact of groundwater access on farm profitability. Potentially, groundwater can function both as an extra source of water in areas with low rainfall and as a buffer source of water in areas where rainfall is higher but variable. If groundwater mainly functions as a buffer source of water in high-rainfall areas, it could be replaced by various means of water storage fairly easily. Providing extra water by other means in low-rainfall areas, on the other hand, is likely to be prohibitively expensive. The study does not provide clear-cut results, suggesting that on precautionary principles one should assume that groundwater will be difficult to replace with other water sources. Paper [IV] studies optimal allocation between commercial and recreational fishing for one of Namibia’s fish species, the kob. The biological dynamics of the kob are modelled using an age-class model with age-specific mortalities, in order to capture the fact that the two fisheries target different age classes. The length of the planning horizon is crucial for the results: If a short planning horizon is used, the results indicate that a large share of the catches should be allocated to commercial fishing. With a longer planning horizon, however, the higher profitability of recreational angling leads to the conclusion that it would be preferable to limit commercial fishing in order to permit kob stocks to recover and improve angling success.
Demographic dimensions in forecasting: adding education to age and sex.

Any breakdown of the total population (i.e., the number of living individuals staying within a well-defined area) for analytical purposes follows a certain implicit or explicit logic. In demography it has become standard practice to sort the total population along the dimensions of age and sex. Although this practice is usually taken for granted and not explicitly justified, it may be useful to recall the good reasons that have lead to this practice. This appraisal of age and sex helps to evaluate the importance one should assign to explicit consideration of such other possible dimensions as marital status, ethnicity, labor force participation, region of origin, and educational status. Three criteria should govern the determination to explicitly consider a particular dimension (breakdown) in demographic analysis in general and in population projections in particular: Criterion 1. To the users the dimension is interesting in its own right and therefore desirable as an explicit output parameter. Criterion 2. The dimension is a relevant source of demographic heterogeneity with an impact on the dynamics of the whole system and therefore on the resulting population size. Criterion 3. It is feasible (in terms of data and methodology) to consider the dimension explicitly. Age meets these criteria.
Increased neurofibrillary tangles in patients with Alzheimer disease with comorbid depression.

OBJECTIVE Recent evidence suggests that a history of major depression may lead to increases in hippocampal neuropathology in Alzheimer disease (AD). The authors tested the hypothesis that neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are more pronounced in the brains of patients with AD with comorbid depression as compared with patients with AD without depression. METHODS Brain samples from patients were selected from the U.S. National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center database. The primary analysis included 7164 individuals: 6468 had AD as the primary neuropathologic diagnosis and 696 were considered neuropathologically normal. Depression at study inclusion was rated as present or absent in consensus conferences. Neuropathologic ratings from the Consortium to Establish a Registry in Alzheimer's Disease rating of neuritic plaques and Braak staging of neurofibrillary tangles were used for between-group analyses. RESULTS Brains of patients with AD with comorbid depression showed higher levels of cortical tangle formation than brains of patients with AD without comorbid depression. Results remained stable when controlling for age, gender, level of education, and cognitive status. Within patients with AD, comorbid depression increased the odds for advanced neuropathologic disease stage (odds ratio: 1.47; 95% confidence interval: 1.03-2.08). CONCLUSION In AD, the presence of depression comorbidity corresponds to increases in AD-related neuropathologic changes beyond age, gender, level of education, and cognitive status, suggesting an interaction between depression and the neuropathologic processes in AD.
The Closure Effect: Evidence from Workers Compensation Litigation

Consideration of the "best interests" of Workers Compensation (WC) claimants often involves the assumption that those who receive benefits in a "lump-sum" behave "too myopically" with respect to labor supply. However, many attorneys argue that lump-sum settlements induce a beneficial "sense of closure. " In this paper, I provide an empirical context for these ideas using a unique set of linked administrative databases owned by the State of California. Upon receipt of a court-approved lump-sum settlement, WC claimants immediately increase labor supply. No such change is found for claimants who receive a court-approved settlement in which the insurer provides benefits over time, suggesting that the method of litigation settlement is a determinant of labor supply.
Strategic planning in smaller enterprises – new empirical findings

Purpose – To analyze the performance implications of essential elements of strategic planning (time span, formalization, frequency of control, and use of planning instruments) in smaller enterprises in a simultaneous way.Design/methodology/approach – The main methods being used for this article were a thorough review of literature for the development of hypotheses and a logistical regression analysis for the empirical evaluation. The study is based on a representative sample of small Austrian enterprises (n = 290). Findings – Planning formalization has a positive and highly significant impact on the probability of belonging to the group of growth firms, whereas other aspects of strategic planning (time horizon, strategic instruments, and control) did not contribute to performance.Research limitations/implications – Employee growth has been used as an indicator for firm performance. Other indicators (e.g. sales growth, profitability, and subjective evaluation of the entrepreneur) might be used to draw a mor.
Bronchoalveolar glutathione and nitrite/nitrate in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is useful in diagnosis and management of interstitial lung diseases. Glutathione (GSH) represents an important defence molecule against reactive oxygen species produced during inflammation, which underlies both idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and sarcoidosis. Nitric oxide has been suggested as a marker of airway inflammation. The aim of this study was to examine the content of GSH and NO stable metabolites, nitrite/nitrate, in the BAL of a group of patients with IPF and sarcoidosis. METHODS BAL was performed in 13 patients with newly diagnosed IPF, 13 patients with sarcoidosis and 4 controls. Total GSH and nitrite/nitrate were measured. BAL was repeated, in 5 patients with IPF, after 6 and 12 months and GSH was measured again. RESULTS IPF patients had significantly lower levels of total GSH compared to sarcoidosis patients or controls (129 +/- 22 vs. 324 +/- 40 and 383 +/- 23 mM; p < 0.001) in the epithelial lining fluid (ELF). In patients with IPF (n = 5), total GSH levels in the ELF increased after 6 and 12 months (T0 = 98 +/- 19; T6 = 219 +/- 22; T12 = 301 +/- 34 microM; p < 0.05) following therapy with immunosuppressive drugs such as corticosteroids, methotrexate, cyclosporin A. Levels of nitrite/nitrate were found significantly elevated in IPF (n = 8) and sarcoidosis (n = 10) patients compared to controls (230 +/- 37 and 216 +/- 36 vs. 86 +/- 11 microM; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION These observations support the role of inflammation and antioxidant defences in interstitial lung diseases and may provide insights into the pathogenesis of oxidant-induced interstitial disease and their therapy.
MANAGERIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPANY PERFORMANCE PART I

This paper utilizes information collected on more than eighty British companies and on about 800 senior managers working in them. It is in two parts. Part I starts by outlining problems involved in identifying influences on company performance. It then describes the sources of data analysed in the paper. The remainder of Part I examines the view that certain managerial and organizational attributes will tend to raise levels of performance whatever the type of company and its operating circumstances. Another approach takes the view that what makes for good performance is contingent upon the type of company and the prevailing situation. This is examined against our data in Part II of the paper. Part II concludes with an assessment of present knowledge on the managerial and organizational concomitants of company performance and the practical implicatons to be drawn from it.
Probabilistic μ for rank-one and perturbed rank-one matrices

The structured singular value μ has been widely studied for uncertain dynamical systems. Recently a great attention is paid to the probabilistic μ problem. Instead of computing the conservative worst-case μ we are interested in the probabilistic distribution of μ; given a probability distribution on the set of uncertainties. Traditionally this problem is solved by Monte Carlo algorithms. In this paper we propose analytic methods to compute the probabilistic μ for rank-one and perturbed rank-one matrices. We expect that these results will provide an algorithm that is not as computationally expensive as the linear cut algorithm in [1].
Effects of Unofficial Euroisation in Serbia With Regards to the Inflation and Real GDP

The term euroisation or dollarization involves several different monetary systems that are very different from one another, but have a common feature of having a foreign currency widespread as a means of payment in the formal or informal transactions. Therefore,Serbiahas the highest index of unofficial euroisation in the region ofSouth Eastern Europe. The aforementioned index demonstrates clearly the high level of informal euroisation inSerbiain the balance sheets of commercial banks. The share of dinar (RSD) corporate loans inSerbiais modest, having 77% of the total loans to corporations inSerbiabeing either euro-indexed or credited directly in euros. During the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 euroisation was not reduced, but quite the contrary, it was increased and has begun gaining momentum. Despite favourable conditions for dinar loans in terms of lower inflation rate, lower interest rates on dinar loans in such conditions, but also due to the reduction of RRs required (mandatory) reserves to dinar share of commercial banks’ balance sheet, the share of loans in dinars is not increased, but, on the contrary, the loan activity of commercial banks in Serbia is reduced. The current level of informal euroisation inSerbiarepresents a serious challenge in terms of active monetary policy, due to controlled exchange rate, lack of local funding, high foreign exchange risk and lack of hedging instruments in terms of foreign exchange risk mitigation, which are the limiting factors of an active monetary policy.
Entangling Relations: American Foreign Policy in Its Century

List of Figures and TablesPrefaceCh. 1Introduction3Ch. 2Security Relationships17Ch. 3A Theory of Relational Contracting35Ch. 4The Lone Hand78Ch. 5Cold War Cooperation128Ch. 6Gulliver's Triumph198Ch. 7Relational Contracting and International Relations263Ch. 8Conclusion285References299Index325
Recent developments in ion channel pharmacology

This short review discusses pharmacological modulation of the opening/closing properties (gating) of small- and intermediate-conductance Ca 2+ -activated K + channels (K Ca 2 and K Ca 3.1) with special focus on mechanisms-of-action, selectivity, binding sites, and therapeutic potentials. Despite K Ca channel gating-modulation being a relatively novel field in drug discovery, efforts in this area have already revealed a surprising plethora of pharmacological sites-of-actions and channel subtype selectivity exerted by different chemical classes. The currently published positive modulators show that such molecules are potentially useful for the treatment of various neurodegenerative disorders such as ataxia, alcohol dependence, and epilepsy as well as hypertension. The negative K Ca 2 modulators are very effective agents for atrial fibrillation. The prediction is that further unraveling of the molecular details of gating pharmacology will allow for the design of even more potent and subtype selective K Ca modulators entering into drug development for these indications.
A granularity approach to compound real option in multi-stage capital investment project

Capital investment plays a pivotal role in making a company win in a market. In the real world, capital investment is a gradual behaviour, which means that a capital investment project can be divided into multiple stages that can effectively reduce the risks of the investment project. Because the future movement of the market is influenced by various uncertain factors, companies cope with such uncertainties in an effective and timely manner via decision-making using continuously developing and robust tools. The objective of this research is to propose a method that satisfies the requirements of companies. Real option analysis is a relatively new and insightful way to evaluate corporate investment decisions. When undertaking new investments, firms may have options to invest in stages. Moreover, decision-makers often face the situation of having incomplete information. To handle this situation and address problems under uncertain circumstances in the research, a granularity approach is introduced that includes fuzzy variables and credibility theory. In the granularity approach, uncertainty such as fuzzy numbers is taken as a granule, which enables us to take fuzzy numbers not only for uncertain values but also for decision values in a group.
HA SEGUIDO EL BANCO DE ESPAÑA UNA REGLA DE TAYLOR CON INFORMACIÓN EN TIEMPO REAL

In this paper I analyze monetary policy implementation in Spain during the period 1984-1998. Its main innovation lies with the use of forecasts from the Bank of Spain’s confidential series. Two main conclusions are obtained in this paper. The first is that from 1988 to 1998 the Bank of Spain took monetary policy actions following a monetary rule similar to a Taylor rule. The second is that monetary policy analysis may lead to incorrect inference if monetary authority information problems are not taken into account.
Partnered governance: aligning corporate responsibility and public policy in the global economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to note the remarkable expansion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Taking this as point of departure, it aims to discuss the potential for aligning CSR‐oriented industrial self‐regulation with public governance to fill some of the governance gap in the global economy.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conceptual discussion, empirically underpinned by three case studies.Findings – The paper finds that it is plausible, and empirically supported by the case studies, to conceive of a considerable role for CSR based self‐regulation in the global economy. A central precondition is the ability of civil society organizations to establish “moral rights” as credible voices for “just causes” in a media‐driven communicative society, and thereby put pressure on brand sensitive industry. The paper finds that corporate self‐regulation may fill a larger part of the governance gap if public policy is oriented to engage.
Routine abdominal drainage for uncomplicated liver resection.

BACKGROUND The main reasons for inserting a drain after elective liver resections are (i) prevention of sub-phrenic or sub-hepatic fluid collection; (ii) identification and monitoring of post-operative bleeding; (iii) identification and drainage of any bile leak; and (iv) prevent the accumulation of ascitic fluid in cirrhotics. However, there are reports that drain use increases the complication rates. OBJECTIVES To assess the benefits and harms of routine abdominal drainage in elective liver resections. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Science Citation Index Expanded until March 2007. SELECTION CRITERIA We included all randomised trials comparing abdominal drainage and no drainage in adults undergoing elective liver resection. We also included randomised trials comparing different types of drain in adults undergoing elective liver resection. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS We collected the data on the characteristics of the trial, methodological quality of the trials, mortality, morbidity, conversion rate, operating time, and hospital stay from each trial. We analysed the data with both the fixed-effect and the random-effects models using the Cochrane Collaboration statistical software RevMan Analysis. For each outcome we calculated the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) (based on intention-to-treat analysis) by combining the trial data sets using fixed-effect model or random-effects model, as appropriate. MAIN RESULTS Drain versus no drain: We included five trials with 465 patients randomised: 234 to the drain group and 231 to the no drain group. Three of the five trials were of high methodological quality. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups for any of the outcomes (mortality, intra-abdominal collections requiring re-operation, infected intra-abdominal collections, wound infection, ascitic leak, and hospital stay, when the random-effects model was adopted. Open drain versus closed drain: One randomised clinical trial of low methodological quality comparing open with closed drainage (186 patients) showed a lower incidence of infected intra-abdominal collections, chest complications, and hospital stay in the closed drain group. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There is no evidence to support routine drain use after uncomplicated liver resections.
The Performance of US Corporations: 1981-1994

This study decomposes the performance of US public firms between 1981 and 1994 into year, industry, corporate-focus and firm effects. Performance is measured by Tobin's q, accounting profitability, and a hybrid measure. The results show that firm effects were more important to performance than industry effects, although industry effects had a large permanent component. Corporate focus was not important. The stylized facts suggest that competitive advantages--that is, differences between direct competitors in the same industry--were at least as important as industry influences on performance. Industry influences were more predictable and sustainable than competitive advantages, however. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd