Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Uma nota sobre estimativas de carga fiscal e incidência de ICMS usando dados em painel

The main purpose of this note is to estimate the tax burden of 12 commodities in Brazil. We collect data of tax rate changes on value added tax (VAT) and tax inclusive prices. Based on this data, econometric methodology is applied based on Carbonnier (2007) to the Brazilian market. Unbalanced panel data includes information about 7 commodities from basic basket food in 16 cities and about 5 other commodities in 11 cities from July 1994 to June 2008. Estimated results suggest that tax burden on consumer relies on between 7% and 75% to these commodities and the firms hold a share of the tax burden on VAT. These findings suggest that sales tax rate changes affect commodities prices in different magnitudes (in this case they are under-shifted).
Hotelling, Rawls, Solow: How Exhaustible Resources Came to Be Integrated into the Neoclassical Growth Model

Exhaustible resources were integrated into the neoclassical growth model in the early 1970s. This happened partly as a reaction to various reports focusing on the limits to growth. At a deeper level, the debate on Rawls's theory of justice in an intergenerational context and Hotelling's economics of exhaustible resources were crucial inputs. This paper concentrates on Solow's contribution to the integration. It also traces its influence on the economics profession, focusing on the Hartwick rule and the way in which economists think about sustainability.
Ischemic Depolarization during Halothane‐Nitrous Oxide and Isoflurane‐Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia; An Examination of Cerebral Blood Flow Thresholds and Times to Depolarization

BackgroundIsoflurane-N2O anesthesia (as compared with halothane-N2O) reduces the cerebral blood flow (CBF) at which electroencephalographic changes occur in humans subjected to carotid occlusion. In contrast, no differences were seen in rats when cortical depolarization (instead of the electroencephalogram) was used as the ischemic marker during equi-MAC isoflurane-N2O and halothane-N2O anesthesia. To extend these findings, we used laser-Doppler flowmetry to continuously examine CBF (CBFLDF) and attempted to better define the relation between CBF and the time to depolarization (as a measure of the rate of energy depletion after ischemia). MethodsCortical CBFLDF was measured in normothermic, normocarbic rats, and the cortical direct-current potential was recorded using glass microelectrodes. Animals were anesthetized with 0.75 MAC halothane or 0.75 MAC isoflurane, both in 60% N2O. After baseline recordings, both carotid arteries were occluded. Five minutes later mean arterial pressure was rapidly reduced to and held at target values of 50, 45, 40, 30 or 0 mmHg. This mean arterial pressure was maintained (and CBFLDF was continually monitored) until depolarization occurred, or for a maximum of 20 min. ResultsCBFLDF values before and after carotid occlusion (but before hypotension) were similar in the two groups. As intended, CBFLDF decreased as postocclusion mean arterial pressure was reduced and the incidence of cortical depolarization increased. The delay until depolarization, defined as the interval between the moment CBFLDF reached 25% of the preocclusion baseline until depolarization occurred, decreased as CBFLDF was reduced. However, there were no intergroup differences except after a circulatory arrest (CBF = 0), where cortical depolarization was seen ±30 s later in isoflurane-N2O-anesthetized rats. ConclusionsThe CBF threshold for cortical depolarization as measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry did not differ significantly between halothane-N2O- and isoflurane-N2O-anesthetized rats. There were also no important differences in the times until depolarization, other than a small difference when flow = 0. If the time to depolarization is reflects the potential ischemic injury, the it is unlikely that isoflurane-N2O conveys any protective advantage relative to halothane-N2O.
IS VERTICAL DISINTEGRATION PREFERABLE TO INTEGRATION WHEN THERE IS PROCESS R&D?

Vertical integration (VI) may show social superiority over vertical disintegration (VD) if there is an opportunity of internalizing most of the externalities affecting vertical arm's length relationships. When enterprises carry out process innovating R&D (PIRD), VI turns out to be quite often privately and socially superior to VD. However, there are circumstances where VI does not provide the same incentive to carry out PIRD. VD pushes further PIRD displaying instances of private superiority and even some spells of social desirability. If PIRD costs are asymmetric along the vertical chain of production, fresh advantages of VD may appear. In this sense, the paper may supply an additional interpretation of the recent wave of domestic and cross-border VD.
Harvesting natural resources: management and conflicts

It is reasonable to consider the stock of any renewable resource as a capital stock and treat the exploitation of that resource in much the same way as one would treat accumulation of a capital stock. This has been done to some extent in earlier papers containing a discussion of this point of view. However, the analysis is much simpler than it appears in the literature especially since the interaction between markets and the natural biology dynamics has not been made clear. Moreover renewable resources are commonly analyzed in the context of models where the growth of the renewable resource under consideration is affected by two factors: the size of the resource itself and the rate of harvesting. This specification does not take into account that human activities other than harvesting can have an impact on the growth of the natural resource. Furthermore, natural resource harvesting are not productive factories. Fishery economic literature (based on the foundations of Gordon, 1954; Scott, 1955; and Smith, 1963) suggests particular properties of the ocean fishery which requires tools of analysis beyond those supplied by elementary economic theory. An analysis of the fishery must take into account the biological nature of fundamental capital, the fish and it must recognize the common property feature of the open sea fishery, so it must allow that the fundamental capital is the subject of exploitation. The purpose of this paper is the presentation of renewable resources dynamic models in the form of differential games aiming to extract the optimal equilibrium trajectories of the state and control variables for the optimal control economic problem. We show how methods of infinite horizon optimal control theory may be developed for renewable resources models.
Comparison of SAR in realistic fetus models of two fetal positions exposed to electromagnetic wave from business portable radio close to maternal abdomen

Since the diversification of the electromagnetic (EM) environment is spreading, it is essential to estimate the EM energy absorption rate [specific absorption rate (SAR)] of a pregnant woman's body and her fetus under various exposure situations. For example, if pregnant women work in jobs where they might wear business portable radios around their abdomens, they should also be concerned about this issue, because the fetuses are in their abdomens. In this paper, in order to evaluate the SAR in the pregnant woman and her fetus when wearing the wireless radio terminal on her abdomen, the SAR distribution in the fetus is calculated using the numerical model of the pregnant woman by exposed to near-field of a normal mode helical antenna (NHA) with a metallic case at 150 MHz. In addition, the SAR in the fetus will be evaluated under two fetal positions. It was found that the fetal SARs are greatly affected by the distance and penetration path from the antenna to the fetal surface. In addition, the fetal SARs are lower than the RF safety guidelines for occupational exposure.
An economic production-shipment strategy for the integrated vendor-buyer cooperative inventory model

Abstract This article develops a model to determine an optimal integrated vendor-buyer inventory policy. The aim is to minimize the total joint annual costs incurred by the vendor and the buyer. Goyal and Nebebe (2000) discussed an integrated inventory model, they assumed that the batch quantity is received in n shipments. They considered the first shipment of small size, followed by (n – 1) shipments of equal size : (first shipment size) × (rate of production/rate of demand). This article provides a strategy where the shipment size to the buyer is identical at each shipment. The strategy is simpler than the method suggested in Goyal and Nebebe (2000). The annual integrated total cost function is derived and an analytic solution procedure is proposed to determine the optimal policy. The article also presents the results of a numerical study that analyses the relative performance of the two strategies for various problem parameters.
Carotid Atherosclerosis and Serum Lipoprotein(a) Concentrations in Patients With NIDDM

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of carotid atherosclerosis and serum lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] concentrations in subjects with NIDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We measured carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and Lp(a) concentrations in 117 NIDDM subjects. Subjects were divided into tertiles according to IMT values and number of plaques. RESULTS Serum Lp(a), but not lipid and apoprotein levels, increased significantly with increasing IMT (20.0 ± 2.3, 24.7 ± 3.3, and 39.8 ± 4.3 mg/dl [mean ± SE], respectively, P < 0.001). Serum Lp(a) increased with increasing number of plaques (18.4 ± 2.5 mg/dl in 59 subjects with no plaques, 25.8 ± 2.5 mg/dl in 24 subjects with 1 plaque, and 38.7 ± 5.1 mg/dl in 34 subjects with more than 1 plaque; P < 0.05). Furthermore, the mean IMT and Lp(a) levels in the subjects with cerebrovascular disease (CD) were significantly higher than in those without CD (1.25 ± 0.04 mm and 41.2 ± 4.7 mg/dl vs. 1.08 ± 0.03 mm and 22.2 ± 1.9 mg/dl; P < 0.005). The mean IMT and Lp(a) levels were higher in subjects with ischemic heart disease (IHD) than in those without IHD, although statistical significance was not observed (1.21 ± 0.06 mm and 31.7 ± 4.7 mg/dl vs. 1.10 ± 0.03 mm and 27.0 ± 2.4 mg/dl, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Elevated serum Lp(a) concentrations are associated with carotid atherosclerosis in NIDDM subjects.
Price-Induced Patterns of Competition

This research focuses on how price changes influence the observed pattern of brand competition. The paper begins with a basic utility model formulation and examines the implications of three major classes of preference distributions on the expected patterns of competition. A price-tier model is proposed to operationalize the theory and to allow predictive testing. The price-tier model is estimated on 28 brands across four product categories. The results show a specific asymmetric pattern of price competition. Higher-price, higher quality brands steal share from other brands in the same price-quality tier, as well as from brands in the tier below. However, lower-price, lower-quality brands take sales from their own tier and the tier below brands, but do not steal significant share from the tiers above. The results are consistent with a bimodal preference distribution, with the regular price indifference point being located toward the lower-quality end of the preference distribution for the categories analyzed.
Corporate Annual Reports as Promotional Tools: The Case of Australian National Industries Limited

Critical accounting research has viewed corporate annual reports as the signed public records of organisations' dominant managerial groups and/or as reflective and constitutive of a wider set of societal values. To date, however, there has been little research on the social context of these reports. This paper seeks to further explore and question the role of corporate annual reports in post‐modernity. Since the end of World War II, a post‐modern, media‐dominated culture has risen in Western countries like Australia. The question of this paper is whether corporate annual reports are instrumental in reflecting and reproducing this consumerist culture. A content analysis of Australian National Industries Limited's annual reports from 1962 – 1991 demonstrates that there is a link in the content and form of these reports and the rise of a consumerist culture in Australia. This paper shows that if everything can be made to sell, so aesthetics can be commodified and be made part of a product (corporate annual reports) whose primary objective is to convince dispersed stakeholder groups that the company and its management are worth investing in.
Mental and physical health-related functioning mediates between psychological job demands and sickness absence among nurses.

AIMS To investigate whether health-related functioning mediates the effect of psychological job demands on sickness absence in nurses. BACKGROUND Nurses face high job demands that can have adverse health effects resulting in sickness absence. DESIGN Prospective cohort study with 1-year follow-up. METHODS Data for 2964 Norwegian nurses were collected in the period 2008-2010. At baseline, psychological job demands were measured with the Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire. Health-related functioning was assessed by the Mental Composite Score and the Physical Composite Score of the SF-12 Health Survey (2nd version). Sickness absence (no = 0, yes = 1) was self-reported at 1-year follow-up. Interaction and mediation analyses were conducted stratified by tenure (<1-year, 1-2 years, 3-6 years, >6 years) as a registered nurse. RESULTS A total of 2180 nurses (74%) with complete data were eligible for analysis. A significant three-way interaction between job demands, control and support was found in newly licensed nurses (tenure <1-year). Baseline psychological job demands were positively associated with sickness absence at 1-year follow-up. This association was substantially weakened when Mental Composite Score and Physical Composite Score were introduced as mediator variables, indicating a partial mediation effect that was particularly pronounced in newly licensed nurses. Psychological job demands did not modify the effect of health-related functioning on sickness absence. CONCLUSION Both mental and physical health-related functioning mediated between psychological job demands and sickness absence. Nurse managers should pay attention to health-related functioning, because poor health-related functioning may predict sickness absence, especially in newly licensed nurses.
Effects of Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Ceylon cinnamon) on blood glucose and lipids in a diabetic and healthy rat model

Objectives: To evaluate short- and long-term effects of Cinnamomum zeylanicum on food consumption, body weight, glycemic control, and lipids in healthy and diabetes-induced rats. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in two phases (Phase I and Phase II), using Sprague-Dawley rats in four groups. Phase I evaluated acute effects on fasting blood glucose (FBG) (Groups 1 and 2) and on post-oral glucose (Groups 3 and 4) blood glucose. Groups 1 and 3 received distilled-water and Groups 2 and 4 received cinnamon-extracts. Phase II evaluated effects on food consumption, body weight, blood glucose, and lipids over 1 month. Group A (n = 8, distilled-water) and Group B (n = 8, cinnamon-extracts) were healthy rats, while Group C (n = 5, distilled-water) and Group D (n = 5, cinnamon-extracts) were diabetes-induced rats. Serum lipid profile and HbA1c were measured on D-0 and D-30. FBG, 2-h post-prandial blood glucose, body weight, and food consumption were measured on every fifth day. Results: Phase I: There was no significant difference in serial blood glucose values in cinnamon-treated group from time 0 (P > 0.05). Following oral glucose, the cinnamon group demonstrated a faster decline in blood glucose compared to controls (P < 0.05). Phase II: Between D0 and D30, the difference in food consumption was shown only in diabetes-induced rats (P < 0.001). Similarly, the significant difference following cinnamon-extracts in FBG and 2-h post-prandial blood glucose from D0 to D30 was shown only in diabetes-induced rats. In cinnamon-extracts administered groups, total and LDL cholesterol levels were lower on D30 in both healthy and diabetes-induced animals (P < 0.001). Conclusions: C. zeylanicum lowered blood glucose, reduced food intake, and improved lipid parameters in diabetes-induced rats.
Workplace effects of equal employment opportunity legislation: the Australian experience

Establishing whether legislation promotes better equity outcomes than non-mandated, voluntaristic instruments such as self-regulation or peer regulation has been difficult. Findings of an Australian survey comparing equity policies and outcomes in those workplaces that are regulated by employment equity legislation with those that are not subject to legislative provisions are presented. Research findings showed equity indicators were strongest in those workplaces covered by the legislation.
Africa’s Waning Democratic Commitment

In the early 1990s, a wave of democratization (and, in some cases, redemocratization) began to unfold in sub-Saharan Africa. In the years since, a majority of the continent’s citizens have come to view democracy as the ideal political regime, and many African countries made considerable strides up through the mid-2000s in liberalizing their political systems and establishing democratic institutions. But for nearly a decade now, that progress has slowed and in some places reversed. Foremost among the obstacles to democracy on the continent is the waning commitment to the democratic project on the part of political elites. Moreover, the supply of democratic goods—in particular, government responsiveness and accountability—has become increasingly scarce. Even in Ghana, a country held up as one of Africa’s star democratizers, there has been a recent spate of corruption scandals and, despite strong whistleblower protections, subsequent government reprisals against those who expose wrongdoing. While popular aspirations for democratic governance have gone largely unmet, citizens’ desire for democracy is deepening. What is causing democratic progress to falter on the continent, and what are the prospects for democratic development in the future? Over the past several decades, most African countries have seen the development of four major democratic trends: the embrace of elections; the acceptance of constitutional norms; the emergence of free media and an active civil society; and the establishment of regional prodemocratic conventions and protocols. To begin with, the ballot box has replaced the military coup as the chief instrument for changing governments and electing political leaders. The holding of regularly scheduled and increasingly competitive elections has become the norm in most of Africa.
[Analysis of serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels in pregnancy-induced hypertension and normotensive pregnant women].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH or pre-eclampsia), normotensive pregnant women and non-pregnant women. METHODS Twenty-eight women with PIH, 31 normatensive and 24 non-pregnant ones were studied, from whom maternal blood samples were collected. Serum lipid levels were measured by enzymatic method and apolipoproteins AI, B100, C II, CIII and E levels by radial immunodiffusion kits developed by our Lab. RESULTS 1. Serum TG, apoC II and apoC III were highly increased in normotensive pregnant women by 3.5, 2.4 and 2.8 times respectively, when compared with those in non-pregnant ones (P < 0.001); serum TC, nHDL-C and apoAI, B100 and E were also increased in normotensive pregnant women by 21%, 33%, 55%, 79% and 77% respectively, when compared with those in non-pregnant ones (P < 0.001). TG/HDL-C in normotensive pregnant women was also significantly, higher than that in non-pregnant ones(P < 0.01). Serum HDL-C levels remained unchanged in both groups. 2. Serum TG, apoC II and apoC III were highly increased in PIH patients by 2.3, 4.0 and 2.8 times respectively, when compared with those in non-pregnant ones (P < 0.001); serum TC, nHDL-C and apoAI, B100 and E were also increased in PIH patients by 27%, 26%, 52%, 90% and 67% respectively, when compared with those in non-pregnant ones (P < 0.001) TG/HDL-C in PIH patients was also significantly higher than that in non-pregnant ones (P < 0.01). Serum HDL-C levels were increased in PIH patients by 29%, when compared with non-pregnant women. Only serum HDL-C level in PIH patients was higher than that in normotensive pregnant women. No significant differences were seen in other lipid and apolipoprotein levels between PIH patients and normotensive pregnant ones. 3. There was no significant difference in the levels of serum lipid and apolipoprotein between the subgroups of PIH patients according to the severity of the disease. CONCLUSION The increase of serum lipid and apolipoprotein levels in PIH is probably not the predictor for pre-eclampsia.
Fan Drive Starting into Naturally Rotating Load by Sinusoidal Sensorless Permanent Magnet Motor Control

A permanent magnet (PM) motor is a primary motor of choice for small fan motor drive applications. A traditional fan drive based on a permanent magnet motor uses position feedback sensors such as Hall effect sensors. Recently PM motor drive with sinusoidal current and no position sensor has been demanded for many applications including air conditioner outdoor unit fan control. Some fan and pump applications require that the drive has to start into naturally forward rotating load without stopping the load first. In case of the drive without the position sensor, the task of transition without regeneration capability is more elaborate due to the fact that speed reversal is required without position sensing. This paper describes a new algorithm for starting a PM motor drive into the forward and reverse naturally rotating load, where drive system does not have a regeneration capability and has only one current feedback sensor installed in the DC bus link. The algorithm is implemented on a chip belonging to a new motion controller family, which has been recently introduced by International Rectifier. The chip features a hardware computation engine, called motion control engine (MCE), for sinusoidal sensorless PM motor control. Experimental results are included
Real Option Approach to Sharing Privatization Risk in Underground Infrastructures

AbstractOver the last two decades, more than 100 water and sewer systems have been sold or leased to private entities in the United States due to shortages in government funding. While privatization has allowed governments to relieve their financial difficulties, users have taken on such risks in the form of high rates and poor service. When compared to other infrastructures, water and sewer systems generate somewhat stable revenue. However, water and sewer systems are also characterized by the hardly predictable operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses. Such characteristics make it difficult to devise a proper contract that satisfies the interested parties, such as governments, private operators, and users. By investigating the deficiencies of previous privatization contracts, this study presents a real option–based contract model to ensure appropriate risk sharing between private entities and governments. Simulation results based on three different O&M expense scenarios (best, moderate, and worst) indic.
Squaring the Circle: Managing and Measuring Organizational Performance whilst Stimulating Change and Innovation

The context of the paper is the global telecommunications industry. Historically, the monolithic incumbent operators (AT&T, France Telecom, Deutsche Telecom etc) delivering a commodity product (telephony) in a stable mature market environment have been driven by measures of efficiency. However, with the global trend towards telecommunications deregulation, the market place is becoming turbulent and the imperative for innovation in products, processes and organisational approaches becomes increasingly apparent.