The Challenges of Globalization: An Interview with Ernesto Zedillo

Latin American Studie

Keeping It Off The Books: An Empirical Investigation Into the Characteristics of Firms That Engage In Tax Non-Compliance

We investigate firm tax noncompliance using a survey of firms from around the world. Overall, we find that small firms are less and large firms are more compliant. Foreign owned firms, exporters and firms that have audited finance statements are also more compliant, as found by others, but, quite surprisingly, government ownership is insignificant. Not surprisingly, organized crime, high taxes, and government corruption all result in lower compliance. Finally, we find that firms around the world engage in tax noncompliance but, holding all else constant, compliance in highest in OECD countries and the lowest in Latin American, African & Middle Eastern countries.Underground Economy, Tax Noncompliance, Firm Characteristics, Interval Regression

Why Deporting Immigrants for “Crimes Involving Moral Turpitude” is Now Unconstitutional

In the best of times, immigrants should only be deported according to the rule of law and not by the whim of executive branch officials. Now, it is imperative. Yet the statute authorizing removal of immigrants for “crimes involving moral turpitude” invites officials to base their prosecutorial choices on political or personal views. As a result, defense attorneys advising their clients on the immigration consequences of pleas have no basis for prediction. Although the Supreme Court long ago rejected the argument that the “moral turpitude” clause was void for vagueness, one of the Court’s most recent decisions now makes that conclusion unsupportable. The notion that due process permits officials to banish legal permanent residents based on “moral turpitude,” which never comported with common sense, is now legally incorrect

Flexural properties of the equine hoof wall

The equine hoof wall is a hard keratinous structure which transmits forces generated when the hoof contacts the ground to the skeleton of the horse. During locomotion, the hoof capsule is known to yield under impact resulting in an inward curvature of the dorsal wall and expansion of the heels. However, whilst researchers have studied the tensile and compressive properties of the hoof wall, there is a lack of data on the flexural properties in different locations around the hoof capsule. In this study the flexural properties and hydration status of the hoof wall was investigated, in two orthogonal directions, in different locations around the hoof capsule. The hoof was divided into three regions: the dorsal-most aspect (toe); the medial and lateral regions (quarters) and the heels caudally. Beams were cut both perpendicular and parallel to the axis of the tubules, termed transverse and longitudinal beams respectively. Differences in the mechanical properties were then investigated using three-point bending tests. There were considerable differences in the mechanical properties around the hoof capsule; transverse beams from the toe were 81% stiffer and 28% stronger than those from the heels. This corresponded with differences in the hydration of the hoof wall; beams from the toe had a lower water content (24.1±0.25%) than those from the heels (28.3±0.37%). Differences in the flexural properties are thought to be largely a result of variation in the water content. Mechanical data are further discussed in relation to variation in the structure and loading of the hoof wall

Community learning and development training for professionals engaged in community regeneration and community planning

The study was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Development Department to identify training needs and current provision of community learning and development (CLD) training for a range of professionals (other than those formally qualified in CLD) who are engaged in community regeneration and community planning (Local Government in Scotland Act 2003). It was one of a series of studies emanating from the Scottish Executive response to the review: „Empowered to Practice – the future of community learning and development training in Scotland‟. One of the themes of the report taken up by the Scottish Executive was the need for; „wider opportunities for joint training with other disciplines such as teachers, librarians, college lecturers, health workers and social workers‟

Improving CMB non-Gaussianity estimators using tracers of local structure

Local non-Gaussianity causes correlations between large scale perturbation modes and the small scale power. The large-scale CMB signal has contributions from the integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect, which does not correlate with the small scale power. If this ISW contribution can be removed, the sensitivity to local non-Gaussianity is improved. Gravitational lensing and galaxy counts can be used to trace the ISW contribution; in particular we show that the CMB lensing potential is highly correlated with the ISW signal. We construct a nearly-optimal estimator for the local non-Gaussianity parameter \fnl and investigate to what extent we can use this to decrease the variance on {\fnl}. We show that the variance can be decreased by up to $20\%$ at Planck sensitivity using galaxy counts. CMB lensing is a good bias-independent ISW tracer for future more sensitive observations, though the fractional decrease in variance is small if good polarization data is also available.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Comments welcom

Construction and testing of self-drilled soil nails

Current standards and best practice guidance recognise that testing of self-drilled hollow bar soil nails can be problematic as conventional packers and debonded lengths cannot be constructed. As a result, this causes difficulty in testing and confirming the ultimate bond resistance within the passive zone of a soil-nailed slope, and thus the design soil nail lengths. This paper provides a summary and review of the various testing procedures adopted for a soil nail construction project in Scotland. The practical design considerations, and their validation through the installation and testing of 49 sacrificial test nails, are detailed. The construction issues associated with the nail installation and testing are also outlined and discussed in light of the results obtained using different testing approaches. The aim of this case study is to report on the experiences with installation and testing of hollow bar soil nails. The objectives are to develop an initial data base of available soil–grout bond strength of hollow bar soil nails based on the several practical installation procedures used in this project and to establish areas for improvement of installation, testing and quality control in order to perform comparable pullout tests on self-drilled hollow bar soil nails. </jats:p

Mechanisms of memory retrieval in slow-wave sleep : memory retrieval in slow-wave sleep

Study Objectives: Memories are strengthened during sleep. The benefits of sleep for memory can be enhanced by re-exposing the sleeping brain to auditory cues; a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). Prior studies have not assessed the nature of the retrieval mechanisms underpinning TMR: the matching process between auditory stimuli encountered during sleep and previously encoded memories. We carried out two experiments to address this issue. Methods: In Experiment 1, participants associated words with verbal and non-verbal auditory stimuli before an overnight interval in which subsets of these stimuli were replayed in slow-wave sleep. We repeated this paradigm in Experiment 2 with the single difference that the gender of the verbal auditory stimuli was switched between learning and sleep. Results: In Experiment 1, forgetting of cued (vs. non-cued) associations was reduced by TMR with verbal and non-verbal cues to similar extents. In Experiment 2, TMR with identical non-verbal cues reduced forgetting of cued (vs. non-cued) associations, replicating Experiment 1. However, TMR with non-identical verbal cues reduced forgetting of both cued and non-cued associations. Conclusions: These experiments suggest that the memory effects of TMR are influenced by the acoustic overlap between stimuli delivered at training and sleep. Our findings hint at the existence of two processing routes for memory retrieval during sleep. Whereas TMR with acoustically identical cues may reactivate individual associations via simple episodic matching, TMR with non-identical verbal cues may utilise linguistic decoding mechanisms, resulting in widespread reactivation across a broad category of memories

Perceptions of a service redesign by adults living with type 2 diabetes

&lt;b&gt;Aim:&lt;/b&gt; This article is a report of a study conducted to explore the perceptions of adults with type 2 diabetes towards the service redesign. &lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions and the management of this chronic illness is changing in response to this challenge. In the United Kingdom, there is ongoing restructuring of healthcare services for people with chronic illnesses to ensure that their general health and clinical needs are met predominantly in primary care. &lt;b&gt;Method:&lt;/b&gt; An explorative qualitative approach was used. Eight focus groups were conducted with 35 people with type 2 diabetes in one urban location between 2003 and 2004. Five focus groups were conducted with people who had recently experienced the restructured service and three groups with people who had up to 2 years' experience of the new service. Concurrent data collection and thematic analysis were conducted by three researchers and credibility and verification sought by feedback to participants. &lt;b&gt;Findings:&lt;/b&gt; Five main themes were identified: impact of living with diabetes; understanding diabetes; drivers for organizational change; care in context and individual concerns. Participants identified issues for ongoing development of the service. &lt;b&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/b&gt; People with type 2 diabetes appreciate their care management within the primary care setting where there has been investment in staff to deliver this care. Healthcare resources are required to support the development of staff and the necessary infrastructure to undertake management in primary care. Policy makers need to address the balance of resources between primary and secondary care

Gestational diabetes mellitus- right person, right treatment, right time?

Background: Personalised treatment that is uniquely tailored to an individual’s phenotype has become a key goal of clinical and pharmaceutical development across many, particularly chronic, diseases. For type 2 diabetes, the importance of the underlying clinical heterogeneity of the condition is emphasised and a range of treatments are now available, with personalised approaches being developed. While a close connection between risk factors for type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes has long been acknowledged, stratification of screening, treatment and obstetric intervention remains in its infancy. Conclusions: Although there have been major advances in our understanding of glucose tolerance in pregnancy and of the benefits of treatment of gestational diabetes, we argue that far more vigorous approaches are needed to enable development of companion diagnostics, and to ensure the efficacious and safe use of novel therapeutic agents and strategies to improve outcomes in this common condition