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In this study, we argue that a historical background of the region matters in tax mimicking and yardstick competition as a matter of principle. We seek to determine factors supporting the policy of the high local property tax in the Czech Republic. Based on the statistical and spatial data of 6,258 municipalities between 2009 and 2019, the results show that the municipalities burdened by large industrial facilities, as well as municipalities in the functional urban areas (FUAs), apply the policy of higher property taxation twice frequently than the rest. On the other hand, the industrial stimuli keep enfeebling after 2010, and the number of local governments preferring high property taxation is variegated across different FUAs. The causal analysis based on Granger’s approach concludes an existence of cumulative effects of both industry and the FUAs, which push the municipalities with large industrial facilities located within an FUA to increase the property taxes. From the mimicking point of view, we found that mimicking policy is an important phenomenon among the municipalities of Czech Republic; however, it has different impacts on both stimuli (Industry and FUA). The analysis suggests that it rather incites the municipalities within the FUA to increase the local property taxes. V této studii tvrdíme, že historické zázemí regionu má zásadní význam v daňové politice místních samospráv. Snažíme se určit faktory, které podporují politiku místního zdanění nemovitostí v České republice. Na základě statistických a prostorových údajů 6 258 obcí v letech 2009 až 2019 výsledky ukazují, že obce zatížené velkými průmyslovými zařízeními i obce ve funkčních městských oblastech (FUA) uplatňují politiku vyššího zdanění nemovitostí dvakrát častěji než ostatní. Na druhou stranu průmyslové stimuly po roce 2010 slábnou a počet místních samospráv, které dávají přednost vysokému zdanění nemovitostí, se liší v různých FUA. Analýza kauzality založená na Grangerově přístupu dospívá k závěru o existenci kumulativních účinků jak průmyslu, tak FUA, které tlačí obce s velkými průmyslovými zařízeními nacházejícími se v rámci FUA ke zvýšení majetkových daní. Z hlediska napodobování jsme zjistili, že napodobovací politika je významným fenoménem mezi obcemi České republiky; má však různé dopady na oba podněty (Průmysl a FUA). Analýza naznačuje, že spíše podněcuje obce v rámci FUA ke zvýšení místních daní z nemovitostí.

Landslides are amongst the most damaging natural hazards in Malaysia. The study of landslides has drawn nationwide attention mainly due to increasing awareness of the socio-economic impact of landslides, as well as the increasing pressure of urbanization. Landslide Hazard Identification (LHI) is part of the process used to evaluate if any particular situation, item, thing, etc. may have the potential to cause harm. The description of LHI should include the location, volume (or area), classification and velocity of the potential landslides and any resultant detached material, and the probability of their occurrence within a given period of time. In this paper, we present the results of the measurement for the subsurface resistivity within by using the pole-dipole electrode array and present the 2D view of each resistivity profile. The result presented successfully detect the dominant layer consists of interbedded sandstone and shale of the Crocker Formation with highly weathered. This both layers have high porosity and potential to contain high water content which can trigger landslide to occur. Besides that, there are several boulders zone (weathered to fresh rock) that can be found at the top of the subsurface profile at about 1.5m to 15m in depth. The bedrock layer was estimated to be found at 4m to 32.5m in depth from the original ground and one possible fault line that had been identified. This fault line believed plays a role in the occurrence of landslide in which rock materials have lower strength compared to surrounding rocks. High density of fault means lower stability. Therefore the faut line have been regarded as a critical factor in triggering landslide in the study area. The results of these study findings are expected to be used as uniform guidelines and principles are very useful and have integrity in providing coordination of standards or policies for each planning activities for new development in the future. As a result of the lack of concern for the developer of the concept of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) or balancing and control of environmental health, the results of this study can also be used as a yardstick to party developers who intend to develop a high ground and hillside in deciding whether to continuing development planning or not.

With the rapid urbanization in recent decades, resource shortage and environmental damage have hindered the process of urban sustainable development (SD). As a yardstick of sustainable development, the evaluation of resources and environment carrying capacity (RECC) and its decoupling relationship with social comprehensive development index (SCDI) are of great significance. In this paper, RECC and SCDI are taken as research objects to establish resource and environment system evaluation index system and social comprehensive development level evaluation index system, respectively. Then, the RECC and SCDI of 17 cities in Hubei province during 2009–2018 are calculated by the projection pursuit model based on genetic algorithm, and their spatial-temporal variance characteristics are analyzed. On this basis, the RECC-SCDI Tapio decoupling model is constructed to explore the decoupling relationship between RECC and SCDI. The result shows that: (1) The RECC of Hubei shows a V-shaped development trend during 2009–2018. The SCDI of Hubei rose steadily during 2009–2018. (2) RECC in western and eastern Hubei Province is higher than that in central Hubei Province. SCDI in eastern and central Hubei Province is higher than that in the west. (3) 11 of the 17 cities in Hubei Province have got rid of excessive dependence on resources environment for social development. The study could contribute to scientific and effective policies be formulated by government to promote urban sustainable development.

The purpose of the study was to examine the academic performance of students admitted for the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) program in colleges of education using Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) West African Examinations Council ,( WAEC), National Examinations Council (NECO), and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) as the bases for direct entry admission exercise and compare with the academic performance of students admitted through college remedial exercise in order to ascertain the validity, reliability and usability of a standardized examination, if it is worthy of recommendation for placement evaluation in colleges of education and university system. Four different departments were selected at random, academic status of 284 students from the four departments were extracted and used for the study 116 students from first group being direct entry students and 168 students from the second group being Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) candidates. The mean Cummulative Grand Point Avarage (CGPA) of two groups were compared from the four departments, the results revealed that mean CGPA of the direct entry students falls between 2.0 and 2.5 in all the departments from NCE I to NCE III while that of the pre Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) students were between 2.45 and 3.0 at all levels for the four departments. This implies that students admitted through direct entry scores can be classified as third Class students (Merit) while those admitted through Pre- Nigeria Certificate in Education (pre- NCE) screening can be classified as Second Class Lower Division (Credit) students. The results reveal that standard test is not 100% worthy of consideration as the only criteria for admission into higher institutions of learning as it does not give us the best candidates for admission at most times.

Energy networks, such as the networks for the transportation of electricity and gas, are natural monopolies, which implies that competition among these networks is not possible. In order to protect network users against monopoly prices and to give the network operators the incentive to operate efficiently, many countries have implemented tariff regulation. After discussing the economic consequences of natural monopolies and the need for regulation, this chapter briefly compares the various types of tariff regulation, discussing the incentive power, the ability to make a profit, and the reward on the costs of capital. The chapter concludes by discussing how tariff regulation may enable network operators to finance the necessary investments to connect new renewable energy production facilities.

Energy networks, such as the networks for the transportation of electricity and gas, are natural monopolies, which implies that competition among these networks is not possible. In order to protect network users against monopoly prices and to give the network operators the incentive to operate efficiently, many countries have implemented tariff regulation. After discussing the economic consequences of natural monopolies and the need for regulation, this chapter briefly compares the various types of tariff regulation, discussing the incentive power, the ability to make a profit, and the reward on the costs of capital. The chapter concludes by discussing how tariff regulation may enable network operators to finance the necessary investments to connect new renewable energy production facilities.

Energy networks, such as the networks for the transportation of electricity and gas, are natural monopolies, which implies that competition among these networks is not possible. In order to protect network users against monopoly prices and to give the network operators the incentive to operate efficiently, many countries have implemented tariff regulation. After discussing the economic consequences of natural monopolies and the need for regulation, this chapter briefly compares the various types of tariff regulation, discussing the incentive power, the ability to make a profit, and the reward on the costs of capital. The chapter concludes by discussing how tariff regulation may enable network operators to finance the necessary investments to connect new renewable energy production facilities.

This paper attempts to evaluate the transformation and upgrading (T&U) levels of the three industries in 11 prefectures of Zhejiang Province, China, since 2016. Taking the provincial T&U levels of the three industries as the benchmark, the three industries in each prefecture were analyzed by shift-share method (SSM). The main results are as follows: In terms of primary industry, none of the 11 prefectures had structural advantage (structural shifts 0); in terms of secondary industry, none of the 11 prefectures had structural advantage (structural shifts 0); in terms of tertiary industry, all of the 11 prefectures had structural advantage (structural shifts > 0), and 6 had regional competitiveness (competitiveness shifts > 0); Shaoxing was competitive in all three industries, ranking the first in the competitiveness of every industry; Huzhou, Quzhou, and Jinhua were not competitive in tertiary industry. The research provides a new yardstick of industrial T&U level and lays the decision-making basis for local governments in Zhejiang to formulate industrial T&U policies.

Theories of inter-jurisdictional tax and yardstick competition assume that the tax decisions of one jurisdiction will influence the tax decisions of other jurisdictions. This paper empirically addresses the issue of horizontal dependence in local personal income tax rates across jurisdictions. Based on a large data set covering Swedish municipalities over a period of 14 years, we test for interactions across municipalities that share a common border, across municipalities within a distance of 100 km of each other, and across municipalities with similar political representation in the local council. We also test the hypothesis that the tax rate of relatively larger municipalities has a greater influence on their neighbors' tax rate compared to the influence of their smaller neighbors. Our results suggest that when lagged tax rates are controlled for, the horizontal correlation across municipalities that share a common border or are within a distance of 100 km from each other becomes insignificant. This result is of importance as it suggests that lagged tax rates should be included or at least tested for when testing for horizontal interactions or mimicking in local tax rates. However, our results support the hypothesis of horizontal interactions across municipalities that share a common border when the influence of neighboring municipalities is also weighted by their relative population size, i.e. relatively larger neighbors tend to have a greater impact on their neighbor's tax rates than their relatively smaller neighbors. This is of importance as it suggests that distance or proximity matters, although only in combination with the relative population size. We also find some evidence of horizontal dependence across municipalities with similar political preferences.

Changing domains of economic mobility has brought in perspectives of innovation which are quite different from the earlier traditions in the so-called readings of Schumpeterian ways of innovative thinking. The new pandemic has taught us lessons that multidisciplinary innovation is not constrained to some mystical black box of innovation but should be elastic and accessible based on necessity and choices. Human beings are not always rational. Cognitive biases and nudges arising out of crisis globally has shown behavioral functionalities which changes the way human beings react and succumb to decision-making. This particular paper is based on extensive literature reviews and global cases arising out of extregencies and the subsequent development of field experiments which study the effects of various factors on innovation within the company. The filed experiments conducted were at national level in cooperation with national chamber of commerce wherein both intrinsic and extrinsic values of economics of scale was studied statistically using advanced techniques to not only analyze the results but infer on earlier research gaps in factors influencing the innovation blackbox of intrapreneurship which takes into account the psychology of economic decision making inside the corporate bandwagon. The rational choice behind measuring intrapreneurship in this study is impactful for learning the trends of human actions and behavior in a firm, which can be a yardstick for future academicians and policymakers to implement directly for aggravating the incubation indices.

Frontier efficiency methods have been recurrently used in the water sector to assess the performance of water utilities. These methods are also used for yardstick regulation, with greater efficiency being sought by creating competition between the utilities, which can have an impact on decision-making processes, such as tariff setting. This study analyzes the adequacy and limitations of these methods for regulatory purposes, particularly how they deal with data uncertainty and their capacity to manage large number of variables. In order to achieve this, two representative methods&mdash, a nonparametric technique (data envelopment analysis) and an econometric one (stochastic frontier analysis)&mdash, are applied to an audited sample of 194 water utilities. Results will show that the results from the methods may not be considered conclusive in the water sector and their application should be carried out with considerable reservations.

This is the last paper in the Synthesis section of this special issue on `Same Data, Different Results'. We first provide a framework of how to describe and distinguish approaches to topic extraction from bibliographic data of scientific publications. We then compare solutions delivered by the different topic extraction approaches in this special issue, and explore where they agree and differ. This is achieved without reference to a ground truth, since we have to assume the existence of multiple, equally important, valid perspectives and want to avoid bias through the adoption of an ad-hoc yardstick. Instead, we apply different ways to quantitatively and visually compare solutions to explore their commonalities and differences and develop hypotheses about the origin of these differences. We conclude with a discussion of future work needed to develop methods for comparison and validation of topic extraction results, and express our concern about the lack of access to non-proprietary benchmark data sets to support method development in the field of scientometrics.

Yardstick competition is a regulation regime that forces local monopolies to compete against a variable cost or total cost benchmark. The variable cost benchmark ignores the fixed capital, creating a strong incentive to over-invest, whereas the total cost benchmark assumes all costs to be variable, ignoring the investment risk. We propose theoretical, methodological, and operational advances to increase applicability of yardstick competition in energy regulation. In the proposed conditional yardstick regime capital is treated as a fixed input, and the local monopolies compete against the variable cost conditional on the fixed input. We develop a benchmarking method that can handle multiple outputs, heterogeneity, and shape constraints to ensure incentive compatibility. We discuss the real-world application of the proposed regime to the Finnish electricity distribution firms in 2016-2023. We argue that smarter regulation of network industries can contribute to lower risk premiums and help to achieve win-win solutions both in terms of reliability and affordability.

Frontier-based yardsticks, as applied in European energy network regulation, are not immune to strategic behavior. Under yardstick regulation, the regulator gauges the operator against a cost target set by the other firms in the sector. Many regulators have implemented frontier-based yardsticks where the cost function is defined by the most efficient firms (peers). This paper demonstrates that when it is possible to predict peers in advance, firms can manipulate the frontier to their advantage. We single out horizontal mergers as a plausible means to achieve such strategic objectives and develop a measure to identify strategic mergers ex ante. Using data from the electricity distribution sector in Norway that is subject to stable frontier-based regulation allows us to identify firm behavior that is consistent with our predictions. The paper contributes to the modern yardstick literature as existing evidence of strategic behavior in related regulatory settings is either based on anonymized questionnaire responses from regulatory authorities or relies on simulations using unidentified firms that are not actually exposed to such benchmarking in practice. The paper concludes by discussing policy implications.

Background In health care interventions aimed at increased physical activity, the individual’s time spent on exercise is a substantial input. Time costs should therefore be considered in cost-effectiveness analyses. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost of time spent on exercise among 333 primary health care patients with metabolic risk factors receiving physical activity on prescription. Methods Based on a theoretical framework, a yardstick was constructed with experience of work (representing claim of salary as compensation) as the lower anchor-point, and experience of leisure activity forgone due to extended exercise time (no claim) as the higher anchor-point. Using this yardstick experience of exercise can be valued. Another yardstick was constructed with experience of cleaning at home in combination with willingness to pay for cleaning as the lowest anchor-point. Results The estimated costs of exercise time were between 14 and 37% of net wages, with physical activity level being the most important factor in determining the cost. Among sedentary individuals, the time cost was 21–51% of net wages while among individuals performing regular exercise it was 2–10%. When estimating the cost of time spent on exercise in a cost-effectiveness analysis, experience of exercise, work, leisure activity forgone, and cleaning at home (or other household work that may be relevant to purchase) should be measured. The individual’s willingness to pay for cleaning at home and their net salary should also be measured. Conclusions When using a single valuation of cost of time spent on exercise in health care interventions, for employed participants 15–30% of net salary should be used. Among unemployed individuals, lower cost estimation should be applied. Better precision in cost estimations can be achieved if participants are stratified by physical activity levels. Trial registration The study was conducted as a survey of existing clinical physical activity on prescription work, and was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Gothenburg, Sweden (ref: 678-14)

Over the past years, airport regulation has been generating a lot of interest in Europe, and despite the passing of Airport Charges Directive in 2009, there is ongoing debate on the need for introducing tighter airport regulations. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, acknowledging that regulation is usually applied in markets where competition is weak or absent, we evaluate the ex-ante need for price regulation in the air transport industry. By focusing on the Italian airport industry, our analysis provides evidence of a high level of competitive pressure faced by airports (both inside and outside the industry), suggesting that tighter price regulation may not be the optimal solution. Second, assuming that stricter regulation of the airport industry is necessary, we empirically investigate the applicability of yardstick regulation to the Italian airport system, outlining critical challenges and issues that may arise when applying benchmarking techniques in setting the optimum level of efficiency at regulated airports. According to current literature, applicability of empirical benchmarking techniques requires some basic research requirements to be met, such as high-quality data, a homogeneous production function, and a sufficient number of comparable observations. We find that both heterogeneity and the relatively small number of comparable airports, along with the complexity of gathering proper data, may compromise the applicability of a regulation scheme based on yardstick principles at the national level.

Anomaly-detection methods are aimed at identifying observations that deviate manifestly from what is expected. Such methods are usually run on low-dimensional data, such as time series data. However, the increasing importance of high-dimensional payments and exposure data for financial oversight requires methods for detecting anomalous networks. To detect an anomalous network, dimensionality reduction allows measuring of the extent to which the network's main connective features (i.e. the structure) deviate from those regarded as typical. The key to dimensionality-reduction methods is the ability to reconstruct data with an error; this reconstruction error serves as a yardstick for deviation from what is typical. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used as a dimensionality-reduction method, and a clustering algorithm is used to classify reconstruction errors as normal or anomalous. Based on data from Colombia's large-value payments system and a set of synthetic anomalous networks created through simulations of intraday payments, detecting anomalous payments networks is feasible and promising for financial-oversight purposes.

Traffic accidents are the fundamental yardstick for road safety. In South Sulawesi, particularly the four road sections which become the main focus of this study are Jeneponto-Bantaeng, Bantaeng-Bulukumba, Bulukumba-Tondong, and Sengkang-Impa-impa. Topographic conditions in South Sulawesi generally have various surfaces, including road sections area of this study focus. These various topographical conditions cause a chance of a traffic accident to occur at a certain point on the geometric features of the road, either on a straight or bend road/ curve road, grad (+) or grad (-), or the influence of the average International Roughness Index (IRI) value of a road. This study aims to analyze significant road geometric features that determine the fatality rate of the traffic accident. The results obtained from this study are significant factors of geometric road features that statistically affect and determine the fatality rate of traffic accidents; namely road geometry, road gradient, and IRI value, or with the conclusion is that all predictor variables are significant factors in influencing fatality rate of the traffic accident.

Background With the growing use of social media in health care settings, there is a need to measure outcomes resulting from its use to ensure continuous performance improvement. Despite the need for measurement, a unified approach for measuring the value of social media used in health care remains elusive. Objective This study aimed to elucidate how the value of social media in health care settings can be ascertained and to taxonomically identify steps and techniques in social media measurement from a review of relevant literature. Methods A total of 65 relevant articles drawn from 341 articles on the subject of measuring social media in health care settings were qualitatively analyzed and synthesized. The articles were selected from the literature from diverse disciplines including business, information systems, medical informatics, and medicine. Results The review of the literature showed different levels and focus of analysis when measuring the value of social media in health care settings. It equally showed that there are various metrics for measurement, levels of measurement, approaches to measurement, and scales of measurement. Each may be relevant, depending on the use case of social media in health care. Conclusions A comprehensive yardstick is required to simplify the measurement of outcomes resulting from the use of social media in health care. At the moment, there is neither a consensus on what indicators to measure nor on how to measure them. We hope that this review is used as a starting point to create a comprehensive measurement criterion for social media used in health care.

Time is merely a convention, a convenient yardstick for measuring the flow of life and for indicating the transition of living. It helps us to plan our day to day activities and as such there is need for time to be allocated, utilized and controlled by the individual, groups or organizations. This paper therefore examined effect of poor time management on service delivery of the Anambra State local government councils. The paper relied on the secondary sources of data collection and discovered that factors such as politicized recruitment procedure, lack of employees’ participation in decision making, the mono culture economy, negative attitude to work among the local government workers as some of the factors which causes poor time management. However, in order to ensure proper time management for efficient service delivery the following recommendations were made. That should be adequate and proper motivation of the employees in form of higher remuneration and also the working environment should be conducive well. There should be effective delegation of functions, and training of workers. Keywords: Time Management, Service Delivery, Public Organization

Background: The recent rate of deaths of worker in the oil industry is alarming. However, the way managers of the workers handle the problem is even more worrisome. This study investigated the health risk behaviours of employees in selected oil servicing companies in Port Harcourt city, Nigeria. Methods: The study adopted the purposive sampling technique to select three notable oil servicing firms in the area and then selected 175 workers of the 350 workers as target population. Questionnaires were used to elicit information regarding the subject matters from the respondents. Data generated were presented in tables, while percentages were used as a yardstick for conclusions. Results: Findings showed that most of the respondents exceeded driving speed limit (73.6%), do not get enough rest (84.9%), alcohol consumption (76.1%), cannot manage their individual stress (75.9%), having more than one sexual partners (74.8%). Also noted in the study is that most workers do not maintain low sugar diet (65.6%), do not take adequate fruits/vegetables (54.1%), do not get adequate sleep (54.6%), regular exposure to sun (58.5%), not coping with work stress (59.2%) and not socializing with friends (56%). Conclusions: As a result of these findings, it was recommended that, there is need for supervisors of the workers to engage the workers in round table discussions that will ease the stress and psychological imbalance of the workers, the supervisors are advised at the instant of this research, to institute periodical exercises for workers to keep them fit and encourage healthy living, finally, there is need for awareness campaign by the companies for the purpose of re-orienting the workers on the need to practice with safety always.

BACKGROUND: Noise pollution has become a major environmental problem leading to nuisances and health issues. AIM: This paper aims to study and analyse the noise pollution levels in major areas in Ota metropolis. A probability model which is capable of predicting the noise pollution level is also determined. METHODS: Datasets on the noise pollution level in 41 locations across Ota metropolis were used in this research. The datasets were collected thrice per day; morning, afternoon and evening. Descriptive statistics were performed, and analysis of variance was also conducted using Minitab version 17.0 software. Easy fit software was however used to select the appropriate probability model that would best describe the dataset. RESULTS: The noise levels are way far from the WHO recommendations. Also, there is no significant difference in the effects of the noise pollution level for all the times of the day considered. The log-logistic distribution provides the best fit to the dataset based on the Kolmogorov Smirnov goodness of fit test. CONCLUSION: The fitted probability model can help in the prediction of noise pollution and act as a yardstick in the reduction of noise pollution, thereby improving the public health of the populace.

We study spatial competition in the agricultural input procurement sector by explaining variability in corn cash price offers from grain merchants in Iowa. While rail access, river access, size, and ethanol production exhibit the expected positive relationships to corn cash prices, the impact of ownership structure (corporate or cooperative) is complex. Taking distance-based and density-based approaches to spatial competition, we find corporate and cooperative grain merchants differ in their pricing behavior when confronted with spatial competitors. Consistent with theoretical expectations, cooperative grain merchants play a yardstick role in relation to both corporate and cooperative grain merchants.

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the employee's performance towards the development of entrepreneurship. This study of employee performance involved variables of creativity, innovation and motivation. It analyzed the impact of creativity, innovation and motivation towards employee performance; it also analyzed the impact of creativity, innovation and motivation for the development of entrepreneurship and analyzed the impact of employee performance towards the development of entrepreneurship. The study focused on ‘Jenang Kudus’small scale businesses in Kudus Regency that covered 396 firms (Department of Industry and Trade, Kudus Regency, 2010) and focused on the small scale businesses under the auspices of the Department of Industry and Trade. The population in this study were all ‘Jenang Kudus’ Small Scale Business companies in Kudus Regency. The sample consisted of 86 companies. The purposive sample technique was used by selecting samples of the small scale businesses in Kudus Regency. Data were collected by using questionnaires and in-depth interviews and they were analyzed by using descriptive method. Employee performance was affected by the creativity, innovation, and motivation. Creativity had a significant and strong direct impact to the employee performance that could create improved performance for employees. Innovation also had a significant and strong direct impact towards employee performance; it is the yardstick in carrying out the day-to-day development of the company so that innovation was needed to improve the performance of employees in the interest of the company. Motivation didn’t have any strong and significant impact towards employee performance, it means that motivation is needed to create the performance of employees, so that employees will feel more comfortable and secure in carrying out their job. Both creativity and innovation had strong and significant impact towards the development of entrepreneurship, and on the other hand, motivation had no strong and significant impact towards the development of entrepreneurship.

This working paper focuses on the accountability arrangements for the ECB in the framework of the EU's Banking Union. For this purpose, first of all an analytical framework for the purposes of evaluating the preconditions and instruments of accountability placed at the disposal of the European Parliament in the Single Supervisory Mechanism is set out. Thereafter the powers conferred on the European Parliament in the legal framework of the SSM to hold the Supervisory Board to account for the exercise of its duties are examined based on this framework. Notably, the paper highlights the lack of a clear yardstick against which to assess the ECB's performance in the area of banking supervision, as well as a gap in terms of the ability of the European Parliament to assign consequences to the ECB's conduct. Furthermore, the interaction between the European Parliament and the Supervisory Board of the ECB, as evidenced through the parliamentary hearings that have been held thus far, is examined. A qualitative analysis of these hearings notably highlights the topics covered in those hearings, as well as the attitude of the MEPs towards the institutional structure and accountability arrangements in the Banking Union. Finally, a number of concrete proposals for enhancing the role of the European Parliament as an accountability holder in the Banking Union are made.

This paper evaluates whether the agency problem in public administration shapes Spanish municipalities’ tax policy. To this aim, we have considered 2,431 Spanish municipalities for the period from 2002 to 2013.We find significant evidence of tax mimicking of neighboring municipalities, in both property tax and car tax. However, incumbents are not signaling their competence through tax competition. Rather, expenditure spillovers explain this interaction. Municipalities seek to have the same services and infrastructures as their neighbors. The fact that there is not tax benchmarking does not mean that the agency problem is not present in Spanish municipalities. The agency problem is one of the reasons corruption is so widespread among Spanish municipalities. Regarding the further policy implications of our findings, legislation should direct municipal governments’ decisions towards the real needs of their constituencies.

Energy policy 132(September), 754-763 (2019). doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2019.06.027, Published by Elsevier Science, Amsterdam [u.a.]

In the debate on child participation in family law proceedings, a pertinent question is whether or not to provide children with representation and if so, how to provide it. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) provides minimum standards for the child’s right to express views and to do so, in judicial proceedings, through a representative. This article takes these minimum standards as a yardstick to evaluate the legal frameworks of child representation in the family law proceedings of four jurisdictions: Australia (New South Wales), France, the Netherlands and South Africa. On the basis of a systematic legal comparison and evaluation, this article presents a “compliance report card” and concludes with new insights and questions regarding children’s representation and Article 12, uncrc.

H. L. A. Hart proposed one of the most influential accounts of law, according to which law is a union of primary rules, which guide the behavior of the law’s subjects, and secondary rules, which guide officials in recognizing, changing, and interpreting primary rules. Writing at the end of the 1950s, Hart had serious doubts about whether international law meets the necessary criteria for a legal system. But there are several reasons to reconsider his position. One is that international law has grown significantly since then, but a more important reason is that Hart provided an oversimplified description of the necessary and sufficient conditions for law provided by his account, and therefore of the nature of the international legal order. A proper understanding of Hart’s view gives us a richer and more accurate understanding of the essential features of law, but also a less precise yardstick by which to measure and characterize the various systems of rules, including international law. According to this new yardstick, international law fails to meet the criteria for a Hartian legal system, but for reasons other than those identified by Hart.

Artículo escrito por un elevado número de autores, solo se referencian el que aparece en primer lugar, el nombre del grupo de colaboración, si le hubiere, y los autores pertenecientes a la UAM, Traditionally, the success of a researcher is assessed by the number of publications he or she publishes in peer-reviewed, indexed, high impact journals. This essential yardstick, often referred to as the impact of a specific researcher, is assessed through the use of various metrics. While researchers may be acquainted with such matrices, many do not know how to use them to enhance their careers. In addition to these metrics, a number of other factors should be taken into consideration to objectively evaluate a scientist′s profile as a researcher and academician. Moreover, each metric has its own limitations that need to be considered when selecting an appropriate metric for evaluation. This paper provides a broad overview of the wide array of metrics currently in use in academia and research. Popular metrics are discussed and defined, including traditional metrics and article-level metrics, some of which are applied to researchers for a greater understanding of a particular concept, including varicocele that is the thematic area of this Special Issue of Asian Journal of Andrology. We recommend the combined use of quantitative and qualitative evaluation using judiciously selected metrics for a more objective assessment of scholarly output and research impact

Bosnia and Herzegovina has been lacking the collective political power to address the reforms that were necessary for progress towards EU over the years. The B&H politicians could not agree upon any effective coordination mechanism on EU issues. The lack of coordination mechanism has negatively affected the country’s interaction with the EU. Beside the coordination mechanism the other political issues could not be resolved. The EU Commission intensively facilitated resolution of the Sejdić-Finci ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that B&H has to implement, but without any success. The political actors have also been unable to agree upon countrywide strategy required for Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, in sectors, such as: agriculture, energy, transport and environment. These negative developments led to a substantial reduction of funding in these areas. Political disagreements have caused economic stagnation on moving towards European standards. In February 2014, widespread, citizen-led protests have occurred. These protests have underlined the fragility of the socio-economic situation. The EU Commission has launched a New Approach for B&H towards EU aiming to shift the focus towards economic reforms and issues of direct concern to citizens. This included development of a ‘Compact for Growth and Jobs’. The Compact is supposed to be the yardstick for the necessary economic reforms. In this paper we will explain the importance of the New Approach for B&H, as well as what ‘Compact for Growth and Job’ brings to B&H.

Islamic banking has achieved remarkable growth that has surpassed the growth of the conventional banking system. Yet, studies show that the performances of Islamic banks (IBs) seem to be trailing behind the conventional banks (CBs). Is the poor performance of IBs the result of mismatch between their objectives and their performance measurement criteria or it is a reflection of their true performances? The objectives of Islamic banking had not been formally addressed. Mustafa and Taib (2009) derived the objectives of Islamic banking from Abu Zahara’s theory of the objectives of Shari’ah (Maqasid al-Shari’ah) and, based on these Shari’ah objectives, developed a model of Islamic banking performance measures. They named it as Performance Measures based on Maqasid al-Shari’ah framework or the PMMS model. This paper has tested the PMMS model on a sample 24 banks (12 IBs and 12 CBs). The twenty four banks were also evaluated using the traditional conventional financial measures. Mann-Whitney U-Test results show IBs faring well in their performances when measured using the PMMS model than when they are measured using the conventional banking performance yardstick. Policy prescriptions and recommendations for further studies are provided at the concluding section of the paper. Key words: Maqasid al-shari’ah, operationalization, PMMS Model, Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Mann-Whitney U-Test.JEL Classification: A13, B59, C02, C6, C12, C19, C42, C43, G21, M21, P46, P47, P49

This study investigates the correlations between the three measures of written receptive vocabulary size and second language (L2) depth of vocabulary knowledge to find the most reliable test of vocabulary size. Moreover, the corresponding relationship is examined for the higher and lower word-frequency bands of the three tests to find whether the correlation between the two constructs differs as a function of frequency level and task format. In so doing, Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), the monolingual and bilingual Persian versions of the Vocabulary Size Test (VST), and Word Associates Test (WAT) were administered to 122 high-proficient undergraduate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Results of Pearson correlations and linear regression analyses indicated that (a) the VLT had the highest correlation with the participants’ scores on the WAT; (b) although all the three tests of vocabulary size could significantly predict L2 depth of vocabulary knowledge, the VLT was the strongest predictor; (c) the higher word-frequency levels of the three VSTs in general, and the VLT in particular, were more predictive of L2 vocabulary depth; and (d) the 3,000-word-frequency level of the VLT, in particular, had the highest contribution to the performance on the WAT. The overall findings point to the superiority of the VLT among the three measures of vocabulary size.

Unlike other fields of computing and communications, low-power wireless networking is plagued by one major issue: the absence of a well-defined, agreed-upon yardstick to compare the performance of systems, namely, a benchmark. We argue that this situation may eventually represent a hampering factor for a technology expected to be key in the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-physical Systems (CPS). This paper describes a recent initiative to remedy this situation, seeking to enlarge the participation from the community., 2018 IEEE Workshop on Benchmarking Cyber-Physical Networks and Systems (CPSBench 2018), ISBN:978-1-5386-6742-2

Natural radiations such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation sourced from sun are known to be the main causes of skin cancer, sunburn, eye damage, premature aging of skin and other skin related diseases. Its percentage of radiation reaching the earth populace and its impacts are not well known. Its variability in near-surface relating to its impacts on populace depends on some atmospheric parameters. Hence, this work was embarked on to determine the variability in near-surface UV radiation and its dependency on some atmospheric parameters at different time of the day in Offa, Nigeria. The variability was determined using the data obtained from meteorological garden, Science Laboratory Technology Department, Federal Polytechnic Offa, Nigeria. The data obtained were solar UV radiation, solar radiation, temperature, humidity and pressure at 30 minutes interval. Relationships were determined and correlations were derived using SPSS Pearson Correlation tool. The results showed a significant level of correlation with p-value of 0.01 and 0.05 levels. Thus, the results revealed some good relationships between the solar UV radiation and other atmospheric parameters with significance level less than p-value obtained. Inferentially, interdependent relationships were found to exist. Therefore, the nature of relationship obtained could be a yardstick for decision making in short term environmental planning on solar UV radiation depending of some atmospheric parameters within Offa locality., {"references":["Brian Dunbar. \"Solar Spectral Irradiance: Air Mass 1.5\" National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Missionscience Http://Missionscience.Nasa.Gov. Retrieved 2009-11-12.","Haigh, Joanna D. (2007). \"The Sun and the Earth's Climate: Absorption of solar spectral radiation by \tthe atmosphere\". Living Reviews in Solar \tPhysics. 4 (2). Retrieved July 12, 2014.","James Bolton and Christine Colton (2008). \"The Ultraviolet Disinfection \tHandbook\". American \tWater Works Association, 2008 ISBN 978 1 58321 \t584 5, pp. 3-4","University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Health Beat (2014). \"The Difference between UVA, \tUVB, and UVC Rays\". Cancer Care and Safety Center, Wednesday July 30th, 2014. Last updated June 13th, 2016. www.UPMCCancerCenter.Com","World Health Organization (2008) \"Health and Environmental effects of ultraviolet radiation\". \tEnvironmental health criteria. 160: Ultraviolet radiation Geneva."]}

The global absolute poverty rates of the World Bank demonstrate a continued decline of poverty in developing countries between 1983 and 2012. However, the methodology applied to derive these results has received extensive criticism by scholars for requiring the application of PPP exchange rates and CPIs that are not constructed to capture the consumption habits of those who live in absolute poverty. Those methodological concerns cast reasonable doubts on the poverty rates reported. First, in this paper, I demonstrate the validity of the hypothesis that the World Bank’s method inconsistently measures global absolute poverty. Second, I introduce new estimates of global absolute poverty based on a consistent methodology suitable for comparisons in time and between countries. For this purpose, I follow a well known concept of measuring bare bones subsistence using a consumption basket. This absolute poverty yardstick tracks bare bones survival costs and is priced in domestic nominal terms. The minimum caloric requirements are calculated separately for each country and year based on the demographic composition. The exact composition of the baskets is determined separately for each combination of country and year. The non-food component contains, among others, clothing and fuel consumption for basic heating, linked to monthly average temperature data. The results validate the critique on the World Bank’s methodology. They demonstrate large discrepancies in levels, which I find in many cases several times lower of what they report. This difference is far from being a linear change in all countries, which in turn fundamentally changes the geography and development of global absolute poverty. A sharp post 1990 increase together with a thereafter modest but longer decline brings the 2012 estimate only 1% lower than 1990.

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are a global phenomenon. This is evidenced by their scale, coverage and intrinsic link with education policy across Europe and beyond. Research into their impact has encompassed a number of perspectives; theoretical, practical and evaluative. Yet, despite the existence of critical literature related to the development, design and impact of NQFs, little research has questioned the actual feasibility of researching the ‘impact’ of NQFs per se. The arguments in this paper position such research as both unfeasible and futile: a dream for which it is impossible to identify a suitable yardstick to measure. We base our argument around three broad themes: linguistics and semantics; homogeneity; and methodological complexity. Around these themes, we aim to show why such research has proved problematic and, in doing so, contribute to the field as it explores the impact of NQFs in the future.

This paper analyzes the performative impact of the European Commission's model for estimating ‘potential output’, which is used as a yardstick for measuring the ‘structural budget balance’ of EU countries and, hence, is crucial for coordinating European fiscal policies. In pre-crisis years, potential output estimates promoted the build-up of private debt, housing bubbles and macroeconomic imbalances. After the financial crisis, these model estimates were revised downwards, which increased fiscal consolidation pressures. By focusing on the euro area's economies during 1999–2014, we show how the model's estimates influence actual economic outcomes. We identify two major economic impacts of the potential output model. First, the political implications of the model led to pro-cyclical feedback loops, reinforcing prevailing economic developments. Second, the model has contributed to national lock-ins on path dependent debt trajectories, fueling ‘structural polarization’ between core and periphery countries.

Aim: In India, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) emerged as major player in providing microfinance services and therefore such institutions need to be financially sustainable in order to achieve their double bottom-line objective. Besides, Indian MFIs cannot protect themselves from the curse of loan non-repayment. Therefore, this study aims to measure performance of the Indian MFIs and examine whether sustainability has any significant impact on the efficiency of the MFIs. Design / Research methods: In order to gauge the performance of the Indian MFIs, non parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is adopted. Two models of DEA (BCC Model-input oriented and Undesirable Measure Model-output oriented) are applied used for better analysis. Further, to examine the factors influencing efficiency of the MFIs and particularly to answer whether Sustainability has any significant impact on efficiency, Tobit regression is applied in the study. Data of thirty-one Indian MFIs for seven years (2009-2015) are collected from MiX Market for the study. Conclusions / findings: Result of the study shows that average technical efficiency of the MFIs is estimated to be 79 percent under BCC model and 98 percent under Undesirable Measure Model. Indian MFIs can attain production frontier if they can trim their bad output (proxied by Portfolio at Risk 30) to an extent of around 14 percent. Further, the study validates that sustainability (proxied by Operational Self Sufficiency) has positive impact on efficiency. Originality / value of the article: Studies made so far on Indian MFIs have not addressed how the MFIs could become efficient by reducing their undesirable/bad output. Besides, no study so far has analysed the impact of sustainability on efficiency of the Indian MFIs. Therefore, this research tries to fill the existing research gap. Implications of the research: The result of the study can be useful to the Indian Microfinance Industry in improving their performance. The result can further be used by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to frame yardstick for the clients of the MFIs in connection with borrowing loans from MFIs. Cel: Instytucje mikrofinansowe (ang.: Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)) wyłoniły się w Indiach jako główny gracz z punktu widzenia świadczenia usług mikrofinansowych. Z tego względu instytucje te muszą być stabilne finansowo, aby osiągnąć założony cel w postaci podwójnych zysków (ang.: double bottom-line). Poza tym, indyjskie MFIs nie mogą się ochronić przed klątwą niespłacania pożyczek. Dlatego też celem niniejszego artykuły jest pomiar kondycji indyjskich MFIs oraz określenie, czy podtrzymywalność ma znaczący wpływ na wydajność MFIs. Metodyka badań: Aby zdiagnozować kondycję indyjskich MFIs, wykorzystano nieparametryczną metodę obwiedni danych (ang. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)). Dla bardziej dogłębnej analizy zastosowano dwa modele DEA (zorientowany na nakłady model BCC oraz zorientowany na wyniki Undesirable Measure Model). Następnie użyto w badaniach regresji Tobita w celu określenia czynników oddziałujących na wydajność MFIs, a w szczególności w celu odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy podtrzymywalność ma znaczący wpływ na wydajność. W badaniach wykorzystano uzyskane z MiX Market dane dotyczące 31 indyjskich MFIs w latach 2009-2015. Wnioski: Wyniki badań wskazują, że techniczną wydajność MFIs można oszacować na poziomie 79% w modelu BCC oraz 98% w Undesirable Measure Model. Indyjskie MFIs mogą osiągnąć granicę produkcji, jeśli zdołają obniżyć złe wyniki (określone przy portfelu ryzyka 30) do poziomu około 14%. Ponadto badania potwierdziły, że podtrzymywalność (określona przez samowystarczalność operacyjną) ma pozytywny wpływ na wydajność. Wartość artykułu: Dotychczasowe badania indyjskich MFIs nie koncentrowały się na tym, jak MFIs mogą stać się wydajne poprzez redukcję niepożądanych / złych wyników. Ponadto żadne dotychczasowe badanie nie analizowało wpływu podtrzymywalności na wydajność indyjskich MFIs. Z tego względu niniejszy artykuł stara się wypełnić istniejącą lukę badawczą. Implikacje: Wyniki badań mogą być przydatne dla indyjskiego przemysłu mikrofinansowego w celu poprawy jego wydajności. Wyniki mogą być też wykorzystane przez Indyjski Bank rezerw (ang. Reserve Bank of India, aby stworzyć wspólną miarę dla klientów MFIs w połączeniu z zaciąganiem pożyczek w MFIs.

For an industry that is subject to uniform yardstick regulation, we study cartel stability and the impact of cartels on the regulated price. In a theoretical model, an increase in the number of symmetric firms may facilitate collusion. Our laboratory experiment suggests that this effect is even stronger than what theory predicts. Theory predicts that firm-size heterogeneity hinders collusion, but leads to higher regulated prices if firms do not collude. In a laboratory experiment we find that the first effect is stronger, implying that in a more heterogeneous industry regulated prices are lower. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The southwest coastal delta of Bangladesh is not only geographically home to a dynamic interplay between land and water, and between fresh surface water and saline tides, but also to contentious debates on flood management policy and hydraulic engineering works. It has been argued that dealing with delta floods in this region boils down to adopting either open or closed approaches. This paper longitudinally structures the open-or-closed debate based on a number of emblematic water management projects in the region. Departing from a typical open wetland history, river and polder embankments increasingly started to constrain flood dynamics. Upheaval among rural populations in response to the negative impacts of hydraulic engineering plans and works coalesced in efforts to restore open approaches, synthesized in the Tidal River Management concept. Its resemblance to historic overflow irrigation is often used politically as a yardstick to challenge the dominant hydraulic engineering paradigm. This paper argues that dealing with floods in Bangladesh requires plans, policies and projects formulated against the historic background of complex interactions among social processes, environmental dynamics and technological interventions: a lesson to be incorporated in on-going policy-making processes and long-term delta management plans.

The main purpose of this chapter is to study the wine distribution system in China. French red wines served as a yardstick in the study. The observations are derived from data collected for this research in the 49 semidirective interviews with important wine players in France, China and Germany. We compare China’s emerging and dynamic wine market to the stable, mature, highly competitive wine market of Germany. Contrasting the distribution systems of these two markets has enabled us to analyze the different attitudes of distributors toward wine as a product and reveal the new trends of the Chinese wine market which are similar to those observed in the competitive German market. Our conclusions based on the use of the Alceste method for interview analysis report the principal discrepancies in the wine players’ positions toward ‘wine’ and ‘wines’, and the wine trade in both markets. Whereas German and French wine players refer to wine as a unique product, Chinese wine actors allude to wines; they use this term in a generic form and focus more on the economic and commercial aspects of wine as a trade product. The best practices observed in the German market could help to better understand the growing competitive landscape of the wine market in China.

This paper explores the implications that arise with the selection of specific sustainability evaluation tools. Sustainability evaluation tools are conceptualized in this paper as value articulating institutions and as such their choice is a far from a trivial matter. In fact their choice can entail various ethical and practical repercussions. However, in most cases the choice of the evaluation tool is made by the analyst(s) without taking into consideration the values of the affected stakeholders. By choosing the analytical tool the analyst essentially "subscribes to" and ultimately "enforces" a particular worldview as the legitimate yardstick to evaluate the sustainability of a particular project (or policy). Instead, this paper argues that the selection of evaluation tools should be consistent with the values of the affected stakeholders. With this in mind, different sustainability evaluation tools' assumptions are critically reviewed and a number of suggestions that could facilitate the choice of the most appropriate tool according to the context of the sustainability evaluation are provided. It is expected that conscious evaluation tool selection, following the suggestions made in this paper, will reduce the risk of providing distorted sustainability evaluations.