A conference can range from good to bad. It can be well or poorly organized, comfortably or indifferently housed, a profitable or wasted use of time. If conferences were rated…
Abstract
A conference can range from good to bad. It can be well or poorly organized, comfortably or indifferently housed, a profitable or wasted use of time. If conferences were rated like hotels and stars indicated their merit, the one held in Munich at the end of October should be awarded the maximum number.
Nathan W. Carroll, Dean G. Smith and John R.C. Wheeler
The hospital industry is again experiencing a wave of consolidation as formerly independent hospitals are acquired by multihospital systems. The effects of these consolidations on…
Abstract
The hospital industry is again experiencing a wave of consolidation as formerly independent hospitals are acquired by multihospital systems. The effects of these consolidations on operating costs and care quality have been researched extensively. However, in addition to these benefits, many hospitals also hope that joining a multihospital system will improve their access to capital. Improved access to capital could be a particularly important benefit for independent, not-for-profit (NFP) hospitals because these hospitals face capital constraints since they lack access to publicly issued equity. Despite being an often-cited benefit of system membership, access to capital has received little attention from researchers. We draw on financial theory to identify several mechanisms through which system membership might improve access to capital for acquired NFP hospitals. We develop and test hypotheses using data from an earlier period of hospital consolidation during which hospitals were even more financially constrained than they are at present. Using propensity score matched control hospitals, we examine changes in leverage that occurred after independent hospitals joined multihospital systems. We find evidence that system membership allows under-leveraged hospitals to increase their debt holdings, suggesting that system membership may help NFP hospitals attain an optimal capital structure.
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Margaret Richards, Mike Doyle and Peter Cook
Dual‐diagnosis strategies are developing in medium secure services in response to both government policies and clinical need and there has been a move towards integrated services…
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Dual‐diagnosis strategies are developing in medium secure services in response to both government policies and clinical need and there has been a move towards integrated services for this patient group. Substance use that has been a feature of the index offence must be taken into account as much as psychosis or the offending behaviour. Treatment of dual diagnosis relies heavily on cognitive‐behavioural therapies. Relapse in either psychosis or substance use increases risk and re‐admission rates to medium security. This paper reviews the literature on family interventions in dual diagnosis and its applicability to forensic mental health inpatient services. As there appeared to be limited direct evidence, various domains were examined and extrapolated to a forensic setting as appropriate. The review indicates the potential for positive outcomes for families following family interventions in dual diagnosis, which may be beneficial in a forensic setting in lowering risk.
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In recent years, there have been a significant number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) among financial institutions in American, European as well as in Asian countries. The…
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In recent years, there have been a significant number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) among financial institutions in American, European as well as in Asian countries. The Malaysian government too has encouraged mergers among financial institutions since the 1997‐98 financial crisis so as to create stronger and more viable business entities. Through M&As Malaysian financial institutions are expected to emerge more resilient to withstand the pressures and challenges arising from the increasingly globalized business environment. Numerous tax considerations arise as a result of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and this has financial implications for the new entities. This paper examines broad tax issues involving M&As. The types of taxes that would become payable include income tax, real property gains tax and stamp duty. Income tax effects include deductibility of payments for termination of employees, legal fees, bad debts and treatment of business losses as well as capital allowances. Aspects involving stamp duty payment are also analyzed. Mergers and acquisitions inevitably involve a transfer of shares or property and as such the property gains tax issues are also addressed.
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Margaret Richards, Mike Doyle and Peter Cook
With permission, this paper is an edited and abridged version of an article written by Richards, Doyle and Cook for The British Journal of Forensic Practice (Richards et al…
Abstract
With permission, this paper is an edited and abridged version of an article written by Richards, Doyle and Cook for The British Journal of Forensic Practice (Richards et al, 2009), detailing their literature review on family interventions in dual diagnosis and with reference to forensic mental health care. There appeared to be limited direct evidence, therefore various domains were examined and extrapolated to a forensic setting as appropriate. The review indicates the potential for positive outcomes for families following family interventions in dual diagnosis, which may be beneficial in a forensic setting in lowering risk.
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Dian Tjondronegoro, Lei Wang and Adrien Joly
Affordable mobile devices with video playback functionality are rapidly growing in the market. Current wireless and third generation communication networks enable smoother and…
Abstract
Affordable mobile devices with video playback functionality are rapidly growing in the market. Current wireless and third generation communication networks enable smoother and higher quality streaming video. With the support of these technologies, most participants in telecom value‐added service chain are planning to shift their business focus to a more profitable and appealing area, mobile TV. Previous work that survey on users' behavior while consuming mobile TV has indicated that users normally watch brief and casual contents, and not the full program. However, most of the current services adopt a “push” approach since users passively receive pre‐defined contents, rather than pulling the interesting topics and segments. In order to promote a more enjoyable and rewarding watching experience, this paper will propose a framework to support a fully interactive mobile TV. The main goal is to enable users to: 1) visually locate interesting topics across multiple genres (such as news, sports and entertainment) and 2) fully control the playback flow of the multimedia items while selecting the most interesting segments. A web‐based system has been developed to implement and test the effectiveness of the proposed framework in a wireless and mobile setting.
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A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…
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A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.