Explaining individual-and country-level variations in unregistered employment using a multi-level model: Evidence from 35 Eurasian countries

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the individual-and country-level variations in unregistered employment. To analyse whether it is marginalised groups who are more likely to engage in unregistered employment and explain the country-level variations, a 2010 Life in Transition Survey (LiTS) involving 38,864 interviews in 35 Eurasian countries is reported. Multilevel logistic regression analysis reveals that younger age groups, the divorced, and those with fewer years in education, are more likely to be unregistered employed. On a country-level, meanwhile, the prevalence of unregistered employment is strongly associated with tax morale; the greater the asymmetry between informal and formal institutions, the greater is the prevalence of unregistered employment. It is also higher when GDP per capita as well as social distribution and state intervention (subsidies and transfers, social contribution expenditure, health expenditure) are lower. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications

Does informality help entrepreneurs achieve firm growth? evidence from a post-conflict economy

This article evaluates the impact of starting-up unregistered and operating informally on small firm growth in Kosovo, the country with the highest levels of informality in Western Balkans. The study uses mixed research methods as an inquiry to combining both qualitative and quantitative forms. Reporting data from 487 business owners extracted from a 2017 nationally representative survey of 8,533 households in Kosovo, 47.7 percent had started-up unregistered and were operating informally at the time of the survey. Using an instrumental variable (IV) estimation with a binary endogenous regressor to estimate the impact of informality (a treatment group) on small firm growth (control group), while controlling for other entrepreneur and firm determinants, a strong positive effect of the informality on firm growth is identified. Entrepreneurs operating informally had an 11.6 percentage points higher probability of achieving their firm growth objectives compared with entrepreneurs operating formally. Yet, the qualitative interviews revealed that growth objectives of small firms were limited, so the unregistered firms outperformed registered firms only under the modest growth objectives. Taking into account the limitations of the study, the implications for theory and policy are proposed to tackle the informality such as incentives of government small business support programs

Targeted monitoring for human pharmaceuticals in vulnerable source and final waters

A range of pharmaceuticals has been detected in soils, surface waters and groundwaters across the world. While the reported concentrations are generally low (i.e. sub μg l-1 in surface waters), the substances have been observed throughout the year across a variety of hydrological, climatic and land-use settings. As a result, questions have been raised over the potential for pharmaceuticals in surface waters to enter drinking water supplies and to affect consumers. In a previous Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) funded study, results from a simple exposure model were used alongside information on therapeutic doses of pharmaceuticals to identify pharmaceuticals that are likely to be of most concern in UK drinking water sources. However, this previous study was entirely desk-based and did not involve any experimental measurements of pharmaceutical concentrations. The current study was therefore performed to generate actual measurements on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in source and treated waters in England. The study considered a range of pharmaceutical compounds and their metabolites that have either a) high predicted exposure concentrations; b) toxicological concerns; or c) a low predicted exposure to therapeutic dose ratio. An illicit drug and its major metabolite were also investigated. The study compounds (in total 17) covered a range of chemical classes and varied in terms of their physico-chemical properties. The study was done at four sites where concentrations in source water at the drinking water treatment abstraction point were predicted to be some of the greatest in England. The study therefore is likely to provide a ‘worst case’ assessment of potential human exposure to pharmaceuticals in drinking water in England and Wales. Ten of the 17 study compounds were detected in untreated source waters at sub-μg/l concentrations. Six of these compounds (namely, benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine), caffeine, carbamazepine (an antiepileptic medicine), carbamazepine epoxide (a metabolite of carbamazepine), ibuprofen and naproxen (both non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) were also detected in treated drinking water. With the exception of carbamazepine epoxide, concentrations in treated drinking water were generally significantly lower than in source water. Even though England is a densely populated country and in some regions there is limited dilution of wastewater effluents, these observations, made at sites that were predicted to have some of the highest concentrations of pharmaceuticals in England and Wales, are in line with results from similar studies performed in other countries. Comparison of measured concentrations of the study compounds in drinking waters with information on therapeutic doses demonstrated that levels of these compounds in drinking water in England are many orders of magnitude lower than levels that are given to patients therapeutically. It would therefore appear that the low or non-detectable levels of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs present in drinking waters in England and Wales do not pose an appreciable risk to human health

Ripple Effects of a Minority Leadership Training Program: Beyond its target

Chair: Michiko Iwasaki, Ph.D. ([email protected]) – Loyola University Maryland Discussant: Y. Barry Chung, Ph.D. ([email protected]) – Indiana University The APA Commission of Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training in Psychology (2008) pointed out the underrepresentation of minorities in the field of psychology, particularly in leadership positions. In response to the shortage of minority leaders, the Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic Minority Interests (CNPAAEMI) initiated a Leadership Development Institute (LDI) in 2012. The major purpose of the LDI was to foster and nurture ongoing leadership development among early career ethnic minority psychologists. This symposium addresses the ripple effects of this leadership development program. Although the LDI aimed to foster leadership development among a cohort of six early-career ethnic minority professionals, the training program had ripple effects that extended well beyond its primary purpose. This symposium draws from a collaborative project – interviewing ethnic minority leaders in psychology – initiated by the LDI fellows that provided unanticipated learning opportunities for both the fellows and students assisting the project. The first presentation, led by a LDI fellow, will delineate the LDI mechanism and discusses the importance of connecting in-group and out-group members in minority leadership. The second presentation, led by racial minority graduate students, will emphasize the significance of empowerment and presence of role models when considering the pipeline of minority leadership development. The final presentation, led by White minority graduate and undergraduate students, will discuss the nature of White privilege at academic institutions as well as their own personal growth. This symposium targets the following sub-themes of the 2014 Counseling Psychology Conference: training context and domestic/international diversity. A past president of the Society of Counseling Psychology will be a discussant. This symposium offers valuable information regarding leadership training mechanisms in order to enhance cultural sensitivity among all individuals in the psychology field regardless of their color, sexual orientation, or professional/academic levels

Incidence of anaemia among HIV-infected patients treated with zidovudine-containing antiretroviral therapy in northeastern Nigeria

Background: Zidovudine (AZT) is a common component of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. However, AZT is associated with myelotoxity that often presents with anaemia. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of anaemia among patients initiated on AZT-containing and non-AZT containing ART regimens.Methods: In this retrospective analysis, records from 800 ART-naïve HIV-infected patients were abstracted by simple random sampling from program databases. Rates of anaemia were compared between patients initiated on AZT- versus non- AZT-containing ART regimens. Patients were stratified according to absence (Group A) or presence (Group B) of baseline anaemia defined as haemoglobin < 10.5g/dl. Incidence was calculated as total cases of AZT-induced anaemia (group A) or worsening of anaemia (group B) during the study period divided by person-time at risk and adjusted per 100 person-years. Average time-to-event and survival curve were estimated using Kaplan Meier survival analysis.Results: In group A (without baseline anaemia), the incidence of anaemia in the AZT-exposed versus non-exposed cohorts was 73.3 and 17.6 per 100 patient years at 6 months, and 60.5 and 8.5 per 100 patient years at 12 months, respectively. In group B, the incidence of worsening anaemia was 65.9 and 26.2 per 100 patient years at 6 months, and 57.5 and 17.9 per 100 patient years after 12 months in AZT-exposed and AZT-unexposed cohorts, respectively. The estimated time to event (developing anaemia) was 2.3 (1.5 – 3.4) months, while estimated to event (worseninig anaemia) was 2.0 (1.5 – 4.0).Conclusions: HIV-infected patients initiated on AZT-containing ART are 2.7 and 4.5 more likely to develop anaemia at 6 and 12 months, respectively, compared to those initiating a non-AZT containing regimen. When censored at 12 months the overall incidence of AZT-related anaemia was estimated at 22.3% (38.2 incidences per person years). Majority (75%) of the AZT-related anaemia occurred early with estimated time-to-event occurring within the first 3.8 monthsKeywords: Anaemia, Zidovudine, Antiretroviral therapy, Incidenc

Beyond the formal/informal employment dualism : evaluating individual- and country-level variations in the commonality of quasi-formal employment

Purpose To transcend the view of employment as either formal or informal, this paper evaluates the prevalence of quasi-formal employment where formal employers pay formal employees an unreported (“envelope”) wage in addition to their formal reported salary. To explain the individual-level variations in quasi-formal employment, the “marginalisation” thesis is evaluated that this practice is more prevalent among vulnerable groups and to explain the country-level variations, and a neo-institutionalist theory is evaluated that it is more prevalent where formal institutional failures lead to an asymmetry between the formal laws and regulations and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions. Design/methodology/approach To evaluate the individual- and country-level variations in the prevalence of quasi-formal employment, a multi-level logistic regression is provided of data from special 2019 Eurobarometer survey 92.1 involving 11,793 interviews with employees across 28 European countries (the 27 member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom). Findings Of the 3.5% of employees (1 in 28) who receive under-reported salaries, the marginalisation thesis is supported that it is largely vulnerable population groups. So too is the neo-institutionalist explanation that quasi-formal employment is more common in countries where the non-alignment of formal and informal institutions is greater, with the formal institutional failings producing this identified as lower levels of economic development, less modernised state bureaucracies and lower levels of taxation and social protection. Practical implications The policy implication is that tackling quasi-formal employment requires not only enforcement authorities to improve the risk of detection of this illegal wage practice but also governments to change wider macro-level structural conditions. These are outlined. Originality/value Contemporary new evidence is provided of the prevalence of quasi-formal employment along with how this illegal wage practice can be explained and tackled

Coherent information analysis of quantum channels in simple quantum systems

The coherent information concept is used to analyze a variety of simple quantum systems. Coherent information was calculated for the information decay in a two-level atom in the presence of an external resonant field, for the information exchange between two coupled two-level atoms, and for the information transfer from a two-level atom to another atom and to a photon field. The coherent information is shown to be equal to zero for all full-measurement procedures, but it completely retains its original value for quantum duplication. Transmission of information from one open subsystem to another one in the entire closed system is analyzed to learn quantum information about the forbidden atomic transition via a dipole active transition of the same atom. It is argued that coherent information can be used effectively to quantify the information channels in physical systems where quantum coherence plays an important role.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figs; Final versiob after minor changes, title changed; to be published in Phys. Rev. A, September 200

Associated Production of Heavy Quarkonia and Electroweak Bosons at Present and Future Colliders

We investigate the associated production of heavy quarkonia, with angular-momentum quantum numbers ^{2S+1}L_J = ^1S_0, ^3S_1, ^1P_1, ^3P_J (J = 0, 1, 2), and photons, Z bosons, and W bosons in photon-photon, photon-hadron, and hadron-hadron collisions within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics providing all contributing partonic cross sections in analytic form. In the case of photoproduction, we also include the resolved-photon contributions. We present numerical results for the processes involving J/psi and chi_{cJ} mesons appropriate for the Fermilab Tevatron, CERN LHC, DESY TESLA, operated in the e^+ e^- and gamma gamma modes, and DESY THERA.Comment: 41 pages (Latex), 10 figures (Postscript