Charitable giving to humanitarian organizations in Spain

This paper studies influences on private donations in Spain. After surveying economic theory and past empirical findings on charitable behavior, I introduce Spanish microdata from 1992 on giving to humanitarian organizations. Using binary and multinomial logit models, I probe the likelihood of giving to these organizations, as well as that of stating different reasons for not giving. I find that the variable that most strongly predicts giving is income, and that, while most respondents that do not give cite financial reasons, lack of knowledge of the charities better explains low giving among most specific demographic groups. I discuss the implications of these results for public policy and nonprofit management. Classification-JEL : L3.. Nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, Spanish economy.

The Arts Economy in 20 Cities: Where Does Atlanta Stand?

The tremendous growth that Atlanta has experienced over the past decade has catapulted the city into a major metropolitan hub. Along with this growth, many issues have gained significance with regards to plans for the city's future direction of growth. One sector in particular that demands greater attention is the area of non-profit arts and art policy. The arts and culture have many perceived benefits for a community. The arts are commonly thought to improve a community's cultural life, revitalize urban areas, and while they also provide a base of support for artists and art organizations, may also ultimately stimulate economic growth. These benefits are thought to yield other desirable outcomes such as a safe and agreeable downtown, and an attractive site for business relocation.Unfortunately, non-profit regional arts in Atlanta have faced challenges in the areas of funding and audience development and there is anecdotal evidence that arts support is being provided by a relatively small segment of society. The Atlanta Arts Think Tank perceived that one appropriate way to validate the importance of these problems was to analyze data on Atlanta's regional performance, relative to other metropolitan peers.The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the factors that might explain the condition of arts organizations in the region. The study compares Atlanta to nineteen of its peers in an attempt to determine where and if Atlanta is falling short, and what can be learned from other communities

Individual Philanthropy Patterns in Metro Atlanta

This report responds to the question of what do Metro-Atlanta nonprofit leaders know about why individuals give to charity. Specifically, there are several questions that are fundamental to this initial study. They include:* Who is giving?* What motivates individuals to give?* How much is being given?* Where is the giving being directed?The study is an initial attempt commissioned by The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta to collect reliable baseline data on individual giving patterns in the Twenty-two County Atlanta region. The information is to be used for understanding the demographic characteristics of givers as well as their perceptions, beliefs, values, and attitudes about charitable giving, volunteering, charitable organizations, and the factors that motivate them to support nonprofit organizations. In addition, the data also provides insight into the types of information that are most useful to individuals when making their giving decisions, and direction about issues the nonprofit sector must address to increase giving and enhance its visibility and legitimacy

Private Philanthropy and the Economics of Public Radio

Public radio in the United States receives both direct and indirect government funding. Direct subsidies come in the form of lump-sum and matching grants, while indirect subsidies proceed from tax revenues foregone on deductible private donations. Each of these sources of government money impacts charitable giving to public radio. This paper estimates both of these effects, using data on a national sample of public radio stations in the United States from 1990-96. I find that public funding to stations has a positive impact on private giving, but this impact rapidly decreases as the level of government subsidies increases, ultimately becoming negative. The analysis also indicates that increases in state tax rates correspond with higher donation levels. This paper explores the implications of these and other findings for policymakers, public administrators, and nonprofit managers

Predicting the coefficient of thermal expansion for textile composites based on a unit cell approach

The study focuses on unit cell FE modelling to predict coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) for sheared fabric laminates. Shear, as a dominant deformation mode in textile composites forming, introduces high degrees of anisotropy in both elasticity and thermal expansion. The unit cell predictions are based on realistic fibre architecture and measured material properties of constituent fibre and resin. Under the multi-scale framework, the unit cell predictions are part of the essential input data for locally varied material definitions. These definitions are used to model structural components to predict shape distortion. The FE model gives predictions close to the experimental data, when the boundary conditions are correlated to the coupon size. Nesting is an influential factor for CTEs. For true material representation, in-plane periodicity and nesting have been considered

Predicting the coefficient of thermal expansion for textile composites based on a unit cell approach

The study focuses on unit cell FE modelling to predict coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) for sheared fabric laminates. Shear, as a dominant deformation mode in textile composites forming, introduces high degrees of anisotropy in both elasticity and thermal expansion. The unit cell predictions are based on realistic fibre architecture and measured material properties of constituent fibre and resin. Under the multi-scale framework, the unit cell predictions are part of the essential input data for locally varied material definitions. These definitions are used to model structural components to predict shape distortion. The FE model gives predictions close to the experimental data, when the boundary conditions are correlated to the coupon size. Nesting is an influential factor for CTEs. For true material representation, in-plane periodicity and nesting have been considered

Development of the corpus callosum and cognition after neonatal encephalopathy

Objective: Neonatal imaging studies report corpus callosum abnormalities after neonatal hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), but corpus callosum development and relation to cognition in childhood are unknown. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we examined the relationship between corpus callosum size, microstructure and cognitive and motor outcomes at early school-age children cooled for HIE (cases) without cerebral palsy compared to healthy, matched controls. A secondary aim was to examine the impact of HIE-related neonatal brain injury on corpus callosum size, microstructure and growth. Methods: Participants aged 6–8 years underwent MRI, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children Second Edition and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition. Cross-sectional area, volume, fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity of the corpus callosum and five subdivisions were measured. Multivariable regression was used to assess associations between total motor score, full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and imaging metrics. Results: Adjusting for age, sex and intracranial volume, cases (N = 40) compared to controls (N = 39) demonstrated reduced whole corpus callosum area (β = −26.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −53.17, −0.58), volume (β = −138.5, 95% CI = −267.54, −9.56), fractional anisotropy and increased radial diffusivity (P < 0.05) within segments II–V. In cases, segment V area (β = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.004, 0.35), volume (β = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.001, 0.079), whole corpus callosum fractional anisotropy (β = 13.8 95% CI = 0.6, 27.1) and radial diffusivity (β = −11.3, 95% CI = −22.22, −0.42) were associated with FSIQ. Growth of the corpus callosum was restricted in cases with a FSIQ ≤85, and volume was reduced in cases with mild neonatal multifocal injury compared to white matter injury alone. Interpretation: Following neonatal HIE, morphological and microstructural changes in the corpus callosum are associated with reduced cognitive function at early school age

Self-interest And Public Interest: The Motivations Of Political Actors

Self-Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics showed that the public, politicians, and bureaucrats are often public spirited. But this does not invalidate public-choice theory. Public-choice theory is an ideal type, not a claim that self-interest explains all political behavior. Instead, public-choice theory is useful in creating rules and institutions that guard against the worst case, which would be universal self-interestedness in politics. In contrast, the public-interest hypothesis is neither a comprehensive explanation of political behavior nor a sound basis for institutional design

Automated Assessment of Pavlovian Conditioned Freezing and Shock Reactivity in Mice Using the Video Freeze System

The Pavlovian conditioned freezing paradigm has become a prominent mouse and rat model of learning and memory, as well as of pathological fear. Due to its efficiency, reproducibility and well-defined neurobiology, the paradigm has become widely adopted in large-scale genetic and pharmacological screens. However, one major shortcoming of the use of freezing behavior has been that it has required the use of tedious hand scoring, or a variety of proprietary automated methods that are often poorly validated or difficult to obtain and implement. Here we report an extensive validation of the Video Freeze system in mice, a “turn-key” all-inclusive system for fear conditioning in small animals. Using digital video and near-infrared lighting, the system achieved outstanding performance in scoring both freezing and movement. Given the large-scale adoption of the conditioned freezing paradigm, we encourage similar validation of other automated systems for scoring freezing, or other behaviors

PREDICTING THE COEFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION FOR TEXTILE COMPOSITES BASED ON A UNIT CELL APPROACH

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Shape distortion of composite components is a common problem in composites manufacturing. The major cause of shape distortion is anisotropic thermal expansion, which would impact not only on the manufacturing process but also the in-service performanc