Culture Changing: A Development and Empirical Exploration in the Greek Tax Administration

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to empirically explore for developing a cultural change intervention for an Empowered Organization Audit in Greek Tax Administration. By using modern theoretical and empirical approaches we examine the Empowering Organization Audit as directly affected by the prevailing management culture. This paper surveys issues related to Empowerment functions, by the following best practices to develop the full employee potential to their employees. Organizational Culture, Clear Vision, Wording the Values, Teamwork, Role of Management-Leadership, Transition the Power and Responsibility, Sharing information, Continuing Education and Training, Rewards Systems, Setting objectives. The findings of this study offer methods and procedures that can contribute a basis line for developing a culture change intervention for Empowering Organization Audit in the Greek Tax Administration and aims to changing employee's behavior

The interplay of wind and uplift facilitates over-water flight in facultative soaring birds.

Flying over the open sea is energetically costly for terrestrial birds. Despite this, over-water journeys of many birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, are uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions, specifically wind and uplift, in subsidizing over-water flight at a global scale. We first established that ΔT, the temperature difference between sea surface and air, is a meaningful proxy for uplift over water. Using this proxy, we showed that the spatio-temporal patterns of sea-crossing in terrestrial migratory birds are associated with favourable uplift conditions. We then analysed route selection over the open sea for five facultative soaring species, representative of all major migratory flyways. The birds maximized wind support when selecting their sea-crossing routes and selected greater uplift when suitable wind support was available. They also preferred routes with low long-term uncertainty in wind conditions. Our findings suggest that, in addition to wind, uplift may play a key role in the energy seascape for bird migration that in turn determines strategies and associated costs for birds crossing ecological barriers such as the open sea

Identification of the Biotransformation Products of 2-Ethylhexyl 4-(N,N-Dimethylamino)benzoate

Nowadays, 2-ethylhexyl 4-(N,N-dimethylamino)benzoate (EDP) is one of the most widely used UV filters in sunscreen cosmetics and other cosmetic products. However, undesirable processes such as percutaneous absorption and biological activity have been attributed to this compound. The in vitro metabolism of EDP was elucidated in the present work. First of all, the phase I biotransformation was studied in rat liver microsomes and two metabolites, N,N-dimethyl-p-aminobenzoic acid (DMP) and N-monomethyl-p-aminobenzoic acid (MMP), were identified by GC-MS analysis. Secondly, the phase II metabolism was investigated by means of LC-MS. The investigated reactions were acetylation and glucuronidation working with rat liver cytosol and with both human and rat liver microsomes, respectively. Analogue studies with p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) were carried out in order to compare the well established metabolic pathway of PABA with the unknown biotransformation of EDP. In addition, a method for the determination of EDP and its two phase I metabolites in human urine was developed. The methodology requires a solid-phase extraction prior to LC-MS analysis. The method is based on standard addition quantification and has been fully validated. The repeatability of the method, expressed as relative standard deviation, was in the range 3.4–7.4% and the limit of detection for all quantified analytes was in the low ng mL−1 range

Data envelopment analysis in financial services: a citations network analysis of banks, insurance companies and money market funds

Development and application of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, have been the subject of numerous reviews. In this paper, we consider the papers that apply DEA methods specifically to financial services, or which use financial services data to experiment with a newly introduced DEA model. We examine 620 papers published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database, from 1985 to April 2016. We analyse the sample applying citations network analysis. This paper investigates the DEA method and its applications in financial services. We analyse the diffusion of DEA in three sub-samples: (1) banking groups, (2) money market funds, and (3) insurance groups by identifying the main paths, that is, the main flows of the ideas underlying each area of research. This allows us to highlight the main approaches, models and efficiency types used in each research areas. No unique methodological preference emerges within these areas. Innovations in the DEA methodologies (network models, slacks based models, directional distance models and Nash bargaining game) clearly dominate recent research. For each subsample, we describe the geographical distribution of these studies, and provide some basic statistics related to the most active journals and scholars

Field Studies Reveal Strong Postmating Isolation between Ecologically Divergent Butterfly Populations

A mismatch between hybrid butterflies and their ecological environment restricts gene flow between populations that feed on different host plants, highlighting the potential importance of a seldom-studied mechanism of reproductive isolation

The evolution of reproductive isolation in a simultaneous hermaphrodite, the freshwater snail Physa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cosmopolitan freshwater snail <it>Physa acuta </it>has recently found widespread use as a model organism for the study of mating systems and reproductive allocation. Mitochondrial DNA phylogenies suggest that <it>Physa carolinae</it>, recently described from the American southeast, is a sister species of <it>P. acuta</it>. The divergence of the <it>acuta/carolinae </it>ancestor from the more widespread <it>P. pomilia </it>appears to be somewhat older, and the split between a hypothetical <it>acuta/carolinae/pomilia </it>ancestor and <it>P. gyrina </it>appears older still.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we report the results of no-choice mating experiments yielding no evidence of hybridization between <it>gyrina </it>and any of four other populations (<it>pomilia, carolinae</it>, Philadelphia <it>acuta</it>, or Charleston <it>acuta</it>), nor between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>carolinae</it>. Crosses between <it>pomilia </it>and both <it>acuta </it>populations yielded sterile F1 progeny with reduced viability, while crosses between <it>carolinae </it>and both <it>acuta </it>populations yielded sterile F1 hybrids of normal viability. A set of mate-choice tests also revealed significant sexual isolation between <it>gyrina </it>and all four of our other <it>Physa </it>populations, between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>carolinae</it>, and between <it>pomilia </it>and Charleston <it>acuta</it>, but not between <it>pomilia </it>and the <it>acuta </it>population from Philadelphia, nor between <it>carolinae </it>and either <it>acuta </it>population. These observations are consistent with the origin of hybrid sterility prior to hybrid inviability, and a hypothesis that speciation between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>acuta </it>may have been reinforced by selection for prezygotic reproductive isolation in sympatry.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We propose a two-factor model for the evolution of postzygotic reproductive incompatibility in this set of five <it>Physa </it>populations consistent with the Dobzhansky-Muller model of speciation, and a second two-factor model for the evolution of sexual incompatibility. Under these models, species trees may be said to correspond with gene trees in American populations of the freshwater snail, <it>Physa</it>.</p

Temporal changes in the epidemiology, management, and outcome from acute respiratory distress syndrome in European intensive care units: a comparison of two large cohorts

Background: Mortality rates for patients with ARDS remain high. We assessed temporal changes in the epidemiology and management of ARDS patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation in European ICUs. We also investigated the association between ventilatory settings and outcome in these patients. Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of two cohorts of adult ICU patients admitted between May 1–15, 2002 (SOAP study, n = 3147), and May 8–18, 2012 (ICON audit, n = 4601 admitted to ICUs in the same 24 countries as the SOAP study). ARDS was defined retrospectively using the Berlin definitions. Values of tidal volume, PEEP, plateau pressure, and FiO2 corresponding to the most abnormal value of arterial PO2 were recorded prospectively every 24&nbsp;h. In both studies, patients were followed for outcome until death, hospital discharge or for 60&nbsp;days. Results: The frequency of ARDS requiring mechanical ventilation during the ICU stay was similar in SOAP and ICON (327[10.4%] vs. 494[10.7%], p = 0.793). The diagnosis of ARDS was established at a median of 3 (IQ: 1–7) days after admission in SOAP and 2 (1–6) days in ICON. Within 24&nbsp;h of diagnosis, ARDS was mild in 244 (29.7%), moderate in 388 (47.3%), and severe in 189 (23.0%) patients. In patients with ARDS, tidal volumes were lower in the later (ICON) than in the earlier (SOAP) cohort. Plateau and driving pressures were also lower in ICON than in SOAP. ICU (134[41.1%] vs 179[36.9%]) and hospital (151[46.2%] vs 212[44.4%]) mortality rates in patients with ARDS were similar in SOAP and ICON. High plateau pressure (&gt; 29 cmH2O) and driving pressure (&gt; 14 cmH2O) on the first day of mechanical ventilation but not tidal volume (&gt; 8&nbsp;ml/kg predicted body weight [PBW]) were independently associated with a higher risk of in-hospital death. Conclusion: The frequency of and outcome from ARDS remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2012. Plateau pressure &gt; 29 cmH2O and driving pressure &gt; 14 cmH2O on the first day of mechanical ventilation but not tidal volume &gt; 8&nbsp;ml/kg PBW were independently associated with a higher risk of death. These data highlight the continued burden of ARDS and provide hypothesis-generating data for the design of future studies