The disability employment gap in European countries: What is the role of labour market policy?

Across Europe, the labour market participation of persons with disabilities remains lower than that of persons without a disability. Our research examines this disability employment gap, looking specifically at its variation by country and gender. Additionally, we test the influence of labour market policies – testing both the social investment perspective and the welfare scepticism perspective – on the size of the gap, in an effort to determine whether a more generous welfare state raises or lowers the employment rate of people with disabilities. Using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), we show that Southern European countries have the smallest disability employment gap. Whereas stricter employment protection legislation is found to be beneficial for people with disabilities on the labour market, other labour market policies specifically intended to benefit this group do not strongly affect their chances on the labour market. These findings support the social investment perspective and show that social policies can have a positive effect on the employment of people with disabilities

On the Role of Penning Ionization in Photoassociation Spectroscopy

We study the role of Penning ionization on the photoassociation spectra of He(^3S)-He(^3S). The experimental setup is discussed and experimental results for different intensities of the probe laser are shown. For modelling the experimental results we consider coupled-channel calculations of the crossing of the ground state with the excited state at the Condon point. The coupled-channel calculations are first applied to model systems, where we consider two coupled channels without ionization, two coupled channels with ionization, and three coupled channels, for which only one of the excited states is ionizing. Finally, coupled-channel calculations are applied to photoassociation of He(^3S)-He(^3S) and good agreement is obtained between the model and the experimental results.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, submitted to the special issue on Cold Molecules of J. Phys.

Self-employment and satisfaction with life, work, and leisure

The aim of this study is to provide an explanation for the finding in earlier studies that the self-employed are, on average, more satisfied with their work than the paid employed are, although they are not more satisfied with their life in general. Fixed-effects regressions are performed with German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984–2012) to investigate how a labor market switch from paid employment to self-employment influences life, work, and leisure satisfaction. The results indicate that switching to self-employment benefits work satisfaction but not life satisfaction. The benefits for work satisfaction are pro- nounced and relatively persistent but accompany large and persistent decreases in leisure satisfaction. Life satisfaction for the switchers to self-employment is consequently on par with the life satisfaction of the non-switchers. Contrasting the switch to self- employment (out of paid employment) with the switch to paid employment (out of self- employment) shows that the detrimental effect on leisure satisfaction distinguishes a switch to self-employment from a switch to paid employment. In conclusion, the results explain why increases in life satisfaction are generally absent for individuals switching to self-employment and why undetermined evidence has been found in previous studies in terms of gains in life satisfaction.Coherent privaatrech

Crystal Engineering of Supramolecular 1,4-Benzene Bisamides by Side-Chain Modification : Towards Tuneable Anisotropic Morphologies and Surfaces

Benzene bisamides are promising building blocks for supramolecular nano‐objects. Their functionality depends on morphology and surface properties. However, a direct link between surface properties and molecular structure itself is missing for this material class. Here, we investigate this interplay for two series of 1,4‐benzene bisamides with symmetric and asymmetric peripheral substitution. We elucidated the crystal structures, determined the nano‐object morphologies and derived the wetting behaviour of the preferentially exposed surfaces. The crystal structures were solved by combining single‐crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction, solid‐state NMR spectroscopy and computational modelling. Bulky side groups, here t‐butyl groups, serve as a structure‐directing motif into a packing pattern, which favours the formation of thin platelets. The use of slim peripheral groups on both sides, in our case linear perfluorinated, alkyl chains, self‐assemble the benzene bisamides into a second packing pattern which leads to ribbon‐like nano‐objects. For both packing types, the preferentially exposed surfaces consist of the ends of the peripheral groups. Asymmetric substitution with bulky and slim groups leads to an ordered alternating arrangement of the groups exposed to the surface. This allows the hydrophobicity of the surfaces to be gradually altered. We thus identified two leitmotifs for molecular packings of benzene bisamides providing the missing link between the molecular structure, the anisotropic morphologies and adjustable surface properties of the supramolecular nano‐objects

An evaluation of interest deduction limitations to counter base erosion in South Africa

Background: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) made a number of recommendations in relation to interest deduction limitations as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. In 2016 the South African National Treasury indicated that the interest deduction limitations contained in the Income Tax Act would be reviewed in the light of these recommendations.   Aim: This paper aimed to describe funding structures of companies in South Africa liable for tax and how this relates to other characteristics, including ownership, of the companies.   Setting: The research was performed using data from tax returns submitted by companies liable for income tax in South Africa.   Methods: This paper reports on descriptive analyses of the research conducted.   Results: The results showed that the mean interest-to-earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) ratio for certain foreign-owned entities differed significantly from that of domestically owned entities.   Conclusion: The results may present evidence of profit-shifting activities. They also highlight trends in interest-to-EBITDA ratios that may be of relevance for future legislative developments. Further related research is required if interest deduction limitations in the South African tax legislation are to be reviewed in light of the OECD proposals

Graph Layouts by t‐SNE

We propose a new graph layout method based on a modification of the t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) dimensionality reduction technique. Although t-SNE is one of the best techniques for visualizing high-dimensional data as 2D scatterplots, t-SNE has not been used in the context of classical graph layout. We propose a new graph layout method, tsNET, based on representing a graph with a distance matrix, which together with a modified t-SNE cost function results in desirable layouts. We evaluate our method by a formal comparison with state-of-the-art methods, both visually and via established quality metrics on a comprehensive benchmark, containing real-world and synthetic graphs. As evidenced by the quality metrics and visual inspection, tsNET produces excellent layouts

Do Surgical Interventions Influence Psychosexual and Cosmetic Outcomes in Women with Disorders of Sex Development?

Clinical practice developed to promote psychosexual well-being in DSD is under scrutiny. Although techniques for genital surgery have much improved lately, long-term studies on psychosexual functioning and cosmetic outcome on which to base treatment and counseling are scarce. We studied 91 women with a DSD. Feminizing surgery was performed in 64% of the women; in 60% of them, resurgery in puberty was needed after a single-stage procedure. Both patients and gynecologists were satisfied with the cosmetic appearance of the genitalia. However, forty percent of these females experienced sexuality-related distress and 66% was at risk for developing a sexual dysfunction, whether they had surgery or not. Recognizing the difficulty of accurate assessment, our data indicate that feminizing surgery does not seem to improve nor hamper psychosexual outcome, especially in patients with severe virilization

A dedicated computer system for FM-CW radar applications, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2001, nr 4

In this paper, a DSP based computer system for FM-CW radar applications is described. Besides data acquisition and storage, the computer system will also be used for front-end data processing and system control. Processing includes filtering and clutter suppression. The radar for which the computer is designed is a multi parameter atmospheric profiler capable of doing Doppler and polarimetric measurements. The computer system will allow for a measurement of the full polarimetric scattering matrix over 512 range cells and 512 Doppler cells in 2 s. Radar system control includes the timing and the settings of the radar system together with linearity correction of the sweep oscillator