Financial Ratios, Size, Industry and Interest Rate Issues in Company Failure: An Extended Multidimensional Scaling Analysis

Three-way multidimensional scaling methods are used to study the differences between UK failed and continuing companies from 1993 to 2001. The technique allows for visual representations of the results, so that qualitative information can be brought to bear when judging the health of a company. It is shown that it is important to take into account company size and area of activity. Results also suggest that the ratio structure of the companies varies between years in response to changes in the interest rates, suggesting that the frontier between failing and continuing firms moves in response to the economic cycle

Microfinance institutions and efficiency

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are special financial institutions. They have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency.Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take a methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications; e.g., particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way we are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organization (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MFI

Missed appointments at a NHS dental practice

Missed appointments create many problems in dental practices, as those patients who fail to turn up deprive other patients of an opportunity for treatment. This paper reports on a study of failures to attend appointments without giving advance notice in a NHS practice in the UK. A sample of 588 patients is analysed using Logit and Distribution Mixtures in order to devise policies to improve no-show rates. It is shown that a policy based on de-registration of patients who fail to attend an appointment would be justified on statistical grounds and would work in the long run, but that such policy would not improve things in the short run and can make them worse. The paper also discusses emergency treatment and workload at the practice

Optimal scaling and contingency tables reveal the mismatch between patients’ attitude and perception towards their asthma medications and complaints during the I-MUR service provision

Asthma prevalence is increasing and the economic loss due to lack of asthma control is €72 billion in EU 28. Pharmacists have a role to play, and a bespoke novel pharmacist-led intervention for asthma patients, called Italian Medicines Use Review (I-MUR), has shown both effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. The I-MUR intervention enables asthma patients to optimise the effect of their medications. This study aimed at assessing the mismatch between patients’ attitude-perception towards their medications and their complaints during the I-MUR service provision. The I-MUR was provided in four different Italian locations; data were collected and analysed using descriptive statistics, optimal scaling and contingency tables. The number of pharmacists and asthma patients involved in the study was 74 and 895 respectively. The majority of patients (72%) did not believe that they had problems with their medications, 78% confirmed that they had full knowledge and understanding of their medications, 75% said that their medications were working and 45% confirmed that they missed a dose. The number of patients who raised complaints was 683 (76%) and the number of complaints raised by each patient ranged between 1 to 5. Only 18% of the patient population reporter having neither medicine-related problems nor asthma-related complaints. The use of optimal scaling and contingency tables unveiled the mismatch between patients’ attitude-perception towards their medicines and the type and number of complaints raised by them during the I-MUR service provision

Eficiencia en instituciones de microfinanzas

Microfinance Institution (MFIs) are special financial institutions. The have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency. Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications: e.g. particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organizations (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MF

Clashing institutional interests in skills between government and industry: An analysis of demand for technical and soft skills of graduates in the UK

Technological knowledge and skills provide a basis for developing national competitiveness. However, there is an emerging clash of interests in the UK labour market between employers and policy makers. The former requests highly skilled workers who often jealously train in house for their specific operations while the latter aims to reduce unemployment through the expansion of vocational training to lower skilled workers. Universities need to find their strategic position in the knowledge economy characterised by radical technological change and shifting occupational structure by meeting the future skills demand while balancing between the clashing institutional interests. This study analyses 510 job advertisements in the supply chain management area, using a combination of OMDS and HCA techniques. The advertisements are categorised by means of six dimensions according to the skills, duties and job type. This study analyses not only employers' needs in skill types according to job roles but also emerging institutional clashes in the job market and their implications for skills training policy and curriculum development

Effectiveness of Manualised Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Children with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently present a defi cit in interpersonal and social problem solving skills. The Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills Programme for Children (SCIChildren) comprises 10 weekly, one hour sessions working on interpersonal abilities from a mediation strategy for training purposes. Method: The fi rst study explores the effectiveness of training through pre- and post-treatment evaluations of a sample of 22 children with ASD (7-13 years of age). The second study replicates the programme with 15 children who were assessed three times (three months before the programme starts, at the beginning of the training and at the end of it). Results: In the fi rst study, signifi cant differences were found in outcome measures (a parent-report subscale of a socialisation measure and child performance on one subscale and total scores of an interpersonal problem-solving skills task). Results in the second study showed no signifi cant changes in absence of the treatment during the waiting period and signifi cant changes after the treatment in the socialisation measure. Conclusions: These fi ndings suggest that the SCI-Children program causes positive impact on the participants. Further evaluation is warranted.post-print320 K

Buscando el procedimiento heurístico más adecuado para resolver un ejemplar concreto de un problema de optimización combinatoria, utilizando técnicas estadísticas

Para resolver un ejemplar concreto de un problema de optimización combinatoria determinado se pueden utilizar algoritmos heurísticos. Cuando se dispone de varios, se debería determinar cuál de todos es el procedimiento heurístico que proporciona la mejor solución posible para aplicarlo. Una posibilidad consiste en ejecutar todos los procedimientos heurísticos diseñados y conservar la mejor solución obtenida, pero, aunque dichos algoritmos de caracterizan por ser “rápidos”, en alguna ocasión, y en condiciones industriales, el tiempo de cálculo disponible es limitado lo cual imposibilita dicha estrategia de resolución. Se proponen técnicas estadísticas que, dado un ejemplar concreto de un problema de optimización combinatoria determinado, intentan identificar cuál es el algoritmo heurístico más adecuado para su resolución: se trata de identificar loa parámetros característicos de un problema y en que forma se relacionan con la mejor solución heurística, para, de esta forma, asociar, a cada ejemplar, la heurística con la que solucionarlo. Las técnicas ensayadas son probadas con el problema flow-shop permutativo y el de equilibrado en líneas de montaje. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que dichas técnicas no proporcionan los resultados esperados y que es necesario seguir investigando

Impact of Prematurity and Severe Viral Bronchiolitis on Asthma Development at 6-9 Years.

Premature birth is associated with increased susceptibility for viral infections and chronic airway morbidity. Preterm children, even moderate and late, may be at risk for short- and long-term respiratory morbidities. Our main goal was to compare the burden of two conditions, severe bronchiolitis and prematurity (early and moderate-late), on asthma development at 6-9 years. A retrospective cohort of all preterm (<37weeks gestational age) and full-term children hospitalized for bronchiolitis, with current age between 6 and 9 years, was created. A second cohort was made up of preterm children, without admission for bronchiolitis, randomly chosen from the hospital premature births database. Prevalence and risk factors for asthma were analysed. Parents completed the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Questionnaire for asthma symptoms for children 6-7 years. Lung function and aeroallergen sensitization were evaluated. Of the 480 selected children, 399 could be contacted and agreed to participate: 133 preterm and 114 full-term cases with admission for bronchiolitis and 146 preterm control children without admission for bronchiolitis. The frequency of current asthma at 6-9 years was higher in preterm cases (27%) compared with full-term-cases (15%) and preterm controls (14%) (p=0.04). Among hospitalized-bronchiolitis children, prematurity (p=0.04), rhinovirus infection (p=0.03), viral coinfection (p=0.04) and paternal asthma (p=0.003) were risk factors for asthma at 6-9 years. Among premature children, with and without bronchiolitis admission, the risk factors for asthma at 6-9 years were admission for bronchiolitis (p=0.03) and aeroallergen sensitisation (p=0.01). Moderate and late preterm children without admission for bronchiolitis showed similar prevalence of current asthma than full-term ones, previously admitted for bronchiolitis. Preterm birth is an important early life risk factor for asthma in childhood. The addition of other risk factors, such as severe bronchiolitis, especially by rhinovirus or viral coinfections, are associated with even higher risk for subsequent asthma.FIS (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias) Este estudio ha sido financiado por FIS (Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias) Becas Nº: PI15CIII / 00028, PI18CIII / 00009.S

Mercados laborales internos en la compañía ferroviaria MZA, 1882-1889

En este estudio se analiza la posible existencia de alguna forma incipiente de Mercados Laborales Internos (MLIs) en la compañía ferroviaria MZA, en los comienzos de la segunda revolución industrial. Para ello se aplican los métodos no lineales de Escalado Óptimo. Tal como predice la teoría, los resultados muestran dos rasgos característicos del funcionamiento de dichos mercados: la existencia de «puertos de entrada» de los trabajadores en la compañía para niveles bajos de cualificación profesional y el establecimiento de relaciones laborales en el largo plazo. Por tanto, análogamente a los resultados que presentan recientes estudios sobre empresas ferroviarias del Reino Unido, puede concluirse que en España la compañía MZA ya operaba con una estructura de MLIs antes del siglo XX.The possible existence of Internal Labour Markets (ILMs) in the Spanish railway company MZA at the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution is explored by means of non-linear Optimal Scaling techniques. The results show the presence of two characteristics of ILMs predicted by the theory: the existence of «ports of entry» for the employees of the company at low levels of qualification, and the presence of long-term labour relations. Thus, in common with recent studies on UK railway companies, we conclude that the company MZA operated some kind of ILM before the start of the 20th Century.El desarrollo de esta investigación ha sido posible gracias a becas y convenios de movilidad entre la Universidad de La Rioja y Ja Kent Business School.Publicad