Addressing internet training issues for people with Parkinson's disease

The Internet enables access to information, services, support and participation in leisure opportunities. Some populations, including people with disabilities, lack access to these opportunities through the Internet. Barriers may include finances, physical access, lack of resources and inaccessible websites. Limited access to Internet training is an additional barrier for people with communication impairments. People with Parkinson's disease (PD) may have difficulty accessing usual Internet training due to high-level language, cognitive and physical limitations. Aphasia-friendly Internet training materials were trialed with this population to investigate if participants could learn to use the Internet and would benefit from Internet training. The tutors' experience was also investigated using qualitative measures. Seven people with PD were matched with volunteer tutors. These pairs met for six Internet training lessons using training materials available as a free download from: http://dexter.shrs.uq.edu.au/cdaru/aphasiagroups/. Pre and post-test Internet skills assessments and attitudinal questionnaires were conducted. Significant differences between pre and post-test scores were found. Participants reached varying levels of independence on Internet tasks. Favorable outcomes were reported by participants, and tutors reported a positive experience. Further investigation is recommended to determine the efficacy of this approach compared with other training avenues and with other communication-impaired populations. Practical and theoretical implications for speech pathology practice are discussed.

Finanças comportamentais: Diferenças da aversão à perda entre alunos de administração de empresas e gestão financeira

O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar aversão à perda dos estudantes do curso de administração de empresas e do curso de tecnologia em gestão financeira, usando a reprodução do trabalho desenvolvido por Kahneman e Tversky (1979). Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa em campo com estudantes em uma faculdade particular, localizada da cidade de São Paulo, onde pode ser aplicado o questionário no modelo original proposto pelos pesquisadores Kahneman e Tversky (1979) e através dos resultados obtidos, foi recriada a teoria dos prospectos e constatou que um grupo de estudantes tem uma aversão à perda menor. Neste trabalho, foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica sobre as principais mudanças na área financeira desde 1920 até atualidade, destacando a Teoria sobre Finanças Modernas, a Hipótese de Mercados Eficientes, Finanças Comportamentais, Heurísticas e Teoria do Prospecto. Os resultados apontam para a existência dos efeitos certeza, reflexo e isolamento. Foi possível confirmar a existência de um comportamento diferente para o grupo de estudantes de administração. Dentre as principais conclusões, os estudantes de administração, estão reagindo de forma diferente que os estudantes de gestão financeira. A formação dos respondentes mostrou-se um fator de diferenciação entre os dois grupos. Os alunos de administração tem uma base de estudos sobre finanças menor comparada com os estudantes de gestão financeira e uma base de estudos maior em outras áreas. Esse conhecimento mais abrangente na área financeira, não trouxe nenhum diferencial para os estudantes de gestão financeira, isso pode se dar por essa amostra ser basicamente de pessoas muito jovem que acabaram de sair do ensino médio e com pouca experiência e entendimento do mercado financeiro.

QUEM FINANCIA A BAIXARIA É CONTRA A CIDADANIA : Análise Da Campanha Pela Qualidade Da Televisão (2002 A 2006)

Esta dissertação descreve e analisa a Campanha Quem Financia a Baixaria é Contra a Cidadania , no período de 2002 a 2006. A pesquisa examina as estratégias da Campanha que tem por objetivo a valorização dos direitos humanos e a dignidade do cidadão nos programas de televisão. Observa sua forma de organização, mobilização social e influência na melhoria da qualidade da programação televisiva. Discute o papel do Estado e os limites da fiscalização. Investiga, ainda, a repercussão da Campanha nas ações dos poderes constituídos: Executivo, Legislativo e Judiciário. Trata-se de um Estudo de Caso de natureza qualitativa. As estratégias de comunicação e as ações da Campanha mobilizaram a sociedade civil, a mídia e o Ministério Público a favor da qualidade da programação. Patrocinadores foram convencidos a não associarem suas marcas a programas de qualidade duvidosa. Emissoras de televisão aberta foram punidas e até mesmo obrigadas a substituir programas de baixa qualidade por programas independentes selecionados pelo Coletivo Intervozes. Em cinco anos de atuação, a Campanha gerou quase 30 mil denúncias contra a baixaria na TV e provocou a mudança da Classificação Indicativa para programas de televisão com a edição da Portaria 264/07 do Ministério da Justiça, publicada no dia 12 de fevereiro de 2007. A nova Portaria estabelece regras mais rígidas para o setor, com critérios já adotados em outros países e vem provocando reações dos empresários de televisão. Finalmente, a pesquisa demonstrou a dificuldade de diálogo entre os diferentes setores da sociedade civil com os empresários de televisão e o Ministério das Comunicações. Revela, ainda, que o controle social da TV aberta é necessário para garantir a qualidade da programação na televisão e que a mobilização social, quando organizada, produz resultados em benefício do interesse público.(AU)

Do external funds yield lower returns? Recent evidence from East Asian economies

One of the central explanations of the recent Asian Crisis has been the problem of moral hazard as the source of over-investment and excessive external borrowing. There is however rather limited firm-level empirical evidence to characterise inefficient use of internal and external finances. Using a large firm-level panel data-set from four badly affected Asian countries, this paper compares the rates of return to various internal and external funds among firms with low and high debt financing (relative to equity) among financially constrained and other firms. Selectivity-corrected estimates obtained from random effects panel data model do suggest evidence of significantly lower rates of return to long-term debt, even among firms relying more on debt relative to equity in our sample. There is also evidence that average effective interest rates often significantly exceeded the average returns to long-term debt in the sample countries in the pre-crisis period. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A quick guide to surviving redundancy:your essential legal guide

What do you do if your boss calls you in to talk about job cuts? What are your rights? What are his or her rights? Do you know the procedures that should be followed? If redundancy looms, or you just want to be prepared for the worst,you need to know where you stand.Author Kathy Daniels is well placed to help. She writes and lectures extensively on human resources and employee rights, and as a member of the Employment Tribunal she regularly comes face-to-face with redundancy claims. In this easy-to-understand guide she answers all the important questions on redundancy and its aftermath, including: How are staff selected for redundancy? What is voluntary redundancy? Are full-time,part-time and agency staff treated differently? What is the consultation process bosses must adhere to? How much redundancy pay can you expect? How do you take a claim to the Employment Tribunal? As well as covering all the legal dos and don'ts, helpful guidance is provided on: Budgets and personal finances after redundancy Benefits you may be able to claim Coping with stress and strain Finding a new job or changing career The Quick Guide to Surviving Redundancy is full of real-life case studies and top tips on your employment rights. It also includes template letters for a range of redundancy situations.

Germany at a crossroads:the gathering crisis sharpens

In our book, The Gathering Crisis: The 2005 Federal Election and the Grand Coalition (Miskimmon et al, 2009), we argued that the German political and economic systems faced a number of serious challenges. The resource crunch in public finances has been particularly problematic in a country used to consensus politics- money had previously been used to oil the wheels of German federalism (and European integration). In the light of recent events- the global financial crisis, the Eurozone crisis, the 2009 federal election- we claim that the crisis in the German political economy has sharpened. The task of Angela Merkel and subsequent chancellors will be to navigate the new era, ensuring that Germany remains a leading political and economic power in the European Union and beyond. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

The CDU and party organisational change

This article undertakes an empirical analysis of the internal organisation of the CDU along four key dimensions. First, it discusses the model of the 'cartel party', identifying its key features and then setting out four key questions to pose in relation to the CDU's internal organisation, to see whether it approximates to the 'cartel' paradigm. The questions of whether a centralisation of power is visible; whether professionalisation has occurred; whether there has been the anticipated weakening in the power of party functionaries; and whether the CDU has become reliant upon state finances are then answered in the empirical section of the article, drawing upon the author's primary research. It concludes that the 'cartel party' thesis fails in significant respects accurately to reflect the CDU's modern organisation. This is of interest to scholars of the CDU, but also offers some insights on the way in which the cartel party thesis fails adequately to develop an accurate account of internal party organisational change, in particular underestimating the ability of internal actors to thwart reforms, and also the potential functional usefulness of a decentralised party organisation. © 2013 Association for the Study of German Politics.

Financial Education Through Mathematics and IT Curricula: Pocket Money Management

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2013

Developing Financial Expertise Through Mathematics and IT School Curricula

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2014

Assessing personal financial management in patients with bipolar disorder and its relation to impulsivity and response inhibition

Introduction: Impulsivity and risk-taking behaviours are reported in bipolar disorder (BD). We examined whether financial management skills are related to impulsivity in patients with BD. Methods: We assessed financial management skills using the Executive Personal Finance Scale (EPFS), impulsivity using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and response inhibition using an emotional go/no-go task in bipolar individuals (N = 21) and healthy controls (HC; N = 23). Results: Patients had fewer financial management skills and higher levels of impulsivity than HC. In patients and controls, increased impulsivity was associated with poorer personal financial management. Patients and HC performed equally on the emotional go/no-go task. Higher BIS scores were associated with faster reaction times in HC. In patients, however, higher BIS scores were associated with slower reaction times, possibly indicating compensatory cognitive strategies to counter increased impulsivity. Conclusions: Patients with BD may have reduced abilities to manage personal finances, when compared against healthy participants. Difficulty with personal finance management may arise in part as a result of increased levels of impulsivity. Patients may learn to compensate for increased impulsivity by modulating response times in our experimental situations although whether such compensatory strategies generalize to real-world situations is unknown.

Market reform and state paternalism in Hungary: a path-dependent approach

Hungary is one of the worst-hit countries of the current financial crisis in Central and Eastern Europe. The deteriorating economic performance of the country is, however, not a recent phenomenon. A relatively high ratio of redistribution, a high and persistent public deficit and accelerated indebtedness characterised the country not just in the last couple of years but also well before the transformation, which also continued in the postsocialist years. The gradualist success of the country – which dates back to at least 1968 – in the field of liberalisation, marketisation and privatisation was accompanied by a constant overspending in the general government. The paper attempts to explore the reasons behind policymakers’ impotence to reform public finances. By providing a path-dependent explanation, it argues that both communist and postcommunist governments used the general budget as a buffer to compensate losers of economic reforms, especially microeconomic restructuring. The ever-widening circle of net benefiters of welfare provisions paid from the general budget, however, has made it simply unrealistic to implement sizeable fiscal adjustment, putting the country onto a deteriorating path of economic development.

Market reform and fiscal laxity in Communist and post-Communist Hungary: A path-dependent approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework in order to analyse and understand the twin developments of successful microeconomic reform on the one hand and failed macroeconomic stabilisation attempts on the other hand in Hungary. The case study also attempts to explore the reasons why Hungarian policymakers were willing to initiate reforms in the micro sphere, but were reluctant to initiate major changes in public finances both before and after the regime change of 1989/1990. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies a path-dependent approach by carefully analysing Hungary's Communist and post-Communist economic development. The study restricts itself to a positive analysis but normative statements can also be drawn accordingly. Findings – The study demonstrates that the recent deteriorating economic performance of Hungary is not a recent phenomenon. By providing a path-dependent explanation, it argues that both Communist and post-Communist governments used the general budget as a buffer to compensate the losers of economic reforms, especially microeconomic restructuring. The gradualist success of the country – which dates back to at least 1968 – in the field of liberalisation, marketisation and privatisation was accompanied by a constant overspending in the general government. Practical implications – Hungary has been one of the worst-hit countries of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, not just in Central and Eastern Europe but in the whole world. The capacity and opportunity for strengthening international investors' confidence is, however, not without doubts. The current deterioration is deeply rooted in failed past macroeconomic management. The dissolution of fiscal laxity and state paternalism in a broader context requires, therefore, an all-encompassing reform of the general government, which may trigger serious challenges to the political regime as well. Originality/value – The study aims to show that a relatively high ratio of redistribution, a high and persistent public deficit and an accelerated indebtedness are not recent phenomena in Hungary. In fact, these trends characterised the country well before the transformation of 1989/1990, and have continued in the post-socialist years, too. To explain such a phenomenon, the study argues that in the last couple of decades the hardening of the budget constraint of firms have come at the cost of maintaining the soft budget constraint of the state.

Modeling the fiscal impacts caused by climate change

Aim of the paper: The purpose is to gather the practices and to model the impacts of climate change on fiscal spending and revenues, responsibilities and opportunities, balance and debt related to climate change (CC). Methodology of the paper: The methodology will distinguish fiscal cost of mitigation and adaptation, besides direct and indirect costs. It will also introduce cost benefit analyses to evaluate the propensity of policy makers for action or passivity. Several scenarios will be drafted to see the different outcomes. The scenarios shall contain the possible losses in the natural and artificial environment and resources. Impacts on public budget are based on damage of income opportunities and capital/wealth/natural assets. There will be a list of actions when the fiscal correction of market failures will be necessary. Findings: There will be a summary and synthesis of estimation models on CC impacts on public finances, and morals of existing/existed budgeting practices on mitigation. The model will be based on damages (and maybe benefits) from CC, adjusted with probabilities of scenarios and policy making propensity for action. Findings will cover the way of funding of fiscal costs. Practical use, value added: From the synthesis of model, the fiscal cost of mitigation and adaptation can be estimated for any developed, emerging and developing countries. The paper will try to reply, also, for the challenge how to harmonize fiscal and developmental sustainability.

Tax morale and tax evasion: Social preferences and bounded rationality

We study a family of models of tax evasion, where a flat-rate tax finances only the provision of public goods, neglecting audits and wage differences. We focus on the comparison of two modeling approaches. The first is based on optimizing agents, who are endowed with social preferences, their utility being the sum of private consumption and moral utility. The second approach involves agents acting according to simple heuristics. We find that while we encounter the traditionally shaped Laffer-curve in the optimizing model, the heuristics models exhibit (linearly) increasing Laffercurves. This difference is related to a peculiar type of behavior emerging within the heuristics based approach: a number of agents lurk in a moral state of limbo, alternating between altruism and selfishness.

Adómorál és adócsalás - társadalmi preferenciák és korlátozott racionalitás = Tax morale and tax system: social preferences and bounded rationality

Az adócsalásnak egy olyan modellcsaládját vizsgáljuk, ahol az egykulcsos adó kizárólag a közjavakat finanszírozza. Két megközelítés összehasonlítására összpontosítunk. Az elsőben minden dolgozó jövedelme azonos, és ebből minden évben annyit vall be, amennyi maximalizálja a nála maradó jövedelemből fedezhető fogyasztás nyújtotta hasznosság és a jövedelembevallásból fakadó hasznosság összegét. A második hasznosság három tényező szorzata: a dolgozó exogén adómorálja, a környezetében előző évben megfigyelt átlagos jövedelembevallás és saját bevallásából fakadó endogén hasznossága. A második megközelítésben az ágensek egyszerű heurisztikus szabályok szerint cselekszenek. Míg az optimalizáló modellben hagyományos Laffer-görbékkel találkozunk, addig a heurisztikán alapuló modellekben (lineárisan) növekvő Laffer-görbék jönnek létre. E különbség oka, hogy a heurisztikán alapuló modellben egy sajátos viselkedésfajta jelentkezik: számos ágens ingatag helyzetbe kerül, amelyben altruizmus és önzés között ingadozik. ________ The authors study a family of models of tax evasion, where a flat-rate tax only finances the provision of public goods and audits and wage differences are ne-glected. The paper focuses on comparing two modelling approaches. The first is based on optimizing agents, endowed with social preferences, their utility being the sum of private consumption and moral utility. The second approach involves agents acting according to simple heuristics. While the traditionally shaped Laffer curves are encountered in the optimizing model, the heuristics models exhibit (linearly) increasing Laffer curves. This difference is related to a peculiar type of behaviour: within the agent-based approach lurk a number of agents in a moral state of limbo, alternating between altruism and selfishness.