Compliance Index Research Articles

Analysis of Tax Compliance Determinants and Property Owners Socio-Economic Profile in Benin

Implementing efficient tax policy remains a central concern to leaders. Consequently, this article seeks to analyse the determinants of property tax compliance in Benin to ultimately establish the socio-economic profile of property owners. To achieve this, the article first regresses the partial proportional odds model to identify conditional and inf luential factors to taxpayers’ compliance. This is followed by an exploratory multiple component analysis to build a property tax compliance index to establish a socio-economic profile of property owners. The results from a representative sample of 4 575 individuals have shown that in the presence of factors that measure political and social inf luences, the probability that a taxpayer has good tax morale is estimated at 71,978 per cent. The property tax compliance index value sits at 3,076, confirming that Beninese property owners are mostly non-compliant. It was deduced from these results that the typical Beninese taxpayer is a “social taxpayer” strongly inf luenced by social norms. To improve the level of property tax compliance, the tax administrations of developing countries in general and that of Benin in particular, must implement a tax policy based on taxpayers’ profiles. Further studies on the determination of the optimal property tax rate are essential in order to quantitatively assess the extent to which mobilisation performance can be enhanced by taking taxpayers’ profiles into consideration.

Modelo para Avaliação do Sistema de Gestão Integrado de Qualidade, Meio Ambiente, Saúde e Segurança do Trabalho em Empresa de Apoio Marítimo

Companies which have an Integrated Management System for Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) certified in international standards have a differential in the market. The trend towards integrating management systems is increasingly evident, as companies are experiencing commercial, ethical and regulatory pressures to control and reduce the risks of their activities in order to meet the needs of the stakeholders. In this context, this paper aims to present a method for assessment the QHSE Integrated Management System applied in a maritime support company,and which results in a compliance index that can be used as a diagnosis for certification integrated in the standards ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 14001: 2015 and ISO 45001: 2018. The research is classified as interpretative, exploratory and as a case study. The methodology includes documentary research, checklist, and data analysis. The result of the application of this model proved that compliance with the requirements of these standards is essential to obtain QHSE high performance, especially the leadership commitment and the participation of employees. This model can support the High Administration in decision making regarding the degree of prioritization of the proposed actions to comply with the requirements of these standards.

393 Long-term prognostic value of haemodynamic determinants of right ventricular pulsatile afterload in patients with advanced heart failure

Abstract Aims Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction demonstrated a strong impact on survival of patients with advanced heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Increased RV afterload is associated with poor prognosis in patients with HF. To examine the prognostic relevance of RV pulsatile afterload parameters, in particular pulmonary artery compliance (PAC), elastance (PAE), and pulsatile index (PAPi) in a large cohort of patients with advanced HFrEF evaluated for heart transplantation (HT). Methods and results 149 patients with HFrEF enlisted for HT were evaluated with right heart catheterization (RHT) and echocardiography and were followed until death or any censoring events including HT, left ventricular assist device (LVAD), and hospitalization for acute heart failure (HHF). Cox regression and ROC-curve analysis were used to test the prognostic value of RV pulsatile afterload determinants. During a mean observation time of 500 ± 424 days, the primary endpoint occurred in 29 (19.5%) patients. The mean age was 56.6 ± 10.1 years and 85.2% were male. The most frequent etiology of HF was ischaemic cardiomyopathy (52.3%). Mean LV ejection fraction was 25.7 ± 10.2%. Patients who met the primary endpoint were significantly older and with worse haemodynamic profile than event-free survivors. In particular, the primary endpoint occurred in patients with lower PAC (1.8 ± 0.8 vs. 2.7 ± 2.0, P = 0.01), higher mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) (33.5 ± 11.3 vs. 29.3 ± 11.0, P = 0.05), PVR (3.0 ± 1.6 vs. 2.6 ± 2.0, P = 0.09), and PEA (1.12 ± 0.5 vs. 0.98 ± 0.6, P = 0.04). A significant increased risk of adverse outcome was observed in patients with PAC <1.9 ml/mmHg (HR: 3, 95% CI: 1.3–6, P = 0.007), PEA > 0.9 mmHg/ml (HR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1–5.2, P = 0.02) and mPAP ≥25 mmHg (HR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.0–7.5, P = 0.03). The predictive value of PAC was superior compared with PVR (AUC comparison, P = 0.019) and PAPi (P = 0.03). Conversely, PAC presented similar prognostic accuracy compared with mPAP (P = 0.51) and PEA (P = 0.19). Moreover, PAC demonstrated incremental prognostic value compared with the cardiac index (P = 0.02), whereas mPAP and PAE did not. Conclusions Impaired haemodynamic RV parameters are associated with worse survival in patients with advanced HFrEF. Pulsatile RV afterload indices should be considered in the evaluation of patients enlisted for HT. PAC demonstrated an independent prognostic value in this highly selected cohort of patients awaiting HT.

Feasibility and effectiveness of prone position ventilation technique for postoperative acute lung injury in infants with congenital heart disease: study protocol for a prospective randomized study

BackgroundProne position ventilation is a widely used lung protection ventilation strategy. The strategy is more convenient to implement in children compared to adults. Due to the precise mechanism of improving oxygenation function, development of pediatric prone ventilation technology has been largely focused on children with acute respiratory distress syndrome. There is a paucity of high-quality studies investigating the effects of prone position ventilation after pediatric cardiac surgery. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of prone position ventilation in infants who develop postoperative acute lung injury after surgery for congenital heart disease.MethodsA single-center, randomized controlled trial of pediatric patients with acute lung injury after surgery for congenital heart disease who will receive prone position ventilation or usual care (control group). A total of 68 children will be enrolled according to the inclusion criteria. The main outcome measures will be lung compliance and oxygenation index. The secondary outcomes will be duration of mechanical ventilation, length of stay in cardiac intensive care unit, reintubation rate, and complication rate.DiscussionThis study will investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of prone position ventilation techniques in children who develop postoperative acute lung injury after surgery for congenital heart disease. The results may help inform strategies to improve airway management after surgery for congenital heart disease.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04607993. Initially registered on 29 October 2020.

Running away from the jab: factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Brazil

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE:To investigate how sociodemographic conditions, political factors, organizational confidence, and non-pharmaceutical interventions compliance affect the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Brazil.METHODS:Data collection took place between November 25th, 2020 and January 11th, 2021 using a nationwide online survey. Subsequently, the researches performed a descriptive analysis on the main variables and used logistic regression models to investigate the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.RESULTS:Less concern over vaccine side effects could improve the willingness to be vaccinated (probability changed by 7.7 pp; p < 0.10). The current vaccine distrust espoused by the Brazilian president is associated with vaccine hesitancy, among his voter base. Lower performance perception (“Very Bad” with 10.7 pp; p < 0.01) or higher political opposition (left-oriented) regarding the current presidency is associated with the willingness to be vaccinated. Higher compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) is usually positively associated with the willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine (+1 score to NPI compliance index is associated with higher willingness to be vaccinated by 1.4 pp, p < 0.05).CONCLUSION:Willingness to be vaccinated is strongly associated with political leaning, perceived federal government performance, vaccine side effects, and compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

Structural robustness of life satisfaction scale of pre-service teachers in Nigeria

This paper investigated the structural robustness of the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS) among Nigerian Pre-service Teachers. The study anchors on scale development research type of non-experimental design. Participants were selected randomly, totaling 509. The adopted instrument titled satisfaction with life scale with content validity index of 0.84 and ordinal alpha reliability of (α=0.75) aided in gathering data for the study. Obtained data were analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and concurrent validity (that is equating with Rosenberg Self Esteem scale), respectively. The results showed that a single trait was evident in the scale, with Eigenvalues of 2.41, 0.97, 0.64, 0.53, and 0.44. Also, the CFA indicated a good fit to the data with compliance indices. A significant positive correlation of the LSS with the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (r=0.83, P&lt;0.05) indicated acceptable concurrent validity. Similarly, LSS maintains its strict invariance regarding gender. The authors concluded that there was psychometric confirmation for a unitary structure of LSS in Nigeria, and since the two scales produced high correlations, the validity of LSS is referred to as concurrent. Therefore, it was recommended that LSS be used to complement scales that emphasise emotional well-being since it accesses an individual’s conscious evaluative judgment of his or her life using personal criteria.

A Non-invasive Radial Arterial Compliance Measuring Method using Bio-Impedance.

Arterial compliance is one of the essential indicators of certain types of cardiovascular disease, with both systematic and local compliance exhibiting significance. Radial arterial compliance (RAC) has been regarded as an important type of local compliance in several long-term pathophysiological studies. Bio-Impedance (Bio-Z) is a non-invasive signal which can be used to unobtrusively monitor blood volume changes, captured using wearable sensors. In this paper, a compliance monitoring technique based on Bio-Z is proposed for long-term RAC measurements. Both the distensibility-blood pressure (BP) relation and compliance-mean artery pressure relation are analyzed to observe interparticipant compliance variations from four healthy participants, by controlling the blood flow in a way similar to the oscillometric method for BP measurement. A Bio-Z based compliance index (DBZI) is proposed that can be leveraged for continuous and unobtrusive sensing paradigms. A consecutive seven-day experiment shows that the mean and standard deviation values of the difference between the median value of the Bio-Z based beat-by-beat calculated compliance and DBZI are 0.17 and 0.20 mOhm/mmHg, respectively. This demonstrates the consistency and repeatability of the measurements. The results show that DBZI can track the Bio-Z based compliance with an error of 9.72% and 11.67%, compared to a gold standard, in terms of mean and standard deviation, respectively.

Modeling and Spatiotemporal Mapping of Water Quality through Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of the Hassan Addakhil Dam

With its high water potential, the Ziz basin is one of the most important basins in Morocco. This paper aims to develop a methodology for spatiotemporal monitoring of the water quality of the Hassan Addakhil dam using remote sensing techniques combined with a modeling approach. Firstly, several models were established for the different water quality parameters (nitrate, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a) by combining field and satellite data. In a second step, the calibration and validation of the selected models were performed based on the following statistical parameters: compliance index R2, the root mean square error and p-value. Finally, the satellite data were used to carry out spatiotemporal monitoring of the water quality. The field results show excellent quality for most of the samples. In terms of the modeling approach, the selected models for the three parameters (nitrate, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a) have shown a good correlation between the measured and estimated values with compliance index values of 0.62, 0.56 and 0.58 and root mean square error values of 0.16 mg/L, 0.65 mg/L and 0.07 µg/L for nitrate, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll a, respectively. After the calibration, the validation and the selection of the models, the spatiotemporal variation of water quality was determined thanks to the multitemporal satellite data. The results show that this approach is an effective and valid methodology for the modeling and spatiotemporal mapping of water quality in the reservoir of the Hassan Addakhil dam. It can also provide valuable support for decision-makers in water quality monitoring as it can be applied to other regions with similar conditions.

Compliance level with IFRS disclosure requirements across 12 African countries: do enforcement mechanisms matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of enforcement, and more particularly government quality and the stock market development, on compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) disclosure requirements in 12 African countries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a self-constructed compliance index from content analysis and apply panel regressions for a sample of 606 firm-year observations during the period 2012 to 2014.FindingsThis analysis illustrates a high level of disparity of information provided by companies, possibly due to the complexity of the selected standards and the depth of information required. The findings reveal that government quality and stock market development have a positive and significant effect on compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in Africa. This implies that enforcement plays a key role in improving the compliance level across African countries.Practical implicationsThese findings should be of interest to government policymakers, professional bodies, regulators and standard setters who are concerned with compliance and financial reporting transparency at a country level. It should be a signal to call for more effort to strengthen the enforcement of accounting standards and capital market supervision by putting in place some disciplinary actions for non-compliance with IFRS. The authors also believe that the results may help African policymakers and regulators enhance the level of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements by enforcing accounting standards.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the compliance literature by investigating the effect of enforcement on compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in the African countries, an understudied context where enforcement is a challenge.

Health and Safety Compliance Index Optimization using Binomial Motivated Taguchi Method and Multicriteria Selection

Previous research has examined how the safety conformity of a bottling process plant may be analysed from the lens of machine guarding usage by operators. To advance knowledge, this study pioneers how to optimize safety conformity for all operations using binomial motivated Taguchi method. Secondly, for the first time, this study analyzes the performance of segments in safety conformity of bottling plant segments using multicriteria methods. Development of binomial motivated Taguchi method includes data gathering, calculating the binomial distribution, determining levels and factors, orthogonal arrays, and the signal-to-noise ratios. Computations are made of optimal, global and specific parametric settings. The multicriteria models used entropy for weight determination and indices were obtained for 12 evaluation periods. The optimal parametric setting is obtained as A3HT-A2S-A2O-A3C1, which is -1.92E+02 for segment 1, 1.29E-01 for segment 2, -1.15E+02 for segment 3 and -1.52E+02 for segments 4 and 5. The specific optimized values (SOVs) of workers shows that SOV (segment 2) &gt; SOV (segment 3) &gt; SOV (segment 1) &gt; SOV (segments 4 and 5). The best performing operations in the five segments are the rescuers (segment 1), technical operators and packer/unpacker operators (segment 2), sugar lifters (segment 3), forklift technicians (segment 4) and contractor 3 (segment 5). The binomial motivated Taguchi method is an effective tool to optimize operational activities while the multicriteria models proved effective to rank performance for optimized results. The obtained results may be useful to plan for safety budgets.

Global Management Accounting Principles: Relationship between Management Practices and the Performance of Brazilian Companies

Abstract Purpose: Economic changes related to organizational structures and new business models require a new positioning of management accounting. The Global Management Accounting Principles (GMAP), as a guide to good practice, play the role of assisting organizations in creating better frameworks to support their decisions. The objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between the GMAP and the performance of Brazilian companies, from both an operational and an economic perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The final sample comprised 342 companies listed on the B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcao) exchange, from 2010 to 2016. The methodology used to answer the research problem consisted of constructing an index of compliance with the recommendations proposed by the GMAP and observing the impacts of good management accounting practices on organizational performance, which was estimated according to operational and economic aspects. Findings: It was observed that the adopted management practices positively affect market performance and future growth expectations. This is already presumed by the CGMA proposal and the management literature, since management practices are routines incorporated into the organizational identity of companies and are reflected in better long-term results. Research Practical & Social implications: Considering the results obtained, the study contributes to the proposal presented by the CGMA, by reinforcing the role that management accounting plays in companies’ decision making, and how it is a relevant element for the future performance of organizations. In addition, it contributes to the market by presenting a structure focused specifically on controlling and management decisions, to assist in choosing tools that have a positive impact on results.

Analysis of patients’ access to reimbursed biotechnological medicines for multiple sclerosis in Bulgaria and Greece

ABSTRACT Objective The goal is to perform a comparative analysis of multiple sclerosis patients’ access to medicines in Bulgaria and Greece. Materials and methods A comparative analysis of pharmaceutical legislation of Bulgaria and Greece focusing on medicines for multiple sclerosis (MS) was performed. Patients’ access to therapy is assessed through the guideline compliance index (GCI) and availability index. Results The procedures for marketing authorization, pricing and reimbursement, and inclusion of medicines in the positive drug list (PDL) are identical in both European Union member states. Almost all MS medicines authorized for sale in the European Union are included in the Bulgarian and Greek PDL. In both PDLs are included medicines from different groups: immunostimulants, other immunostimulants, immunosuppressors, selective immunosuppressors, and other immunosuppressors. All medicines are fully paid by the health insurance funds in both countries. The average time for inclusion of medicines for MS in the PDL of Bulgaria after their marketing authorization is 3 years. The analysis of pharmacotherapeutic guidelines showed high GCI as it is higher for Bulgaria: 0.846 vs. 0.769 out of 1. Conclusion The existing legislative measures at the national level of Bulgaria and Greece ensure adequate and timely access of patients with MS to treatment.

Aging Property of Oil Recycled Asphalt Binders with Reclaimed Asphalt Materials

The reuse of high content of reclaimed asphalt pavement and reclaimed asphalt shingles in hot mixtures by adding recycling oils has attracted wide attention and interest in the paving industry. However, the aging property and the durability of oil recycled asphalt binders with reclaimed asphalt materials are not well understood. This study prepared 12 oil recycled asphalt binders with base binder, extracted binders from reclaimed asphalt pavement and reclaimed asphalt shingles, and three types of oils, including two bio-oils and one re-refined engine oil bottom oil. Multiple stress creep recovery and oscillation tests were performed to evaluate the rheological change with aging, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was used to track the chemical evolution. Aging performance of these blends was evaluated using the aging indexes. Results showed that the recovery and nonrecoverable creep compliance were highly related. The aging indexes of nonrecoverable creep compliance at 3.2 kPa and complex modulus indicated that adding oils may impair the durability of asphalt binders with reclaimed asphalt materials. However, the aging index of carbonyl suggested that the oils do not have much effect on the chemical reaction (oxidation). The correlating analysis indicated that rheological and chemical change had a good correlation relationship, but also showed material dependency.

Traffic Compliance Index of Acehnese Community

The purpose of this article is to analyze and discuss the correlation between the behavior of the Acehnese and the culture of traffic discipline. Every road user is obliged to obey the traffic rules, but the number of accidents is increasing every year, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries and property damage. This is an empirical legal research using a survey method with a qualitative approach. Interviews, observations, and file review is also used in this research. The results show that the traffic behavior of Acehnese remains poor, with the observation-based traffic compliance index having a value of 5.41 on a scale of 1-10. Most violations were committed by male drivers with 2 (two) wheels. The most common violations are not wearing a helmet, not turning on the main lights during the day, and not having a driver's license (SIM). Most traffic violations are committed by individuals between the ages of 17 and 40, most of whom have a high school education or equivalent. It is necessary to optimize the socialization of traffic discipline and the arrangement of traffic fiqh by the Aceh Provincial Police of Traffic Department (Ditlantas Polda Aceh), local authorities and related agencies.

Administrative model of financial intelligence units: an analysis of effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the model of an financial intelligence unit (FIU) and the availability of resources of an FIU on the strength of the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) legal framework and the overall effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use FIU specific characteristics to measure the impact on the developed AML/CFT Compliance Index (Jayasekara, 2020a) and AML/CFT Effectiveness Index (Jayasekara, 2020b) in measuring the overall effectiveness of an AML/CFT regime. In addition, the impact of an AML/CFT regime on the cost to exports and gross domestic product are modeled.FindingsThe empirical results suggest that the model of an FIU is an important determinant of an effective AML/CFT regime. The administrative model of FIU shows a negative relationship with the overall effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime. The availability of resources which was measured in terms of human resources at FIUs shows a significant positive relationship with the effectiveness. However, the model of an FIU and the availability of resources of an FIU are not significant determinants of a sound AML/CFT legal framework. The results further reveal that effective AML/CFT regimes promote economic growth and also international trade by reducing the cost of exports. Therefore, policymakers are required to reassess the administrative model FIU of the country and have to adopt a suitable model which has been assigned more power to implement the regime.Practical implicationsThis study was initially designed to capture more FIU specific variables using a questionnaire to widen the scope of the study. However, the low response rate to the questionnaire forced us to rely on publicly available data on FIU characteristics. Therefore, appropriate FIU specific variables may be developed in future research based on this foundation.Originality/valueThis paper is an original work done by the author that discusses the FIU specific characteristics on the overall strength and effectiveness of AML/CFT regimes and further extends the use of originally designed AML/CFT Compliance Index and AML/CFT Effectiveness Index.

Pharmacotherapeutic Patterns and Patients’ Access to Pharmacotherapy for Some Rare Diseases in Bulgaria – A Pilot Comparative Study

Provision of the latest innovative and advanced therapies for rare diseases (RDs) patients, following the international therapeutic recommendations, is crucial and necessary for both practitioners and patients. The goal is to assess the access of Bulgarian patients with the most cost-consuming RDs to medicines and to compare the pharmacotherapeutic patterns in Bulgaria and the relevant European professional associations. Pharmaco-therapeutic guidelines for treating the most cost-consuming RDs in Bulgaria were analyzed to assess their compliance with the European ones. Market entrance was evaluated through analysis of the availability of medicines in the Positive Drug List (PDL) and their date of inclusion since marketing authorization. Guidelines’ compliance index was calculated and patient access was analyzed through evaluation of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) standards, which provide additional criteria for treatment initiation. The analyzed guidelines follow the adopted recommendations by the relevant European professional associations. NHIF have exclusion and inclusion criteria for initiating treatment with medicines for rare diseases and for continuation. The average time-lag between centralized procedure approval and inclusion in the Bulgarian PDL for orphan medicinal products (MPs) is 6.75 years (SD = 4.96) with the longest time observed for eptacog alfa (20 years) and the shortest for rurioctocog alfa pegol, octocog alfa and simoctocog alfa (1 year). Bulgarian patients with cystic fibrosis with pulmonary manifestation had a wait time of only 1.6 years to get access to innovative, centrally authorized medicines, whereas the period for access to acromegaly treatment was 8.2 years. The main factors influencing market entrance and patient access are the time to inclusion in the PDL and the NHIF criteria.

Testing the weak form of efficient market hypothesis for socially responsible and Shariah indexes in the USA

PurposeBy testing the weak form of efficient market hypothesis (EMH) this study aims to forecast the short-term stock prices of the US Dow and Jones environmental socially responsible index (SRI) and Shariah compliance index (SCI).Design/methodology/approachThis study checks the validity of the weak form of EMH for both SCI and SRI prices by using different parametric and non-parametric tests, i.e. augmented Dickey-Fuller test, Philip-Perron test, runs test and variance ratio test. If the EMH is invalid, the research further forecasts short-term stock prices by applying autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model using daily price data from 2010 to 2018.FindingsThe research confirms that a weak form of EMH is not valid in the US SRI and SCI. The historical data can predict short-term future price movements by using technical ARIMA model.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides better guidance to risk-averse national and international investors to earn higher returns in the US SRI and SCI. This study can be extended to test the EMH of Islamic equity in the Middle East and North Africa region and other top Islamic indexes in the world.Originality/valueThis study is a new addition to the existing literature of equity investment and price forecasting by comparing and investigating the market efficiency of two interrelated US SRI and SCI.

Adoption and compliance with Council for Scientific and Industrial Research recommended maize production practices in Ashanti region, Ghana

PurposeThere is a huge gap between actual and achievable yields of maize which threatens household food security in Ghana. Low adoption of improved maize production technologies coupled with poor compliance with Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) recommended maize production practices is identified as the cause of low yields. This study assessed farmers' compliance with CSIR recommended production practices and its effects on yield.Design/methodology/approachUsing a structured questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey of 150 respondents were interviewed for the study. Descriptive statistics, awareness and compliance indices, probit model and Garret ranking technique were the methods of analysis employed in the study.FindingsThe results showed that farmers are highly aware, have adopted and hardly comply with standards of applications of CSIR recommended production practices. Farm size, age, educational level and female gender significantly influenced compliance with recommended production practices. Also, compliance with recommended production practices increase maize yield.Originality/valuePolicies aim at addressing yield gap in maize production should be targeted at improving farmers' level of compliance with production practices by addressing some constraints through farmer credit and subsidy programmes to help farmers increase their level of compliance. The fact that farmers have adopted recommended production practices does not necessarily mean they will have higher yields. The study generates important insights about how well farmers have been adhering to standards of adoption of recommended production practices.

Vasodilatation by carbon dioxide and sodium nitroglycerin reduces compliance of the cerebral arteries in humans.

What is the central question of this study? Vascular compliance importantly contributes to the regulation of cerebral perfusion and complex mechanisms are known to influence compliance of a vascular bed: while vasodilatation mediates changes in vascular resistance, does it also affect compliance, particularly in the cerebral vasculature? What is the main finding and its importance? Cerebral vasodilatation, elicited by hypercapnia and sodium nitroglycerin administration, reduced cerebrovascular compliance by approximately 26% from baseline. This study provides new insight into mechanisms mediating cerebrovascular compliance. Changes in vascular resistance and vascular compliance contribute to the regulation of cerebral perfusion. While changes in vascular resistance are known to be mediated by vasodilatation, the mechanisms contributing to changes in vascular compliance are complex. In particular, whether vasodilatation affects compliance of the vasculature within the cranium remains unknown. Therefore, the present study examined the impact of two vasodilatation pathways on cerebrovascular compliance in humans. Fifteen young, healthy adults (26±5years, seven females) completed two protocols: (i) sublingual sodium nitroglycerin (SNG; 0.4mg) and (ii) hypercapnia (5-6% carbon dioxide gas mixture for 4 min). Blood pressure waveforms (finger photoplethysmography) and middle cerebral artery blood velocity waveforms (transcranial Doppler ultrasound) were input into a modified Windkessel model and an index of cerebrovascular compliance (Ci) was calculated. During the SNG protocol, Ci decreased 24±17% from baseline ((5.0±2.3)×10-4 cms-1 mmHg-1 ) to minute 10 ((3.6±1.2)×10-4 cms-1 mmHg-1 ; P=0.009). During the hypercapnia protocol, Ci decreased 28±9% from baseline ((4.4±1.9)×10-4 cms-1 mmHg-1 ) to minute 4 ((3.1±1.4)×10-4 cms-1 mmHg-1 ; P<0.001). Cerebral vasodilatory stimuli induced by nitric oxide and carbon dioxide mechanisms reduced compliance of the cerebral vascular bed by approximately 26% from supine baseline values.

Analysis of factors affecting sharia compliance levels in sharia banks in Indonesia

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the factors that influence the level of sharia compliance in sharia banks in Indonesia. In particular, this study examines the effect of liquidity, firm size, Sharia Supervisory Board Size, and Audit Committee on the level of sharia compliance in sharia banks in Indonesia. Methodology: This study uses quantitative methods with secondary data in the form of sharia bank annual reports 2014-2018. The data analysis uses regression test with the help of SPSS software. Findings: The results of the analysis show that the size of the sharia supervisory board and audit committee has a positive effect on the level of sharia compliance. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on sharia compliance and disclosure in Sharia banking in Indonesia. Practical implications: This research also has implications for sharia banking, especially in Indonesia, as an evaluation material in improving the quality of financial reports. Originality: This study uses the sharia compliance index as a measuring tool for the level of compliance of sharia banks which is rarely used by previous studies.