Greater Stake Research Articles

Assessment of Patient Satisfaction and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Following Full Mouth Rehabilitation with Implant-Supported Prostheses.

The concept of success is typically established by the researcher or the practitioner rather than the patient, who has the greatest stake in the outcome of the prosthodontics therapy. To assess patient satisfaction and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in following full mouth rehabilitation with implant-supported prostheses (ISP). Thirty-two patients who underwent full mouth rehabilitation with ISP were included in this study. The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) questionnaire was used for the assessment of patient satisfaction and OHRQoL following full mouth rehabilitation with ISP. The functional limitation among study participants before, 1 month, and 3 months after ISP was 2.1 ± 1.3, 1.5 ± 0.8, and 1.4 ± 0.9, respectively. There was a significant reduction in functional limitation, psychological disability, and social disability before and 3 months after ISP. There is a significant improvement in patient satisfaction and OHRQoL in following full mouth rehabilitation with ISP.

Role of Green Bonds in Promoting Sustainability and their Effects on Public Policy

Objective: During the last decade, the launch of green bonds has been one of the most important breakthroughs in sustainable financing. The effect of environmental labels on bond yields has been a common topic. Green bonds have become increasingly common, particularly in sectors where environmental factors are economically significant for businesses. Green bonds have been taken for consideration to boost environmental performance, indicating their efficacy in reducing businesses' ecological impact.
 
 Result: These findings are specific to green bonds that have been independently confirmed, demonstrating the need of authorization as a control instrument in the green bond market. The investors have a favorable reaction to the news of issuance, with a stronger reaction for initial suppliers and securities certified by independent organizations. After the issuance, the issuers' environmental performance improves (in the form of higher environmental ratings and reduced Co-2 emissions), and long-term and green investors get a greater stake in the companies.
 
 Method: Overall, the results are consistent with a signaling argument, suggesting that issuing green bonds is a credible way for businesses to demonstrate their dedication to environmental protection by developing Green Bonds in Business for Sustainable Growth [GB-BSG] to meet the challenges mentioned above.
 
 Conclusion: Our research is among the first experimental inquiries into the effects of green bonds on the sustainability practices of businesses, the motivations of investors and issuers to enter the green bond market, and the significance of green bonds in redistributing capital to environmentally responsible endeavors.

Losing money to make money: The benefits of redistribution in collective bargaining in sports

I develop a model of majority-rule collective bargaining between a sports league and its players when delay costs incurred by players are wealth-dependent. I propose a refinement of subgame perfect equilibrium that requires equilibrium strategies to be immune to deviations by any majority subgroup. I show this is equivalent to giving the player with median bargaining power the unilateral ability to negotiate with the league. Using this model, I demonstrate that policies reallocating surplus from high-talent to moderate-talent players, such as maximum contracts in professional sports, can improve the welfare of all players. Redistribution of surplus harmonizes players' interests, giving a majority of them a greater stake in the bargaining outcome. The model highlights the gains to be had if a heterogeneous group agrees to concessions that increase the alignment of their individual interests.

The Thoughts and Views of Ja’far Mahmud Adam on Marriage, Family Institution and Women Issues

Marriage is the foundation upon which a family institution is erected and it is one of cogent measures that Islam enjoins in preserving public morality and developing a healthy and sane society. Furthermore, there is virtually a consensus among all cultures that marriage has been over the centuries the most legally acceptable gateway and conventional source of establishing a family institution. Henceforth, marriage assumes a special significance and occupies a pivotal place owing to its crucial role in building a society and ensuring the continuity of human survival. Meanwhile, albeit there are universally shared codes and conventionally accepted norms and values, geographical space, cultures, civilizations and religious orientations have a great stake in determining ways and lifestyles of people vis-à-vis ways the continuity of human survival is sustained. Marriage and its associated components like the phenomenon of woman represent areas that expose the extent of clash of civilizations. Guided by their religious precepts and legal provisions, Muslim scholars and thinkers tend to situate Islam as the most moderate ideological culture that formulates the most universally suitable and pragmatic systems which deal with marriage, growing a family and general treatment of women.

Charter Schools: An Alternative Option in American Schooling

Charter schools are educational institutions in the United States funded through taxation but operated privately under a charter or contract with a public entity, providing alternative public education options to families. Charter schools are subject to fewer rules and regulations and have greater autonomy than traditional public schools over operations, curriculum, and instruction, although have greater stakes in school accountability.

Engaging Fisherfolk Organizations in Conservation-Based Alternative Livelihoods and Conservation of the Habitats of Irrawaddy Dolphins in Negros Occidental

The coastal waters of Bago City and Pulupandan are core habitats of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the establishment of a marine protected area (MPA) is seen as a crucial strategy in ensuring their conservation. However, the sustainability of the MPA depends on the participation of those who have greater stakes as resource users, the fisherfolk communities. This paper describes and assays the experiences and issues on how fisherfolk organizations were engaged in conservation-based alternative livelihood and protection of the habitats of Irrawaddy dolphins. Using qualitative methods, rapid community appraisal, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and workshops were conducted involving eight fisherfolk organizations. A conservation-based alternative livelihood framework was adopted in engaging the fisherfolk communities, which was drawn from the concepts of the sustainable alternative livelihoods approach (SALA) and the ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Community organizing processes and development principles were observed, such as ensuring that activities are undertaken to be participatory and community-based in approaches. The experiences in engaging fisherfolk organizations yielded some issues and lessons: poverty remains a barrier to conservation; how to contend with the strong dole-out mentality among members; community building as an organizing approach was short-lived; the support of local government units; and the vital role of women in conservation and community development. The study suggests a shift in the community organizing approach towards consensus organizing because environmental conservation necessitates the involvement of various stakeholders.

Workers Participation in Management

History of the modern idea of workers participation can be traced back to the industrial revolution which began in the Eighteenth Century. With the advent of the industrial revolution the size of the enterprises increased and along with it the numerical strength of the workforce increased. By the mid-nineteenth century, the intellectual reaction to industrialism had assumed a whole spectrum of different forms and with the emergence of joint stock company type of organization workers were neglected, eliminated for maximization of profits. Workers felt that since they had a much greater stake in their Organizations, their interests should be protected. To counterbalance the power of the owners, workers organized themselves into unions and made the owners consider their various demands including point of view in the management of the enterprises. The owners, after reconsidering the power of unions, gradually yielded to the demand of the workers and negotiated with them on the aspects which directly affect the workers. These new trends strengthened the Trade Union movements and enabled them to play a constructive role in the furtherance of democratic values and principles. Several governments in Europe and Latin America passed laws giving level protection to Trade Unions and recognized the practice of the Trade Unions and the practice of collective bargaining. The Declaration of Philadelphia adopted by the I. L.O. in 1944 gave further stimulus to the movement as a consequence of which the personality and dignity of the workers was upheld. The Declaration further asked for the formation of a programme which among other things should achieve the effective recognition of the right of collective bargaining, the co-operation of management and labour in the continuous improvement of production efficiency and the collaborations of workers employers in the preparation and application of social and economic measures.

Dispute inflation

Much work has examined the phenomenon of dispute escalation, whereby the concrete measures state actors take edge them closer to war. Less attention has been devoted to the ways in which state actors’ perceptions of what is at stake in a dispute can also change, with important consequences for the likelihood of conflict. This paper examines the phenomenon of dispute inflation – wherein a contest over an object or issue assumes ever greater stakes and significance for its protagonists – and identifies three different mechanisms that can generate increasing non-material stakes. The upshot is that theoretically even a minor dispute can grow into a major conflict due to swelling stakes, especially when dispute inflation spirals. To illustrate these dynamics at work, this paper looks to recent developments in the dispute between the People’s Republic of China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.

Comprehensive Education Benefits: Teaching Students to Write Collaboratively in Political Science

This paper proposes a paradigm shift from the traditionally systematic, rigid structures of thesis writing courses to favor an inclusive, fluid, and flexible approach that both centers on student needs and meets the professional demands of future graduates. An intentional move to amend the thesis writing course would (1) create the conditions for students to have a greater stake in their own writing, (2) establish a sense of a cohort and scholarly community, and (3) integrate students into the professor’s scholarly habits of writing. This comprehensive education approach is intended for application in upper-level undergraduate thesis courses. By increasing the student’s share in the writing and research process as collaborators, instructors can model the behaviors of scholarship and intellectual community, position ourselves as mentors, and substantially increase our own academic productivity. To elaborate upon this approach, I reflect upon my experience as a preceptor in a Senior Seminar Bachelor’s thesis course to provide a loose outline for fellow capstone thesis writing instructors.

CHINA AND KAZAKHSTAN: BELT AND ROAD COOPERATION

Throughout its fairly short history, the Belt and Road initiative has demonstrated its good prospects, which explains why the government of Kazakhstan heeds a lot of attention to economic cooperation with China within this project. It has the greatest stake in the initiatives related to further development of cargo traffic routes and pipelines in different directions (primarily, Africa, the Middle East and Europe) and their potential impact on Kazakhstan’s economic health. Comprehensive studies are especially necessary in the current time of crisis, when the active realization of the Chinese initiative has run into certain problems. The authors examine the key ideas of the Chinese initiative to reveal the basic conceptual provisions and trends and analyze the problems and prospects of its realization. It is even more important to consider the ways to coordinate it with the projects of the Eurasian Economic Union and Kazakhstan’s Nurly Zhol (Bright Path) program. The possible threats and challenges that the Chinese initiative may create for Kazakhstan, or the positive effects that will help Kazakhstan realize its national interests should not be overlooked, either. The various processes related to the initiative and its numerous trends should be carefully studied against the background of the current dynamic changes in world politics.

Improving Understanding of Participation and Attrition Phenomena in European Cohort Studies: Protocol for a Multi-Situated Qualitative Study

BackgroundCohort studies represent a strong methodology for increasing one’s understanding of human life-course development and etiological mechanisms. Retention of participants, especially during long follow-up periods, is, however, a major challenge. A better understanding of the motives for participation and attrition in cohort studies in diverse sociogeographic and cultural settings is needed, as this information is most useful in developing effective retention strategies.ObjectiveThis study aims to improve our understanding of participation and attrition phenomena in a European cohort study of very preterm/very-low-birth-weight (VPT/VLBW) infants from various sociogeographic and cultural settings to better understand variability and ultimately contribute to developing novel and more “in-context” strategies to improve retention.MethodsThis study uses a triangulation of multisituated methods to collect data on various cohorts in the Research on European Children and Adults Born Preterm (RECAP) network, which include focus group discussions, individual semidriven interviews, and a collaborative, reflexive visual methodology (participant-generated VideoStories) with relevant key actors involved with these cohort studies such as adult participants, parents (caregivers), cohort staff, health care professionals, and academic researchers. The methodological strategy aims to provide a shared flexible framework of various qualitatively driven methods to collect data on VPT/VLBW adult and child cohorts, from which research partners may choose and combine those most pertinent to apply in their own specific contexts. Data from all sources and sites will be submitted to a triangulation of phenomenological thematic analysis with discourse analysis.ResultsAs of January 2020, in this study, we enrolled 92 participants variously involved with child and adult RECAP partnering cohorts from six countries. Multisite enrollment and data collection are expected to be completed in all seven study settings by June 2020. Findings will be reported in future publications.ConclusionsQualitative research methods are a useful complement for enriching and illuminating quantitative results. We expect that opting for a multisituated study approach addressing the interplay of the lived experience of individuals in both researcher and researched stances of particular cohort study settings will contribute to filling some gaps in the understanding of participation variability and effectiveness of different implemented strategies in context. Moreover, health research subjects have traditionally been positioned as passive objects of study rather than active participants, even though they have the greatest stake in improving health care policies and practices. Including collaborative methods allows us to counteract the “top-down” model by handing over some research control to the very people who are providing the data on which research findings will be based while also acknowledging the value of their involvement.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/14997

Perceptions of Parents/Guardians About the Effectiveness of Future Families Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme in Olievenhoutbosch, South Africa

The people with the greatest stake in Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) interventions are the children and their parents/guardians. Unfortunately, most OVC programmes are predesigned and implemented without considering beneficiaries’ perceptions when developing solutions (ALI 2007:15). The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of orphans and vulnerable children’s parents/guardians about the effectiveness of Future Families’ children programme in Olievenhoutbosch as a way to explore how much they are involved in the process of designing the programme activities and if they perceive the programme as effective in responding to their family needs.. 
 
 This study used a qualitative, explorative and descriptive design. Thirteen (13) parents/guardians of children registered with the Future Families were interviewed on the effectiveness of the Future Families programme using a semi-structure interview guide. 
 
 The study results suggested that parents/guardians were happy with Future Families’ services and believed the programme is effective in responding to their families’ needs. However, the researcher questioned the meaning of that happiness and established that beneficiaries were not involved in the program key planning activities including programme resource management and could not appreciate the value of the service that is provided to them against the funding value. The researcher also established that beneficiaries perceived the programme interventions as if it was a favour from the implementing organisation. That perception conditioned beneficiaries’ attitude to be thankful to the programme instead of having open criticism toward the program.

Go for a Woman if you Feel Risky: Evidence from Gender Diversity in MFIs

This paper contributes to the literature on management and corporate governance in microfinance institutions. Themicrofinance market is one of the rare markets with a large representation of women in management and governanceroles. The objective of our paper is to reveal the effects of women’s presence on the financial and social performance ofmicrofinance institutions.To achieve this, we develop a model that allows for capturing the influence of gender diversity in the microfinance fieldwhilst controlling for risks. We focus on the role of women as loan officers, on boards of directors, and involved inmanaging the creation of microfinance institutions. Our model utilises two sets of panel data regressions, one for socialperformance and one for financial performance, and is tested on data from 193 microfinance institutions across EasternEurope and Central Asia for the financial years 2010 through 2014.The results of our investigation indicate that the activity of female members of management, CEOs, and boards ofdirectors could increase performance indicators for riskier microfinance institutions. This is illustrated particularly inthe case of projects with greater stakes in portfolios that are more than 90 days in arrears. We also provide evidencethat women on boards tend more towards promoting a strategy utilising large quantities of small loans with greaterinterest. The social performance of microfinance institutions is crucially determined by the microfinance institutions’size. For the largest microfinance institutions, questions of social performance lie in the field of boards of directors, whilesmaller institutions’ social performance is mostly driven by CEOs and staff, with significant evidence of a positive femaleinfluence on performance indicators.The novelty of this study is demonstrated the scope of our research. We combine several contemporary issues of peculiarcross-disciplinary interest, and offer succinct and compelling results which will be of immediate applicability in a widerange of academic and professional fields. Our results will be of interest to scholars of gender, social studies, psychology,business, corporate structure, and more. More specifically, we add to the evolving sub-field of study of microfinanceinstitutions, which has the potential to develop rapidly in the near future. This paper represents a cross-section ofcommercial and business research across a wide territory, with a large sample size, and provides compelling conclusions,which add to these fields of study by both validating existing research, and highlighting new areas for future analysis.

Another Pause for Independence? The 2018 New Caledonia Referendum

ABSTRACTNew Caledonia is a distinctive French overseas territory with significant interest in independence. It reflects the legacy of a settler colony, where Melanesians were displaced to reservations in the nineteenth century. Pressure for independence comes almost exclusively from the minority Kanak (Melanesian) population. In the 1980s a violent and unsuccessful struggle for independence was defeated and the Matignon Accords, followed by the Noumea Accord, sought to maintain peace and ‘rebalance’ social and economic life over a period of 30 years in favour of the Kanak population and less developed regions of the country. Kanaks acquired greater stakes in the important nickel industry, but became divided between those who achieved economic success and those who perceived the ‘modern’ economy as means of destroying Kanak unity and cultural traditions. Uneven development has not been reduced and urbanisation emphasised inequality and relative deprivation. The Accords culminated in a referendum on independence in November 2018 with a significant majority voting against it. Voting broadly followed ethnic lines with Europeans expressing strong support for remaining French, and fearing instability and loss of French financial support, and Kanaks arguing that independence was a historical and cultural necessity. Two more referendums may follow in the next four years but independence is unlikely to be the outcome.

Youths in Community Development, Poor Market Linkage: A Disastrous Lag for Local Business Flourish in Coast Region, Tanzania

Youths are the pillars of community development; their skills and knowledge can be applied in tangible issues of great stake to individuals and community at large. Youths participation in local business is due to various motives ranging from wealth desire and reduction of income poverty. The current trend of entrepreneurship and business development have attracted youths to engage in local business especially in urban areas where challenges are recordable. Yet, the current study being intrigued by the forgotten drawbacks for business development, revealed that, given the nature of business, capital was always not a problem for business start-up. It was found that youths can still mobilize their own seed capital through means like saving from subsistence funds, fundraising through selling ideas and household contribution. However, the motives for business start-up does define the end results as whether business could be sustainable or otherwise. More importantly, it was revealed that, Youths concern in local business operation are that, market availability and linkages define the level of business flourishment. Lack of information about market availability, undisclosed market operation terms in outer boundaries hinder a linkage search which in turn poses unpleasant effect of business growth and community development at large. The local government in administrative areas should always take the responsibility of ensuring that the market operation terms are predictable and supportive for business growth.

Cognitive changes of older adults with an equivocal amyloid load.

Observational and interventional studies addressing the link between amyloid (Aβ) burden and cognitive decline are increasing, but a clear definition of amyloid positivity is still lacking. This may represent a great stake for therapeutic studies enrolling Aβ + patients only. The main objective of this study was to define a population with "equivocal" amyloid status, and evaluate their cognitive changes. Sixty-five participants over 75years old, from the Control group of the interventional MAPT study, at risk to develop Alzheimer's disease, were included. Participants were classified into three groups in terms of amyloid load: Aβ +, Aβ- and Equivocal participants (according to visual reading, global standardized uptake (SUVR) cut-offs, or a k-mean clustering method). The cognitive changes over time (memory, executive functions, attention and processing speed) of this Equivocal group were then compared to Aβ + and Aβ- participants. When classified by visual read, Equivocal participants' memory scores were comparable to the Aβ- participants, and greater than in Aβ + participants over time. Secondary analyses, using SUVR cut-offs classification, showed different trajectories with Equivocal participants being comparable to the Aβ + participants, and lower than Aβ-, on executive performance over time. This original work pointed out a population that may be of great interest for interventional studies, raising the question of how amyloid status should be defined and integrated in such studies. These findings should be replicated in future studies on larger datasets, to confirm what methodological approach would be the most suitable to highlight this specific neuroimaging entity.

New Perspectives in Internal Audit Research: A Structured Literature Review

AbstractThis structured literature review adopts a multimethod and multitheoretical approach to identify current knowledge about internal audit as well as related knowledge gaps. To that end, it provides an overview of post‐Sarbanes‐Oxley Act literature, organizing it under three themes: the multiple roles of internal audit, internal audit quality (IAQ), and the practice of internal audit. Despite the volume of literature published during the period covered by this review (2005 to mid‐2017), the first two themes are still in development, while the third is emergent. We suggest research avenues to fill the following main gaps: (i) Given differing opinions about the expected or actual roles of internal audit, prior literature infers that the internal audit function has become the “jack of all trades” of governance, but does not clearly capture its actual roles. (ii) The viewpoint of external auditors has dominated IAQ research, leading to a misunderstanding of how actors with greater stakes in the practice of internal audit conceptualize and evaluate IAQ. (iii) Knowledge of the actual practice of internal audit and its accountability and ethical issues is fragmentary, therefore the literature's current picture of internal audit is far from comprehensive.

Which wars spread? Commitment problems and military intervention

This article argues that wars caused by commitment problems are more likely to experience outside military intervention than are wars with other causes. Wars caused by commitment problems are more likely to draw in outside states because they tend to be more severe and produce larger war aims. These larger stakes create both threats and opportunities for non-belligerent states thereby prompting military intervention. The greater stakes also generate incentives for belligerent states to seek outside aid. This relationship between commitment problems and intervention implies that while certain types of wars may be more likely to experience intervention, the same causes can explain both intervention and war initiation. The argument is tested on the Correlates of War Interstate War dataset using logit-based generalized linear models. The findings support the commitment problem hypothesis and have implications for the bargaining framework and for theories about the causes of multilateral and general wars.

Fractal analysis of logs to characterize the hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon zones of Bhogpara oil field, Northeast India

Identification with accuracy of prospective and dry zone from well log data is of prime importance in reservoir or hydrocarbon studies. This issue has greater stake, where in return many conventional methods have been established. The purpose of this study is to recognize the hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon bearing portion within a reservoir by using a non-conventional technique. Application of rescaled range (R/S) analysis and wavelet-based fractal analysis (WBFA) on the wire-line log data to obtain the pre-defined hydrocarbon (HC) and non-hydrocarbon (NHC) zones by their fractal nature is demonstrated in this paper. Among these two techniques, the WBFA tool has provided more prolific results. Applicability of the proposed approach is tested with the help of the most commonly used well log data like self-potential, gamma ray, and porosity log responses. These are used in the industry to distinguish several HC and NHC zones of all wells in the study region belonging to the Upper Assam Basin, India. The results are found to be of lower fractal dimension in this study for a particular log response having HC-bearing zones, which are mainly situated in a variety of sandstone lithology. On the other hand, NHC-bearing zones correspond to lithology with higher shale content categorized with higher fractal dimension. Hence, the WBFA technique can overcome the chance of misinterpretation, which is quite possible in the case of conventional reservoir characterization.

Still Afraid of Footloose Finance? Exit and Voice in Contemporary Globalization

To what extent and in what ways does mobile capital affect the policy decisions of national governments, and under what conditions are governments willing to privilege (or to ignore) the preferences of asset holders who can credibly threaten exit? There is a long tradition of analyses based on the state’s “structural dependence” on capital (both foreign and domestic), and on the “golden straightjacket” view of government-financial market relations. I discuss how we might understand the contemporary relationship between sovereign bond investors and governments, in terms of what “market pressures” are, when such pressures operate to affect government decisions, and when governments are willing to ignore investors’ demands (assuming they exist). I suggest that “the market” may not have a unified sense of what it wants in terms of fiscal and regulatory policy; that low interest rate/high global liquidity environments offer governments greater policymaking flexibility; and that governments may use “market pressures” and “market rewards” as a veil for other drivers of policy. I also note that the investors/capital owners in question may not be foreign actors – as we often assume them to be – but rather domestic actors who, by virtue of their embeddedness in the national political system, have greater stakes regarding a given government’s policy choices.