Comparability

Several new spoken corpora have seen the light of day in recent years. Few, however, are comparable to a corpus from an earlier period to facilitate diachronic investigations of spoken language. The new London–Lund Corpus 2 (LLC–2) of spoken British English, collected 2014–2019, fills this gap. The size and design of LLC–2 are comparable to those of the world’s first spoken corpus, the London–Lund Corpus (LLC–1) with data mainly from the 1960s–1970s, which means that, together, the two corpora allow us to make principled diachronic comparisons of speech over the past 50 years. This paper has two aims: (i) to critically examine the methodological aspects of the London–Lund Corpora as a diachronic resource, and (ii) to demonstrate the usefulness of the resource based on a case study of the development of constructions expressing advice in spontaneous conversation.
One of the most important challenges of the compilation of LLC–2 was to capture recordings of conversations that are comparable to those in LLC–1 in terms of the situational contexts in which they occur. In order to overcome this challenge, a large number of the conversations in LLC–2 were recorded at the University College London, which was also the main site of recording for LLC–1. This gave us speech situations that revolve around similar subject matters (e.g., common-room conversations, tutorials), and it also ensured that the speakers in LLC–2 share many of the same characteristics with those in LLC–1.
The usefulness of the London–Lund Corpora as a diachronic resource is demonstrated in a case study of the development of constructions expressing advice in spontaneous conversation. Advice is a pervasive feature of human communication, but it is also a notoriously sensitive undertaking where language plays a crucial role. Advice can be expressed in a variety of ways, ranging from more deontic (e.g., imperatives; do it!) to less deontic constructions (e.g., various types of modals; I would do it). Based on a quantitative analysis of a large number of constructions expressing advice in the London–Lund Corpora, this case study aims to find out whether speakers today prefer or avoid constructions that assert power and authority compared to 50 years ago (Leech, 2003). The preliminary results suggest an increased preference for advice to be expressed in more direct ways. A closer inspection of the distribution of the advice constructions shows that there are conversations in both corpora that slightly skew the results; i.e., they occur in advice-heavy contexts that do not exist in the other corpus (e.g., study abroad sessions in LLC–2). However, the overall distribution of the constructions is relatively even, thus suggesting that the London–Lund Corpora are a suitable resource for studying recent change in spoken English.

References
Leech, G. (2003). Modality on the move: The English modal auxiliaries 1961–1992. In R. Facchinetti, M. Krug & F. Palmer (Eds.), Modality in contemporary English (pp. 223–240). Mouton de Gruyter.

This is a technical paper presented in an in-house training session sometimes in 2015.

The presentation focused on exploring transfer pricing comparability factors recommended by the OECD TP Guidelines of 2010 and the Nigerian Income Tax (Transfer Pricing) Regulations of 2012

Opinion expressed herein by the author does not necessarily in anyway represent the Opinion of OECD, ATAF or the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). The write up is strictly for information purpose, I therefore make no representation as to the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this publication. I accept no liability for any loss that may arise from the use of this paper.

Rating agencies strive to assign reliable, objective and comparable credit ratings as an indicator on one consistent scale. We test empirically how rating agencies meet their promise of providing objec-tive and comparable assessments of credit risk of an issuer and thus creditworthiness. Logistic re-gressions of ratings across agencies and market sectors point to highly significant differences of rat-ings for issuers in the 11 market sectors in our sample. Based on inter-sectoral comparisons, we de-tect a systematically positive rating bias for financial issuers, while issuers operating in the cyclical consumer goods sector face relatively disadvantageous credit ratings. Our results indicate that the current assessment models and measurement standards do not only contain issuers' credit risk but to a considerable extent also an assessment of industry and operating risk. Credit ratings should therefore not be equated with the likelihood of default as is often done in empirical ap...

"What does it mean to recognise the qualifications of a teacher awarded in the United Kingdom when the teacher
migrates to Canada, from Barbados to New Zealand, or from South Africa to the Cameroon? As increasing numbers of
teachers migrate between countries in the Commonwealth, often in search of greener pastures, but more recently with the global
economic downturn, also returning to their countries of origin, a deeper understanding of the qualifications and requirements
which give these teachers the right to practice has become essential. This article draws on the findings of a recent research
initiative on teacher qualification in the Commonwealth undertaken by the South African Qualifications Authority in collaboration
with the Commonwealth Secretariat. The study is located within the broader context of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment
Protocol. This article draws on the findings of a recent research initiative on teacher qualification in the Commonwealth undertaken by the South African Qualifications Authority in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat. The study is located within the broader context of the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol."

It tries to do what the title alludes to: relocating incomparability, from structural breakdown to way articulating deep valuation.

table of content:

1. Introduction: Incomparability as a Marginalized Classic
2. Choices and Comparisons
3. Incomparability: A First Sketch
4. A Traditional and a Less Traditional View: Raz and Broome
5. Ruth Chang on Being on a Par
6. On Explaining Structural Incomparability Away
6.1. Three Forms of Non-Comparability
6.2. Vagueness: Predicates and Comparatives
6.3. Multidimensionality
6.4. Choices, Comparisons, and Beyond
7. Outlook: On Indexical Incomparability

Forensic DNA practice is about identification and thus about making individuality. Yet in order for this to be possible an individual has to be placed in a population, a precondition which has caused problems for the forensic community. For given the lack of a standard biological definition, what is a population? Meanwhile forensic DNA has come of age, bypassing the problem of population, irrespective of the definition applied, through scale and the availability of technology. This article examines three practices of profiling: 1) "conventional" DNA profiling, 2) inferring visible traits from DNA, 3) and inferring visible traits from surveillance recordings. Their juxtaposing can be read in two ways: as a linear story of the ever-growing role of forensic DNA in criminal investigation or as topological story of different versions of the same practice of DNA profiling.

Responding to international concerns regarding childhood bullying and a need to identify a common bullying measure, this study examines the comparability of children's self-reports of bullying across five countries. The Pacific-Rim Bullying Measure, a self-report measure of students' experiences with six different types of bullying behaviour and victimization, was administered to 1,398 Grade 5 students from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea,

This paper reviews the empirical research evidence on the effects of mandatory IFRS adoption in the EU. The research is classified and assessed in relation to the objectives of EU Regulation 1606/2002, which made IFRS mandatory in the EU. The review finds that there is evidence of benefits following IFRS adoption in relation to financial reporting transparency and comparability, the cost of capital, market liquidity, corporate investment efficiency and cross-border capital flows. But the evidence on some of these matters is disputed and it is unclear how far the benefits identified are attributable to the adoption of IFRS or to other concurrent institutional changes, particularly in enforcement. What is clear is that the benefits found are uneven, varying with the institutions and incentives that apply for different companies in different countries. On the possible role of IFRS in the financial crisis in the EU, more research is needed before conclusions can be drawn. The paper also...

Systematic and widespread incommensurability of reasons has been claimed to give rise to an implausible picture of practical reasoning. In particular, it has been claimed that this incommensurability is not compatible with the central role we ascribe to enkratic reasoning - reasoning about what we have "most reason" to do, or ought to do "all things considered". Instead, defenders of incommensurability have emphasized the role of the agent's will in determining choice. However, this paper argues that rejecting or accepting a widespread and systematic incommensuability of reasons makes little difference to how we should conceive of practical reasoning. It argues that whether or not we accept a widespread and systematic incommensurability of reasons, we can and should give a central place to enkratic reasoning as well as the agent's will, in determining choice.

What, normatively speaking, are the grounds of (objective) rational choice? This paper defends ‘comparativism’, the view that a comparative fact grounds rational choice. It examines three of the most serious challenges to comparativism: 1) that sometimes what grounds rational choice is an exclusionary-type relation among alternatives; 2) that an absolute fact such as that it’s your duty or conforms to the Categorial Imperative grounds rational choice; and 3) that rational choice between incomparables is possible, and in particular, all that is needed for the possibility of rational choice is that one alternative is not worse than the others. Each challenge is questioned. If comparativism is correct, then no matter what normative theory you favor (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue theory, perfectionism, etc), your answer to the question, ‘What makes my choice rational?’ must be comparative in form. In this way, comparativism provides a framework for normative theorizing.

The purpose of this study was to test methods to strengthen the comparability claims about annual determinations of student proficiency in English language arts, math, and science (grades 3-12) in the New Hampshire Performance Assessment of Competency Education (NH PACE) pilot project. First, we examined the literature in order to define comparability outside the bounds of strict score interchangeability and explored methods for estimating comparability that support a balanced assessment system for state accountability such as the NH PACE pilot. Second, we applied two strategies—consensus scoring and a rank-ordering method—to estimate comparability in Year 1 of the NH PACE pilot based upon the expert judgment of 85 teachers using 396 student work samples. We found the methods were effective for providing evidence of comparability and also detecting when threats to comparability were present. The evidence did not indicate meaningful differences in district average scoring stringency and leniency in scoring and therefore did not support adjustments to district-level cut scores for “annual determinations.” The paper concludes with a discussion of the technical challenges and opportunities associated with innovative, balanced assessment systems in an accountability context.

Responding to international concerns regarding childhood bullying and a need to identify a common bullying measure, this study examines the comparability of children's self-reports of bullying across five countries. The Pacific-Rim Bullying Measure, a self-report measure of students' experiences with six different types of bullying behaviour and victimization, was administered to 1,398 Grade 5 students from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, and United States. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory modeling were used to evaluate construct equivalence on the measure across different countries. Preliminary results revealed some construct differences across countries, that is, the bullying measure is measuring one construct, but that the construct is manifested differently in the different countries.

Eighty-three Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) writing prompts administered via computer-based testing between July 1998 and August 2000 were examined for differences attributable to the response mode (handwriting or word processing) chosen by examinees. Differences were examined statistically using polytomous logistic regression. A variable measuring English-language ability (ELA) was developed from the multiple-choice components of the TOEFL and used as a matching variable. Although there was little observed difference in mean writing scores, when examinees were matched on ELA, small differences were observed in effect sizes consistently favoring the handwriting response mode. This difference favoring the handwriting response mode occurred for all of the writing prompts analyzed, suggesting a general effect for response mode. Differences for individual writing prompts were small, however.

There is a general tendency in reporting nowadays, represented by the institutionalization of the environmental reporting in an increasing number of companies. The novelty of our work resides in the fact that this is the first study which analyses the consistency and comparability of the information included in integrated reports. The objective of this research is to determine to what extent the reporting of the environmental performance indicators, including energy, prescribed by the Global Reporting Initiative’s guidelines is in line with the consistency and comparability principle. We analysed the reports published by the European organisations included in the Pilot Programme of the International Integrated Reporting Council. We used the following methodology. First, we compared the environmental reporting of 2016 from one company to another, splitting the sample in accordance with the industries. Second, we analysed the reporting practices of the environmentally-sensitive compan...

Resumen:
Los constantes cambios del mercado han creado la necesidad de aplicar sistemas de
información financieros más confiables y comparables, de manera que el lenguaje de los negocios sea cada vez más generalizado. El XBRL como lenguaje estándar permite que los reportes contables  y financieros de una entidad sean leídos y entendidos en cualquier lugar del mundo, de manera que  guarden simetría y den transparencia frente a la información que se reporta. Este trabajo realiza un estudio comparativo entre los países con mayores fuentes de experiencia en la aplicación de la herramienta XBRL y el caso colombiano, con el objetivo de reflejar las ventajas y desventajas que conlleva la implementación de esta herramienta. Se evidencia que la herramienta se ha ido constituyendo más en un proceso de verificación de información para los organismos de control que en un lenguaje estándar para disminuir la asimetría y la transparencia en las revelaciones.

Abstract:
Constant changes in the market have created the need of applying more reliable accounting information systems, in a way that the business language becomes increasingly generalized. XBRL as a standard language provides the possibility that the accounting and financial reports be read and understood in anywhere in the world, so that they have symmetry and are transparent in the reported information. A comparative study is carried out in this work, between the countries the most experienced in the application of this tool XBRL, and the Colombian case, the last with the aim of reflecting the advantage and disadvantages involved in the implementation of this tool. Finally, it is evidenced that the tool has been constituted more as a verification process for control bodies than as a standard language to decrease the asymmetry and transparency in the revelations.

This paper shows that introducing the positive comparative relation parity only helps one block so-called "Spectrum Arguments" in order to avoid their unsavory implications if one specifies parity in a specific way with respect to its persistence. The paper illustrates how parity must both admit of persistency and be weakly non-persistent for parity to block Spectrum Arguments, and identifies some consequences of that discovery for the general debate on Spectrum Arguments, value theory and comparability problems.

This article examines the comparability between Latin American Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and US by studying 314 of the 20-F Forms reported by Latin American companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange during the period 1997-2001. The influence of US accounting in Latin America is evident in several areas. Nevertheless, the Latin American accounting model addresses special issues, such as inflation accounting, in a manner different from that of the US The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of the international accounting differences on the fundamental accounting variables and to assess the frequency and materiality of these differences in four Latin American countries, namely Argentine, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The results indicate that the gap between Latin American GAAP and US GAAP has not narrowed during the period.

The principle of need—the idea that resources should be allocated according to need—is often invoked in priority setting in the health care sector. In this article, I argue that a reasonable principle of need must be indeterminate, and examine three different ways that this can be dealt with: appendicizing the principle with further principles, imposing determinacy, or empowering decision makers. I argue that need must be conceptualized as a composite property composed of at least two factors: health shortfall and capacity to benefit. When one examines how the different factors relate to each other, one discovers that this is sometimes indeterminate. I illustrate this indeterminacy in this article by applying the small improvement argument. If the relation between the factors are always determinate, the comparative relation changes by a small adjustment. Yet, if two needs are dissimilar but of seemingly equal magnitude, the comparative relation does not change by a small adjustment of one of the factors. I then outline arguments in favor of each of the three strategies for dealing with indeterminacy, but also point out that all strategies have significant shortcomings. More research is needed concerning how to deal with this indeterminacy, and the most promising path seems to be to scrutinize the position of the principle of need among a plurality of relevant principles for priority setting in the health care sector.

Este artigo traz um recorte semântico-lexical do projeto de atlas linguístico da região do Médio Tietê, no Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Dentre as dez localidades que perfazem a rede de pontos de investigação, apresentamos aqui dados do município de Santana de Parnaíba (SdP). Trata-se de dez questões onomasiológicas respondidas por informantes de perfis sociais distintos. As perguntas foram extraídas do questionário semântico-lexical do Atlas linguístico do Brasil (CARDOSO, 2014) e aplicadas após modificações. Elas tematizam características pessoais, fenômenos e entes no mundo físico, cujas respostas mais frequentes em SdP foram RAIZ, URUBU, JOÃO-DE-BARRO, VAREJEIRA, TERÇOL, CATARRO, TAGARELA, MÃO-DE-VACA, BALANÇO e INTERRUPTOR. Para a elicitação, aplicou-se a técnica de entrevista em três passos, que basicamente consiste em (i) perguntar, (ii) insistir e (iii) sugerir (THUN, 2000). O objetivo do presente texto é (a) sistematicamente expor e brevemente comentar as (primeiras) respostas espontâneas dos parnaibanos. Adicionalmente, apresentamos: (b) três critérios de invalidação de respostas; (c) correlações internas linguístico-sociais; (d) contrastes das normas lexicais e formas mais frequentes apuradas em SdP com resultados de seis atlas linguísticos fora do perímetro da região do Médio Tietê; e (e) observações linguísticas complementares acerca das lexias. No Brasil, a pesquisa é financiada pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), no âmbito do Projeto para a História do Português Paulista (PHPP), e, na Alemanha, pelo Serviço Alemão de Intercâmbio Acadêmico (DAAD).

Background/Aim: Existing external quality assurance proficiency testing may not reflect routine ‘real-world’ daily testing proficiency. The overall aim of the study was to conduct an inter-laboratory comparability testing of some routinely measured clinical chemistry analytes by selected private medical laboratories using the mentor-adept approach. Methodology: Aliquots of freshly separated plasma from a single individual (1ml) each were sent to each of the selected labs and a Teaching hospital for same-day testing. All samples were sent as ‘‘blinded-samples’’ (labelled with anonymous names, ages and attached lab request forms with clinical diagnoses) so that they would be tested as real patient samples. Results: All the labs met the acceptability criteria range for both the z-score and Precision Index. However, many of the labs had their total analytical errors for the tests outside the allowable total error ranges with both European and CLIA recommendations. Conclusion: There are ...

Many patents for the first biologicals derived from recombinant technology and, more recently, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are expiring. Naturally, biosimilars are becoming an increasingly important area of interest for the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, not only for emergent countries that need to import biologic products. This review shows the evolution of biosimilar development regarding regulatory, manufacturing bioprocess, comparability and marketing. The regulatory landscape is evolving globally, whereas analytical structure and functional analyses provide the foundation of a biosimilar development program. The challenges to develop and demonstrate biosimilarity should overcome the inherent differences in the bioprocess manufacturing and physicochemical and biological characterization of a biosimilar compared to several lots of the reference product. The implementation of approaches, such as Quality by Design (QbD), will provide products with defined specifications in relation to quality, purity, safety and efficacy that were not possible when the reference product was developed. Actually, the need to prove comparability to the reference product by the biosimilar industry has increased the knowledge about the product and the production-process associated by the use of powerful analytical tools. The technological challenges to make copies of biologic products while attending regulatory and market demands are expected to help innovation in the direction of attaining more productive manufacturing processes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.