Measuring the Impact of Tax Inspection on Firms' Performance

The tax compliance problem is an imminent issue in a self-assessment taxation system in Indonesia. Tax audit is an important tool used by the tax authority to address the problem. Several studies showed that tax inspection might change the behavior of the taxpayers. Therefore, it is interesting to see how tax inspection will affect taxpayers' behavior related to their subjective measure of firms' performance. This research uses the difference-in-difference approach combine with the entropy balancing method to estimate the causal impact of tax inspection on firms’ performance. The findings showed that the inspected firms showed an increase in their perception of capital utilization which can be explained using tax evasion model or managerial benefits concept.

Topology Optimization With Locally Evaluable Complement Space Connectivity

Enforcing connectivity of parts or their complement space during automated design is essential for various manufacturing and functional considerations such as removing powder, wiring internal components, and flowing internal coolant. The global nature of connectivity makes it difficult to incorporate into generative design methods that rely on local decision making, e.g., topology optimization (TO) algorithms whose update rules depend on the sensitivity of objective functions or constraints to locally change the design. Connectivity is commonly corrected for in a post-processing step, which may result in suboptimal designs. We propose a recasting of the connectivity constraint as a locally differentiable violation measure, defined as a “virtual” compliance, modeled after physical (e.g., thermal or structural) compliance. Such measures can be used within TO alongside other objective functions and constraints, using a weighted penalty scheme to navigate tradeoffs. By carefully specifying the boundary conditions of the virtual compliance problem, the designer can enforce connectivity between arbitrary regions of the part’s complement space while satisfying a primary objective function in the TO loop. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using both 2D and 3D examples, show its flexibility to consider multiple virtual domains, and confirm the benefits of considering connectivity in the design loop rather than enforcing it through post-processing.

Inaction, under-reaction action and incapacity: communication breakdown in Italy’s vaccination governance

This article explores why governments do not respond to public compliance problems in a timely manner with appropriate instruments, and the consequences of their failure to do so. Utilising a case study of Italian vaccination policy, the article considers counterfactuals and the challenges of governing health policy in an age of disinformation. It counterposes two methods of governing vaccination compliance: discipline, which uses public institutions to inculcate the population with favourable attitudes and practices, and modulation, which uses access to public institutions as a form of control. The Italian government ineffectively employed discipline for a number of years. Epistemological and organisational constraints stymied its efforts to tackle a significant childhood vaccination compliance problem. With a loss of control over the information environment, vaccinations were not served well by exogenous crises, the sensationalism of the news cycle and online misinformation. Hampered by austerity, lack of capacity and epistemic shortcomings, the Italian government did not protect the public legitimacy of the vaccination programme. Instead of employing communications to reassure a hesitant population, they focused on systemic and delivery issues, until it was too late to do anything except make vaccinations mandatory (using modulation). The apparent short-term success of this measure in generating population compliance does not foreclose the need for ongoing governance of vaccine confidence through effective discipline. This is evident for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with many Italians still indicating that they would not accept a vaccine despite the devastation that the disease has wrought throughout their country.

Regularity for the planar optimal p-compliance problem

In this paper we prove a partial $C^{1, \alpha}$ regularity result in dimension $N = 2$ for the optimal $p$-compliance problem, extending for $p \neq 2$ some of the results obtained by A. Chambolle, J. Lamboley, A. Lemenant, E. Stepanov (2017). Because of the lack of good monotonicity estimates for the $p$-energy when $p \neq 2$, we employ an alternative technique based on a compactness argument leading to a $p$-energy decay at any flat point. We finally obtain that every optimal set has no loop, is Ahlfors regular, and is $C^{1, \alpha}$ at $\mathcal{H}^{1}$-a.e. point for every $p\in (1, +\infty)$.

Topology Optimization considering Nonsmooth Structural Boundaries in the Intersection Areas of the Components

In the structural topology optimization approaches, the Moving Morphable Component (MMC) is a new method to obtain the optimized structural topologies by optimizing shapes, sizes, and locations of components. However, the optimized structure boundary usually generates local nonsmooth areas due to incomplete connection between components. In the present paper, a topology optimization approach considering nonsmooth structural boundaries in the intersection areas of the components based on the MMC is proposed. The variability of components’ shape can be obtained by constructing the topology description function (TDF) with multiple thickness and length variables. The shape of components can be modified according to the structural responses during the optimization process, and the relatively smooth structural boundaries are generated in the intersection areas of the components. To reduce the impact of the initial layout on the rate of convergence, this method is implemented in a hierarchical variable calling strategy. Compared with the original MMC method, the advantage of the proposed approach is that the smoothness of the structural boundaries can be effectively improved and the geometric modeling ability can be enhanced in a concise way. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated for topology optimization of the minimum compliance problem and compliant mechanisms.

Compliance Problems and Digitizing Case Management in England and Wales

Compliance with case management orders has been a hidden problem undermining the effective operation of the Civil Procedure Rules. The focus of academic critique has, however, been on the adverse consequences to their effective operation of non-compliance with such orders. This chapter considers this unexamined problem of case management: the compliance problem. It first examines the nature of the compliance problem, placing it within the context of the wider and substantially explored problem of non-compliance; the latter having formed a major limb of Zuckerman’s critique of English civil procedure. It then explores how current and potential future reforms to the English civil justice system arising from HMCTS reform programme, the Civil Courts Structure review, digitization and the potential use of artificial intelligence (AI) could overcome this unexplored problem.