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Clear Conclusions (clear + conclusion)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences28%
Humanities and Social Sciences28%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting28%

Selected Abstracts

Populism as political communication style: An empirical study of political parties' discourse in Belgium

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2007
JAN JAGERS
Within the broad discussion about populism and its relationship with extreme-right, this article is confined to three topics: a conceptual, an epistemological and an empirical issue. First, taking a clear position in the ongoing definition struggle, populism is defined primarily as a specific political communication style. Populism is conceived of as a political style essentially displaying proximity of the people, while at the same time taking an anti-establishment stance and stressing the (ideal) homogeneity of the people by excluding specific population segments. Second, it is pointed out that defining populism as a style enables one to turn it into a useful concept that has too often remained vague and blurred. Third, drawing on an operational definition of populism, a comparative discourse analysis of the political party broadcasts of the Belgian parties is carried out. The quantitative analysis leads to a clear conclusion. In terms of the degree and the kinds of populism embraced by the six political parties under scrutiny, the extreme-right party Vlaams Blok behaves very differently from the other Belgian parties. Its messages are a copybook example of populism. [source]

Impact of diet and adiposity on circulating levels of sex hormone-binding globulin and androgens

NUTRITION REVIEWS, Issue 9 2008
Anne-Sophie Morisset
This review summarizes studies on the effect of various diets on circulating androgen levels and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). Reduced caloric intake leading to significant weight loss increases SHBG levels regardless of diet composition, particularly in women. Cross-sectional studies show that dietary composition is generally not associated with SHBG levels independent of obesity level. No clear conclusion can be reached regarding the effect of various eating habits or dietary composition on circulating androgens. The evidence indicates that dietary effects on circulating SHBG, and possibly androgens, can be expected if body weight or fatness and/or insulin homeostasis are modulated. [source]

UNCERTAINTY AND CONSUMPTION: NEW EVIDENCE IN OECD COUNTRIES

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010
Mario Menegatti
D91; E21 ABSTRACT This work analyses the empirical evidence about precautionary saving in OECD countries in the period 1955,2000. Unlike the previous literature, we perform the test using a measure of uncertainty allowing for heterogeneity in stochastic processes which generate data for each country and selecting for each economy the autoregressive moving average process which best describes the series. The results obtained support the main conclusion of precautionary saving theory, showing that a greater degree of uncertainty increases saving. A less clear conclusion is obtained with reference to the effect of uncertainty on consumption growth, which does not seem to be strongly supported by the data. [source]

Genetic and environmental influences on cannabis use initiation and problematic use: a meta-analysis of twin studies

ADDICTION, Issue 3 2010
Karin J. H. Verweij
ABSTRACT Background Because cannabis use is associated with social, physical and psychological problems, it is important to know what causes some individuals to initiate cannabis use and a subset of those to become problematic users. Previous twin studies found evidence for both genetic and environmental influences on vulnerability, but due to considerable variation in the results it is difficult to draw clear conclusions regarding the relative magnitude of these influences. Methods A systematic literature search identified 28 twin studies on cannabis use initiation and 24 studies on problematic cannabis use. The proportion of total variance accounted for by genes (A), shared environment (C) and unshared environment (E) in (i) initiation of cannabis use and (ii) problematic cannabis use was calculated by averaging corresponding A, C and E estimates across studies from independent cohorts and weighting by sample size. Results For cannabis use initiation, A, C and E estimates were 48%, 25% and 27% in males and 40%, 39% and 21% in females. For problematic cannabis use A, C and E estimates were 51%, 20% and 29% for males and 59%, 15% and 26% for females. Confidence intervals of these estimates are considerably narrower than those in the source studies. Conclusions Our results indicate that vulnerability to both cannabis use initiation and problematic use was influenced significantly by A, C and E. There was a trend for a greater C and lesser A component for cannabis use initiation compared to problematic use for females. [source]

Teratogenicity of elevated egg incubation temperature and egg vitamin A status in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.

JOURNAL OF FISH DISEASES, Issue 4 2004
R Ørnsrud
Abstract The present study was undertaken to investigate the possibility that high egg vitamin A (VA) status in combination with elevated egg incubation temperatures may cause deformities in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Egg batches selected for their total VA concentration were exposed to low (normal, 8 °C) or elevated (14 °C) egg incubation temperatures. Temperature was the main factor causing bone deformities such as warped gill opercula, fin and jaw deformities, but not for the development of spinal deformities where all groups displayed a ,baseline' occurrence of mild deformity (decreased vertebral size in the cephalic region) and no systematic variation in the occurrence of serious spinal deformities (fused vertebrae). A possible effect of egg incubation temperature fluctuation was found for the groups reared at low temperatures. An indication of a negative effect of elevated egg VA status for the development of organ deformities such as missing septum transversum and situs inversus was found in addition to temperature effects, however, no firm conclusions could be drawn from the present data. The phenotypes for temperature-induced deformities resembled the phenotype of VA-induced deformities, but no clear conclusions on the causality of the deformities found in the present study could be drawn. Egg incubation temperatures, both absolute temperature and temperature variations, should therefore be strictly controlled. [source]

The UK supermarket industry: an analysis of corporate social and financial performance

BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 1 2002
Geoff Moore
In a previous paper (Moore, 2001), the headline findings from a study of social and financial performance over three years of eight firms in the UK supermarket industry were reported. These were based on the derivation of a 16-measure social performance index and a 4-measure financial performance index. This paper discusses the formulationof the indices and then reports on: discussions with two supermarket firms concerning the overall results; inter-relationships between individual financial performance measures; inter-relationships between individual social performance measures; stakeholder group analysis; and inter-relationships between turnover, age and gearing with social performance measures. The paper discusses these inter-relationships, incorporating comments from the interviews with the two supermarket firms, and reports on both factor and cluster analysis. The interviews lend support for Preston and O'Bannon's (1997) Available Funding Hypothesis in both its positive and negative form. The findings show that there are individual or combinations of related measures that could be used as surrogate measures for social and financial performance, instead of deriving a full index. However, the recommendation is that a full index continues to be used until there is further corroboration of these results. The findings also provide statistically significant support for the Negative Synergy Hypothesis (Preston and O'Bannon, 1997), show a statistically significant association between pre-tax profits (both lagged and contemporaneous) with community contributions, and show that all statistically significant associations between individual social performance measures are positive , suggesting that they are mutually reinforcing. The association of size with social performance, noted in the previous paper, is also reinforced. Findings in relation to the proportion of women managers and the number of women on the Board and positive associations with other social and environmental performance measures raise interesting gender issues for business ethics. Factor analysis leads to no clear conclusions but cluster does show two or three clear clusters of firms, where size would seem to be the main but not sole factor. Further areas of research are noted. [source]

Evaluation of therapeutic play: a challenge for research

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2000
Carroll
There is increased pressure on practitioners offering therapy to troubled children to provide evidence of efficacy of their interventions. However, current research has not yet provided the necessary evidence. There are considerable difficulties creating a quantitative research design which excludes all relevant variables and produces unequivocal data. Quantitative research, which mainly takes the form of narrative case studies, provides ample anecdotal evidence, but there is, as yet, no comprehensive review of these data nor clear conclusions drawn. It is also necessary to consider the purpose of a narrative case study: few claim to be objective or provide a comparative analysis of a given intervention. None of the research currently available includes the opinions of experiences of children. [source]