Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Larger Degree (larger + degree)
Selected AbstractsBrief alcohol intervention,where to from here?ADDICTION, Issue 6 2010Challenges remain for research, practice ABSTRACT Brief intervention (BI) is intended as an early intervention for non-treatment-seeking, non-alcohol-dependent, hazardous and harmful drinkers. This text provides a brief summary of key BI research findings from the last three decades and discusses a number of knowledge gaps that need to be addressed. Five areas are described: patient intervention efficacy and effectiveness; barriers to BI implementation by health professionals; individual-level factors that impact on BI implementation; organization-level factors that impact on BI implementation; and society-level factors that impact on BI implementation. BI research has focused largely upon the individual patient and health professional levels, with the main focus upon primary health care research, and studies are lacking in other settings. However, research must, to a larger degree, take into account the organizational and wider context in which BI occurs, as well as interaction between factors at different levels, in order to advance the understanding of how wider implementation of BI can be achieved in various settings and how different population groups can be reached. It is also important to expand BI research beyond its current parameters to investigate more ambitious long-term educational programmes and new organizational models. More widespread implementation of BI will require many different interventions (efforts, actions, initiatives, etc.) at different interlinked levels, from implementation interventions targeting individual health professionals' knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours concerning alcohol issues, BI and behaviour change counselling to efforts at the organizational and societal levels that influence the conditions for delivering BI as part of routine health care. [source] Extraregional Linkages and the Territorial Embeddedness of Multinational Branch Plants: Evidence from the South Tyrol Region in Northeast ItalyECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2006Markus Perkmann Abstract: This article reevaluates the regional embeddedness of multinational manufacturing branch plants in view of recent work on global production networks and extraregional links. It argues that the predominance of extraregional production linkages is not necessarily detrimental to regional economies and that such linkages can even compensate for weak territorial innovations systems in noncore regions. The arguments are supported by a case study of the South Tyrol region of Italy, using firm-level data from surveys and interviews, complemented by evidence on institutional conditions. The findings suggest that neither the branch plants nor the locally owned manufacturing firms are strongly embedded in the region in terms of material linkages and interorganizational relationships, indicating that the ownership status of firms is not a good predictor of embeddedness. Second, compared to local firms, branch plants are more innovative and hence contribute to a larger degree to regional upgrading processes. Third, South Tyrol's core institutional structures, such as those governing the labor force, play a decisive role in the competitiveness of branch plants and therefore create codependencies that bind these producers to the territory. The results suggest a more differentiated assessment of the role of branch plants within noncore regions. [source] Aggregation Bias in Elasticities of Substitution and the Minimum Wage ParadoxINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2000Coen N. Teulings While the employment effects of minimum wages are usually reported to be small (suggesting low substitutability between skill types), direct estimates suggest a much larger degree of substitutability. This article argues that this paradox is largely due to a bias induced by the aggregation of skill types into broad categories. An assignment model is applied where skilled workers have a comparative advantage in complex jobs. The implied pattern of substitutability reveals the sources of the bias. Estimation results for the United States show elasticities of complementarity to be underestimated by up to a factor 2.5. The methods laid out likewise can be applied to other markets where different quality types are close substitutes, such as the housing market. [source] The normal and cancerous living cellINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 14 2006Janos Ladik Abstract We do not have a definition of the living and cancerous states; we can give only their main characteristics at the different levels of organization: cell, organ, and organism. A simple model is proposed for a normal eukaryotic cell based on Prigogine's equation of chemical kinetics with diffusion. In this model, possibly only a few hundred key biochemical reactions should be selected together with their rate and diffusion constants. To solve these coupled nonlinear partial differential equation systems, it is proposed that the model cell be subdivided into compartments and that the problem be worked out always for one compartment (finite element method). This is possible, since the most important biochemical reactions and reaction cycles occur in different parts of the cell. The solutions (concentrations) obtained in one compartment can be used as input to the other compartments (together with the components entering from the environment). As an example, the problem of 10 reactions and 3 compartments has been solved by discretizing the space coordinates and choosing time steps. The solutions obtained by solving the 10 differential equations directly and by the compartmentalization agree very well. The main obstacles to further progress lie in the right choice of reactions and compartments, as well as in the correct estimation of the rate and diffusion constants, which were measured in only a few cases. If such a model cell can be obtained, the solutions should be investigated to determine (i) for their stability (homeostasis); (ii) whether changing the input concentrations to a larger degree one would obtain a new stationary state showing the characteristics of a precancerous state; and (iii) a method of extracting those input concentrations, or functions of them, which are the most important regulatory parameters. If successful, this would provide a scientific definition of the living state in the normal and cancerous states, respectively, at least at the cell level. Finally, outline is provided showing how the model might be extended to multicellular cases, as well as the main difficulties of such a process. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006 [source] Is there a ,New Managerial Work'?JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 7 2006A Comparison with Henry Mintzberg's Classic Study 30 Years Later abstract This comparative study of top executives' work aimed at examining the stability of top managerial behaviour reveals a relatively different pattern of behaviour compared with the study by Henry Mintzberg. The main differences are a much larger workload, a contact pattern to a larger degree oriented towards subordinates in group-settings, a greater emphasis on giving information, and less preoccupation with administrative work. One important finding is that fragmentation of time , in previous studies highlighted as a central tenet of managerial work , was not as prevalent in the new study. The different results can be attributed (with caution) to the impact of the management discourse about leadership and corporate culture, and to factors such as organizational structure and geographical dispersion of companies. However, there are also significant similarities between the two studies which indicate that claims of the emergence of a radically different managerial work are much exaggerated. Instead the empirical data shows that new work-practices are combined with older practices, both in a complex and context-specific ways. Therefore, there is a need for better integration between theoretical development and empirical investigations in this field of inquiry. [source] Factors Determining Grain Orientation in Bismuth Sodium Potassium Titanate,Lead Zirconate Titanate Solid Solutions Made by the Reactive Templated Grain Growth MethodJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 5 2002Yuichi Abe Grain-oriented Bi0.5(Na0.85K0.15)0.5TiO3 -Pb(Zr1,xTix)O3 (BNKT-PZT) ceramics were prepared via the reactive templated grain growth method, using platelike Bi4Ti3O12 particles. Factors that determine the degree of orientation were examined. Prereacted PZT gave a larger degree of orientation than PZT raw materials (PbO, ZrO2, and TiO2) in the 75BNKT-25PZT (x= 0.5) system. Increases in the titanium concentration in the PZT of the 75BNKT-25PZT system and in the BNKT concentration in the yBNKT-(100 ,y)PZT (x= 0.5) system increased the degree of orientation. The direction of material transport between BNKT and PZT was important to obtain ceramics with a large degree of orientation. [source] Do hypermobile subjects without pain have alteration to the feedback mechanisms controlling the shoulder girdle?MUSCULOSKELETAL CARE, Issue 3 2010H.M. Jeremiah BSc (Hons), MMACP Abstract Objectives:,It has been reported that hypermobile subjects have proprioceptive deficits. However, it remains unclear whether pain-free subjects with hypermobility also have deficits. Methods:,Ten subjects with hypermobility and nine without hypermobility were recruited following ethical approval and informed consent. Shoulder mobility, joint position sense (JPS) and a reflex of trapezius evoked from arm afferents were compared. Results:,There was greater shoulder mobility in the hypermobile group (p = 0.004). There were no differences in shoulder JPS between the groups (p = 0.27), although, the hypermobile group displayed a larger degree of variability (p = 0.014). Finally, there were no differences in the latency of upper and lower trapezius reflexes evoked from arm afferents (p = 0.86 and 0.98, respectively). Conclusions:,In a group of people with hypermobility without shoulder problems, there was no difference in either shoulder JPS or reflex latency when compared with a non- hypermobile group. The relevance of pain to proprioceptive deficits is discussed. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Measurement of the residual mechanical properties of crazed polycarbonate.POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 1 2002I: Qualitative analysis A new technique to quantify the bulk craze density of transparent plates was used to characterize the craze growth behavior of polycarbonate at various stress levels. The craze growth rates were found to exponentially increase with an increase in stress, obeying the Eyring equation for thermally activated processes in the presence of an applied stress. The residual mechanical properties of crazed polycarbonate were then correlated to the crazing stress, relative craze density and strain rate. The results show that increasing the bulk craze density does not affect the yield stress but decreases both the failure stress and ductility of polycarbonate. Also, a crazing stress of 40 MPa was found to cause a much larger degree of degradation of failure properties than a crazing stress of 45 MPa. Correlating the crazing stress to the craze microstructure revealed that fewer, larger crazes form at the lower crazing stress. Therefore, flaw size has a greater effect on the failure properties of polycarbonate than flaw quantity. [source] Short-Term Antiandrogen Flutamide Treatment Causes Structural Alterations in Somatic Cells Associated with Premature Detachment of Spermatids in the Testis of Pubertal and Adult Guinea PigsREPRODUCTION IN DOMESTIC ANIMALS, Issue 3 2010LR Maschio Contents In spite of widespread application of flutamide in the endocrine therapies of young and adult patients, the side effects of this antiandrogen on spermatogenesis and germ-cell morphology remain unclear. This study evaluates the short-term androgen blockage effect induced by the administration of flutamide to the testes of pubertal (30-day old) and adult (65- and 135-day old) guinea pigs, with an emphasis on ultrastructural alterations of main cell types. The testes removed after 10 days of treatment with either a non-steroidal antiandrogen, flutamide (10 mg/kg of body weight) or a pharmacological vehicle alone were processed for histological, quantitative and ultrastructural analysis. In pubertal animals, flutamide androgenic blockage induces spermatogonial differentiation and accelerates testes maturation, causing degeneration and detachment of primary spermatocytes and round spermatids, which are subsequently found in great quantities in the epididymis caput. In post-pubertal and adult guinea pigs, in addition to causing germ-cell degeneration, especially in primary spermatocytes, and leading to the premature detachment of spherical spermatids, the antiandrogen treatment increased the relative volume of Leydig cells. In addition, ultrastructural evaluation indicated that irrespective of age antiandrogen treatment causes an increase in frequency of organelles involved with steroid hormone synthesis in the Leydig cells and a dramatic accumulation of myelin figures in their cytoplasm and, to a larger degree, in Sertoli cells. In conclusion, the transient exposition of the guinea pigs to flutamide, at all postnatal ages causes some degenerative lesions including severe premature detachment of spermatids and accumulation of myelin bodies in Leydig and Sertoli cells, compromising, at least temporarily, the spermatogenesis. [source] Comparing Travel Cost Models And The Precision Of Their Consumer Surplus Estimates: Albert Park And Maroondah ReservoirAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 4 2003Nicola Lansdell This study examines different types of Travel Cost Models to estimate and compare the recreational values of two parks in Victoria, Australia: Maroondah Reservoir and Albert Park. Zonal Travel Cost models and a number of different functional forms are used in this study. Standard errors are used to estimate upper and lower bounds for the recreational value estimates, enabling comparison between the precision of the different types of Travel Cost Models and functional forms estimated. The double log functional form city zone Travel Cost Model was chosen as the best estimate for Albert Park's recrea-tional value at $22.9 million per year. Maroondah Reservoir's best estimate is provided by the double log functional form regional zone Travel Cost Model at a value of $2.5 million per year, consider-ably less than that of Albert Park. Albert Park is found to have a comparatively larger ,proximity power' (attracting many more visitors) while Maroondah Reservoir exhibited a larger degree of ,pulling power' (a higher proportion of its visitors travel further distances). [source] | ||||||||||||||||