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Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences42%
Medical Sciences28%

Selected Abstracts

Using Taylor Rules to Understand European Central Bank Monetary Policy

GERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 3 2007
Stephan Sauer
Taylor rule; European Central Bank; real-time data Abstract. Over the last decade, the simple instrument policy rule developed by Taylor has become a popular tool for evaluating the monetary policy of central banks. As an extensive empirical analysis of the European Central Bank's (ECB) past behaviour still seems to be in its infancy, we estimate several instrument policy reaction functions for the ECB to shed some light on actual monetary policy in the euro area under the presidency of Wim Duisenberg and answer questions like whether the ECB has actually followed a stabilizing or a destabilizing rule so far. Looking at contemporaneous Taylor rules, the evidence presented suggests that the ECB is accommodating changes in inflation and hence follows a destabilizing policy. However, this impression seems to be largely due to the lack of a forward-looking perspective in such specifications. Either assuming rational expectations and using a forward-looking specification, or using expectations as derived from surveys result in Taylor rules that do imply a stabilizing role of the ECB. The use of real-time industrial production data does not seem to play such a significant role as in the case of the United States. [source]

Treating fungal skin infections

PRESCRIBER, Issue 19 2006
Article first published online: 28 JAN 200
Specialists Dr Rosemary Barnes and Dr Brendan Healy answer questions posed by GP Dr Tom Poyner on fungal skin infections and comment on two case histories. Copyright © 2006 Wiley Interface Ltd [source]

Game Theory, Information, and Deliberative Democracy

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2009
Dimitri Landa
We contend that, with a suitably broad notion of rationality and a diverse set of motivations, the game-theoretic tradition is particularly well suited for generating insights about effects of deliberative institutions and that progress in the development of deliberative democratic theory hinges on making proper sense of the relationship between game-theoretic and normative theoretic approaches to deliberation. To advance this view, we explore the central methodological issues at the core of that relationship and address the arguments raised against the relevance of game-theoretic work on deliberation. We develop a framework for thinking about the differences in how the normative and the game-theoretic approaches frame and answer questions about deliberation and articulate an approach to a deliberative democratic theory that builds on the strengths of both of these theoretic traditions, properly informed by empirical scholarship. [source]

Most earcons do not interfere with spoken passage comprehension

APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2009
Terri L. Bonebright
A cross-modal dual attention experiment was completed by 198 undergraduates in three blocks that each consisted of an orientation task and a concurrent listening task. For the orientation task, participants located regions on an LCD that were cued by speech or one of four types of symbolic auditory cues (i.e. earcons); the concurrent task required participants to listen to and answer questions about GRE sample test passages. Results indicated the orientation task had no effect on comprehension of the passages compared to a passage-only control for four of the five auditory cue types. All auditory cues resulted in high performance for the orientation task, with speech and complex sounds exhibiting the highest performance. Implications for auditory display design and for assistive technologies for visually impaired persons are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Building a Simulation-based Crisis Resource Management Course for Emergency Medicine, Phase 1: Results from an Interdisciplinary Needs Assessment Survey

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2008
Christopher M. Hicks BSc
Abstract Introduction:, Emergency department (ED) resuscitation requires the coordinated efforts of an interdisciplinary team. Human errors are common and have a negative impact on patient safety. Although crisis resource management (CRM) skills are utilized in other clinical domains, most emergency medicine (EM) caregivers currently receive no formal CRM training. Objectives:, The objectives were to compile and compare attitudes toward CRM training among EM staff physicians, nurses, and residents at two Canadian academic teaching hospitals. Methods:, Emergency physicians (EPs), residents, and nurses were asked to complete a Web survey that included Likert scales and short answer questions. Focus groups and pilot testing were used to inform survey development. Thematic content analysis was performed on the qualitative data set and compared to quantitative results. Results:, The response rate was 75.7% (N = 84). There was strong consensus regarding the importance of core CRM principles (i.e., effective communication, team leadership, resource utilization, problem-solving, situational awareness) in ED resuscitation. Problems with coordinating team actions (58.8%), communication (69.6%), and establishing priorities (41.3%) were among factors implicated in adverse events. Interdisciplinary collaboration (95.1%), efficiency of patient care (83.9%), and decreased medical error (82.6%) were proposed benefits of CRM training. Communication between disciplines is a barrier to effective ED resuscitation for 94.4% of nurses and 59.7% of EPs (p = 0.008). Residents reported a lack of exposure to (64.3%), yet had interest in (96.4%) formal CRM education using human patient simulation. Conclusions:, Nurses rate communication as a barrier to teamwork more frequently than physicians. EM residents are keen to learn CRM skills. An opportunity exists to create a novel interdisciplinary CRM curriculum to improve EM team performance and mitigate human error. [source]

Negotiating new visions: An interview with Anthony Shelton by Gustaaf Houtman

ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 6 2009
Anthony Shelton
In his interview, Anthony Shelton reflects on his past 25 years working in museums and universities and the changing relationship between anthropology and ethnographic exhibitions and museum practices. Shelton talks about the field of critical museology which he has theorized and set out over many years and which stands as a substantial critique of conventional museum practice, and answers questions about the emergence and potential of new radical approaches to the exhibition of indigenous cultures as exemplified by the UBC Museum of Anthropology's multi-million dollar project, ,A Partnership of Peoples' which is due to open in January of 2010. [source]

Digital Rank-and-file: Party Activists' Perceptions and Use of the Internet

BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2004
Wainer Lusoli
Political parties are in a transitional phase. A declining, socially restricted membership, decreasing levels of activism and a shift towards more individualistic modes of political engagement threaten the linkage role that parties have played in modern democracy. The development of the Internet in a period of change has meant that it quickly became intertwined with debates about reviving representative political organisations. Using data from a survey of party activists in the UK (N = 4,770), this article answers questions about the perception and use of new media by party activists, the Internet's potential for members' participation and engagement and the penetration of the Internet in pre-existing political careers. In general, the article asks which role new media are playing in the transition of political parties. [source]