Modest Impact (modest + impact)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


KEEPING IN CONTROL: THE MODEST IMPACT OF THE EU ON DANISH LEGISLATION

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2010
JØRGEN GRØNNEGAARD CHRISTENSEN
Membership of the EU and the scope of European integration are still contested issues in Danish politics. However, the impact of EU legislation on Danish legislation is relatively modest and highly concentrated within the field generally related to the regulation of the internal market. Strong upstream procedures at both the interdepartmental and the parliamentary level have been installed that effectively protect Danish policy-makers against political surprises in EU legislative politics. Upstream procedures are much stronger than the downstream ones for overseeing the implementation of EU policies and they ensure a high degree of consensus on specific EU legislation, both among the political parties in the Danish Parliament and among affected interests. As a result the transposition of directives is mainly a ministerial responsibility, and within the well-established fields of cooperation, the decree is the preferred legal instrument. [source]


Modest Impact of a Brief Curricular Intervention on Poor Documentation of Sexual History in University-Based Resident Internal Medicine Clinics

THE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 10 2010
Danielle F. Loeb MD
ABSTRACT Introduction., Providers need an accurate sexual history for appropriate screening and counseling. While curricula on sexual history taking have been described, the impact of such interventions on resident physician performance of the sexual history remains unknown. Aims., Our aims were to assess the rates of documentation of sexual histories, the rates of documentation of specific components of the sexual history, and the impact of a teaching intervention on this documentation by Internal Medicine residents. Methods., The study design was a teaching intervention with a pre- and postintervention chart review. Participants included postgraduate years two (PGY-2) and three (PGY-3) Internal Medicine residents (N = 25) at two university-based outpatient continuity clinics. Residents received an educational intervention consisting of three 30-minute, case-based sessions in the fall of 2007. Main Outcome Measures., We reviewed charts from health-care maintenance visits pre- and postintervention. We analyzed within resident pre- and postrates of sexual history taking and the number of sexual history components documented using paired t -tests. Results., In total, we reviewed 369 pre- and 260 postintervention charts. The mean number of charts per resident was 14.8 (range 8,29) pre-intervention and 10.4 (range 3,25) postintervention. The mean documentation rate per resident for one or more components of sexual history pre- and postintervention were 22.5% (standard deviation [SD] = 18.1%) and 31.7% (SD = 20.4%), respectively, P < 0.01. The most frequently documented components of sexual history were current sexual activity, number of current sexual partners, and gender of current sexual partner. The least documented components were history of specific sexually transmitted infections, gender of sexual partners over lifetime, and sexual behaviors. Conclusion., An educational intervention modestly improved documentation of sexual histories by Internal Medicine residents. Future studies should examine the effects of more comprehensive educational interventions and the impact of such interventions on physician behavior or patient care outcomes. Loeb DF, Aagaard EM, Cali SR, and Lee RS. Modest impact of a brief curricular intervention on poor documentation of sexual history in university-based resident internal medicine clinics. J Sex Med 2010;7:3315,3321. [source]


Homicide, psychopathology, prosecutorial and jury discretion and the death penalty

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2000
Chief, Division of Forensic Psychiatry, Richard M. Yarvis MD MPH Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Introduction The American preoccupation with the death penalty persists and, in fact, shows no sign of abatement. This is demonstrated not only by attitudinal measures but also by the quickening pace of executions. In California, homicide convictions can result in either 25-year-to-life, life-with-no-possibility-of-parole, or death sentences. The ultimate outcome in any given case is determined by a complex interaction of prosecutorial and jury decisions. Three vignettes illustrate how heinous crimes have been handled quite variably. Method A data set comprising 115 homicide cases was examined. To determine how murderers who qualify for the death penalty differed, if at all, from those who did not so qualify, 52 defendants who met the criteria for a death sentence were compared with 63 who did not. Criteria utilized and ignored by prosecutors in seeking the death penalty were analysed by comparing 39 cases in which death sentences could have been and were sought with 13 cases in which prosecutors chose to seek a lesser penalty instead. Finally, criteria utilized and ignored by juries to reach sentencing decisions were analysed by comparing 25 cases in which juries chose not to hand down death sentences with 14 cases in which they did render death verdicts. Results Special circumstance murderers did not differ significantly on personal variables from ordinary murderers. (1) Special circumstances were invariably charged when more than one criterion for this was present. Robbery and sexual assault usually provoked a special circumstances charge. Mitigating factors did not deter prosecutors from charging a special circumstance. (2) There was no excess of aggravating factors in individuals sentenced to death by juries, indeed there was a trend for the opposite to be the case, but there was a trend for mitigating factors to be commoner in those excused the death penalty. Conclusion It is not clear that the death penalty process in California carries out the legislature's intent but the US Supreme Court's 1976 mandate that mitigating and aggravating factors should provide discretion may be having a modest impact. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


Cancer of the esophagus and gastric cardia: recent advances,

DISEASES OF THE ESOPHAGUS, Issue 1 2004
G. N. J. Tytgat
SUMMARY., Esophageal cancer and cancer of the gastric cardia, in particular adenocarcinomas, have shown a rapid and largely unexplained increase in incidence in many developed countries around the world. These diseases have a poor prognosis and current therapies have a modest impact on survival. This review presents recent advances in the epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, staging, prevention and treatment of resectable and advanced disease. Although significant progress has been made in these areas of research and patient management over the past years, prognosis for most patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer or cancer of the gastric cardia remains poor. New diagnostic procedures, improved surgical procedures, combined treatment modalities and new treatment modalities are being evaluated and may be expected to contribute to improved patient outcomes and better palliation of symptoms in the future. [source]


Money Market Uncertainty and Retail Interest Rate Fluctuations: A Cross-Country Comparison

GERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
Burkhard Raunig
Interest rate pass-through; relationship banking; conditional volatility Abstract. This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between money market uncertainty and unexpected deviations in retail interest rates in a sample of ten OECD countries. We find that, with the exception of the United States, money market uncertainty has only a modest impact on the conditional volatility of retail interest rates. Even for the United States, we find that the effects of money market uncertainty are spread out over time. Our results also indicate that money market uncertainty tends to be passed on to retail rates to a lesser extent in countries where banking relationships play a substantial role. [source]


Transnational Organizing in Agrarian Central America: Histories, Challenges, Prospects

JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 2-3 2008
MARC EDELMAN
Central America was one of the principal regions where transnational peasant organizing emerged and from which it spread in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Yet by the late 1990s the seemingly powerful transnational peasant coalitions were in disarray. Their successors have had only a modest impact since 2001. The article points to two main sources of weakness in Central America's transnational peasant coalitions: first, a variety of intra-organizational problems, including political differences, disputes over resources, over-funding by cooperation agencies, and an emphasis on networking activity, rather than concrete gains, as a measure of success; and second, an external political, economic and demographic environment that has become increasingly unfavourable. Elements of the latter include the long-term declines in maize and coffee prices, only recently reversed in 2006; the declining importance of agriculture and the imposition of a new economic model centred around industrial and financial activities; and the rapidly growing levels of out-migration and of dependence of those remaining in the countryside on family remittances and non-agricultural activities. The article concludes not with definitive arguments, but rather with a series of questions about what might constitute effective strategies for transnational peasant organizing in an extremely problematic context, such as contemporary Central America. [source]


The Operational Codes of Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung: The Last Cold Warriors?

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Akan Malici
Although the end of the Cold War brought the transformation of the communist bloc, some states have resisted the ensuing wave of democratization. This study assumes that important mechanisms of continuity and change in communist states are situated in the belief systems of their leaders and that the years between 1985 and 1991 were a catalytic period. What did Fidel Castro of Cuba and Kim Il Sung of North Korea learn from the end of the Cold War? Their belief systems are examined prior to 1985 and after 1991, i.e., before and after the collapse of other communist regimes. If learning has occurred, it should be reflected in a comparison of their beliefs for these time periods. Our results from ANOVA analyses indicate that Fidel Castro engaged in some learning but Kim Il Sung did not. This finding is complemented by the results of a MANOVA analysis, which indicate that the end of the Cold War had only a modest impact on Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung, independent of their specific personalities. We conclude by drawing attention to the ensuing debate between structural- and agent-level theorizing and by giving some suggestions for future research. [source]


Ethnic differences in spatial mobility: the impact of family ties

POPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 4 2009
Aslan Zorlu
Abstract In the last three decades, the population of Amsterdam has been ,coloured' due to immigration flows from abroad and a low outflow rate among these immigrants and their descendants. The question is to what extent differences in the spatial mobility behaviours of migrants and natives are generated by neighbourhood characteristics , including the level of ethnic segregation and family ties? This article examines spatial mobility processes in the Amsterdam population using administrative individual data covering the entire population of the city. The analysis shows that Caribbean (Surinamese and Antillean) migrants have a higher probability of moving to the suburbs while Moroccans and Turks tend to rearrange themselves within the city. The estimates reveal that neighbourhood ,quality' has only a modest impact on the probability of moving, while family ties significantly hamper the out-mobility of all individuals. The impact of family ties is the largest for Turkish and Moroccan migrants. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


DonorNet and the Potential Effects on Organ Utilization

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 4p2 2010
D. A. Gerber
The evolution of communication as donor data flows from organ procurement organization to transplant centers has evolved with the incorporation of DonorNet 2007® into the UNetSM system. The ensuing study looks at DonorNet's impact on this process. We established defined time periods for comparison purposes. The study looked at match number for organ placement and overall organ utilization with a focus on ischemia time and graft outcomes. The results of the study demonstrate no significant change in the median match number of organ placement in liver or kidney transplantation. Changes in discard rates were varied amongst transplanted organs and there were noticeable changes in organ sharing with an increase in local allocation for kidney and liver and an ensuing decrease in regional and national distribution. There were no significant differences in the outcomes of livers and kidneys with low offer numbers compared with those with high offer numbers. Overall the study suggests a modest impact by DonorNet on organ placement and utilization, but a longer term study would need to be done to fully evaluate its impact. [source]


The Introduction of Choice of Superannuation Fund: Results to Date

AUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 40 2006
ROSS CLARE
Commonwealth legislation providing for choice of superannuation fund has now been in operation since 1 July 2005. This paper explores the extent to which employees have exercised choice in the period immediately following the implementation of fund choice. The data available suggest that choice of fund has had only a modest impact. However, while community awareness of superannuation has increased and the level of member attachment to the main superannuation fund has increased, a downturn in investment returns, and subsequently in member sentiment, could have a significant impact on member preparedness to choose another fund [source]


The impact of the Asian Crisis on Australia's primary exports: why it wasn't so bad

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2000
Ron Duncan
This article explores the modest impact of the Asian Crisis on Australia's primary commodity exports. Simulations using a global general equilibrium model show: (i) as capital flees Asia, investment in Australia increases and the trade deficit grows; (ii) while terms of trade deteriorate in the short run, they improve in the medium run as import demand increases in the crisis countries; (iii) exports of primary commodities expand as the crisis countries try to export more; (iv) more income-elastic primary commodities fare less well than the income-inelastic foodstuffs as incomes decline in the crisis countries; (v) Australia's relatively low dependence on manufactured exports was a buffer as manufactured exports came under heavy pressure from exports from the crisis countries. [source]