Suchergebnisse

This paper is mainly concerned with the real effects of different kinds of savings/investment incentives on the capital accumulation. Investment incentive programmes, at least in Italy, have been part of the Standard government budget for a long time. Therefore, especially from a policy-maker point of view, it is interesting to find out which are the quantitative impacts of these programmes. In particular the focus has been concentrated on: a) sector specific incentives to capital services; b) fiscal deductions on the income tax base and subsidies to purchasers of assets which qualify for the programme. These incentives schemes have been analysed performing numerical simulation of equal-yield tax changes within a general equilibrium growth model for Italy with overlapping generations. An intertemporal model has been used since the political discussion encompassing policy initiatives, such as the investment programmes, revolves around the steady-state effects rather than the static ones.

BACKGROUND: Travelers' diarrhea (TD) is a common illness experienced by travelers from developed countries who visit developing countries. Recent questionnaire-based surveillance studies showed that approximately 6%–16% of travelers experienced TD while visiting Thailand; however, a majority of TD information was limited mainly to US military populations. METHODS: A TD surveillance study was conducted at Bumrungrad International Hospital in 2012–2014 in Bangkok, Thailand. Enteropathogens were identified using conventional methods and the TaqMan® array card (TAC), which uses real-time polymerase chain reaction for the simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens. Analyses to determine pathogen–disease and symptoms association were performed to elucidate the clinical relevance of each enteropathogen. RESULTS: TAC identified more pathogens per sample than conventional methods. Campylobacter spp. were the most prevalent, followed by the diarrheagenic Escherichia coli and norovirus GII. These agents had significant pathogen–disease associations as well as high attributable fractions among diarrheal cases. A wide range of pathogen loads for Campylobacter spp. was associated with TD, while heat-labile toxin enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli was associated with an increased pathogen load. Most cases were associated with inflammatory diarrhea, while Campylobacter spp. and Shigella spp. were associated with dysentery. CONCLUSIONS: A pan-molecular diagnostic method such as TAC produces quantifiable and comparable results of all tested pathogens, thereby reducing the variability associated with multiple conventional methods. This allows better determination of the clinical relevance of each diarrhea etiologic agent, as well as their geographical relevance in Thailand.

The revival in cultural nationalism suggested by current debates about Australian history and literature represents (to borrow from Gillian Whitlock) both a potential pleasure and a danger for Australian literary studies. While the injection of funds augured by this shift in government policy could resuscitate and reinvigorate the discipline, at present, such funds seem to be contingent upon reviving a canonical approach to the teaching and researching of Australian literature. This situation places Australian literary studies at a crossroad. Rather than following the path of least resistance and reinstituting the canon, I advocate a move towards innovation: that is, an extension and realisation of the principles and insights of cultural materialism through quantitative methodologies and resourceful readings, as well as through eResearch more generally. This direction would propel Australian literary studies beyond its current crisis of confidence - by reinvigorating the discipline and offering it renewed institutional, political, social and critical relevance, and alternative funding opportunities - without reinvoking the canon, and hence rejecting the cultural materialism that has shaped and positioned Australian literary studies since the 1980s.

The revival in cultural nationalism suggested by current debates about Australian history and literature represents (to borrow from Gillian Whitlock) both a potential pleasure and a danger for Australian literary studies. While the injection of funds augured by this shift in government policy could resuscitate and reinvigorate the discipline, at present, such funds seem to be contingent upon reviving a canonical approach to the teaching and researching of Australian literature. This situation places Australian literary studies at a crossroad. Rather than following the path of least resistance and reinstituting the canon, I advocate a move towards innovation: that is, an extension and realisation of the principles and insights of cultural materialism through quantitative methodologies and resourceful readings, as well as through eResearch more generally. This direction would propel Australian literary studies beyond its current crisis of confidence - by reinvigorating the discipline and offering it renewed institutional, political, social and critical relevance, and alternative funding opportunities - without reinvoking the canon, and hence rejecting the cultural materialism that has shaped and positioned Australian literary studies since the 1980s.

Der Versuch, die aktuelle Entwicklung der Historischen Sozialforschung systematisch zu dokumentieren und zu analysieren, stützt sich neben der Datenbank FORIS des Informationszentrums Sozialwissenschaften (Bonn) auf eine abgeschlossene Dokumentation des Zentrums für Historische Sozialforschung (Köln). Die statistische Analyse von 564 beschriebenen Forschungsprojekten führte u.a. zu folgenden Ergebnissen: Im Vergleich zur empirischen Sozialforschung trägt die Historische Sozialforschung deutlich akademischen Charakter. Der zeitliche Schwerpunkt liegt bei der Zeit nach 1850; das Hauptinteresse gilt also der Geschichte der modernen, industriellen Gesellschaft. Bei den Erhebungsmethoden dominieren naturgemäß die Akten- und Inhaltsanalyse. (pmb)

The policy of unemployment is probably one of the most controversial issues among economists, social scientists and politicians. In this article, we argue that European regions with higher levels of social capital will tend to have lower levels of unemployment. Using a macro-quantitative cross-sectional analysis of 134 European regions, we show that a great deal of variability in sub-national unemployment rates can be accounted for by a particular level of regionally aggregated measures of the density and depth of social networks between individuals. In other words, higher levels of social capital will lead to more efficient use of information about the labour market, to lower search and transaction costs on both sides of the market, to a higher quality of applicants, to the efficient placement of individual workers, to less conflict between insiders and outsiders and to more intensive efforts to find work. All in all, higher levels of social capital can be expected to limit the numbers of unemployed. Even when applying simultaneous equation modelling to counter against a possible endogeneity problem, our findings remain robust.

The relevance of this research is due to the unabated interest of the international community in the struggle for regional leadership between Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which has unfolded in the Middle East for a number of years. The growing concerns of the KSA and its geopolitical allies, the United States and the small Arabian monarchies, related to the increasing influence of Iran on the military-political situation in Syria and Iraq, have raised in international discourse the question of the reality or impossibility of creating the so-called "Shiʻa crescent" under the auspices of Tehran. The idea is to unite the states of the Middle East, in which Shiʻa Muslims constitute the vast majority or a significant minority of the population, which would ensure Iran's decisive victory in the race for dominance in the region. However, until now, the question of a quantitative assessment of the real resources of the states included in the "Shiʻa crescent" has so far remained out of researchers' sight. In this regard, the aim of this article is to prove the absence of economic and military-political prerequisites for the formation of the "Shiʻa crescent" by using the method of quantitative indicators from databases, rankings and indices and a network analysis of conventional arms supplies within the "Sunni" and "Shiʻa" blocs. The databases of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Doing Business, Human Capital, Global Firepower, Global Terrorism, and Global Peace rankings, as well as World Bank statistical reports served as an empirical basis for the research. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was constructive realism, which takes into account both quantitative indicators and the ideological and value attitudes of the state in the analysis of international relations. The study showed that the "Shiʻa crescent" is a purely propaganda construct, and cannot become a real interstate association.

Abstract
Background
Excessive cadmium can damage cell structure, inhibit enzyme activity, and affect metabolic process, thus, leading to decline of rice yield and quality. Root is an important organ of crops, the detection of cadmium in root is essential for limitation of cadmium in rice grains.

Results
In this study, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was applied for cadmium quantitative analysis. Pretreatment methods, including median absolute deviation, wavelet transform, area normalization, were used to improve spectral stability. Scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM/EDS) was first used to analyze ablation pit surface characteristics and the results showed significant positive correlation with spectral lines of Cd II 214.44, Cd II 226.50 and Cd I 228.80 nm. Univariable models of spectral lines showed that three Cd spectral lines have good prediction for cadmium. Fitting methods including linear, logarithmic, and polynomial were used to propose characteristic input variables, and univariable models based on variable of polynomial fitting of I214.44 nm have achieved the best effect (Rp = 0.9821 and RMSEP = 31.1 mg/kg). Besides, partial least squares regression (PLSR), least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) and extreme learning machine (ELM) were used for multivariate analysis. Compared with univariate analysis, ELM model based on the full spectrum (Rp = 0.9896 and RMSEP = 26.0 mg/kg) had more advantages for cadmium detection.

Conclusion
Compared with traditional methods (150 min), the quantitative detection method based on LIBS technology (less than 5 min) greatly reduces the detection time of heavy metals. The results showed that LIBS has proved to be a reliable method for quantitative detection of cadmium in rice roots. The research can provide theoretical support for timely detection of heavy metals in crop and food production.

Software projects require a right mix of the software resources and the expertise to increase the chances of timely completion. The interface for the resource allocation to the software projects is provided by the project factors. The identification of the comprehensive project factors for the diversified nature of projects in itself is an open research area. This paper is based on a quantitative study that helps in identifying the prominent software project factors for large scale projects. The paper then, as a result provides a list of project success factors and provides the statistical evidence to support the result of the survey.

AbstractDynamic work environments in construction and civil infrastructure sectors remain susceptible to safety risks. Although previous research has resulted in improvements, there is currently a gap in measuring temporal impacts of safety risks quantitatively. Precise modeling of potential delays caused by safety incidents is vital for efficient management of risks and making informed decisions on project contingency. Toward this aim, the current research adopts a nondeterministic modeling method to simulate and quantify safety incidents and find correlations with project delays. Using a deductive approach, three research questions were formulated, and investigations conducted on Australian data collected from 2016 onwards. Quantitative impacts of safety risks on project completion times were numerically measured. Furthermore, safety risks were ranked based on their significance of temporal impacts on project performance. This paper contributes to the theory of safety management by developing a nondeterministic method to model impacts of safety risks at both industry and project levels. Practical contributions and outcomes can facilitate using machine learning methods to plan proportionate time buffers to address safety risks.

Students in two iterations of a statistics course were required to develop work-related research questions that could be analyzed by the statistical techniques discussed in class. They were also expected to present the question and other research design components in a manner that could be comprehended by statistical novices. To provide sufficient class time for the groups to begin work on their assignments, the course's second iteration substituted Kahn Academy videos for a portion of the lecture material. However, observations of the students' behaviors and qualitative analysis of the responses to open-ended course evaluation questions indicate that efforts to encourage self-directed learning were undermined by an allegiance to stimulus-response learning, i.e. a preference for courses in which students are told what they need to know. Since the preference is based on a desire to maximize the grades generated by a given investment of time, the impending iteration of the course incentivizes self-directed learning by incorporating into the course grade calculation the students' contributions to their group's efforts and participation in class discussions. The revised grading structure is intended to encourage self-directed learning in which students teach and learn from one another and thereby engage in deep learning.