bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A problem of moral, medical and social nature. The views on alcohol and drug problems among staff in the addiction treatment in Stockholm
Authors: Palm Jessica
Published: January 2018

One of the aims of the study “Men and Women in Swedish Alcohol and Drug Treatment” is to find out how both the staff and clients in the system, as well as with the general population view alcohol and drug problems. The aim of the paper is to analyse with the help of a questionnaire how the staff in the Stockholm County Addiction Treatment System, within the health sector, view alcohol and drug problems and treatments of these problems.

The results show that staff comply with the disease concept, although more so for alcohol than for drugs, as well as with the idea of alcohol and drug problems as mainly a social problem. At the same time, they tend to view the patients as partially responsible for be-coming alcohol or drug addicts, and fully responsible for resolving their problems, which in itself implies a somewhat moralistic view. All the respondents seem to hold much the same views, which in turn skews answer distributions and produces negligible differences between the various groups. Nonetheless these attitudes can be of some importance to the relationship between the patients and staff and for treatment in general.
Who drinks more in Sweden? A study on consumption trends among men and women and in various age groups during 1990–2002
Authors: Leifman Håkan
Published: January 2018

This study examines trends in alcohol consumption in Sweden from 1990 to 2002, with the emphasis on the period after 1995 with Sweden as a member of the European Union (EU). The specific aim of the study is to study gender-specific and age-specific trends in self-reported consumption by means of five general population surveys conducted between 1990 and 2002. Trends in the proportion of high consumers were also studied.

Alcohol sales and estimates of unrecorded consumption indicate that Swedish per capita alcohol consumption (per person aged 15 or older) rose by approximately 27 per cent, from 7.8 litres of pure alcohol in 1990 to 9.9 litres in 2002. Approximately 90 per cent of this increase has occurred since 1996. Analyses of self-reported consumption from survey data confirm this trend with more than a 30 per cent increase for both genders (aged 16–75 years) since 1996. Among women, this is mainly due to increased wine consumption, and among men to augmented consumption of wine as well as beer. Furthermore, the proportion of high consumers has increased – and more so than the per capita consumption. The study also shows that changes in consumption during the period of 1990 to 2002 differ for the various gender-and age-specific groups. Among women, for in-stance, the increase since 1996 has been strongest for the oldest women (50–75 years of age), and since 1998 statistically significant only among this group. The weakest, and thus not statistically significant, increase has occurred among women between the ages of 30 and 49.

It is important to track the changes not only among men and women and various age groups, but also in the different sub-groups of the population, since changes in per capita consumption are strongly related to changes in different alcohol-related problems. Other groups of importance are e.g. various social classes (including the long-term unemployed and people on long-term disability benefits), regions, family units and, not least, different drinking groups, including high consumers. Improved knowledge of how consumption changes in different socio-demo-graphic groups will also improve our understanding of the causes and mechanisms behind changes in alcohol consumption in society.
Alcohol and the meetings between young women and men
Authors: Abrahamson Maria
Published: January 2018

For this study, focus group interviews were carried out in different parts of Sweden with young women and men from varying social environments. The groups were taken from naturally existing networks of friends, with one of the principal items of discussion centering on the role of alcohol in the social interplay between the sexes. The analysis shows both similarities and differences in how women and men talk about the significance of alcohol in the contact-making process. Both parties attribute a similarly high importance to alcohol in the facilitation of flirtation. In the discussion of the pick-up situation, however, clear differences emerge. The women maintained that it was possible for a woman to take the sexual initiative and be intoxicated, albeit within certain limits. The men's description of the corresponding situation focussed on intoxication as a means of relaxed and natural contact with women.
The therapists' experience of alcohol addiction treatment – a qualitative study
Authors: Nielsen Anette Søgaard
Published: January 2018

The present study is a qualitative study, based on audio-taped interviews with 12 therapists, on how therapists view their own role as therapists within the alcohol treatment areas.

The study describes how the therapists create an image of the patients they treat, and the rationale, they build the treatment on. The analysis of the therapists' stories indicated that therapists based their treatment on a platform that was constructed and negotiated by means of various kinds of information and knowledge. From this stock of information the therapists pulled out and interpreted elements that made coherent sense to them and provided indications about where to go next in the course of treatment.

The stories about treatment were told within the frames of a recognisable structure, consisting of the patient's predisposition to treatment, empowerment, transformation and re-construction. Within this structure, the therapists rhetorically made use of various patterns to describe their communication with the patients. The rhetoric can be regarded as an indication of how the therapists perceive their role as therapist.

As the therapist viewed it, treatment was aimed at helping the patient overcome dependence and at the same time letting the patient be the active decision-maker. The stories about treatment showed how the therapist viewed treatment as an act of balancing between dependence and independence.
When I had too much to drink
Authors: Abrahamson Maria
Published: January 2018

Focus group interviews were carried out in different parts of Sweden with young men and women aged about 20 from different social groups. The groups were selected from naturally existing networks of friends. Considering that the consumption of alcohol has increased strongly in this age group over recent years, the purpose was to get a notion of how the young people are reasoning in an everyday fashion about alcohol. In this study, it is shown how in the form of narratives they tell about their own experiences of having drunk too much at times. The value system at the background of these narratives is examined with the aid of the accounts given of why drinking became excessive and how the narrators explain and excuse what happened.

The moral emerging from the accounts is that in our culture he/she who drinks too much risks to be questioned in moral terms. At the same time, the acceptance by listeners of the accounts shows which reasons are considered acceptable for excessive drinking and on what grounds such a conduct may meet with understanding and instead be regarded as an involuntary and reasonable response to outer pressure or to other circumstances beyond the narrator's control.
Forgotten or neglected experiences with community action on alcohol
Authors: Moskalewicz Jacek , Zielinski Antoni
Published: January 2018

The aim of this article is to trace the historical trade-offs between the State and local communities in shaping alcohol policies in Poland against the changes in more general political and economic backdrop.

The article reviews relevant legislation and literature in the field since the 1920s and then discusses current legislation and policy documents, which apparently empower local alcohol action.

It is argued that a shift from the State alcohol policies towards community-based initiatives is reinforced by the growing position of the market at the expense of the State powers. Public health approaches of proven efficacy are beyond the influence of local communities. They have no impact whatsoever on taxation. Availability control is rarely applied either as local preventive funds grow in proportion to the number of alcohol outlets. In this context, local alcohol policies tend to focus on school education on the one hand and on individual interventions in the field of family violence and severe addiction, on the other.
Riding the waves: The politics and funding context of twenty-five years of research on community action to reduce alcohol harm in New Zealand
Authors: Conway Kim , Casswell Sally
Published: January 2018

One of the earliest evaluated community action projects on alcohol took place in New Zealand in the 1980s. This was a demonstration project using a quasi experimental design. In the two decades since, there have been a number of different approaches taken, responding to the political and economic context of the project, but all utilizing community development processes and focused on implementing policy. Six community action projects on alcohol are described and analysed to illustrate how contextual influences can shape a project. Changes in the funding climate after the 1980s meant that subsequent projects had to rely more on existing resources and non-research funds for their implementation and evaluation. Lessons from these projects are discussed and related to a generalisable knowledge base about the structure and content of effective community action projects.
Artikel
Authors: Leifman Håkan , Gustafsson Nina-Katri
Published: January 2018

Temporal variations in drinking – analyses of monthly variations in alcohol consumption and binge drinking in Sweden

Aim

To study gender- and age-specific variation in, and co-variation between, alcohol consumption and the frequency of binge drinking.

Method

The analyses were mainly based on self-reported data of alcohol consumption and binge drinking collected monthly from general adult population surveys conducted between July 2001 and May 2003. A total of 1500 interviews were completed in the age group 16–80 years each month.

Results

The Swedish alcohol consumption varies by month with the highest level found during the summer months, particularly July, and in December. This was the same across both genders and for most age groups. A similar pattern was seen for the frequency of binge drinking.

Conclusions

The highest frequency of binge drinking by Swedes was found to be during the same months as when they drink the most amount of alcohol. The peak in July is probably due to the fact that this is the typical holiday month in Sweden. The paper discusses the possibility that the temporal drinking patterns in Sweden (and in other Nordic countries) will gradually change in the future, and will keep pace with an increase in both alcohol consumption and the number of drinking occasions.
Disseminating health information to drug users in Copenhagen
Authors: Harbo Mette
Published: January 2018

Aim

The overall goal of the project was to get accurate health information distributed to intravenous drug users in order to improve the drug using habits of this particular group.

Method

To achieve the goal, small cards the size of credit cards were produced. The cards were designed so that on one side the user would find a health question, and on the other side of the card, he would find the correct answer. To give the card an aesthetic value beyond the health information, a selection of Danish artists volunteered to do a series of beautiful and creative decorations, one for each of the different cards. The cards came in categories i.e. drugs, fixing techniques, the body, communicable diseases, rights, and homelessness. The project produced 100 different cards. In total 400 000 copies were made. Every 3 months, copies of a batch of 25 different new cards were circulated along with Copenhagen's free handout syringe set. For an evaluation of the project, a series of interviews with active drug users were conducted before the cards were circulated, during circulation, and then again 3–6 month and 9–15 months after the cards had been removed from circulation. In total, 4 rounds of interviews were carried out with 45–48 interviewees per round.

Results

The evaluation results showed that 37% of the information that the project wanted to communicate via the cards allready existed as correct knowledge among the target group. During the intervention period (the 3 months where the cards were being circulated) the level of correct knowledge rose to 58%. In the two last interview rounds (3–6 and 9–15 month after the cards had been removed from circulation) the level of correct knowledge rose again and stabilized at 69% and 68% of correct answers.

Conclusion

The evaluation concluded that the intervention seemed to make a positive and strong impact on transferring accurate health information to a “hard to reach” target group. Furthermore, the evaluation confirms that the level of correct knowledge stayed at a high level over time and actually seemed to increase slightly after the cards had been removed from circulation. As an explanation to this increase, it is important to note that the evaluation showed that the cards were made a “collector's item” within the target group. Thus, the information card developed a value in itself and provided the cardholders with high social status within the target group. In addition, the information then spread not only from the card to the user, but also from one user to another.
Grassroot democracy in an organized organization. Direct and representative democracy in the Finnish AA-movement
Authors: Leppo Anna
Published: January 2018

Aim

Alcoholics Anonymous's non-hierarchical and non-bureaucratic organisation structure and its ability to maintain its unity is unique. AA has a “formal” level of decision-making – the AA service structure. The main activity for most members, however, is the grass-root activity in individual AA groups. There are certain tensions between these two. This case study analyses a conflict around the movement's decision-making structure in Finland in the late 1990's. The disagreements led eventually to the founding of a new AA service structure which led in fact to 2 parallel service structures. The study also looks at the consequences the conflict had on the Finnish AA movement and its vitality.

Data

The data is qualitative and consists primarily of taped interviews with 26 AA members. In addition, textual material written by AA members was analysed.

Results

The analysis of the interviewees' accounts revealed that the conflict was rooted in the movement's concrete decision-making practices as well as collective identities entwined with the members' social position. The grass-root activity of AA groups remained active despite the disputes on the movement's organisational level and a majority of the members remained uninterested in the dispute. The conflict did, however, affect the movement's ability to hold on to old members and attract new ones. Furthermore, it caused hurtful feelings to many and questioned the members' feeling of belonging together.

Conclusion

It is suggested that the fact that the conflict resulted in the founding of a new AA service structure – instead of for example further specialisation on the group level – reflects the Finnish society and its organisational traditions.
A description of former substance abusers based on a follow-up study
Authors: Hecksher Dorte
Published: January 2018

Aim

This paper focuses on one part of a sample from a large follow-up study on substance abusers in residential treatment. The aim of the paper is to describe the abstinent group prior to and in the first two years following residential treatment in Denmark.

Method

The present paper is based on data collected in a follow-up study on substance abusers in residential treatment. The data were collected in the initial phase of treatment and twice in follow up interviews, respectively half a year and two years after termination of treatment, primarily through the use of a Danish version of EuropASI.

Results and Conclusion

The study shows that few differences are found in the comparison of data prior to treatment, and that major differences appear in the years following treatment. In comparison to the non-abstinent groups the abstinent group has to a greater extent established itself in the labour market or in the educational system, and managed to establish and maintain a network of drug free friends and family, including contact with self-help organizations as the NA. The problem severity as measured with the EuropASI is found to have some shortcomings when it comes to evaluating and describing subjects with a very low degree of problem severity.
Tradition or scientific evidence? What is the frame of action for voluntary organisations' alcohol and drug preventive work with young people?
Authors: Von Greiff Ninive
Published: January 2018

Aim

The aim of this study is to discuss the frame of action within which the alcohol and drug prevention work by non-profit organizations in Sweden is performed. What activities or methods are emphasized as preventive work? How are the goals formulated? What kind of organizations are financed for preventive work? Concepts such as actors, legitimacy versus efficiency and technology are discussed.

Data and Methods

The empirical material consists of project applications and evaluations from the 150 non-profit organizations that during 1998 and 1999 received financial support from the National Institute of Public Health for preventive alcohol and drug work among adolescents, and scattered data from projects applying for but not receiving funding. The data was analyzed by grouping the projects according to type of applying organization, goals of the project, measures and target group.

Results

A great variety of organizations receive funds for preventive work. Some of them, the temperance organizations and church-related organizations, have traditionally a strong position in Swedish prevention work, albeit recently weakened. Others, such as sports organizations, do not have preventive work in this field as their prime activity. The explicit overall goal of all projects is to prevent alcohol and drug consumption among adolescents but the operational goals and activities vary a lot and not all of them are clearly alcohol or drug related. Preventive work seems to have quite undefined borders. 1/3 of the projects could not keep the time limits. This could be related to short time financing.

Conclusions

In times when evaluation of social and health policy is emphasized, the relation between legitimacy and efficiency becomes central. The challenge will be to incorporate knowledge from the field in the creation of new and efficient tools and methods and to invite new organizations to take part in this work.
Artikel
Authors: Bogren Alexandra
Published: January 2018

■ Aim

The point of departure of this article is a campaign undertaken during spring 2003 by the Swedish NGO Föräldraföreningen Mot Narkotika (Parents Against Narcotics). The organisation started in 1968 as a group of parents getting together and offering each other mutual support as well as carrying on an open house enterprise for misusers in an apartment in Stockholm, the organisation has now become an important participant in Swedish official drug discourse. The campaign in question was directed towards all parents in Sweden with children born in 1991. The purpose of this study is to analyse how FMN as an important actor in Swedish drug policy talks about youth, alcohol and drugs through their campaign and how the subject positions ‘teenager’ and ‘parent’, are established through this talk.

■ Method

The analysis of the campaign material centres on discussing what properties are linked to these subject positions, how parents and youth/teenagers are described.

■ Results and Conclusion

Normal adolescence tends to be seen as never involving drug use and there is a tendency to see the relationship between teenagers and their parents as a relationship characterized by inherent conflict and hostility, sometimes manifested in metaphorical terms suggestive of war. The conceivable consequences of this, as well as of other central divisions in the data – such as the nuclear family as an inherently good unit and misuse as choice – are discussed in the article.
Artikel
Authors: Ravndal Edle , Lauritzen Grethe
Published: January 2018

■ Aim

This is the first prospective treatment study of a wide spectrum of treatment programmes for drug abusers in Norway. The aim of this article is to describe client characteristics, treatment compliance and to what extent client characteristics may predict treatment completion.

■ Methods and Data

482 clients who entered 20 programmes during the period 1998–2000 were investigated according to four different treatment types: residential treatment, youth collectives, outpatient psychiatric youth teams, and outpatient maintenance treatment. The following instruments were used: EuropASI, MCMI-II, SCL-25.

■ Results

Clients who were recruited to the four types of treatment had partly different backgrounds, the differences being primarily related to age. Clients in the youth collectives, in which compulsory treatment was partly used, completed treatment most often (55%). The retention rate in outpatient maintenance treatment was 66%. The negative predictors for completion of inpatient treatment were personality disorder, three or more previous inpatients stays and 11 or more years with use of syringes, while being 40 years or more was a positive predictor.

■ Conclusions

Treatment alone is limited in affecting the psychosocial problems of drug abusers irrespective of the best referral policy and treatment programmes. Maintaining motivation for a change of lifestyle outside of treatment is a political challenge that not only the treatment field should be responsible for.
Men's emotional inexpressivity: advertising for psychotropic drugs in Scandinavian medical journals
Authors: Heikell Thomas , Riska Elianne
Published: January 2018

Aim

Men's use of psychotropics and the portrayal of men in psychotropic drug advertising have been underresearched and undertheorized in past research on psychotropics. The focus on women's health as the primary target of medicalization and commodification has scanted the same processes for men. This study aims to illuminate the construction of patienthood in the patient portrayals of men's mental health.

Method

A quantitative and qualitative analysis was done of all the advertisements (N=366) for psychotropics that appeared in the national medical journal in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in 2000.

Results

In the gender portryal of men in the psychotropic ads two images of men's patienthood were constructed: men's relational problems with family and men as victims of ontological insecurity.
When I drank too much: young people in their 20s tell their stories
Authors: Abrahamson Maria
Published: January 2018

Young males and females aged 20 from different social groups who live in different parts of Sweden were interviewed with a focus group methodology. The groups were formed by various friendship networks. As alcohol consumption has increased steeply in this age group during the past few years, our aim was to examine the ways in which young people informally reason about alcohol. This sub-study shows how they communicate their experiences of occasional excessive drinking in the form of stories. The value systems underlying the stories are studied by analysing the accounts offered for excessive drinking. The moral conveyed by the stories is that those who drink too much risk being regarded as morally questionable in our culture. At the same time, the extent to which the listeners accept the accounts shows the conditions under which this kind of behaviour can be met with understanding and seen as an involuntary, reasonable reaction to an outer pressure or other circumstances that the storyteller cannot control.
Testing new models in Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish alcohol policies
Authors: Karlsson Thomas , Tigerstedt Christoffer
Published: January 2018

In the last ten years major changes have taken place in Nordic alcohol policy. Until now, however, research has said little about the important policy choices that have been made in the new situation. In this text we describe strategic prioritisations and organisational solutions in the alcohol policy field in Finland, Norway and Sweden. First, we take a look at Finland and Sweden, two EU countries acting quite differently at the current time. We examine the new policy strategies which the countries have decided to invest in at a moment when measures affecting prices on alcohol and availability have become significantly weaker. Next we look at organisational solutions that have been implemented in order to handle the new situation. Adding Norway, a non-EU country, to this analysis allows us to comment on whether Finland's and Sweden's membership in the EU has brought about more extensive changes than in Norway. As an appetizer, we offer a perspective on how the displacement of the alcohol field is reflected in everyday terminology in each country.
The rationality of the prevention of substance abuse from the local authorities' point of view
Authors: Karlsson Thomas , Törrönen Jukka
Published: January 2018

In Finland, the role of the state in reorganising alcohol policy has become that of an information guide, and the responsibility for practical arrangements has been increasingly delegated to municipalities. With the dismantling of the state-run centralised alcohol policy system, the focus has been shifted to the prevention of substance abuse at the local level. The reorganisations have intensified the pressure to find adequate methods for preventing substance abuse at the local level.

In this article, we will discuss the pressures created by the dismantling of the state-run alcohol policy and the decentralisation of responsibility in the context of three cities. Our data consists of interviews with authorities from Helsinki, Tampere, and Lappeenranta who have actively participated in local co-operation projects in the substance abuse field.

The data was analysed from two different perspectives. First, we studied the data from the information perspective by examining how familiar our interviewees were with the recent history of alcohol policy and the changes in the alcohol policy system. We were also interested in their views on the reorganisations in the prevention of substance abuse and the reallocation of resources. Then, we analysed our data with the tools provided by the positioning theory and semiotic sociology.

A common feature for all three cities was that the prevention of substance abuse was perceived as the correct method for preventing and treating substance abuse problems. The role of the third sector in the prevention of substance abuse grew in the 1990s, which was also deemed important.

Differences emerged between cities, for example, in the identification of substance abuse problems. In Helsinki and Tampere, mixed substance abuse was categorised as the most serious substance abuse problem, whereas in Lappeenranta alcohol abuse was regarded as such.

Differences were also apparent in the ways in which authorities positioned themselves in the welfare tradition of restrictive alcohol policy. Interviewees from Helsinki and Tampere saw the reorganisations in alcohol policy as a change of direction within the old tradition. The prevailing opinion in Lappeenranta was that the prevention of substance abuse has created space for the revival of collective responsibility in the spirit of old village communities.

Helsinki was clearly lagging behind in the development of networks within the substance abuse field. Authorities from Helsinki admitted that the co-operation network between authorities was still in its infancy, whereas authorities from Tampere and Lappeenranta maintained that a sustainable co-operation scheme had been in progress for a long time.
Metaanalyser som grundlag for evidensbaseret misbrugsbehandling: En diskussion af fem metaanalyser af behandlingseffekter
Authors: Hesse Morten
Published: January 2018

Evidence-based medicine rests on the assumption of a hierarchy of evidence. The highest level of evidence is assumed to come from meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials.

Five illustrative recent meta-analyses of psycho-social treatment for substance dependence are discussed (Prendergast et al. 2002; Irvin et al. 1999; SBU 2001; Griffith et al. 2000; Pearson & Lipton 1999). In all cases the methodological strengths and weaknesses of the study are discussed, as well as the clinical and theoretical implications of the analysis. Studies that attempt to address very broad questions such as “does treatment work” produce conclusions that appear inconsistent and may be flawed, and the clinical and theoretical implications of the findings of such meta-analyses are unclear. In contrast, analyses of specific treatments produce findings that are clinically and theoretically meaningful. In cases where the populations or settings studied are diverse, but the type of treatment is similar, well-conducted meta-analyses may produce significant data on the degree to which the apparent effectiveness of a specific treatment can be generalised to new populations or settings.

It is concluded that the efficacy of specific classes of interventions for drug or alcohol use disorders may be a relevant target for meta-analyses, whereas meta-analyses that attempt to do too much by asking very global questions are unproductive, and that although meta-analyses are generally effective at addressing the question of whether a given treatment has support in the existing research, they are not able to answer questions about what should be the means and ends of drug policy and drug treatment at a more general level.
The GATS: Impacts of the international “services” treaty on health-based alcohol regulation
Authors: Grieshaber-Otto Jim , Schacter Noel , Grieshaber-Otto Jim , Schacter Noel
Published: January 2018

There is an underlying incompatibility between public health-focused alcohol regulation and the World Trade Organization's “services” treaty. This treaty, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), is very broad, extending beyond border measures to reach into many areas formerly considered purely matters of legitimate domestic regulation. Essentially unknown to the public, the GATS is currently being re-negotiated to broaden the number and types of services it covers and to place greater restrictions on the scope of governments' regulatory ability. All services, including services relating directly and indirectly to alcohol, are on the negotiating table. These negotiations can be expected to affect most adversely those alcohol policies that are considered to be the most effective in protecting public health. The European Commission and the United States are strong advocates for expanding the GATS and formally propose that countries liberalize their distribution systems, including systems for distributing alcohol. If adopted, this proposal would preclude many health-based policy options in developing countries and is likely to place increased pressure on alcohol policy in Europe, when other countries request reciprocal commitments from the EC. The paper ex-amines threats that the treaty and its proposed expansion pose for alcohol monopolies, advertising restrictions, governments' control over availability and access to alcohol, international health-based alcohol initiatives, and alcohol policy in developing countries. Alcohol researchers and public health advocates are encouraged to play a more proactive role in international treaties to achieve more balanced results, rather than acceding to ratchet-like constraints that make the adoption of an ever-greater number of public policy options increasingly difficult.
Exploring the support for high performance applications in the container runtime environment
Authors: Martin John Paul , Kandasamy A. , Chandrasekaran K.
Published: January 2018

Cloud computing is the driving power behind the current technological era. Virtualization is rightly referred to as the backbone of cloud computing. Impacts of virtualization employed in high performance computing (HPC) has been much reviewed by researchers. The overhead in the virtualization layer was one of the reasons which hindered its application in the HPC environment. Recent developments in virtualization, especially the OS container based virtualization provides a solution that employs a lightweight virtualization layer and promises lesser overhead. Containers are advantageous over virtual machines in terms of performance overhead which is a major concern in the case of both data intensive applications and compute intensive applications. Currently, several industries have adopted container technologies such as Docker. While Docker is widely used, it has certain pitfalls such as security issues. The recently introduced CoreOS Rkt container technology overcomes these shortcomings of Docker. There has not been much research on how the Rkt environment is suited for high performance applications. The differences in the stack of the Rkt containers suggest better support for high performance applications. High performance applications consist of CPU-intensive and data-intensive applications. The High Performance Linpack Library and the Graph500 are the commonly used computation intensive and data-intensive benchmark applications respectively. In this work, we explore the feasibility of this inter-operable Rkt container in high performance applications by running the HPL and Graph500 applications and compare its performance with the commonly used container technologies such as LXC and Docker containers.
Prognostic Value of Free Triiodothyronine Level in Patients With Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy
Authors: Zhang Kuo , Meng Xiangbin , Wang Wenyao , Zheng Jilin , An Shimin , Wang Siyuan , Qi Yu , Gao Chuanyu , Tang Yi-Da
Published: January 2018

Context

Thyroid hormone acts as a fundamental regulator in cardiovascular homeostasis in pathophysiological conditions.

Objective

This study aims to determine whether thyroid hormone could be an independent predictor of adverse events in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM).

Design, Patients, and Outcome Measures

The original cohort consisted of 965 consecutive patients with HOCM who were admitted to Fuwai Hospital from October 2009 to December 2014, and 756 patients completed thyroid function evaluations. Patients were divided into three groups according to free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels: tertile 1 (<2.81 pg/mL, n = 247), tertile 2 (2.81 to 3.11 pg/mL, n = 250), tertile 3 (3.12 to 4.09 pg/mL, n = 259).

Results

In correlation analysis, FT3 showed significantly positive correlation with left ventricular ejection fraction (r = 0.109, P = 0.003). After a median follow-up of 44 months, a total of 45 (6.0%) endpoints (all-cause mortality or cardiac transplantation) occurred with rates of 13.4%, 3.6%, and 1.2% in tertiles 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Univariate Cox analysis established FT3 as a predictor of endpoint [hazard ratio (HR), 0.111; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.065, 0.189; P < 0.001]. After adjustment for traditional risk factors, the prognostic value of FT3 level was still significant (HR, 0.216; 95% CI, 0.083, 0.559; P = 0.002). Compared with patients in tertile 3, those in tertile 1 were at a much higher risk of endpoint (HR, 4.918; 95% CI, 1.076, 22.485; P = 0.040).

Conclusions

FT3 correlated with cardiac function and could serve as an independent predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiac transplantation in patients with HOCM. These results suggest that monitoring thyroid function in HOCM patients is necessary.
The Impact of AIDS Treatment on Savings and Human Capital Investment in Malawi
Authors: Baranov Victoria , Kohler Hans-Peter
Published: January 2018

Antiretroviral therapy (ART), a treatment for AIDS, is rapidly increasing life expectancy throughout sub-Saharan African countries affected by the AIDS epidemic. This change in life expectancy has potentially profound influences on life-cycle decisions. A longer life expectancy increases the value of human capital investment, while the effect on savings is theoretically ambiguous and life-cycle saving could increase or decrease. This paper uses spatial and temporal variation in ART availability to evaluate the impact of ART provision on savings and investment. We find that ART availability significantly increases savings, expenditures on education, and children's schooling, including among HIV-negative individuals who do not directly benefit from ART. These results are not driven by the direct health effects of treatment or reductions in caretaking responsibilities, but rather by reduced perceptions of mortality risk after ART has become available. (JEL D14, D15, I12, I15, J24, O12)
Do Low Levels of Blood Lead Reduce Children's Future Test Scores?
Authors: Aizer Anna , Currie Janet , Simon Peter , Vivier Patrick
Published: January 2018

We construct a unique individual-level dataset linking preschool blood lead levels with third grade test scores for Rhode Island children born 1997–2005. Using two identification strategies, we show for the first time that reductions of lead from even historically low levels have significant positive effects. A one-unit decrease in average blood lead levels reduces the probability of being substantially below proficient in reading (math) by 0.96 (0.79) percentage points on a baseline of 12 (16) percent. Since disadvantaged children have greater exposure to lead, lead poisoning may be one of the causes of continuing disparities in test scores. (JEL I12, I14, I18, I21, I24, J13)
Characterisation of innate lymphoid cell populations at different sites in mice with defective T cell immunity
Authors: Dutton Emma E. , Camelo Ana , Sleeman Matthew , Herbst Ronald , Carlesso Gianluca , Belz Gabrielle T. , Withers David R.
Published: January 2018

Background: Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have now been identified within most tissues of the body and current evidence indicates that this family of cells play a fundamental role in maintaining tissue homeostasis. However, few studies have compared the ILC populations between several tissues.

Methods: We sought to generate a comprehensive characterisation of the ILC populations in different tissues of C57BL/6 WT and genetically modified mice targeting costimulatory pathways, using transcription factor expression to define specific groups.

Results: Consistent with studies individually describing the ILC composition in different tissues, our analysis revealed different ILC groups dominate the ILC population in different tissues. Additionally, we observed a population of  IL-7Rα+Id2+ cells lacking expression of lineage markers but also lacking expression of GATA-3, RORgt or T-bet. This population was most evident in ear skin where it outnumbered the defined ILC groups, however, further experiments demonstrated that detection of these cells was influenced by how the tissue was digested, raising concerns as to its real nature. Since both ILC2 and ILC3 express ICOS, we then investigated the requirement for ICOS:ICOSL interactions in the homeostasis of ILC populations at these sites. Surprisingly, no significant differences were detected in the number of ILC1, ILC2 or ILC3 between WT and ICOSL-/- mice in any tissue, indicating that this pathway is not required for ILC homeostasis at these sites. These data were compared with CD80-/-CD86-/- mice given evidence of CD28 expression by some ILC and ILC crosstalk with activated T cells. Notably, the absence of CD28 ligands resulted in a significant increase in ILC2 and ILC3 numbers in the intestine.

Conclusions: Together, these data provide new insight into ILC composition in different tissues in both WT and genetically modified mice where key costimulatory pathways are genetically deleted, providing a useful resource for further research into ILC biology.
When Ignorance Can Be Bliss: Organizational Structure and Coordination in Electronic Retailing
Authors: Liu Dengpan , Tan Yong , Mookerjee Vijay
Published: January 2018

This study examines coordination issues that occur between the marketing department and the information technology (IT) department in electronic retail settings. We consider a marketing department that is responsible for choosing the level of advertising to generate traffic to the firm’s website and an IT department that is responsible for choosing IT capacity to provide web visitors a satisfactory experience. The focus here is to examine how duopolistic advertising competition among firms can affect the organizational structure (centralized or decentralized) within each firm. In essence, our interest lies in the question: How does the presence of interfirm competition affect intra-firm coordination (i.e., organizational structure)? As a benchmark, we develop and solve a centralized decision model wherein the levels of advertising and IT capacity are jointly chosen in each firm to maximize profit. This is compared with a decentralized decision model in which the marketing department could potentially advertise suboptimally because its assessment of IT factors (the served traffic rate) is inaccurate. We find that competition can lead to a decentralized equilibrium in which both firms choose not to coordinate among their internal departments. More importantly, we find that when marketing moderately underestimates IT service quality, coordination results in a prisoners’ dilemma (PD) equilibrium for each firm whereas decentralization is socially optimal but with an off-equilibrium outcome (resulting in higher profits for each firm). That is, the conventional wisdom that “more coordination is good” could push firms toward a PD equilibrium when they can both be better off by not coordinating internally in the face of competition. This result also implies that if marketing tends to underestimate the capabilities of the IT department, it may be better to encourage such firms to coordinate less rather than encouraging them to coordinate more.

The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0725 .
Using Self-Determination of Senior College Students with Disabilities to Predict Their Quality of Life One Year after Graduation
Authors: Chao Pen-Chiang
Published: January 2018

The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation and predictive relationship between self-determination and quality of life of college students with disabilities. Subjects were 145 senior college students recruited from northern Taiwan. Subjects' age ranged from 22 to 25 years and their disabilities varied, including visual impairments (n = 16), hearing impairments (n = 17), speech/language impairment (n = 6), physical disabilities (n = 40), specific learning disability (n = 26), emotional and behavior disorders (n = 5), multiple disabilities (n = 4), autism (n = 23), and health impairments (n = 8). Two measures, the Self-Determination Scale for College Students (SDSCS) and WHOQOL-BREF were used to collect data. The subjects completed the SDSCS in their senior year of college, whereas the WHOQOL-BREF data were collected one year after their graduation. The Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between the SDSCS and the WHOQOL-BREF. Results showed that positive correlations were found between self-determination and quality of life. Subjects’ scores on the SDSCS subscales (Self-Realization, Psychological Empowerment, Autonomy) were able to explain between 30.3%-53.2% of the total variance of their scores on the WHOQOL-BREF domains (Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment). The results of this study re-confirmed the positive correlation between self-determination and quality of life of individuals with disabilities. Furthermore, the study highlighted that self-determination not only has an immediate impact on quality of life for people with disabilities, but it seems to have a long-lasting effect. Suggestions and implications are provided.
Measurement Invariance of the Student Personal Perception of Classroom Climate Scale (SPPCC) in the Turkish Context
Authors: Bahar Mustafa , Asil Mustafa , Rubie-Davies Christine M.
Published: January 2018

Among school psycho-social factors with considerable effect on student outcomes are both school and classroom climate.  Because how students perceive the classroom climate strongly predicts achievement, measuring classroom climate gains importance and the need for testing the existing results across cultures persists.  In this study, we assessed the validity and measurement invariance of the Turkish adaptation of the Student Personal Perception of Classroom Climate Scale (SPPCC) developed in English (US).  Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and measurement invariance (MI) analyses by sex were performed on 629 students’ data.  CFA results confirmed the factorial structure of the SPPCC.  Results of the MI analyses showed that the SPPCC measures the same construct for females and males in a non-English context.  Latent mean comparisons revealed girls perceived the classroom climate more positively than boys.  We concluded that this study in the Turkish context is a further step in developing evidence of the extent to which SPCC provides psychometrically sound scores.
A Path Analysis Model Pertinent to Undergraduates’ Academic Success: Examining Academic Confidence, Psychological Capital and Academic Coping Factors
Authors: Kirikkanat Berke , Soyer Makbule Kali
Published: January 2018

The major purpose of this study was to create a path analysis model of academic success in a group of university students, which included the variables of academic confidence and psychological capital with a mediator variable - academic coping. 400 undergraduates from Marmara University and Istanbul Commerce University who were in sophomore, junior and senior years participated in the study. The Academic Behavioral Confidence Scale, the Academic Coping Strategies Scale and the Psychological Capital Test Battery composed of the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, the Life Orientation Test, the Hope Scale and the Resilience Scale were utilized to disclose the predictive roles of these variables on academic success. The results of path analyses showed that academic confidence and psychological capital had pivotal direct and indirect effects on academic success via the mediator variable – academic coping. Academic coping had also a direct influence on academic success.  The findings of the study are essential for telling both vocational counselors and educational psychologists the fact that career interventions for university students should consider the non-cognitive factors on their academic achievements.