bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Memorializing Paul A. Samuelson: A Review of His Major Works, 1915–2009
Authors: Ramrattan Lall , Szenberg Michael
Published: March 2016

This essay reviews the contributions of Paul A. Samuelson, specifically the Neoclassical Synthesis in Macroeconomics, the Factor Price Equalization Theory in Trade, the Surrogate Function in Capital Theory, and the Revealed Preference Theory in Microeconomics. Also covered are the Overlapping Generation Model, the idea of the mixed economy, and operationalism in Economic Methodology. No one will doubt that from the touch of his hand, economics has become highly transparent and knowledge elevated. The future generation of economists will take pride and delight in immersing themselves in Samuelson's works.
Actuarially Fair Premia for Deductible Insurance Policies
Authors: Francis Jack Clark , Harel Arie , Harpaz Giora
Published: March 2016

We show how to construct uniform pricing frameworks for various insurance products that have pre-specified deductibles. It is shown that the deductible insurance policies' indemnity payoff functions resemble those of distinctive derivative securities; therefore, the actuarially fair premia can be obtained using option-pricing techniques. We analytically and numerically derive the actuarially fair insurance premium for each of the five most common deductible insurance policies, namely, a proportional deductible insurance policy, a franchise deductible insurance policy, a fixed deductible insurance policy, a disappearing deductible insurance policy, and a deductible insurance policy with an upper limit on coverage. These actuarially fair premia are also depicted graphically, and it is shown that an increase in the insured asset's volatility will increase the premia, ceteris paribus.
Babe Ruth as a Free Agent: What the Old-Time Greats Would Earn in Today's Labor Market for Baseball Players
Authors: Pantuosco Louis J. , Stone Gary
Published: March 2016

While baseball fans will always argue whether the old-time players were better than today's players, one thing is clear Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, and other greats from the past would welcome the opportunity to sell their talents to the highest bidder in the modern Major League Baseball (MLB) labor market. Using a salary equation and the performance statistics of these and other old-time All Stars we estimate the salaries “Old-Time Greats” would command in a modern market for MLB players. We find that Babe Ruth might have been ahead of his time in understanding the market value of a quality baseball player, but he was behind the times in his ability to generate a salary commensurate to his performance.
The Impact of a Seller's Ebay Reputation on Price
Authors: Mickey Ryan
Published: March 2016

eBay provides a large amount of data – enough data to investigate how markets address the problem of asymmetric information. This study analyzes 183 auctions of Apple iPod Touches on eBay.com to find the impact of a seller's rating on price. I found that a seller's percent of negative rating significantly impacts the price they ultimately receive.
A Note on the Teaching of Dumping in International Economics Textbooks
Authors: Rieber William J.
Published: March 2016

The teaching of dumping can be improved by identifying oversights in its presentation in undergraduate textbooks in International Economics. These oversights include misstating the relationship between elasticity and slope and also labeling foreign demand as being more elastic than domestic demand without reference to a specific price. A more precise yet intuitive explanation of dumping is suggested as an alternative to those presented in these textbooks.
What Do Economists Know?
Authors: Schelling Thomas C.
Published: March 2016

Editor’s Introduction

Originally published in Volume 39, Number 1, Spring 1995, pages 20-22. Thomas Schelling (born 1921) shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Robert Auman for their work analyzing conflict and cooperation using methods derived from game theory. Throughout his career, Professor Schelling has been integrally involved with the problems of international arms control – from both the academic perspective as a researcher and writer, and from the practical perspective as an advisor and consultant for diplomats and policymakers. His influence during the Cold War reached into American popular culture as he was consulted by Stanley Kubrick prior to the making of his classic film, Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Professor Schelling’s first paper in this journal, “Economic Reasoning and Military Science,” appeared in 1960. This short paper, prepared thirty-five years later, presents Professor Schelling’s Commencement remarks to the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley (his undergraduate alma mater) ten years before he received the Nobel. As the title reflects, the author seeks to identify a few of the basic truths that economists know about the world, even though these truths may not be intuitively obvious at first glance. Professor Schelling limits himself to five such truths, and they all turn out to be accounting identities.
The Thatcher Supply-Side ‘Miracle’: Myth or Reality?
Authors: Healey Nigel M.
Published: March 2016

This paper reviews the main features of the supply-side policies pursued by the Thatcher Government in Britain between 1979 and 1990. It examines the performance of the real economy relative to historical and international trends and discusses the characteristics of a successful supply-side program. It concludes that, while the Thatcher era has yielded important economic benefits, the prerequisites for a sustained increase in the trend rate of output and productivity growth may not have been satisfied.
An Estimation of Target Effective Exchange Rates: The Case of the U.S.
Authors: Apergis Nicholas
Published: March 2016

This paper derives optimal effective exchange rates, via loss-function minimization, for the US economy. The results attract considerable research interest; although it is generally believed that policy makers intervene only in infrequent emergency occasions in the foreign exchange market, this paper shows that the contrary is true; the US foreign exchange market is characterized by frequent central bank intervention.
Savings and Loan Capital and the Use of Interest Rate Swaps
Authors: Vang David
Published: March 2016

This paper models the relationship between interest rate swaps and capital in savings and loan associations. The interest rate swap is a way in which financial institutions exchange the flexible rate on their liabilities with a fixed interest rate to hedge themselves from interest rate risk, and therefore reduce the need for a capital cushion. The empirical evidence, however, shows that a small capital cushion reduces the firm's possibility of using interest rate swaps because no partner is willing to engage in a rate swapping contract with a firm that does not have adequate capital and soundness.
Economic Education, Experimental Methods and the Structure-Conduct-Performance Paradigm
Authors: Ray Margaret A.
Published: March 2016

The Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm is commonly used in the field of industrial organization. The paradigm links market structure, firm behavior, and economic performance. Questions of industry organization, firm decision-making and economic efficiency in a wide variety of markets have been addressed using the SCP model.

This paper applies the SCP paradigm to the area of economic education. To do this, an alternative model of economic education is developed. In this model, students are viewed as producers (of learning) while instructors determine the institutional setting and are one of the inputs into the production process. This view separates the areas where instructors may exert some control (setting class structure and providing good teaching) from the area where they have little control — student behavior.

Using the model developed, this study employs an experiment to investigate student behavior. Students are placed in a strategic situation in which they must choose when and how much to study for weekly quizzes. The experiment represents a unique approach in economic education research and sheds light on student decision making.
The Demand for Major League Baseball: A Test of the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis
Authors: Knowles Glenn , Sherony Keith , Haupert Mike
Published: March 2016

The relationship between attendance at major league baseball games and the uncertainty of the outcome of each game is examined. We use an a priori measure of uncertainty in estimating the attendance equation. The variable is developed from the betting lines for individual games and measures the probability of a home team victory during the 1988 major league baseball season. The results indicate that uncertainty of outcome is a significant determinant of attendance for major league baseball. In addition, the results are used to determine the probability of a home team victory at which attendance will be maximized.
Optimality on the Short-Run Phillips Curve Revisited
Authors: Yang Bijou
Published: March 2016

The misery index criterion model was developed by Golden, et al. (1987) to explain the public's preference for having the inflation rate lower than the unemployment rate. This model clearly fails to explain the prevailing super high inflation rate in Latin American countries. This paper attempts to introduce a generalized weighted misery index and to show that, by following the weighted misery-minimization process, the model can explain the Latin American experience and also include the American experience as a special case.
The Intifada and Its Impact on the Banking System in the State of Israel
Authors: Levine Philip
Published: March 2016

This paper analyzes the impact of the Intifada on both the West Bank-Gaza Strip and the Israeli sectors of the economy of Israel. From the perspective of the banking system, the Intifada has had a more detrimental effect on the West Bank-Gaza Strip region than on the Israeli sector.
Advertising Rivalry in the U. S. Automobile Industry: A Test of Bain's Hypothesis
Authors: Ramrattan Lall B.
Published: March 2016

This paper examines Bain's Hypothesis that firms in the automobile industry engage in advertising competition and price collusion. It develops a game theoretic model, basing price on product characteristic and advertising on pure and mixed strategies. Solution concepts such as Cournot, Nash and Prisoner's dilemma are possible. The paper then moves into regression results of advertising outlays in newspaper, general magazines, spot television, and network television, given the firm's cashflow, OPEC influence, and Leader-follower hypotheses. When multicolinearity and serial correlation are adjusted for, the results corroborate Bain's advertising hypothesis with price collusion.
Neglect of Economic Education in Webster's Blue-Backed Speller
Authors: Nelson C. Louise
Published: March 2016

Webster's Blue-Backed Speller apparently had a very significant influence on the intellectual development of schoolchildren in the United States for more than a century. Some of the sentences in it that were construed to teach the meaning of words the children learned to spell were claimed also to teach fundamentals of economics. Examination of these sentences leads one to conclude that the claim was not warranted. In retrospect, the neglect of economic education in the Speller may be viewed as an important factor for a century or more in economic illiteracy of Americans.
Export Performance and Economic Development: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Yaghmaian Behzad , Ghorashi Reza
Published: March 2016

This paper challenges the results of the empirical literature in support of the neoclassical theory of export-led growth and provides a theoretical and empirical alternative. Contrary to the neoclassical theory, we argue that both exports and economic growth are preceded by a long and complex process of structural change and economic development. A cross-section regression analysis is applied to test the neoclassical hypothesis that exports lead to superior economic performance (higher growth of output), and our alternative thesis. The regression results strongly confirm our alternative formulation of exports and economic growth while failing to support the neoclassical thesis.
On the Competitive Response to Technological Advance
Authors: Firoozi Fathali
Published: March 2016

When the competitive firm is operating in a stochastic environment and certain conditions regarding expectations and attitude toward risk hold, the response to a neutral technological advance is to reduce factor employment and raise output. The result contradicts the standard deterministic response, which emerges as a special case in the stochastic environment. (JEL, D81)
The Real Interest Differential Hypothesis, How Did it Fare in the 1980's?
Authors: Bruhn Jarrett
Published: March 2016

The Real Interest Differential hypothesis, an exchange rate modelling breakthrough developed by Jeffrey Frankel (1979), was very successful at predicting variations of the exchange rate between 1974 and 1978 but failed when tested for its predictive ability between 1974 and 1988. Using a monetary model and long term bond expectations model as bases of comparison, it appears that Frankel's success was a product of a period when the genre of asset approach models were successful at predicting exchange rate fluctuations. The three asset approach models all succeed at predicting exchange rate variations in the late 1970's and all deteriorate and fail in the mid to late 1980's.
Profitability of Credit Unions, Commercial Banks and Savings Banks: A Comparative Analysis
Authors: Kaushik Surendra K. , Lopez Raymond H.
Published: March 2016

The liberalization of product and price competition among depository intermediaries in the United States has tended to make them more similar since enactment of the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act in 1980 (DIDMCA). Credit unions have developed into highly efficient organizations for meeting the basic financial needs of their members. Credit unions, although only one-twelfth their size, are at least as profitable as commercial banks and savings banks. The savings banking industry has maintained its competitive profitability as the industry has shrunk in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Credit union loan portfolios have grown more rapidly than either commercial banks' or savings institutions‘. Their net interest margins have been above the banks' in recent years. Growth in the equity capital accounts of credit unions has been consistently more than double that of commercial banks since 1985, giving them a substantial advantage with regard to overall “safety and soundness” compared with commercial and savings banks.
Controversy and Change in the American Economics Curriculum
Authors: Brue Stanley L.
Published: March 2016

The undergraduate economics curriculum in American universities continues to evolve, but within a framework of course titles and degree requirements remarkably similar to those of twenty-five years ago. This essay compares the current curriculum with that of a quarter century past, identifying areas of stability and change. It also examines the recent decline in economics majors, exploring its relationship to (and possible implications for) the present economics curriculum. Finally, miscellaneous other issues facing the American undergraduate economics curriculum are discussed.
Football Betting and the Efficient Market Hypothesis
Authors: Badarinathi Ravija , Kochman Ladd
Published: March 2016

Three betting rules which had been nonrandomly profitable in both their initial application to the 1969–74 National Football League seasons and their replication during the years of 1975–81 were applied to all NFL games played between September 1984 and January 1994. One rule proved to be nonrandom and profitable for a third consecutive trial—a feat suggesting that bettors may be able to “beat the bookie” and, more broadly, that prices in competitive markets may not discount all available information in swift fashion.
Getting Noticed in Economics: The Determinants of Academic Citations
Authors: Johnson Dan
Published: March 2016

Academics strive for citations, but there has been little work done to identify the determinants of citations, primarily due to a lack of usable data. This paper uses new data to confirm the intuition that reputation, documented research, collaboration, and signalling are important. However, the results shed new light on (and refute) some widely held conceptions about the effects of self-citation, author experience, editor biases, and gender equality.
R&D Rivalry in the U.S. Automobile Industry: A Simultaneous Equation Model Approach to Bain's Hypothesis
Authors: Ramrattan Lall B.
Published: March 2016

This paper investigates rivalry in R&D expenditures for firms within the U. S. Automobile industry. It attempts to falsify Bain's paradigm that firms in that industry collude in price, and compete primarily in advertising and secondarily in R&D expenditures. We start with a single equation model of an earlier specification that falsified R&D rivalry for the auto industry, using a smaller sample size. The result also was insignificant, lending credence to Bain's idea that a more concerted effort is needed to ascertain R&D rivalry. To accommodate Bain's hypothesis, we embedded the R&D equation within a system of equations framework, where interactions between advertising, dividend, investment, and finance are co-determined. The system model gained efficiency through explicit specifications for technological and marketing constraints. The results corroborate Bain's hypotheses that R&D rivalry is present only when R&D expenditure is foiled with advertising and other financial ratios.
The Social Issues Pedagogy vs. The Traditional Principles of Economics: An Empirical Examination
Authors: Grimes Paul W. , Nelson Paul S.
Published: March 2016

Standardized test (TUCE) scores for students enrolled in a Social Issues course were compared to those of students in traditional Principles of Economics courses within the framework of a standard educational production function. The production function was estimated using Heckman's two-step procedure to correct for self-selection due to student attrition over the course of study. After controlling for student demographics, prior experiences, and academic aptitude, no significant test score differences were found between students in the Social Issues course and those in the Principles of Macroeconomics. However, Social Issues students were found to score significantly below students in the Principles of Microeconomics, ceteris paribus. The results also indicate that students had a higher probability of completion in the Social Issues course relative to a theory oriented Principles course.
A Skeptical Note on the Importance of Technology Shocks
Authors: Hartley James E.
Published: March 2016

This paper tests whether a real business cycle model can be built using a specific technological shock, a change in the depreciation rate, instead of an aggregate multiplicative shock. The model cannot duplicate standard business cycle facts.
The Textbook Consumption Function: A Recent Empirical Irregularity, a Comment
Authors: Stein Sheldon H. , Song Frank
Published: March 2016

In this note, we reexamine an anomaly that appeared in estimates of the post-1973 textbook Keynesian consumption function as first reported in this journal by Shapiro (1988). The anomaly is the nearly unit value of the marginal propensity to consume and the significant negative intercept term obtained in post-1973 estimates. This result is contrary to the earlier estimates of the Keynesian consumption function and to the traditional Keynesian assumptions. We consider the possibility that the anomaly is due to omitted variable bias. By incorporating variables like the real rate of interest, the expected rate of inflation, and lagged wealth, the anomaly disappears. These variables have thus assumed more importance in explaining consumption as the U.S. economy became more volatile in the early 1970s.
The Scholarly Journal Literature of Economics: A Historical Profile of the AER, JPE, and QJE
Authors: Laband David N. , Wells John M.
Published: March 2016

In this paper, we provide a detailed profile of the scholarly literature published in the AER, JPE, and QJE from their respective inceptions through 1995. The examination includes: (1) an overview of the changing relative importance of articles, book reviews, and notes, comments and short papers published, (2) an analysis of changes with respect to authorship—the incidence and extent of coauthorship, the changing pattern of contributions by nonacademic authors and by female authors, and the concentration of contributions by authors located at a small set of elite universities, and (3) identification of ebbs and flows in the topical coverage represented in this literature.
Productivity Growth and Public Sector Employment
Authors: Ho Kong Weng , Hoon Hian Teck
Published: March 2016

Our model endogenizes the share of public sector employment in a neoclassical growth model. Under the assumptions that public sector production is labor intensive and the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor is less than one, the public share of employment is shown to decline with a rise in capital per effective worker. Our theory predicts that periods of high productivity growth are associated with a rising trend of the public share of employment. This prediction conforms well with U.S. experience from 1950–1995.
The Golden Age of Nobel Economists
Authors: van Dalen Hendrik P.
Published: March 2016

This paper examines the productivity record of economists who have dominated economic science in the twentieth century, viz. the Nobel laureates in economics. They generally start their career at a young age, they were at the right place at the right time, and they have an independent mind. Their most important and creative contributions are written between the ages of 29 and 38. The average creative age of Nobel economists is slightly below that of laureates in physics, and considerably younger than that of laureates in chemistry and medicine/physiology. The University of Chicago and the US in general has so far turned out to be best breeding ground for original economists. Furthermore, most fundamental work has been written alone and this finding contrasts strongly with the dominant trend in economics where multi-authored publications have become the rule.
Psychosocial Interventions in Reducing Cannabis Use in Early Phase Psychosis
Authors: Aydin Cristina , Tibbo Philip G. , Ursuliak Zenovia
Published: March 2016

Objective:

Cannabis use in people with early phase psychosis (EPP) can have a significant impact on long-term outcomes. The purpose of this investigation was to describe current cannabis use treatment practices in English-speaking early intervention services (EISs) in Canada and determine if their services are informed by available evidence.

Method:

Thirty-five Canadian English-speaking EISs for psychosis were approached to complete a survey through email, facsimile, or online in order to collect information regarding their current cannabis use treatment practices.

Results:

Data were acquired from 27 of the 35 (78%) programs approached. Only 12% of EISs offered formal services that targeted cannabis use, whereas the majority (63%) of EISs offered informal services for all substance use, not specifically cannabis. In programs with informal services, individual patient psychoeducation (86%) was slightly more common than individual motivational interviewing (MI) (76%) followed by group patient psychoeducation (52%) and information handouts (52%). Thirty-seven percent of EISs offered formal services for substance use, and compared to programs with informal services, more MI, cognitive-behavioural therapy, and family services were offered, with individual treatment modalities more common than groups. No EISs used contingency management, even though it has some preliminary evidence in chronic populations. Evidence-based service implementation barriers included appropriate training and administrative support.

Conclusions:

While most English-speaking Canadian EIS programs offer individual MI and psychoeducation, which is in line with the available literature, there is room for improvement in cannabis treatment services based on current evidence for both people with EPP and their families.
Study on the numerical optimization of rail profiles for heavy haul railways
Authors: Wang Pu , Gao Liang , Xin Tao , Cai Xiaopei , Xiao Hong
Published: March 2016

The aim of this paper is to study the optimization of the rail profile for heavy haul railways. A numerical model is developed, where the rail profile is parameterized as a generalized function for a series of independent variables. A well-designed formula, which characterizes the conformance between wheel and rail profiles around contact point for all possible wheel–rail contact situations, is considered as the objective function. During the construction of the objective function, a wheel–rail contact geometry algorithm is implemented to detect contact point positions quickly. Linear and nonlinear constraints are introduced in order to meet some necessary conditions. Then, the optimization of rail profile can be transformed into a typical mathematical nonlinear optimization problem with single objective, multivariables, and multiconstraints. In order to solve this problem effectively and efficiently, the sequential quadratic programming algorithm combined with Lagrange function, quasi-Newton method is employed. At each major iteration, a quasi-Newton approximation is made of the Hessian matrix of the Lagrangian function using BFGS updating method. This is then used to generate a quadratic programming subproblem whose solution is for forming the search direction for the iteration of independent variables. Finally, the R75 rail profile, prevalently used in China’s heavy haul railways, is optimized using the developed model to better match the LM wheel profile. A modified rail profile is put forward and compared with the original rail profile systematically in wheel–rail contact geometry relationship, vehicle–track dynamic behaviors, and wear developments. A vehicle–track coupling dynamics model and a wheel–rail wear prediction model are respectively established to conduct the comparative study. According to the calculation results, the optimized rail profile is proved to have superior performances and, thus, can be considered a better choice to match LM wheel for China’s heavy haul railways, which is of practical value for the design and preventive grinding of heavy haul rails. In addition, this application example validates the rationality of the developed numerical optimization model. It can also be used for the optimization of other rail profiles.
Concordance between the tuberculin skin test and interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) for diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and patient characteristics associated with an indeterminate IGRA
Authors: Cho H , Kim Y W , Suh C-H , Jung J-Y , Um Y-J , Jung J-H , Kim H-A
Published: March 2016

Objective

We investigated the agreement between the tuberculin skin test (TST) and the QuantiFERON-TB gold (QFT-G) assay in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Furthermore, we evaluated the factors associated with indeterminate results in the QFT-G assay in patients with SLE.

Methods

We enrolled 136 patients with SLE prospectively, and compared them to 66 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In addition to the TST, QFT-G assay, patients’ medications, and Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination status were also investigated. A positive TST or QFT-G assay result without an active tuberculosis lesion on chest x-ray was considered to indicate a diagnosis of LTBI.

Results

The prevalence of LTBI was 26.5% in patients with SLE and 30.3% in patients with RA. The agreement between the TST and QFT-G assay was fair in SLE patients, but poor in RA patients. BCG vaccination was one factor associated with discordance between TST and QFT-G. Older age and higher SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) score were associated with a negative TST/positive QFT-G result in patients with SLE. Higher SLEDAI score and increased glucocorticoid dose were associated with an indeterminate result in the QFT-G assay for patients with SLE.

Conclusions

Agreement between the QFT-G assay and TST in patients with SLE was found to be fair. However, BCG vaccination status, age, and SLEDAI score are all factors that could result in discordance between the two tests. Indeterminate results from the QFT-G assay may be caused by a higher SLEDAI score or increased glucocorticoid dose.
Native American Death Taboo: Implications for Health Care Providers
Authors: Colclough Yoshiko Yamashita
Published: March 2016

This study was conducted to highlight Native American (NA) perspectives on death taboo in order to examine the cultural appropriateness of hospice services for NA patients, if any. Searching literature that addressed taboo and death from historical, psychological, sociological, and anthropological aspects, a comparison of death perspectives was made between NAs and European Americans. A culturally sensitive transition from palliative care to hospice care was suggested for NA patients and their family.
A modified closed form energy-based framework for fatigue life assessment for aluminum 6061-T6: Strain range approach
Authors: Shen M-H Herman , Akanda Sajedur R
Published: March 2016

It has been shown in our previous effort in the development of an energy-based fatigue life prediction framework that, in order to obtain the fatigue toughness of a nonviscoplastic material at room temperature from the areas of hysteresis loops, a fatigue test need to be conducted at the ideal frequency to minimize the effect of nondamaging energy. For aluminum 6061-T6, the ideal frequency is 0.05 Hz. A fatigue test with such a low frequency requires extensive time to complete. Therefore, the present investigation focuses on modifying the energy-based framework in order to obtain the fatigue toughness from fatigue tests conducted at an arbitrary frequency higher than the ideal frequency. The fatigue toughness is calculated from the average strain range developed in a material during a fatigue test and the Ramberg–Osgood cyclic parameters. The measurement of average strain range by an extensometer associated with a nonviscoplastic test specimen at room temperature is independent of the test frequency. The cyclic parameters are obtained from the fatigue lives at two different stress ranges which are also independent of the test frequency at room temperature. Similar to the case of the previous framework, the modified framework is found to predict the room temperature fatigue life of aluminum 6061-T6 with a promising accuracy.
Quantifying the interplay of emotions and rationality in herding: A game-theoretic simulation study
Authors: Zia Kashif , Ferscha Alois , Din Ahmad , Farooq Umar
Published: March 2016

In this paper, we apply game theory to analyze interplay between emotions and rationality, to reduce the effect of herding during evacuation. The simulation model developed for this work incorporates the social behavior of the crowd to ensure an improved evacuation. This model is simulated for four strategies, built upon both social and technological aspects of decision-making, with varied sets of the agents’ density and type being either rational or emotional.

This work is evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively using parameters such as simulation time, agents’ distribution across exits, exit utilization, and panic. Mixed results were achieved in general; however, the game variation allowing more than one exit change showed an improvement over both variations of the game allowing a single exit change.
Physiotherapy assessment and diagnosis of musculoskeletal disorders of the knee via telerehabilitation
Authors: Richardson Bradley R , Truter Piers , Blumke Robert , Russell Trevor G
Published: March 2016

Introduction

Lower limb musculoskeletal disorders place a heavy burden on healthcare systems. Appropriate management of these conditions is critical, however access to appropriate physiotherapy services is difficult for those in geographically remote areas or those with mobility or transport difficulties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of an online musculoskeletal physiotherapy assessment of the knee complex using telerehabilitation compared to traditional face-to-face assessment.

Methods

In a repeated-measures design, 18 subjects who sought treatment for knee pain underwent a traditional face-to-face assessment and a remote telerehabilitation assessment. Telerehabilitation assessments were conducted with participants performing facilitated self-palpation, self-applied modified orthopaedic tests, active movements and functional tasks.

Results

Primary pathoanatomical diagnoses were in exact agreement in 67% of cases and were similar in 89% of cases. The system of pathology was found to be in agreement in 17 out of 18 cases (94%). Comparisons of objective findings from the two physical assessments demonstrated substantial agreement (kappa = 0.635) for categorical data and binary data (chi-squared = 400.36; p < 0.001). A high level of intra-rater (89%) and moderate level of inter-rater (67%) reliability was evident for telerehabilitation assessments.

Discussion

Telerehabilitation assessment of the knee complex appears to be feasible and reliable. This study has implications for clinical practice and the development of physiotherapy services to address the burden of lower limb musculoskeletal pain and disability.
Investigating the preferences of older people for telehealth as a new model of health care service delivery: A discrete choice experiment
Authors: Kaambwa Billingsley , Ratcliffe Julie , Shulver Wendy , Killington Maggie , Taylor Alan , Crotty Maria , Carati Colin , Tieman Jennifer , Wade Victoria , Kidd Michael R
Published: March 2016

Introduction

Telehealth approaches to health care delivery can potentially improve quality of care and clinical outcomes, reduce mortality and hospital utilisation, and complement conventional treatments. However, substantial research into the potential for integrating telehealth within health care in Australia, particularly in the provision of services relevant to older people, including palliative care, aged care and rehabilitation, is lacking. Furthermore, to date, no discrete choice experiment (DCE) studies internationally have sought the views and preferences of older people about the basic features that should make up a telehealth approach to these services.

Methods

Using a DCE, we investigated the relative importance of six salient features of telehealth (what aspects of care are to be pursued during telehealth sessions, distance to the nearest hospital or clinic, clinicians’ attitude to telehealth, patients’ experience of using technology, what types of assessments should be conducted face-to-face versus via telehealth sessions and the costs associated with receiving telehealth). Data were obtained from an online panel of older people aged 65 years and above, drawn from the Australian general population.

Results

The mean age for 330 study participants was 69 years. In general, individuals expressed strong preferences for telehealth services that offered all aspects of care, were relatively inexpensive and targeted specifically at individuals living in remote regions without easy access to a hospital or clinic. Participants also preferred telehealth services to be offered to individuals with some prior experience of using technology, provided by clinicians who were positive about telehealth but wanted all or some pre-telehealth health assessments to take place in a hospital or clinic. Preferences only differed by gender. Additionally, respondents did not feel that telehealth led to loss of privacy and confidentiality.

Discussion

Our findings indicate a preference amongst respondents for face-to-face pre-telehealth health assessments and, thereafter, a comprehensive telehealth model (in terms of services offered) targeted at those with some technological know-how as a substitute for attendance at hospitals and clinics, especially where these health facilities were far away from older people’s homes. The findings may be usefully incorporated into the design of future telehealth models of service delivery for older people.
Health care provision in Brazil: A dialogue between health professionals and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service users
Authors: Moscheta Murilo S , Souza Laura V , Santos Manoel A
Published: March 2016

The aim of this study was to encourage the development of resources to improve health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service users. Dialogues between health professionals and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service users (inspired by the Public Conversations Project) highlighted the need (a) to improve communication between users and health professionals; (b) to question what constitutes an expert on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender care; (c) to reconfigure rigid notions about sexual identity; (d) to deconstruct the association between sexually transmitted diseases and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service users; and (e) to adopt a less judgemental attitude towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people during hospital admissions.
Performing the double rupture: Kraftklub, popular music and post-socialist urban identity in Chemnitz, Germany
Authors: Erbacher Eric , Nitzsche Sina
Published: March 2016

Popular music constitutes an important mode of public expression which can stimulate not only a change in the public image of place but also wider social and cultural communities in shrinking cities. Focusing on the internationally successful indie-rap band Kraftklub from the Eastern German city of Chemnitz, we analyse how they visually, rhetorically and musically address shrinkage and the GDR as a critical comment on municipal memory and identity politis. Contextualizing Kraftklub’s oeuvre with the official city marketing campaign, we show that popular music scenes help establish a new, inclusive and confident post-industrial identity as well as contribute to a more positive urban image.
Independent social work practices with adults in England: An appreciative inquiry of a pilot programme
Authors: Teater Barbra , Carpenter John
Published: March 2016

Social Work Practice Pilots with adults was a government initiative in England (2011–2014) that created seven social work practices independent from local authorities/government. The stated aims were to reduce bureaucracy, promote professional discretion and expertise, and reduce the size of the public sector. The Social Work Practice Pilots were social work-led and comprised between five and 100 social workers and/or other professionals/non-professionals. This article describes how the methodology of appreciative inquiry was used to investigate how the Social Work Practice Pilots in England were developing as independent practices. Information was obtained through two, two-day site visits at each Social Work Practice Pilot, and two shared learning workshops with representatives from the Social Work Practice Pilots.

Findings

Social Work Practice Pilots were found to be developing in accord with the following four key aims of the pilots: (1) spend more time with clients (service users), (2) a more responsive service, (3) more control over the day-to-day management, and (4) think creatively about resource use. Social Work Practice Pilots reported a reduction in bureaucracy and an ability to create flexible practices that more appropriately met the needs of the communities.

Applications

The findings provide an initial indication of how social work practice could develop independently of local authorities and suggest possible benefits to staff and clients. The study demonstrated how the AI approach to research and consultancy can serve as a participative learning process when exploring social work practice. The strengths and limitations of the approach are discussed.
Attitudes toward interracial marriages and the role of interracial contacts in Sweden
Authors: Osanami Törngren Sayaka
Published: March 2016

This paper examines attitudes toward interracial marriages and the relationship between the amount of prior interracial contact and attitudes in Sweden. The analysis is based on an anonymous postal survey conducted in Malmö, Sweden answered by 461 white-European respondents. Several studies in the US address the question of contact and attitudes and find that those who have more interracial contact, especially interracial friendships, have more positive attitudes toward intermarriage. The results show that the majority of the white European respondents can imagine marrying interracially; however, there are clear preferences toward different racial groups. Moreover, as in the US context, respondents who reported interracial friendships, and not general or superficial contacts, are more apt to answer the question about interracial marriage positively.
Making room for the transformation of literacy instruction in the digital classroom
Authors: Sofkova Hashemi Sylvana , Cederlund Katarina
Published: March 2016

Education is in the process of transforming traditional print-based instruction into digital formats. This multi-case study sheds light on the challenge of coping with the old and new in literacy teaching in the context of technology-mediated instruction in the early years of schooling (7–8 years old children). By investigating the relation between literacy and digital technology in diverse pedagogical contexts we capture the complexity in the educational transformation that needs to be acknowledged. Each of the cases demonstrates a distinct knowledge focus and goal for early literacy instruction, organisation and access around technology and what is made visible in instruction. All these factors had consequences for the teaching that occurred. Depending on epistemological beliefs, digital competencies were taught separately from literacy and considered as a goal on its own or integrated with literacy considered as a means and a goal for literacy teaching and learning. Implicit pedagogy with weaker classification and framing enabled conditions for infused approaches making use of digital technology in multimodal, functional and learner centred literacy practices. Furthermore, initial guidance and the weaving of invisible and visible pedagogy highlight a possible way to both exploit the potential of digital technology and support children from various backgrounds. The balance of teacher and student control was further affected in regard to the organisation of technology and choices of pedagogical methods. This research hereby expands the current discussion on the relation between technology and literacy with an understanding that the epistemological focus and context of practices are necessary tools to problematize, rather than measure or value, emerging practices in early literacy instruction. We conclude that in addition to the necessary heavy investments in digital technology in schools there is a need to provide room for action for the teachers and address issues of purpose, pedagogy and organisation around technology.
Damage and strain identification in multifunctional materials via electrical impedance tomography with constrained sine wave solutions
Authors: Tallman Tyler N. , Wang K. W.
Published: March 2016

Tomographic methods such as electrical impedance tomography have tremendous potential for electrical conductivity-based structural health monitoring, damage identification, strain sensing, and environmental/corrosion sensing as evidenced by a growing body of literature employing electrical impedance tomography. However, electrical impedance tomography also has important limitations preventing its widespread acceptance such as requiring burdensome computational resources not available to on-board structural health monitoring and often difficult to obtain initial estimates of conductivity distributions. We herein overcome these limitations by developing a novel electrical impedance tomography reconstruction algorithm with substantially abated computational requirements and independent of initial estimates. This method is predicated on the difference between two sets of observed voltages being due to a difference in resistivity that is constrained to be a summation of two-dimensional sine waves. This method is first explored analytically and then demonstrated experimentally on three different materials. This approach is an important advancement to the state of the art because it overcomes critical limitations of electrical impedance tomography thereby substantially facilitating the viability of electrical impedance tomography for real structural health monitoring applications.
A unified approach to detecting and trending changes caused by mechanical faults in rotating machinery
Authors: Wang Wenyi , Forrester B David , Frith Peter C
Published: March 2016

For detecting faults in rotating machinery, different fault types generally require different techniques for the effective detection of the faults; hence, many different techniques have been developed. However, we often find that the existing detection techniques are either incapable or ineffective for many new fault types. Therefore, we will need to develop brand new methods after the fault event. This can significantly constrain the usefulness and effectiveness of machine health monitoring systems. In this article, we propose a unified signal processing approach to detecting and trending changes caused by various types of faults in rotating machinery. The theoretical foundation of the proposed technique is based on extracting the differences between the synchronously averaged (angularly resampled) signals acquired under the changing health conditions after aligning their phases. The aligning of the phases is achieved through a novel and efficient approach, which is performed in the frequency domain. The alignment enables a direct comparison between the amplitudes of the synchronously averaged signals and provides a trustworthy evaluation using the same reference datum. The proposed method is novel and conceptually unsophisticated, and its effectiveness is demonstrated using vibration data from rotating machines with several different types of faults. The results have shown that this single unified change detection approach can be very effective in detecting and trending changes caused by many different types of faults in rotating machines. This is an ideal technique to be implemented for testing on aircraft engine onboard health monitoring systems.
Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
Authors: Sci Susan A. , Ott Brian L.
Published: March 2016

This essay offers a counter-reading of Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, a controversial video game about the infamous school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 in which players adopt the roles of the shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod. Focusing on the game’s unique procedural rhetoric, we argue that SCMRPG! juxtaposes interactive, non-realistic violence–reflected in a campy nineties video game aesthetic–with photographic evidence, extant dialogue, and a detailed narrative of the tragic events at Columbine to promote critical thought about gun violence generally and school shootings in particular. The essay concludes with a brief reflection on the vital that role video games can play in critical pedagogy.