bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Big History, Geological Accumulations, Physical Economics, and Wealth
Authors: Flynn Dennis O. 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
The unconventional model presented herein—Laws of Supplies and Demands— furnishes a view of the discipline of economics as both a social science and a physical science. This essay begins with Big History origins of Earthly mineral foundations upon which the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and today’s Computer Age were based, according to prominent geologist Walter Alvarez. Alvarez argues persuasively that geographical concentrations of specific productive inputs across Earth have been essential prerequisites for existence of all economic ages. This essay complements Alvarez’s focus upon economic inputs by extending consideration to geographical concentrations of economic outputs (goods). Mechanisms that explain concentrations of final goods in specific geographical locations across Earth comprise the core of the Laws of Supplies and Demands model. The flows-only orientation of conventional microeconomics (Laws of Supply and Demand) and conventional macroeconomics—both of which limit attention to time-dimensioned variables such as incomes and expenditures—is broadened to incorporate accumulations: wealth components (point-in-time-snapshots). By definition, services cannot be stocked, whereas goods accumulate as wealth components. The Laws of Supplies and Demands provide theoretical underpinnings for widespread interest today in empirical social science investigations of wealth accumulations and wealth distributions.
Lead or Mercury, haifuki-hō or plata de azogue: the Environmental Dilemma in the History of Silver Refining
Authors: Guerrero Saul 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
In the sixteenth century the Spanish Empire would find itself owner and conqueror of the largest deposits of primary silver and mercury in the world, a geopolitical conjunction which would lead to the use of mercury at an industrial scale in the production of plata de azogue (silver by mercury) from silver sulfide deposits found in the Americas. Thus, two refining processes, the millennia-old two-stage smelting process based on lead and high temperatures, and the upstart based on mercury sine igne (without fire), came to share in nearly equal parts the aggregate global production of silver from the sixteenth to the final decade of the nineteenth century. These processes relied on the extensive use of two of the heavy metals most toxic to humans, and their anthropogenic emissions to the environment have caused impacts lasting over subsequent centuries. However, the successful use of haifuki-hō (smelting-cupellation process) in Japan to produce silver from silver sulfide ores with 0.2 percent silver content demonstrates that the extensive use of mercury by Spanish refiners in the New World was not the consequence of the geochemistry or silver content of the ores.
The Last Copper Century: Southwest China and the Coin Economy (1705–1808)
Authors: Cao Jin 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Over the last millennium, the priority for imperial China’s parallel bimetallic monetary system shifted from copper cash to silver bullion, a development that gained momentum with the influx of New World silver during the sixteenth century. This trend was altered when the Qing government increased copper production in the Southwest, thus inaugurating China’s last copper century around 1705. This study focuses on those provinces where the wealth of China’s copper economy was created: Yunnan, where copper for the metropolitan mints in Beijing was mined under relatively strict governmental control; and especially Sichuan, which maintained China’s largest provincial mint and favored a more flexible cooperation between state and private structures. In these provinces, the interrelations between mining and minting can be observed most closely, the copper century lasted longer and showed a deeper impact, and the symptoms of its final crisis, like counterfeiting or coin debasement, became most apparent. This study aims to reassess our understanding of Chinese mint-metal mining and copper-coin production in practice and theory. It shows the importance of the internal market in huge land empires like China but also—through its interrelation with silver in the bimetallic system—its deep involvement in an increasingly integrated global economy.
Uncertainty Estimates for Sea Surface Temperature and Land Surface Air Temperature in NOAAGlobalTemp Version 5
Authors: Huang Boyin , Menne Matthew J. , Boyer Tim , Freeman Eric , Gleason Byron E. , Lawrimore Jay H. , Liu Chunying , Rennie J. Jared , Schreck Carl J. , Sun Fengying , Vose Russell , Williams Claude N. , Yin Xungang , Zhang Huai-Min 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThis analysis estimates uncertainty in the NOAA global surface temperature (GST) version 5 (NOAAGlobalTemp v5) product, which consists of sea surface temperature (SST) from the Extended Reconstructed SST version 5 (ERSSTv5) and land surface air temperature (LSAT) from the Global Historical Climatology Network monthly version 4 (GHCNm v4). Total uncertainty in SST and LSAT consists of parametric and reconstruction uncertainties. The parametric uncertainty represents the dependence of SST/LSAT reconstructions on selecting 28 (6) internal parameters of SST (LSAT), and is estimated by a 1000-member ensemble from 1854 to 2016. The reconstruction uncertainty represents the residual error of using a limited number of 140 (65) modes for SST (LSAT). Uncertainty is quantified at the global scale as well as the local grid scale. Uncertainties in SST and LSAT at the local grid scale are larger in the earlier period (1880s–1910s) and during the two world wars due to sparse observations, then decrease in the modern period (1950s–2010s) due to increased data coverage. Uncertainties in SST and LSAT at the global scale are much smaller than those at the local grid scale due to error cancellations by averaging. Uncertainties are smaller in SST than in LSAT due to smaller SST variabilities. Comparisons show that GST and its uncertainty in NOAAGlobalTemp v5 are comparable to those in other internationally recognized GST products. The differences between NOAAGlobalTemp v5 and other GST products are within their uncertainties at the 95% confidence level.
Supporting Dynamic Economic Adjustment
Authors: Martin John 
Published: October 2019

Executive SummaryEconomic policymaking in the UK has historically focussed more on the demand side than on the supply side of the economy. Yet it is on the supply side – the way in which an economy adapts to change while growing productive capacity on a sustainable basis – that medium- to long-term economic performance largely depends. There is an urgent need now to rebalance policy by focussing, in particular, on measures to enhance labour-force productivity, including radically enhanced support for training and skills development.This does not involve wholesale structural reform of the economic framework. The UK benefits from having one of the most flexible economies in the OECD, with competitive product markets, relatively low labour costs and historically high employment levels, accompanied by a so-far-successful adoption of an escalating minimum wage. We suggest that in the post-Brexit era politicians would do well to avoid changes in the regulatory regime that would create undue misalignments with EU standards. Nevertheless, the concomitants of the UK's form of flexibility are a dismal performance on productivity and stagnating living standards. Productivity is now actually falling quarter on quarter ten years after the last economic downturn – a position unprecedented in the past 250 years. This problem must be addressed if the UK is to progress towards fulfilling its economic potential.Central to this are both so-called Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) to provide people who have become unemployed with new skills that help them remain in the workforce, and investments in effective upskilling of mid-career and older workers. ALMPs can help raise average per capita income over time, yet UK spending on this area is well under half the OECD average and a fraction of the sums spent in the more successful Nordic economies, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Australia. The UK's many attempts to develop new training and apprenticeship schemes in recent decades have been dogged by poor quality and a lack of support from employers and labour unions. This needs to change: we propose a concerted effort to raise UK spending on ALMPs to the OECD average, especially for 16–24 year-olds. Improving labour-force mobility – for example by radically improving availability of affordable housing – is also critical. Structural reforms of this kind will require sustained political effort and support.
Developing Trade
Authors: Vines David , Gretton Paul , Williamson Anne 
Published: October 2019

Executive SummaryThe UK faces no easy options in determining how to develop its approach to international trade post-Brexit. If it finally decides to leave the European Customs Union and Single Market, it faces the possibility either of simply crashing out of the EU without a deal; trying to form market-access agreements and Free Trade Areas (FTAs) with the EU and other countries; or unilaterally reducing tariffs and liberalising trade with all countries. Each course raises significant practical difficulties, and entails major disadvantages compared with staying in the Customs Union and Single Market.The economic costs of a ‘no-deal’ approach stand to be very large, including inevitable tariffs, obstruction of UK access to EU markets, physical disruption at borders, a damping of investment and the much-discussed problem of the Irish border. Assuming ‘no-deal’ does not happen, negotiating FTAs with other countries would be possible only after a lengthy transition period, as in the Withdrawal Agreement voted down in Parliament, and would depend on the shape of the ultimate post-Brexit trading relationship between the EU and the UK. The process would be difficult, costly, and protracted; would likely be concluded on disadvantageous terms; would be even harder to apply to trade in services; and would yield extremely small gains given the volume of UK non-EU trade that is already covered by FTAs. Finally, unilateral liberalisation, while ameliorating some of the drawbacks of the first two options, faces the same problems of loss of access to European markets and disruption to trade; and would entail severe economic pain with only very gradual gains.The UK needs to conduct a much more profound and considered debate on these issues before deciding to set aside the large benefits of membership of the Customs Union and Single Market for the significant difficulties and tenuous gains offered by the alternatives. Public debate on the economic effects of trade policy has so far lacked the detailed but necessary analysis of these questions. It seems essential to establish a national policy review institution, modelled on the Australian Productivity Commission, in order to stimulate such a debate.
Improving Infrastructure
Authors: Jones Russell , Llewellyn John 
Published: October 2019

Executive SummaryInfrastructure investment can substantially increase a nation's capital stock and thereby boost productive, or supply-side, potential. It can also be useful as a tool in macroeconomic stabilisation, while public spending on quality infrastructure projects has been shown to have significantly greater multiplier effects than tax cuts – so the case for an increasing spend is not undermined by a country's overall debt level.These arguments are especially apposite for post-Brexit UK. Britain's investment performance in general has been especially poor since the 2016 EU referendum. Fixed capital formation as a proportion of GDP is low by international standards, while the government's share of fixed capital formation, at 2.5 per cent, is also below average. It would make sense to target an increase in public and private infrastructure spend to 3.5 per cent of GDP which is the OECD's recommended level.While major infrastructure projects continue to generate controversy on grounds of cost overruns and other issues, UK policy-makers have recently taken a more constructive approach to infrastructure development, notably with the creation of an independent National Infrastructure Commission.But the UK's infrastructure remains unsatisfactory, with significant parts of its energy, water, transport and communications networks in need of renewal or replacement, and infrastructure project delivery remains poor. In summary, much of Britain continues to operate well into the 21st century largely with 20th century, sometimes 19th century, infrastructure assets that are creating bottlenecks, crimping productivity, putting off potential foreign investors, undermining the economy's competitiveness, increasing inequality, and leaving the economy ill-equipped to face future challenges such as Brexit and climate change.The government needs to be bolder, setting out a more ambitious set of priorities including energy projects, regional spending, and fostering capital recycling and private sector investment. A still more ambitious, but eminently feasible, proposal would be to establish a National Investment Bank to offer project guarantees, recommend user fees, lend to projects with the proceeds of National Investment Bonds and simplify planning among other tasks. In a serious downturn, with monetary policy exhausted, the NIB could also help to co-ordinate and finance a response.
Effective Devolution
Authors: Armstrong Angus 
Published: October 2019

Executive SummaryBrexit creates deep challenges for the UK's structure of governance; not least concerning the degree and manner in which powers are devolved within one of the most centralised countries in the world. Departing from the EU is likely to exacerbate regional inequalities and possibly social divide, while at the same time leading to further centralisation of powers, at least in the short term. Most Brexit analysis looks at the reorientation of the UK's external relationships, but the most significant impact may be on its internal constitutional affairs.While it is generally agreed that the UK needs more devolution, there is little discussion about how and why it sometimes succeeds, but also sometimes falls short of expectations. Ever since Adam Smith it has been known that economic prosperity, justice, and social cooperation are mutually reinforcing. Therefore, policy must be built around community and a sense of belonging, rather than a collection of anonymous individuals. The Core Design Principles set out by Elinor Ostrom provide a framework to transform governance structure at every level from the smallest communities all the way to parliament.Necessary institutional changes include giving local authorities much greater control over revenue-raising powers and therefore the services they wish to support. National legislatures must have the power to borrow for investment without limit, but with sole responsibility for repayment, to enhance local political accountability. A statutory body should be established, including representatives of the devolved assemblies and English regions, to address regional disparities, and there should be a much stronger regional presence in decision-making by HM Treasury and the Bank of England.
Improving Governance
Authors: Donnelly Martin 
Published: October 2019

Executive SummaryGovernment post-Brexit will face sustained and difficult challenges as the UK adjusts to its new situation. Yet these challenges risk being exacerbated by fundamental changes in UK political debate that are affecting the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of the system and structures of government. These include erosion of the clear distinction entrenched for the last 150 years between political choices by elected representatives and impartial administration by the civil service; the disruption of traditional deliberative processes by digital and social media; and increased centralisation of decision-making in No. 10 Downing Street combined with inadequate scrutiny of that decision-making either by the Cabinet or by Parliament.The centralisation of executive power reduces its perceived legitimacy across the UK, with devolved government in Scotland and Wales seen as contingent on the Westminster Parliament and Northern Ireland under control by central government. Fiscally, the UK has become the most centralised democratic country in the world. As government faces up to the challenge of unwinding membership of the legal and regulatory framework developed during 45 years of EU membership, it is vital that the UK's political structures restore their legitimacy and efficiency.Necessary reforms start with greater transparency about how government really works today. A PM's Department should be created, separate from the Cabinet Office; senior appointments including the Chief of Staff and ‘Advisors’, as well as instructions from No. 10 to departments, should be subject to effective Parliamentary scrutiny. Legally entrenched structures are required to confirm that devolved powers cannot simply be overridden by the Westminster Parliament. Greater fiscal autonomy should be guaranteed to local government.Finally, politicians should choose either to recommit explicitly to the original system whereby the civil service remains separate from politics and take steps to make it effective; or acknowledge the drift towards greater political control of the civil service and introduce safeguards to minimise political abuse, for example by taking steps to increase scrutiny of appointments and expenditure.
Diagnosis and treatment of intermuscular venous malformations: A retrospective study in one center
Authors: Xu Mengnan , Wang Min , Cheng Yenwen , Ni Xiaodong , Xu Yuan , Wang Qian , Yuan Siming 
Published: October 2019

Objectives Intermuscular venous malformations are common vascular malformation, do not have typical symptoms, and are difficult to diagnose. This article is a retrospective analysis of the diagnostic and therapeutic measures of intermuscular venous malformations. Methods From January 2013 to June 2018, 21 patients were included in this study. The clinical presentations, managements, and follow-up results were retrospectively analyzed. The indications and potential risks of different treatments were summarized. Results The complaints of patients with intermuscular venous malformations included local pain, swelling, discomfort, or aggravation after activity. Ultrasound, phlebography, magnetic resonance imaging, percutaneous sinus angiography, and three-dimensional computed tomography imaging were performed. The patients received surgical excision, sclerotherapy, or the combinational therapy of intralesional copper wires retention and ethanol injection and were followed for six months to five years. All patients’ symptoms were relieved largely. The lesions evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging decreased apparently or disappeared. Conclusions Imaging examinations are necessary in the diagnosis of intermuscular venous malformations and can guide the choice of treatment. Individualized treatment for intermuscular venous malformations should be made to achieve good effect and avoid adverse effects.
Coronal magnetic resonance imaging of three-dimensional fast-field echo with water-selective excitation improves the sensitivity and reliability of identification of extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation
Authors: Jia Jingyu , Ding Rui , Liu Xijuan , Li Wugen , Xiong Xi , Wu Tianlong , He Dingwen , Cheng Xigao 
Published: October 2019

Objective The complete view of the nerve root, including the extraforaminal zone, can be displayed by coronal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of three-dimensional (3D) fast-field echo with water-selective excitation (CMRI). However, its sensitivity, specificity, and reliability for the diagnosis of extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation are unclear. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of conventional MRI, CMRI, and 3D MRI for the identification of extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation. Methods This study involved 140 patients (68 with extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation and 72 with paramedian disc herniation). Their mean age was 44.57 ± 14.59 years. Conventional MRI, CMRI, and 3D MRI of all patients were evaluated by five experts. The reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of the three imaging techniques for identification of extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation were compared using kappa statistics and the chi-squared test. Results CMRI showed higher agreement (0.843) than conventional MRI (0.671) and 3D MRI (0.771) for the identification of extraforaminal lumbar disc herniation. CMRI demonstrated higher sensitivity (95.6% vs. 91.2%) than conventional MRI (85.3% vs. 70.6%) and 3D MRI (92.6% vs. 86.7%) regardless of whether performed by junior or senior surgeons. Conclusions CMRI is helpful for identification of extraforaminal disc herniation by junior and senior orthopedic surgeons.
Evaluating the Kisan Credit Card Scheme: Some Results for Bihar and India
Authors: Chanda Areendam 
Published: October 2019

The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced in India in 1998–1999 and has since become a flagship programme providing access to short-term credit in the agricultural sector. According to the Government of India, over a 100 million cards had been issued cumulatively by March 2011. Using data from 2005–2006 to 2009–2010, the article critically examines the determinants of KCC lending across states in India and districts in Bihar. We also examine the effects of the scheme on agricultural growth and yields. Our results suggest that states with initially better access to agricultural credit show subsequently greater amounts of KCC lending. However, Bihar and other BIMARU states also show faster adoption rates that cannot be explained by their recent growth accelerations. Within Bihar, we see that districts with initially greater lending in KCC continue to pull further away from other districts, while in terms of account holders there is evidence of convergence. Finally, we do not see any evidence of KCC lending on state- or district-level agricultural productivity. JEL: Q14, Q0, O41, O47
What motivates and discourages social workers from working as Approved Mental Health Professionals? Evidence about job resources and demands of the Approved Mental Health Professional role
Authors: Stevens Martin , Manthorpe Jill , Martineau Stephen 
Published: October 2019

Summary This paper reports on a systematic thematic synthesis of literature focusing on encouraging and discouraging factors for social workers to train and practise as Approved Mental Health Professionals in England. These professionals have legal authority to authorise the detention for assessment/treatment of people with a ‘mental disorder’ under the Mental Health Act 1983 and other statutory responsibilities. The review included 23 papers, which reported on 14 research studies and is presented using the job demands and resources model. Findings The review identified a lack of quantitative studies and specific gaps in evidence about social workers’ motivations or reasons why they do not want to become Approved Mental Health Professionals. It identified job resources and demands relating to the intrinsic nature of Approved Mental Health Professional work and extrinsic factors such as fit with social work values and the shortage of inpatient beds. Some job resources and demands overlapped and interacted. Applications The review suggests that a national survey of Approved Mental Health Professionals might be timely, to examine the relative importance of the job resources and demands; to assess their impact on levels of stress and burnout and on Approved Mental Health Professionals’ motivations to continue or cease working in the role. The findings of the review support the need for increasing the number of inpatient mental health beds and community resources and establishing requirements for the availability of doctors (who may make the medical recommendation to detain) and local agreements about the role of the police and ambulance services in Mental Health Act assessments.