bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cervical Cancer Screening in the United States and the Netherlands: A Tale of Two Countries
Authors: HABBEMA DIK , De KOK INGE M.C.M. , BROWN MARTIN L. 
Published: March 2012

Context: This article compares cervical cancer screening intensity and cervical cancer mortality trends in the United States and the Netherlands to illustrate the potential of cross‐national comparative studies. We discuss the lessons that can be learned from the comparison as well as the challenges in each country to effective and efficient screening.Methods: We used nationally representative data sources in the United States and the Netherlands to estimate the number of Pap smears and the cervical cancer mortality rate since 1950. The following questions are addressed: How do differences in intensity of Pap smear use between the countries translate into differences in mortality trends? Can population coverage rates (the proportion of eligible women who had a Pap smear within a specified period) explain the mortality trends better than the total intensity of Pap smear use?Findings: Even though three to four times more Pap smears per woman were conducted in the United States than in the Netherlands over a period of three decades, the two countries’ mortality trends were quite similar. The five‐year coverage rates for women aged thirty to sixty‐four were quite comparable at 80 to 90 percent. Because screening in the Netherlands was limited to ages thirty to sixty, screening rates for women under thirty and over sixty were much higher in the United States. These differences had consequences for age‐specific mortality trends. The relatively good coverage rate in the Netherlands can be traced back to a nationwide invitation system based on municipal population registries. While both countries followed a “policy cycle” involving evidence review, surveillance of screening practices and outcomes, clinical guidelines, and reimbursement policies, the components of this cycle were more systematically linked and implemented nationwide in the Netherlands than in the United States. To a large extent, this was facilitated by a public health model of screening in the Netherlands, rather than a medical services model.Conclusions: Cross‐country studies like ours are natural experiments that can produce insights not easily obtained from other types of study. The cervical cancer screening system in the Netherlands seems to have been as effective as the U.S. system but used much less screening. Adequate coverage of the female population at risk seems to be of central importance.
Health Insurance Coverage and Take‐Up: Lessons from Behavioral Economics
Authors: BAICKER KATHERINE , CONGDON WILLIAM J. , MULLAINATHAN SENDHIL 
Published: March 2012

Context: Millions of uninsured Americans ostensibly have insurance available to them—many at very low cost—but do not take it up. Traditional economic analysis is based on the premise that these are rational decisions, but it is hard to reconcile observed enrollment patterns with this view. The policy prescriptions that the traditional model generates may thus fail to achieve their goals. Behavioral economics, which integrates insights from psychology into economic analysis, identifies important deviations from the traditional assumptions of rationality and can thus improve our understanding of what drives health insurance take‐up and improved policy design.Methods: Rather than a systematic review of the coverage literature, this article is a primer for considering issues in health insurance coverage from a behavioral economics perspective, supplementing the standard model. We present relevant evidence on decision making and insurance take‐up and use it to develop a behavioral approach to both the policy problem posed by the lack of health insurance coverage and possible policy solutions to that problem.Findings: We found that evidence from behavioral economics can shed light on both the sources of low take‐up and the efficacy of different policy levers intended to expand coverage. We then applied these insights to policy design questions for public and private insurance coverage and to the implementation of the recently enacted health reform, focusing on the use of behavioral insights to maximize the value of spending on coverage.Conclusions: We concluded that the success of health insurance coverage reform depends crucially on understanding the behavioral barriers to take‐up. The take‐up process is likely governed by psychology as much as economics, and public resources can likely be used much more effectively with behaviorally informed policy design.
What We Talk about When We Talk about Risk: Refining Surgery's Hazards in Medical Thought
Authors: NEUMAN MARK D. , BOSK CHARLES L. 
Published: March 2012

Context:  Current efforts to improve the cost‐effectiveness of health care focus on assessing accurately the value of technologically complex, costly medical treatments for individual patients and society. These efforts universally acknowledge that the determination of such value should incorporate information regarding the risks posed by a given treatment for an individual, but they typically overlook the implications for medical decision making that inhere in how notions of risk are understood and used in contemporary medical discourse. To gain perspective on how the hazards of surgery have been defined and redefined in medical thought, we examine changes over time in notions of risk related to operative care.Methods: We reviewed historical writings on risk assessment and patient selection for surgical procedures published between 1957 and 1997 and conducted informal interviews with experts. To examine changes attributable to advances in research on risk assessment, we focused on the period surrounding the 1977 publication of an influential surgical risk‐stratification index.Findings: Writings before 1977 demonstrate a summative, global approach to patients as “good” or “poor” risks, without quantifying the likelihood of specific postoperative events. Beginning in the early 1980s, assessments of operative risk increasingly emphasized quantitative estimates of the probability of dysfunction of a specific organ system after surgery. This new approach to establishing surgical risk was consistent with concurrent trends in other domains of medicine. In particular, it emphasized a more “scientific,” standardized approach to medical decision making over an earlier focus on individual physicians’ judgment and professional authority.Conclusions: Recent writings on operative risk reflect a viewpoint that is more specific and, at the same time, more generic and fragmented than earlier approaches. By permitting the separation of multiple component hazards implicit in surgical interventions, such a viewpoint may encourage a distinct, permissive standard for surgical interventions that conflicts with larger policy efforts to promote cost‐effective decision making by physicians and patients.
Impact of Nurse Staffing Mandates on Safety‐Net Hospitals: Lessons from California
Authors: MCHUGH MATTHEW D. , BROOKS CARTHON MARGO , SLOANE DOUGLAS M. , WU EVAN , KELLY LESLY , AIKEN LINDA H. 
Published: March 2012

Context: California is the first and only state to implement a patient‐to‐nurse ratio mandate for hospitals. Increasing nurse staffing is an important organizational intervention for improving patient outcomes. Evidence suggests that staffing improved in California hospitals after the mandate was enacted, but the outcome for hospitals bearing a disproportionate share of uncompensated care—safety‐net hospitals—remains unclear. One concern was that California's mandate would burden safety‐net hospitals without improving staffing or that hospitals would reduce their skill mix, that is, the proportion of registered nurses of all nursing staff. We examined the differential effect of California's staffing mandate on safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.Methods: We used a time‐series design with Annual Hospital Disclosure data files from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) for the years 1998 to 2007 to assess differences in the effect of California's mandate on staffing outcomes in safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.Findings: The mandate resulted in significant staffing improvements, on average nearly a full patient per nurse fewer (−0.98) for all California hospitals. The greatest effect was in those hospitals with the lowest staffing levels at the outset, both safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals, as the legislation intended. The mandate led to significantly improved staffing levels for safety‐net hospitals, although there was a small but significant difference in the effect on staffing levels of safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals. Regarding skill mix, a marginally higher proportion of registered nurses was seen in non‐safety‐net hospitals following the mandate, while the skill mix remained essentially unchanged for safety‐net hospitals. The difference between the two groups of hospitals was not significant.Conclusions: California's mandate improved staffing for all hospitals, including safety‐net hospitals. Furthermore, improvement did not come at the cost of a reduced skill mix, as was feared. Alternative and more targeted designs, however, might yield further improvement for safety‐net hospitals and reduce potential disparities in the staffing and skill mix of safety‐net and non‐safety‐net hospitals.
Export diversification in a transitioning economy
Authors: Lim Jamus Jerome , Saborowski Christian 
Published: March 2012

AbstractHow does the process of export diversification take place in an economy in transition, especially in light of government policy aimed at trade liberalization? This article examines this question by considering a directed policy effort by Syria – an economy in transition from both economic centralization and resource dependence – to liberalize its trade between 2001 and 2008. In addition to documenting the patterns of diversification at the aggregate level since the implementation of the policy, we also examine factors that are related to diversification at the sectoral level. Our findings suggest that, while Syria has achieved reasonably rapid export diversification, this may to a large extent be the result of structural transformations in the economy, and that further diversification may require continued policy reform designed to strengthen Syria's weak institutional and business environment.
A contribution to the public–private wage inequality debate
Authors: Voinea Liviu , Mihaescu Flaviu 
Published: March 2012

AbstractThis paper studies the public–private wage inequality in Romania. Although public sector employment is perceived as safer and offering more benefits, we find that in Romania it also offers higher wages, after controlling for experience, education and gender. This result is at odds with the negative premium uncovered in other transition economies. The public–private wage premium is increasing across the wage distribution, leading to more inequality in the public sector. Decomposing the wage premium into the effect of personal characteristics, coefficients and residuals, we show that only about half of this premium can be attributed to personal characteristics, especially in the top half of the wage distribution. We also find that the number of other public sector employees in the family is a significant driver of public sector employment, facilitating access to jobs. However, the effects of self‐selection are negligible, the premium being still positive and significant after controlling for this.
The business environment and Moroccan firm productivity
Authors: Augier Patricia , Dovis Marion , Gasiorek Michael 
Published: March 2012

AbstractThe paper focuses on the role of the business environment in understanding differences in the total factor productivity of Moroccan firms. The business environment is captured by measures which include the investment climate in which firms operate, i.e. access to credit, regulatory and institutional environment and infrastructure. The evidence on the relationship between credit and productivity is strongly indicative of credit resources misallocation in Morocco. We also find that, heavier bureaucracy and differences in regulations appear to have a negative effect on firm productivity. This last result is particularly relevant for small firms, and/or those that do not export and/or those with no access to foreign capital.
Is the effect really so large? Firm‐level evidence on the role of FDI in a transition economy1
Authors: Hagemejer Jan , Tyrowicz Joanna 
Published: March 2012

AbstractForeign subsidiaries usually perform better than domestic enterprises, but selection effects have been acknowledged in the literature. This article contributes by quantitatively evaluating the size of the selection effects and direct effects of FDI entry. We use a large panel of firm‐level data from Poland and match foreign‐owned firms to a control group of non‐foreign‐owned companies and analyse various performance indicators. In terms of efficiency measures, between 50 and 70 percent of the foreign affiliates advantage may be attributed to direct ownership effects. However, in the case of export intensity, the majority of the differential between the domestic companies and foreign subsidiaries is attributable to selection effects: MNEs choose export‐oriented companies and sectors.
Europe's Second Markets for Small Companies
Authors: Vismara Silvio , Paleari Stefano , Ritter Jay R. 
Published: March 2012

Abstract European stock exchanges have repeatedly opened second markets to list small companies. We explain the motivation for the creation of these second markets, and the reasons why many of them have failed. We find that the average long‐run performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) on second markets is dramatically worse than for main market IPOs. However, the second markets have provided firms with the opportunity to raise funds at the IPO and in follow‐on offerings. The relative success of London's AIM, which is an exchange‐regulated market with minimal regulations, has led other European stock exchanges to establish similar non‐EU regulated second markets. Most of the IPOs on these exchange‐regulated markets are offered exclusively to institutional investors, and are equivalent to private placements. These IPOs, which frequently raise only a few million euros, rarely develop liquid trading.
Strategic Asset Allocation and the Role of Alternative Investments
Authors: Cumming Douglas , Helge Haß Lars , Schweizer Denis 
Published: March 2012

AbstractWe introduce a framework for strategic asset allocation with alternative investments. Our framework uses a quantifiable risk preference parameter, λ, instead of a utility function. We account for higher moments of the return distributions and approximate best‐fit distributions. Thus, we replace the empirical return distributions with two normal distributions. We then use these in the strategic asset allocation. Our framework yields better results than Markowitz's framework. Furthermore, our framework better manages regime switches that occur during crises. To test the robustness of our results, we use a battery of robustness checks and find stable results.
INTERCULTURAL TRANSFER AND ARTISTIC INNOVATION: GERMAN MUSICIANS IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN
Authors: Manz Stefan 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACT Throughout the nineteenth century, German classical music production was an aesthetic point of reference for British concert audiences. As a consequence, a sizeable number of German musicians were to be found in Britain as performers, conductors, teachers, musicologists and managers. They acted as agents of intercultural transfer, disseminating performance and organisational practices which had a transformative effect on British musical life. This article moves away from a focus on high‐profile visiting artists such as Mendelssohn Bartholdy or Wagner and argues that the extent to which transfer took place can be better assessed by concentrating on the cohort of those artists who remained permanently. Some of these are all but forgotten today, but were household names in Victorian Britain. The case studies have been selected for the range of genres they represent and include Joseph Mainzer (choral singing), Carl Rosa (opera), August Manns, Carl Hallé and Julius Seligmann (orchestral music), and Friedrich Niecks (musicology). On a theoretical level, the concept of ‘intercultural transfer’ is applied in order to determine aspects such as diffusion, adaptation or sustainability of artistic elements within the new cultural context. The approach confirms that ‘national’ cultures do not develop indigenously but always through cross‐national interaction.Während des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts war die klassische Musikszene Deutschlands ästhetischer Bezugpunkt für das britische Konzertpublikum. Dies hatte zur Folge, dass vermehrt Deutsche als Musiker, Dirigenten, Lehrer, Musikwissenschaftler und Manager in Großbritannien tätig wurden. Sie fungierten als Vermittler interkulturellen Transfers, indem sie aufführungs‐ und organisationstechnische Praktiken verbreiteten und damit zu einer Transformation des britischen Musiklebens beitrugen. Vorliegender Artikel konzentriert sich weniger auf bekannte Künstler mit kurzfristigen Engagements (z. B. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Wagner), und argumentiert vielmehr, dass sich das Ausmaß des Transfers besser über solche Musiker feststellen lässt, die sich längerfristig ansiedelten. Einige davon waren allgemein bekannte Persönlichkeiten im Königreich, sind heute aber vergessen. Die Auswahl der Fallstudien gibt einen Überblick über verschiedene Gattungen und beinhaltet Joseph Mainzer (Chorgesang), Carl Rosa (Oper), August Manns, Carl Hallé und Julius Seligmann (Orchestermusik), sowie Friedrich Niecks (Musikwissenschaft). Auf der Theorieebene wird das Konzept des ‘interkulturellen Transfers’ herangezogen, um Aspekte wie Diffusion, Anpassung oder Nachhaltigkeit künstlerischer Elemente im neuen kulturellen Kontext zu beleuchten. Der Ansatz bestätigt, dass sich ‘nationale’ Kulturen nicht indigen entwickeln sondern immer im Austausch mit anderen Kulturen.
VISIONS OF SADISTIC WOMEN: SADE, SACHER‐MASOCH, KAFKA
Authors: Katharina Schaffner Anna 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACT Invested with both fear and longing, the figure of the sadistic woman is always double. At once castrating executor of the death‐wish and object of desire, perverter of the ‘natural’ order and a necessary agent in the male sexual imagination, she embodies the ambiguous attitudes towards female sexuality that precipitated the crisis in modern conceptions of gender. This essay explores three paradigmatic literary representations of sadistic women in order to shed light not only on specifically modern sexual fantasies and anxieties, but also on more general cultural assumptions about what was deemed appropriate and what was understood as pathological feminine behaviour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The sadistic woman violates both latent and overt gender stereotypes in the most radical manner, and thus presents an ideal case study for exploring the nature and function of these stereotypes. After briefly addressing theories of female sadism in nineteenth‐century sexological and twentieth‐century psychoanalytical discourse, I discuss Juliette (1797) by the Marquis de Sade, Venus im Pelz (1869) by Leopold von Sacher‐Masoch, and a selection of Franz Kafka's cruel women figures, in particular in Der Verschollene (written in 1912–13, first published in 1927), which not only reveals the influence of his literary predecessors but also presents a characteristically tragicomic modernist vision of the female sadist.Simultan mit Angst und mit Verlangen behaftet, ist das Konstrukt der sadistischen Frau immer mehrdeutig: sie ist sowohl kastrierende Todeswunsch‐Ausführerin wie auch Objekt des Verlangens, Architektin einer Perversion der ‘natürlichen Ordnung’ und unabdingliche Handlungsträgerin in männlichen Sexualfantasien. Ihr Doppelstatus verkörpert die ambivalente Sicht der weiblichen Sexualität, die die Krise moderner Geschlechterkonzeptionen vorangetrieben hat. Dieser Beitrag untersucht drei paradigmatische literarische Repräsentationen sadistischer Frauen, da eine Analyse dieser Darstellungen nicht nur Licht auf spezifisch modernistische Fantasien und Ängste werfen kann, sondern auch auf allgemeinere kulturelle Wertevorstellungen, die weibliches Verhalten als akzeptabel und pathologisch definieren. Die sadistische Frau verletzt sowohl latente wie auch explizite Genderstereotypen auf die radikalst mögliche Art und Weise, und ermöglicht dadurch eine Analyse derselben. Nach einer kurzen Darstellung von dominanten sexualwissenschaftlichen und psychoanalytischen Theorien über den weiblichen Sadismus, die Ende des neunzehnten und Anfang des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts im Umlauf waren, analysiere ich Marquis de Sades Juliette (1797), Leopold von Sacher‐Masochs Venus im Pelz (1869) und eine Auswahl von grausamen Frauenfiguren in Franz Kafkas Werken, mit besonderer Betonung auf Der Verschollene (geschrieben 1912–13, veröffentlicht 1927). Der Verschollene weist den Einfluss von Kafkas literarischen Vorgängern auf und präsentiert eine charakteristisch tragikomische modernistische Vision der weiblichen Sadistin.
ARCHIVALISCHE NOTEN ZU GUNDOLFS BRIEFEN UND GEDICHTEN IN LONDON1
Authors: Redl Philipp 
Published: March 2012

ABSTRACT This article offers a survey of letters and poems by Friedrich Gundolf held in the Gundolf Archive at the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London. Parts of the holdings, so far scarcely known, are presented here sorted by genre and chronology and by genre and recipient respectively. This provides a list of Gundolf's poetry, including dramatic, epic and humorous didactic works, as well as his correspondences stored in the London Gundolf Archive. A proposal for a reconstructed ‘History of German Literature’, based on Gundolf's lecture manuscripts, concludes the article.Die Miszelle bietet eine Übersicht zu den Briefen und Gedichten Friedrich Gundolfs im sogenannten Gundolf‐Archiv des Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, University of London. Teile der bisher nur oberflächlich bekannten Bestände werden nach Autopsie generisch‐chronologisch beziehungsweise generisch‐adressatenalphabetisch geordnet, sodass sich ein Verzeichnis der Lyrik, der Dramolette (‘Zwiegespräche’), der Epyllien, der scherzhaften Lehrdichtung und der Briefe Gundolfs ergibt, die das Gundolf‐Archiv in London verwahrt. Abgeschlossen wird der Beitrag von einem Vorschlag zur Rekonstruktion einer ‘Geschichte der deutschen Literatur’ von Gundolf aus dessen Vorlesungsmanuskripten.