bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Surgical management of adrenal cysts: single‐institution experience
Authors: El‐Hefnawy Ahmed S. , El Garba Muftah , Osman Yasser , Eraky Ibrahim , El Mekresh Mohsen , Ibrahim El‐housseiny 
Published: April 2009

OBJECTIVESTo assess the safety and efficacy of different surgical procedures used for managing benign adrenal cysts.PATIENTS AND METHODSThe files of 245 patients presenting with adrenal masses was reviewed retrospectively; all had a thorough history taken and a physical examination. The radiological evaluation included abdominal plain X‐rays, grey‐scale abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography with contrast medium. According to their clinical situation, patients had surgical open, laparoscopic intervention or were managed conservatively. The short‐ and long‐term outcome of the open and laparoscopic techniques were evaluated.RESULTSTwenty‐six (11%) patients presented with adrenal cysts; the mean (sd, range) age at the time of presentation for adults was 41.4  (15, 17–82) years, while a 1‐month female neonate and 1‐year‐old boy presented with an adrenal cyst. The mean (sd, range) size of the cysts was 10 (3.5, 5–18) cm. Surgical intervention was the treatment of choice in 21 patients; 11 (42%) had open adrenalectomy, while 10 (38%) had laparoscopic intervention. Both groups were comparable in the term of cyst size and operative time, while the laparoscopically managed group had a shorter hospital stay. Five patients were followed with no surgical intervention. At a mean follow‐up of 90 months all patients were symptom free, with no radiological evidence of recurrence.CONCLUSIONSLaparoscopic adrenalectomy is a safe and effective treatment for benign adrenal cysts. Compared with open techniques it has the advantages of a shorter hospital stay, less blood loss and enhanced cosmesis. Unlike aspiration of cyst contents, the recurrence of adrenal cysts after surgical removal is unlikely.
Differences among patients undergoing perineal or retropubic radical prostatectomy in pain and perioperative variables: a prospective study
Authors: Paiva Cristiano S. , Andreoni Cássio , Cunha Graziella P. , Khalil Walid , Ortiz Valdemar 
Published: April 2009

OBJECTIVETo compare pain in the first 24 h, the perioperative variables and the histopathological results among patients who had perineal (PRP) and retropubic radical prostatectomy (RRP), in a randomized trial.PATIENTS AND METHODSPatients with localized prostate cancer were accrued after selection using inclusion and exclusion criteria; they were prospectively randomized into four different groups: P1 (PRP with general anaesthesia), P2 (RPP with general plus epidural anaesthesia), R1 (RRP with general anaesthesia), and R2 (RRP with general plus epidural anaesthesia) and data collected for age, body mass index, prostate weight, serum prostate‐specific antigen level, Gleason score and clinical stage. Pain after RP was evaluated using numerical and oral scales, and by morphine intake delivered by a patient‐controlled analgesia pump. Perioperative features assessed prospectively were operating time, intraoperative bleeding, time to diet, time to ambulation, hospital stay and complications. Immediate oncological results were assessed based on histopathological evaluation, e.g. Gleason score, tumour volume, prostate volume, surgical margins and final pathological stage.RESULTSBetween October 2004 and October 2007 80 patients were accrued (mean age 63 years, range 42–80). The groups were similar for preoperative data, but group R1 had larger prostates (P = 0.001). For postoperative pain, group R1 had a significantly greater intensity of pain, based on the visual analogue scales, and greater morphine intake during the first 24 h than the other three groups. Groups P1 and P2 had significantly less bleeding (511 and 612 mL) than groups R1 and R2 (926 and 1165 mL; P < 0.001), regardless of both prostate size and anaesthesia. Complications occurred in 27.5% and 25% (not significant) of patients after PRP and RRP, respectively. There were no differences in positive surgical margin rate and histopathological evaluation among the groups.CONCLUSIONSPatients who had RRP with general anaesthesia had a greater intensity of pain and higher morphine intake than the other groups. Men who had PRP had significantly less bleeding and shorter hospital stay than those having RRP.
Beneath the veil: plant growth form influences the strength of species richness–productivity relationships in forests
Authors: Oberle Brad , Grace James B. , Chase Jonathan M. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTAim  Species richness has been observed to increase with productivity at large spatial scales, though the strength of this relationship varies among functional groups. In forests, canopy trees shade understorey plants, and for this reason we hypothesize that species richness of canopy trees will depend on macroclimate, while species richness of shorter growth forms will additionally be affected by shading from the canopy. In this study we test for differences in species richness–productivity relationships (SRPRs) among growth forms (canopy trees, shrubs, herbaceous species) in small forest plots.Location  We analysed 231 plots ranging from 34.0° to 48.3° N latitude and from 75.0° to 124.2° W longitude in the United States.Methods  We analysed data collected by the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program for plant species richness partitioned into different growth forms, in small plots. We used actual evapotranspiration as a macroclimatic estimate of regional productivity and calculated the area of light‐blocking tissue in the immediate area surrounding plots for an estimate of the intensity of local shading. We estimated and compared SRPRs for different partitions of the species richness dataset using generalized linear models and we incorporated the possible indirect effects of shading using a structural equation model.Results  Canopy tree species richness increased strongly with regional productivity, while local shading primarily explained the variation in herbaceous plant richness. Shrub species richness was related to both regional productivity and local shading.Main conclusions  The relationship between total forest plant species richness and productivity at large scales belies strong effects of local interactions. Counter to the pattern for overall richness, we found that understorey herbaceous plant species richness does not respond to regional productivity gradients, and instead is strongly influenced by canopy density, while shrub species richness is under multivariate control.
I Can't Get No Satisfaction—Necessity Entrepreneurship and Procedural Utility
Authors: Block Joern , Koellinger Philipp 
Published: April 2009

SUMMARYWe study a unique sample of 1,547 nascent entrepreneurs in Germany and analyze which factors are associated with their self‐reported satisfaction regarding their start‐up. Our study identifies a new facet of procedural utility and offers new insights about the motivations and goals of nascent entrepreneurs. Most importantly, we identify a group of nascent entrepreneurs that ‘cannot get satisfaction’ with their start‐up—not because their start‐up fails to deliver financial returns, but because they did not choose to become entrepreneurs in the first place. This group of unsatisfied entrepreneurs includes individuals starting a business after a period of long‐term unemployment and those individuals with a lack of better employment alternatives (necessity entrepreneurs). In addition, we provide additional evidence for the importance of both financial and non‐financial incentives of entrepreneurs. While financial success is the most important determinant of start‐up satisfaction, achievement of independence and creativity is also highly important. Our results emphasize the relevance of procedural utility for understanding economic behavior. We show that the process leading to a decision has an impact on the later satisfaction with the outcome of that decision.
The Hedonics of Hedonism – Estimating the Value of Risk‐Taking Activities
Authors: Borsky Stefan , Raschky Paul A. 
Published: April 2009

SUMMARYThis paper estimates the individual willingness to pay (WTP) for the option to exercise risk‐taking. We use data of 69 Austrian Ski resorts and 3,637 reported ski accidents and apply the hedonic market method. Our results suggest that the individual WTP for a hypothetical increase in the possibility to undertake risk‐taking activities lies between 11% and 25% of the price of a ski‐lift‐ticket. Monetized values help design pricing schemes that set incentives to reduce risk‐taking behavior as well as to develop alternative instruments to reduce the adverse effects of risk‐taking activities (e.g. accidents).
The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Press Freedom
Authors: Dutta Nabamita , Roy Sanjukta 
Published: April 2009

SUMMARYIn our paper we establish foreign direct investment (FDI) as a major determinant of media freedom. Global integration can strengthen the media sector financially, make it technologically enhanced and can also improve the economic environment as a whole. This, in turn, would work towards the enhancement of media freedom. The sample includes high, middle and low income economies. Using a panel of 115 countries over a period of 20 years, our results reveal that FDI is an absolute necessity for a free and efficient media. The results are robust to various alternate specifications and inclusion of additional control variables.
Why Sociology is Better Conditioned to Explain Economic Behaviour than Economics
Authors: Folmer Henk 
Published: April 2009

SUMMARYThis note analyzes the impacts of the fragmentation of economics into different schools of thought and of social science into the sub‐disciplines economics, sociology and psychology. Fragmentation is based on the assumption that it is possible to split the set of an individual's behavioural motives into separable and disjoint subsets. However, this assumption runs counter to the insights in psychology. Moreover, even if splitting up were possible, the different subsets of motives finally need to be checked on consistency and weighted so as to obtain a comprehensive description and explanation. Another serious drawback is that specification of empirical models on the basis of one school of thought or one sub‐discipline leads to omitted variables bias and hence biased estimators and tests. Finally, fragmentation may lead to a ‘pick‐and‐mix package’, whereby policy‐makers and politicians feel free to use what suits them. The social rationality model together with the methodological approach prevalent in modern sociology is presented as a framework for integrating the schools of thought in economics and the social science sub‐disciplines.
Intergenerational Mobility and the Earnings Position of First‐, Second‐, and Third‐Generation Immigrants
Authors: Hammarstedt Mats 
Published: April 2009

SUMMARYImmigrants' labour market situation has been in the focus of research in economics as well as in other sciences, and the labour market situation of immigrants and their children (i.e. first‐ and second‐generation immigrants) is relatively well documented in many countries today. However, less attention has up to now been paid to the labour market and earnings situation among the grandchildren of immigrants, i.e. third‐generation immigrants. Against this background, this paper studies intergenerational earnings mobility and the earnings position of three generations of immigrants in Sweden. The results indicate a regression towards the native earnings mean in immigrant earnings across the first two generations in the sense that immigrants earn more than natives in the first generation while there are small ethnic earnings in the second generation. Furthermore, immigrants earn less than natives in the third generation. Thus, the results suggest a downward trend in immigrants' relative earnings across generations. One conclusion of the study is that ethnic differences in earnings may occur beyond the second generation of immigrants and that the problem with integration of immigrants therefore may last for several generations.
Rubber Erasures, Rubber Producing Rights: Making Racialized Territories in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
Authors: Peluso Nancy Lee 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTThis article makes connections between often‐disparate literatures on property, violence and identity, using the politics of rubber growing in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, as an example. It shows how rubber production gave rise to territorialities associated with and productive of ethnic identities, depending on both the political economies and cultural politics at play in different moments. What it meant to be Chinese and Dayak in colonial and post‐colonial Indonesia, as well as how categories of subjects and citizens were configured in the two respective periods, differentially affected both the formal property rights and the means of access to rubber and land in different parts of West Kalimantan. However, incremental changes in shifting rubber production practices were not the only means of producing territory and ethnicity. The author argues that violence ultimately played a more significant role in erasing prior identity‐based claims and establishing the controls of new actors over trees and land and their claims to legitimate access or ‘rightfulness’. Changing rubber production practices and reconfigurations of racialized territories and identity‐based property rights are all implicated in hiding the violence.
Authority over Forests: Empowerment and Subordination in Senegal's Democratic Decentralization
Authors: Ribot Jesse C. 
Published: April 2009

ABSTRACTSenegal's 1998 forestry code transfers rights to control and allocate forest access to elected rural councils, ostensibly giving the elected authorities significant material powers with respect to which they can represent the rural population. But the Forest Service is unwilling to allow rural councils to exercise these powers. To retain control, foresters use pressure, bribes and threats while taking advantage of the inability of the rural representatives to influence actors higher up in government. They justify themselves with arguments of national good and local incompetence. The foresters ally with urban‐based forest merchants and are supported by the sub‐prefect. Despite the transfer of forest rights, the foresters continue to allocate access to lucrative forest opportunities — in this case charcoal production and exchange — to the merchants. Despite holding effective property rights over forest, such as the right to exclude others, rural councils remain marginal and rural populations remain destitute. The councils cannot represent their populations and therefore cannot gain legitimacy: they have no authority. Despite progressive new laws, the Forest Service helps to maintain Senegal's healthy urban charcoal oligopsonies, while beating back fledgling local democracy.
Learning in 3‐D multiuser virtual environments: Exploring the use of unique 3‐D attributes for online problem‐based learning
Authors: Omale Nicholas , Hung Wei‐Chen , Luetkehans Lara , Cooke‐Plagwitz Jessamine 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to present the results of a study conducted to investigate how the attributes of 3‐D technology such as avatars, 3‐D space, and comic style bubble dialogue boxes affect participants' social, cognitive, and teaching presences in a blended problem‐based learning environment. The community of inquiry model was adopted to analyse and interpret data collected from transcripts and group interviews. The results indicated that although the attributes of 3‐D technology promoted participants' social presence, this positive online social experience did not completely contribute to participants' cognitive presence due to inherent technology attributes. Additionally, critical technical and instructional features of the 3‐D environment were required in order to further enhance teaching presence and overall learning experience.
Socialisation for learning at a distance in a 3‐D multi‐user virtual environment
Authors: Edirisingha Palitha , Nie Ming , Pluciennik Mark , Young Ruth 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThis paper reports findings of a pilot study that examined the pedagogical potential of Second Life (SL), a popular three‐dimensional multi‐user virtual environment (3‐D MUVE) developed by the Linden Lab. The study is part of a 1‐year research and development project titled ‘Modelling of Secondlife Environments’ (http://www.le.ac.uk/moose) funded by the UK Joint Information Systems Committee. The research question addressed in this paper is: how can learning activities that facilitate social presence and foster socialisation among distance learners for collaborative learning be developed in SL, a 3‐D MUVE? The study was carried out at the University of Leicester (UoL) within an undergraduate module on Archaeological Theory, where two tutors and four students took part in four learning activities designed to take place in SL within the UoL Media Zoo island. The learning activities and training in SL were based on Salmon's five‐stage model of online learning. Students’ engagement in SL was studied through interviews, observations and records of chat logs. The data analysis offers four key findings in relation to the nature and pattern of in‐world ‘socialisation’ and its impact on real‐world network building; the pattern of in‐world ‘socialisation’ stage in Salmon's 5‐stage model; perspectives on students’ progress in‐world through the first stage of the model—‘access and motivation’—and perspectives on their entry into, and progress through, the second stage of the model—‘socialisation’—and the role of identity presented through avatars in the process of socialisation. The paper offers implications for research and practice in the light of these findings.
Aid and the Soft Budget Constraint
Authors: Janus Thorsten 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe author applies the theory of the soft budget constraint to explain some stylized facts regarding the outcomes and practice of international aid, including ineffectiveness, white elephants, and volatility. The soft budget constraint can also make aid counterproductive. Nonetheless, actual aid institutions may be constrained optimal responses to soft budgets and commonly suggested reforms such as improved donor coordination in aid, focus on fewer countries and projects, and less volatility of aid may lower the effectiveness of aid. The soft budget is also consistent with conservative project selection and the recent focus on “ownership.”
Remittances, Financial Market Development, and Economic Growth: The Case of Latin America and the Caribbean
Authors: Mundaca B. Gabriela 
Published: April 2009

AbstractWithin a theoretical framework, the author analyzes the effects that both workers' remittances and financial intermediation have on economic growth. It is found, among other things, that remittances can have significant positive long‐run effects on growth. The author confronts the implications of the theoretical model proposed with panel data for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. After considering the effect of long‐run investment and demographic variables, and controlling for fixed time and country effects, the empirical analysis indicates that financial intermediation tends to increase the responsiveness of growth to remittances. The overall conclusion is that making financial services more generally available should lead to even better use of remittances, thus boosting growth in these countries.
Endogenous Financial and Trade Openness
Authors: Aizenman Joshua , Noy Ilan 
Published: April 2009

AbstractThe authors study the endogenous determination of financial and trade openness. They construct a theoretical framework leading to two‐way feedbacks between financial and trade openness and identify these feedbacks empirically. They find that one standard deviation increase in commercial openness is associated with a 9.5% increase in de facto financial openness (% of GDP). Similarly, an increase in de facto financial openness has powerful effects on future trade openness. De jure restrictions on capital mobility have only a weak impact on de facto financial openness, while de jure restrictions on the current account have a large adverse effect on commercial openness. The authors investigate the relative magnitudes of these directions of causality using Geweke's (1982) decomposition methodology. They conclude that in an era of rapidly growing trade integration, countries cannot choose financial openness independently of their degree of openness to trade. Dealing with greater exposure to turbulence by imposing restrictions on financial flows is likely to be ineffectual.
The Effect of Corruption on Investment Growth: Evidence from Firms in Latin America, Sub‐Saharan Africa, and Transition Countries*
Authors: Asiedu Elizabeth , Freeman James 
Published: April 2009

AbstractMost of the empirical studies that analyze the impact of corruption on investment have three common features: they employ country‐level data on investment, corruption is measured at the country level, and data for countries from several regions are pooled together. This paper uses firm‐level data on investment and measures corruption at the firm and country level, and allows the effect of corruption to vary by region. Our dependent variable is firms' investment growth and we employ six measures of corruption from four different sources—two firm‐level measures and four country‐level measures. We find that the effect of corruption on investments varies significantly across regions: corruption has a negative and significant effect on investment growth for firms in Transition countries but has no significant impact for firms in Latin America and Sub‐Saharan Africa. Furthermore, for Transition countries, corruption is the most important determinant of investment.
Macroeconomic Uncertainty and Performance in Asian Countries*
Authors: Bredin Don , Elder John , Fountas Stilianos 
Published: April 2009

AbstractWe use a very general bivariate GARCH‐M model and quarterly data for five Asian countries to test for the impact of real and nominal macroeconomic uncertainty on inflation and output growth. We conclude the following. First, in the majority of countries uncertainty regarding the output growth rate is related negatively to the average growth rate. Secondly, contrary to expectations, inflation uncertainty in most cases does not harm the output growth performance of an economy. Thirdly, inflation and output uncertainty have a mixed effect on inflation. Consistent results are found using the VAR‐GARCH‐M approach to investigate the dynamic relationship between inflation and output growth using impulse response functions. This evidence implies that macroeconomic uncertainty may even improve macroeconomic performance, i.e. raise output growth and reduce inflation. Our empirical results highlight important differences with those for industrialized countries.
Do Multinational Enterprises Contribute to Convergence or Divergence? A Disaggregated Analysis of US FDI*
Authors: Mayer‐Foulkes David , Nunnenkamp Peter 
Published: April 2009

AbstractIt is widely held that foreign direct investment (FDI) has a positive effect on economic growth. To test this hypothesis, we perform convergence regressions derived from a theoretical model on the impact of FDI on endogenous technological change in small economies. The model includes FDI externalities that enhance growth, but also shows that FDI can crowd out host country income and reduce local innovation. The empirical analysis employs disaggregated US data for various FDI‐related activities—in addition to the conventionally used aggregate FDI stocks and flows. We estimate the net FDI impact on the convergence rate of per‐capita income to US levels, controlling for human development, financial development, and trade. We find that FDI accelerates convergence for high‐income countries only, otherwise slowing it down.