Long-run growth effects of taxation in a non-scale growth model with innovation

In previous studies, taxing income or consumption hinders long-run growth. Incorporating saving and leisure into the non-scale Schumpeterian model of [Journal of Political Economy 107 (1999) 715-730], we show that the usual growth effects of taxing consumption and labor income do not exist. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of paternal drinking, conduct disorder and childhood home environment on the development of alcohol use disorders in a Thai population

Aims To identify influences on the development of alcohol use disorders in a Thai population, particularly parental drinking and childhood environment. Design Case-control study. Setting A university hospital, a regional hospital and a community hospital in southern Thailand. Participants Ninety-one alcohol-dependents and 177 hazardous/harmful drinkers were recruited as cases and 144 non-or infrequent drinkers as controls. Measurements Data on parental drinking, family demographic characteristics, family activities, parental disciplinary practice, early religious life and conduct disorder were obtained using a structured interview questionnaire. The main outcome measure was the subject's classification as alcohol-dependent, hazardous/harmful drinker or non-/infrequent drinker. Findings A significant relationship was found between having a drinking father and the occurrence of hazardous/harmful drinking or alcohol dependence in the subjects. Childhood factors (conduct disorder and having been a temple boy, relative probability ratios, RPRs and 95% CI: 6.39, 2.81-14.55 and 2.21, 1.19-4.08, respectively) also significantly predicted alcohol dependence, while perceived poverty and ethnic alienation was reported less frequently by hazardous/harmful drinkers and alcohol-dependents (RPRS and 95% CIs = 0.34, 0.19-0.62 and 0.59, 0.38-0.93, respectively) than the controls. The relative probability ratio for the effect of the father's infrequent drinking on the son's alcohol dependence was 2.92 (95% CI = 1.42-6.02) and for the father's heavy or dependent drinking 2.84 (95% CI=1.31-6.15). Conclusions Being exposed to a light-drinking, father increases the risk of a son's alcohol use disorders exhibited either as hazardous-harmful or dependent drinking. However, exposure to a heavy- or dependent-drinking father is associated more uniquely with an increased risk of his son being alcohol-dependent. The extent to which this is seen in other cultures is worthy of exploration.

Effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids on voltage-gated K+ and Na+ channels in rat olfactory receptor neurons

Although the polyunsaturated fatty acids arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are enriched in the olfactory mucosa, their possible contribution to olfactory transduction has not been investigated. This study characterized their effects on voltage-gated K+ and Na+ channels of rat olfactory receptor neurons. Physiological (3-10 mum) concentrations of AA and DHA potently and irreversibly inhibited the voltage-gated K+ current in a voltage-independent manner. In addition, both compounds significantly reduced the inhibitory potency of the odorants acetophenone and amyl acetate at these channels. By comparison, the steady-state effects of both AA and DHA on the voltage-gated Na+ channel were relatively weak, with half-maximal inhibition requiring approximate to 35 mum of either compound. However, a surprising finding was that the initial application of 3 mum AA to a naive neuron caused a strong but transient inhibition of the Na+ current. The channels became almost completely resistant to this inhibition within 1 min, and a 2-min wash in control solution was insufficient to restore the strong inhibitory effect. These observations suggest that polyunsaturated fatty acids have the potential to strongly influence the coding of odorant information by olfactory receptor neurons.

A Review of the Environmental and Health Effects of Termiticides under Australian Conditions

There exists a major cost issue as regards termite damage to wooden structures. A factor in this cost has been the increasing trend towards slab-on-ground construction. Current literature has been reviewed in relation to concerns about the possible public/environmental health consequences of the repeated use of termiticides in large quantities. The previous, current and projected future use patterns of termiticides are reviewed in the context of techniques appropriate for termite control and treatment priorities. The phasing out of organochlorine termiticides in Australia was undertaken to minimise impact of these substances on the environment and to a lesser extent on public health. These persistent chemicals were replaced by substances with high activity but relatively low persistence in the soil. There has also been an increase in the use of alternative methods (e.g. physical barriers) for the control of termites. The transition away from organochlorine termiticides has led to a realisation that significant information gaps exist with regard to replacement chemicals and other technologies. Although relatively persistent, the organochlorine chemicals have a limited lifespan in soils. Their concentrations are gradually attenuated by processes such as transport away from the point of application and biodegradation. Wooden structures originally treated with these substances will, with the passing of time, be at risk of termite infestation. The only available option is re-treatment with chemicals currently registered for termite control. Thus, there are likely to be substantial future increases associated with the cost of re-treatment and repairs of older slab-on-ground dwellings. More information is required on Australian termite biology, taxonomy and ecology. The risks of termite infestation need to be evaluated, both locally and nationally so that susceptible or high risk areas, structures and building types can be identified and preventive measures taken in terms of design and construction. Building regulations and designs need to be able to reduce or eliminate high-risk housing; and eliminate or reduce conditions that are attractive to termites and/or facilitate termite infestation.

The effects of different review opportunities on schematisation of knowledge

Recent research suggests that early in learning, students primarily use episodic memory when recalling information, but as learning develops and schematisation occurs, students' knowledge is likely to be dominated by semantic memory. This shift has been examined through student's memory awareness; 'remembering' is linked to episodic memory and 'knowing' is linked to semantic memory. This paper explores the effect of different review opportunities on students' memory awareness and schematisation, and reports on findings that indicate students are more likely to shift from 'remembering' to 'knowing' if they have the opportunity to review the learning material, but regularly and in different formats. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of consumer knowledge on responses to event sponsorships

Research into consumer responses to event sponsorships has grown in recent years. However, the effects of consumer knowledge on sponsorship response have received little consideration. Consumers' event knowledge is examined to determine whether experts and novices differ in information processing of sponsorships and whether a sponsor's brand equity influences perceptions of sponsor-event fit. Six sponsors (three high equity/three low equity) were paired with six events. Results of hypothesis testing indicate that experts generate more total thoughts about a sponsor-event combination. Experts and novices do not differ in sponsor-event congruence for high-brand-equity sponsors, but event experts perceive less of a match between sponsor and event for low-brand-equity sponsors. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Noise trader risk and the welfare effects of privatization

Excessive volatility of asset prices like that generated in the 'noise trader' model of De Long et al. is one factor that plausibly might contribute to an explanation of the equity premium. We extend the De Long et al. model to allow for privatization of publicly-owned assets and assess the welfare effects of such privatization in the presence of excess volatility arising from noise traders' mistaken beliefs.

Effects of Helicobacter pylori eradication among adults with intellectual disability

Background Compared to the general population, Helicobacter pylori infection is more common among adults with intellectual disability (ID) and is associated with greater levels of disability, maladaptive behaviour, and institutionalization. Little information exists about the effects of eradication therapy in this group, so we aimed to evaluate: (1) success of a standard H. pylori eradication protocol; (2) frequency of side-effects; and (3) impact of eradication on level of functional ability and maladaptive behaviour. Method A cohort of adults with ID underwent assessment of their levels of function and maladaptive behaviour, medical history, physical examination, and H. pylori testing using serology and faecal antigen tests. Some received standard H. pylori eradication therapy. Twelve months later, participants underwent repeat assessment, were grouped by change in H. pylori status and compared. Results Of 168 participants, 117 (70%) were currently infected with H. pylori at baseline, and 96 (82%) of the 117 were given standard H. pylori eradication therapy. The overall eradication rate was 61% but 31% reported side-effects. Institutional status of the participants, their level of behaviour or function, and number of comorbid medical conditions were not associated with failure of eradication. There were no statistically significant differences in level of behaviour or function, ferritin, or weight between the groups in whom H. pylori was eradicated or stayed positive. Conclusion Adults with ID have lower H. pylori eradication and higher side-effect rates than the general population. Levels of maladaptive behaviour and disability did not improve with eradication and thus greater levels of maladaptive behaviour or disability appear to be risk factors for, rather than consequences of, H. pylori infection.

The effects of J-gate potential and interfaces on donor exchange coupling in the Kane quantum computer architecture

We calculate the electron exchange coupling for a phosphorus donor pair in silicon perturbed by a J-gate potential and the boundary effects of the silicon host geometry. In addition to the electron-electron exchange interaction we also calculate the contact hyperfine interaction between the donor nucleus and electron as a function of the varying experimental conditions. Donor separation, depth of the P nuclei below the silicon oxide layer and J-gate voltage become decisive factors in determining the strength of both the exchange coupling and hyperfine interaction-both crucial components for qubit operations in the Kane quantum computer. These calculations were performed using an anisotropic effective-mass Hamiltonian approach. The behaviour of the donor exchange coupling as a function of the parameters varied in this work provides relevant information for the experimental design of these devices.

Jurors' responses to expert witness testimony: The effects of gender stereotypes

The present study investigated whether the impact of expert testimony was influenced by the congruency between the gender of the expert and the gender orientation of the case. Participants (N = 62) read a trial transcript involving a price-fixing allegation in either a male or female oriented domain. Within the case, the gender of the expert was manipulated. As predicted, the impact of the expert (e.g. damage awards) was greater when the gender of the expert and domain of the case were congruent as opposed to incongruent. Results also indicated that the impact of gender-domain congruency was particularly pronounced following group discussion. In addition, there was evidence that this effect was mediated through participants' evaluations of the expert witness.

Maintaining and updating semantic context in schizophrenia: an investigation of the effects of multiple remote primes

Conflicting findings regarding the ability of people with schizophrenia to maintain and update semantic contexts have been due, arguably, to vagaries within the experimental design employed (e.g. whether strongly or remotely associated prime-target pairs have been used, what delay between the prime and the target was employed, and what proportion of related prime-target pairs appeared) or to characteristics of the participant cohort (e.g. medication status, chronicity of illness). The aim of the present study was to examine how people with schizophrenia maintain and update contextual information over an extended temporal window by using multiple primes that were either remotely associated or unrelated to the target. Fourteen participants with schizophrenia and 12 healthy matched controls were compared across two stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) (short and long) and two relatedness proportions (RP) (high and low) in a crossed design. Analysis of variance statistics revealed significant two- and three-way interactions between Group and SOA, Group and Condition, SOA and RP, and Group, SOA and RP. The participants with schizophrenia showed evidence of enhanced remote priming at the short SOA and low RP, combined with a reduction in the time course over which context could be maintained. There was some sensitivity to biasing contextual information at the short SOA, although the mechanism over which context served to update information appeared to be different from that in the controls. The participants with schizophrenia showed marked performance decrements at the long SOA (both low and high RP). Indices of remote priming at the short (but not the long) SOA correlated with both clinical ratings of thought disorder and with increasing length of illness. The results support and extend the hypothesis that schizophrenia is associated with concurrent increases in tonic dopamine activity and decreases in phasic dopamine activity. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying effects of soil heterogeneity on groundwater pollution in four sites in the USA

Four sites located in the north-eastern region of the United States of America have been chosen to investigate the impacts of soil heterogeneity in the transport of solutes (bromide and chloride) through the vadose zone (the zone in the soil that lies below the root zone and above the permanent saturated groundwater). A recently proposed mathematical model based on the cumulative beta distribution has been deployed to compare and contrast the regions' heterogeneity from multiple sample percolation experiments. Significant differences in patterns of solute leaching were observed even over a small spatial scale, indicating that traditional sampling methods for solute transport, for example the gravity pan or suction lysimeters, or more recent inventions such as the multiple sample percolation systems may not be effective in estimating solute fluxes in soils when a significant degree of soil heterogeneity is present. Consequently, ignoring soil heterogeneity in solute transport studies will likely result in under- or overprediction of leached fluxes and potentially lead to serious pollution of soils and/or groundwater. The cumulative beta distribution technique is found to be a versatile and simple technique of gaining valuable information regarding soil heterogeneity effects on solute transport. It is also an excellent tool for guiding future decisions of experimental designs particularly in regard to the number of samples within one site and the number of sampling locations between sites required to obtain a representative estimate of field solute or drainage flux.

Test-retest reliability and practice effects of a rapid screen of mild traumatic brain injury

Test-retest reliabilities and practice affects of measures from the Rapid Screen of Concussion (RSC), in addition to the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (Digit Symbol), were examined. Twenty five male participants were tested three times; each testing session scheduled a week apart. The test-retest reliability estimates for most measures were reasonably good, ranging from .79 to .97. An exception was the delayed word recall test, which has had a reliability estimate of .66 for the first retest, and .59 for the second retest. Practice effects were evident from Times 1 to 2 on the sentence comprehension and delayed recall subtests of the RSC, Digit Symbol and a composite score. There was also a practice effect of the same magnitude found from Time 2 to Time 3 on Digit Symbol, delayed recall and the composite score. Statistics on measures for both the first and second retest intervals, with associated practice affects, are presented to enable the calculation of reliable change indices (RCI). The RCI may be used to assess any improvement in cognitive functioning after mild Traumatic Brain Injury.