Social reciprocity measures based on dyadic discrepancies: Methodological review and software development

This paper examines statistical analysis of social reciprocity at group, dyadic, and individual levels. Given that testing statistical hypotheses regarding social reciprocity can be also of interest, a statistical procedure based on Monte Carlo sampling has been developed and implemented in R in order to allow social researchers to describe groups and make statistical decisions.

Clinico-Pathological discrepancies in the Diagnosis of Causes of Maternal Death in Sub-Saharan Africa: Retrospective Analysis

Background Maternal mortality is a major public-health problem in developing countries. Extreme differences in maternal mortality rates between developed and developing countries indicate that most of these deaths are preventable. Most information on the causes of maternal death in these areas is based on clinical records and verbal autopsies. Clinical diagnostic errors may play a significant role in this problem and might also have major implications for the evaluation of current estimations of causes of maternal death. Methods and Findings A retrospective analysis of clinico-pathologic correlation was carried out, using necropsy as the gold standard for diagnosis. All maternal autopsies (n ¼ 139) during the period from October 2002 to December 2004 at the Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique were included and major diagnostic discrepancies were analyzed (i.e., those involving the cause of death). Major diagnostic errors were detected in 56 (40.3%) maternal deaths. A high rate of false negative diagnoses was observed for infectious diseases, which showed sensitivities under 50%: HIV/AIDS-related conditions (33.3%), pyogenic bronchopneumonia (35.3%), pyogenic meningitis (40.0%), and puerperal septicemia (50.0%). Eclampsia, was the main source of false positive diagnoses, showing a low predictive positive value (42.9%). Conclusions Clinico-pathological discrepancies may have a significant impact on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and question the validity of reports based on clinical data or verbal autopsies. Increasing clinical awareness of the impact of obstetric and nonobstetric infections with their inclusion in the differential diagnosis, together with a thorough evaluation of cases clinically thought to be eclampsia, could have a significant impact on the reduction of maternal mortality.

Clinico-Pathological discrepancies in the Diagnosis of Causes of Maternal Death in Sub-Saharan Africa: Retrospective Analysis

Background Maternal mortality is a major public-health problem in developing countries. Extreme differences in maternal mortality rates between developed and developing countries indicate that most of these deaths are preventable. Most information on the causes of maternal death in these areas is based on clinical records and verbal autopsies. Clinical diagnostic errors may play a significant role in this problem and might also have major implications for the evaluation of current estimations of causes of maternal death. Methods and Findings A retrospective analysis of clinico-pathologic correlation was carried out, using necropsy as the gold standard for diagnosis. All maternal autopsies (n ¼ 139) during the period from October 2002 to December 2004 at the Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique were included and major diagnostic discrepancies were analyzed (i.e., those involving the cause of death). Major diagnostic errors were detected in 56 (40.3%) maternal deaths. A high rate of false negative diagnoses was observed for infectious diseases, which showed sensitivities under 50%: HIV/AIDS-related conditions (33.3%), pyogenic bronchopneumonia (35.3%), pyogenic meningitis (40.0%), and puerperal septicemia (50.0%). Eclampsia, was the main source of false positive diagnoses, showing a low predictive positive value (42.9%). Conclusions Clinico-pathological discrepancies may have a significant impact on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and question the validity of reports based on clinical data or verbal autopsies. Increasing clinical awareness of the impact of obstetric and nonobstetric infections with their inclusion in the differential diagnosis, together with a thorough evaluation of cases clinically thought to be eclampsia, could have a significant impact on the reduction of maternal mortality.

The Phenomenon of international new ventures, global start-ups, and born-globals: what do we know after a decade (1993-2002) of exhaustive scientific inquiry?

In this paper, 27 studies from the last decade which deal more or less explicitly with the International New Venture, global start-up or born-global phenomenon are first identified, and then fully examined and critically assessed as a basis for obtaining an adequate view of the state-of-the-art of this increasingly important research avenue in the field of International Entrepreneurship (IE). The methodology used for this synthetic review allow us to analyze a number of recent, purposefully-chosen studies that are systematically compared along the following criteria: 1) main objective and type of research; 2) theoretical framework/s of reference, 3) methodological issues, and 4) main findings and/or conclusions. As a result of this literature review, a critical assessment follows in which the most relevant benefits and contributions as well as potential drawbacks, limitations or major discrepancies in the research activities conducted so far are discussed. Finally, some suggestions and implications are provided in the form of future research directions.

Effects of competition over quality-adjusted price indexes: an application to the Spanish automobile market

Using a newly constructed data set, we calculate quality-adjusted price indexes after estimating hedonic price regressions from 1988 to 2004 in the Spanish automobile market. The increasing competition was favoured by the removal of trade restrictions and the special plans for the renewal of the Spanish automobile fleet. We find that the increasing degree of competition during those years led to an overall drop in automobile prices by 20 percent which implied considerable consumer gains thanks to higher market efficiency. Additionally, our results indicate that loyalty relevance and discrepancies in automobile reliability declined during those years. This is captured.

Sostenibilitat de la fusta al PNAP: certificació FSC a la forest 141

Estudiant el sistema de certificacions, concretament el PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) i el FSC (Forest Stewardship Council), s’ha analitzat la forest CUP 141 (catalogada d'utilitat pública) Sarredo-Manyero per a identificar-ne les mancances documentals en el Projecte d’Ordenació del PNAP (Parc Natural de l’Alt Pirineu). Dels resultats se’n desprèn un major grau de sostenibilitat del sistema FSC enfront del PEFC, fet que ha estat decisiu en l’elecció del primer com a certificació a estudiar al parc. Per altra banda, s’han constatat les discrepàncies existents quant a política forestal entre propietaris de les forests i l’administració del parc. Aquest fet té una incidència negativa si es vol revitalitzar el sector de la fusta a la zona. Finalment, i un cop avaluada la documentació de la CUP 141 amb els estàndards del sistema FSC, s’ha detectat que caldria completar aproximadament el 40% de la documentació necessària per a obtenir la certificació. Per tant, s’ha dissenyat un Protocol que serveixi de guia per a un nou Projecte d’Ordenació i que permeti obtenir la certificació de les forests del parc.

Rethinking economy-wide rebound measures: an unbiased proposal

In spite of having been first introduced in the last half of the ninetieth century, the debate about the possible rebound effects from energy efficiency improvements is still an open question in the economic literature. This paper contributes to the existing research on this issue proposing an unbiased measure for economy-wide rebound effects. The novelty of this economy-wide rebound measure stems from the fact that not only actual energy savings but also potential energy savings are quantified under general equilibrium conditions. Our findings indicate that the use of engineering savings instead of general equilibrium potential savings downward biases economy-wide rebound effects and upward-biases backfire effects. The discrepancies between the traditional indicator and our proposed measure are analysed in the context of the Spanish economy.

Sectoral composition and macroeconomic dynamics

We analyze the transitional dynamics of a model with heterogeneous consumption goods. In this model, convergence is driven by two different forces: the typical diminishing returns to capital and the sectoral change inducing the variation in relative prices. We show that this second force affects the growth rate if the two consumption goods are not Edgeworth independent and if these two goods are produced with technologies exhibiting different capital intensities. Because the afore mentioned dynamic sectoral change arises only under heterogeneous consumption goods, the transitional dynamics of this model exhibits striking differences with the growth model with a single consumption good. We also show that these differences in the transitional dynamics can give raise to large discrepancies in the welfare cost of shocks between the economy with a unique consumption good and the economy with multiple consumption goods.

The European Union in North Korea: Current Realities and Paths for Future Engagement – A Qualitative and Quantitative Study

Malgrat la rellevància estratègica i el paper desestabilitzador de Corea del Nord a la regió econòmicament més dinàmica del món, la UE no compta amb cap estratègia clara per involucrar-se amb aquest país. Combinant tècniques d’anàlisi qualitatives i quantitatives, aquest treball pretén descobrir possibles contradiccions internes que impedeixin la definició d'una política exterior europea coherent i efectiva amb respecte a Corea del Nord, així com discrepàncies entre les percepcions d’actors interns de la UE i les d’actors externs. S'han detectat importants diferències d’expectatives i mancances en termes de coherència, tant entre les visions expressades pels actors interns com entre les opinions d’aquests actors i les dels futurs líders sudcoreans enquestats – diferències que fins i tot afecten la promoció dels drets humans

Transmission delays in residual computation

The design of control, estimation or diagnosis algorithms most often assumes that all available process variables represent the system state at the same instant of time. However, this is never true in current network systems, because of the unknown deterministic or stochastic transmission delays introduced by the communication network. During the diagnosing stage, this will often generate false alarms. Under nominal operation, the different transmission delays associated with the variables that appear in the computation form produce discrepancies of the residuals from zero. A technique aiming at the minimisation of the resulting false alarms rate, that is based on the explicit modelling of communication delays and on their best-case estimation is proposed

Equilibrium of drops on inclined hydrophilic surfaces

Why does not gravity make drops slip down the inclined surfaces, e.g., plant leaves? The current explanation is based on the existence of surface inhomogeneities, which cause a sustaining force that pins the contact line. Following this theory, the drop remains in equilibrium until a critical value of the sustaining force is reached. We propose an alternative analysis, from the point of view of energy balance, for the particular case in which the drop leaves a liquid film behind. The critical angle of the inclined surface at which the drop slips down is predicted. This result does not depend explicitly on surface inhomogeneities, but only on the drop size and surface tensions. There is good agreement with experiments for contact angles below 90° where the formation of the film is expected, whereas for greater contact angles great discrepancies arise

Relative price riddles in international business cycle theory: Are transport costs the explanation?

We study relative price behavior in an international business cyclemodel with specialization in production, in which a goods marketfriction is introduced through transport costs. The transporttechnology allows for flexible transport costs. We analyze whetherthis extension can account for the striking differences betweentheory and data as far as the moments of terms of trade and realexchange rates are concerned. We find that transport costs increaseboth the volatility of the terms of trade and the volatility of thereal exchange rate. However, unless the transport technology isspecified by a Leontief technology, transport costs do not resolvethe quantitative discrepancies between theory and data. Asurprising result is that transport costs may actually lower thepersistence of the real exchange rate, a finding that is in contrastto much of the emphasis of the empirical literature.

Explaining movements in the labor share

In this paper we study the evolution of the labor share in the OECD since 1970. We show it is essentially related to the capital-output ratio; that this relationship is shifted by factors like the price of imported materials or the skill mix; and that discrepancies between the marginal product of labor and the real wage (due to, e.g., product market power, union bargaining, and labor adjustment costs) cause departures from it. We provide estimates of the model with panel data on 14 industries and 14 countries for 1973-93 and use them to compute the evolution of the wage gap in Germany and the US.

Geographical deviations in foreign trade statistics: A study into European trade with Latin American Countries, 1925

We have analyzed the spatial accuracy of European foreign trade statistics compared to Latin American. We have also included USA s data because of the importance of this country in Latin American trade. We have developed a method for mapping discrepancies between exporters and importers, trying to isolate systematic spatial deviations. Although our results don t allow a unique explanation, they present some interesting clues to the distribution channels in the Latin American Continent as well as some spatial deviations for statistics in individual countries. Connecting our results with the literature specialized in the accuracy of foreign trade statistics; we can revisit Morgernstern (1963) as well as Federico and Tena (1991). Morgernstern had had a really pessimistic view on the reliability of this statistic source, but his main alert was focused on the trade balances, not in gross export or import values. Federico and Tena (1991) have demonstrated howaccuracy increases by aggregation, geographical and of product at the same time. But they still have a pessimistic view with relation to distribution questions, remarking that perhaps it will be more accurate to use import sources in this latest case. We have stated that the data set coming from foreign trade statistics for a sample in 1925, being it exporters or importers, it s a valuable tool for geography of trade patterns, although in some specific cases it needs some spatial adjustments.

An analysis of the currently available calibrations inStromgren photometry by using open clusters

In recent years, several authors have revised the calibrations used to compute physical parameters (tex2html_wrap_inline498, tex2html_wrap_inline500, log g, [Fe/H]) from intrinsic colours in the tex2html_wrap_inline504 photometric system. For reddened stars, these intrinsic colours can be computed through the standard relations among colour indices for each of the regions defined by Strömgren (1966) on the HR diagram. We present a discussion of the coherence of these calibrations for main-sequence stars. Stars from open clusters are used to carry out this analysis. Assuming that individual reddening values and distances should be similar for all the members of a given open cluster, systematic differences among the calibrations used in each of the photometric regions might arise when comparing mean reddening values and distances for the members of each region. To classify the stars into Strömgren's regions we extended the algorithm presented by Figueras et al. (1991) to a wider range of spectral types and luminosity classes. The observational ZAMS are compared with the theoretical ZAMS from stellar evolutionary models, in the range tex2html_wrap_inline506 K. The discrepancies are also discussed.