The Inflation Bias When the Central Bank Targets, the Natural Rate of Unemployment

This paper studies the proposition that an inflation bias can arise in a setup where a central banker with asymmetric preferences targets the natural unemployment rate. Preferences are asymmetric in the sense that positive unemployment deviations from the natural rate are weighted more (or less) severely than negative deviations in the central banker's loss function. The bias is proportional to the conditional variance of unemployment. The time-series predictions of the model are evaluated using data from G7 countries. Econometric estimates support the prediction that the conditional variance of unemployment and the rate of inflation are positively related.

Associations between area-level unemployment, body mass index, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in an urban area

INTRODUCTION: Il existe peu d’évidences sur l’association entre le taux de chômage dans le milieu résidentiel (CR) et le risque de maladies cardiovasculaires parmi les résidents de milieux urbains. De plus, on ne sait pas si ce lien diffère entre les deux sexes. Cette thèse a pour objectif de déterminer la direction et la taille de l’association entre le CR et le risque de maladies cardiovasculaires, et d’examiner si cette association varie en fonction du sexe. MÉTHODES: Un sous-échantillon de 342 participants de l’Étude sur les habitudes de vie et la santé dans les quartiers montréalais a rapporté ses habitudes de vie et sa situation socio-économique. Des mesures biologiques et anthropométriques ont été recueillies par une infirmière. Le CR a été opérationnalisé en fonction d’une zone-tampon d’un rayon de 250 m centrée sur la résidence de chacun des participants à l’aide d’un Système d’Information Géographique (SIG). Des équations d’estimation généralisées ont été utilisées afin d’estimer l’association entre le CR et l’Indice de Masse Corporelle (IMC) et un score cumulatif de Risque Cardio-métabolique (RC) représentant la présence de valeurs élevées de cholestérol total, de triglycérides, de lipoprotéines de haute densité et d’hémoglobine glyquée. RÉSULTATS: Après ajustement pour l’âge, le sexe, le tabagisme, les comportements de santé et le statut socio-économique, le fait de vivre dans un endroit classé dans le 3e ou 4e quartile de CR était associé avec un IMC plus élevé (beta pour Q4 = 2.1 kg/m2, IC 95%: 1.02-3.20; beta pour Q3 = 1.5 kg/m2, IC 95%: 0.55-2.47) et un taux plus élevé de risque cardiovasculaires Risque Relatif [RR pour Q4 = 1.82 (IC 95 %: 1.35-2.44); RR pour Q3 = 1.66 (IC 95%: 1.33-2.06)] par rapport au 1er quartile. L'interaction entre le sexe et le CR révèle une différence absolue d’IMC de 1.99 kg/m2 (IC 95%: 0.00-4.01) et un risque supérieur (RR=1.39; IC 95%: 1.06-1.81) chez les femmes par rapport aux hommes. CONCLUSIONS: Le taux de chômage dans le milieux résidentiel est associé à un plus grand risque de maladies cardiovasculaires, mais cette association est plus prononcée chez les femmes.

Le rôle de la garde non-maternelle sur le développement cognitif et la sécrétion cortisolaire des enfants : investigations longitudinales populationnelles et méta-analytiques

Résumé La présente thèse doctorale vise à déterminer sous quelles conditions la garde non-maternelle est associée (positivement/négativement) au niveau de stress et au développement cognitif des enfants. Elle comporte une recension des écrits et trois articles empiriques. Le premier article présente une recension des écrits (de type méta-analytique) qui synthétise les études portant sur le stress des enfants en services de garde et ayant utilisé le niveau de cortisol comme indicateur. Les résultats montrent que la garde non-maternelle est associée au niveau de stress des enfants, se reflétant dans des concentrations de cortisol élevées. Les niveaux de stress élevés s’observent particulièrement chez les enfants qui au départ ont tendance à être retirés, anxieux ou qui sont gardés dans un milieu de faible qualité. Cependant, certains éléments indiquent que les élévations de cortisol à la garderie sont temporaires et qu’elles disparaissent au fur et à mesure que l’enfant s’adapte à son milieu. Le deuxième article de thèse, réalisé dans le contexte de l’Échantillon longitudinal national des enfants et des jeunes [ELNEJ] (n = 3093), vise à déterminer dans quelle mesure l’association entre la fréquentation des services de garde et l’acquisition du vocabulaire réceptif au préscolaire dépend du milieu familial de l’enfant. Les résultats indiquent qu’à l’intérieur du groupe d’enfants défavorisés, ceux ayant été gardés à temps plein dans la première année de vie obtiennent des scores supérieurs sur une mesure de vocabulaire réceptif administrée à 4 ½ ans, comparativement aux enfants restés à la maison avec la mère (d=0.58). Le troisième article, réalisé dans le contexte de l’Étude longitudinale des enfants du Québec [ELDEQ]; (n=2,120), vise à documenter les bénéfices à long terme de la fréquentation des services de garde par les enfants issus de milieux désavantagés sur la préparation scolaire et les compétences académiques. Les résultats révèlent que les enfants dont la mère n’a pas terminé ses études secondaires obtiennent de meilleurs résultats sur une mesure de préparation scolaire cognitive (d=0.56) et de vocabulaire réceptif (d=0.30) en maternelle, et de connaissance des nombres (d=0.43) en première année, s’ils ont fréquenté un service de garde sur une base régulière. Par ailleurs, la garde non-parentale n’est pas associée aux compétences cognitives des enfants de milieux sociaux favorisés. L’objectif du quatrième article est d’examiner les facteurs de sélection quant à l’utilisation des services de garde dans le contexte de l’ELDEQ. Les résultats montrent que l’absence d’emploi de la mère pendant la grossesse, le faible niveau d’éducation de la mère; le revenu insuffisant de la famille, avoir plus de 2 frères et sœurs, la surprotection maternelle, et le faible niveau de stimulation cognitive sont associés à une faible utilisation des services de garde (30.7% de l’échantillon québécois). En d’autres termes, les enfants qui sont les plus susceptibles de retirer des avantages des services de garde sur le plan du développement, en raison de la présence de facteurs de risque dans leur milieu familial, sont aussi ceux qui utilisent le moins les services de garde.

Investigating active transportation to and from school : identification of predictors and health benefits

Funding support for this doctoral thesis has been provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Public Health Agency of Canada, QICSS matching grant, and la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales-Université de Montréal.

A Literature Review on the Benefits of Ethnic and Minority Entrepreneurship

Ethnic/Minority entrepreneur is a business owner who does not represent the majority population of a country. Ethnic/Minority entrepreneurship can bring benefits to individual, society, region, economy, and globe too. So, understanding the importance of ethnic/minority entrepreneurship will really be useful to all the stakeholders. The unique culture and value system of ethnic minorities are the most wanted characteristics for any successful entrepreneur in general. Many industrial nations like U.S, U.K., Germany, etc. have utilised the ethnic minorities to build their economy. The future of the minority businesses looks bright as the world economy is booming, availability of experienced and already successful minority entrepreneurs as role models, and institutional support services. In this paper, literature relating to the benefits of ethnic and minority entrepreneurship is reviewed to understand its magnitude of benefits.

Employment Realm in Technical Education in Kerala-A Study on the Problem of Unemployment among Engineers

The The The The growing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demandgrowing demand for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of for the expansion of the the the the publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system publicly funded system of education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goodof education as merit and free goods emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized emphasized on large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation large allocation of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds on of funds for promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting educationfor promoting education. Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to . Compared to the rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of Indiathe rest of India, Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead , Kerala is far ahead in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect in this respect primarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the eprimarily because of the earlierarlierarlierarlierarlierarlier political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social political and social compulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions ofcompulsions of the state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The prethe state. The presumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of sumption of assured assured assured assured assured assured assured assured and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed and guaranteed employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in employment in the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East the Middle East and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other and also in other countries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased furthecountries increased further the scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher educationthe scope of higher education in KeralaKeralaKeralaKeralaKeralaKerala, particularparticularparticularparticularparticularparticularparticularparticularparticularparticularly the technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe technical educationthe

On the Benefits of Abstraction in Concurrent Haskell

Heutzutage haben selbst durchschnittliche Computersysteme mehrere unabhängige Recheneinheiten (Kerne). Wird ein rechenintensives Problem in mehrere Teilberechnungen unterteilt, können diese parallel und damit schneller verarbeitet werden. Obwohl die Entwicklung paralleler Programme mittels Abstraktionen vereinfacht werden kann, ist es selbst für Experten anspruchsvoll, effiziente und korrekte Programme zu schreiben. Während traditionelle Programmiersprachen auf einem eher geringen Abstraktionsniveau arbeiten, bieten funktionale Programmiersprachen wie z.B. Haskell, Möglichkeiten zur fortgeschrittenen Abstrahierung. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation war es, zu untersuchen, wie gut verschiedene Arten der Abstraktion das Programmieren mit Concurrent Haskell unterstützen. Concurrent Haskell ist eine Bibliothek für Haskell, die parallele Programmierung auf Systemen mit gemeinsamem Speicher ermöglicht. Im Mittelpunkt der Dissertation standen zwei Forschungsfragen. Erstens wurden verschiedene Synchronisierungsansätze verglichen, die sich in ihrem Abstraktionsgrad unterscheiden. Zweitens wurde untersucht, wie Abstraktionen verwendet werden können, um die Komplexität der Parallelisierung vor dem Entwickler zu verbergen. Bei dem Vergleich der Synchronisierungsansätze wurden Locks, Compare-and-Swap Operationen und Software Transactional Memory berücksichtigt. Die Ansätze wurden zunächst bezüglich ihrer Eignung für die Synchronisation einer Prioritätenwarteschlange auf Basis von Skiplists untersucht. Anschließend wurden verschiedene Varianten des Taskpool Entwurfsmusters implementiert (globale Taskpools sowie private Taskpools mit und ohne Taskdiebstahl). Zusätzlich wurde für das Entwurfsmuster eine Abstraktionsschicht entwickelt, welche eine einfache Formulierung von Taskpool-basierten Algorithmen erlaubt. Für die Untersuchung der Frage, ob Haskells Abstraktionsmethoden die Komplexität paralleler Programmierung verbergen können, wurden zunächst stencil-basierte Algorithmen betrachtet. Es wurde eine Bibliothek entwickelt, die eine deklarative Beschreibung von stencil-basierten Algorithmen sowie ihre parallele Ausführung erlaubt. Mit Hilfe dieses deklarativen Interfaces wurde die parallele Implementation vollständig vor dem Anwender verborgen. Anschließend wurde eine eingebettete domänenspezifische Sprache (EDSL) für Knoten-basierte Graphalgorithmen sowie eine entsprechende Ausführungsplattform entwickelt. Die Plattform erlaubt die automatische parallele Verarbeitung dieser Algorithmen. Verschiedene Beispiele zeigten, dass die EDSL eine knappe und dennoch verständliche Formulierung von Graphalgorithmen ermöglicht.

Characteristics, socioeconomic benefits and household livelihoods of beef buffalo and beef cattle farming in Northeast Thailand

Since the Thai economy experiences rapid growth, agricultural systems, i.e. crop-livestock systems, are changing rapidly. On account of these changes, buffalo and cattle production has to be re-examined in terms of performance characteristics and roles of livestock for farm households in order to initiate suitable development programmes. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the present characteristics of beef buffalo and beef cattle farms in Northeast Thailand. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, 121 randomly selected beef buffalo and beef cattle farms were interviewed in Nakhon Ratchasima province between October 2007 and May 2008. Both buffaloes and cattle were mostly integrated in mixed crop-livestock systems with medium to large farm sizes (7.9 ha), whereof less than half of the area was used for livestock. Family members were mainly responsible for the different activities of livestock farming and salaried labourers were only found on large-scale farms. The dominant roles of livestock were income generation to build up wealth or savings, the coverage of expected and unexpected expenses and earning of regular and additional income. Another important issue was the improvement of the social status, which increased with herd size. In order to improve farmers’ livelihoods and develop sustainable farming systems in Northeast Thailand the changing economic circumstances of cattle and especially buffalo production should receive more attention of researchers, governmental institutions and stakeholders.

Benefits of Implementing Lean Practices and the Impact of the Lean Aerospace Initiative in the Defense Aerospace Industry and Government Agencies

In the 1980’s, many United States industrial organizations started developing new production processes to improve quality, reduce cost, and better respond to customer needs and the pressures of global competition. This new paradigm was coined Lean Production (or simply “Lean”) in the book The Machine That Changed The World published in 1990 by researchers from MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program. In 1993, a consortium of US defense aerospace firms and the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center, together with the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, started the Lean Aircraft Initiative (LAI) at MIT. With expansion in 1998 to include government space products, the program was renamed the Lean Aerospace Initiative. LAI’s vision is to “Significantly reduce the cost and cycle time for military aerospace products throughout the entire value chain while continuing to improve product performance.” By late 1998, 23 industry and 13 government organizations with paying memberships, along with MIT and the UAW were participating in the LAI.

The Benefits of Re-Evaluating Real-Time Fulfillment Decisions

At the time of a customer order, the e-tailer assigns the order to one or more of its order fulfillment centers, and/or to drop shippers, so as to minimize procurement and transportation costs, based on the available current information. However this assignment is necessarily myopic as it cannot account for all future events, such as subsequent customer orders or inventory replenishments. We examine the potential benefits from periodically re-evaluating these real-time order-assignment decisions. We construct near-optimal heuristics for the re-assignment for a large set of customer orders with the objective to minimize the total number of shipments. We investigate how best to implement these heuristics for a rolling horizon, and discuss the effect of demand correlation, customer order size, and the number of customer orders on the nature of the heuristics. Finally, we present potential saving opportunities by testing the heuristics on sets of order data from a major e-tailer.

Logistics Network Design with Differentiated Delivery Lead-Time: Benefits and Insights

Most logistics network design models assume exogenous customer demand that is independent of the service time or level. This paper examines the benefits of segmenting demand according to lead-time sensitivity of customers. To capture lead-time sensitivity in the network design model, we use a facility grouping method to ensure that the different demand classes are satisfied on time. In addition, we perform a series of computational experiments to develop a set of managerial insights for the network design decision making process.