Asymmetric space market adjustment in the London office market

Models of the City of London office market are extended by considering a longer time series of data, covering two cycles, and by explicit modeling of asymmetric rental response to supply and demand model. A long run structural model linking demand for office space, real rental levels and office-based employment is estimated and then rental adjustment processes are modeled using an error correction model framework. Adjustment processes are seen to be asymmetric, dependent both on the direction of the supply and demand shock and on the state of the rental market at the time of the shock. A complete system of equations is estimated: unit shocks produce oscillations but there is a return to a steady equilibrium state in the long run.

Synthesis and structural diversity of rare earth anthranilate complexes

Four structural classes have been established for rare earth anthranilates, which have been prepared from the lanthanoid chloride or triflate and anthranilic acid (anthH) followed by pH adjustment to 4. [La(anth)3]n is a polymeric complex with nine coordinate lanthanum and bridging tridentate (O,O,O′) anthranilate ligands, whereas [Nd(anth)3(H2O)3] · 3H2O is monomeric with nine coordinate neodymium and solely chelating (O,O) anthranilate groups. Both chelating (O,O) and bridging bidentate (O,O′) ligands are observed in dimeric [Er2(anth)6(H2O)4] · 2H2O, in which erbium is eight coordinate and the water ligands are in a trans arrangement. A polymer is observed for [Yb(anth)3(H2O)]n with solely bridging bidentate (O,O′) ligands and seven coordination for ytterbium. The NH2 groups of the anthranilate ligands are not coordinated to the metal but is unusually involved in hydrogen-bond networks with water molecules for Ln = Er, Yb.

The cost-effectiveness of the Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating (DAFNE) structured education programme: an update using the Sheffield Type 1 Diabetes policy model

AIMS: 
To estimate the cost-effectiveness of training in flexible intensive insulin therapy [as provided in the Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating (DAFNE) structured education programme] compared with no training for adults with Type 1 diabetes mellitus in the UK using the Sheffield Type 1 Diabetes Policy Model.

METHODS: 
The Sheffield Type 1 Diabetes Policy Model was used to simulate the development of long-term microvascular and macrovascular diabetes-related complications and the occurrence of diabetes-related adverse events in 5000 adults with Type 1 diabetes. Total costs and quality-adjusted life years were estimated from a National Health Service perspective over a lifetime horizon, discounted at a rate of 3.5%. The treatment effectiveness of DAFNE was modelled as a reduction in HbA1c that affected the risk of developing long-term diabetes-related complications. Probabilistic and structural sensitivity analyses were conducted.

RESULTS:
DAFNE resulted in greater life expectancy and reduced incidence of some diabetes-related complications compared with no DAFNE. DAFNE was found to generate an average of 0.0294 additional quality-adjusted life years for an additional cost of £426 per patient, leading to an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £14 400 compared with no DAFNE. There was a 54% probability that DAFNE would be cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20 000 per quality-adjusted life year.

CONCLUSIONS: 
The results of this study suggest that DAFNE is a cost-effective structured education programme for people with Type 1 diabetes and support its provision by the National Health Service in the UK.

Fiscal adjustment, conditionality and politics in IMF programs

A common feature in programs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the use of conditionalities, macroeconomic and structural measures that a requesting country should adopt to obtain an assistance package. The objective of this work is to conduct an empirical analysis of the economic and political determinants of such conditionalities. In particular, our main contribution consists in the development of a new measure of conditionality, fiscal adjustment, and its comparison with the most used in the literature, the number of conditions. We choose fiscal adjustment because it is an adequate proxy for program austerity, since its implementation carries economic and political costs. In the empirical exercise, we use data from 184 programs in the period of 1999 and 2012, and estimate how our two measures of conditionalities respond to the economic and political factors. Our results suggest that they are quite different. The main determinant of the number of conditions is the political proximity of the borrowing country to the Fund’s major shareholders, the members of G5. On the other hand, the main determinant of fiscal adjustment is the size of the government fiscal deficit. Finally, we did not find correlation between the size of fiscal adjustment and the number of conditions. These results suggest that the analysis of the content of IMF programs should take into account the different measures of agreed conditionality.

Structural change and productivity growth, 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities

Includes bibliography

Two decades of adjustment and agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Structural reforms, technological gaps and economic development: a Latin American perspective

Includes bibliography

Two decades of adjustment and agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Structural change and productivity growth 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities. Summary

Includes bibliography

Severe structural damage of the seemingly non-diseased infrarenal aortic aneurysm neck

OBJECTIVE: The success of open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) is hampered by postoperative dilatation of the anatomical neck of the AAA, which is used for graft attachment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the macroscopically non-diseased infrarenal aortic neck of AAA is histologically and biochemically altered at the time of operative repair. METHODS: We harvested full-thickness aortic wall samples as longitudinal stripes spanning from AAA neck to aneurysmal sac in 22 consecutive patients undergoing open surgical AAA repair. Control tissue was obtained from five organ donors and five deceased subjects undergoing autopsy without evidence of aneurysmal disease. We assessed aortic media thickness, number of intact elastic lamellar units, media destruction, and neovascularization grade and performed immunohistochemistry for matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK). MMP-9 and p-JNK protein expressions were quantified using Western Blots. RESULTS: The median thickness of the aortic media was 1150 mum in control tissue (range, 1000-1300), 510 mum in aortic necks (250-900), and 200 mum in aortic sacs (50-500, P from nonparametric test for trend <.001). The number of intact elastic lamellar units was 33 in controls (range, 33-55), 12 in aortic necks (0-31) and three in aortic sacs (0-10, P < .001). The expression of MMP-9 and p-JNK as assessed by Western Blots (P = .007 and .061, respectively) and zymography (P for trend <.001) were up regulated in both the AAA neck and sac compared with controls. Except for p-JNK expression, differences between tissues were similar after the adjustment for age, gender, and type of sampling. CONCLUSION: The seemingly non-diseased infrarenal AAA neck in patients with AAA undergoing surgical repair shows histological signs of destruction and upregulation of potential drug targets.

Immigrant students’ psychological adjustment in the school context: A meta-synthesis of qualitative research on acculturation

This contribution focuses on the characteristics of the school context and their impact on immigrant students’ acculturation and adjustment at school. Research suggests that the ways immigrants acculturate is related to their well being (e.g. Phinney, et al., 2001; Ward & Rana-Deuba, 1999), although findings have been contradictory across methods and studies (e.g. Rogler, 1991; Escobar & Vega, 2001). Debates in acculturation research currently center on issues of acculturation measurement (e.g. Berry, 2009; Rudmin, 2009), as most research is conducted in the quantitative tradition. In addition, some have suggested (Birman, 2011) that research on acculturation in the tradition of cross-cultural psychology adopts an overly individualistic perspective, and lacks attention to the specific contexts of acculturation. Alternatively, the contextual approach proposes that the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is shaped by the surrounding context (Birman & Simon, 2013). For immigrant children, schools are the setting where the process of acculturation unfolds, and an important context in which to study their adjustment and well being (Birman, et al., 2007; Makarova & Herzog, 2011). Though rarely used in this tradition of acculturation research (Chirkov, 2009), qualitative methods are uniquely suited to gain insight to facilitate theory development, as well as appreciate the contextual nature of the acculturation process. Yet we are not aware of efforts to synthesize the empirical qualitative literature on this topic. Applying the methodology of meta-synthesis for qualitatieve research (Walsh & Downe, 2005) our contribution attempts to integrate results from qualitative studies on impact of acculturation on immigrant students’ psychological adjustment in the school context. For this purpose 84 articles which matched the inclusion criteria were selected. Overall, the results of our study show that within the school context a number of structural as well as process characteristics can be identified as crucial for immigrant youth psychological adjustment. Moreover, our findings indicate that immigrant youths’ psychological adjustment is related to other individual outcomes of acculturation in the school context such as behavioral adjustment, peer-relationships, academic achievement and identity development of immigrant youth.

Differential spatial and structural organization of the X chromosome underlies dosage compensation in C. elegans.

The adjustment of X-linked gene expression to the X chromosome copy number (dosage compensation [DC]) has been widely studied as a model of chromosome-wide gene regulation. In Caenorhabditis elegans, DC is achieved by twofold down-regulation of gene expression from both Xs in hermaphrodites. We show that in males, the single X chromosome interacts with nuclear pore proteins, while in hermaphrodites, the DC complex (DCC) impairs this interaction and alters X localization. Our results put forward a structural model of DC in which X-specific sequences locate the X chromosome in transcriptionally active domains in males, while the DCC prevents this in hermaphrodites.

Implementation of the Macroeconomic Adjustment Programmes in the Euro Area: State-of-Play. CEPS E-Book, 11 March 2014

Two of the four macroeconomic adjustment programmes – in Portugal and Ireland – can be considered a success in the sense that the initial expectations in terms of adjustment, both fiscal and external, were broadly fulfilled. A rebound based on exports has taken hold in these two countries, but a full recovery will take years. In Greece the initial plans were insufficient. While the strong impact of the fiscal adjustment on demand could have been partially anticipated at the time, the resistance to structural reforms was more surprising and remains difficult to cure. The fiscal adjustment is now almost completed, but the external adjustment has not proceeded well. Exports are stagnating despite impressive falls in wage costs. In Cyprus, the outcome has so far been less severe than initially feared. It is still too early to find robust evidence in any country that the programmes have increased the long-term growth potential. Survey-based evidence suggests that structural reforms have not yet taken hold. The EU-led macroeconomic adjustment programmes outside the euro area (e.g. Latvia) seem to have been much stricter, but the adjustment was quicker and followed by a stronger rebound.

The role of psychological climate in facilitating employee adjustment during organizational change

The current research tested a theoretical model of employee adjustment during organizational change based on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) cognitive-phenomenological framework. The model hypothesized that psychological climate variables would act as coping resources and predict improved adjustment during change. Two variations of this model were tested using survey data from two different organizational samples: 779 public hospital employees and 877 public sector employees. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the models. Results showed that employees whose perceptions of the organization and environment in which they were working (that is, psychological climate) were more positive, were more likely to appraise change favourably and report better adjustment in terms of higher job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment, and lower absenteeism and turnover intentions.

Purchasing power parity and structural instability in the US/UK exchange rate

The aim of this study is to determine if nonlinearities have affected purchasing power parity (PPP) since 1885. Also using recent advances in the econometrics of structural change we segment the sample space according to the identified breaks and look at whether the PPP condition holds in each sub-sample and whether this involves linear or non-linear adjustment. Our results suggest that during some sub-periods, PPP holds, although whether it holds or not and whether the adjustment is linear or non-linear, depends primarily on the type of exchange rate regime in operation at any point in time.