Trunk stabilization with sling training in osteoporosis patients—a randomized clinical trial

Fractures due to osteoporosis are one of the principal causes of functional limitations, chronic pain, and greater morbidity in advanced age. In addition to bone risk factors for osteoporotic fractures include extraosseous causes such as falls or reduced neuromuscular capacity. Muscle and coordination exercises enhance the patients’ abilities in daily life and prevent falls. In view of recent conclusions drawn from competitive sports, which stress the significance of the muscles of the trunk in respect of reducing back pain and optimizing posture, we used sling exercises to determine whether osteoporosis patients benefit from it and whether it is more advantageous than traditional physiotherapy. Fifty patients were randomized into two groups. Group A received traditional physiotherapy, while group B was given sling exercises, in each case twice a week for a period of 3 months. The results of treatment (pre-post) were analyzed in terms of pain levels, mobility, trunk strength, and the shape of the back. After a further 3 months with no specific exercise treatment, we retested all patients in order to draw conclusions about the long-term effects of the two types of exercise. Forty-four patients (88 %) completed the study. Patients were assigned to small groups (a maximum of five patients in each group) and, thus, received individual attention and motivation. Positive training effects were achieved in both groups. Significantly better results as regards improvement of mobility and reduction of falls were registered in the sling exercise group.     

Direction,not destination: Institutional work practices in the face of field-level uncertainty

Though field-level uncertainty represents a common challenge, research seldom addresses how institutional work that aims to influence institutional change occurs in the face of uncertainty. We study institutional work practices in a field beset with high uncertainty. Focusing on a field-configuring event in the semiconductor industry, we show how institutional work is possible through practices of dealing with uncertainty that do not eliminate the basic uncertainty but nevertheless configure the field and institutionalize a common direction without specifying a final destination. We find evidence of the open-endedness and collectiveness of institutional work and we contribute to the microfoundations of institutional theory conceptualizing a set of four practices of dealing with field-level uncertainty purposively but not purposefully, i.e., bootstrapping, roadmapping, leader-picking, and issue-bracketing. We highlight the reciprocal relationship between practices and uncertainty, focus on the coordination of institutionalization, and distinguish between events in fields marked by high versus low uncertainty.     

Culture and Institutions: Economic Development in the Regions of Europe

Does culture have a causal effect on economic development? The data on European regions suggest that it does. Culture is measured by indicators of individual values and beliefs, such as trust and respect for others, and confidence in individual self determination. To isolate the exogenous variation in culture, we rely on two historical variables used as instruments: the literacy rate at the end of the 19th century, and the political institutions in place over the past several centuries. The political and social history of Europe provides a rich source of variation in these two variables at a regional level. The exogenous component of culture due to history is strongly correlated with current regional economic development, after controlling for contemporaneous education, urbanization rates around 1850, and national effects. (JEL: O10, F10, P10, N13)     

GOVERNMENT SPENDING COMPOSITION,TECHNICAL CHANGE,AND WAGE INEQUALITY

In this paper we argue that government spending played a significant role in stimulating the wave of innovation that hit the U.S. economy in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, as well as the simultaneous increase in inequality and in education attainments. Since the late 1970s U.S. policymakers began targeting commercial innovations more directly and explicitly. We focus on the shift in the composition of public demand toward high‐tech goods, which, by increasing the market‐size of innovative firms, functions as a de facto innovation policy tool. We build a quality‐ladders non‐scale growth model with heterogeneous industries and endogenous supply of skills, and show that an increase in the technological content of public spending stimulates R&D, raises the wage of skilled workers, and, at the same time, stimulates human capital accumulation. A calibrated version of the model suggests that government policy explains between 12% and 15% of the observed increase in wage inequality in the period 1976–1991. (JEL: E62, J31, O33, O41)     

Reciprocal Relations across Time between Basic Values and Value‐expressive Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study among Children

The current study examines the reciprocal relations between children's values and value‐expressive behavior over a sixth‐month period. Three hundred and ten sixth‐grade students in Italy completed value and value‐expressive behavior questionnaires three times in three‐month intervals during the scholastic year. We assessed Schwartz's (1992) higher‐order values of conservation, openness to change, self‐enhancement, and self‐transcendence, as well as their respective expressive behaviors. Reciprocal relations over time between values and behaviors were examined using a cross‐lagged longitudinal design. Results showed that values and behaviors had reciprocal longitudinal effects on one another, after the stability of the variables was taken into account (i.e., values predicted change in behaviors, but also behaviors predicted change in values). Our findings also revealed that: (1) values were more stable over time than behaviors and (2) the longitudinal effect of values on behaviors tended to be stronger than the longitudinal effect of behaviors on values. Findings are discussed in light of the recent developmental literature on value change.     

Foreign direct investments in manufacturing by district firms: evidence from the Italian chair district

Manufacturing internationalisation is a phenomenon that currently involves several industrial districts. While the literature on industrial districts is wide, few works analyse the (manufacturing) internationalisation dynamics. This study tries to fill this lack by analysing forms, motivation, obstacles and results of the foreign direct investments carried out in one of the most important Italian districts. The research shows how some of the district leading firms have recently combined local presence with a strategy of internationalisation that also involves manufacturing activities through foreign direct investments. The readers can comprehend the main features of the international manufacturing path that is involving one of the most important Italian industrial districts, i.e. the chair district. The research offers a contribution to an area rather neglected in literature – the district (manufacturing) internationalisation dynamics.     

Does self-efficacy matter for burnout and sickness absenteeism? The mediating role of demands and resources at the individual and team levels

In team-based organizations, team members may share similar experiences, feelings and, consequently, susceptibility to burnout. This study explores the burnout process beyond the individual level of analysis and integrates Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) with the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R), emphasizing the role of self-efficacy in shaping the meaning that people ascribe to situations. A multilevel structural equation model was tested in which it was predicted that work self-efficacy beliefs would be associated with burnout both directly and indirectly via job demands and job resources, and at both the individual and the team level. Moreover, it was posited that, at the team level, registered sickness absences are predicted by burnout. A sample of 5406 call centre operators, clustered in 186 teams working in the same large Italian company, filled out a questionnaire, whereas team absence rates were provided by the company's HR department. The findings largely supported the hypothesized model: at both levels, job demands and job resources partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and burnout. Moreover, at the team level, burnout predicted subsequent sickness absenteeism. In addition, individual-level burnout was primarily associated with job demands, whereas team-level burnout was primarily associated with a lack of team-level resources.     

People and Pixels 20 years later: the current data landscape and research trends blending population and environmental data

Population and Environment - In 1998, the National Research Council published People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science. The volume focused on emerging research linking changes...