Sexual Dysfunction among Male Patients with Tramadol abuse: A Case-Control Study

Objective: Here we have investigated the association between tramadol abuse and male sexual function. Methods: Eighty-two male tramadol abuse patients and 55 healthy controls (20- to 45-years-old) were included in the study. Data from a sociodemographic questionnaire and the International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire were collected and analyzed. Results: The tramadol abuse patients were 5 times more likely than their healthy counterparts to have erectile dysfunction. The tramadol abuse patients also had worse scores in the orgasmic, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction, and overall satisfaction domains compared to the controls. Conclusion: Sexual dysfunctions are common among tramadol abuse patients.     

“You Always Remain Slightly an Outsider”: Workplace Experiences of Academics from Working‐Class or Impoverished Backgrounds

Debates surrounding class inequality and social mobility often highlight the role of higher education in reducing income inequality and promoting equity through upward social mobility. We explore the lived experience of social mobility through an analysis of 11 semistructured interviews with Canadian academics who self‐identified as having working‐class or impoverished family origins. While economic capital increased substantially, cultural capital and habitus left many feeling like cultural outsiders. Isolation—both chosen and imposed—reduced professional networks, diminishing social capital. Caught between social worlds, participants mobilized symbolic capital in moral boundary marking, aligning themselves strategically with either their current class status or their working‐class roots. While upward social mobility is a path toward reducing economic inequality, the lived experience of social mobility suggests it may exact a high emotional cost.     

The effect of tapering on the semiparametric estimators for nonstationary long memory processes

In this paper, we study, by a Monte Carlo simulation, the effect of the order p of “Zhurbenko-Kolmogorov” taper on the asymptotic properties of semiparametric estimators. We show that p  =  [d + 1/2] + 1 gives the smallest variances and mean squared errors. These properties depend also on the truncation parameter m. Moreover, we study the impact of the short-memory components on the bias and variances of these estimators. We finally carry out an empirical application by using four monthly seasonally adjusted logarithm Consumer Price Index series.      

Estimation of generalized exponential distribution based on an adaptive progressively type-II censored sample

In this paper, based on an adaptive Type-II progressively censored sample from the generalized exponential distribution, the maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimators are derived for the unknown parameters as well as the reliability and hazard functions. Also, the approximate confidence intervals of the unknown parameters, and the reliability and hazard functions are calculated. Markov chain Monte Carlo method is applied to carry out a Bayesian estimation procedure and in turn calculate the credible intervals. Moreover, results from simulation studies assessing the performance of our proposed method are included. Finally, an illustrative example using real data set is presented for illustrating all the inferential procedures developed here.     

The Role of Religiosity on the Relationship Between Materialism and Fashion Clothing Consumption Among Malaysian Generation Y Consumers

Religiosity is a significant cultural force influencing various dimensions of consumer behaviours; however, its role in the literature on fashion clothing remains unclear. To rectify this paucity of information, this study explores the relationship between religiosity, materialism and fashion clothing involvement (FCI); and religiosity, materialism and fashion clothing purchase involvement (FCPI). Using a sample of 282 Malaysian Generation Y consumers, it employs a positivist research approach, comprising of a quantitative basis of enquiry, and gathered data via survey questionnaires. The research findings show that religiosity moderates the relationship between materialism and FCI, as well as materialism and FCPI, where an individual’s religiosity is inversely associated with FCPI. Another finding is the importance of FCI in mediating the relationship between materialism and FCPI, plus the significance of mediated moderation and its effects on the relationship between materialism and FCPI. The findings reinforce the role of religiosity in consumer involvement in fashion clothing and fashion clothing purchase trends. Recognition of this significant construct and its importance may enable marketers to develop more sophisticated positioning strategies.     

On the b-coloring of tight graphs

A coloring c of a graph \(G=(V,E)\) is a b -coloring if for every color i there is a vertex, say w(i), of color i whose neighborhood intersects every other color class. The vertex w(i) is called a b-dominating vertex of color i. The b -chromatic number of a graph G, denoted by b(G), is the largest integer k such that G admits a b-coloring with k colors. Let m(G) be the largest integer m such that G has at least m vertices of degree at least \(m-1\). A graph G is tight if it has exactly m(G) vertices of degree \(m(G)-1\), and any other vertex has degree at most \(m(G)-2\). In this paper, we show that the b-chromatic number of tight graphs with girth at least 8 is at least \(m(G)-1\) and characterize the graphs G such that \(b(G)=m(G)\). Lin and Chang (2013) conjectured that the b-chromatic number of any graph in \(\mathcal {B}_{m}\) is m or \(m-1\) where \(\mathcal {B}_{m}\) is the class of tight bipartite graphs \((D,D{^\prime })\) of girth 6 such that D is the set of vertices of degree \(m-1\). We verify the conjecture of Lin and Chang for some subclass of \(\mathcal {B}_{m}\), and we give a lower bound for any graph in \(\mathcal {B}_{m}\).     

Call for Papers for Two Thematic Issues

Call for Papers

Call for Papers for Two Thematic Issues     

Alcohol Consumption Decisions in Korea

Data from the 1996 Korean Household Panel Study and a double-hurdle model were used to analyze alcohol consumption decisions in Korea. The Korean most likely to consume alcoholic beverages is a young male, and a college graduate. Among those who drink, being older, male, self-employed, or a farm or fishery worker were positively associated, and higher education levels were negatively associated with consumption level. The findings for gender and education were generally similar to those of studies using U.S. or Canadian data on alcohol consumption. The role of household level economic factors, family composition, and residence in alcohol consumption decisions appears to differ across cultures, however.     

Redistribution Through Education and Other Mechanisms Under Capital‐Market Imperfections and Uncertainty: A Welfare Effect Analysis

Abstract. This paper considers a two‐period model of endogenous human capital formation under the credits‐market imperfection and uncertainty assumptions. We compare in the first part of the paper ex‐ante and ex‐post general‐equilibrium effects of the education subsidy policy to those of the negative income tax and the unskilled wage subsidy regimes. We show that the education subsidy policy raises an efficiency‐inequality trade‐off issue, and therefore it is optimal unless the degree of inequality aversion is relatively high and financing the subsidy is not too distorsive. Public loans are generally claimed to provide a solution for such issue. We explore the implications of implementing the public loan under several schemes in the second part of the paper. We show that combining between a pure public loan and education subsidies provides higher levels of welfare than these two policies taken separately provided that the inequality aversion degree is high. For low degrees of inequality aversion, the pure public loan is the optimal policy.