Assessing the underlying economic causes and consequences of obesity

Obesity rates in the United States have doubled for adults and tripled for children since the 1980s. Finding causes for this drastic rise is key in finding possible solutions to reverse this trend. Technological advances and changes in societal norms are environmental shifts that have largely contributed to the epidemic. There are substantial medical consequences to being obese, and in addition, there are considerable social and labor market consequences, particularly for women. There is thus a pressing need for solutions, as costs of being obese are likely societal and not limited to personal ones.     

Afrocentric Intervention Paradigm: An Overview of Successful Application by a Grassroots Organization

A grassroots social service organization's successful use of Afrocentric ideas, theories, and frameworks in its programs and services illustrates that many African Americans respond more readily to human and social services interventions that value and understand their historical experiences and include their cultural influences as “protective factors” in social service interventions. This article describes how the Community Empowerment Association's programs and services are designed to be culturally proficient by holding African customs, ethos, history, mores, society, and traditions in high esteem.     

Evaluation of the benchmark dose for point of departure determination for a variety of chemical classes in applied regulatory settings

Repeated-dose studies received by the New Substances Assessment and Control Bureau (NSACB) of Health Canada are used to provide hazard information toward risk calculation. These studies provide a point of departure (POD), traditionally the NOAEL or LOAEL, which is used to extrapolate the quantity of substance above which adverse effects can be expected in humans. This project explored the use of benchmark dose (BMD) modeling as an alternative to this approach for studies with few dose groups. Continuous data from oral repeated-dose studies for chemicals previously assessed by NSACB were reanalyzed using U.S. EPA benchmark dose software (BMDS) to determine the BMD and BMD 95% lower confidence limit (BMDL(05) ) for each endpoint critical to NOAEL or LOAEL determination for each chemical. Endpoint-specific benchmark dose-response levels , indicative of adversity, were consistently applied. An overall BMD and BMDL(05) were calculated for each chemical using the geometric mean. The POD obtained from benchmark analysis was then compared with the traditional toxicity thresholds originally used for risk assessment. The BMD and BMDL(05) generally were higher than the NOAEL, but lower than the LOAEL. BMDL(05) was generally constant at 57% of the BMD. Benchmark provided a clear advantage in health risk assessment when a LOAEL was the only POD identified, or when dose groups were widely distributed. Although the benchmark method cannot always be applied, in the selected studies with few dose groups it provided a more accurate estimate of the real no-adverse-effect level of a substance.     

USING SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE MATERIALITY*

A large body of the published research in financial accounting provides strong and persuasive evidence on the association between accounting numbers and stock prices but falls short of drawing any implications about accounting policies on measurements or on reporting. Attempting to go beyond association the author of this paper provides an application of a possible methodology for evaluating materiality of accounting measurements in a given decision situation. The methodology employs discriminant analysis in which the sensitivity of the discriminating model to the changes in mean earnings per share provides a decisions reaction scale and shows that a change in mean earnings per share equal to or less than 10% does not significantly affect the prediction. The validity of the results would depend on the correspondence between this model and the behavior of decision-makers. However, in situations such as the one chosen here, in which an investor's decision-making process cannot be normatively structured, appropriate statistical methods effectively can be utilized to describe the process.     

Single process plan scheduling with genetic algorithms

AIn this paper, a genetic algorithm model for scheduling manufacturing resources is developed for the case when there is only one process plan available per job, hence there is no routeing flexibility. The scheduling objectives considered are minimizing the makespan and mean flow time. Genetic algorithms design issues are discussed and the working of the employed genetic operators is explained in detail. Parameters for the genetic algorithms used for single process plan scheduling SPPS problems are set through extensive experimentation. Finally, the genetic algorithms approach is compared with several other approaches in terms of optimality of solution and computAuthors: ing time. It was observed that in most cases the genetic algorithms approach performed better than other approaches both in terms of finding an optimal or near optimal solution as well as computing time.     

Detecting outliers in GARCH(p,q) models

This article is concerned with the outliers in GARCH models. An iterative procedure is given for testing the presence of any type of the four common outliers. Since the distribution of test statistic cannot be obtained analytically, its distributional behavior is investigated via a simulation study. The simulation study is based on estimation of residuals standard deviation (σ_ν), which are obtained using two methods, median absolute deviation method (MAD), and omit-one method. The proposed procedure is employed for testing the presence of outliers in weekly light oil price Indexes of Iran during 1997 to 2010.     

The effect of breastfeeding on young adult wages: new evidence from the add health

A growing literature in economics has examined the effect of early childhood health investments on adult human capital formation and labor market outcomes. This study is the first to examine the effect of having been breastfed as an infant on young adult earnings. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), ordinary least squares estimates suggest that breastfeeding is associated with a 10–12 % increase in hourly earnings. However, after ensuring common support on observables via propensity score matching and controlling for unmeasured family level heterogeneity common to siblings via family fixed effects, the estimated associations become much smaller and are statistically indistinguishable from zero. We conclude that the benefits of having been breastfed do not appear to extend to the labor market.     

The impact of early occupational choice on health behaviors

Occupational choice is a significant input into workers’ health investments, operating in a manner that can be either health-promoting or health-depreciating. Recent studies have highlighted the potential importance of initial occupational choice on subsequent outcomes pertaining to morbidity. This study is the first to assess the existence and strength of a causal relationship between initial occupational choice at labor entry and subsequent health behaviors and habits. We utilize the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to analyze the effect of first occupation, as identified by industry category and blue collar work, on subsequent health outcomes relating to obesity, alcohol misuse, smoking, and physical activity in 2005. Our findings suggest blue collar work early in life is associated with increased probabilities of obesity, at-risk alcohol consumption, and smoking, and increased physical activity later in life, although effects may be masked by unobserved heterogeneity. The weight of the evidence bearing from various methodologies, which account for non-random unobserved selection, indicates that at least part of this effect is consistent with a causal interpretation. These estimates also underscore the potential durable impact of early labor market experiences on later health.     

Does Private Higher Education Improve Employment Outcomes? Comparative Analysis from Egypt

Private players are often perceived as powerful drivers of innovation and efficiency. This argument remains untested in the field of higher education. This paper examines whether there are differences in the labour market outcomes for graduates of public and private higher education institutions in Egypt. Relying on a unique data set tracing graduates, the analysis shows that the type of higher education institution has no statistically significant effect on graduates’ job security and earnings. Ascribed characteristics of gender and parental socio-economic background, along with the sector of employment, were the key predictors of these labour market outcomes.     

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Infant Mortality in Egypt: Analyzing Trends Between 1995 and 2014

This paper analyses the trend of the socioeconomic inequalities in infant mortality rates in Egypt over the period 1995–2014, using repeated cross-sectional data from the National Demographic and Health Survey. A multivariate logistic regression and concentration indices are used to examine the demographic and socioeconomic correlates of infant mortality, and how the degree of socioeconomic disparities in child mortality rates has evolved over time. We find a significant drop in infant mortality rates from 63 deaths per 1000 live births in 1995 to 22 deaths per 1000 live births in 2014. However, analyzing trends over the study period reveals no corresponding progress in narrowing the socioeconomic disparities in childhood mortality. Infant mortality rates remain higher in rural areas and among low-income families than the national average. Results show an inverse association between infant mortality rates and living standard measures, with the poor bearing the largest burden of early child mortality. Though the estimated concentration indices show a decline in the degree of socioeconomic inequality in child mortality rates over time, infant mortality rate among the poor remains twice the rate of the richest wealth quintile. Nonetheless, this decline in the degree of socioeconomic inequality in child mortality is not supported by the results of the multivariate logistic regression model. Results of the logistic model show higher odds of infant mortality among rural households, children who are twins, households with risky birth intervals. We find no statistically significant association between infant mortality and child’s sex, access to safe water, mothers’ work, and mothers’ nutritional status. Infant mortality is negatively associated with household wealth and regular health care during pregnancy. Concerted effort and targeting intervention measures are still needed to reduce the degree of socioeconomic and regional inequalities in child health, including infant mortality, in Egypt.