Research and Development Spillovers in Central and Eastern Europe

The present study considers the implications of different stages of economic integration for endogenous growth models with horizontal differentiation of the intermediate goods. It investigates the decline of the domestic R&D (research and development) sector for countries with lower initial stock of R&D due to partial integration in the form of free trade. The problem is investigated with empirical analysis for panel data for 12 EU accession countries in the period of 1990–2001. The specification relating the growth of total factor productivity, the domestic and the available foreign stock of R&D is estimated with first-differences, ordinary least-squares, dynamic panel data, and GMM methods. The time series are highly persistent and the applied procedures have different advantages according to the assumptions and the purpose of the analysis. All methods establish the comparable result that the foreign R&D stock interacted with the import share is a substantial and significant factor for the growth of total factor productivity. The role of the domestic R&D is insignificant for the growth of total factor productivity, verifying the decline of the sector with free trade.     

Concurrent reductions in psychotropic medication,assault, and physical restraint in two residential treatment programs for youth

Over the past decade, the level of clinical needs of youth in residential treatment has increased significantly. Youth in out-of-home settings typically experience higher levels of psychotropic medication use than their peers living at home, even when controlling for the severity of clinical issues. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of an approach to clinically reassess psychotropic medication utilization for youth residing in residential treatment settings while also observing the impact on the youth's need for physical containment. Medication changes were based on a data-informed process, using input from a multi-disciplinary treatment team. Data for 531 youth who were consecutively admitted to one of two non-affiliated intensive residential treatment programs, one in the Midwest and one in New England, was analyzed. Over half of these youth (n = 292, 55%) had their medications reduced during their stay and only 14% (n = 76) were prescribed more medication at discharge than they had been taking at admission. The remainder either saw no change during their stay (n = 104, 20%) or were never on medication at any time (n = 59, 11%). From admission to discharge there was a 62% decrease in the number of assaultive incidents as well as a 72% decrease in the use of physical restraints. These results support the view that residential treatment can provide a treatment milieu that allows for thoughtful reassessment of the clinical basis for behavioral disorders in children that can achieve the dual goals of medication reduction and behavioral stabilization.     

Adaptation and Evaluation of a Group Curriculum for Latino Clients in a Driving Under the Influence Program

The purpose of this study was to describe the process of culturally adapting group curriculum modules for Spanish speaking clients in a Driving Under the Influence Program as well as to test the acceptability of these modules. Using the Group Topics Evaluation Scale (English and Spanish version), 90 clients rated six modules that were presented in 30 different group sessions. Spanish speaking clients were significantly more likely to rate all six modules much higher than their English speaking counterparts, indicating acceptability. This is important as driving-under-the-influence programs may provide access to Latino clients not seen elsewhere. Possible further research is discussed.     

The impact of park trees on microclimate in urban areas

Trees in cities have an important positive effect on people’s lives. One such positive effect is the amelioration of microclimate. The aim of this research is to assess the correlation between parameters that affect the microclimate of parks during the summer. We measured air temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation in the sun and shade of the trees in urban parks in Thessaloniki, Greece. The results indicate that: the air (A) temperature reduction percentage (dTair%), air relative humidity increase (dTRh%), discontent index reduction percentage (DI%) (cooling effect) and solar radiation (L) percentage that passes through the trees’ foliage to their shade creates an exponential function of dA% = a.e-bL. These functions are also applicable to the limiting variation values of the parameters. If we use L = 0 (meaning Lightsh = 0, which is the case for an extremely dense tree), then the values that we expect from this particular parameter are the maximum possible. These maximum values are a characteristic feature of the parameter variation for this particular research area. These maximum values for the trees in the parks of Thessaloniki are: maxdTair% ≈ 24%, maxdRh% ≈ 41% and maxdDI% ≈16%.     

Notwendigkeit und Instrumente eines ganzheitlichen Risikomanagements für Mittelständler, Gewerbe-treibende und Freiberufler

Zusammenfassung  Bei inhabergeführten Unternehmen besteht eine enge Verknüpfung zwischen privaten und gesch?ftlichen Finanzen. Die isolierte Betrachtung eines der beiden Bereiche führt notwendigerweise zu Fehlsteuerungen. Als Gegenma?nahme muss das Risikomanagement das Zusammenspiel der gesch?ftlichen und privaten Seite des Unternehmens vollst?ndig abbilden. Neben dem Eigenkapital als verm?gensbildender Substanz ist dabei vor allem die private und gesch?ftliche Risikosituation des Unternehmers von zentraler Bedeutung. Die zwischen beiden Bereichen auftretenden Interdependenzen begründen die Notwendigkeit eines ganzheitlichen Risikomanagements. Es zeigt sich, dass neben dem Schutz des Privatverm?gens die integrierte Beratung durch Finanzinstitute von entscheidender Bedeutung bei der Schlie?ung der Lücke in der Eigenkapitalausstattung von Mittelst?ndlern ist.

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Integrated risk management for owner-managed companies — Necessity and instruments

Summary  In owner-managed companies, there usually is a strong connection between private finances and those relating to business. Consequently risk management has to take into full consideration the interaction of private and business matters. Therefore not only equity in its function as risk capital but also the private and business risk situation of the entrepreneur become subjects of major importance. The interdependencies between both problem sets establish the necessity of an integrated risk management. Apart from the protection of private capital the integrated consultation by financial institutions is of crucial importance when it comes to closing the existing gap in the equity endowment of medium-sized businesses.

     

The Group Topic Evaluation Scale: Preliminary Validity,Reliability, and Use in Psychoeducational Groups

Process measures are important for evaluation of client reaction to psychoeducational group topics. Few scales have been created for measuring client responses in this setting. This study utilized secondary data to determine the initial validity of a Group Topic Evaluation Scale. Group members (N = 190) in a large, urban Driving Under the Influence program evaluated six different group topics using a created scale for a total of 623 responses. Principal component analysis found one factor comprising six items with good reliability. Two of the six topics scored significantly higher, indicating more meaningfulness to the clients. Implications are discussed.     

Robust multivariate diagnostics for PLSR and application on high dimensional spectrally overlapped drug systems

ABSTRACT

Statistical methods are effectively used in the evaluation of pharmaceutical formulations instead of laborious liquid chromatography. However, signal overlapping, nonlinearity, multicollinearity and presence of outliers deteriorate the performance of statistical methods. The Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) is a very popular method in the quantification of high dimensional spectrally overlapped drug formulations. The SIMPLS is the mostly used PLSR algorithm, but it is highly sensitive to outliers that also effect the diagnostics. In this paper, we propose new robust multivariate diagnostics to identify outliers, influential observations and points causing non-normality for a PLSR model. We study performances of the proposed diagnostics on two everyday use highly overlapping drug systems: Paracetamol–Caffeine and Doxylamine Succinate–Pyridoxine Hydrochloride.     

Global neo-liberalism, global ecological modernization, and a swine CAFO in rural Bulgaria

Rural and development sociology studies have tended to credit globalization with low-wage, extractive, environmentally destructive outcomes. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have been treated as a local manifestation of the destructive tendencies of globalization. However, recent scholarship on globalization suggests that globalization may also be credited with high-wage, value-added, environmentally friendly economic growth. Moving beyond a general emphasis on the destructive tendencies of globalization, these studies reveal that variation in industry, national and international policies, firm characteristics, and local geography (socio-economic and biophysical) may influence socioeconomic and ecological outcomes. We discuss how these factors help to create a more complex understanding of the relationship between agrifood globalization and local manifestations of CAFOs. We then highlight an example of a rural Bulgarian CAFO that is locally owned and has come to internalize its waste stream. Our findings support recent scholarship that distinguishes between global neo-liberalism and global ecologically modernization and that emphasizes a more complex understanding of how local socio-economic and biophysical factors interact with global processes to influence rural development.     

Toward Fortress Capitalism: The Restrictive Transformation of Migration and Border Regimes as a Reaction to the Capitalist Multicrisis

The article develops the concept of “fortress capitalism.” The concept has two dimensions. First, it describes those elements within today's migration and border regimes that aim to control the mobility of the global working class in repressive ways. Second, it designates a dystopian future scenario, in which these repressive elements have massively expanded. Such a formation might develop as part of a twenty‐first‐century fascism. Based on historical materialism and critical theory, the article makes four points. First, it asserts that migration regimes are being transformed toward a new level of restrictiveness. Second, it argues that fortress capitalism complements theoretical motives that emphasize the uncontrollability of migration. Third, it contends that migration and border regimes in their emergence, dynamics, forms, and effects are closely linked to the intersectional dynamics of global capitalism as a whole. Fourth, it points out that global capitalism fundamentally depends on border regimes to regulate its contradictions.