Jurnal Fakultas Ekonomi UM Metro (Universitas Muhammadiyah)
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Unpacking the determinants of life satisfaction:a survey experiment
No full textWe present results of a survey experiment aimed at assessing context effects on reporting life satisfaction, exerted by raising awareness of fundamental life domains before eliciting overall life satisfaction, through questionnaire manipulations. Psychologists refer to similar context effects, generated by providing more details about the object of a subsequent evaluation, as ‘unpacking effects’. The longitudinal structure of our experimental design allows us to assess the effects of the questionnaire manipulation both between and within subject. In our sample of university students, asking subjects to report satisfaction with life domains before reporting overall satisfaction with life generates a robust unpacking effect, as it shifts upwards the subsequent mean overall life satisfaction evaluations. In addition, raising awareness about life domains significantly increases reliability and validity of self‐reported life satisfaction, by reducing the dispersion of responses and increasing the association between life satisfaction and life domain evaluations. We also detect heterogeneous effects across subgroups of our sample—such as people with children or in bad health—and discuss implications of these findings for research on life satisfaction
Reaching across the aisle:Explaining government–opposition voting in parliament
No full textThe divide between government and opposition is clearly visible in the way members of parliament vote, but the variation in government–opposition voting has been left relatively unexplored. This is particularly the case for contextual variation in the extent to which parliamentary voting behaviour follows the government–opposition divide. This article attempts to explain levels of government–opposition voting by looking at three factors: first, the majority status of cabinets (differentiating between majority and minority cabinets), cabinet ideology (differentiating between more centrist and more extremist cabinets) and norms about cabinet formation (differentiating between wholesale and partial alternation in government). The study includes variation at the level of the country, the government and the vote. The article examines voting in the Netherlands (with a history of partial alternation) and Sweden (with a history of wholesale alternation). We find strong support for the effect of cabinet majority status, cabinet ideology and norms about cabinet formation on government–opposition voting
Cost-effectiveness of multisystemic therapy versus usual treatment for young people with antisocial problems
No full textBACKGROUND: Behavioural problems are common among adolescents. The burden on society in social disturbance, health, failures to contribute and costs has triggered innovative community-based interventions such as multisystemic therapy (MST).AIMS: Our aim was to compare the cost-effectiveness of MST and treatment as usual (TAU).METHODS: Cost-effectiveness was assessed alongside a randomised clinical trial. One hundred and sixteen adolescents were allocated to MST or TAU. Follow-up lasted six months. Quality of life (EQ-5D) as perceived by the adolescents was the primary outcome. A societal perspective was used for cost assessment.RESULTS: There was no significant difference between groups in the small improvement experienced in quality of life (EQ-5D average score improvement in both 0.02 points, standard deviation 0.13 MST; 0.23 TAU). Dropout before follow-up was 48% and 69% respectively. Overall costs attributed to these young people were, however, 50% lower in the MST group. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was 384,633€ (95% CI: -2,001,433 to 2,024,681€), which indicates dominance of MST over TAU.CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Our study shows that, at worst, MST offers no advantage to young offenders in terms of their experienced quality of life, but 'TAU' included family focused intervention as well as standard supervision. There were some cost advantages for the individual and his/her family in the MST group, but substantial cost benefits for wider society. The case for a large, multi-centre, perhaps international trial is strong as widespread implementation of MST would benefit everyone if these findings are confirmed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.</p
Patients "At Risk'' of Suffering from Persistent Complaints after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury:The Role of Coping, Mood Disorders, and Post-Traumatic Stress
No full textAlthough most patients recover fully following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), a minority (15-25%) of all patients develop persistent post-traumatic complaints (PTC) that interfere with the resumption of previous activities. An early identification of patients who are at risk for PTC is currently performed by measuring the number of complaints in the acute phase. However, only part of this group will actually develop persisting complaints, stressing the need for studies on additional risk factors. This study aimed to compare this group of patients with many complaints with patients with few and no complaints to identify potential additional discriminating characteristics and to evaluate which of these factors have the most predictive value for being at risk. We evaluated coping style, presence of psychiatric history, injury characteristics, mood-related symptoms, and post-traumatic stress. We included 820 patients (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score 13-15) admitted to three level-1 trauma centers as part of the UPFRONT-study. At 2 weeks after injury, 60% reported three or more complaints (PTC-high), 25% reported few complaints (PTC-low), and 15% reported no complaints (PTC-zero). Results showed that PTC-high consisted of more females (78% vs. 73% and 52%, p <0.001), were more likely to have a psychiatric history (7% vs. 2% and 5%), and had a higher number of reported depression (22% vs. 6% and 3%, p <0.001), anxiety (25% vs. 7% and 5%), and post-traumatic stress (37% vs. 27% and 19%, p <0.001) than the PTC-low and PTC-zero groups. We conclude that in addition to reported complaints, psychological factors such as coping style, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress symptoms had the highest predictive value and should be taken into account in the identification of at-risk patients for future treatment studies.</p
Mesoscale features create hotspots of carbon uptake in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
No full textThe influence of eddy structures on the seasonal depletion of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) disequilibrium was investigated during a trans-Atlantic crossing of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in austral summer 2012. The Georgia Basin, downstream of the island of South Georgia (54-55°S, 36-38°W) is a highly dynamic region due to the mesoscale activity associated with the flow of the Subantarctic Front (SAF) and Polar Front (PF). Satellite sea-surface height and chlorophyll-a anomalies revealed a cyclonic cold core that dominated the northern Georgia Basin that was formed from a large meander of the PF. Warmer waters influenced by the SAF formed a smaller anticyclonic structure to the east of the basin. Both the cold core and warm core eddy structures were hotspots of carbon uptake relative to the rest of the ACC section during austral summer. This was most amplified in the cold core where greatest CO2 undersaturation (−78 μatm) and substantial surface ocean DIC deficit (5.1 mol m−2) occurred. In the presence of high wind speeds, the cold core eddy acted as a strong sink for atmospheric CO2 of 25.5 mmol m−2 day−1. Waters of the warm core displayed characteristics of the Polar Frontal Zone (PFZ), with warmer upper ocean waters and enhanced CO2 undersaturation (−59 μatm) and depletion of DIC (4.9mol m−2). A proposed mechanism for the enhanced carbon uptake across both eddy structures is based on the Ekman eddy pumping theory: (i) the cold core is seeded with productive (high chlorophyll-a) waters from the Antarctic Zone and sustained biological productivity through upwelled nutrient supply that counteracts DIC inputs from deep waters; (ii) horizontal entrainment of low-DIC surface waters (biological uptake) from the PFZ downwell within the warm core and cause relative DIC-depletion in the upper water column. The observations suggest that the formation and northward propagation of cold core eddies in the region of the PF could project low-DIC waters towards the site of Antarctic Intermediate Water formation and enhance CO2 drawdown into the deep ocean
Cross-country income levels over time:Did the developing world suddenly become much richer?
No full textThe latest global survey on relative prices and income levels, for the year 2011, showed changes to relative income levels that were larger in lower-income countries, thereby narrowing the world income distribution compared to estimates based on the 2005 survey. This paper examines whether changes in measurement methodology between the 2011 survey and the previous survey for 2005 can explain these large differences. We construct a counterfactual set of relative prices for 2005 that harmonizes measurement and we no longer find systematic differences across income levels, implying that international income inequality based on the 2005 survey was overstated
Hypercoagulability causes atrial fibrosis and promotes atrial fibrillation
No full textAims Atrial fibrillation (AF) produces a hypercoagulable state. Stimulation of protease-activated receptors by coagulation factors provokes pro-fibrotic, pro-hypertrophic, and pro-inflammatory responses in a variety of tissues. We studied the effects of thrombin on atrial fibroblasts and tested the hypothesis that hypercoagulability contributes to the development of a substrate for AF.Methods and results In isolated rat atrial fibroblasts, thrombin enhanced the phosphorylation of the pro-fibrotic signalling molecules Akt and Erk and increased the expression of transforming growth factor beta 1 (2.7-fold) and the pro-inflammatory factor monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (6.1-fold). Thrombin also increased the incorporation of H-3-proline, suggesting enhanced collagen synthesis by fibroblasts (2.5-fold). All effects could be attenuated by the thrombin inhibitor dabigatran. In transgenic mice with a pro-coagulant phenotype (TMpro/pro), the inducibility of AF episodes lasting >1 s was higher (7 out of 12 vs. 1 out of 10 in wild type) and duration of AF episodes was longer compared with wild type mice (maximum episode duration 42.8 +/- 68.4 vs. 0.23 +/- 0.39 s). In six goats with persistent AF treated with nadroparin, targeting Factor Xa-mediated thrombin generation, the complexity of the AF substrate was less pronounced than in control animals (LA maximal activation time differences 23.3 +/- 3.1 ms in control vs. 15.7 +/- 2.1 ms in nadroparin, P <0.05). In the treated animals, AF-induced a-smooth muscle actin expression was lower and endomysial fibrosis was less pronounced.Conclusion The hypercoagulable state during AF causes pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory responses in adult atrial fibroblasts. Hypercoagulability promotes the development of a substrate for AF in transgenic mice and in goats with persistent AF. In AF goats, nadroparin attenuates atrial fibrosis and the complexity of the AF substrate. Inhibition of coagulation may not only prevent strokes but also inhibit the development of a substrate for AF.</p
Hypothetical models in social science:their features and uses
No full textThe chapter addresses the philosophical issues raised by the use of hypothetical modeling in the social sciences. Hypothetical modeling involves the construction and analysis of simple hypothetical systems to represent complex social phenomena for the purpose of understanding those social phenomena. To highlight its main features hypothetical modeling is compared both to laboratory experimentation and to computer simulation. In analogy with laboratory experiments, hypothetical models can be conceived of as scientific representations that attempt to isolate, theoretically, the working of causal mechanisms or capacities from disturbing factors. However, unlike experiments, hypothetical models need to deal with the epistemic uncertainty due to the inevitable presence of unrealistic assumptions introduced for purposes of analytical tractability. Computer simulations have been claimed to be able to overcome some of the strictures of analytical tractability. Still they differ from hypothetical models in how they derive conclusions and in the kind of understanding they provide. The inevitable presence of unrealistic assumptions makes the legitimacy of the use of hypothetical modeling to learn about the world a particularly pressing problem in the social sciences. A review of the contemporary philosophical debate shows that there is still little agreement on what social scientific models are and what they are for. This suggests that there might not be a single answer to the question of what is the epistemic value of hypothetical models in the social sciences