Economic Reform and Economic Performance: Evidence from 20 Developing Countries

Do adjustment policies assist or retard growth? This paper presents data on economic performance (aggregate and sectoral growth, inflation, investment and external account) for 20 countries. The data are classified on an annual basis according to the country’s policy stance in that year: controlled economy, partially or fully liberalised. This approach allows both control-group and before-versus-after analyses which are combined with a review of growth regressions and an analysis of case study material on adjustment. The evidence suggests three hypotheses. First, countries with controlled economies have performed badly compared with those which have moved towards greater market orientation. Second, economic performance does not differ greatly between fully-fledged market economies and partially liberalised ones: partly because several countries have pursued liberalisation with no improvement in performance. Third, given that there is little difference in manufacturing and agricultural growth between full and partial liberalisers yet overall growth is more rapid for the former, the additional growth must be in the service sector. These hypotheses suggest that the balance between state and market should be tilted more toward the state than is currently supported by international development agencies.economic reform; economic peformance; structural adjustment; macroeconomic policy; inflation; growth; developing countries

Advanced marketing education curriculum in secondary schools in Wisconsin

Includes bibliographical references

Comparative Perspectives on Child poverty: a review of poverty measures

Child poverty matters directly as children constitute a large share of the population and indirectly for future individual and national well- being. Developed country measures of child poverty are dominated by income-poverty, although health and education are often included. But these are not necessarily the most direct measures of the things that matter to children. Moreover, a broader range of factors than material well-being matter for child development; family and community play an important role. The conclusion is that social and psychological variables are an important component of child welfare. Can such a conclusion be extended to developing countries? It might be thought not, since the dictates of a focus on absolute poverty imply concern with fundamentals such as malnutrition, illiteracy and premature death and the things which cause these outcomes. But such a view is short-sighted. Child development concerns are at least as important in developing countries as developed ones (if less well understood). Hence approaches to child welfare in developing countries (both measurement and policy) should also adopt a broad-based approach which embraces diverse aspects of the quality of a child’s life, including child rights.Children, poverty measurement, child poverty

Preadolescent girls' group: theoretical background and program proposal

Call number: LD2668 .R4 HDFS 1988 W54Master of ScienceFamily Studies and Human Service

Muscle activation patterns in shoulder impingement patients

Introduction: Shoulder impingement is one of the most common presentations of shoulder joint problems 1. It appears to be caused by a reduction in the sub-acromial space as the humerus abducts between 60o -120o – the 'painful arc'. Structures between the humeral head and the acromion are thus pinched causing pain and further pathology 2. Shoulder muscle activity can influence this joint space but it is unclear whether this is a cause or effect in impingement patients. This study aimed to observe muscle activation patterns in normal and impingement shoulder patients and determine if there were any significant differences. Method: 19 adult subjects were asked to perform shoulder abduction in their symptomatic arm and non-symptomatic. 10 of these subjects (age 47.9 ± 11.2) were screened for shoulder impingement, and 9 subjects (age 38.9 ± 14.3) had no history of shoulder pathology. Surface EMG was used to collect data for 6 shoulder muscles (Upper, middle and lower trapezius, serratus anterior, infraspinatus, middle deltoids) which was then filtered and fully rectified. Subjects performed 3 smooth unilateral abduction movements at a cadence of 16 beats of a metronome set at 60bpm, and the mean of their results was recorded. T-tests were used to indicate any statistical significance in the data sets. Significance was set at P<0.05. Results: There was a significant difference in muscle activation with serratus anterior in particular showing a very low level of activation throughout the range when compared to normal shoulder activation patterns (<30%). Middle deltoid recruitment was significantly reduced between 60-90o in the impingement group (30:58%).Trends were noted in other muscles with upper trapezius and infraspinatus activating more rapidly and erratically (63:25%; 60:27% respectively), and lower trapezius with less recruitment (13:30%) in the patient group, although these did not quite reach significance. Conclusion: There appears to be some interesting alterations in muscle recruitment patterns in impingement shoulder patients when compared against their own unaffected shoulders and the control group. In particular changes in scapula control (serratus anterior and trapezius) and lateral rotation (infraspinatus), which have direct influence on the sub-acromial space, should be noted. It is still not clear whether these alterations are causative or reactionary, but this finding gives a clear indication to the importance of addressing muscle reeducation as part of a rehabilitation programme in shoulder impingement patients

The experience of breast pain (mastalgia) in female runners of the 2012 London Marathon and its effect on exercise behaviour

Background For female marathon runners, breast pain (mastalgia) may be an important issue which has yet to be considered. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of mastalgia in female marathon runners, identify factors that increase mastalgia and methods used to overcome mastalgia, and explore the impact that mastalgia may have on marathon training. Methods 1397 female marathon runners were surveyed at the 2012 London Marathon Registration. All participants who completed the four-part, 30-question survey in its entirety have been included in the analysis (n=1285). Results 32% of participants experienced mastalgia. This was significantly related to cup size and was greater during vigorous compared with moderate physical activity. Exercise-related factors were the primary factors reported to increase mastalgia participation. Seventeen per cent of symptomatic participants reported that mastalgia affected their exercise behaviour. Methods reportedly used to overcome mastalgia included pain medication and firm breast support; however, 44% of participants took no measures to relieve symptoms despite over half describing their mastalgia as discomforting. Conclusions Mastalgia was experienced by a third of marathon runners and was found to be related to breast size which has previously been unreported. The link between exercise and mastalgia has yet to be established; however, this study identified that exercise was the most prevalent factor in mastalgia occurrence which may have implications for its management. The number of participants who took no measures to relieve their mastalgia, or resorted to pain medication, highlights the importance and significance of research into exercise-related mastalgia

Muslim Women and Girls: Searching for Democracy and Self-Expression

This project captures the stories of Muslim women and girls, and the individual ways in which they construct female identity and exercise religious freedom as a form of democracy and self-expression. Much has been written about Muslim women, their dress, hijabs, veils and more recently burqas (Shirazi, 2001; MacDonald, 2006; Haddah & Smith et al., 2006; McLarney, 2009), in the wake of the 9/11 events. Scholars have noted the increasing construction of hate, fear, and misunderstanding, as well as increasing incidences of “Islamophobia” through the construction of Muslims as “the other”. Others have focused on Muslim women’s negotiations of religious freedom and self-expression, concluding that they are either ‘betwixt and between’ or the synthesizers of two distinct cultures (Knott & Khokher, 1993). In California, particularly following the events of 9/11, there has been an increase is stigma, discrimination and a lack of understanding of Muslim women’s experiences (Hopkins, 2007). The use of the burqa and the hijab by some Muslim women can create tensions between dominant cultural values in California and Muslim populations who seek equal rights and freedom of religion in this state. Some view the veil as a symbol of woman’s subordination and Islamic fundamentalism that does not reflect the freedom and democracy these women practice. This paper illuminates the experiences of Muslim women and girls in California, and how they navigate a terrain where they are constantly scrutinized, and often-times ostracized in public settings. As a means to foster community awareness, challenge stereotypes and assumptions associated with the Muslim faith, it presents the narratives of Muslim women and girls expressing their religious and gender-based identities in a democratic society, thus celebrating the empowerment of Muslim women’s freedom of religious self-expression in Southern California

Windows into Non-Euclidean Spaces

Two microlens arrays that are separated by the sum of their focal lengths form arrays of micro-telescopes. Parallel light rays that pass through corresponding lenses remain parallel, but the direction of the transmitted light rays is different. This remains true if corresponding lenses do not share an optical axis (i.e. if the two microlens arrays are shifted with respect to each other). The arrays described above are examples of generalized confocal lenslet arrays, and the light-ray-direction change in these devices is well understood [Oxburgh et al., Opt. Commun. 313, 119 (2014)]. Here we show that such micro-telescope arrays change light-ray direction like the interface between spaces with different metrics. To physicists, the concept of metrics is perhaps most familiar from General Relativity (where it is applied to spacetime, not only space, like it is here) and Transformation Optics [Pendry et al., Science 312, 1780 (2006)], where different materials are treated like spaces with different optical metrics. We illustrate the similarities between micro-telescope arrays and metric interfaces with raytracing simulations. Our results suggest the possibility of realising transformation-optics devices with micro-telescope arrays, which we investigate elsewhere

ARG2 and NOS2 as predictive biomarkers in renal cell carcinoma

International audienc