Universal dimensions of Islam: studies in comparative religion [Book Review]

This article reviews the book 'Universal dimensions of Islam: studies in comparative religion', edited by Patrick Laude

Yingjin Zhang, ed. China in a polycentric world : essays in Chinese comparative literature

This article reviews the book China in a Polycentric World: Essays in Chinese Comparative Literature edited by Yingjin Zhang

Over a Decade of Comparative Risk Analysis: A Review of the Human Health Rankings

The author reviews a method for undertaking a cross-project comparison of comparative risk analyses to understand which environmental problem areas have been cited most as often posing the severest risks

Comparative Effectiveness Review Within the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

Examines lessons from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's use of comparative effectiveness reviews and decision-making process on evidence-based standards, uptake of medical innovations, and investment for maximum health benefit

Conceivable security risks and authentication techniques for smart devices

With the rapidly escalating use of smart devices and fraudulent transaction of users’ data from their devices, efficient and reliable techniques for authentication of the smart devices have become an obligatory issue. This paper reviews the security risks for mobile devices and studies several authentication techniques available for smart devices. The results from field studies enable a comparative evaluation of user-preferred authentication mechanisms and their opinions about reliability, biometric authentication and visual authentication techniques

Assessment of a method to detect signals for updating systematic reviews.

BackgroundSystematic reviews are a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine but are useful only if up-to-date. Methods for detecting signals of when a systematic review needs updating have face validity, but no proposed method has had an assessment of predictive validity performed.MethodsThe AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Review program had produced 13 comparative effectiveness reviews (CERs), a subcategory of systematic reviews, by 2009, 11 of which were assessed in 2009 using a surveillance system to determine the degree to which individual conclusions were out of date and to assign a priority for updating each report. Four CERs were judged to be a high priority for updating, four CERs were judged to be medium priority for updating, and three CERs were judged to be low priority for updating. AHRQ then commissioned full update reviews for 9 of these 11 CERs. Where possible, we matched the original conclusions with their corresponding conclusions in the update reports, and compared the congruence between these pairs with our original predictions about which conclusions in each CER remained valid. We then classified the concordance of each pair as good, fair, or poor. We also made a summary determination of the priority for updating each CER based on the actual changes in conclusions in the updated report, and compared these determinations with the earlier assessments of priority.ResultsThe 9 CERs included 149 individual conclusions, 84% with matches in the update reports. Across reports, 83% of matched conclusions had good concordance, and 99% had good or fair concordance. The one instance of poor concordance was partially attributable to the publication of new evidence after the surveillance signal searches had been done. Both CERs originally judged as being low priority for updating had no substantive changes to their conclusions in the actual updated report. The agreement on overall priority for updating between prediction and actual changes to conclusions was Kappa = 0.74.ConclusionsThese results provide some support for the validity of a surveillance system for detecting signals indicating when a systematic review needs updating

How Robust is Comparative Advantage?

This paper reviews the theoretical development of the concept of comparative advantage, starting with the two-good model of Ricardo and the two-good extension and reinterpretation by Haberler. In both, the presence of comparative advantage provides the scope for countries to gain from trade by specializing, and the pattern of that trade is explained by the pattern of comparative advantage. These strong results of the two-good model can be extended under certain circumstances to multiple goods and countries, but under more general assumptions such strong results no longer are assured. Instead one can derive much weaker results, usually in the form of correlations between comparative advantage and trade, and these weaker results hold in a much wider variety of circumstances. The paper examines those assumptions that permit such generalizations, but then also examines when those assumptions are most likely to fail, and what happens as a result.

Constructing Market-based Economies in Central Asia: A Natural Experiment?

This paper reviews the experience of the five Central Asian countries in the two decades since independence. In the 1990s the five countries looked like a natural experiment. They had similar initial conditions, but different transition strategies. Today that does not appear to have been a useful research agenda, which raises some broader questions for comparative economic studies.transition - Central Asia

Radiation and Ablation Cooling for Manned Reentry Vehicles

The necessity of reducing heat transfer to reentry vehicles has led I to the consideration of both radiative and ablation shields. The paper reviews briefly the heating problems for manned vehicles and the means whereby ablation and radiation afford thermal protection. The principal energy disposal and weight parameters are then presented and their relation to the vehicle and trajectory parameters is discussed. A comparative analysis of three types of ablation shield is made and broad conclusions are drawn as to the type of shield most appropriate to manned reentry vehicles