Understanding nominal GNP targeting

Gross national product

Muscle Relaxation Training: A Comparison of EMG Biofeedback with Verbal Instruction

The effectiveness of two muscle relaxation modalities, EMG biofeedback and verbal relaxation instruction, were compared. Fifteen college students were assigned to two experimental groups and a non-treatment control condition. Measurements of frontalis muscle activity were taken prior to, during and following three 20-minute training sessions. Results based on a set of non-orthogonal contrasts indicated significant relaxation effects for relaxation instruction when pre-training levels were compared to training completion and post-training levels. Experimental groups differed only at training completion where relaxation instruction was superior to EMG biofeedback. The necessity of careful scientific research of biofeedback techniques to be used in clinical applications was discussed. It was concluded that the two relaxation procedures should be combined to maximize treatment when developing a program for conditioning muscle relaxation

Muscle Relaxation Training: A Comparison of EMG Biofeedback with Verbal Instruction

The effectiveness of two muscle relaxation modalities, EMG biofeedback and verbal relaxation instruction, were compared. Fifteen college students were assigned to two experimental groups and a non-treatment control condition. Measurements of frontalis muscle activity were taken prior to, during and following three 20-minute training sessions. Results based on a set of non-orthogonal contrasts indicated significant relaxation effects for relaxation instruction when pre-training levels were compared to training completion and post-training levels. Experimental groups differed only at training completion where relaxation instruction was superior to EMG biofeedback. The necessity of careful scientific research of biofeedback techniques to be used in clinical applications was discussed. It was concluded that the two relaxation procedures should be combined to maximize treatment when developing a program for conditioning muscle relaxation

How Well Does "Core" CPI Capture Permanent Price Changes?

We decompose core CPI and the food and energy CPI measures into permanent and transitory components using a correlated unobserved components model, to examine the behavior of core CPI when subject to shocks and to examine the claim that core CPI captures the persistent part of headline CPI. We find that the permanent component of core CPI is more volatile than core CPI, or that the permanent and transitory components are highly correlated. We find that the excluded food and energy components have important permanent components, and that core CPI has an important transitory component. We examine impulse response functions and find that headline CPI inflation responds more sharply to shocks than core CPI inflation, and after the first year the impact of shocks on headline inflation is less than the impact on core inflation.unobserved components, CPI, price indices, inflation, core

The Mesoamerican Corpus of Formative Period Art and Writing

This project explores the origins and development of the first writing in the New World by constructing a comprehensive database of Formative period, 1500-400 BCE, iconography and a suite of database-driven digital tools. In collaboration with two of the largest repositories of Formative period Mesoamerican art in Mexico, the project integrates the work of archaeologists, art historians, and scientific computing specialists to plan and begin the production of a database, digital assets, and visual search software that permit the visualization of spatial, chronological, and contextual relationships among iconographic and archaeological datasets. These resources will eventually support mobile and web based applications that allow for the search, comparison, and analysis of a corpus of material currently only partially documented. The start-up phase will generate a functional prototype database, project website, wireframe user interfaces, and a report summarizing project development

'A Better Way to Measure Choices' Discrete Choice Experiment and Conjoint Analysis Studies in Nephrology: A Literature Review

Discrete choice experiments (DCE) and conjoint analysis (CA) are increasingly used to address health policy issues. This is because the DCE and CA approaches have theoretical foundations in the characteristics theory of demand, which assumes goods, services, or healthcare provision, can be valued in terms of their characteristics (or attributes). As a result, such analysis is grounded in economic theory, lending theoretical validity to this approach. With DCEs, respondents are also assumed to act in a utility-maximising manner and make choices contingent upon the levels of attributes in DCE scenarios. Therefore, choice data can be analysed using econometric methods compatible with random utility theory (RUT) or random regret minimisation (RRM) theory. This means they have additional foundations in economic theory. In contrast, analyses described as CAs are sometimes compatible with RUT or RRM, but by definition they do not have to be. In this paper we review the CA/DCE evidence relating to nephrology. The CA/DCE approach is then compared with other approaches used to provide either quality of life information or preference information relating to nephrology. We conclude by providing an assessment of the value of undertaking CA or DCE analysis in nephrology, comparing the application of CA/DCEs in nephrology with other methodological approaches.</p

The optimality of nominal income targeting when wages are indexed to price

Income ; Wages

Calculation of steady and unsteady pressures at supersonic speeds with CAP-TSD

A finite difference technique is used to solve the transonic small disturbance flow equation making use of shock capturing to treat wave discontinuities. Thus the nonlinear effects of thickness and angle of attack are considered. Such an approach is made feasible by the development of a new code called CAP-TSD (Computational Aeroelasticity Program - Transonic Small Disturbance), and is based on a fully implicit approximate factorization (AF) finite difference method to solve the time dependent transonic small disturbance equation. The application of the CAP-TSD code to the calculation of low to moderate supersonic steady and unsteady flows is presented. In particular, comparisons with exact linear theory solutions are made for steady and unsteady cases to evaluate shock capturing and other features of the current method. In addition, steady solutions obtained from an Euler code are used to evaluate the small disturbance aspects of the code. Steady and unsteady pressure comparisons are made with measurements for an F-15 wing model and for the RAE tailplane model