'Two-speed' Scotland : patterns and implications of the digital divide in contemporary Scotland

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Self-controlled case series with multiple event types

Self-controlled case series methods for events that may be classified as one of several types are described. When the event is non-recurrent, the different types correspond to competing risks. It is shown that, under circumstances that are likely to arise in practical applications, the SCCS multi-type likelihood reduces to the product of the type-specific likelihoods. For recurrent events, this applies whether or not the marginal type-specific counts are dependent. As for the standard SCCS method, a rare disease assumption is required for non-recurrent events. Several forms of this assumption are investigated by simulation. The methods are applied to data on MMR vaccine and convulsions (febrile and non-febrile), and to data on thiazolidinediones and fractures (at different sites)

Corporate social responsibility:reviewed, rated, revised

Purpose: Critical literature review of CSR research in both general management and hospitality management literature. Discusses trends,commonalities, and inconsistencies to better understand the state of contemporary scholarship, and calls for a context-specific conceptual engagement with the phenomenon.Design/Methodology/Approach: Systematic literature review, noting and critiquing a general tendency towards measurement of financial and other internal benefit impacts.Findings: Hospitality management is well-positioned to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of CSR, yet research has uncritically adopted the instrumental emphasis on assessing processes, perceptions, and private profitability from the general management literature, without engaging on a contextually-specific and/or theoretical level.Research limitations: CSR research is abundant and therefore difficult to summarise in one article.The primarily Anglo-American and Asian contextual bias is reflected in this review.Practical implications: Consistently inconsistent results challenge the portability of financial impact studies.Studies are needed to re-evaluate the concept of CSR as it pertains to hospitality, and measure the effectiveness of CSR activities relative to context and resource availability.Social implications: Further research into the scope of CSR in hospitality management, with an emphasis on recuperating social value, would lead to widespread positive social implications.Originality/value: This critical review offers a new perspective on CSR in the hospitality literature and industry, calling for a reconsideration of the concept in context, and formulates a working definition

Risk of myocardial infarction and stroke after acute infection or vaccination.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that chronic inflammation may promote atherosclerotic disease. We tested the hypothesis that acute infection and vaccination increase the short-term risk of vascular events. METHODS: We undertook within-person comparisons, using the case-series method, to study the risks of myocardial infarction and stroke after common vaccinations and naturally occurring infections. The study was based on the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database, which contains computerized medical records of more than 5 million patients. RESULTS: A total of 20,486 persons with a first myocardial infarction and 19,063 persons with a first stroke who received influenza vaccine were included in the analysis. There was no increase in the risk of myocardial infarction or stroke in the period after influenza, tetanus, or pneumococcal vaccination. However, the risks of both events were substantially higher after a diagnosis of systemic respiratory tract infection and were highest during the first three days (incidence ratio for myocardial infarction, 4.95; 95 percent confidence interval, 4.43 to 5.53; incidence ratio for stroke, 3.19; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.81 to 3.62). The risks then gradually fell during the following weeks. The risks were raised significantly but to a lesser degree after a diagnosis of urinary tract infection. The findings for recurrent myocardial infarctions and stroke were similar to those for first events. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide support for the concept that acute infections are associated with a transient increase in the risk of vascular events. By contrast, influenza, tetanus, and pneumococcal vaccinations do not produce a detectable increase in the risk of vascular events

An ecological study of American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) in the Missouri Ozark Highlands: effects of herbivory and harvest, ecological characterization and wild simulated cultivation

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 7, 2007)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Forestry.Matrix population analysis was used to analyze eight years of demographic data from six American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) populations in east-central Missouri to examine effects of herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimm.), and root harvest. Most ginseng seedlings took longer than 7 years to mature, and projections indicate it may take 15 years for a seedling to produce enough seeds to replace itself. Annual harvest was found to be sustainable only if no more than 8% of the 3- and 4-leaf plants are removed. If seed from harvested plants is sown at 2 cm, up to 52% of the 3-leaf and 62% of the 4-leaf plants can be harvested annually. Deer browse disproportionately affected reproductive stage classes. In the year following browse, plants were more likely to regress in stage class and produced fewer pedicels. While the projected population growth rate was found to be growing during all of the years of the study, deer browse resulted in a significant decrease in the projected population growth ("no herbivory" matrix_ = 1.064; ambient matrix_ = 1.035). Nineteen natural ginseng sites were characterized. Stage distribution indicated that root harvest was likely to be occurring at many of the sites, even where prohibited. Seed germination trials found that seeds sown between 1 and 3 cm germinated at the highest rates

Mortality of Physicians.

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