The capability dilemma in operational poverty assessment

This paper compares the standard economic welfare approach to poverty measurement to the empirical approaches proposed in the capability literature under the special focus of their suitability for operational poverty assessment, i.e. targeting and outreach evaluation. We question whether the measurement of per capita daily expenditures compared with a monetary poverty line justifiably remains the most widely used approach regarding poverty assessment. Its underlying value judgments and unsatisfactory assumptions differ considerably from those of the capability concept of poverty but the two approaches can be linked and critically compared with respect to the role of income, the conceptualisation of absolute poverty and the development of operational tools. We argue that despite the progress made in operationalizing the capability approach, there remain serious challenges when focussing on targeting and outreach evaluation and propose three alternative solutions for dealing with this capability dilemma in practice.

Einflüsse von Cortisol auf das Arbeitsgedächtnis : Eine funktionelle MRT-Studie

Ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem Cortisolstoffwechsel und Veränderungen der kognitiven Leistungsfähigkeit bzw. der Gedächtnisleistung ist mehrfach beschrieben. In dieser Arbeit werden Effekte einer kurzfristigen Cortisolspiegelerhöhung auf die Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung untersucht. Probanden erhalten eine orale Dosis von 30 mg Hydrocortison im intraindividuellen Vergleich gegen ein Placebo. Zur Auswertung werden die Verhaltensdaten aus der Bearbeitung eines Arbeitsgedächtnisparadigmas (n-back) sowie zeitgleich erhobene Aktivierungen arbeitsgedächtnisrelevanter Areale in der funktionellen Magnetresonanztomographie herangezogen. Auch wenn zunächst kein unmittelbarer Unterschied zwischen Verum- und Placebobedingung anhand der Anzahl der richtig bzw. falsch gelösten Aufgaben zu erkennen ist, deuten Vergleiche der Reaktionszeiten auf eine verbesserte Leistung bei erhöhtem Cortisolspiegel hin. Im fMRT zeigen die drei Areale Gyrus frontalis medius, Precuneus sowie rechtes Putamen verminderte Aktivierungen nach Einnahme von Hydrocortison. Bei erhöhtem Cortisolspiegel werden hier gleiche Leistungen wie bei der Placebobedingung bei verringerter Rekrutierung dieser am Arbeitsgedächtnisnetzwerk beteiligten Areale erbracht. Sowohl die Unterschiede bei den Reaktionszeiten als auch bei den Aktivierungen im fMRT sind Anzeichen einer gesteigerten Effizienz der Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung nach Einnahme von 30 mg Hydrocortison.</p

Does German Development Aid boost German Exports and German Employment? A Sectoral Level Analysis

This paper uses an augmented gravity model of trade to investigate the link between German development aid and sectoral exports from Germany to aid recipient countries with data from 1978–2011. The findings indicate that in the long run each dollar of German aid is associated with an average increase of US$ 0.83 US of German goods exports. The sectors that benefit the most in terms of exports and employment are machinery, electrical equipment and transport equipment. According to our estimates using input-output analysis and a partial equilibrium framework, the aid-induced gains in sectoral exports are associated with the gross employment of approximately 216,000 people.We would like to thank the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for financing the study. We are extremely grateful to Bart Los (University of Groningen Europe’s leading institution in inputoutput-analysis) for his assistance in computing the employment effects. The comments of the three anonymous referees clearly helped to improve the paper and so did the suggestions that we received at workshops and conferences

Successive Cancellation Automorphism List Decoding of Polar Codes

The discovery of suitable automorphisms of polar codes gained a lot of attention by applying them in Automorphism Ensemble Decoding (AED) to improve the error-correction performance, especially for short block lengths. This paper introduces Successive Cancellation Automorphism List (SCAL) decoding of polar codes as a novel application of automorphisms in advanced Successive Cancellation List (SCL) decoding. Initialized with L permutations sampled from the automorphism group, a superposition of different noise realizations and path splitting takes place inside the decoder. In this way, the SCAL decoder automatically adapts to the channel conditions and outperforms the error-correction performance of conventional SCL decoding and AED. For a polar code of length 128, SCAL performs near Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoding with L=8, in contrast to M=16 needed decoder cores in AED. Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) implementations in a 12 nm technology show that high-throughput, pipelined SCAL decoders outperform AED in terms of energy efficiency and power density, and SCL decoders additionally in area efficiency.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IEEE for possible publicatio

A Minimal-Invasive Metabolic Test Detects Malignant Hyperthermia Susceptibility in a Patient after Sevoflurane-Induced Metabolic Crisis

Malignant hyperthermia is a rare but life-threatening complication of general anesthesia in predisposed patients usually triggered by potent inhalation anesthetics and/or the depolarizing muscle relaxant succinylcholine. The authors present a case of delayed sevoflurane-induced malignant hyperthermia in a 21-year-old male patient that was sufficiently treated by discontinuation of trigger agent application and dantrolene infusion. After surviving an MH episode diagnostic procedures are indicated to increase patient safety. In the presented case, the use of a novel minimal-invasive metabolic test with intramuscular injection of halothane and caffeine successfully confirmed MH susceptibility and hence might be an alternative for invasive in vitro contracture testing in selected cases

Evaluation of suspected malignant hyperthermia events during anesthesia

Background Malignant hyperthermia (MH), a metabolic myopathy triggered by volatile anesthetics and depolarizing muscle relaxants, is a potentially lethal complication of general anesthesia in susceptible patients. The implementation of modern inhalation anesthetics that research indicates as less potent trigger substances and the recommended limitations of succinylcholine use, suggests there may be considerable decline of fulminant MH cases. In the presented study, the authors analyzed suspected MH episodes during general anesthesia of patients that were referred to the Wuerzburg MH unit between 2007 and 2011, assuming that MH is still a relevant anesthetic problem in our days. Methods With approval of the local ethics committee data of patients that underwent muscle biopsy and in vitro contracture test (IVCT) between 2007 and 2011 were analyzed. Only patients with a history of suspected MH crisis were included in the study. The incidents were evaluated retrospectively using anesthetic documentation and medical records. Results Between 2007 and 2011 a total of 124 patients were tested. 19 of them were referred because of suspected MH events; 7 patients were diagnosed MH-susceptible, 4 MH-equivocal and 8 MH-non-susceptible by IVCT. In a majority of cases masseter spasm after succinylcholine had been the primary symptom. Cardiac arrhythmias and hypercapnia frequently occurred early in the course of events. Interestingly, dantrolene treatment was initiated in a few cases only. Conclusions MH is still an important anesthetic complication. Every anesthetist must be aware of this life-threatening syndrome at any time. The rapid onset of adequate therapy is crucial to avoid major harm and possibly lethal outcome. Dantrolene must be readily available wherever MH triggering agents are used for anesthesia