Benchmarks in Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Programs: A Review of the Literature

A product of Project EASe (Evaluation Assistance Services), this report describes current knowledge about what works in the prevention of adolescent substance abuse

Rotated Spectral Principal Component Analysis (rsPCA) for Identifying Dynamical Modes of Variability in Climate Systems.

Spectral PCA (sPCA), in contrast to classical PCA, offers the advantage of identifying organized spatiotemporal patterns within specific frequency bands and extracting dynamical modes. However, the unavoidable trade-off between frequency resolution and robustness of the PCs leads to high sensitivity to noise and overfitting, which limits the interpretation of the sPCA results. We propose herein a simple nonparametric implementation of sPCA using the continuous analytic Morlet wavelet as a robust estimator of the cross-spectral matrices with good frequency resolution. To improve the interpretability of the results, especially when several modes of similar amplitude exist within the same frequency band, we propose a rotation of the complex-valued eigenvectors to optimize their spatial regularity (smoothness). The developed method, called rotated spectral PCA (rsPCA), is tested on synthetic data simulating propagating waves and shows impressive performance even with high levels of noise in the data. Applied to global historical geopotential height (GPH) and sea surface temperature (SST) daily time series, the method accurately captures patterns of atmospheric Rossby waves at high frequencies (3-60-day periods) in both GPH and SST and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at low frequencies (2-7-yr periodicity) in SST. At high frequencies the rsPCA successfully unmixes the identified waves, revealing spatially coherent patterns with robust propagation dynamics

Savings, Investment & FDI Contribution To Malaysian Economic Growth In The Globalization Era

What are the prospects and future of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Malaysia now? Malaysia is undoubtedly a development success story. Throughout the post-independence period since 1957, Malaysia has enjoyed rapid economic growth with rising per capita income and price stability. Rising living standards, greater urbanization and access to health and education, and an improvement in the distribution of income have accompanied economic growth. Malaysian performance has been particularly remarkable after 1987 when the economy achieved above 7 per cent growth in seven consecutive years reaching virtual full employment in 1995. Malaysia now aspires to become a fully developed economy by 2020. This dramatic economic transformation has occurred against a background of massive shifts in the world economy as a result of increasing internationalization of production and trade. Foreign investment funds are returning to the market attracted by the corporate restructuring news and a belief that South East Asian stocks are generally undervalued. But FDI remains a big worry for the government and the last quarter figures cannot have helped. A recent survey by the Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry in Malaysia claimed that the country no longer enjoyed a competitive advantage over its neighbors and that 22 per cent of Japanese companies operating in Malaysia were contemplating moving. In Penang more multinationals in the electronic sectors are planning to pull out of Malaysia in the next few months and relocate to China and Vietnam. So far these have all been in factories producing labor-intensive products. The main reason given for relocation is because of high labour costs. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Malaysian economic growth with emphasize on saving and investment in the context of globalization of the world economy. The main issues are: 1. Malaysian economic and Fiscal policy to stimulate economic growth. 2. The key policy shifts to guide the study of globalization and developmental implications to overall growth trends. 3. The role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the implications of globalization for domestic employment and real wages, and poverty and income inequality.From our analysis we found that economic development in Malaysia can be seen as a variant of the Solow model, in which savings, investment and capital accumulation are the major agents of growth. One aspect of the fast factor accumulation in this country is the important of FDI flows as a source of technology and management skills. FDI vis a vis savings and investment may have triggered export competitiveness by improving the technology, management and marketing of export industries

Spontaneus lumbar disc regression with the use of a structured therapeutic exercise protocol and manual therapy techniques: three illustrative case reports

Η κήλη μεσοσπονδύλιου δίσκου είναι μία από τις πιο συνηθισμένες μυοσκελετικές παθήσεις η οποία προκαλεί πόνο στην περιοχή της οσφυϊκής μοίρας και δυνητικά ριζιτιδικό πόνο. Πολλοί άνθρωποι ανά την υφήλιο βιώνουν συμπτώματα αυτής της παθολογίας καθημερινά, τα οποία επηρεάζουν τη ζωή τους σε κοινωνικό, οικονομικό και λειτουργικό επίπεδο. Η πιο αποτελεσματική μέθοδος αντιμετώπισης του οσφυϊκού πόνου είναι ακόμα αμφιλεγόμενη. Παρόλα αυτά, οι συντηρητικές θεραπείες θεωρούνται η πρώτη επιλογή. Η αυτόματη επαναρρόφηση του δίσκου έχει αναγνωριστεί ως κλινικό σημείο και με την εξέλιξη των απεικονιστκών και διαγνωστικών μεθόδων, η αναγνώριση της καθίσταται εύκολη. Τρεις υποθέσεις προτείνονται ως οι πιθανοί μηχανισμοί που εμπλέκονται στο φαινόμενο της αυτόματης επαναρρόφησης του μεσοσπονδυλίου δίσκου: η αφυδάτωση του δίσκου, η επαναφορά του δίσκου μέσω τροποποίησης των μηχανικών φορτίων και η ανοσολογική απάντηση και φλεγμονή. Στην παρούσα μελέτη, τρία περιστατικά σοβαρης κήλης μεσοσπονδυλίου δίσκου που εμφάνισαν αυτόματη επαναρρόφηση, παρουσιάζονται και αναλύονται. Οι θεραπευτικές παρεμβάσεις που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στους εν λόγω ασθενείς ήταν τεχνικές χειροθεραπείας και ένα δομημένο ασκησιολόγιο κινησιοθεραπείας. Συνεδρίες επανεξέτασης διενεργήθηκαν, ούτως ώστε να επαναξιολογείται η πορεία των ασθενών. Μαγνητικές τομογραφίες ήταν διαθέσιμες πριν και μετά την ολοκλήρωση της θεραπείας τους και η παρατηρηθείσα επαναρρόφηση του δίσκου ήταν σημαντική. Και οι τρεις ασθενείς παρουσίασαν βελτίωση στη λειτουργική τους ικανότητα καθώς και μείωση των κλινικών τους συμπτωμάτων. Τα αποτελέσματα της θεραπευτικής παρέμβασης συζητήθηκαν και περιγράφηκαν μηχανισμοί που πιθανώς διαμεσολαβούν τη βελτίωση των κλινικών και απεικονιστικών σημείων.Lumbar disc herniation is one of the most common musculoskeletal disease that induces back pain and potentially radicular pain. Many people around the globe experience symptoms from this pathology daily, which affect social, economic and functional aspects of their lives. The most efficient treatment method of low back pain remains controversial. However, conservative treatments are considered the first option. Spontaneous disc regression has been acknowledged as a clinical sign and the advancement of the diagnostic imaging tools makes it easier to be identified. Three hypotheses have been proposed as the underlying mechanisms implicated in the phenomenon of spontaneous disc regression: dehydration, disc retraction through modification of mechanical lading and immune reaction and inflammation. In this study, three cases of severe lumbar disc herniations that exhibited spontaneous regression are presented and analyzed. Manual therapy techniques and a structured kinesiotherapy protocol was applied to the patients as a therapeutic intervention. Follow up sessions and re-evaluation were conducted in order to monitor the progress of the patients. . Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) where available before and after the completion of the treatment revealing that the regression of the discs was significant. All three patients exhibited improvement in their functional ability and reduction of their clinical symptoms. The results of the therapeutic intervention have been discussed and the possible mechanisms mediating the improvement in clinical and imaging signs were described

Ingreso, Producción y Gasto en una Economía de Mercancías Compuestas

A variety of criteria have been used to estimate production and income within the system of national accounts. Both these criteria and the prevailing system of national accounts of the United Nations are currently being reviewed and revised. In the presen