The uptake of labelled decamethonium in skeletal muscle

Imperial Users onl

Inefficiency and productivity growth in banking: a comparison of stochastic econometric and thick frontier methods

A comparison of alternative methods for estimating inefficiency and productivity growth in banking, showing that inefficiencies are sufficiently large to dominate scale economies and that measured technological progress has been small, or even negative, as a result of institutional events that occurred during 1977-88.Banks and banking - Costs ; Production (Economic theory)

Consistency conditions for regulatory analysis of financial institutions: a comparison of frontier efficiency methods

We propose a set of consistency conditions that frontier efficiency measures should meet to be most useful for regulatory analysis or other purposes. The efficiency estimates should be consistent in their efficiency levels, rankings, and identification of best and worst firms, consistent over time and with competitive conditions in the market, and consistent with standard nonfrontier measures of performance. We provide evidence on these conditions by evaluating and comparing efficiency estimates on U.S. bank efficiency from variants of all four of the major approaches -- DEA, SFA, TFA, and DFA -- and find mixed results.Financial institutions ; Bank supervision

Testing for feedback-conditional regret effects using a natural lottery

We report the results of an experimental test for feedback-conditional regret effects using a naturally occurring gamble. The properties of this gamble are likely to engage decision-makers to a greater extent than conventional abstract laboratory gambles, and be more generally exhibited by real world objects of choice. We argue that this conveys a higher than typical degree of external validity on our findings. We observe that feedback on the outcome of foregone choices enhances the salience of regret as a decision motive

Does the presence of a trained support person during labor decrease C-section rates?

Q: Does the presence of a trained support person during labor decrease C-section rates? Evidence-based answer: sometimes. The continuous presence of a support person during labor slightly decreases (by about 2%) the likelihood of a cesarean section (C-section) but only when companions can't be present and epidurals aren't routine (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, a well-done systematic review of randomized controlled trials [RCTs]). When the support person was neither hospital staff nor a member of the woman's social network, C-section was significantly less likely (SOR A, a well-done systematic review of RCTs)

Humphrey Center News: Spring/Summer 1986 v. 2, no. 2

Newsletter of the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine

Group 8 metal alkynyl complexes for nonlinear optics

International audienceStudies of the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of Group 8 metal alkynyl complexes are summarized, with particular focus on results since 2003; structure-NLO property relationships are developed, optical nonlinearities of multipolar alkynyl complexes are described, and switching of the NLO response of molecules and molecular materials derived from Group 8 metal alkynyl complexes is discussed

European teachers’ concerns and experiences in responding to diversity in the classroom

There seems to be a higher challenge today for teachers across Europe and the USA to respond to an increasing diversity of students. Responding to diversity implies understanding individual student characteristics and matching differentiated teaching within an inclusive atmosphere to enable everyone to participation actively in all classroom activities (see e.g., Gay, 2000). Student diversity is seen as arising from three main sources: (a) A cultural one due to the impact of an increasing number of immigrants and increasing mobility within and across countries. Recent EU reports note that “Teachers may be confronted with different cultures, religions, and languages in a single learning environment” (Eurydice, 2002, p.48); “Teachers/ trainers are faced with socially, culturally and ethnically diverse pupils/trainees and challenges them to deal with more and more heterogeneous classes” (EC Directorate General for Education and Culture 2003, 35). (b) Both the above reports add a second major factor: the policy of mainstreaming of students with impairments or special needs, which calls “for the acquisition by teachers of specific skills, such as the ability to offer teaching geared to individual needs and adapt the curriculum accordingly” (Eurydice 2002, 47). One may add to this the wider democratic concerns on the entitlement of each student to reach his or her potential, whether as gifted or as having a different learning style: “It is unacceptable for any teacher to respond to any group of children (or any individual child) as though the children were inappropriate, inconvenient, beyond hope, or not in need of focused attention” (Tomlinson 2001, 21). “The teacher ... has to adapt or prepare the curriculum in such a way that the needs of all pupils, those with special educational needs, gifted pupils and their peers, are sufficiently met” (Meijer 2003, Para 3.2.2). (c) There is also a new concern about the difficulties that are faced in modern society by youths who fail to achieve adequate levels of literacy or drop out of school, together with an awareness of the multiplicity and complexity of competencies required in today’s society (Gregory and Kuzmich 2005). This concern has been strong in Europe but is also a worldwide concern: In the learning society, social stratification is increasingly based on a division between the haves and have-nots in terms of skills and qualifications. Dropping out from school, therefore, has much more lasting consequences than it had in the past, since it can mark an individual for life and greatly narrow the range of career choices open to them. Schools are at the centre of the learning society and life-long learning begins there. (EC 2001, Sect. 4.5, see also Eurydice 1994, UNESCO 2004)peer-reviewe