Micro-Perspectives on Living Standards in Nineteenth-Century Russia

In recent years economic historians have turned new attention to questions about standards of living in pre-revolutionary Russia. However, most of the studies to date have focused on a narrow range of measures for predominantly urban areas. We expand on the existing literature with a micro-level analysis, which employs a broader set of measures of wellbeing for a small rural region in central Russia. Our findings suggest that living standards were improving over the nineteenth century, even in such seemingly less dynamic rural areas. Income and consumption patterns, human capital development, and the distribution of resources in the countryside were more variegated than a ‘subsistence’ approach has typically allowed. The micro-level context presented here suggests that state and local institutions should be emphasized in future analyses of rural living standards in pre-Soviet Russia.Russia, livings standards, economic history

Micro-Perspectives on 19th-century Russian Living Standards

Russia, livings standards, economic history

Gap Analysis of Environmental Health Research in Malawi : Report to the National Commission of Science and Technology

The aim of this consultancy was to assess the current gaps in research for the environmental health sector in Malawi, and to recommend research priorities and an effective action plan to address these gap

Motion Analysis and Electromyographic Analysis of Ambulation with Assistive Devices

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the amount of muscle activity of the rectus abdominis and external obliques during the gait cycle with the use of forearm crutches and three different weight bearing statuses. Subjects: Seven female adults were recruited from the University of North Dakota Physical Therapy program. Inclusion criteria: between the ages of 19 and 40 years of age, current physical therapy students, and healthy with no current upper or lower extremity injuries. Instrumentation: The EMG data was collected by the Noraxon Telemyo 900 telemetry unit and analyzed using the MyoResearch XP software. Six Vicon MX40 infrared cameras were used to capture the marker motion. The Vicon Polygon 3.1 software was used to qualitatively analyze all of the motion and EMG data. Procedure: Prior to beginning the trials, surface electrodes were placed over the right and left rectus abdominis and right and left external oblique muscles to record the EMG activity. A MVC was performed using an isometric sit-up to establish a normalization baseline. Reflective markers were placed on bony prominences according to the Plug-in-Gait Marker Placement. Participants were fitted for forearm crutches and were allowed to practice a swing-to three point gait prior to the trials. Each participant performed two trials of each weight bearing status. Data Analysis: The EMG data from the crutch walking trials was compared with the EMG data from the MVC trials. The results were represented as a percent of the MVC. The EMG data was synchronized with the motion analysis data and displayed in graph form which shows the stickman figure along with the muscle activity during each point in time during the walking trial. This was used to qualitatively describe when each muscle was active during the gait cycle. Results: The quantitative assessment of EMG showed that both the rectus abdominis and the external oblique muscle groups were the most active during the non-weight bearing gait pattern. Activity between the right and left muscle groups was similar in amplitude. The qualitative assessment showed that both the rectus abdominis and the external obliques were the most active during the swing phase of a gait pattern. Conclusion: The abdominal musculature is active during crutch walking throughout the gait cycle. Physical therapists can benefit from the results of this study by evaluating the abdominal musculature strength during the examination prior to assigning an assistive device and by implementing core strengthening into the rehabilitation phase for those individuals who demonstrate weakness

Safewards: Changes in conflict, containment, and violence prevention climate during implementation

Since its development, there has been growing utilization of the Safewards package of interventions to reduce conflict and containment in acute mental health wards. The current study used the opportunity of an implementation of Safewards across one large metropolitan local health district in New South Wales Australia to evaluate change. Specific aims of the study were to measure, for the first time in Australia, changes in shift-level reports of conflict and containment associated with Safewards introduction, and to measure any association with change in the violence prevention climate using a tool validated for use in the current study setting. Eight of eleven wards opted-in to participating in Safewards. Implementation was conducted over a period of 24 weeks (4-week preparation, 16-week implementation, and 4-week outcome phases). Conflict and containment were measured using the Patient–Staff Conflict Checklist Shift Report and violence prevention climate using the VPC-14. From 63.2% response rate, the mean (SD) reported conflict and containment incidents per shift fell from 3.96 (6.25) and 6.81 (5.78) to 2.94 (4.22) and 5.82 (4.62), respectively. Controlling for other variables, this represented reductions of 23.0 and 12.0%, respectively. Violence prevention climate ratings did not change. Safewards was associated with significant improvements in all incidents of conflict and containment, including the most severe and restrictive types, and this was largely unaffected by outcomes measure response rate, shift or weekday/weekend reporting, or number of ward beds. Safewards is increasingly justified as one of very few interventions of choice in adult, acute mental health services and should be widely utilized

Monopoly and the rate of extraction of exhaustible resources: Note

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Living under the lordship of Christ : the ground and shape of paraenesis in the Epistle to the Colossians.

This study examines the broad range of moral exhortations in Colossians. The paraenetical sections evaluated include 1.9-10, 21-23; 2.6-7; 3.1-4, 5-17; 3.18-4.1. My primary objective is to determine the ground or basis for paraenesis in Colossians. I submit that there is a clear and consistent relationship between theology and ethics in Colossaians, for paraenesis is repeatedly given a firm theological foundation. The ground for the Colossian paraenesis is primarily Christological (1.9-10, 20-23; 2.6-7; 3.11, 17-18, 20, 22-23), sometimes soteriological (2.11-12; 3.1-4, 9-10), and occasionally eschatological (3.1-4, 24-25). My secondary aim is to analyse the shape of the Colossian paraenesis in terms of the behavioural, historical, and rhetorical nature of the exhortations. Much of the paraenesis in Colossians, particularly the vice/virtue lists and the household code, is traditional paraenetical material which reflects first century Hellenistic moral exhortation. At the same time, the traditional paraenetical material in Colossians is not traditional material simpliciter, for the role of humility (3.12), the nature of love (3.13-14), the placement of the householder under the authority of Christ (4.1), and the Christological foundation (3.11,17,18,22-23) make it distinctively Christian. To evaluate the manner in which the Colossian paraenesis has been shaped by contingency, I examine the nature of the Colossian opposition. The opponents reflect a syncretistic Jewish/pagan mystery cult which the author considered to be a Christological threat. This polemical setting is seen ultimately to shape the Colossian paraenesis, for the paraenesis affirms (esp. 1.21-23; 2.6-7) and elucidates (esp. 3.5- 4.1) the nature of Christ's lordship in the face of rival powers

Archiving Black Movements: Shifting Power and Exploring a Community-Centered Approach

With the move towards both critical information literacy and community-centered archives, cultural heritage and information professionals have been called to further interrogate our role as collectors and catalogers of materials. We know that the preservation and description of objects, records, and ephemera ascribe historical meaning, are culturally bound, and impact understanding beyond our lifetime. In this heightened time of social injustice, Black librarians, archivists, and curators are collaborating with community and organizing groups to select and preserve materials related to uprisings in real-time. However, there is a disconnect from the records and items selected for the archives and materials valued by the organizers themselves. There is also a lack of published texts centering the approaches and materials of Black people organizing for their own communities as a part of the archival record with few exceptions. Knowing there is power in the archives, there must be careful consideration to the prioritization and representation of Black communities in their own words. In the following conversations, we thought critically about the provenance and authority of records found on the internet and how archivists should consider materials created by organizers and those created by the community at large. We facilitated three interviews with activists and organizers whose work focuses on the liberation of Black lives globally to both frame and interrogate current archival practices. These interviews explored our archival approach, specifically centering the narratives of the people on the ground. Through these conversations, we discussed the state of organizing and creating digital content as well as how cultural heritage professionals should prioritize the histories of various movements for Black life globally. The interviewees included activists and organizers from the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (1968-1970s), Black Nashville Assembly, and formerly of Black Lives Matter (2013-present), and End SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) movement (2020-present) in Nigeria. In shaping this conversation, we considered these key questions:  What objects speak to your “work”? What content do you think will help future generations understand past and present movements around Black life? How can cultural heritage professionals determine what is created by BLM, BPP, etc. versus what is contributed by the community-at-large? What does Black liberation look like to you? This article outlines and reimagines archival work as community-based, highly collaborative, and iterative for professionals outside of Black social and political movements. With a focus on intentionality around the communities impacted, individuals involved, and the movements at large, we framed what archival materials are important to Black organizers of our time. With their insight, cultural heritage and archival professionals can create deliberate processes to get direct feedback from the creators themselves for the archives. Overall, this article aims to introduce ways of thinking to decentralize power in archival collections and provide agency to organizers through their own historical record. Pre-print first published online 8/5/202

Middle-Aged Death and Taxes in the USA: Association of State Tax Burden and Expenditures in 2005 with Survival from 2006 to 2015.

Background Longevity in the United States ranks below most other Western nations despite spending more on healthcare per capita than any other country. Across the world, mortality has been declining, but in the USA the trend toward improvement has stalled in some middle-aged demographic groups. Cross-national studies suggest that social welfare is positively associated with longevity. The United States has less government sponsored welfare, education and healthcare than almost all other Western nations, but the level of this social welfare commitment varies across the states. In this study we examined the association of state tax burden and state government expenditures with subsequent middle-aged mortality. Methods The primary exposure was state tax burden in 2005, defined as proportion of all state income paid to the state. We also examined the impact of state expenditures per capita in 2005 for education, healthcare, welfare, police and highways. The dependent variable was mortality during the subsequent 10 years. Death counts and population sizes by sex, age group and race strata for 2006–2015 were abstracted from CDC WONDER. Binomial logistic regression was employed based on the number of deaths and underlying population within each county-sex-age-race bin. Results State tax burden in 2005 varied from 5.8% to 12.2%. An increase of 1.0 percentage point in state tax burden was associated with a 5.8% (SE = 0.1%) reduction in mortality adjusted for sex, age and race, but was associated with a 1.1% (SE = 0.1%) reduction when further adjusting for state income and education levels. Controlling for sex, age and race each type of state expenditures was associated with decreases in middle aged mortality, notably K-12 education (reduction of 4.7%, SE = 0.1%, per 10% expenditure increase) except healthcare but all types were associated with mortality decreases further controlling for state income and education. Conclusion The residents of states with higher state taxation and higher expenditures per capita have lower middle aged mortality rates

Adipokines and the Right Ventricle: The MESA-RV Study.

ObjectiveObesity is associated with changes in both right (RV) and left (LV) ventricular morphology, but the biological basis of this finding is not well established. We examined whether adipokine levels were associated with RV morphology and function in a population-based multiethnic sample free of clinical cardiovascular disease.MethodsWe examined relationships of leptin, resistin, TNF-α, and adiponectin with RV morphology and function (from cardiac MRI) in participants (n = 1,267) free of clinical cardiovascular disease from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)-RV study. Multivariable regressions (linear, quantile [25th and 75th] and generalized additive models [GAM]) were used to examine the independent association of each adipokine with RV mass, RV end-diastolic volume (RVEDV), RV end-systolic volume (RVESV), RV stroke volume (RVSV) and RV ejection fraction (RVEF).ResultsHigher leptin levels were associated with significantly lower levels of RV mass, RVEDV, RVESV and stroke volume, but not RVEF, after adjustment for age, gender, race, height and weight. These associations were somewhat attenuated but still significant after adjustment for traditional risk factors and covariates, and were completely attenuated when correcting for the respective LV measures. There were no significant interactions of age, gender, or race/ethnicity on the relationship between the four adipokines and RV structure or function.ConclusionsLeptin levels are associated with favorable RV morphology in a multi-ethnic population free of cardiovascular disease, however these associations may be explained by a yet to be understood bi-ventricular process as this association was no longer present after adjustment for LV values. These findings complement the associations previously shown between adipokines and LV structure and function in both healthy and diseased patients. The mechanisms linking adipokines to healthy cardiovascular function require further investigation