Public goods and ethnic divisions

The authors present a model that links heterogeneity of preferences across ethnic groups in a city to the amount and type of public good the city supplies. Results show that the shares of spending on productive public goods - education, roads, sewers, and trash pickup _ in U.S. cities (metro areas/urban counties) are inversely related to the city's (metro area's/county's) ethnic fragmentation, even after controlling for other socioeconomic and demographic determinants. They conclude that the ethnic conflict is an important determinant of local public finances. In cities where ethnic groups are polarized, and where politicians have ethnic constituencies, the share of spending that goes to public goods is low. Their results are driven mainly by how white-majority cities react to varying minority-groups sizes. Voters choose lower public goods when a significant fraction of tax revenues collected from one ethnic group is used to provide public goods shared with other ethnic groups.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Public Health Promotion,Inequality,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization

Political Jurisdictions in Heterogeneous Communities

We investigate the number and size of local political jurisdictions are determined, by focusing on the tradeoff between the benefits of economies of scale and the costs of a heterogeneous population. We consider heterogeneity in income, race, ethnicity, and religion, and we test the model using American school districts, school attendance areas, municipalities, and special districts. Using cross-sectional and panel analysis, we find very little evidence of tradeoffs between economies of scale and ethnic or religious heterogeneity. However, we find evidence of a tradeoff between economies of scale and income heterogeneity and particularly strong evidence of a tradeoff between economies of scale and racial heterogeneity. To clarify the direction of causality between heterogeneity and jurisdictions, we exploit shocks to racial heterogeneity generated by the two World Wars.

Effects of Geology and Geotechnical Properties of Rocks for the Selection of Type of Dams

The topography, geology, foundation conditions and geotechnical properties of the rock units play a dominant role in the selection of type of a dam. It is usually difficult to determine initially, what particular type of dam is technically feasible and economically viable, for a particular dam site. In selecting the most suitable type of dam, a thorough consideration is given to the characteristic of each type of dam. Before the final selection of the type of dam, detailed evaluation is made of location, topography, geology, foundation condition, geological structure, seismicity, depth of the overburden in the valley section, geotechnical properties of various rock units etc. The paper deals only with the geological problems and geotechnical properties of rock of Kbajuri Kacb and Mangi Dam in Pakistan. It has been demonstrated, as to how far the geology and geotechnical features of rock units have affected the selection of the type of the dam for these two dam sites

Disclosure and adverse effects of complementary and alternative medicine used by hospitalized patients in the North East of England

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, disclosure and adverse effects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in hospitalised patients, and to explore the associations between patients’ perceived side-effects and relevant factors. Methods: Patients who were admitted to a district general hospital and met the eligibility criteria were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Their medications and pertinent details were verified from the medical notes. All quantitative and qualitative data were collated and analysed. A chi-squared test was performed to test the associations of the perceived CAM side-effects with the significance level determined at a=0.05. Results: A total of 240 in-patients completed the study. They were mostly white British (98.8%). The prevalence of CAM use within two years was 74.6% and one month 37.9%. Only 19 of 91 patients (20.9%) using CAM within one month disclosed their current CAM applications. Nearly half of patients (45.8%) who used CAM within two years experienced various CAM side-effects that tended to resolve after discontinuation. Slightly more than half (57.6%) perceived CAM side-effects and their perceptions were significantly associated with gender (P=0.048) and consideration for future CAM use (P=0.033). Potential interactions between herbal remedies/dietary supplements and prescribed drugs, such as garlic with lisinopril or aspirin, were assessed in 82 patients (45.8%). Conclusion: Most in-patients used CAM and experienced some adverse effects. The disclosure of CAM use and its adverse outcomes should be encouraged by healthcare professionals

A survey of the use of medication with prolonged oral clearance in the elderly in North East England

PhD ThesisThe elderly are increasingly retaining natural teeth into old age and many require regular long-term medication for chronic medical problems. If these medicines contain sugars and have a prolonged clearance time from the mouth, they may threaten dental health. The extent of regular and long-term use of these medicines in the elderly was the subject of this study comprising five surveys. A general medical practice survey identified 2002 elderly patients aged ≥60 years taking 143 prescribed medicines with prolonged oral clearance (POC) long-term representing a prevalence of use of 9.8%, with females aged ≥75 years more likely to be taking POC medicines long-term (p<0.001). The main medical problems reported were cardiovascular and musculoskeletal, however antacids, laxatives and minor analgesics were the most commonly prescribed POC medicines. The prevalence of over-the-counter POC medicine use long-term was 1.1%. Analysis of prescription numbers and quantities of medicines dispensed in primary care identified 613 POC medicines representing 13% of the 457 million items dispensed in England in 1994, of which 30.4 million items (51%) were for medicines potentially used regularly and longterm by the elderly. POC medicines prescribed in primary care represented the main area of use; secondary care accounted for only 1% of the overall quantities prescribed in the Northern Region and the contribution of OTC medicines to overall consumption of POC medicines was also low (<1 %). The influence of generic prescribing and dose form on the sugar content of the medicines dispensed was substantial; over 80% of generic liquid oral medicines were sugars-containing compared with 7% of proprietary liquid oral medicines. Efforts should be made to draw the attention of government, manufacturers, prescribers and dispensers as well as consumers to the major influences of dose form and specificity of prescribing on the sugars content of medicines. This is crucial in those increasing number of dentate individuals whose dental health is at risk through regular and long-term use of POC medication

Behind the deviation of Islamic banks from shariah principles

This study examines the causes of Islamic banks deviated from shariah principles. It also explores why the Islamic bank deviates from shariah principles. This study used a qualitative method with in-depth interviews with employees and customers of one of the Islamic banks in Sumenep Indonesia. This study was divided into two steps. First, examine whether Islamic bank deviates from shariah principles. Second, examine what causes Islamic banks to deviate from shariah principles. The results of this study found that the causes of Islamic banks deviated from shariah principles are the existence of competition between Islamic banks and the reality of profit targets that must be achieved. The findings of this study contribute to providing information to the public who criticize Islamic banks so that they understand the difficult conditions of Islamic bank to adhere perfectly to shariah principles so that the public do not always blame Islamic bank for deviations committed and do not condemn it

Districts, spillovers, and government overspending

The author considers the overspending bias in legislatures when the benefits of public policies are concentrated in particular districts but the costs of financing them are spread over the entire political jurisdiction. He formalizes this idea in a simple theoretic framework, in the context of externalities between districts. His main prediction is that greater districting leads to bigger government, but the effects are mitigated if there are positive spillovers of government spending between districts. Institutional forms of government that concentrate decision-making power can curtailthe overspending bias. He presents evidence on these predictions from a cross section of U.S. city governments. His main findings are that: 1) If we take an average city, keep its population and other characteristics constant, but divide it into a greater number of political districts, we get substantially greater government spending per capita. 2) Greater jurisdictional heterogeneity and income equality are associated with bigger government. 3) At-large electoral systems are not less sensitive to overspending than district electoral systems are. 4) Strong-mayor forms of city government, especially those in which mayors have veto power, can curtail the overspending bias. These findings are robust to controlling for socioeconomic characteristics of cities and to alternative measures of government size.National Governance,Parliamentary Government,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research

Pandangan Baqir Shadr Tentang Epistemologi

kata kunci: epistemolog

SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY FAMILY

Family is dependent to social system, in many respects , but showing dependency, and degree of effectiveness of family from society and social system is necessary . This paper has investigated family as social group that our laws have not defined it clearly and its legal personality are not allowed. But in contemporary society, state's influence was causing changes in privacy .In this paper, relying on literature of sociology in relation family and government and put base on the Habermas theory , and relying on experience to analyze effect rules on current situation in contemporary family. Using existing documents and comments sociologists in this field was study guide. With studies done in different fields function, family were identified: independent nature family in the past. But now family as a private sphere with fading of roles and functions, with government entering into family privacy, it being dependent on other Institutions, especially political institution and changed its nature, thus family defined by rules and it is state family. Necessary maintenance and entity families privacy and its independence, creating a public sphere in society, as the interface areas between the family and political institution. By creating this area, and family with political institution and laws to coordinate action, families entity was preserved

Excitation sources for structural health monitoring of bridges

Vibration-based damage detection (VBDD) methods are structural health monitoring techniques that utilize changes to the dynamic characteristics of a structure (i.e. its natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping properties) as indicators of damage. While conceptually simple, considerable research is still required before VBDD methods can be applied reliably to complex structures such as bridges. VBDD methods require reliable estimates of modal parameters (notably natural frequencies and mode shapes) in order to assess changes in the condition of a structure. This thesis presents the results of experimental and numerical studies investigating a number of issues related to the potential use of VBDD techniques in the structural health monitoring of bridges, the primary issue being the influence of the excitation source. Two bridges were investigated as part of this study. One is located on Provincial Highway No. 9 over the Red Deer River south of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. The other is located near the Town of Broadview, Saskatchewan, off Trans-Canada Highway No. 1, 150 km east of the City of Regina. Field tests and numerical simulations were conducted using different types of excitation to evaluate the quality of the modal properties (natural frequencies and mode shapes) calculated using these excitation types, and thus to evaluate the performance of VBDD techniques implemented using the resulting modal data. Field tests were conducted using different sources of dynamic excitation: ambient, traffic excitation, and impact excitation. The purpose of field testing was to study the characteristics and repeatability of the modal parameters derived using the different types of dynamic excitation, and to acquire data that could be used to update a FE model for further numerical simulation. A FE model of the Red Deer River bridge, calibrated to match the field measured dynamic properties, was subjected to different types of numerically simulated dynamic excitation with different noise (random variations) levels added to them. The types of dynamic excitation considered included harmonic forced excitation, random forced excitation and the subsequent free vibration decay, impact excitation, and different models of truck excitation. The bridge model was subjected to four different damage scenarios; in addition, six VBDD methods were implemented to evaluate their ability to identify and localize damage. The effects of uncertainty in the definition of controlled-force excitation sources and variation in measurement of the bridge response were also investigated. Field tests on the Hudson Bay bridge showed that excitation induced by large trucks generally produced more reliable data than that of smaller vehicles due to higher signal-to-noise ratios in the measured response. It was also found that considering only the free vibration phase of the response after the vehicle left the bridge gave more reliable data. Impact excitation implemented the on Hudson Bay bridge using a spring-hammer yielded repeatable and high quality results, while using a heavy weight delectometer for impact excitation on the Broadview bridge produced results of lesser quality due to the occurrence of multiple strikes of the impact hammer. In general, wind induced vibration measurements taken from both bridges were less effective for defining modal properties than large vehicle loading or impact excitation. All of the VBDD methods examined in this study could detect damage if the comparison was made between modal parameters acquired by eigenvalue analyses of two FE models of the bridge, before and after damage. However, the performance of VBDD methods declined when the dynamic properties were calculated from response time histories and noise was introduced. In general, the damage index method performed better than other damage detection methods considered. Numerical simulation results showed that harmonic excitation, impact excitation, and the free decay phase after random excitation yielded results that were consistent enough to be used for the identification of damage. The reliability of VBDD methods in detecting damage dropped once noise was introduced. Noise superimposed on the excitation force had little effect on the estimated modal properties and the performance of VBDD methods. On the other hand, noise superimposed on the “measured” dynamic response had a pronounced negative influence on the performance of the VBDD methods