Problem Drinking, Jealousy, and Anger Control: Variables Predicting Physical Aggression Against a Partner

Alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV) are significantly related, but only a subset of individuals who drink are aggressive and relatively little is known about what moderates this relationship in community samples. Two risk factors, anger control and jealousy, were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between IPV and problem drinking in a sample of 453 community couples. A significant three-way interaction indicated that men with jealousy problems, but not anger control problems, were most likely to show the strongest association between problem drinking and IPV. In accord with the multiple threshold model of IPV, specific combinations of risk factors appeared to represent different thresholds in which problem drinking influenced the likelihood of IPV.     

Developmental Validation of the Quantifiler® Duo DNA Quantification Kit for Simultaneous Quantification of Total Human and Human Male DNA and Detection of PCR Inhibitors in Biological Samples*

Abstract: The Quantifiler^® Duo DNA Quantification kit enables simultaneous quantification of human DNA and human male DNA as well as detection of inhibitors of PCR in a single real-time PCR well. Pooled human male genomic DNA is used to generate standard curves for both human (ribonuclease P RNA component H1) and human male (sex determining region Y) specific targets. A shift in the cycle threshold (C_T) values for the internal positive control monitors the presence of PCR inhibitors in a sample. The assay is human specific and exhibits a high dynamic range from 0.023 to 50 ng/μL. In addition, the multiplex assay can detect as little as 25 pg/μL of human male DNA in the presence of a 1000-fold excess of human female DNA. The multiplex assay provides assessment of the DNA extract and guidance for the selection of the appropriate AmpFℓSTR^® Amplification Kit to obtain interpretable short tandem repeat profiles.     

Operational oceanography in Indonesia

In 2005 Indonesian and European institutes joined to start the first step for the implementation of an Ocean Operational System in the Indonesian archipelago. The system will support the decision making process for the sustainable use of marine resources, providing useful information and added value products as well as a service for an improved management of the sea with high business impact to targeted groups as public authorities and commercial operators (coastal managers, fishermen, shipping companies). In this paper the System is shortly described with its potential benefits and economic and social impacts.

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Distributional impact assessments and the record of the Coalition Government: the tyranny of numbers without interpretation

This paper reflects upon the gross discrepancies between the reassurances given in 2010 by the 2010-2015 UK Coalition Government that their budget and welfare cuts would fall ‘fairly’ across the income spectrum, and the reality of what had happened by the end of that government. It asks how the ‘distributional impact assessment’ provided with the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review could have been so wrong. In seeking to answer this question, types of systematic bias are considered along with a discussion of ‘marginality’ in assessments of impact. Drawing upon the role of ‘power’ in impact assessment, it traces the ways in which methodological assumptions can eclipse the real life effects of policies behind ‘the average’ as well as by the unfair selection of the ‘unit-of-analysis’.     

An Econometric Analysis of the Role of Knowledge in Economic Performance

We conduct a regression analysis of the effects of knowledge on aggregate economic performance using data from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank for four groups of countries during 1995–2001. Our results indicate that knowledge is a key driver of economic growth for each group of countries. More importantly, we find that variation in economic performance among these groups may be related to the timing of investment in education, R&D, and information technology, as well as economic policies that affect trade and foreign direct investment.     

两岸农产品贸易动态比较优势实证分析

基于2001—2012数据和显示性对称比较优势指数(RSCA),运用散点图和非参数核密度估计统计方法,实证分析两岸农产品贸易比较优势的动态变化。结果显示:大陆农产品的比较优势在恶化,农产品出口贸易越来越集中在少数具有比较优势的产品上;台湾农产品基本上不具有比较优势,但是2007年以来比较优势有改善趋势;在双边贸易中,大陆对台湾出口农产品的比较优势总体上呈上升趋势,具有比较优势的产品在增加,而台湾对大陆农产品贸易则不具有比较优势,但是在统计期间出口专业化程度明显下降,比较优势趋于改善。