Search results

We discuss the two most popular frameworks for identification, estimation and inference in regression discontinuity (RD) designs: the continuity-based framework, where the conditional expectations of the potential outcomes are assumed to be continuous functions of the score at the cutoff, and the local randomization framework, where the treatment assignment is assumed to be as good as randomized in a neighborhood around the cutoff. Using various examples, we show that (i) assuming random assignment of the RD running variable in a neighborhood of the cutoff implies neither that the potential outcomes and the treatment are statistically independent, nor that the potential outcomes are unrelated to the running variable in this neighborhood; and (ii) assuming local independence between the potential outcomes and the treatment does not imply the exclusion restriction that the score affects the outcomes only through the treatment indicator. Our discussion highlights key distinctions between “locally randomized” RD designs and real experiments, including that statistical independence and random assignment are conceptually different in RD contexts, and that the RD treatment assignment rule places no restrictions on how the score and potential outcomes are related. Our findings imply that the methods for RD estimation, inference, and falsification used in practice will necessarily be different (both in formal properties and in interpretation) according to which of the two frameworks is invoked.

The past decade has seen an expansion of psychological treatments available to patients in the NHS. Research into the effectiveness of psychological treatments is also increasing, but this evidence is often not known or used by practitioners. This paper describes the development of a local clinical practice guideline from the research evidence to assist local GPs and psychological practitioners in selecting the most appropriate of three commonly available psychological treatments for adult patients — brief counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The steps of the guideline development process and difficulties encountered are outlined, and the local dissemination and implementation process described. A survey of GPs and practice counsellors conducted a month following distribution of the guideline found that most recipients reported it useful with many also reporting having used it already in clinical practice. The limitations as well as strengths of this local guideline development process are discussed.

The medical suppression of female sexuality in Victorian society has long been the subject of historical and cultural scholarship, with documentation not only of textual threats by religious and medical “experts,” but also of surgical assaults on female reproductive systems (Longo, 1979, 1986; Scull & Favreau, 1986; Sheehan, 1997). Less well known is the apparent obverse: the use of medical techniques to stimulate the female genitalia as a means of treating hysteria and other mental disorders (Maines, 1999; Schleiner, 1995). In this paper, I trace the cultural history (mainly Anglo-American) of the psychiatric enhancement, as well as repression, of female sexual pleasure, through various genital treatments, including the surgical and the electrical.¹ I then make the case that these “opposite” treatments are, in the context of Victorian society, two sides of the same coin of the patriarchal, medical control of female sexuality.²

This paper aims to give an insight into the process behind Payment by Results (PbR) by looking at the detail involved in the pilot areas for Recovery PbR for drug services. Questions asked include how PbR could work in practice, the national outcomes by which providers will be measured, the Co‐design process and a brief comparison to PbR in alcohol and mental health. An illustrative case study from one of the PbR pilots is included to provide further detail.

The paper was written by a member of the Co‐design group for the PbR pilots and used first‐hand anecdotal knowledge of the process and a former government civil servant with first‐hand experience of PbR in development. The minutes of previous co‐design and steering group meetings were referred to for further details and the NTA was consulted to ensure factual accuracy. The approach was to provide a factual breakdown of PbR and let readers come to their own conclusions about the topic. PbR is still in early stages and it would be inappropriate to pre‐judge the success at this stage.

A number of discussion points centered around the differences between the pilot areas, i.e. whether they were a prime provider or multiple provider model, whether they are including tier 4 (residential rehab), and if pilots are choosing to include an employment outcome. As mentioned before, it is too early to pre‐judge the success of PbR and the pilots – the paper aims to provide information for the reader, who may draw their own conclusions.

This is a substantial paper looking at PbR from the perspective of the pilot areas – a lot of the information is as up‐to‐date as possible in terms of where pilots are in their development. It is a valuable starting point for anyone who wants to understand PbR and its wider implications. It also provides practical information for commissioners and providers who are interested in what PbR will look like in practice.

This paper aims at examining the current condition of ancient manuscripts owned by locals in remote areas of Indonesia, which are mostly in poor condition. It is to describe the factors of these manuscript damages and the implications of the damage.

The study employed qualitative design with philological, codicological and anthropological approaches. The participants are manuscript owners and keepers in Western, Central and Eastern parts of Indonesia. Data were collected by direct observations and interviews with the participants.

This paper provides empirical insights on how manuscripts were damaged due to human and environmental factors. These factors have caused the loss of part or whole information in the manuscripts, hence causing disconnected knowledge linkage from past to present.

Due to the selected scope and area of study, this study may lack generalizability. Further studies can be conducted to examine the physical aspect and the content of the manuscripts.

This study suggests the urgency for stakeholders and local governments to preserve the manuscripts by taking specific measures that include preservation training to the locals and conducting a program for digitizing these manuscripts.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the damages suffered by the local manuscripts.

The costs of doing business abroad (CDBA) is a well-known concept in the international business literature, measuring the disadvantages or additional costs borne by multinational enterprises (MNEs) that are not borne by local firms in a host country. Recently, international management scholars have introduced a second concept, liability of foreignness (LOF). There is confusion in the two literatures as to the relationship between CBDA and LOF, as evidenced in a recent special issue on liability of foreignness (Journal of International Management, 2002). We argue that LOF stresses the social costs of doing business abroad, whereas CDBA includes both economic and social costs. The social costs arise from the unfamiliarity, relational, and discriminatory hazards that foreign firms face over and above those faced by local firms in the host country. Because the economic costs are well understood and can be anticipated, LOF becomes the core strategic issue for MNE managers. We argue that the key driver behind LOF is the institutional distance (cognitive, normative, and regulatory) between the home and host countries, and explore the ways in which institutional distance can affect LOF. We operationalize our arguments by showing how institutional distance and liability of foreignness can provide an alternative explanation for the MNE’s ownership strategy when going abroad.

We describe a new Bayesian estimation algorithm for fitting a binary treatment, ordered outcome selection model in a potential outcomes framework. We show how recent advances in simulation methods, namely data augmentation, the Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm can be used to fit this model efficiently, and also introduce a reparameterization to help accelerate the convergence of our posterior simulator. Conventional “treatment effects” such as the Average Treatment Effect (ATE), the effect of treatment on the treated (TT) and the Local Average Treatment Effect (LATE) are adapted for this specific model, and Bayesian strategies for calculating these treatment effects are introduced. Finally, we review how one can potentially learn (or at least bound) the non-identified cross-regime correlation parameter and use this learning to calculate (or bound) parameters of interest beyond mean treatment effects.

This chapter reviews recent developments in the density discontinuity approach. It is well known that agents having perfect control of the forcing variable will invalidate the popular regression discontinuity designs (RDDs). To detect the manipulation of the forcing variable, McCrary (2008) developed a test based on the discontinuity in the density around the threshold. Recent papers have noted that the sorting patterns around the threshold are often either the researcher’s object of interest or may relate to structural parameters such as tax elasticities through known functions. This, in turn, implies that the behavior of the distribution around the threshold is not only informative of the validity of a standard RDD; it can also be used to recover policy-relevant parameters and perform counterfactual exercises.

An intention-behavior gap often occurs for socially responsible consumption, where despite positive consumer attitudes, sales remain disappointing. This paper aims to test the ability of in-store priming to increase sales of local foods vis-à-vis imported, cheaper equivalents.

Laboratory and field experiments in three countries (Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia), working with an international grocery retailer, assess the ability of textual and pictorial-based point of sale (PoS) materials to increase the purchase of local foods. Field sales data, for the purchase of local apples and cherries and their imported equivalents, are complemented by an analysis of loyalty card transactions.

Field data indicate that both pictorial and textual PoS materials, significantly increase the likelihood of purchasing local foods, against cheaper imported equivalents. Pictorial PoS materials appear more effective than textual equivalents. Laboratory study data indicate that PoS materials increase the salience of goal consistent mechanisms in decision-making at the expense of mechanisms to achieve non-primed goals.

The field experiment lasted for only two weeks and focused on seasonal produce.

PoS materials offer a low cost intervention for modifying consumer behavior in stores.

The paper develops a theory regarding how priming works and its application in a supermarket setting. This is investigated and validated in the context of local foods. The study offers encouragement for the usefulness of other in-store primes, such as relating to diet, to improve socially desirable outcomes without economic incentives or coercion and in a cost-effective manner.

Vehicle lightweight design has positive implications for reducing energy consumption and abating greenhouse gas emissions. The traditional trailer axle design mainly focuses on the overall performance of the trailer axle. Only when the local performance does not meet the requirements will local performance optimization be done, such as local heat treatment to improve local strength. Such a design results in an uneven distribution of axle performance and excess performance in some local structures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the weight reduction on the premise of ensuring the structural dimensions of the outer surface of the axle remain unchanged and the reliability of the axle.

The axle is parameterized by computer aided design, and the optimized axle finite element model based on computer aided engineering is established and verified by taking the eight dimensions of the axle cavity structure which affect the performance as parameters. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize the axle cavity structure size and axle weight based on multiobjective optimization, and eight optimized size parameters of axle cavity structure are obtained.

The total weight of the optimized axle of TM1314 is reduced by 10.2 kg, and the weight reduction ratio reaches 10.7%. According to the optimized structural size of the axle, the specimen was trial-manufactured, and the bench tests of stiffness, strength and fatigue life were carried out according to the test requirements of the trailer axle standard (JT/T 475-2002). The test results show that the maximum deformation of the specimen is 2.46 mm, the strength safety factor of the specimen body and the steel plate spring seat are 6.71 and 6.86 and bear the alternating load more than 1.05 × 106 times, which meets the standard of the trailer axle and is better than the original design requirements of the trailer axle.

In this study, the multiobjective optimization model of the axle is established, the response surface is constructed by the Latin hypercube sampling design method and the optimal solution set is obtained by the multiobjective genetic algorithm. It has been verified by bench tests that it can achieve a weight reduction of 10.7% under the premise of the same structure and size of the outer surface of the axle. The lightweight method based on multiobjective optimization proposed in this paper can provide a reference for the lightweight design of other key vehicle components.