Biggest Negative Impact Research Articles

Does the Use of Worker Flows Improve the Analysis of Establishment Turnover? Evidence from German Administrative Data

Economists have long been interested in analyzing entries and exits of establishments. In many countries administrative datasets provide an excellent source for detailed analysis on a fine and disaggregate level. However, administrative datasets are not without problems: restructuring and relabeling of firms is often poorly measured and can potentially create large biases. Information on worker flows between establishments can potentially alleviate these measurement issues, but it is typically hard to judge how well correction algorithms based on this methodology work. This paper evaluates the use of the worker flow methodology using a dataset from Germany, the Establishment History Panel (BHP), merged to information on all worker flows between establishment IDs and survey data. We first document the extent of misclassification that stems from relying solely on the first and last appearance of the establishment identifier (EID) to identify openings and closings. We show that the misclassification bias of using only the EID is very severe: Only about 35 to 40 percent of new and disappearing EIDs with more than 3 employees are likely to correspond to real establishment entries and exits. Among larger establishments misclassification is even more common. We provide 3 pieces of evidence that using a classification system based on worker flows is superior to using EIDs only: First, establishment birth years generated using the worker flow methodology is much higher correlated with establishment birth years from an independent survey. Second, establishment entries and exits which are identified using the worker flow methodology move closely with the business cycle, while events which are identified as simple ID changes are not. Third, establishment exits have a big negative impact on workers' earnings trajectories which is not present for ID changes.

Impact of HIV and AIDS on food security in Rufiji District, Tanzania

Relatively high prevalence of HIV and AIDS and food insecurity in Rufiji District whilst the linkage between the two problems was not known was the basis of this study. Data were collected amongst 225 households between November 2005 and October 2006 through participatory rural appraisal (PRA), household income and expenditure survey (HIES) and structured interviews. Binary logistic regression was used for analysis in which case the dependent variable was food security in terms of food insecure (0) and food secure (1) based on kilocalories consumed per adult equivalent per day. The independent variables included having been affected by HIV and AIDS in terms of not affected (0) and affected (1). The results reveal that the odds for households affected by HIV and AIDS to be food secure were 0.705 times as high as the odds for households not affected by HIV and AIDS to be food secure. This means that households affected by HIV and AIDS were less likely to be food secure as opposed to those not affected by HIV and AIDS. The B statistic for having been affected by HIV and AIDS was negative (B = -0.350) meaning that being affected by HIV and AIDS had negative impact on food security. However, the Wald statistic which shows the magnitude of impact was small (0.251) and not significant (p = 0.617). This shows that HIV and AIDS had little impact on food security. Based on these findings, it is concluded that although being affected by HIV and AIDS has negative impact on food security, it does not automatically make households food insecure, especially in a short run, and that some non-HIV and AIDS factors like high dependency ratio and low ability to buy food have bigger negative impact than that of HIV and AIDS on food security. On the basis of the conclusion, it is recommended that efforts to improve food security amongst households affected by HIV and AIDS should consider both HIV and AIDS and non-HIV and AIDS factors.

From the financial crisis to the real economy: Using firm-level data to identify transmission channels

Using accounting data for 7722 non-financial firms in 42 countries, we examine how the 2007–2009 crisis affected firm performance and how various linkages propagated shocks across borders. We isolate and compare effects from changes in business cycle, international trade, and external financing conditions, on firms' profits, sales and investment using both sectoral benchmarks and firm-specific sensitivities estimated prior to the crisis. We find that the crisis had a bigger negative impact on firms with greater sensitivity to business cycle and trade developments, particularly in countries more open to trade. Interestingly, financial openness made limited difference.

Effets iatrogènes des traitements radiothérapiques (irradiation externe et/ou curiéthérapie) et chimiothérapiques sur la fertilité

The impact of chemotherapy on a woman's fertility depends on her age and the types and doses of the drugs used. Alkylating agents have the biggest negative impact on ovarian function. A trial is currently examining the use of a GnRH agonist to protect ovarian function. The impact of external radiation therapy and brachytherapy on the ovaries depends on three factors: the patient's age, the dose delivered to the ovaries, and concurrent use of chemotherapy. Ovarian transposition is a simple surgical procedure that can be used in selected cases to reduce the risk of early menopause. Both external and internal radiation has an impact on the uterus, notably by altering its vascularization and by reducing its growth when treatment is delivered during childhood.

Still living in a war zone: Perceived health and wellbeing of partners of Vietnam veterans attending partners' support groups in New South Wales, Australia

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans is well documented, less so the long-term impact on the health of their partners and families. The perceived health and wellbeing of women partners of Australian Vietnam veterans who were members of partners of veterans support groups is reported. This qualitative study used data from 76 participants in 10 focus groups in metropolitan, regional, and rural and remote areas of New South Wales (NSW). The data were tape-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using constant comparison methods. The impact of living with a partner with war-related PTSD appears to be significant and ongoing with women drawing parallels to living in a war zone. The biggest negative impact was on their mental health. They felt burdened as carers and struggled to find explanations for their husbands' problems. Support groups were very helpful. There are implications for partners of veterans who have returned from active military duty and from peacekeeping in current conflicts.

Mastering seeds for genomic size nucleotide BLAST searches.

One of the most common activities in bioinformatics is the search for similar sequences. These searches are usually carried out with the help of programs from the NCBI BLAST family. As the majority of searches are routinely performed with default parameters, a question that should be addressed is how reliable the results obtained using the default parameter values are, i.e. what fraction of potential matches have been retrieved by these searches. Our primary focus is on the initial hit parameter, also known as the seed or word, used by the NCBI BLASTn, MegaBLAST and other similar programs in searches for similar nucleotide sequences. We show that the use of default values for the initial hit parameter can have a big negative impact on the proportion of potentially similar sequences that are retrieved. We also show how the hit probability of different seeds varies with the minimum length and similarity of sequences desired to be retrieved and describe methods that help in determining appropriate seeds. The experimental results described in this paper illustrate situations in which these methods are most applicable and also show the relationship between the various BLAST parameters.

Longitudinal study of pulmonary function development in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Development of pulmonary function.

The growth of pulmonary function between 5.5 and 25 yr of age was determined using 1,511 observations over time on 353 subjects from a representative population sample of white non-Mexican-Americans in Tucson. There was an average of 8.8 yr of follow-up, with a maximum of 12. The method used was shown to be robust for span of follow-up from 3 to 12 yr (3 to 7 observations), and the results were verified by standard statistical methods. The standard error of the estimate decreased linearly with follow-up, indicating the need for longitudinal evaluation. Respiratory symptoms and diagnoses had the biggest negative impact on growth of lung function, using FVC, FEV1, Vmax50, and size-compensated flows (Vmax50/FVC). Smoking had the next biggest negative impact. Smoking cessation was shown to have a positive impact on growth of pulmonary function. Using a second linear model to adjust for individual variability and the random variability over surveys, individual growth showed similar trends. Further negative impacts were due to parental smoking, especially as it interacts with active smoking and respiratory disease. Flows at end of follow-up (Vmax50, Vmax50/FVC) were more sensitive than FEV1 to the effects of concurrent disease and smoking, and more persistent effects of these factors in early adulthood.

Physiological changes in pulmonary development related to passive smoking and its interaction with active smoking

The growth of pulmonary function between ages 5.5 and 25 years was determined in 1502 observations on 362 subjects from a representative population study of non-Mexican American whites in Tucson. There was an average of 8.8 years of follow-up, with a maximum of 12. The model developed was robust for follow-up of 3–7 observations (3 + years). Respiratory illnesses and smoking had the biggest negative impact on growth of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1), max 50%, max 50%/forced vital capacity (FVC) parental smoking and airway obstructive disease (AOD) were important also. Flow measures showed present and more persistent effects of disease and smoking than did FEV 1