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Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, we study estimation methodologies for parameters of a generalized inverted exponential distribution based on different estimation methods using progressively type I interval censored data. In this approach, besides conventional maximum likelihood estimation, mid-point method, probability plot method and method of moments are proposed for parameter estimation. To obtain maximum likelihood estimates, we use Newton-Raphson, expectation-maximization and stochastic expectation-maximization methods. Moreover, the approximate confidence intervals of the parameters are obtained via the inverse of the observed information matrix. In addition, percentile bootstrap technique is utilized to compute confidence intervals. Numerical comparisons are presented of the proposed estimators using Monte Carlo simulations. To demonstrate the proposed methodology in a real-life scenario, survival times of guinea pigs injected with different doses of tubercle bacilli data is considered to show the applicability of the proposed methods. Finally, different methods for determining the inspection times and optimal censoring planes are studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between urban agglomeration and firm innovation using a recently developed dataset that consistently measures city boundaries across Asia together with geo-referenced firm-level data. It finds that the spatial distribution of innovation by firms is highly concentrated within countries. Further, firms in larger cities have substantially higher propensities to introduce product and process innovations and to undertake R&D activities, a result that holds for subgroups of countries and even when the largest cities are excluded from the analysis. Finally, the presence of high-quality universities and highly ranked engineering departments in cities is positively associated with firm innovation, lending support to the idea that the accumulation of human capital locally is a key channel through which urban agglomeration affects innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is ongoing clinical and research interest in determining whether providing personalised risk information could motivate risk-reducing health behaviours. We aimed to assess the impact on behaviours and risk factors of feeding back to individuals' images of their bodies generated via medical imaging technologies in assessing their current disease status or risk.Methods and Findings: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted using Cochrane methods. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched up to July 28, 2021, with backward and forward citation searches up to July 29, 2021. Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials including adults who underwent medical imaging procedures assessing current health status or risk of disease, for which personal risk may be reduced by modifying behaviour. Trials included an intervention group that received the imaging procedure plus feedback of visualised results and assessed subsequent risk-reducing health behaviour. We examined 12,620 abstracts and included 21 studies, involving 9,248 randomised participants. Studies reported on 10 risk-reducing behaviours, with most data for smoking (8 studies; n = 4,308), medication use (6 studies; n = 4,539), and physical activity (4 studies; n = 1,877). Meta-analysis revealed beneficial effects of feedback of visualised medical imaging results on reduced smoking (risk ratio 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01 to 1.23, p = 0.04), healthier diet (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0.30, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.50, p = 0.003), increased physical activity (SMD 0.11, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.21, p = 0.04), and increased oral hygiene behaviours (SMD 0.35, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.57, p = 0.002). In addition, single studies reported increased skin self-examination and increased foot care. For other behavioural outcomes (medication use, sun protection, tanning booth use, and blood glucose testing) estimates favoured the intervention but were not statistically significant. Regarding secondary risk factor outcomes, there was clear evidence for reduced systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and improved oral health, and some indication of reduced Framingham risk score. There was no evidence of any adverse effects, including anxiety, depression, or stress, although these were rarely assessed. A key limitation is that there were some concerns about risk of bias for all studies, with evidence for most outcomes being of low certainty. In particular, valid and precise measures of behaviour were rarely used, and there were few instances of preregistered protocols and analysis plans, increasing the likelihood of selective outcome reporting.Conclusions: In this study, we observed that feedback of medical images to individuals has the potential to motivate risk-reducing behaviours and reduce risk factors. Should this promise be corroborated through further adequately powered trials that better mitigate against risk of bias, such interventions could usefully capitalise upon the widespread and growing use of medical imaging technologies in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand labor market regulations and their consequences for the allocation of resources. Design/methodology/approach: This paper constructs a theoretical model to study labor market regulations in developing countries and how it affects the allocation of resources between the less productive informal activities and more productive formal activities. It also provides empirical support for some theoretical results using cross-country data. Findings: When workers are risk-averse and the market for insurance against labor income risk is missing, regulations that provide insurance to workers (such as severance payments) reduce misallocation. However, regulations that simply create barriers to the dismissal of workers increase misallocation and end up reducing the welfare of workers. This study also provides some empirical evidence broadly consistent with the theoretical results using cross-country data. While dismissal regulations increase the share of informal employment, severance payments to workers do not. Research limitations/implications: The empirical exercise is constrained by the lack of availability of good data on the informal sector. Originality/value: The analysis of the alternative labor market regulations analyzed in this paper in the presence of risk-averse workers is an original contribution to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jo-1(histidyl-), anti-Mi-2, anti-Ro52, anti-PM/Scl-100 and -75, anti-Ku, anti-SRP, anti- anti-PL-7 (threonyl-), anti-PL-12 (alanyl-), anti-EJ(glycol-) and anti OJ (isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase) are associated with myositis and are also found in systemic rheumatoid arthritis. We studied serum of 120 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (65 females & 55 males) had definite or probable myositis according to physicians, the clinical status of patients was determined from their medical records and 20 adults' healthy controls. Sera were screened for 11 autoantibodies by using IgG immunoblot kit were used (EUROLINE Myositis Profile 3, Euroimmun AG, Germany). The analysis revealed that Jo-1 were more frequencies were present in 63 patients with RA followed by Mi2 were present in 41 patients. Ro-52, SRP, PM-Scl10, PM-Scl75, PL-12, PL-7, EJ and OJ were present in 26, 21, 18, 19, 17, 16, 14, 1 patients, respectively. Moreover, we did not observe patients with positivity toOJ in males with RA.The immunoblot results showed the highest intensity of anti-Jo-1, anti-Mi-2, anti-SRP, anti-PL-12, anti-OJ in females more than males with rheumatoid arthritis diseases, while the anti-EJ, anti-PM/Scl-100 and anti-Ku showed lowest intensity was 17/+, 18/+, and 22/+ respectivelyin females. The level of these autoantibodies associated with myositis were detected in 120 patients with RA. The present results indicate that it is clinically useful to determine the serum levels of myositis-associated autoantibodies in patients with RA even when their underlying diseases are not myositis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the move into upstream and downstream global value chain (GVC) activities by 11 Asian countries. We use international input–output tables in combination with employment data and measure the number of workers in each country involved in manufactures GVC. Jobs are classified by business function based on occupational information, such as R&D, fabrication, logistics, sales and marketing. In most Asian countries, we find a faster employment increase in R&D and other support services relative to fabrication activities between 2000 and 2011. However, the participation in GVC and the pace of upgrading appears to differ substantially across Asian countries. We use a structural decomposition method to explore the role of trade, consumption and technological change in accounting for changes in countries' involvement in GVC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a comprehensive new data source to document basic facts about geographic concentration among industries in India from 1998 to 2013. Unlike previous studies, our data allow us to accurately measure industrial concentration at the district level and cover manufacturing and services, as well as the formal and informal sectors. Our most striking finding is that average levels of industrial concentration fell dramatically between 1998 and 2013, driven by steep reductions in capital‐intensive manufacturing industries. We provide suggestive evidence that this increasing dispersion may be due to improvements in interregional transportation coupled with inefficient land management policies and limited labor mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the channels through which the middle class may matter for consumption growth. Using several different middle-class measures and a panel of 105 developing countries spanning the period 1985-2013, we find that a larger middle class influences consumption growth primarily through higher levels of human capital accumulation. There is also a significant direct effect of middle-class size on consumption growth, which is more pronounced in the latter half of the sample, the 2000-2013 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While India is among the world's largest producers and exporters of apparel products, the sector has not performed to its potential. This study analyzes why this might be so from the perspective of the structure of production in the sector, the most striking aspect of which is a firm size distribution heavily dominated by small firms. Using nationally representative firm-level and labor force survey data, we argue that the dominance of firms operating at scales too small to apply modern production and management technologies is one proximate reason for India's relative underperformance. Further, we note that India's labor regulations and the associated enforcement regime are important policy drivers of Indian firms' tendency to avoid placing 'too many workers under one roof'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to focus on the role of labor regulation and credit market imperfections, in addition to that of factor endowments, in determining capital intensities in Indian manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers an alternative approach to identifying the effects of India's labor regulations on industrial performance. In particular, the paper uses a measure of the stringency of labor regulations across countries – one that is completely independent of the India-specific measures used by earlier studies – and examines its relationship with capital intensities across manufacturing industries. Additionally, since labor regulations are unlikely to be the only reason for imperfections in factor markets, the paper also examines whether and to what extent capital market imperfections affect capital intensities across manufacturing industries. The paper then presents a case study that seeks to ascertain whether actual capital intensities prevailing in Indian manufacturing in major industry groups from 1989 to 1996 were larger than predicted capital intensities for these industry groups based on relative factor demand functions estimated for the USA (a country with relatively less restrictive labor laws and a more developed financial system) evaluated at Indian wages. Finally, the paper uses a recently available dataset to compare capital intensities in Indian and Chinese manufacturing to investigate the behavior of these two emerging Asian economies since 1980, when they started out with relatively similar socio-economic conditions. Findings – The paper finds that India uses more capital-intensive techniques of production in manufacturing than countries at similar levels of development (and similar factor endowments), including China. For a majority of manufacturing industries, labor freedom and capital market development are, in addition to factor endowments, important determinants of capital intensity of production techniques used. Results reveal that, controlling for factor prices, India specializes in more capital-intensive varieties within broad industry groups relative to the USA, a more capital-abundant economy. Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, such a study has not been done for any other country. The paper sheds light on the important issue regarding the use of capital-intensive techniques in manufacturing in India, which is a labor-abundant country. The role of labor regulation has been extensively debated and the paper also investigates its role along with the role played by credit market imperfections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the differences in the measures of: (i) profits of an enterprise obtained from a detailed set of questions on incomes and expenses of the enterprise, versus profits obtained through a single direct question; and (ii) gross value added (GVA) obtained using the production approach as the difference between output and intermediate consumption from a detailed set of questions on incomes and expenses, versus GVA using the income approach by asking a few questions on factor incomes, and a single direct question on profits. We use data from the 56th round survey of unorganized manufacturing conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization of India during the period July 2000-June 2001. We also examine if the differences vary with the characteristics of the enterprises, and suggest further empirical research to develop suitable tools for providing accurate measurements of informal sector enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that the endogeneity bias that allegedly appears when estimating production functions using value data, and which the literature has tried to deal with since the 1940s, is simply the result of omitted-variable bias due to a poor approximation to an accounting identity. This problem has no econometric solution. As a result, recent attempts to solve the problem by developing new estimators are questioned. The only possible way to estimate the technological parameters of the production function is to use physical quantities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using industry-level data disaggregated by states, this paper finds a positive impact of trade liberalization on (the absolute values of) labor demand elasticities in the Indian manufacturing sector. The magnitudes of these elasticities turn out to be negatively related to protection levels that vary across industries and over time. Furthermore, we find that these elasticities are not only larger in size for Indian states with more flexible labor regulations, they are also impacted there to a larger degree by trade reforms. Finally, we find that the reforms have led to a reduction in the share of labor in total output and value added, possibly due to the reduction in the bargaining power of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kyklos is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors use firm-level data from Indian manufacturing industries to explore the determinants of exports, focusing on the role played by technology. The empirical analysis, which distinguishes between a firm's decision to export and the volume of its exports conditional on its having decided to export, reveals that investments in technology via R&D and technology transfer agreements can facilitate the entry of Indian firms into export markets. However, their influence on the volume of exports is fairly limited. Factors with a more broad-based influence on both export participation and volumes include labor intensity and, especially, firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Back ground: Regular exercise training program has been shown to reduce mortality, improve functional capacity and control risk factors in myocardial infarcted patients. Wall motion score index (WMSI) is a strong independent mortality predicator in patient with previous MI AIM: The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of exercise training on regional left ventricular systolic function, in patients post anterior myocardial infarction. using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging Methods: We recruited twenty-six adult patients on optimal medical therapy one month after an anterior myocardial infarction underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were assigned to a three-month exercise training program group or to a control group, (control group: n=10, training group: n=16). Symptom limited treadmill exercise (Modified Bruce Protocol) test was done to exercise training group before and repeated after finishing the CR program. Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) was performed for all patients 4 weeks after PCI and was repeated after completion of the study period that was lasted for 12 weeks. Results: A total number of patients, included 26 (100%) males, assigned to control group n:10 without an exercise mean age 50± 8 years, weigh 84 ±17 kg, height 175±7.7cm and EF was 36.62±14.23 and to training group n:16 with 3-months exercise training program, the mean age, weight, height and EF were 50.19±8.68 years, 82.69±16 kg, 172.81±7.74 cm, 36.62±14.32% respectively While there was significant improvement in EF (P<0.0008), WMSI (P<0.00003) without significant change in LVESV and LVEDV in exercise training group, there was no significant change in EF, WMSI, LVESV and LVEDV in control group. Conclusion: CMR revealed that exercise training in post-myocardial infarction patients could have beneficial effects on LV global and regional function without adversely affecting LV remodeling or causing serious cardiac complications with significant improvement in exercise capacity after 3 months of exercise training program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of country-level panel data on per capita gross domestic product and measures of health and education in comparing East Asia's progress to increase incomes with its progress to improve health and education results. It is suggested that East Asia shows to be the only region showing evidence of convergence among developing countries.