This paper analyzes post–1991 sectoral US and German productivity growth and finds supporting evidence that productivity growth accelerations were largely spurred by interaction of ICT investment and high-skill intensity. While the US experienced dramatic increases in productivity growth in High-Skill-Intensive goods-producing and services sectors, German counterparts substantially lagged behin...

The research aim was to predict the bus operators' blood pressure (BP) and psychological strain using a combination of the Job-Demand Control (JDC) and Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) models. The study was conducted with a sample of 139 bus operators in the city of Bogotá (Colombia), who answered a questionnaire that included the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), the ERI Questionnaire, and the Gen...

BACKGROUND Considering the need for a better understanding of smoking among the student population and its impact on their mental health and their success, this study was conducted in Kerman Medical Sciences University. METHODS This cross-sectional study on 772 students, chosen by random sampling, was conducted in 2007. Subjects were assessed with 28-question questionnaires that included demo...

The objective of this study was to investigate the self-reported well-being of employees facing organizational change, and the effect of an intervention. It was a controlled intervention study. Subjects were allocated to study and control groups, and brief individual counselling was offered to the subjects in the study groups. Questionnaire measures were administered before and after counsellin...

BACKGROUND Iran (I.R.) is suffering the growing problem of opiate abuse. In evaluation of the treatment plan for opium dependent patients, a valid and reliable instrument is needed to measure patients' severity of dependence. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the "Substance Dependence Severity Scale" (SDSS). METHODS After translating the English...

Materials and Methods: The universe of the study consisted of a total of 8407 students enrolled as firstor third-year students of a university. The study sample was determined by using the “sampling size where the population in universe is known” formula. The study questionnaire was designed to include questions regarding some sociodemographic characteristics and the General Health Questionnair...

BACKGROUND UK-trained medical students and doctors from minority ethnic groups underperform academically. It is unclear why this problem exists, which makes it difficult to know how to address it. AIM To investigate whether demographic and psychological factors mediate the relationship between ethnicity and final examination scores. SAMPLE Two consecutive cohorts of Year 5 (final year) UCL ...

BACKGROUND Multiple imputation (MI) was developed as a method to enable valid inferences to be obtained in the presence of missing data rather than to re-create the missing values. Within the applied setting, it remains unclear how important it is that imputed values should be plausible for individual observations. One variable type for which MI may lead to implausible values is a limited-range...

BACKGROUND Exposure to severe stress in early pregnancy is associated with a lower male to female ratio (sex ratio), but whether more moderate levels of psychological discomfort have the same kind of effect is unknown. In a population based follow-up study, we aimed to test whether psychological distress was associated with the sex ratio in the offspring. METHODS From 1989 to 1992, a cohort o...

OBJECTIVE To describe the training undertaken by pharmacists employed in a pharmacist-led information technology-based intervention study to reduce medication errors in primary care (PINCER Trial), evaluate pharmacists' assessment of the training, and the time implications of undertaking the training. METHODS Six pharmacists received training, which included training on root cause analysis an...