Strong Measures

Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology examines the full spectrum of rheumatologic diseases and non-rheumatologic musculoskeletal disorders in children and adolescents, detailing the presentation, differential diagnosis, course, management, and prognosis of every major condition. Drs. James T. Cassidy, Ross E. Petty, Ronald M. Laxer, and Carol B. Lindsley discuss recent developments in diagnosis, treatment, genetics, immunology, imaging, and more. Diagnose and treat effectively through exhaustive reviews of the complex symptoms and signs and lab abnormalities that characterize these clinical disorders. Choose treatment protocols based on the best scientific evidence available today. Apply the knowledge and experience of the leading experts in the field. Keep current with coverage of new topics including macrophage activation syndrome, pediatric sarcoidosis, uveitis, imaging, and occupational and physical therapy. Tap into detailed discussions of recent advances in the field, new research on the immunologic mechanisms of inflammatory disease, and new developments on biologic treatments for arthritis in ten new chapters. Master complex concepts and key techniques with a full-color design and full-color illustrations.

This paper presents a detailed account of the rich set of macroprudential measures taken in four Southeastern European countries—Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia—during their synchronized boom and bust cycles in 2003–12, and assesses their effectiveness. We find that only strong measures helped contain domestic credit growth, the share of foreigncurrency- denominated loans provided by the domestic banking sector, or the domestic banking sector’s reliance on foreign borrowing during the boom years. We also find that circumvention via direct external borrowing often fully offset the effectiveness of these strict measures, and thatmeasures taken during the bust had no discernible impact. We conclude that (i) proper calibration of macroprudential measures is of the essence; (ii) only strong, broad-based macroprudential measures can contain credit booms; (iii) econometric studies of macroprudential policy effectiveness should focus on measures rather than on instruments (i.e. classes of measures) and in so doing allow for possible non-linear and state-contingent effects.

The likelihood of observing Condorcet's Paradox is known to be very low for elections with a small number of candidates if voters’ preferences on candidates reflect any significant degree of a number of different measures of mutual coherence. This reinforces the intuitive notion that strange election outcomes should become less likely as voters’ preferences become more mutually coherent. Similar analysis is used here to indicate that this notion is valid for most, but not all, other voting paradoxes. This study also focuses on the Condorcet Criterion, which states that the pairwise majority rule winner should be chosen as the election winner, if one exists. Representations for the Condorcet Efficiency of the most common voting rules are obtained here as a function of various measures of the degree of mutual coherence of voters’ preferences. An analysis of the Condorcet Efficiency representations that are obtained yields strong support for using Borda Rule.

The ever changing nature of information makes the job of managing software development notoriously difficult. Dynamic Software Development: Managing Projects in Flux eases the burden by defining the principles, practices, skills, and techniques needed to manage a dynamic development environment. At a hands-on level, the text helps managers define t