An exploration of potential output measures to assess efficiency and productivity for labour and birth in Australia

Background In maternity services, as in other areas of healthcare, increasing emphasis is placed on improving “efficiency” or “productivity”. The first step in any efficiency and productivity analysis is the selection of relevant input and output measures. Within healthcare quantifying what is produced (outputs) can be difficult. The aim of this paper is to identify a potential output measure, that can be used in an assessment of the efficiency and productivity of labour and birth in-hospital care in Australia and to assess the extent to which it reflects the principles of woman-centred care. Methods This paper will survey available perinatal and maternal datasets in Australia to identify potential output measures; map identified output variables against the principles of woman-centred care outlined in Australia’s national maternity strategy; and based on this, create a preliminary composite outcome measure for use in assessing the efficiency and productivity of Australian maternity services. Results There are significant gaps in Australia’s maternity data collections with regard to measuring how well a maternity service is performing against the values of respect, choice and access; however safety is well measured. Our proposed composite measure identified that of the 63,215 births in Queensland in 2014, 67% met the criteria of quality outlined in our composite measure. Conclusions Adoption in Australia of the collection of woman-reported maternity outcomes would substantially strengthen Australia’s national maternity data collections and provide a more holistic view of pregnancy and childbirth in Australia beyond traditional measure of maternal and neonate morbidity and mortality. Such measures to capture respect, choice and access could complement existing safety measures to inform the assessment of productivity and efficiency in maternity care.

Estimates Of Russia’s Potential Output

Taking into consideration the specifics of the Russian economy such as dependency on oil and gas drilling & production, and including the current context of the Western sanctions, COVID-19 pandemic, as well as somewhat idiosyncratic potential output development, the main aim of this paper is to quantify recent output gap for Russia. We use three mainstream methodologies: the Hodrick-Prescott filter as a benchmark, the Kalman filter to follow, and the Cobb-Douglas production function. The sample time span ranges from 1995Q1 until 2020Q3, while all calculations are performed on quarterly frequencies. The analysis suggests that given low fixed investment ratios, limited R&D spending in non-military sectors, and adverse demographic development, under a “no policy change” scenario there might soon be even more downward pressures on the country’s potential output growth, and the economy may continue increasing only at a snail’s pace even after a possible withdrawal of the Western sanctions and the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Active dendrites enable strong but sparse inputs to determine orientation selectivity

The dendrites of neocortical pyramidal neurons are excitable. However, it is unknown how synaptic inputs engage nonlinear dendritic mechanisms during sensory processing in vivo, and how they in turn influence action potential output. Here, we provide a quantitative account of the relationship between synaptic inputs, nonlinear dendritic events, and action potential output. We developed a detailed pyramidal neuron model constrained by in vivo dendritic recordings. We drive this model with realistic input patterns constrained by sensory responses measured in vivo and connectivity measured in vitro. We show mechanistically that under realistic conditions, dendritic Na+ and NMDA spikes are the major determinants of neuronal output in vivo. We demonstrate that these dendritic spikes can be triggered by a surprisingly small number of strong synaptic inputs, in some cases even by single synapses. We predict that dendritic excitability allows the 1% strongest synaptic inputs of a neuron to control the tuning of its output. Active dendrites therefore allow smaller subcircuits consisting of only a few strongly connected neurons to achieve selectivity for specific sensory features.

Reproduction performance, morphometric and structure population of Kuntu buffalo (Bubalis bubalis Merr) in Kampar District, Riau, Indonesia

Yendraliza, Rodiallah M, Zumarni, Elfawati, Hidayati, Kusnadi. 2021. Reproduction performance, morphometric and structure population of Kuntu buffalo (Bubalis bubalis Merr) in Kampar District, Riau, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 3370-3377. Kuntu buffalo is one of the germplasm of Riau Province. This study aimed was to determine reproduction performance, potential output, population dynamics, and morphometrics of Kuntu buffalo in Kampar Kiri, Indonesia. The research was conducted in July-October 2019 with materials used in the study were 2.746 buffalo and 1.117 buffalo breeders. The research method used was a survey. The respondents from five locations were determined using a purposive sampling technique. The age at first mating of buffalo 42 ± 0.7 months, the S/C 2.6 ± 1.5 times, calving interval 15.3 ± 2.3 months and calving rate 55.59%. The reproductive efficiency of Kuntu buffalo 96.22%, a natural increase of 55.59%, the net replacements rates (male and female) were 289.60% and 446.59%, respectively and potential output of 39.24% was obtained. The population dynamics of the Kuntu buffalo from 2014 to 2019 experienced a growth of 48% with prediction of the population in 2023 is 7.277 heads. The average body size of male and female Kuntu buffalo is small. The conclusion of Kuntu buffalo reproduction is still efficient with the availability of substitute livestock exceeding the need of livestock and the natural increase of Kuntu buffalo population is very high.

Public Deficits in USMCA Economies During the COVID-19 Economic Crisis

This paper aims to evaluate the fiscal policy implemented by the USMCA economies to deal with the COVID-19 economic crisis. We estimate the economic capacity (potential output) and the Cyclical Primary Balance as a percentage of GDP (CPB) of each of the scrutinized economies. Then we obtain the Cyclical Adjusted Primary Balance as a percentage of GDP (CAPB) as the difference between the Primary Balance (PB) and the CPB. Unlike previous CPB estimations, we obtain the potential output reference as the Economic Capacity methodology (Shaikh and Moudud, 2004), which overcome some alternative methodologies problems. According to our empirical analysis, an asymmetric fiscal policy stands across USMCA economies. Canada and the United States are using a countercyclical fiscal policy, while Mexico uses a procyclical one. Mexico should abandon its current fiscal policy, implement an alternative to support households and firms during crisis periods, and execute a progressive fiscal reform. Our paper's limitation is that we use PB and not its components to estimate the CPB; however, we use a more extended time series, contributing to obtaining more robust results.