Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / Disruptive Behaviour Disorders are often associated with high rates of school drop outs, academic skills deficits and low achievement, drug abuse, low self esteem, depression, delinquency and incarceration. The main aim of the study was to establish whether children with DBDs are cognitively and/or neurologically impaired. The study investigated (1) whether children with DBDs show deficiencies in cognitive and motor functions and (2) whether gender and subtype influence cognitive and motor functions. Method: The sample of 137 children with DBDs (ADHD, ODD and CD) and those without a diagnosis of DBDs was drawn from children aged between 8 and 15 years. They were assessed using instruments that were selected to be measures of Executive Functions, cognitive functioning, and motor functions. The scores obtained from the administration of these measures were compared for significant differences between the DBD subtypes and a non-DBD control group as a possible function of gender. Results: The findings indicate that children with symptoms of DBDs performed poorer than the control group on all tests with the exception of the Digits backward. EF and motor impairments are associated with ADHD-C and ADHD-PI, and not with ADHD-HI, ODD and CD. Although among the DBDs, neuropsychological and cognitive impairments have been found to be severe in children with ADHD-PI and ADHD-C, the ADHD-C subtype showed qualitatively larger differences with the normal control group on most measures. There were no differences found between the genders in the performance on all tests that were administered. Conclusion Children of the ADHD-C and ADHD-PI subtypes are significantly more impaired on measures of Executive, cognitive and motor functions than those with ADHD-HI, ODD and CD and those without externalising disorders. However, the ADHD-C subtype found to be more severely impaired when compared with the ADHD-PI subtype.

[pt] Esse artigo investiga se a fragilidade fiscal influencia a magnitude dos multiplicadores fiscais. Nós definimos estados de fragilidade fiscal baseados na literatura de determinantes político-institucionais de déficits fiscais. Utilizando dados trimestrais para 44 países, encontramos evidências de que os multiplicadores fiscais de economias em situação fiscal frágil são menores do que os multiplicadores dos países com maior fluxo esperado de geração de superávits. / [en] This paper investigates if fiscal fragility influences the magnitude of fiscal multipliers. We define states of fiscal fragility based on the literature on politico-institutional determinants of fiscal deficits. Using quarterly data for 44 countries, we find that fiscal multipliers in fiscally fragile economies are smaller than in economies expected to have greater surpluses.

La maladie de Parkinson (MP) est une maladie neurodégénérative caractérisée par une perte dopaminergique (DA) de la voie nigro-striée. Cette dégénérescence des neurones DA, induit un déséquilibre entre les transmissions dopaminergique, GABAergique et glutamatergique au sein des ganglions de la base qui se traduit par des troubles de l'excitabilité neuronale aboutissant à l'apparition des symptômes moteurs et non-moteurs. Nous avons étudié l'effet de la modulation des canaux SK et Kv4 par des toxines issues de venins d'animaux. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé deux modèles lésionnels à la 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA): une lésion bilatérale partielle du striatum mimant la phase précoce de la MP pour tester les déficits cognitifs et émotionnels, et une lésion unilatérale totale au niveau de la substance noire mimant la rigidité et la bradykinésie en phase tardive pour tester les déficits moteurs. Nos résultats montrent que le blocage des canaux SK par l'apamine (injection systémique, 0.1-0.3 mg/kg) améliore partiellement et transitoirement les déficits moteurs dans le test du cylindre et la rotation induite par l'apomorphine dans le modèle tardif de la MP. L'AmmTX3 (injection intrastriatale, 0.2-0.4 g), réduit les déficits moteurs et restaure des comportements cognitifs déficitaires (mémoire sociale et spatiale à court terme) et émotionnels (anxiété), après une dégénérescence DA bilatérale et partielle. L'ensemble de ces données suggère que l'inhibition pharmacologique de l'activité des canaux SK par l'apamine et Kv4 par l'AmmTX3, pourrait représenter une voie thérapeutique innovatrice quant au traitement des déficits moteurs, cognitifs et émotionnels de la MP. / Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated to a loss of dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway that innervates the basal ganglia (GB). The DA neuron degeneration in PD induces imbalance between dopaminergic transmission, GABAergic and glutamatergic resulting in impaired neuronal excitability leading to the onset of motor and non-motor symptoms. Potassium channels, Kv4 and SK, are extensively involved in the phenomenon of neuronal excitability. We addressed the question of whether further blockade of SK or Kv4 activity could restore normal GB function in vivo. In this aim, we used a neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) to produce two lesional models of Parkinson's disease in rats that mimics the cognitive and emotional deficits of the early phase of PD (partial and bilateral striatal lesions) and the motor deficits observed in the late phase of the disease (total unilateral nigral lesion). Apamin from bee venom (systemic injection, 0.1-0.3 mg/kg) and AmmTX3 from scorpion venom (intrastriatal injection, 0.2-0.4 g) were chosen to block SK and Kv4 channels respectively.In a first study, apamin treatment partially reduced motor deficits in the cylinder test and the rotation induced by apomorphine. In the second study, the AmmTX3 also decreased parkinsonian motor deficits. This late toxin restored cognitive behaviors (short-term social and spatial memory) and emotion (anxiety).Taken together, these results underlie the importance of SK channels as modulators of neuronal excitability of Kv4 channels as players of the homeostatic responses, and more importantly, provide potential targets for adjunctive therapies for Parkinson's disease.

The theme of this dissertation is Ricardian equivalence, and its objective is to examine the effects of government debt on private consumption expenditures (Essay One), on interest rates (Essay Two), on the current account balance (Essay Three), and on individual intertemporal decision-making (Essay Four). The effects of government debt are important if debt is neutral (e.g., if “Ricardian equivalence” holds), then a stabilization program that is based on demand management policy to curtail fiscal deficits will not be operative. On the other hand, if debt is not neutral (or if Ricardian equivalence does not hold), then deficit finance may induce private consumption, boost interest rates, crowd out investment, and retard economic growth. Essay One contributes to the existing literature by taking into account the nature of liquidity constraints in a developing economy in an aggregate consumption function. Previous empirical tests on Ricardian equivalence have not considered the role of a dominant resource aspect of a country. Essay Two and Essay Three incorporate a dominant resource aspect in Indonesia by estimating the oil-macroeconomic relationship. Furthermore, Essay Three takes into account the role of capital inflows by including debt securities. Essay Four uses experimental economics methods to examine the role of distortionary taxes on Ricardian equivalence. There have been only a few studies that use an experimental approach to examine the effect of deficit spending on consumption expenditures, but these existing experimental studies ignore the role of distortionary taxes in affecting subjects’ consumption-saving decisions and focus on the presence of liquidity constraints, myopia, and uncertainty on future income. Essay Four contributes to the Ricardian equivalence literature by taking into account distortionary taxes in a Ricardian institution by levying taxes on savings in an intertemporal individual consumption-savings decision in laboratory experiments. By utilizing the aggregate consumption function and the Euler equation consumption function, Essay One shows that Indonesian consumers tend to behave in a non-Ricardian way. Public debt most likely will lead to crowding out of investment, and will retard capital accumulation and economic growth. The extent to which individuals perceive government expenditures as complements for their consumption is substantial. An increase in government expenditures will increase the marginal utility of private consumption and has an expansionary effect on aggregate demand. The complementarity between private consumption and government expenditures may be partly due to the allocation of government subsidies to basic goods and services such as electricity, fuel, fertilizer, health centers, and education. Liquidity constraints may cause consumption to have an excess sensitivity to income. The short-run and long-run aggregate consumption function estimates show that income affects consumption, indicating that consumers follow a “rule of thumb” of consuming their current income. A high ratio of public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in Indonesia may also be the culprit of the excess sensitivity of private consumption to income. Due to low salaries in the formal sector, employees have been engaged in moonlighting activities, mostly in the form of self-employment (e.g., opening retail stores or services). This phenomenon may help to explain why private credit−which amounts to 29 percent of GDP−fails to explain consumption behavior. Most loans are made for investment rather than for consumption. Consumers’ behavior is insensitive to taxation, which perhaps is due to the fact that tax enactment is not explicitly revealed in Indonesia (e.g., price tags in the supermarket include the sales tax, and employees are only informed about their after-tax net wage instead of their gross wage). The share of tax collections to GDP averages only about 15 percent. There is still a large portion of the population who do not pay taxes or who pay far below what they should pay. The fiscal authority needs to focus more attention on alternative financing, i.e. taxation, whose system is essential to be enhanced. Essay Two shows that by excluding oil prices, deficits and debt significantly increase the real interest rate, thereby invalidating Ricardian equivalence. The evidence shows some preference for debt and deficit over government expenditures as determinants of interest rates. Inclusion of the oil price weakens the Neoclassical results, providing more support for the Ricardian paradigm. Deficits no longer increase interest rates, yet debt still significantly increases interest rates. This result reflects a loss of momentum for the Indonesian government two decades ago to decrease its dependency on debt. The government could have used the windfall oil revenue to pay off foreign debt; instead, the windfall was spent on import-intensive infrastructure development projects, in order to build domestic industry and to subsidize rice and petroleum products. The importance of oil prices in the interest rate estimation suggests that in modeling the Indonesian macroeconomy, the oil sector should be incorporated. The non-stationary nature of the stock of debt implies the failure of intertemporal budget balance to hold, indicating that the debt-financed deficit is unsustainable. Essay Three shows that around 80 percent of the estimation results provide support for the Neoclassical view, a result that is consistent with the twin deficits hypothesis. The long-run estimates indicate an almost one-to-one relationship between the government budget and the trade balance, while the short-run estimates show a smaller magnitude. When capital inflows are included, the twin deficits phenomenon is less pronounced in the short-run and disappears in the long-run. An increase in the oil price statistically and significantly improves the trade balance in the short-run and in the long-run. Essay Four shows that subjects fully anticipate an increase in future taxation by increasing the amount bequeathed in one-to-one correspondence to the increase in debt. Even under a Ricardian institution, the distorting nature of taxes on savings alters subjects’ consumption-savings decisions. The equality of the change in bequests and the change in deficit spending is not attained under the savings taxes treatment, invalidating Ricardian equivalence. In line with the results of Essays One, Two, and Three, which suggest the vital need to enhance the taxation system, the results of Essay Four entail the importance of taxes on interest income in Indonesia.

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The management of human capital is becoming of great importance. Research on this topic is largely based on talent shortages. In South Africa, considerable attention has been given to the issue of skills shortages, which are also evident in the education environment. The government has exerted many efforts; however, despite these efforts, skills shortages are still prevalent. A definite need for reform and change is necessary, with emphasis on a more positive and combined approach, focusing on strengths use and deficit improvement, psychological empowerment, work engagement and intention to leave. Therefore, the retention of talented employees has been identified as the most important outcome of a positive organisation. The general objective of this study was to determine if the Strengths Use and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire (SUDIQ) and Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire (MEQ) were reliable and valid to administer to educators in South Africa; and whether (a) psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between perceived organisational support for strengths use (POSSU) and work engagement, and between perceived organisational support for deficit improvement (POSDI) and work engagement; and (b) whether work engagement mediated the relationship between psychological empowerment and turnover intention. The study furthermore contributed to positive psychology research, using a combined focus on strengths use and deficit improvement in relation to psychological empowerment in the education sector. A need existed to test the reliability and validity (construct and convergent) of the SUDIQ and the MEQ among educators in the Southern Cape region. A cross-sectional survey was used to reach the objectives of this study. Convenience samples were drawn from educators in the Southern Cape region (N = 271). The results revealed that the SUDIQ scale comprised four factors, namely perceived organisational support for strengths use (POSSU), perceived organisational support for deficit improvement (POSDI), proactive behaviour towards strengths use (PBSU) and proactive behaviour towards deficit improvement (PBDI). In the same way, meaning, self-determination, competence and impact were revealed as the four distinct factors of the MEQ. In testing the relationships between the constructs, POSSU correlated practically significantly (medium effect) with all the MEQ constructs. PBSU correlated practically significantly (large effect) with meaning and competence, and practically significantly (medium effect) with self-determination and impact. POSDI, as a construct of the SUDIQ, showed to correlate practically significantly (medium effect) with meaning, competence, self-determination and impact. In the case of PBDI, practically significant correlations (medium effect) were aligned between PBDI and all the constructs of the MEQ. Through this study, it was revealed that POSSU significantly predicted psychological empowerment, but not work engagement. Significant and positive paths were found between POSDI and both psychological empowerment and work engagement. POSDI played a significant role in the prediction of psychological empowerment and work engagement. Furthermore, psychological empowerment played a significant predicting role in work engagement, but not with turnover intention. In the last instance, a significant and negative path was found between work engagement and turnover intention. In terms of the mediation analysis, POSSU indirectly impacted work engagement and intention to leave of educators in the Southern Cape region via psychological empowerment; and POSDI indirectly impacted work engagement and intention to leave of educators in the Southern Cape region via psychological empowerment. Lastly, work engagement was not revealed as a mediator in the relationship between psychological empowerment and intention to leave. A combined focus, incorporating both strengths use and deficit improvement, is a relative new concept and research field. Through this study educators could learn about the benefits of strengths use and deficit improvement and how those could be used to their advantage, especially in becoming more empowered in an education context. Also, this would indeed alert the schools and principals to the benefits of moving away from traditional approaches of focusing on only weaknesses or what was wrong with people, compared to a combined strengths and deficit focus. The results obtained would offer a valuable contribution to research and the limited literature available on this topic. In the South African context, it would be the first study in which the SUDIQ scale had been used in the education sector in the Southern Cape region, examining the extent to which strengths were used and deficits were developed by both employees and the organisation, and how it related to the well-being of educators. Recommendations were made for application and for future research. / MCom (Human Resource Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The management of human capital is becoming of great importance. Research on this topic is largely based on talent shortages. In South Africa, considerable attention has been given to the issue of skills shortages, which are also evident in the education environment. The government has exerted many efforts; however, despite these efforts, skills shortages are still prevalent. A definite need for reform and change is necessary, with emphasis on a more positive and combined approach, focusing on strengths use and deficit improvement, psychological empowerment, work engagement and intention to leave. Therefore, the retention of talented employees has been identified as the most important outcome of a positive organisation. The general objective of this study was to determine if the Strengths Use and Deficit Improvement Questionnaire (SUDIQ) and Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire (MEQ) were reliable and valid to administer to educators in South Africa; and whether (a) psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between perceived organisational support for strengths use (POSSU) and work engagement, and between perceived organisational support for deficit improvement (POSDI) and work engagement; and (b) whether work engagement mediated the relationship between psychological empowerment and turnover intention. The study furthermore contributed to positive psychology research, using a combined focus on strengths use and deficit improvement in relation to psychological empowerment in the education sector. A need existed to test the reliability and validity (construct and convergent) of the SUDIQ and the MEQ among educators in the Southern Cape region. A cross-sectional survey was used to reach the objectives of this study. Convenience samples were drawn from educators in the Southern Cape region (N = 271). The results revealed that the SUDIQ scale comprised four factors, namely perceived organisational support for strengths use (POSSU), perceived organisational support for deficit improvement (POSDI), proactive behaviour towards strengths use (PBSU) and proactive behaviour towards deficit improvement (PBDI). In the same way, meaning, self-determination, competence and impact were revealed as the four distinct factors of the MEQ. In testing the relationships between the constructs, POSSU correlated practically significantly (medium effect) with all the MEQ constructs. PBSU correlated practically significantly (large effect) with meaning and competence, and practically significantly (medium effect) with self-determination and impact. POSDI, as a construct of the SUDIQ, showed to correlate practically significantly (medium effect) with meaning, competence, self-determination and impact. In the case of PBDI, practically significant correlations (medium effect) were aligned between PBDI and all the constructs of the MEQ. Through this study, it was revealed that POSSU significantly predicted psychological empowerment, but not work engagement. Significant and positive paths were found between POSDI and both psychological empowerment and work engagement. POSDI played a significant role in the prediction of psychological empowerment and work engagement. Furthermore, psychological empowerment played a significant predicting role in work engagement, but not with turnover intention. In the last instance, a significant and negative path was found between work engagement and turnover intention. In terms of the mediation analysis, POSSU indirectly impacted work engagement and intention to leave of educators in the Southern Cape region via psychological empowerment; and POSDI indirectly impacted work engagement and intention to leave of educators in the Southern Cape region via psychological empowerment. Lastly, work engagement was not revealed as a mediator in the relationship between psychological empowerment and intention to leave. A combined focus, incorporating both strengths use and deficit improvement, is a relative new concept and research field. Through this study educators could learn about the benefits of strengths use and deficit improvement and how those could be used to their advantage, especially in becoming more empowered in an education context. Also, this would indeed alert the schools and principals to the benefits of moving away from traditional approaches of focusing on only weaknesses or what was wrong with people, compared to a combined strengths and deficit focus. The results obtained would offer a valuable contribution to research and the limited literature available on this topic. In the South African context, it would be the first study in which the SUDIQ scale had been used in the education sector in the Southern Cape region, examining the extent to which strengths were used and deficits were developed by both employees and the organisation, and how it related to the well-being of educators. Recommendations were made for application and for future research. / MCom (Human Resource Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The specific purpose of this study was to try and understand why unique experiences of living with an alcoholic parent could create developmental deficits which emotionally challenge COAs' when faced with the life lessons a college environment offers. This study offered four possible explanations for experiencing challenges in its theoretical background: (1) psychosocial development, (2) the epistemology of alcoholism and its effects on the family, (3) personality development and the concurrence of building resilience, and (4) the college environment itself, with the phenomenon of binge drinking--forcing COAs to confront family alcoholism. A total of 7 participated in this study--4 men and 3 women. Despite the dynamic differences in the answers overall, all 7 participants acknowledged one important concept. When the participants were asked about their own drinking habits, each participant said, though in different ways, they had to be careful with their drinking habits. Participants seemed to be aware that whether alcoholism is genetic or a learned addiction, they were at risk of becoming alcoholics themselves. This study found overall, as previous literature suggests, no matter how COAs are studied, they are found to be a heterogeneous population. Specifically, this study's results points out that they are indeed heterogeneous, yet similar in that all participants in this study, it could be argued, exhibit some vulnerability in regard to parental alcoholism.

This paper investigates the relationship between countries' fiscal balances and current accounts with an emphasis on the role of fiscal rules. The direct effect of fiscal policy on the current account via aggregate (import) demand is potentially amplified by indirect effects, materializing through interest rate effects and inter-generational transfers that reduce savings. On the other hand, the implied positive relation between fiscal and external balances is potentially attenuated by offsetting changes in savings through Ricardian equivalence considerations. We expect this attenuation effect to be stronger in countries with more stringent fiscal rules and test this hypothesis using a panel of 73 countries over the period 1985-2012. As previous studies we find a positive effect of fiscal balances on the current account, supporting the twin deficit hypothesis. However, the effect of fiscal balances on the current account depends on the stringency of fiscal (budget balance or debt) rules in place; it is reduced by one third on average and virtually eliminated for countries with the most stringent fiscal rules. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series