Term of Serbia’s new government will be brief

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Short Term ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Almost All

Significance Brnabic’s government, sworn in a month earlier, is being dubbed a government of national unity. It includes almost all parties in the parliament elected in the June elections, which most of Serbia’s opposition boycotted. The main loser was the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), in turn signalling a loss of Russian influence. Impacts The new government’s main tasks will be dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and its short-term economic consequences. With early elections less than 18 months away, no bold moves or serious reforms should be expected in the interim. Politically, the main challenge for Vucic and the SNS will be to reach a deal to secure opposition participation in the next election.

Djibouti looks further east with new port deal

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Container Terminal ◽  
Far East ◽  
Gulf Of Aden ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Port Management ◽  
The Us ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
Almost All

Subject Djibouti port management Significance Djibouti on February 22 unilaterally terminated Dubai Ports World (DP World)’s contract to manage Djibouti’s main economic asset, the Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT), the port that handles almost all of land-locked Ethiopia’s foreign trade. The port’s seizure brings a bitter, six-year legal and commercial dispute between the Emirati-owned DP World and Djibouti’s President Ismael Omar Guelleh to a climactic end, reconfiguring alliances in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. Singapore-based Pacific International Lines (PIL) will now manage the port, as Djibouti eyes a long-term future aligned towards the Far East. Impacts The de facto nationalisation of DCT will not significantly disrupt Ethiopia’s economy or transit trade in the short term. Despite US unease over Chinese maritime ambitions, Western diplomats will be wary of involvement in the Djibouti-UAE dispute. Given Djibouti's strategic location, the US will not downsize its military base absent a wider change in its regional strategic priorities. PIL will aim to boost transhipments via Djibouti, potentially bolstering French and Chinese links within the Ocean Alliance consortium.

Board evaluation in the top Nordic football clubs

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tor Brunzell ◽  
Sten Söderman
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Plan ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study if and how the evaluation of the boards in the top Nordic male football clubs affects the boards’ composition and work.Design/methodology/approachThe study includes all the clubs in the two top divisions in each of the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The study makes use of a questionnaire where 66 (out of 145) chairmen answer 17 questions concerning the board composition and work on a five‐point Likert‐scale.FindingsThe responses were related to whether the board is annually evaluated or not. Descriptive statistics demonstrates that more than half of the clubs have an annual board evaluation. Most common is that the Chairman performs the evaluation himself/herself with help from designated board members; the evaluation being performed through informal discussions. A total of 44 clubs have a nominee committee. Almost all of the clubs transfer the result of the board evaluation to its nominee committee, most commonly verbally. Furthermore, results show that board evaluation has a significant positive effect on the following functions of football boards: review of business plan, strategy, objective and budget; discussion on short‐term development; discussion on long‐term development; and work efficiency.Originality/valueThe results of this study are consistent with a similar study of listed Nordic companies. The main difference between the results of the two studies is that clubs, unlike publicly listed companies, almost always perform the evaluation through internal interviews rarely using external consultants and individual anonymous questionnaires.

IN VITRO METHODS FOR THE STUDY OF THE ADENOHYPOPHYSIAL FUNCTIONS TO SECRETE GONADOTROPHIN

1971 ◽  
Vol 68 (1_Suppl) ◽  
pp. S27-S40 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Kobayashi ◽  
T. Kigawa ◽  
M. Mizuno ◽  
T. Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Cell Culture ◽  
Organ Culture ◽  
Cultured Cells ◽  
Cell Sheet ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Hypothalamic Extract ◽  
Numerous Cell ◽  
Single Cell Culture ◽  
Almost All

ABSTRACT There are several in vitro methods to analyse the function of the adenohypophysis or the mechanisms of its regulation. The present paper deals with single cell culture, organ culture and short term incubation techniques by which the morphology and gonadotrophin-secreting function of the adenohypophysis were studied. In trypsin-dispersed cell culture, the adenohypophysial cells showed extensive propagation to form numerous cell colonies and finally develop into a confluent monolayer cell sheet covering completely the surface of culture vessels. Almost all of the cultured cells, however, became chromophobic, at least at the end of the first week of cultivation, when gonadotrophin was detectable neither in the culture medium nor in the cells themselves. After the addition of the hypothalamic extract, gonadotrophin became detectable again, and basophilic or PAS-positive granules also reappeared within the cells, suggesting that the gonadotrophs were stimulated by the extract to produce gonadotrophin. In organ culture and short term incubation, the incorporation of [3H] leucine into the adenohypophysial cells in relation to the addition of hypothalamic extract was examined. It was obvious that the ability to incorporate [3H] leucine into the gonadotrophs in vitro was highly dependent upon the presence of the hypothalamic extract.

scholarly journals South Africa’s economic response to monetary policy uncertainty

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Balcilar ◽  
Rangan Gupta ◽  
Charl Jooste
Keyword(s):  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Stochastic Volatility ◽  
Stochastic Volatility Model ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Policy Uncertainty ◽  
Dsge Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Volatility Model ◽  
Central Bankers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of monetary policy uncertainty and its impact on the South African economy. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a sign restricted SVAR with an endogenous feedback of stochastic volatility to evaluate the sign and size of uncertainty shocks. The authors use a nonlinear DSGE model to gain deeper insights about the transmission mechanism of monetary policy uncertainty. Findings The authors show that monetary policy volatility is high and constant. Both inflation and interest rates decline in response to uncertainty. Output rebounds quickly after a contemporaneous decrease. The DSGE model shows that the size of the uncertainty shock matters – high uncertainty can lead to a severe contraction in output, inflation and interest rates. Research limitations/implications The authors model only a few variables in the SVAR – thus missing perhaps other possible channels of shock transmission. Practical implications There is a lesson for monetary policy: monetary policy uncertainty, in isolation from general macroeconomic uncertainty, often creates unintended adverse consequences and can perpetuate a weak economic environment. The tasks of central bankers are incredibly difficult. Their models project output and inflation with relatively large uncertainty based on many shocks emanating from various sources. It matters how central bankers react to these expectations and how they communicate the underlying risks associated with setting interest rates. Originality/value This is the first study that looks into monetary policy uncertainty into South Africa using a stochastic volatility model and a nonlinear DSGE model. The results should be very useful for the Central Bank as it highlights how uncertainty, that they create, can have adverse economic consequences.

Lumbosacral intersegmental epispinal axons and ectopic ventral nerve rootlets

1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley W. Parke ◽  
Ryo Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Nerve Root ◽  
Sensory Nerve ◽  
Conus Medullaris ◽  
Spinal Nerve ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Ventral Horn ◽  
Spinal Nerve Roots ◽  
Nerve Roots ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Almost All

✓ An epispinal system of motor axons virtually covers the ventral and lateral funiculi of the human conus medullaris between the L-2 and S-2 levels. These nerve fibers apparently arise from motor cells of the ventral horn nuclei and join spinal nerve roots caudal to their level of origin. In all observed spinal cords, many of these axons converged at the cord surface and formed an irregular group of ectopic rootlets that could be visually traced to join conventional spinal nerve roots at one to several segments inferior to their original segmental level; occasional rootlets joined a dorsal nerve root. As almost all previous reports of nerve root interconnections involved only the dorsal roots and have been cited to explain a lack of an absolute segmental sensory nerve distribution, it is believed that these intersegmental motor fibers may similarly explain a more diffuse efferent distribution than has previously been suspected.

Applicability of the DUNDRUM-1 in a forensic Belgium setting

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Habets ◽  
Inge Jeandarme ◽  
Harry G. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Security Level ◽  
Rater Reliability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Forensic Patients ◽  
Item Level ◽  
Dundrum Toolkit ◽  
Male Patients ◽  
Receive Treatment ◽  
Almost All

Purpose Criteria to determine in which level of security forensic patients should receive treatment are currently non-existent in Belgium. Research regarding the assessment of security level is minimal and few instruments are available. The DUNDRUM toolkit is a structured clinical judgement instrument that can be used to provide support when determining security level. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the applicability and validity of the DUNDRUM-1 in Flanders. Design/methodology/approach The DUNDRUM-1 was scored for 50 male patients admitted at the forensic units in the public psychiatric hospital Rekem. Some files were rated by three researchers who were blind to participants’ security status, resulting in 33 double measurements. Findings Almost all files (96 per cent) contained enough information to score the DUNDRUM-1. Average DUNDRUM-1 final judgement scores were concordant with a medium security profile. No difference was found between the current security levels and the DUNDRUM-1 final judgement scores. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for the DUNDRUM-1 final judgement scores. On item level, all items had excellent to good inter-rater reliability with the exception of one item institutional behaviour which had an average inter-rater reliability. Practical implications The DUNDRUM-1 can be a useful tool in Flemish forensic settings. It has good psychometric properties. More research is needed to investigate the relationship between DUNDRUM-1 scores and security level decisions by the courts. Originality/value This is the first study that investigated the applicability of the DUNDRUM-1 in a Belgian setting, also a relative large number of repeated measurements were available to investigate the inter-rater reliability of the DUNDRUM-1.

scholarly journals A Distinctive and Host-Restricted Gut Microbiota in Populations of a Cactophilic Drosophila Species

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent G. Martinson ◽  
Javier Carpinteyro-Ponce ◽  
Nancy A. Moran ◽  
Therese A. Markow
Keyword(s):  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Natural Food ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Columnar Cacti ◽  
Social Bees ◽  
Insect Gut ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Natural Settings ◽  
Bacterial Groups

ABSTRACT Almost all animals possess gut microbial communities, but the nature of these communities varies immensely. For example, in social bees and mammals, the composition is relatively constant within species and is dominated by specialist bacteria that do not live elsewhere; in laboratory studies and field surveys of Drosophila melanogaster, however, gut communities consist of bacteria that are ingested with food and that vary widely among individuals and localities. We addressed whether an ecological specialist in its natural habitat has a microbiota dominated by gut specialists or by environmental bacteria. Drosophila nigrospiracula is a species that is endemic to the Sonoran Desert and is restricted to decaying tissues of two giant columnar cacti, Pachycereus pringlei (cardón cactus) and Carnegiea gigantea (saguaro cactus). We found that the D. nigrospiracula microbiota differs strikingly from that of the cactus tissue on which the flies feed. The most abundant bacteria in the flies are rare or completely absent in the cactus tissue and are consistently abundant in flies from different cacti and localities. Several of these fly-associated bacterial groups, such as the bacterial order Orbales and the genera Serpens and Dysgonomonas, have been identified in prior surveys of insects from the orders Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera, including several Drosophila species. Although the functions of these bacterial groups are mostly unexplored, Orbales species studied in bees are known to break down plant polysaccharides and use the resulting sugars. Thus, these bacterial groups appear to be specialized to the insect gut environment, where they may colonize through direct host-to-host transmission in natural settings. IMPORTANCE Flies in the genus Drosophila have become laboratory models for microbiota research, yet the bacteria commonly used in these experiments are rarely found in wild-caught flies and instead represent bacteria also present in the food. This study shows that an ecologically specialized Drosophila species possesses a distinctive microbiome, composed of bacterial types absent from the flies' natural food but widespread in other wild-caught insects. This study highlights the importance of fieldwork-informed microbiota research.

Gated communities in Ankara: are they a tool of social segregation?

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-702
Author(s):  
Leyla Alkan-Gökler
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Gated Communities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Social Segregation ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Gated communities, surrounded by walls or fences, have emerged as a new trend in almost all cities in Turkey, and are homogenous in terms of the socioeconomic status of their occupants. Within these communities, several facilities and services are provided that are available only to the residents, with restrictions on access from the outside, and this has led to criticisms of social segregation. This study aims to analyze the impact of these communities on social segregation in Ankara, through two different surveys aimed at investigating the attitudes of the residents of local neighborhoods and gated communities toward each other. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes how the process of gating has affected social segregation in Ankara through two separate surveys: with the residents of gated communities and with the residents of local neighborhoods around these gated communities. Findings The study revealed that the residents of gated communities tended to have a positive view of the residents of local neighborhoods. In contrast, the responses of the local residents show evidence of feelings of social segregation, based on the presence of the high walls, fences and guards that are in place to keep them out of the community. Originality/value This study shows that, although segregation from the rest of the society is not the main reason for gating, the emergence of gated communities in Ankara leads inevitably to a socially and economically segregated city in which local residents feel excluded from these gated areas.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic Grouping and Virulence Potential of Extended-Spectrum-β-Lactamase-Producing Escherichia coli Strains in Cattle

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (13) ◽  
pp. 4677-4682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Valat ◽  
Frédéric Auvray ◽  
Karine Forest ◽  
Véronique Métayer ◽  
Emilie Gay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Virulence Determinants ◽  
Phylogenetic Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Extended Spectrum ◽  
Specific Distribution ◽  
Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases ◽  
Phylogenetic Grouping ◽  
Almost All

ABSTRACTIn line with recent reports of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) inEscherichia coliisolates of highly virulent serotypes, such as O104:H4, we investigated the distribution of phylogroups (A, B1, B2, D) and virulence factor (VF)-encoding genes in 204 ESBL-producingE. coliisolates from diarrheic cattle. ESBL genes, VFs, and phylogroups were identified by PCR and a commercial DNA array (Alere, France). ESBL genes belonged mostly to the CTX-M-1 (65.7%) and CTX-M-9 (27.0%) groups, whereas those of the CTX-M-2 and TEM groups were much less represented (3.9% and 3.4%, respectively). One ESBL isolate wasstx1andeaepositive and belonged to a major enterohemorrhagicE. coli(EHEC) serotype (O111:H8). Two other isolates wereeaepositive butstxnegative; one of these had serotype O26:H11. ESBL isolates belonged mainly to phylogroup A (55.4%) and, to lesser extents, to phylogroups D (25.5%) and B1 (15.6%), whereas B2 strains were quasi-absent (1/204). The number of VFs was significantly higher in phylogroup B1 than in phylogroups A (P= 0.04) and D (P= 0.02). Almost all of the VFs detected were found in CTX-M-1 isolates, whereas only 64.3% and 33.3% of them were found in CTX-M-9 and CTX-M-2 isolates, respectively. These results indicated that the widespread dissemination of theblaCTX-Mgenes within theE. colipopulation from cattle still spared the subpopulation of EHEC/Shiga-toxigenicE. coli(STEC) isolates. In contrast to other reports on non-ESBL-producing isolates from domestic animals, B1 was not the main phylogroup identified. However, B1 was found to be the most virulent phylogroup, suggesting host-specific distribution of virulence determinants among phylogenetic groups.

Short-term effects of milkshake containing polydextrose and maltodextrin on subjective feelings of appetite, energy intake and blood glucose in healthy females

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
İsmail Mücahit Alptekin ◽  
Ece Erdoğan ◽  
Aylin İşler ◽  
Esma Cansu Yanalak ◽  
Funda Pınar Çakiroğlu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
Postprandial Blood Glucose ◽  
Dietary Fibers ◽  
Analog Scale ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ad Libitum ◽  
Desire To Eat ◽  
Healthy Females

Purpose Previous studies have reported that dietary fibers such as polydextrose and maltodextrin can reduce food intake; however, the studies on the differences of this effect are insufficient. The purpose of this paper is to compare the effects of dietary fibers maltodextrin and polydextrose on alterations of short-term satiety, energy intake and postprandial blood glucose in healthy females. Design/methodology/approach This study was designed as a randomized, crossover and double blind research. For this purpose, 21 healthy females consumed a milkshake containing 0 g (control), 15 g polydextrose (PDX) and 15 g maltodextrin (MDX), and an ad libitum lunch meal was served 150 min later. Subjective appetite scores (hunger, satiety, prospective food consumption and desire to eat) were measured using a visual analog scale. Appetite scores and blood glucose were measured before preload and once per 15 min after milkshake consumption. Findings Visual analog scale scores showed that PDX had an improved effect on satiety and hunger feelings. Compared to the control, dietary fiber increased the Area Under Curve (AUC) scores of satiety (p < 0.001) and decreased the AUC scores of hunger (p < 0.001), prospective food consumption (p < 0.001) and desire to eat (p < 0.001). Energy intake during ad libitum meal was significantly lower in PDX (Control: 862 (54.3) Kcal versus PDX: 679 (35.4) Kcal and MDX: 780 (49.3) Kcal. Moreover, the blood glucose levels were significantly lower in MDX. Originality/value This study conducted with healthy females demonstrated that PDX was more effective in inducing satiety during subsequent food intake, and that postprandial blood glucose were within more healthy levels in MDX.

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