Sample records for largest philanthropy devoted
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bajde, Domen
2013-01-01
attention has been devoted to the ways in which the newly emergent philanthropic ideologies and practices are ‘marketed’ to and adopted by the broader audience of philanthropic givers. In response, we explore the ideological elements that make lending through Kiva, an emergent microfinance charity......As the impact of market actors and their doctrines on philanthropy gradually increases, the debate between the proponents and the critics of ‘marketization’ of philanthropy intensifies. Curiously, the debate has largely centred on ‘philanthrocapitalists’ and philanthropic professionals, while less......, meaningful to its creators and supporters. A combination of interpretive methods is used to outline Kiva’s ideology of entrepreneurial philanthropy. This utopian ideology is found to legitimize ‘marketized’ philanthropic practices by invoking alternative conceptions of poverty, social progress...
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Philanthropy and the philanthropy sector : An introduction
Schuyt, Theo N.M.
2013-01-01
Offering an introduction to modern philanthropy with regard to the commitment and willingness of citizens, funds, churches and businesses to contribute voluntarily to society Philanthropy and the Philanthropy Sector: An Introduction attempts to map philanthropy and promote a better understanding of
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Faculty Work as Philanthropy or Philanthropy as Faculty Work?
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Cagla Okten
2016-06-01
Full Text Available Employing Robert Payton’s (1988 definition of philanthropy, “Voluntary action for the public good” (p. 4, Faculty Work and the Public Good: Philanthropy, Engagement, and Academic Professionalism offers a fresh look at faculty work as philanthropy. The purpose of this review essay is to provide a brief review of some of the key propositions in this book and to explore how faculty work as philanthropy may be understood in non-U.S. cultural contexts. We start our exploration of faculty work as philanthropy in non-U.S. contexts by examining this construct in the U.S. as presented by Faculty Work and the Public Good and by laying out key forces that it sets forth as shaping faculty work as philanthropic practice: institutional structure and employment frameworks, resource constraints, and discretionary constraints.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Larsen, Øjvind
2013-01-01
written about philanthropy from a political, sociological, anthropological and managerial perspective. However, an essential question remains: what does philanthropy mean? In a Greek context, philanthropy is connected to a friendly act towards one’s owns close connections such as family or fellow citizens......, and normally utilized to promote one’s own prestige in the city-state. In Roman context, universal humanism, humanitas, was invented. This universal perspective was also supported by Christianity. It is this universal concept of philanthropy which is the foundation for the different philanthropic traditions...... in Germany, England, France and USA. In each tradition is developed special features of the concept of philanthropy. The four traditions are summarized in the UN universal human rights, which has become the common normative reference for global philanthropy. In this way philanthropy has become, in a modern...
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Constructing a Philanthropy-scale : Social Responsibility and Philanthropy
Schuyt, Theo; Smit, Jan; Bekkers, René
2004-01-01
Philanthropy expresses long-term commitments with public goods. Key motives for philanthropy concern stewardship and social responsibility for the well-being of society as a whole. These motives have rarely been studied. Instead, previous research on giving and volunteering has used measures of
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Creative Philanthropy: Toward a New Philanthropy for the Twenty-First Century
Anheier, Helmut K. (Prof. Dr.); Leat, Diana
2006-01-01
Philanthropy and endowed foundation are vitally important institutions of modern society, yet in recent years, they've faced new threats such as declining resources and questions of accountability and performance. To address these questions, individual philanthropists and foundation leaders have looked to strategic philanthropy to become more effective and efficient. This important book provides an overview of creative philanthropy along with an analysis of its theory and practice. The au...
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Corporate Philanthropy Toward Community Health Improvement in Manufacturing Communities.
McHugh, Megan; Farley, Diane; Maechling, Claude R; Dunlop, Dorothy D; French, Dustin D; Holl, Jane L
2018-06-01
Virtually all large employers engage in corporate philanthropy, but little is known about the extent to which it is directed toward improving community health. We conducted in-depth interviews with leaders of corporate philanthropy from 13 of the largest manufacturing companies in the US to understand how giving decisions were made, the extent to which funding was directed towards improving community health, and whether companies coordinate with local public health agencies. We found that corporate giving was sizable and directed towards communities in which the manufacturers have a large presence. Giving was aligned with the social determinants of health (i.e., aimed at improving economic stability, the neighborhood and physical environment, education, food security and nutrition, the community and social context, and the health care system). However, improving public health was not often cited as a goal of corporate giving, and coordination with public health agencies was limited. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities for public health agencies to help guide corporate philanthropy, particularly by sharing community-level data and offering their measurement and evaluation expertise.
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Modern Welfare and ‘Good Old’ Philanthropy
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Villadsen, Kaspar
2011-01-01
This article identifies a number of parallels between nineteenth-century philanthropy and contemporary social work that have so far received little attention in the ongoing debate on the relation between philanthropy and modern welfare. While adopting a critical perspective on social philanthropy...... importantly, the philanthropists gave twentieth-century social policy a recipient who is not a subject of formal rights, but possesses a series of social duties and responsibilities....
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Payton, Robert L.
1985-01-01
The president of the Exxon Education Foundation suggests that the study of philanthropy and the philanthropic tradition should be incorporated into formal education in the United States, in public education, the undergraduate curriculum, and research. (MSE)
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The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy.
Porter, Michael E; Kramer, Mark R
2002-12-01
When it comes to philanthropy, executives increasingly see themselves as caught between critics demanding ever higher levels of "corporate social responsibility" and investors applying pressure to maximize short-term profits. In response, many companies have sought to make their giving more strategic, but what passes for strategic philanthropy is almost never truly strategic, and often isn't particularly effective as philanthropy. Increasingly, philanthropy is used as a form of public relations or advertising, promoting a company's image through high-profile sponsorships. But there is a more truly strategic way to think about philanthropy. Corporations can use their charitable efforts to improve their competitive context--the quality of the business environment in the locations where they operate. Using philanthropy to enhance competitive context aligns social and economic goals and improves a company's long-term business prospects. Addressing context enables a company to not only give money but also leverage its capabilities and relationships in support of charitable causes. The produces social benefits far exceeding those provided by individual donors, foundations, or even governments. Taking this new direction requires fundamental changes in the way companies approach their contribution programs. For example, philanthropic investments can improve education and local quality of life in ways that will benefit the company. Such investments can also improve the company's competitiveness by contributing to expanding the local market and helping to reduce corruption in the local business environment. Adopting a context-focused approach goes against the grain of current philanthropic practice, and it requires a far more disciplined approach than is prevalent today. But it can make a company's philanthropic activities far more effective.
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Corporate philanthropy, political influence, and health policy.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gary J Fooks
Full Text Available The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco's (BAT record of charitable giving to develop a general model of corporate political philanthropy that can be used to facilitate implementation of the FCTC.Analysis of previously confidential industry documents, BAT social and stakeholder dialogue reports, and existing tobacco industry document studies on philanthropy.The analysis identified six broad ways in which tobacco companies have used philanthropy politically: developing constituencies to build support for policy positions and generate third party advocacy; weakening opposing political constituencies; facilitating access and building relationships with policymakers; creating direct leverage with policymakers by providing financial subsidies to specific projects; enhancing the donor's status as a source of credible information; and shaping the tobacco control agenda by shifting thinking on the importance of regulating the market environment for tobacco and the relative risks of smoking for population health. Contemporary BAT social and stakeholder reports contain numerous examples of charitable donations that are likely to be designed to shape the tobacco control agenda, secure access and build constituencies.Tobacco companies' political use of charitable donations underlines the need for tobacco industry philanthropy to be restricted via full implementation of Articles 5.3 and 13 of the FCTC. The model of tobacco industry philanthropy developed in this study can be used by public health advocates to press for implementation of the FCTC and provides a basis for analysing the political effects of charitable giving in other industry sectors which have an impact on
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Philanthropy and Human Rights in Business Ethics
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Larsen, Øjvind
2017-01-01
in the UN Global Compact. Philanthropy has many dimensions; these include ethical, juridical, political, economic and cultural dimensions. In the last years, a lot has been written about philanthropy from a political, sociological, anthropological and managerial perspective. However, an essential question...
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Philanthropy, Education, and the Politics of Knowledge.
Lagemann, Ellen Condliffe
1992-01-01
Introduces a series of articles on philanthropy and the nature of education, suggesting that serious study of philanthropy in education is nowhere near sufficient as a result of insufficient theory and suspiciousness characterizing attitudes and relationships between philanthropists/foundation administrators and outside scholars and investigators.…
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[Private foundations Global Health Philanthropy: the problem of conflicts of interest].
2011-01-01
Private foundations Global Health Philanthropy: the problem of conflicts of interest. Private foundations are in a position where they are granted several privileges and are very powerful and able to influence global health. A recent article published on Plos Medicine, analyzing five of the largest health foundations highlights the network of interests and conflicts. Many private health foundations have associations with private food and pharmaceutical corporations. In some instances, these corporations directly benefit from foundations grants, and foundations in turn are invested in the corporations to which they award these grants.
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Ethical issues in health philanthropy.
Reid, Lynette
2017-11-01
Health leaders in Canada face a myriad of challenges with healthcare philanthropy-not just the practical question of how to be successful but also ethical questions. Is fundraising in partnership with companies that are implicated in the so-called lifestyle diseases appropriate? When does appropriate recognition for donors or volunteers cross the line into facilitating preferential access to care? Ethical decision-making in health philanthropy considers appropriate recognition or partnership in donor relations in the context of the public good with which healthcare institutions are entrusted and the fiduciary responsibilities of hospitals and clinicians to patients.
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The changing face of philanthropy in India | IDRC - International ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Philanthropy is on the rise in India and is predicted to keep on growing. New wealth is also changing the face of charitable giving and gaining public attention. As a result, the number of philanthropy advisors is also growing.
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A Theory of Collective Empathy in Corporate Philanthropy Decisions
Muller, A.R.; Pfarrer, M.D.; Little, L.M.
Prevailing perspectives on corporate philanthropy are predominantly rational and limit decision making to the executive suite. Recently, however, recognition has grown that employees are also important drivers of corporate philanthropy efforts and that their motives may be more empathic in nature.
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Conceptualization and Validation of Factors for LGBTQ Alumni Philanthropy
Garvey, Jason C.
2016-01-01
In recent years, philanthropy in higher education has shifted from a value-added financial benefit into a necessary component for balancing annual budgets and increasing college access. Identity-based philanthropy in higher education is gaining prominence in both practice and scholarship, recognizing that social identities are strong influences on…
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American Philanthropic Studies: The Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy (1903-1920)
Seely, Dagmar
2014-01-01
Graham Taylor was a leader in the movement for schools of civics and philanthropy. As founder of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Taylor served as President and Professor. The study focuses on the development of the study of philanthropy through following the pedagogy of Graham Taylor beginning with his early efforts during the late…
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Philanthropy and Human Rights - The Genealogy of the Idea from Antiquity to Global Society
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Øjvind Larsen
2013-06-01
Full Text Available In the last couple of decades, philanthropy has become a concern which is taken seriously in the Western world. Normal people give donations and volunteer on a large scale within the institutions of civil society. This is the case for business corporations as well, who now have to act with a form of personal responsibility. Such a responsibility is institutionalized in the big global CSR movement, which has now been integrated in the UN Global Compact. Philanthropy has many dimensions; these include ethical, juridical, political, economic and cultural dimensions. In the last years, a lot has been written about philanthropy from a political, sociological, anthropological and managerial perspective. However, an essential question remains: what does philanthropy mean? In a Greek context, philanthropy is connected to a friendly act towards one’s owns close connections such as family or fellow citizens, and normally utilized to promote one’s own prestige in the city-state. In Roman context, universal humanism, humanitas, was invented. This universal perspective was also supported by Christianity. It is this universal concept of philanthropy which is the foundation for the different philanthropic traditions in Germany, England, France and USA. In each tradition is developed special features of the concept of philanthropy. The four traditions are summarized in the UN universal human rights, which has become the common normative reference for global philanthropy. In this way philanthropy has become, in a modern sense, a charitable act with the aim to promote human happiness independent of gender, class, race, etc. This is the genealogy of the modern understanding of philanthropy, which will be developed in this paper.
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Democratic Capitalism and Philanthropy in a Global Economy
Zoltan J. Acs; Sameeksha Desai
2007-01-01
Democratic capitalism has become the popular paradigm in the modern world, and it is spreading further through globalization. It is a model based on growth, expansion and constant innovation. However, it is accompanied by social problems which may worsen despite overall gains in wealth. In this paper, we suggest that democratic capitalist societies may benefit from the application of what has been a primarily American institution: Philanthropy. We present the Entrepreneurship-Philanthropy Cyc...
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Holmes, George
2012-01-01
This article examines the role of philanthropy in conservation as a way of exploring how and why conservation might be becoming more neoliberal. It describes how conservation philanthropy supports capitalism both discursively and in more practical ways. Philanthropy is examined in terms of the two forces considered to be driving the neoliberalization of conservation — the need for capitalism to find new ways of making money, and the desire of conservationists to engage with capitalism as the best way of getting things done. It demonstrates how philanthropy can speak to both of these logics simultaneously, particularly through emerging ideas of philanthrocapitalism, which may be enhancing the neoliberalization of both philanthropy and conservation.
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Innovations in Strategic Philanthropy : Local and global perspectives
Anheier, Helmut K.
2007-01-01
Philanthropy has been around for thousands of years but the study of philanthropic organizations and their role in a civil society is still recent. Most of the research focuses on organizations and institutions in developed market economies, in particular the United States. But in looking at other areas such as the global south and central and eastern Europe, major differences in a number of critical aspects emerge that challenge conventional assumptions and models of philanthropy. There, fre...
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Global Financial Crisis and Philanthropy: Malaysian Case
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Janice Lay Hui Nga
2015-08-01
Full Text Available This paper investigates the issue of the global financial crisis and its impacts on philanthropy and civil society organisations (CSOs in Malaysia. CSOs are popularly known as non-governmental organisations (NGOs in Malaysia. Financial crisis has caused NGOs in many countries to receive less funding. This situation may threaten and discourage voluntary works. Undoubtedly, these beneficial contributions from the NGOs are needful services to the society. This paper examines the impact of financial crisis through the lens of NGOs and philanthropy activities in Malaysia. It utilises primary and secondary data, employs a mixed method approach, and uses quantitative and qualitative data. While there are many influencing factors in this development, this paper presents several significant aspects in the Malaysian context, including the style and nature of giving, culture, religion, and political pressure. This study attempts to seek potential solutions, pathways and possible approaches beneficial to NGOs and philanthropy activities for their sustainability in facing the financial crisis and its consequences. Experiences and lessons learnt in Malaysia may well be useful and applicable to some extent in other countries.
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Revisiting the Relationship of CSR and Corporate Philanthropy by Using Alignment Theory
von Schnurbein, Georg; Stühlinger, Sara
2015-01-01
Both, CSR and corporate philanthropy are expressions of the interferences between the company and its societal environment. However, the question of the relationship between CSR and corporate philanthropy remains unclear. We apply alignment theory to shed light on the interdependencies of CSR and corporate philanthropy. The relationship may be based on alignment, misalignment, or non-alignment. Our research is based on an empiric analysis of the sustainability rating of U.S. companies and it...
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How can strategic philanthropy contribute to innovation for companies
Matteucci, Alessandro
2014-01-01
This investigation proposes to explore the existing link between a strategic conception of philanthropy and innovation. Indeed, the nature of the research question relies on an unexplored field in the CSR and Innovation management academic literature. It starts with the interest to know which the benefits are for a firm encouraged to invest strategically in philanthropy. In this regard, the analysis contributes in fitting this gap by following different objectives in an exploratory perspectiv...
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Capitalizing on Crisis: Venture Philanthropy's Colonial Project to Remake Urban Education
Lipman, Pauline
2015-01-01
This article focuses on the increased power of venture philanthropy to shape education in urban communities of color in the USA. The author situates venture philanthropy's expanded influence in urban school districts in the nexus of urban disinvestment, neoliberal governance, wealth concentration, and economic crisis. The author argues that…
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The new philanthropy : private power in international development policy?\\ud
Moran, Michael; Stone, Diane
2016-01-01
This chapter examines the role and function of philanthropy in international development policy. Philanthropy has deep roots in international development and its present influence is far from novel. Yet changes in the political economy of development finance, including growing private aid flows and continuing strain on the bilateral and multilateral aid systems, have increased its relative importance. Simultaneously, newly emerging foundations have financed novel institutional mechanisms for ...
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Le nouveau visage de la philanthropie en Inde | CRDI - Centre de ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Connectez-vous avec Nirojan sur LinkedIn. La philanthropie est en hausse en Inde et le phénomène devrait continuer à croître. La nouvelle richesse transforme également le visage des dons de charité et retient l'attention du public. Par conséquent, le nombre de conseillers en philanthropie augmente aussi. La relation ...
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Data philanthropy and the design of the infraethics for information societies.
Taddeo, Mariarosaria
2016-12-28
In mature information societies, sharing data is increasingly recognized as a crucial means to foster their development. However, competing tensions on data control and ownership, limited technical understanding, and the lack of an adequate governance framework pose serious challenges to attempts to share data among different actors. Data philanthropy, understood as the donation of data from both individuals and private companies, has been proposed as means to meet these challenges. While at first sight data philanthropy may seem an uncontroversial phenomenon, a closer analysis reveals a bewildering network of problems. In this article, I analyse the role of data philanthropy in contemporary societies and the moral problems that it yields. I argue that the solution to these problems rests on the understanding of the infraethical nature of data philanthropy and on the design of an ethical framework encompassing the right infraethics and the right ethics. This is a framework able to address the changes brought about by the information revolution and to harness the opportunities that these pose for the prosperity of current and future information societies.This article is part of the themed issue 'The ethical impact of data science'. © 2016 The Author(s).
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Anchoring Singapore Philanthropy in Southeast Asia | IDRC ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Already a number of other emerging Southeast Asian middle-income economies ... Management University, to investigate philanthropy in four Southeast Asian ... Call for new OWSD Fellowships for Early Career Women Scientists now open.
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Philanthropy and disparities: progress, challenges, and unfinished business.
Mitchell, Faith; Sessions, Kathryn
2011-10-01
Philanthropy has invested millions of dollars to reduce disparities in health care and improve minority health. Grants to strengthen providers' cultural competence, diversify health professions, and collect data have improved understanding of and spurred action on disparities. The persistence of disparities in spite of these advances has shifted philanthropic attention toward strategies to change social, economic, and environmental conditions. We argue that these evolving perspectives, along with earlier groundwork, present new opportunities for funders, especially in combination with progress toward universal health coverage. This article looks at how philanthropy has addressed health disparities over the past decade, with a focus on accomplishments, the work remaining to be done, and how funders can help advance the disparities agenda.
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The philanthropy scale: a sociological perspective in measuring new forms of pro social behaviour
Schuyt, T.N.M.; Bekkers, R.H.F.P.; Smit, J.H.
2010-01-01
In wealthy countries, philanthropy is conspicuous back on stage. It appears in new forms, worldwide. As a result, scholarly attention for philanthropy is growing. Philanthropic goals refer to persons, groups and communities who, in most cases, are not personally known to the giver. In research,
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Saltman, Kenneth J.
2010-01-01
This is a cutting edge book that not only maps and criticizes venture philanthropy, but also offers a new and different way of conceptualizing public education in response to the neoliberal climate affecting all aspects of public education. This book contains the following chapters: (1) The Trojan School: How Venture Philanthropy is Corporatizing…
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Bekkers, René; Veldhuizen, Ingrid
2008-01-01
The key question addressed in this paper is whether geographical differences in blood donation and philanthropy reflect differences in social capital. We do find considerable spatial variation in blood donation and philanthropy between municipalities in the Netherlands. But we do not find that blood
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An exploratory examination of philanthropy in the New Zealand, Spanish and US wine industries
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sharon L. Forbes
2018-06-01
Full Text Available This exploratory study provides an insight into the concept of philanthropy and how it is applied in the context of wineries. Researchers in three nations interviewed winery owners or managers to obtain qualitative data; this data was categorised to identify common themes, similarities and differences across wineries or nations. Our findings indicate that all the wineries are undertaking philanthropic activities, ranging from donations of wine, time, cash or facilities, to organising or participating in events. These activities are primarily driven by altruistic rather than strategic motivations, and the predominant benefits achieved from philanthropy are personal satisfaction rather than financial. Although only a small number of wineries were interviewed (11, this study of philanthropy is unique as it has examined both small and large businesses operating in a single industry sector, across multiple nations. Whilst the small sample is an obvious limitation of this study, future quantitative research with a larger sample will determine the degree to which these exploratory findings can be deemed to represent the global wine industry. Keywords: Philanthropy, Wine industry, Motives, Benefits, Cross-cultural
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Villadsen, Kaspar
2011-01-01
-governmental organisations and specific services run by volunteers to help different target groups. Charitable trusts may offer philanthropic aid for diverse purposes which allegedly supersede the state’s capacity for action, such as the promotion of business ethics, the strengthening of community participation, health......Neo-philanthropy refers to the re-emergence of philanthropic activities and a growing public trust in those who carry them out as ameliorators of societal and social issues. The original term ‘philanthropy’ designates the donating of money or services for societal purposes or for the benefit...... of specific groups with some perceived need. Further, it is understood that philanthropic activities are guided by some kind of moral, religious, or humanitarian principles. The term has a rather broad range of applications, since it may both designate funding bodies that offer charitable donations and non...
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Who's making global civil society: philanthropy and US empire in world society.
Vogel, Ann
2006-12-01
Theories of US hegemony commonly ignore the role of American philanthropy in the contemporary transformations of world society and the globalization of capitalism. In this essay, I suggest that the philanthropic foundation, and with it the institution of philanthropy, is being invigorated by the expansion of its domestic role to foreign activities and to globally framed activities within the USA. I propose that US philanthropy exports American understandings of democracy and simultaneously organizes global reflexivity through citizenship education for the US populace. I offer a preliminary theoretical interpretation of the empirical patterns of international grant-making activities by US foundations, considering John W. Meyer's concept of 'instrumental culture' and some arguments made by Foucauldian 'governmentality' scholars. I emphasize the need to conceptualize the cultural-symbolic and organizational dimensions of hegemony and suggest further sociological analysis of philanthropic activities as integral to current politically and economically led transformations of societies around the globe.
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Philanthropy in health professions education research: determinants of success.
Paul, Robert; Hollenberg, Elisa; Hodges, Brian D
2017-05-01
Fund-raising is a new practice in medical education research. This qualitative study explores a cross-sectional analysis of philanthropy in medical education in Canada and Europe and identifies some common characteristics in the fund-raising system, key roles and characteristics of research sites that have had success. Medical education research sites that had received donations greater than Can$100 000 were identified by searching publicly available sources. Interviews were conducted with 25 individuals from these and other sites, in four categories: medical education leaders (n = 9); philanthropy-supported chairholders and researchers (n = 5); donors of over Can$100 000 (n = 7), and advancement professionals (n = 4). Interview transcripts were inductively coded to identify themes. Five factors associated with success in accessing philanthropic sources were identified in the sample: support of the organisation's senior leadership; a charismatic champion who motivates donors; access to an advancement office or foundation; impetus to find funds beyond traditional operating budgets, and understanding of the conceptual and practical dimensions of fund-raising. Three types of donor (medical education insider, donor collective and general philanthropist), four faculty roles (trailblazers, rock stars, 'Who? Me?' people and future fund-raisers) and six stages in the fund-raising cycle were also identified. Philanthropy is a source of funding with the potential to significantly advance education research. Yet competence in fund-raising is not widely developed among medical education research leaders. Successful accessing of philanthropic sources of funding requires the ability to articulate the impact of philanthropy in medical education research in a way that will interest donors. This appears to be challenging for medical education leaders, who tend to frame their work in academic terms and have trouble competing against other fund-raising domains. Medical
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Building relationships: the key to successful health care philanthropy.
Grace, Kay Sprinkel
2002-01-01
Creating and maintaining a vigorous philanthropy program has seldom been more challenging to health care organizations. To our communities that are discontent with changed health care management and practices, we have now added economic insecurity and global unrest.
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Ivanoff, Chris S; Ivanoff, Athena E; Yaneva, Krassimira; Hottel, Timothy L; Proctor, Hannah L
2013-10-01
In this study, 491 dental students at one dental school in the United States and one in Bulgaria were surveyed to assess their perceptions about the mission of dental schools to advance global dentistry and philanthropy. The study included questions about prior involvement in charitable dental missions. Many respondents felt that their dental school does not advance global dentistry nor adequately teaches students the virtues of philanthropy and volunteerism. The majority agreed, however, that dental schools have a moral obligation to raise the level of oral health care worldwide and help underserved communities access basic dental care. They reported that an opportunity to spend a semester at a foreign dental school would enhance their dental education in ways that are not presently fulfilled; help them better understand cultural diversity; and teach them about philanthropy and volunteerism. In their opinion, international exchange programs that provide clinical rotations and field experiences in economically challenged and underserved areas of the world would a) foster the global advancement of dentistry; b) promote an appreciation for cultural diversity and socioeconomic disparity in the communities that graduates will be serving; and c) teach students the virtues of philanthropy and volunteerism. This study may contribute to understanding factors affecting student involvement in programs to advance global dentistry.
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Sincerity in corporate philanthropy, stakeholder perceptions and firm value
Cuypers, Ilya R. P.; Koh, Ping-Sheng; Wang, Heli
2016-01-01
This study extends the literature on symbolic management by incorporating the role of stakeholder perceptions into the context of corporate philanthropy. In particular, we differentiate between the quantitative (generous giving) and qualitative (innovative giving) aspects of giving. We argue that
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Philanthropy and Educational Reform during the Great Depression
Watras, Joseph
2005-01-01
The author discusses philanthropy and educational reform from the Great Depression to the present, contrasting the views of that time to "Making It Count" (Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Kelly Amis, 2001.) Although Finn and Amis presented their suggestions as advancing democracy, they thought that educational reform took place best when elite groups…
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Philanthropy and sponsion as constituents of social responsibility of business
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pashniuk L.
2013-02-01
Full Text Available The essence and results of social responsibility of business are considered. Some components of social responsibility of business such as philanthropy and sponsorship are investigated. The main differences of them are defined.
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Philanthropy and Human Rights - The Genealogy of the Idea from Antiquity to Global Society
Øjvind Larsen
2013-01-01
In the last couple of decades, philanthropy has become a concern which is taken seriously in the Western world. Normal people give donations and volunteer on a large scale within the institutions of civil society. This is the case for business corporations as well, who now have to act with a form of personal responsibility. Such a responsibility is institutionalized in the big global CSR movement, which has now been integrated in the UN Global Compact. Philanthropy has many dimensions; these ...
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Corporate philanthropy in the Czech and Slovak Republics
Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database
Hanousek, J.; Kočenda, E.; Svítková, Katarína
2010-01-01
Roč. 60, č. 2 (2010), s. 102-121 ISSN 0015-1920 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : corporate philanthropy * corporate giving * sponsoring * economic transformation * tax treatment Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.278, year: 2010 http://journal.fsv.cuni.cz/storage/1181_102-121---hanousek.pdf
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Lunde Jørgensen, Ida
For the Day of Arts Philanthropy I will reflect on the instrumentalisation of art support in Denmark based on the findings from my thesis work (Jørgensen, 2016) investigating the underlyinglegitimations and institutional logics of two of the most significant foundations supporting visual art......, in Denmark, the private New Carlsberg Foundation and public Danish Arts Foundation.Drawing inspiration from neo-institutional theory (Friedland & Alford, 1991) and French pragmatic sociology (Boltanski & Thévenot, 2006), the thesis identifies the most central logics of legitimationunderlying art support......; the industrial, market, inspired, family, renown, civic, projective, emotional and temporal. The most prominent and consistently invoked instrumentalisations identified are theprofessional (industrial), artistic (inspired) and civic purposes of art support. The thesis shows that the instrumentalisations invoked...
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Global Financial Crisis and Philanthropy: Malaysian Case
Janice Lay Hui Nga
2015-01-01
This paper investigates the issue of the global financial crisis and its impacts on philanthropy and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Malaysia. CSOs are popularly known as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Malaysia. Financial crisis has caused NGOs in many countries to receive less funding. This situation may threaten and discourage voluntary works. Undoubtedly, these beneficial contributions from the NGOs are needful services to the society. This paper examines the impact of fina...
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International Taxation of Philanthropy : Removing tax obstacles for international charities
Koele, I.A.
2007-01-01
Non-profit organizations are increasingly subjected to the forces of globalization. Although this should not come as a surprise, it is curious to note that the taxation of international philanthropy is an area where discrimination as to residence is still very obvious. Whereas domestic philanthropic
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Corporate philanthropy in the Czech and Slovak Republics
Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database
Hanousek, Jan; Kočenda, Evžen; Svítková, K.
2010-01-01
Roč. 60, č. 2 (2010), s. 102-121 ISSN 0015-1920 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA402/09/1595; GA MŠk LC542 Institutional research plan: CEZ:MSM0021620846 Keywords : corporate philanthropy * corporate giving * sponsoring * economic transformation * tax treatment Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.278, year: 2010 http://journal.fsv.cuni.cz/storage/1181_102-121---hanousek.pdf
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Levers for change: philanthropy in select South East Asian countries ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
2016-04-29
Apr 29, 2016 ... Levers for change: philanthropy in select South East Asian countries ... the low donor awareness of societal needs and the lack of donor education and skills development. ... Tourism is an important driver of economic growth throughout Southeast Asia. ... Supporting sustainable economic growth in ASEAN.
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Commentary: Corporate philanthropy and conflicts of interest in public health.
Krimsky, Sheldon
2013-01-01
This commentary discusses how ethicists view the responsibilities of corporations, of their philanthropic spin-offs, and of not-for-profit organizations with regard to use of monies from corporate philanthropies for public health. Article JPHP.2012.60 available at www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/, relates to this commentary.
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Mental health research and philanthropy: possible partnerships?
Scott, Dorothy
2005-01-01
Mental health research has received relatively little philanthropic support in Australia compared with other areas of health research. Philanthropic trusts do not generally provide recurrent funding or make grants for that perceived to be the responsibility of the state or the market. The emergence of 'strategic philanthropy' however, provides potential for mental health researchers to form partnerships with philanthropic foundations, particularly on initiatives that are focused on prevention and innovative and sustainable models with the capacity to 'go to scale' across the service system.
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A Conversation with Jennifer Buffett: The Power of Philanthropy to Transform Cultures
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Riane Eisler
2015-12-01
Full Text Available IJPS Editor-in-Chief Riane Eisler talks with Jennifer Buffett, co-president of the NoVo Foundation, about her ideas, her life, and the role of philanthropy in the cultural transformation toward partnership.
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Reinventing Strategic Philanthropy: the sustainable organization of voluntary action for impact
L.C.P.M. Meijs (Lucas)
2010-01-01
textabstractPhilanthropic organizations have recently started to focus on how to invest their resources in a way that will really make a difference to society. Strategic philanthropy is the new concept for voluntary action for the public good to create a valuable sustainable impact! This inaugural
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From philanthropy to strategy? An assessment of Indian CSR.
Træsborg, Emilie Levin
2014-01-01
This thesis examines how the Indian CSR-approach conforms to the global strategic CSR-trend. To conduct the study, main characteristics of strategic CSR has been identified through institutional theory as corporations, and their responsible behavior, is a dominant institution in todays globalized society. Furthermore, the traditional characteristics of Indian corporate philanthropy have been identified in order to comprehend if the Indian CSR-approach conforms to global strategic CSR in a dis...
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Transition et amélioration des indices mondiaux de philanthropie ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Cette subvention aide à transférer les activités d'élaboration des indices mondiaux de dons privés du Center for Global Prosperity de l'Hudson Institute à la Lilly Family School of Philanthropy de l'Université de l'Indiana. Ce projet vise principalement sur l'inclusion des pays à économie émergente. La Lilly Family School ...
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Giving USA 1997: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 1996.
Kaplan, Ann E., Ed.
This report presents a comprehensive review of private philanthropy in the United States during 1996. After a preliminary section, the first section presents data on giving, using text, graphs, and charts. Sections cover: overall 1996 contributions; changes in giving by source and use; total giving (1966-1996); inflation-adjusted giving in 5-year…
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Tompkins-Stange, Megan E.
2016-01-01
"Policy Patrons" offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current…
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Muller, A.; Kräussl, R.
2011-01-01
Recent research suggests that philanthropy's value to the firm is largely mediated by contextual factors such as managers' assumed motives for charity. Our article extends this contingency perspective using a "sensegiving" lens, by which external actors' interpretations of organizational actions may
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sumaila I. Asuru
2015-02-01
Full Text Available This study seeks to explore the significant contributions of the new philanthropy towards improving the conditions of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African, smallholder farmers’ understanding of philanthropy and to investigate the relationship that exists between philanthropy and smallholder farmers. The research is designed to uncover the needs and drivers of both philanthropy and smallholder farmers in relation to their interaction and the fulfilment of the philanthropic contract they have entered into. The main objective of the thesis is to consider the potential of philanthropy to rural transformation for poverty reduction. It focus is the involvement of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in rural development and poverty reduction in Ghana. Since 2006 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation has dedicated $1.7 billion to assisting smallholder farmers. The bulk of this investment has been delivered through programmes associated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA, which is also supported by the Rockefeller Foundation(Thompson, 2012. This study observed an inherent discrepancies and organisational miscalculations that have adverse influence on the effective collaboration and implementation of philanthropic support to the selected farmers. Untimely release of farming inputs as well as exceedingly unfavourable conditions for the attractions of loans makes it difficult for smooth farming. This exercise also established that both men and women intercrop their farms to ensure household food security and income. Household decisions on which medium of farming to pursue and on use of the income from farming are generally taken by men. Due to these, this research emphasise that philanthropic offering in Ghana should be looked at dispassionately bearing in mind the socio-culturally diverse nature of the country itself as well as key environmental factors that hugely contribute to poverty.
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The philanthropy scale : a sociological perspective in measuring new forms of pro social behaviour
Schuyt, T.N.M.; Bekkers, R.H.F.P.; Smit, J.H.
2010-01-01
Philanthropy re-appears on the public stage. It has become part again of daily life in most industrialized countries. Growing wealth, uneven distributed, evokes the philanthropic response. The media attention for donors as Gates and Buffet may proof this. But also the plea for a “civil society” in
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Networking for philanthropy: increasing volunteer behavior via social networking sites.
Kim, Yoojung; Lee, Wei-Na
2014-03-01
Social networking sites (SNSs) provide a unique social venue to engage the young generation in philanthropy through their networking capabilities. An integrated model that incorporates social capital into the Theory of Reasoned Action is developed to explain volunteer behavior through social networks. As expected, volunteer behavior was predicted by volunteer intention, which was influenced by attitudes and subjective norms. In addition, social capital, an outcome of the extensive use of SNSs, was as an important driver of users' attitude and subjective norms toward volunteering via SNSs.
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Challenges for philanthropy and tobacco control in China (1986-2012).
Redmon, Pamela; Chen, Lincoln C; Wood, Jacob L; Li, Shuyang; Koplan, Jeffrey P
2013-09-01
To identify the international philanthropies that have invested in tobacco control in China, describe their role and strategies in changing the social norms of tobacco use, and define the outcomes achieved. Information on the international philanthropic donor China projects, including activities and outcomes, was gathered from multiple sources including organisational websites, key informant interviews and emails with project officers, and published research papers and reports. Philanthropic donations to China's tobacco control efforts began in 1986. The donors provided funds to national, city, provincial government organisations, non-government organisations, universities, and healthcare organisations throughout China to establish a tobacco control workforce and effective programmes to reduce the burden of tobacco use. International engagement has been an important dimension of tobacco control in China. Recognising the large burden of illness and capitalising on proven effective control measures, philanthropic organisations understandably seized the opportunity to achieve major health gains. Much of the international philanthropic investment has been directed at public information, policy change and building the Chinese research knowledge base. Documenting research and evaluation findings will continue to be important to ensure that promising practices and lessons learned are identified and shared with the China tobacco control practitioners. The ultimate question is whether foreign philanthropy is making a difference in tobacco control and changing social norms in China? The answer is plainly and simply that we do not know; the evidence is not yet available.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jean Baffie
2013-06-01
Full Text Available La philanthropie semble avoir en Asie suscité un net engouement ces dernières décennies. En Thaïlande toutefois, ces largesses financières à l’égard des œuvres du bouddhisme ou des fondations patronnées par la famille royale ne sont pas toujours l’illustration d’un total désintéressement. En effet, en contrepartie de cette générosité bien orientée, le donateur peut espérer recevoir – voire réclamer – une des multiples décorations officiellement attribuées par le souverain. Lorsque le donateur est une donatrice, certaines médailles donnent droit à des titres placés dorénavant devant le prénom qui ont pour effet de distinguer une nouvelle noblesse. Cette ferveur pour les décorations a pu entraîner dans le passé des phénomènes de corruption de la part de hauts responsables de monastères bouddhiques habilités à délivrer des certificats de donations. Au lieu de réelle philanthropie ou même d’évergétisme à la mode antique, c’est bien de course aux honneurs ou philotimie qu’il convient ici de parler.We can at times talk of a craze for philanthropy in Asia. However, in Thailand, that financial liberality for Buddhism charitable works or the plethora of foundations patronized by members of the royal family are not always a proof a perfect unselfishness. Actually, in return for this well connected generosity, the donator expects to receive—or even ask for—one of numerous decorations officially bestowed by the king. Even, in the case of the donator being a woman, some of these medals of higher ranks have for effect that therefore a special title is positioned ahead of the personal name just like if it was to create a new kind of nobility. In the past, that enthusiasm for royal decorations has generated cases of corruption by some high-level monastery hierarchy empowered for the delivery of donation certificates. Instead of true philanthropy or even antic style evergetism, we should talk here of
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Challenges for philanthropy and tobacco control in China (1986–2012)
Redmon, Pamela; Chen, Lincoln C; Wood, Jacob L; Li, Shuyang; Koplan, Jeffrey P
2013-01-01
Objective To identify the international philanthropies that have invested in tobacco control in China, describe their role and strategies in changing the social norms of tobacco use, and define the outcomes achieved. Methods Information on the international philanthropic donor China projects, including activities and outcomes, was gathered from multiple sources including organisational websites, key informant interviews and emails with project officers, and published research papers and reports. Results Philanthropic donations to China's tobacco control efforts began in 1986. The donors provided funds to national, city, provincial government organisations, non-government organisations, universities, and healthcare organisations throughout China to establish a tobacco control workforce and effective programmes to reduce the burden of tobacco use. Conclusions International engagement has been an important dimension of tobacco control in China. Recognising the large burden of illness and capitalising on proven effective control measures, philanthropic organisations understandably seized the opportunity to achieve major health gains. Much of the international philanthropic investment has been directed at public information, policy change and building the Chinese research knowledge base. Documenting research and evaluation findings will continue to be important to ensure that promising practices and lessons learned are identified and shared with the China tobacco control practitioners. The ultimate question is whether foreign philanthropy is making a difference in tobacco control and changing social norms in China? The answer is plainly and simply that we do not know; the evidence is not yet available. PMID:23708270
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Johnston, J. Howard
2011-01-01
Education is a top-priority funding area for corporate philanthropy, mostly because corporate leaders recognize that strategic investments in education can have long-term pay off for their companies as well as for students and schools. It is also one of the most visible and effective means for demonstrating a company's commitment to corporate…
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American Missionary Universities in China and the Middle East and American Philanthropy
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø
2014-01-01
This article investigates the interacting soft power of two important categories of American transnational actors: American missionary universities in China and the Middle East and American religious, foundation and individual philanthropy. These transnational actors have had and have soft power...... in the host societies. The universities and their philanthropic donors have strengthened US national soft power regarding milieu goals of elite attraction to education, language and liberal norms. However, US national soft power concerning possession goals of acceptance of foreign policies in China...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kurniawati Chrisjatmiko
2018-02-01
Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of philanthropy responsibility and ethical responsibility towards customer purchase behavior and customer loyalty on fast food restaurants. The research was conducted by using quantitative research design and hypothetical testing to explore philanthropic responsibility, ethical responsibility, customer purchase behavior, and customer loyalty variables. Samples were taken from 186 respondents of employee population in Jakarta. Structural equation modeling was used in order to test the proposed hypotheses. Research result showed the positive and significant impact of philanthropic responsibility towards customer purchase behavior. On contrary, there was no positive ethical responsibility impact found towards customer purchase behavior. These findings are supported by the fact that the majority of consumers purchased fast food base on impulsive buying and not driven by the fast food restaurants ethically responsible behavior. However, the research does show a positive and significant impact of customer purchase behavior on customer loyalty. Further research recommendation should be taken from more respondents in a broader population area. Companies are suggested to approach a strategic and relevant caused-related marketing and caused promotions in relation to philanthropy responsibility to increase customer purchase behavior.
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Kurniawati Chrisjatmiko; Danthy Margareth
2018-01-01
The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of philanthropy responsibility and ethical responsibility towards customer purchase behavior and customer loyalty on fast food restaurants. The research was conducted by using quantitative research design and hypothetical testing to explore philanthropic responsibility, ethical responsibility, customer purchase behavior, and customer loyalty variables. Samples were taken from 186 respondents of employee population in Jakarta. Structural eq...
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The Power of Giving: Investigating the Shape of Private Philanthropy, a California Case Study
Kohl, Erica
2006-01-01
This paper concerns the relationship between private philanthropy and social movements. At a time when the unions, social service and legal aide agencies, and other structures that supported social movements of the past are suffering declining resources and public legitimacy or are failing to move with the needs of the new working poor, privately funded non-profit organizations have become the primary vehicle for organizing poor and marginalized communities. Relatively few scholars have inves...
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MacLean, Vicky M.; Williams, Joyce E.
2012-01-01
This embedded case study of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy (CSCP) illustrates the development of disciplinary boundaries during a transitional period of professionalization in the social sciences, particularly for the fields of sociology and social work. Drawing on archival data (e.g., reports, scholarly and autobiographical…
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Ethical philanthropy in academic psychiatry.
Roberts, Laura Weiss
2006-05-01
From an ethical perspective, psychiatrists cannot accept gifts of significant monetary value from their patients. This guideline raises important questions regarding institutional practices related to gift-giving in academic psychiatry. The first aim of this article is to explain the ethical tensions and shared ethical commitments of the professions of psychiatry and philanthropy. The second aim is to outline a series of steps that may be undertaken to assure ethical philanthropic practices within an institution, including the establishment of a committed advisory workgroup and the creation of ground rules and safeguards for gift-giving. Each situation should be evaluated for "ethical risk," and specific measures to safeguard donors should be considered. The author outlines methods to manage, minimize, or eliminate conflict of interest issues, including identification and disclosure of conflicting interests, role separation, goal clarification, confidentiality protections, proper timing, and ongoing oversight. Three case illustrations are provided and discussed. The process of institutional engagement, dialogue, and shared problem-solving is especially important. A shared, constructive ethic will be attained only if leaders and diverse stakeholders communicate the value of the new approach through their words, expectations, and actions. Through these efforts, greater attention will be given to the concerns of people with mental illness, and academic institutions may be better able to fulfill their responsibilities to this important but neglected population now and in the future.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
J. Brad Gatlin
2013-07-01
Full Text Available Fortune Magazine’s 2012 list of 100 largest companies included 21 oil companies. This paper seeks to discern patterns of those 21 companies’ philanthropic efforts and communication thereof. Specifically, the paper will consider issues such as ownership (all companies were either publicly-traded or state-owned, the economic development of the home country, and the citizens’ expectations of corporate citizens. The philanthropic efforts of all 21 companies are discussed in the context of Porter and Kramer’s (2001 framework of the competitive context It is concluded that the oil industry is particularly well-suited to affect factor and, to a lesser extent, demand conditions, through philanthropic efforts. A model for classifying the philanthropic based on ownership and country conditions is proposed, and suggestions for further research are made.
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Devotional fitness: aspects of a contemporary religious system
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Martin Radermacher
2012-01-01
Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to describe some more or less representative groups within the area of devotional fitness in the USA, to compare their ideas to those held in Christian congregations in Germany and to extract some of the most important features of these movements. The descriptive section, ‘Examples of fitness in US evangelicalism’, will have a short look at three of these movements and then examine one of them more thoroughly, namely, the concept of ‘Shaped by Faith’. The next part of the descriptive section (‘Aspects of religion and fitness in Germany’ will look into the connections between sports and religion in Christian congregations in Germany. In the third section, some of the historical trajectories which have influenced contemporary body ideals in both ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ contexts in the United States and Germany are briefly described. In the analytical section, the material is screened for striking similarities and recurring motifs and a preliminary definition of ‘devotional fitness’ is suggested. One particular feature of these currents, the blurring of genres, is dealt with more thoroughly in section ‘The blurring of genres in devotional fitness’. The article ends with some ideas as to how these concepts of devotional fitness could be researched within the analytical frame of cultural semiotics.
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DEVOTION IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE NOTEBOOK (1996: AN INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yuli Andria Fajarini
2017-08-01
Full Text Available The study described the devotion of Noah Calhoun, the main character in Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook. It focused on its structural elements and the devotion of Noah to deal with inferiority feeling and compensation, striving for superiority, fictional finalism, style of life, social interest, and creative self that were explored through an individual psychological approach. This research was qualitative research with the primary data source of the novel entitled The Notebook written by Nicholas Sparks in 1996. While the secondary data were other related sources. The data were collected through library research. The results showed that based on individual psychology analysis the major character, Noah Calhoun is psychologically affected. Noah fights hard to get his true love and shows her his devotion. He dedicates all of his life for Allie. Keywords: Devotion, The Notebook, Individual Psychological Approach.
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Philanthropy, politics and promotion: Philip Morris' "charitable contributions" in Thailand.
MacKenzie, Ross; Collin, Jeff
2008-08-01
The efforts of members of the tobacco industry to portray themselves as responsible corporations via ostensible commitment to improved labour practices and public philanthropy have attracted growing criticism. This is particularly true of corporate social responsibility (CSR) schemes undertaken in emerging nations that are designed to rehabilitate the tobacco industry's image among public, government and market opinions in North America and western Europe. In the case of Thailand, sponsorship of arts events and community groups has been one avenue of promoting the industry in a regulatory environment that severely curtails promotion and advertising. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Art Award, sponsored by Philip Morris (PM) has provided one such outlet for 10 years. Analysis of PM funding announcements since the end of the ASEAN art programme in Thailand reveals that recent donations to tobacco-related community organisations reinforces the extent to which seemingly generous acts are driven by corporate self-interest rather than social responsibility.
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Walter, Jennifer K; Griffith, Kent A; Jagsi, Reshma
2015-11-10
Physician participation in philanthropy is important to marshal resources that allow hospitals to pursue their missions, but little is known about how physicians participate and their attitudes toward participation. To characterize philanthropic roles physicians play and their attitudes about participation and its ethical acceptability, medical oncologists affiliated with the 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers were randomly sampled and surveyed to evaluate experiences and attitudes regarding participation in philanthropy at their institutions. Responses were tabulated; significant associations by physicians' characteristics were explored. A total of 405 (52%) physicians responded; 62% were men, and 72% were white. Most (71%) had been exposed to their institution's fundraising/development staff; 48% of those were taught how to identify patients who would be good donors; 26% received information about ethical guidelines for soliciting donations from their patients; 21% were taught how their institution ensures Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance. A third (32%) of respondents had been asked to directly solicit a donation from their patients for their institution, of whom half declined to do so. Those who had solicited from their patients had been in practice significantly longer (mean, 19 v 13 years; P donation (men more than women, 43% v 26%; P = .008); however, 74% agreed it could interfere with the physician-patient relationship, and 52% believe conflict of interest exists. Institutions are asking physicians to directly solicit their patients for donations with variability in physicians' perceptions of the impact on relationships with patients and responses toward those requests. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Maria Vieira Silva
2012-01-01
Full Text Available This paper summarizes research results obtained by the authors on the new formats of capitalist philanthropy through volunteering work. It highlights, especially,teaching practices developed in companies with “social responsibility”, consolidating a new modality of teacher’s work. From speeches of company managers and volunteer teachers, the analyses contextualize the paradoxes, contradictions, and ambiguities found in volunteering activities, catching the processes of work intensification observed in the set of devices provided by the capitalist administration, which focus on the subjective dimensions of the worker and the objective dimensions of capital accumulation.
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The Influence of the Devotion Movement on the Health Care in North Korea
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
KIM Soo-Youn
2006-06-01
Full Text Available Since the early 1960s, North Korea has conducted 'devotion movement' under the directorship of Kim Il Sung across the nation. As a matter of fact, the movement was not a novel invention at all. When North Korean Temporary People's Polity was established in 1946, North Korea emphasized the importance of the devoted care of health personnel. It meant to reform the people's thought and mind along with complementing the lack of human and material resources. Thought reform was not a peculiar phenomenon observed in North Korea only. It was particularly stressed out among communist countries, including the Soviet Union. However any other communist country stresses the importance of thought reform. Devotion movement should be viewed as part of this process. As shown in many cases, the extent and degree of devotion movement and care are beyond our imagination, which does not intend to mean that North Korean health personnel's attitude towards patients is superior to the counterparts in South Korea. Indeed human being's behavior cannot be understood without taking account of society in general. The question can be raised as to whether or not North Korean health personnel's devoted care is really voluntary. To put aside the testimony that the most powerless group in a society can fall prey to victims, if social environment, whether directly or indirectly, is action on the people's thought and mind even in a subtle way and thus influence one's decision power, it is hard to highly evaluate the devoted care in North Korea. Moreover it seems like that the internal conflict exists surrounding devotion. In conclusion, I think that North Korean devotion movement has enforced health personnel to reform their thought and mind to adapt to North Korean regime and has played an important role to accomplish the purpose of North Korean Labor Party to realize essential constituents of its health system, in such a situation in which essential medical supplies are severely
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19th Scientific Readings Devoted to P.N. Chirvinskiy
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
I. Ya. Ilaltdinov
2017-03-01
Full Text Available Scientific conference devoted to P.N. Chirvinskiy was held in the Perm State University (January 2017. The problems of mineralogy, petrology, lithology, metallogeny and geochemistry were discussed.
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Ivanoff, Chris S; Yaneva, Krassimira; Luan, Diana; Andonov, Bogomil; Kumar, Reena R; Agnihotry, Anirudha; Ivanoff, Athena E; Emmanouil, Dimitrios; Volpato, Luiz Evaristo Ricci; Koneski, Filip; Muratovska, Ilijana; Al-Shehri, Huda A; Al-Taweel, Sara M; Daly, Michele
2017-04-01
Training culturally competent graduates who can practice effectively in a multicultural environment is a goal of contemporary dental education. The Global Oral Health Initiative is a network of dental schools seeking to promote global dentistry as a component of cultural competency training. Before initiating international student exchanges, a survey was conducted to assess students' awareness of global dentistry and interest in cross-national clerkships. A 22-question, YES/NO survey was distributed to 3,487 dental students at eight schools in seven countries. The questions probed students about their school's commitment to enhance their education by promoting global dentistry, volunteerism and philanthropy. The data were analysed using Vassarstats statistical software. In total, 2,371 students (67.9%) completed the survey. Cultural diversity was seen as an important component of dental education by 72.8% of the students, with two-thirds (66.9%) acknowledging that their training provided preparation for understanding the oral health care needs of disparate peoples. A high proportion (87.9%) agreed that volunteerism and philanthropy are important qualities of a well-rounded dentist, but only about one-third felt that their school supported these behaviours (36.2%) or demonstrated a commitment to promote global dentistry (35.5%). In addition, 87.4% felt that dental schools are morally bound to improve oral health care in marginalised global communities and should provide students with international exchange missions (91%), which would enhance their cultural competency (88.9%) and encourage their participation in charitable missions after graduation (67.6%). The study suggests that dental students would value international exchanges, which may enhance students' knowledge and self-awareness related to cultural competence. © 2016 FDI World Dental Federation.
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Philanthropy as a source of funding for nursing initiatives.
Kleinpell, Ruth M; Start, Rachel; McIntosh, Erik; Worobec, Sophia; Llewellyn, Jane
2014-01-01
Nurse leaders are challenged with ensuring that research and evidence-based practices are being integrated into clinical care. Initiatives such as the Magnet Recognition Program have helped reinforce the importance of advancing nursing practices to integrate best practices, conduct quality improvement initiatives, improve performance metrics, and involve bedside nurses in conducting research and evidence-based practice projects. While seeking research funding is an option for some initiatives, other strategies such as seeking funding from grateful patients or from philanthropic resources are becoming important options for nurse leaders to pursue, as the availability of funding from traditional sources such as professional organizations or federal funding becomes more limited. In addition, more institutions are seeking and applying for funding, increasing the pool of candidates who are vying for existing funding. Seeking alternative sources of funding, such as through philanthropy, becomes a viable option. This article reviews important considerations in seeking funding from philanthropic sources for nursing initiatives. Examples from a multiyear project that focused on promoting a healthy work environment and improving nursing morale are used to highlight strategies that were used to solicit, obtain, and secure extension funding from private foundation funding to support the initiative.
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Samad, Lubna; Iqbal, Mehreen; Tariq, Ahson; Shahzad, Wasif; Khan, Aamir J
2015-01-01
Equitable access to surgical care is necessary for improving global health. We report on the performance, financial sustainability, and policy impact of a free-of-cost multispecialty surgical delivery program in Karachi, Pakistan built upon local private philanthropy. We evaluated trends in surgical service delivery, expenditures, and philanthropic donations from Indus Hospital's first 5 years of operation (2007-2012), projected these over the hospital's current expansion phase, compared these to publicly accessible records of other philanthropic hospitals providing surgical care, and documented the government's evolving policies toward this model. Between 2007 and 2012, Indus Hospital treated 40,012 in-patients free of cost, 33,606 (84 %) of them for surgical procedures. Surgical procedures increased fivefold to 9,478 during 2011-2012 from 1,838 during 2007-2008. Bed occupancy increased to 91 % from 65 % over the same period. External surgical missions accounted for less than 0.5 % of patients served. Ninety-eight percent (98 %) of all philanthropic donations--totaling USD 26.6 million over 2007-2012--were locally generated. Zakat (obligatory annual religious alms in the Islamic faith) constituted 34 % of all donations, followed by unrestricted funds (24 %) and donations-in-kind (24 %), buildings (12 %), grants (5 %), and return on investments (1 %). Overall, donations received between 2007 and 2012 increased sevenfold, with Zakat increasing 12-fold. During 2013-2014, the Government of Pakistan provided land lease and annual operational grants totaling USD 9 million. Local philanthropy can sustain and grow the provision of free, high-quality surgical care in low-income settings, and encourage the development of hybrid government-philanthropic models of surgical care.
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Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion. Guide for Educators.
Ridley, Sarah
This teaching packet serves as a unit by itself or as part of preparation unit for a visit to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to see the exhibition "Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion." Focusing on Hindu religious objects found in an art museum, the packet suggests connections between art and world studies themes. In addition, these…
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Corporate interests, philanthropies, and the peace movement.
Wright, T; Rodriguez, F; Waitzkin, H
1986-01-01
Corporate and philanthropic involvement in the peace movement is growing. In considering medical peace groups as examples, we have studied the ways that corporate and philanthropic funding have shaped the course of activism. Our methods have included: review of the Foundations Grant Index from 1974-1983; analysis of corporations' and foundations' criteria for grants in the categories of peace, arms control, and disarmament; interviews with leaders of activist organizations and with foundation officials; and our own experiences in the peace movement. Corporate interests in preventing nuclear war stem from a concern for global stability in which world markets may expand, and from a hope to frame issues posed by the peace movement in a way that will not challenge basic structures of power and finance. Several general features make peace groups respectable and attractive to philanthropies; an uncritical stance toward corporate participation in the arms race; a viewpoint that the main danger of nuclear war stems from a profound, bilateral conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union; and a single-issue focus that does not deal with the many related problems reflecting the injustices of capitalism. The two major medical groups working for peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), have accomplished many goals; however, their adherence to subtle criteria of respectability and their dependence on philanthropic funding have limited the scope of their activism. The struggle for peace can not succeed without fundamental changes in the corporate system that initiates, maintains, and promotes the arms race.
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2010-10-28
... Determinations: ``Object of Devotion: Medieval English Alabaster Sculpture From the Victoria and Albert Museum... Devotion: Medieval English Alabaster Sculpture from the Victoria and Albert Museum,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural significance. The objects are...
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Proceedings of the international conference devoted to centenary of N.V.Timofeev-Resovskij
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Milyutin, A.A.; Mosseh, I.B.
2000-10-01
International Sakharov environmental university has held scientific conference devoted to centenary for birthday of the great scientist N.V.Timofeev-Resovskij. On conference three sections acted: radioecology, radiobiology and both common and radiation genetics. These issues correspond to the basic directions of activity of the scientist. Taking into account the radioecological consequences of accident on the Chernobyl NPP for Belarus the majority of articles is devoted to action of radiation on organisms
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ilza Mara Lima
2013-03-01
Full Text Available Este artigo pretende analisar os cemitérios como espaço de múltiplas devoções, dentre elas as devoções marginais: as diversas formas com as quais as pessoas cultuam seus mortos, através de seus túmulos. As devoções que são manifestadas perante esses túmulos dentro dos cemitérios demonstram esta prática de fé, que se denomina de devoção marginal. Pessoas comuns que após a morte, ganham a veneração de fieis que lhe pedem a interseção junto ao sagrado, são cultuadas como milagreiras. Após o pedido realizado, o devoto passa há ornamentar o tumulo do Milagreiro, com Flores, Velas, Ex votos em forma de agradecimento. O túmulo então se torna objeto de veneração e peregrinação. O artigo examina como esta devoção no cemitério do Bonfim, em Belo Horizonte, mais especificamente no túmulo da milagreira Irmã Benigna, auxilia os devotos nos momentos de suas angústias e aflições. Analisa-se como essa devoção se perpetua à margem da crença oficial. Palavras-chave: Morte. Enterramento. Túmulo. Devoção. Irmã Benigna. Abstract This article analyzes the cemeteries as a place of many devotions, devotions among them marginal. the various ways in which people worship their dead through their graves. The devotions that are manifested before these graves within the cemeteries demonstrate the practice of faith is called the marginal devotion. Ordinary people who are worshiped as a miracle worker. The article examines how this devotion in the cemetery of Bonfim in Belo Horizonte City, more specifically in the miraculous Num Benigna’s Tomb helps the devotees by the time their distress happene. It looks at how devotion is perpetuated the margin of the official belief. Keywords: Death. Burial. Grave. Devotion. Nun Benigna’s.
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Born, Laurie; Wilson, Dave
This report examines the relationship between philanthropy and public schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas served by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). While begun as a project to build understanding and to support institutional planning, this report speaks also to local school leaders, the…
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Bartek, Ronald J
2014-01-01
The business model for medical therapy development has changed drastically. Large companies that once conducted their own Research and Development (R&D) and funded all the preclinical studies, all phases of clinical development and marketing of the products are increasingly turning to others for more and more of the earlier work in hopes of being able to in-license a de-risked program well downstream, take it through the final phases of clinical development and into the marketplace. This new paradigm has required patient-advocacy foundations, especially in the rare-disease space, to become far more effective in building relationships with all the players along the therapy-development pathway -- academic scientists, government agencies, other foundations with overlapping interests, biotechs, small biopharmaceutical entities and even the larger industry companies. From the perspective of the patient-advocacy community, these increasingly essential public-private partnerships have taken on the nature of what could be called joint-venture philanthropy and involve a broad spectrum of collaborations and financial relationships between foundations and industry partners that are not without concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Murray, Ciarán; Carstensen, Jacob; Andersen, Jesper
2015-01-01
-based tools, which classify ecological/environmental status in two classes (good or not good) and five classes (High, Good, Moderate, Poor or Bad) by comparing observed indicator values with specified status classification boundaries. Assessments are made for geographical entities (“sectors” in DEVOTES......We present two prototype tools for assessment of GES (good ecological status and good environmental status) in aquatic ecosystems: the DEVOTES biodiversity assessment tool (for the MSFD) and the WATERS ecological status assessment tool (for the WFD). Both tools are multi-metric indicator...... for sub-division of sectors and habitat types into hierarchical structures. The DEVOTES tool weights indicator results from different sectors according to their geographical extent and/or assigned quantitative value scores. The DEVOTES tool allows the assessment to be targeted to a particular ecosystem...
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Loy Yang A - Australia's largest privatisation
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Yenckin, C.
1997-01-01
The recent A$4,746 million privatisation of the 2000MW Loy Yang A power station and the Loy Yang coal mine by the Victorian Government is Australia's largest privatisation and one of 1997's largest project financing deals. (author)
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ISTC projects devoted to improving laser beam quality
Malakhov, Yu. I.
2007-05-01
Short overview is done about the activity of ISTC in a direction concerned with improving powerful laser beam quality by means of nonlinear and linear adaptive optics methods. Completed projects #0591 and #1929 resulted in the development of a stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase conjugation mirror of superhigh fidelity employing the kinoform optical elements (rasters of small lenses) of new generation designed for pulsed or pulse-periodic lasers with nanosecond scale pulse duration. Project #2631 is devoted to development of an adaptive optical system for phase registration and correction of laser beams with wave front vortices. The principles of operation of conventional adaptive systems are based on the assumption that the phase is a smooth continuous function in space. Therefore the solution of the Project tasks will assume a new step in adaptive optics.
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Nitadpakorn, Sujin; Farris, Karen B; Kittisopee, Tanattha
2017-01-01
The concept of customer engagement and devotion has been applied in various service businesses to keep the customers with business However, a limited number of studies were performed to examine the context of customer engagement and devotion in pharmacy business which focus on the impact of customer perceptions about pharmacists, perceived quality of pharmacy structure, medication price strategy on pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in a pharmacy providing pharmaceutical care to the customers. This study aimed to assess a conceptual model depicting the relationships among customer perceptions about pharmacists, pharmacy quality structure, medication price, customer engagement, and customer devotion. And also aimed to assess and measure if there is a direct or indirect relationship between these factors. A quantitative study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred and fifty three customers who regularly visited the pharmacy were randomly recruited from a purposively selected 30 community pharmacies in Bangkok. The survey was completed during February to April 2016. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect relationships between constructs. A total of 253/300 questionnaires were returned for analysis, and the response rate was 84%. Only perceptions about pharmacist in customers receiving professional pharmacy services was statically significant regarding relationship with pharmacy engagement (beta=0.45). Concurrently, the model from empirical data fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.06, adjusted chi-square (CMIN/DF)=1.16, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=0.93, Comparatively Fit Index (CFI)=0.99, and Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA)=0.03). The study confirmed the indirect positive influence of customer perceptions about pharmacist on pharmacy customer devotion in providing pharmacy services via pharmacy engagement It was customer perceptions about pharmacist that influenced
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nitadpakorn S
2017-09-01
Full Text Available Background: The concept of customer engagement and devotion has been applied in various service businesses to keep the customers with business However, a limited number of studies were performed to examine the context of customer engagement and devotion in pharmacy business which focus on the impact of customer perceptions about pharmacists, perceived quality of pharmacy structure, medication price strategy on pharmacy engagement and pharmacy customer devotion in a pharmacy providing pharmaceutical care to the customers. Objective: This study aimed to assess a conceptual model depicting the relationships among customer perceptions about pharmacists, pharmacy quality structure, medication price, customer engagement, and customer devotion. And also aimed to assess and measure if there is a direct or indirect relationship between these factors. Methods: A quantitative study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred and fifty three customers who regularly visited the pharmacy were randomly recruited from a purposively selected 30 community pharmacies in Bangkok. The survey was completed during February to April 2016. A structural equation model (SEM was used to assess the direct and indirect relationships between constructs. Results: A total of 253/300 questionnaires were returned for analysis, and the response rate was 84%. Only perceptions about pharmacist in customers receiving professional pharmacy services was statically significant regarding relationship with pharmacy engagement (beta=0.45. Concurrently, the model from empirical data fit with the hypothetical model (p-value = 0.06, adjusted chi-square (CMIN/DF=1.16, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI=0.93, Comparatively Fit Index (CFI=0.99, and Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA=0.03. Conclusion: The study confirmed the indirect positive influence of customer perceptions about pharmacist on pharmacy customer devotion in providing pharmacy services via pharmacy
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Josephine's journey: Gender-based violence and Marian devotion in urban Papua New Guinea
Hermkens, A.K.
2008-01-01
This article deals with how, in the urban setting of Madang, Papua New Guinea, Marian devotion is deployed in response to domestic and gender-based violence. While providing insight into the lived religious experiences of Catholic women living in Madang, this article shows how Mary empowers her
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Interdisciplinary research center devoted to molecular environmental science opens
Vaughan, David J.
In October, a new research center opened at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The center is the product of over a decade of ground-breaking interdisciplinary research in the Earth and related biological and chemical sciences at the university The center also responds to the British governments policy of investing in research infrastructure at key universities.The Williamson Research Centre, the first of its kind in Britain and among the first worldwide, is devoted to the emerging field of molecular environmental science. This field also aims to bring about a revolution in understanding of our environment. Though it may be a less violent revolution than some, perhaps, its potential is high for developments that could affect us all.
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What is like to be a devoted doctor? An analysis of book reports on The Painted Veil
Hwang, Kun; Kim, Hun; Kim, Ae Yang; Hwang, Se Won; Hwang, Se Ho
2016-01-01
Purpose: The aim of this study is to see what medical students think about the role of spouse of a devoted medical doctor through the book reports of The Painted Veil (1925). Methods: The 53 medical students were asked to read Maugham’s The Painted Veil and to have a discussion. In their book reports, following questions were asked to be included: What it is like to be married a devoted medical doctor? Do you think that patients realize, value, and respect the importance of doctor’s work? In ...
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What is like to be a devoted doctor? An analysis of book reports on
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kun Hwang
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this study is to see what medical students think about the role of spouse of a devoted medical doctor through the book reports of The Painted Veil (1925. Methods: The 53 medical students were asked to read Maugham’s The Painted Veil and to have a discussion. In their book reports, following questions were asked to be included: What it is like to be married a devoted medical doctor? Do you think that patients realize, value, and respect the importance of doctor’s work? In the outbreak of highly infectious and fatal disease, can you carry out a heroic fight to control it? Results: Among the 53 respondents, seven students (13% answered that they would be happy if they marry a devoted doctor and scientist and 34 (64% unhappy. The remaining 12 (23% could not make a decision. The six students (11% answered that doctor is valued and respected by patients while 46 (87% answered doctor is neither valued nor respected. The remaining one (2% could not decide. The 20 students (38% answered that they would fight for the infectious disease and the remaining 30 (57% answered that they would not. The remaining three (5% could not determine their mind. Conclusion: The Painted Veil induced a virtue of “life of balance and harmony” and “attitude of doctor who give superiority to responsibility and duty over prestige and wealth” from the medical students. It could be a good teaching material for medical humanity.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2002-01-01
Theses of the reports submitted to the International conference devoted to the 35-year period of the FSUE TSNIIATOMINFORM are presented in this collection. Outlined reports encompass wide assortment of the points on the Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States electric power engineering growth in the foreseeable future. Set of the reports is devoted to the problems of a competitive progression of the Russian nuclear energetics. Lines of the information supporting of nuclear energetics evolution programs, ecological and economical aspects of regional reforms, mathematical simulation on the basis of system analysis are treated. Certain materials devoted to the FSUE TSNIIATOMINFORM departments function are exhibited in this publication [ru
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Josephine’s journey: Gender-based violence and Marian devotion in urban Papua New Guinea
Hermkens, A.K.
2008-01-01
This article deals with how, in the urban setting of Madang, Papua New Guinea, Marian devotion is deployed in response to domestic and gender-based violence. While providing insight into the lived religious experiences of Catholic women living in Madang, this article shows how Mary empowers her
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Largest College Endowments, 2011
Chronicle of Higher Education, 2012
2012-01-01
Of all endowments valued at more than $250-million, the UCLA Foundation had the highest rate of growth over the previous year, at 49 percent. This article presents a table of the largest college endowments in 2011. The table covers the "rank," "institution," "market value as of June 30, 2011," and "1-year change" of institutions participating in…
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Nanoparticles monitoring in workplaces devoted to nanotechnologies
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Manodori, Laura; Benedetti, Alvise
2009-01-01
The impact of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) on human and environmental health is largely unknown at the moment, although their applications involve a wide range of fields from electronics, medicine, environmental remediation, packaging, etc. and their use are becoming very common. Currently the best way to estimate the human exposure to ENP is by monitoring the workplaces, which are the first environment involved in their involuntary release. This study has been carried out in the research laboratories of the CIVEN Association, devoted to the promotion of research and training activities in different fields of nanotechnology. Its aim is to evaluate the emission of particles in the full range from 5 nm to 20 μm from two different deposition processes of thin film (plasma enhanced chemical and physical vapour deposition, PECVD and PVD respectively) and from the compounding of polymers with nanofillers by means of twin screw extruder. The results show very different scenarios of emissions. In particular a significant increase of particles concentration has been detected at the opening of the PECVD vacuum chamber and during nanocomposite compounding. In the first case it rises to 3 000 particles cm -3 , while in the second one the emissions are two orders of magnitude larger, reaching more than 1.5 x 10 5 particles cm -3 .
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Nanoparticles monitoring in workplaces devoted to nanotechnologies
Manodori, Laura; Benedetti, Alvise
2009-05-01
The impact of engineered nanoparticles (ENP) on human and environmental health is largely unknown at the moment, although their applications involve a wide range of fields from electronics, medicine, environmental remediation, packaging, etc. and their use are becoming very common. Currently the best way to estimate the human exposure to ENP is by monitoring the workplaces, which are the first environment involved in their involuntary release. This study has been carried out in the research laboratories of the CIVEN Association, devoted to the promotion of research and training activities in different fields of nanotechnology. Its aim is to evaluate the emission of particles in the full range from 5 nm to 20 μm from two different deposition processes of thin film (plasma enhanced chemical and physical vapour deposition, PECVD and PVD respectively) and from the compounding of polymers with nanofillers by means of twin screw extruder. The results show very different scenarios of emissions. In particular a significant increase of particles concentration has been detected at the opening of the PECVD vacuum chamber and during nanocomposite compounding. In the first case it rises to 3 000 particles cm-3, while in the second one the emissions are two orders of magnitude larger, reaching more than 1.5 × 105 particles cm-3.
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Scott, Johnson; Listwin, Don
2007-01-01
A new trend in research funding has emerged: directed philanthropy, in which the donor plays an active, hands-on role in managing the research by applying a "business model." Although such efforts now represent only a small portion of foundation funding, they have potentially far-reaching implications because (1) the approach of using a business model is being applied more broadly and (2) the success or failure of these efforts may portend the fate of larger translational efforts. The author conducted interviews with Scott Johnson of the Myelin Repair Foundation and Don Listwin of the Canary Foundation in the fall of 2006.
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Marinetto, M
1999-01-01
According to neo-liberal economists such as Friedman and Hayek, the prime function of any business enterprise is to generate profits; its central responsibility is to shareholders. The idea that business owners should also seek to perform social tasks is regarded as completely erroneous. Historical evidence suggests that not all business leaders have been content simply to perform a commercial role in society. Numerous industrialists and entrepreneurs throughout the nineteenth century made significant contributions to their local communities. The early efforts of socially responsible business leaders are well documented. This paper aims to build on existing historical analysis of business philanthropy and social involvement by analysing developments in post-war Britain. Three main historical developments are outlined. Firstly, the early post-war years, despite the formation of the welfare state, witnessed some notable efforts to engage business in society. These were mainly inspired by church-led organisations and Christian entrepreneurs. Second, the expansion of the corporate economy throughout the 1940s and 1950s placed increasing constraints on the social aspirations of businesses. Finally, from the mid-1970s onwards there grew a more general interest in corporate responsibility. This was consolidated in the 1980s. As part of the general redefinition of state functions in this period, the role of business in addressing social problems became more prominent. Such political and policy developments, it is argued, have made a significant contribution towards enhancing the social role of business.
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Largest particle detector nearing completion
2006-01-01
"Construction of another part of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the worl's largest particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland, is nearing completion. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is oner of the LHC project's four large particle detectors. (1/2 page)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kulazhanova, K.S.
1996-01-01
Collection consists of materials of scientific, practical and methodological conference devoted to 30-year anniversary of the Almaty Technological Inst., which considered following items: actual problems of food and light industry, equipment of food and grain-processing productions, chemistry of foodstuffs and materials etc. (author)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Josefina Schenke
2011-04-01
Full Text Available This paper sketches in a programmatic manner the main lines of an ongoing PHD research that tries to find out which images and objects of devotion existed, were in use or vanished in Santiago de Chile during two specific periods: 1598–1610/ 1692–1710. The research relates the variation in the presence of these objects to the devotional, social and urban contexts to which they belong. Grounded in a quantitative research of notarial and ecclesiastical sources, it aims to find every single object around which some special religious practice revolves: sculptures, prints, canvas boards, relics, medallions, rosaries and crosses. An estimate of the proportion in which each of this kinds of devotional elements occurs should afford us a better understanding of their organic combinations and their shared meanings. This paper faces the multiple aspects involved in this field of inquiry, as well as its status quaestionis and the methodological approaches of this research.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sani A’ieshah Abdullah
2017-01-01
Full Text Available The introduction of Balanced Score Card (BSC as one of the management accounting tool to measure the performance of companies in both aspect of financial and non-financial position has been predominantly used since 1992 and had resulted positive energies for the profit making companies. Hence, the extension of the BSC is also required to help the social business organisation in delivering their multiple bottom lines in the most effective ways and provide organisations a mechanism to track their performance holistically through both quantitative and qualitative information. The growing of Islamic Philanthropy Institutions (IPI especially in Malaysia with the objective to promote social development based on the charitable activities has been acknowledged by the society. Therefore, in order to ensure the sustainability of these institutions, a proper measurement system is required to ensure the final goal of the institutions is achievable and successful. Thus, the objective of this paper is to formulate the main indicators and variables that are suitable to measure the IPIs based on BSC system in four main perspectives which are financial perspective, stakeholder’s perspective, internal process perspective and learning and growth perspective. The uniqueness of the establishment of IPIs would require different indicators and variables which are more appropriate as compared with the profit sector organisations. The outcome of this study could provide clear picture and guidelines in designing a proper performance measurement system to be implemented by current IPIs in Malaysia in order to maintain the sustainability and competitiveness of this institutions in future.
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Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in
North Carolina America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina to someone by E-mail Share Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North Carolina on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: America's Largest Home Runs on Biodiesel in North
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What is like to be a devoted doctor? An analysis of book reports on The Painted Veil.
Hwang, Kun; Kim, Hun; Kim, Ae Yang; Hwang, Se Won; Hwang, Se Ho
2016-03-01
The aim of this study is to see what medical students think about the role of spouse of a devoted medical doctor through the book reports of The Painted Veil (1925). The 53 medical students were asked to read Maugham's The Painted Veil and to have a discussion. In their book reports, following questions were asked to be included: What it is like to be married a devoted medical doctor? Do you think that patients realize, value, and respect the importance of doctor's work? In the outbreak of highly infectious and fatal disease, can you carry out a heroic fight to control it? Among the 53 respondents, seven students (13%) answered that they would be happy if they marry a devoted doctor and scientist and 34 (64%) unhappy. The remaining 12 (23%) could not make a decision. The six students (11%) answered that doctor is valued and respected by patients while 46 (87%) answered doctor is neither valued nor respected. The remaining one (2%) could not decide. The 20 students (38%) answered that they would fight for the infectious disease and the remaining 30 (57%) answered that they would not. The remaining three (5%) could not determine their mind. The Painted Veil induced a virtue of "life of balance and harmony" and "attitude of doctor who give superiority to responsibility and duty over prestige and wealth" from the medical students. It could be a good teaching material for medical humanity.
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Identifying the node spreading influence with largest k-core values
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lin, Jian-Hong; Guo, Qiang; Dong, Wen-Zhao; Tang, Li-Ying; Liu, Jian-Guo
2014-01-01
Identifying the nodes with largest spreading influence of complex networks is one of the most promising domains. By taking into account the neighbors' k-core values, we present an improved neighbors' k-core (INK) method which is the sum of the neighbors' k-core values with a tunable parameter α to evaluate the node spreading influence with largest k-core values. Comparing with the Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) results for four real networks, the INK method could identify the node spreading influence with largest k-core values more accurately than the ones generated by the degree k, closeness C, betweenness B and coreness centrality method. - Highlights: • We present an improved neighbors' k-core (INK) method to evaluate the node spreading influence with largest k-core values. • The INK method could identify the node spreading influence with largest k-core values more accurately. • Kendall's tau τ of INK method with α=1 are highly identical to rank the node influence
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Social responsible investment: satisfaction, risks and prospects of development /
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
I.M. Vygivska
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The research is devoted to the study of the features and trends of the development of socially responsible investment in Ukraine. The present study shows that under the current conditions of economic development and political situation in different countries, socially responsible investment of various projects and programs of social significance becomes increasingly important and relevant. Today we observe the appearance of the new forms of implementation of socially responsible business activities, among which the impact-investment and financing of socially significant projects on the principles of venture philanthropy are becoming more and more popular. It is determined that IMP involves, firstly, profit making, and secondly, it expects positive social changes, in particular, in support of sustainable agricultural development, ensuring availability of medical services, affordability of housing, development of environmentally friendly technologies. It was found out that the goal of venture philanthropy is primarily to create a social effect, and, eventually, to generate profits that may appear in the process of implementing the project or the activities of the organization. In the vast majority of cases, this type of financing takes place through direct investment or fixed income securities.
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CERN tests largest superconducting solenoid magnet
2006-01-01
"CERN's Compacts Muon Solenoid (CMS) - the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet - has reached full field in testing. The instrument is part of the proton-proton Large Hadron Collider (LHC) project, located in a giant subterranean chamber at Cessy on the Franco-Swiss border." (1 page)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Lucilene REGINALDO
2016-06-01
Full Text Available In the eighteenth century, confraternities such as that of Our Lady of the Rosary and those dedicated to the black saints Benedict, Iphigenia and Elesban – to mention only the most popular devotions – were common in different areas of the Atlantic World. They were especially popular among people of color, both enslaved and free. In this paper I argue that the popularity of these sodalities should not be understood solely as the result of Catholic expansion. Rather, Africans and their descendents assumed an active role in this process, as important agents in propagating and popularizing the devotions and black confraternities. In order to understand this process I examine the history of black confraternities and devotions in two parts of the Portuguese Atlantic world: the kingdom of Portugal and the territories it conquered in Angola.
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Analysis of Human Standing Balance by Largest Lyapunov Exponent
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kun Liu
2015-01-01
Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between nonlinear dynamic character and individuals’ standing balance by the largest Lyapunov exponent, which is regarded as a metric for assessing standing balance. According to previous study, the largest Lyapunov exponent from centre of pressure time series could not well quantify the human balance ability. In this research, two improvements were made. Firstly, an external stimulus was applied to feet in the form of continuous horizontal sinusoidal motion by a moving platform. Secondly, a multiaccelerometer subsystem was adopted. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in this experiment. A new metric, coordinated largest Lyapunov exponent was proposed, which reflected the relationship of body segments by integrating multidimensional largest Lyapunov exponent values. By using this metric in actual standing performance under sinusoidal stimulus, an obvious relationship between the new metric and the actual balance ability was found in the majority of the subjects. These results show that the sinusoidal stimulus can make human balance characteristics more obvious, which is beneficial to assess balance, and balance is determined by the ability of coordinating all body segments.
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Gift-Giving in the Podiatric Medical Student-Patient Relationship.
López, Daniel López; Pazo, Paula Torreiro; Iglesias, Marta E Losa; de Bengoa Vallejo, Ricardo Becerro
2016-09-02
We sought to explore the relationship between the podiatric medical student and the patient as it relates to the act of gift-giving as a sign of gratefulness for the services provided. This article presents the clinical case of a man who visited a podiatric medical student because of pain in his feet and subsequently presented the student with several gifts. Philanthropy, empathy, a positive attitude, treatment instructions, and the time devoted to the patient are some of the reasons why patients offer gifts to podiatric medical students. The relationship between the podiatric medical student and the patient and the act of gift-giving by patients are of ethical concern.
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van Aelst, J.J.; van Dijk, Mathilde; Gaens, Tom
2016-01-01
This is the introduction to the thematic issue Faithful to the Cross in a Moving World: Late Medieval Carthusians as Devotional Reformers. The editors discuss how the Carthusian order expanded in the Late Middle Ages and how, in contrast to the first Carthusians, new charterhouses were created in or
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In TFIIH, XPD helicase is exclusively devoted to DNA repair.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jochen Kuper
2014-09-01
Full Text Available The eukaryotic XPD helicase is an essential subunit of TFIIH involved in both transcription and nucleotide excision repair (NER. Mutations in human XPD are associated with several inherited diseases such as xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne syndrome, and trichothiodystrophy. We performed a comparative analysis of XPD from Homo sapiens and Chaetomium thermophilum (a closely related thermostable fungal orthologue to decipher the different molecular prerequisites necessary for either transcription or DNA repair. In vitro and in vivo assays demonstrate that mutations in the 4Fe4S cluster domain of XPD abrogate the NER function of TFIIH and do not affect its transcriptional activity. We show that the p44-dependent activation of XPD is promoted by the stimulation of its ATPase activity. Furthermore, we clearly demonstrate that XPD requires DNA binding, ATPase, and helicase activity to function in NER. In contrast, these enzymatic properties are dispensable for transcription initiation. XPD helicase is thus exclusively devoted to NER and merely acts as a structural scaffold to maintain TFIIH integrity during transcription.
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Constraints of philanthropy on determining the distribution of biodiversity conservation funding.
Larson, Eric R; Howell, Stephen; Kareiva, Peter; Armsworth, Paul R
2016-02-01
Caught between ongoing habitat destruction and funding shortfalls, conservation organizations are using systematic planning approaches to identify places that offer the highest biodiversity return per dollar invested. However, available tools do not account for the landscape of funding for conservation or quantify the constraints this landscape imposes on conservation outcomes. Using state-level data on philanthropic giving to and investments in land conservation by a large nonprofit organization, we applied linear regression to evaluate whether the spatial distribution of conservation philanthropy better explained expenditures on conservation than maps of biodiversity priorities, which were derived from a planning process internal to the organization and return on investment (ROI) analyses based on data on species richness, land costs, and existing protected areas. Philanthropic fund raising accounted for considerably more spatial variation in conservation spending (r(2) = 0.64) than either of the 2 systematic conservation planning approaches (r(2) = 0.08-0.21). We used results of one of the ROI analyses to evaluate whether increases in flexibility to reallocate funding across space provides conservation gains. Small but plausible "tax" increments of 1-10% on states redistributed to the optimal funding allocation from the ROI analysis could result in gains in endemic species protected of 8.5-80.2%. When such increases in spatial flexibility are not possible, conservation organizations should seek to cultivate increased support for conservation in priority locations. We used lagged correlations of giving to and spending by the organization to evaluate whether investments in habitat protection stimulate future giving to conservation. The most common outcome at the state level was that conservation spending quarters correlated significantly and positively with lagged fund raising quarters. In effect, periods of high fund raising for biodiversity followed (rather than
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Price, James H; Khubchandani, Jagdish
2016-03-01
Hispanics constitute the largest racial/ethnic minority population in the United States and are the fastest growing segment of the population. Knowledge about health needs and practices, effective health promotion programs, and health policy making for Hispanics has the potential to improve population health outcomes for this group. Continued research and practice literature will aid in accomplishing these objectives. However, little is known about the extent of health education-related literature available on Hispanic health issues. In this review, we analyzed research and practice publications in all health education-related journals to assess the volume of articles published on Hispanic health issues. We found that the portion of journal articles devoted to Hispanic health issues varied widely among the journals and that there was a very limited emphasis on Hispanic health-related issues. Journal editors and editorial board members may need to be more proactive in soliciting manuscripts on Hispanic health, and our practitioners may have to improve their professional skills and cultural competence in order to work with Hispanic populations to produce research and practice literature that is of adequate quantity and quality to help improve Hispanics' health. © 2016 Society for Public Health Education.
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broken magnet highlights largest collider's engineering challenges
Inman, Mason
2007-01-01
"Even at the world's soon-to-be largest particle accelerator - a device that promises to push the boundaries of physics - scientists need to be mindful of one of the most fundamental laws in the universe: Murphy's Law. (2 pages)
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ISTC Projects from RFNC-VNIIEF Devoted to Improving Laser Beam Quality
Starikov, F.; Kochemasov, G.
Information is given about the Projects # 1929 and # 2631 supported by ISTC and concerned with improving laser beam quality and interesting for adaptive optics community. One of them, Project # 1929 has been recently finished. It has been devoted to development of an SBS phase conjugation mirror of superhigh conjugation quality employing the kinoform optics for high-power lasers with nanosecond scale pulse duration. With the purpose of reaching ideal PC fidelity, the SBS mirror includes the raster of small lenses that has been traditionally used as the lenslet in Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor in adaptive optics. The second of them, Project # 2631, is concerned with the development of an adaptive optical system for phase correction of laser beams with wavefront vortex. The principles of operation of modern adaptive systems are based on the assumption that the phase is a smooth continuous function in space. Therefore the solution of the Project tasks will assume a new step in adaptive optics.
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Suttee Sainthood through selflessness: pain of repression or power of devotion?
Roye, Susmita
2011-01-01
The immolation of Hindu widows has generated much horror while remaining tenaciously mixed with clandestine admiration. Reported in many eyewitness accounts and literary works, the topic has given rise to highly contested sociocultural, legal and ideological debates, strongly linked to women’s rights. But the root question has not gone away: is suttee/sati just painful female victimisation or can it also reflect powerful female agency and the power of devotion? This article examines two literary works, Maud Diver’s Lilamani, in which an Englishwoman unreservedly idolises a suttee, and Krupabai Satthianadhan’s Kamala, where an Indian woman expresses deep pride in sutteehood. Engaging in a search for deeper meanings, this article asks what makes these two women writers revere a suttee so totally. Can one really be a suttee-saint through selflessness, or are there some deeper meanings yet to be uncovered? A wider political interpretation is suggested to re/present the root meaning of suttee.
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Joint Asymptotic Distributions of Smallest and Largest Insurance Claims
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hansjörg Albrecher
2014-07-01
Full Text Available Assume that claims in a portfolio of insurance contracts are described by independent and identically distributed random variables with regularly varying tails and occur according to a near mixed Poisson process. We provide a collection of results pertaining to the joint asymptotic Laplace transforms of the normalised sums of the smallest and largest claims, when the length of the considered time interval tends to infinity. The results crucially depend on the value of the tail index of the claim distribution, as well as on the number of largest claims under consideration.
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Guaranteeing uptime at worl's largest particle physics lab
Brodkin, Jon
2007-01-01
"As the European agency CERN was gearing up to build the world's largest particle accelerator, officials there knew they could not afford to have problems in their technical infrastructure cause any downtime." (1 page)
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The world's largest LNG producer's next market
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Fuller, R.; Isworo Suharno; Simandjuntak, W.M.P.
1996-01-01
The development of the domestic gas market in Indonesia, the world's largest liquefied natural gas producing country, is described as part of the overall impact of the country's oil and gas production. The first large scale use of natural gas in Indonesia was established in 1968 when a fertiliser plant using gas as the feedstock was built. Ultimately, through increased yields, this has enabled Indonesia to be self-sufficient in rice and an exporter of fertiliser. Problems which stand in the way of further developments include: capital, though Pertamina and PGN are perceived as attractive for foreign investment; the lack of a regulatory framework for gas; geographical constraints, among them the fact that the gas deposits are remote from the largest population concentrations; lack of infrastructure. There are nevertheless plans for expansion and the provision of an integrated gas pipeline system. Pertamina, which has responsibility for all oil and gas developments, and PGN, whose primary role has been as a manufacturer and distributor of gas, are now working together in the coordination of all gas activities. (10 figures). (UK)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Raulin Cerceau, F.
1995-01-01
The new building called ''Grande Galerie de l'Evolution'' of the national Museum of natural History, in Paris-France, is the first museum in the world exclusively devoted to biological evolution. The Museum is divided in 3 parts (named ''Acts''): The aim of Act 1 is to sensibilize the visitor to the results of 4 billions years of biological evolution. This act shows some examples of biological diversity through few terrestrial and marine environments (deserts, tropical forests, polar habitats, abyssal zones ...). Act 2 is the principal part of the Museum explaining the main processes of evolution. This part shows also the story of life from the first living cells to man. Act 3, the last part offers to visitors a vision of the interactions between man and nature, and of their consequences along millions of years. A special Gallery is entirely devoted to vanished and threatened species, as a nefast consequence of human interaction on biological diversity particularly since the beginning of this century. (Abstract only)
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Worlds Largest Wave Energy Project 2007 in Wales
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Christensen, Lars; Friis-Madsen, Erik; Kofoed, Jens Peter
2006-01-01
This paper introduces world largest wave energy project being developed in Wales and based on one of the leading wave energy technologies. The background for the development of wave energy, the total resource ands its distribution around the world is described. In contrast to wind energy turbines...... Dragon has to be scaled in accordance with the wave climate at the deployment site, which makes the Welch demonstrator device the worlds largest WEC so far with a total width of 300 meters. The project budget, the construction methods and the deployment site are also given....... a large number of fundamentally different technologies are utilised to harvest wave energy. The Wave Dragon belongs to the wave overtopping class of converters and the paper describes the fundamentals and the technical solutions used in this wave energy converter. An offshore floating WEC like the Wave...
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First Experience from the World Largest fully commercial Solar Heating Plant
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Heller, Alfred; Furbo, Simon
1997-01-01
The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m.......The first experience from the largest solar heating plant in the world is given. The plant is situated in Marstal and is has a total area of 8000 square m....
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No Fear of Failure Real Stories of how leaders deal with risk and change
Burnison, Gary
2011-01-01
Candid conversations with top leaders around the world on how they approached pitvotal moments in their careers. No Fear of Failure?offers insightful, candid conversations with some of the world's top leaders in business, politics, education, and philanthropy?each giving a first-person account of how they approached crucial, career defining moments. Gary Burnison, CEO of Korn/Ferry International, the world's largest executive recruiting firm, sits down one-on-one with a highly select and elite corps, and together they openly discuss how they handled (often very publicly) war, economic downturn
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Travis Chilcott
2016-05-01
Full Text Available Early Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theologians developed a unique path of Hindu devotion during the 16th century through which an aspirant cultivates a rapturous form of selfless love (premā for Kṛṣṇa, who is recognized as the supreme and personal deity. In the course and consequence of cultivating this selfless love, the recommended practices of devotion are claimed to free one from the basic existential condition of bondage that is of concern for a wide range of South Asian religious and philosophical traditions. One of the principle cognitive tendencies characterizing this condition is to have thoughts and feelings of possessiveness over objects of the world, or what is referred to as the state of “my-ness” (mamatā, e.g., my home, my children, or my wealth. Using the therapeutic model of schema therapy as a heuristic analogue, this article explores the relationship between recommended practices of rule-based devotion (vaidhi-bhakti and the modulation of thoughts and feelings of possessiveness towards mundane objects. I argue that such practices function as learning strategies that can systematically rework and modulate how one relates to and responds to these objects in theologically desirable ways. I conclude by suggesting that connectionist theories of cognition and learning may offer a promising explanatory framework for understanding the dynamics of this kind of relationship.
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Challenges with the largest commercial hydrogen station in the world
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Charbonneau, Thomas; Gauthier, Pierre [Air Liquide Canada (Canada)
2010-07-01
This abstract's objective is to share with the participants the story of the largest hydrogen fueling station made to this date and to kick-start the story, we will cover the challenges; first the technical ones; the operational ones; the distribution ones and; the financial ones. We will then move on to review the logistic (geographic) issues raised by the project and conclude our presentation by sharing the output values of the largest fueling station built so far in the world. (orig.)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2002-01-01
Program and summaries of reports of the Scientific conference on inorganic chemistry and radiochemistry devoted to the centenary from the birthday of academician V.I. Spitsyn are presented. The conference took place at the Chemical department of the Moscow State University named for M.V. Lomonosov 17 - 18 April, 2002. Part of the reports was devoted to the work of academician V.I. Spitsyn, his investigations into radiochemistry and radiation chemistry. Scientific explorations in the fields of solid chemistry, inorganic and coordination chemistry, radiochemistry and chemical technology are discussed [ru
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Building Earth's Largest Library: Driving into the Future.
Coffman, Steve
1999-01-01
Examines the Amazon.com online bookstore as a blueprint for designing the world's largest library. Topics include selection; accessibility and convenience; quality of Web sites and search tools; personalized service; library collection development, including interlibrary loan; library catalogs and catalog records; a circulation system; costs;…
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Toward sustainable harvesting of Africa's largest medicinal plant ...
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Global demand for treating prostate disorders with Prunus africana bark extract has made P. africana Africa's largest medicinal plant export. Unsustainable harvesting practices can lead to local extirpations of this multipurpose tree. Survey research targeting P. africana harvesters in a Tanzania forest reserve revealed that ...
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Gallo, Maria L.
2014-01-01
Philanthropy in Irish higher education has an interesting historical reference point, with the role Atlantic Philanthropies played in steering the agenda for philanthropy in higher education institutions. To investigate the question of philanthropic culture in Ireland, this research draws on policy documents and academic literature related to…
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Kabob report. Pt. 3. Chevron plant largest in Canada
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1971-01-18
Canada's largest fully integrated primary natural- gas processing and sulfur recovery plant is heading for physical completion by mid-summer of 1971. The Ralph M. Parsons Construction Co. of Canada Ltd., contractor for the S. Kaybob Beaverhill Lake Unit No. 3 gas-processing plant, to be operated by Chevron Standard Ltd., estimates completion by June 30. After that the $80 million complex will have tests and running in time. With any reasonable luck, it should be fully on stream by late summer. Preliminary construction on the 200-acre site started in Jan. 1969 with clearing and contouring of the main plant and sulfur storage sites. Initial rough grading started in the early summer, after spring breakup was over. Delivery of most of the big items was made by rail because the local secondary roads were inadequate for them. Concrete has been a large item. The contractor has its own batch plant on the site for the estimated 28,000 cu yd which will be needed for the whole job. Dominating the construction site from the start has been the high sulfur plant stack, first of the major items to be finished. It will serve to dispose of effluent from the largest sulfur recovery unit in Canada. It is 465 ft high, one of the largest in Alberta, and a significant contribution to pollution control and environmental protection.
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Upgrade and modernization of the six largest HPPs in Macedonia
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hadzievska, M.
2002-01-01
In 1998, Electric Power Company of Macedonia and the International Bank for Development and Reconstruction, started the Power System Improvement Project a part of which is the Project for rehabilitation of the six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPPs) in the Republic of Macedonia. The six largest Hydro Power Plants (HPP Vrutok, HPP Raven, HPP Globocica, HPP Tikves and HPP Spilje and HPP Vrben) represent 91% of the country's hydropower capacity. The rehabilitation program is divided in five parts (contracts) and covers the refurbishment of: turbine runners, turbine and generator bearings, governors, inlet valves; butterfly valves, including accessories and control systems; generators, excitation system and voltage regulation; control system, protection and LV auxiliaries; switch gears and control gears in 220 kV, 110 kV and 35 kV substations. At the moment, only the implementation of switch gears has started, the first phase is already finished, and 50 % of the rehabilitation works for HPP Vrutok, the largest HPP, has been finished. With the realization of this project, greater hydropower production is expected. It also expected that HPPs will become a more vital part of the Macedonian power system
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World's third-largest producer of nuclear power. Japan in need of energy
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Anon.
2008-01-01
Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China, and the second largest net importer of oil. Japan boasts one of the largest economies in the world. The country continues to experience a moderate economic recovery that began in 2003, following a decade of economic stagnation. Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.5% in 2005 and 2.3% in 2004. The modest upturn over the last few years reflects higher business confidence in Japan, a surge in export demand led by exports to China, and robust consumer spending. Unemployment in Japan fell to 4.4% in 2005, down from an early 2003 peak of 5.5%. Japan has virtually no domestic oil or natural gas reserves, and in 2005 was the second largest net importer of crude oil in the world. Despite the country's dearth of hydrocarbon resources, Japanese companies have actively pursued upstream oil and natural gas projects overseas. Japan remains one of the major exporters of energy-sector capital equipment, and Japanese companies provide engineering, construction, and project management services for energy projects. (orig.)
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NAFTA: The World's Largest Trading Zone Turns 20
Ferrarini, Tawni Hunt; Day, Stephen
2014-01-01
Everyone under the age of 20 who has grown up in North America has lived in the common market created by NAFTA--the North American Free Trade Agreement. In a zone linking the United States, Canada, and Mexico, most goods and investments flow freely across borders to users, consumers, and investors. In 1994, NAFTA created the largest relatively…
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The Environmental Responsibility of the World’s Largest Banks
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ryszawska Bożena
2018-03-01
Full Text Available Sustainability transition is changing the role and function of banks, specially their products and services also in relation to stakeholders. Banks are one of the main actors supporting the transition to sustainable economy. The purpose of this study is to emphasise the role of world’s largest banks in that process. Banks are slowly responding to the new demand of sustainability and responsibility, and they try to align with it. The paper is based on an overview of the world’s five largest banks that employ corporate social responsibility (CSR reporting standards, together with detailed enumeration of pro-environmental activities included in the reports. The first section of this paper presents the most popular approaches to the problem at hand, as reported in professional literature. Section two presents the characteristics of the CSR actions in banks. The third section discusses the environmental actions of the biggest banks in Global Reporting Initiative (GRI reporting the most popular standard for reporting non-financial information. And the last part of the paper presents the conclusions resulting from the article. The research was conducted using a variety of sources, such as scientific articles, statistical data, CSR reports of the world’s largest banks, as well reporting principles and standard disclosures. The basic method used in the process of writing was a critical analysis of literature and reports concerning the CSR reporting standards, environmental responsibilities of different kinds of entities, as well as own observations based on special reports of banks. In the article, also the analysis of financial market data, induction method and comparison method have been used. The main conclusions of the analysis of the CSR reports disclosed by the world’s largest banks confirm all three of the theses presented in the article. The findings suggest that the banks under study can be regarded as environmentally responsible
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Bolívar, J P; Mosqueda, F; Gázquez, M J; López-Coto, I; Vaca, F; García-Tenorio, R; Adame, J A
2013-01-01
In order to fill a gap in the open literature, occupational exposures and activity concentrations have been assessed in two NORM industrial plants, located in the south-west of Spain, devoted to the production of mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilisers. The annual effective doses received by the workers from these plants are clearly below 1 mSv yr −1 and the contribution due to external radiation is similar to that due to inhalation. The contribution to the maximum effective doses due to inhalation of particulate matter has been estimated to be about 0.12 mSv yr −1 , while the 222 Rn concentrations inside the plants are of no concern. Consequently, no additional actions or radiological protection measures need to be taken to decrease the natural radiation received by the workers in these facilities. (paper)
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Statistics of the largest sunspot and facular areas per solar cycle
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Willis, D.M.; Kabasakal Tulunay, Y.
1979-01-01
The statistics of extreme values is used to investigate the statistical properties of the largest areas sunspots and photospheric faculae per solar cycle. The largest values of the synodic-solar-rotation mean areas of umbrae, whole spots and faculae, which have been recorded for nine solar cycles, are each shown to comply with the general form of the extreme value probability function. Empirical expressions are derived for the three extreme value populations from which the characteristic statistical parameters, namely the mode, median, mean and standard deviation, can be calculated for each population. These three extreme value populations are also used to find the expected ranges of the extreme areas in a group of solar cycles as a function of the number of cycles in the group. The extreme areas of umbrae and whole spots have a dispersion comparable to that found by Siscoe for the extreme values of sunspot number, whereas the extreme areas of faculae have a smaller dispersion which is comparable to that found by Siscoe for the largest geomagnetic storm per solar cycle. The expected range of the largest sunspot area per solar cycle for a group of one hundred cycles appears to be inconsistent with the existence of the prolonged periods of sunspot minima that have been inferred from the historical information on solar variability. This inconsistency supports the contention that there are temporal changes of solar-cycle statistics during protracted periods of sunspot minima (or maxima). Indeed, without such temporal changes, photospheric faculae should have been continually observable throughout the lifetime of the Sun. (orig.)
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Fishing down the largest coral reef fish species.
Fenner, Douglas
2014-07-15
Studies on remote, uninhabited, near-pristine reefs have revealed surprisingly large populations of large reef fish. Locations such as the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, northern Marianas Islands, Line Islands, U.S. remote Pacific Islands, Cocos-Keeling Atoll and Chagos archipelago have much higher reef fish biomass than islands and reefs near people. Much of the high biomass of most remote reef fish communities lies in the largest species, such as sharks, bumphead parrots, giant trevally, and humphead wrasse. Some, such as sharks and giant trevally, are apex predators, but others such as bumphead parrots and humphead wrasse, are not. At many locations, decreases in large reef fish species have been attributed to fishing. Fishing is well known to remove the largest fish first, and a quantitative measure of vulnerability to fishing indicates that large reef fish species are much more vulnerable to fishing than small fish. The removal of large reef fish by fishing parallels the extinction of terrestrial megafauna by early humans. However large reef fish have great value for various ecological roles and for reef tourism. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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The Multivariate Largest Lyapunov Exponent as an Age-Related Metric of Quiet Standing Balance
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kun Liu
2015-01-01
Full Text Available The largest Lyapunov exponent has been researched as a metric of the balance ability during human quiet standing. However, the sensitivity and accuracy of this measurement method are not good enough for clinical use. The present research proposes a metric of the human body’s standing balance ability based on the multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent which can quantify the human standing balance. The dynamic multivariate time series of ankle, knee, and hip were measured by multiple electrical goniometers. Thirty-six normal people of different ages participated in the test. With acquired data, the multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent was calculated. Finally, the results of the proposed approach were analysed and compared with the traditional method, for which the largest Lyapunov exponent and power spectral density from the centre of pressure were also calculated. The following conclusions can be obtained. The multivariate largest Lyapunov exponent has a higher degree of differentiation in differentiating balance in eyes-closed conditions. The MLLE value reflects the overall coordination between multisegment movements. Individuals of different ages can be distinguished by their MLLE values. The standing stability of human is reduced with the increment of age.
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Crash testing the largest experiment on Earth
Cauchi, Marija
2015-01-01
Under Europe lies a 27 km tunnel that is both the coldest and hottest place on Earth. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has already found out what gives mass to all the matter in the Universe. It is now trying to go even deeper into what makes up everything we see around us. Dr Marija Cauchi writes about her research that helped protect this atom smasher from itself. Photography by Jean Claude Vancell. http://www.um.edu.mt/think/crash-testing-the-largest-experiment-on-earth/
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Predicting Traffic Flow in Local Area Networks by the Largest Lyapunov Exponent
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Yan Liu
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The dynamics of network traffic are complex and nonlinear, and chaotic behaviors and their prediction, which play an important role in local area networks (LANs, are studied in detail, using the largest Lyapunov exponent. With the introduction of phase space reconstruction based on the time sequence, the high-dimensional traffic is projected onto the low dimension reconstructed phase space, and a reduced dynamic system is obtained from the dynamic system viewpoint. Then, a numerical method for computing the largest Lyapunov exponent of the low-dimensional dynamic system is presented. Further, the longest predictable time, which is related to chaotic behaviors in the system, is studied using the largest Lyapunov exponent, and the Wolf method is used to predict the evolution of the traffic in a local area network by both Dot and Interval predictions, and a reliable result is obtained by the presented method. As the conclusion, the results show that the largest Lyapunov exponent can be used to describe the sensitivity of the trajectory in the reconstructed phase space to the initial values. Moreover, Dot Prediction can effectively predict the flow burst. The numerical simulation also shows that the presented method is feasible and efficient for predicting the complex dynamic behaviors in LAN traffic, especially for congestion and attack in networks, which are the main two complex phenomena behaving as chaos in networks.
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2010-10-01
... care of Hansen's disease patients and who continues to be assigned to such duty, shall receive special... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Duty at a station of the Service devoted to the care of Hansen's disease patients; additional pay. 22.1 Section 22.1 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH...
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Lagisza, world's largest CFB boiler, begins commercial operation
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Nuortimo, K. [Foster Wheeler, Varkaus (Finland)
2010-04-15
Early operating experience with the Lagisza circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler in Poland - the world's largest such boiler to date, and also the first one with supercritical steam conditions - has been positive. 3 figs., 4 tabs.
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Temporal properties of seismicity and largest earthquakes in SE Carpathians
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
S. Byrdina
2006-01-01
Full Text Available In order to estimate the hazard rate distribution of the largest seismic events in Vrancea, South-Eastern Carpathians, we study temporal properties of historical and instrumental catalogues of seismicity. First, on the basis of Generalized Extreme Value theory we estimate the average return period of the largest events. Then, following Bak et al. (2002 and Corral (2005a, we study scaling properties of recurrence times between earthquakes in appropriate spatial volumes. We come to the conclusion that the seismicity is temporally clustered, and that the distribution of recurrence times is significantly different from a Poisson process even for times largely exceeding corresponding periods of foreshock and aftershock activity. Modeling the recurrence times by a gamma distributed variable, we finally estimate hazard rates with respect to the time elapsed from the last large earthquake.
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PNNL supercomputer to become largest computing resource on the Grid
2002-01-01
Hewlett Packard announced that the US DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will connect a 9.3-teraflop HP supercomputer to the DOE Science Grid. This will be the largest supercomputer attached to a computer grid anywhere in the world (1 page).
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Chadha, Shelly; Moussy, Francis; Friede, Martin Howell
2014-09-01
Philanthropy continues to play an important role in provision of hearing devices and is often the only alternative for the majority of those in need of these devices. While this leads to improved access to services it may also create unsustainable service delivery models. Over the past decade, World Health Organization (WHO) has been making consistent efforts towards promoting accessibility and affordability of high-quality hearing devices, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). WHO developed and updated the "Guidelines for Hearing Aids and Services in Developing Countries", in 2004. In 2006, WHO supported the establishment of "World Wide (WW) Hearing", to promote hearing aid access across the globe. In the past year, WHO has renewed these efforts. As the first step and following a consultation on promoting access to hearing devices, WHO has developed a preferred product profile in order to facilitate the development and access of appropriate and affordable hearing aids for developing countries. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (article 32), calls for international collaboration to promote access to assistive technology including hearing devices. A coordinated global effort is required to promote availability and affordability of high-quality hearing devices. Such an undertaking requires the cooperation of all stakeholders: WHO, Member States, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), philanthropists, manufacturers and users, to fulfill the international obligation and bring about a change in the quality of life of millions of people with hearing loss. Development of preferred product profile for hearing aids in LMICs can improve development and provision of high-quality, affordable hearing devices. Investment made by the recipients, such as partial financial contribution towards the cost of device or through purchase of ear mould or batteries, leads to a greater sense of responsibility towards the device and its maintenance
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Worlds largest particle physics laboratory selects Proxim Wireless Mesh
2007-01-01
"Proxim Wireless has announced that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the world's largest particle physics laboratory and the birthplace of the World Wide Web, is using it's ORiNOCO AP-4000 mesh access points to extend the range of the laboratory's Wi-Fi network and to provide continuous monitoring of the lab's calorimeters" (1/2 page)
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Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
Kuntner, Matjaz; Coddington, Jonathan A
2009-10-21
More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19(th) century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa and Madagascar, and review size evolution and SSD in Nephilidae. We formally describe N. komaci sp. nov., the largest web spinning species known, and place the species in phylogenetic context to reconstruct the evolution of mean size (via squared change parsimony). We then test female and male mean size correlation using phylogenetically independent contrasts, and simulate nephilid body size evolution using Monte Carlo statistics. Nephila females increased in size almost monotonically to establish a mostly African clade of true giants. In contrast, Nephila male size is effectively decoupled and hovers around values roughly one fifth of female size. Although N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered, the males are also large and thus their SSD is not exceptional.
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Discovery of the largest orbweaving spider species: the evolution of gigantism in Nephila.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Matjaz Kuntner
2009-10-01
Full Text Available More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400-500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19(th century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa and Madagascar, and review size evolution and SSD in Nephilidae.We formally describe N. komaci sp. nov., the largest web spinning species known, and place the species in phylogenetic context to reconstruct the evolution of mean size (via squared change parsimony. We then test female and male mean size correlation using phylogenetically independent contrasts, and simulate nephilid body size evolution using Monte Carlo statistics.Nephila females increased in size almost monotonically to establish a mostly African clade of true giants. In contrast, Nephila male size is effectively decoupled and hovers around values roughly one fifth of female size. Although N. komaci females are the largest Nephila yet discovered, the males are also large and thus their SSD is not exceptional.
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On the statistics of the largest geomagnetic storms per solar cycle
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Siscoe, G.L.
1976-01-01
The theory of extreme value statistics is applied to the first, second, and third largest geomagnetic storms in nine solar cycles measured by the average half-daily aa indices compiled by Mayaud. Analytic expressions giving the probability of the extremes per solar cycle as a contour function of storm magnitude are obtained by least squares fitting of the observations to the appropriate theoretical extreme value probability functions. The results are used to obtain the statistical characteristics (mode, median, mean, and standard deviation) for the extreme values. The results are applied to find the expected range of extreme values in a set as a function of the number of solar cycles in the set. We find that the expected range of the largest storm is quite narrow and is larger for the second and third largest storms. The observed range of the extreme half-daily aa index for the nine solar cycles is 354--546 γ. In a set of 100 cycles the range is expanded esentially to 311--680γ, an increase of only 39% in the range. The result supports the argument for a change in solar cycle statistics in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century (the Maunder minimum)
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Ekaphan Kraichak; Sittiporn Parnmen; Robert Lücking; Eimy Rivas Plata; Andre Aptroot; Marcela E.S. Caceres; Damien Ertz; Armin Mangold; Joel A. Mercado-Diaz; Khwanruan Papong; Dries Van der Broeck; Gothamie Weerakoon; H. Thorsten. Lumbsch; NO-VALUE
2014-01-01
We present an updated 3-locus molecular phylogeny of tribe Ocellularieae, the second largest tribe within subfamily Graphidoideae in the Graphidaceae. Adding 165 newly generated sequences from the mitochondrial small subunit rDNA (mtSSU), the nuclear large subunit rDNA (nuLSU), and the second largest subunit of the DNA-directed RNA polymerase II (RPB2), we currently...
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Dekkers, N.; Rutten, M.
2011-01-01
Financial flows are an important aspect of transnational ties between migrants and their respective home countries. Worldwide, the amount of remittances has increased substantially, India being the largest recipient of overseas remittances in the developing world today. Although household level
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CERN, World's largest particle physics lab, selects Progress SonicMQ
2007-01-01
"Progress Software Corporation (NADAQ: PRGS), a global supplier of application insfrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, today announced that CERN the world's largest physis laboratory and particle accelerator, has chosen Progress® SonicMQ® for mission-critical message delivery." (1 page)
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Synchrotron Emission on the Largest Scales: Radio Detection of the ...
Indian Academy of Sciences (India)
Abstract. Shocks and turbulence generated during large-scale structure formation are predicted to produce large-scale, low surface-brightness synchrotron emission. On the largest scales, this emission is globally correlated with the thermal baryon distribution, and constitutes the 'syn- chrotron cosmic-web'. I present the ...
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Distribution of the Largest Eigenvalues of the Levi-Smirnov Ensemble
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wieczorek, W.
2004-01-01
We calculate the distribution of the k-th largest eigenvalue in the random matrix Levi - Smirnov Ensemble (LSE), using the spectral dualism between LSE and chiral Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE). Then we reconstruct universal spectral oscillations and we investigate an asymptotic behavior of the spectral distribution. (author)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gisele Sanglard
2010-07-01
Full Text Available Este artigo tem por objetivo estudar a construção do Hospital do Câncer na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, a partir de uma análise das ações e dos grupos sociais envolvidos com a filantropia na cidade, durante a Primeira República. Para tal, apresenta-se um estudo prosopográfico inicial dessa elite, apontando para sua configuração na criação da instituição. Um segundo recorte refere-se às ações filantrópicas de Guilherme Guinle nesse período.The article explores construction of the Cancer Hospital in Rio de Janeiro from the perspective of an analysis of the city's social groups and their activities involving philanthropy under the First Republic. It offers a preliminary prosopographical study of this elite and examines how it helped to shape creation of the medical facility. The article also addresses Guilherme Guinle's philanthropic initiatives during the period.
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Cantillo, John R
2010-03-01
Local school districts are often one of the largest, if not the largest, employers in their respective communities. Like many large employers, school districts offer health insurance to their employees. There is a lack of information about the rate of health insurance premiums in US school districts relative to other employers. To assess the change in the costs of healthcare insurance in the 5 largest public school districts in the United States, between 2004 and 2008, as representative of large public employers in the country. Data for this study were drawn exclusively from a survey sent to the 5 largest public school districts in the United States. The survey requested responses on 3 data elements for each benefit plan offered from 2004 through 2008; these included enrollment, employee costs, and employer costs. The premium growth for the 5 largest school districts has slowed down and is consistent with other purchasers-Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program. The average increase in health insurance premium for the schools was 5.9% in 2008, and the average annual growth rate over the study period was 7.5%. For family coverage, these schools provide the most generous employer contribution (80.8%) compared with the employer contribution reported by other employers (73.5%) for 2008. Often the largest employers in their communities, school districts demonstrate a commitment to provide choice of benefits and affordability for employees and their families. Despite constraints typical of public employers, the 5 largest school districts in the United States have decelerated in premium growth consistent with other purchasers, albeit at a slower pace.
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Discovery of the Largest Orbweaving Spider Species: The Evolution of Gigantism in Nephila
Kuntner, Matja?; Coddington, Jonathan A.
2009-01-01
Background More than 41,000 spider species are known with about 400?500 added each year, but for some well-known groups, such as the giant golden orbweavers, Nephila, the last valid described species dates from the 19th century. Nephila are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders, making the largest orb webs, and are model organisms for the study of extreme sexual size dimorphism (SSD) and sexual biology. Here, we report on the discovery of a new, giant Nephila species from Africa...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2001-01-01
The collection contains abstracts of papers submitted to the Conference of young scientists and specialists, held in Moscow on March 6, 2001 and devoted to the 50-th anniversary of foundation of the All-Russian Research Institute of Chemical Technology (VNIIKhT). The materials of the Conference cover a wide range of fuel cycle a wide range of fuel cycle process developments including those in uranium ore enrichment and leaching, spent fuel reprocessing, alpha-bearing waste solidification. Besides, techniques for the preparation of zirconium, tungsten, strontium, and rare earth compounds are presented [ru
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Matěj Lövy
Full Text Available Despite the considerable attention devoted to the biology of social species of African mole-rats (Bathyergidae, Rodentia, knowledge is lacking about their behaviour under natural conditions. We studied activity of the largest social bathyergid, the giant mole-rat Fukomys mechowii, in its natural habitat in Zambia using radio-telemetry. We radio-tracked six individuals during three continuous 72-h sessions. Five of these individuals, including a breeding male, belonged to a single family group; the remaining female was probably a solitary disperser. The non-breeders of the family were active (i.e. outside the nest 5.8 hours per 24h-day with the activity split into 6.5 short bouts. The activity was more concentrated in the night hours, when the animals also travelled longer distances from the nest. The breeding male spent only 3.2 hours per day outside the nest, utilizing less than 20% of the whole family home range. The dispersing female displayed a much different activity pattern than the family members. Her 8.0 hours of outside-nest activity per day were split into 4.6 bouts which were twice as long as in the family non-breeders. Her activity peak in the late afternoon coincided with the temperature maximum in the depth of 10 cm (roughly the depth of the foraging tunnels. Our results suggest that the breeding individuals (at least males contribute very little to the work of the family group. Nevertheless, the amount of an individual's activity and its daily pattern are probably flexible in this species and can be modified in response to actual environmental and social conditions.
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PHILANTHRPY AND ITS ROLE IN FORMING CIVIL SOCIETY IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
V. R. Goryatcheva
2012-01-01
Full Text Available The institution of philanthropy is an important part of any civil society. The article provides definition of a charity institution and stresses the important role of legislation in the development of philanthropy. Legislation in the field of philanthropy in the Russian Federation, including mainlegal acts and the taxation system of non-governmental non-commercial organizations, are discussed. Essential tax deductions for charitable work lead to the emergence of patterns of tax evasion, including withdrawal of funds to offshore areas.
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Philanthrophy in Islam: A promise to Welfare Economics System
Ismail, Abdul Ghafar; Zaenal, Muhammad Hasbi; Shafiai, Hakimi
2015-01-01
Islamic presence is intended to meet all the demands of life (shumūl al-hayāh). In the economic sphere, Islam set rules comprehensively about the relationship between religion and economy, both should go hand in hand, such as philanthropy actions. Since the early days, philanthropy has become the basic Islamic economy, where philanthropy which means "love of people" had been successfully practiced by the Prophet and the companions accompanied by moral motivation to achieve the glory of Islam,...
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THE CHALLENGE OF THE LARGEST STRUCTURES IN THE UNIVERSE TO COSMOLOGY
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Park, Changbom; Choi, Yun-Young; Kim, Sungsoo S.; Kim, Kap-Sung; Kim, Juhan; Gott III, J. Richard
2012-01-01
Large galaxy redshift surveys have long been used to constrain cosmological models and structure formation scenarios. In particular, the largest structures discovered observationally are thought to carry critical information on the amplitude of large-scale density fluctuations or homogeneity of the universe, and have often challenged the standard cosmological framework. The Sloan Great Wall (SGW) recently found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) region casts doubt on the concordance cosmological model with a cosmological constant (i.e., the flat ΛCDM model). Here we show that the existence of the SGW is perfectly consistent with the ΛCDM model, a result that only our very large cosmological N-body simulation (the Horizon Run 2, HR2) could supply. In addition, we report on the discovery of a void complex in the SDSS much larger than the SGW, and show that such size of the largest void is also predicted in the ΛCDM paradigm. Our results demonstrate that an initially homogeneous isotropic universe with primordial Gaussian random phase density fluctuations growing in accordance with the general relativity can explain the richness and size of the observed large-scale structures in the SDSS. Using the HR2 simulation we predict that a future galaxy redshift survey about four times deeper or with 3 mag fainter limit than the SDSS should reveal a largest structure of bright galaxies about twice as big as the SGW.
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Mass balance of Greenland's three largest outlet glaciers - 2000–2010
Howat, I.M.; Ahn, Y.; Joughin, I.; van den Broeke, M.R.; Lenaerts, J.T.M.; Smith, B.
2011-01-01
Acceleration of Greenland's three largest outlet glaciers, Helheim, Kangerdlugssuaq and Jakobshavn Isbræ, accounted for a substantial portion of the ice sheet's mass loss over the past decade. Rapid changes in their discharge, however, make their cumulative mass-change uncertain. We derive monthly
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Cantillo, John R.
2010-01-01
Background Local school districts are often one of the largest, if not the largest, employers in their respective communities. Like many large employers, school districts offer health insurance to their employees. There is a lack of information about the rate of health insurance premiums in US school districts relative to other employers. Objective To assess the change in the costs of healthcare insurance in the 5 largest public school districts in the United States, between 2004 and 2008, as representative of large public employers in the country. Methods Data for this study were drawn exclusively from a survey sent to the 5 largest public school districts in the United States. The survey requested responses on 3 data elements for each benefit plan offered from 2004 through 2008; these included enrollment, employee costs, and employer costs. Results The premium growth for the 5 largest school districts has slowed down and is consistent with other purchasers—Kaiser/Health Research & Educational Trust and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program. The average increase in health insurance premium for the schools was 5.9% in 2008, and the average annual growth rate over the study period was 7.5%. For family coverage, these schools provide the most generous employer contribution (80.8%) compared with the employer contribution reported by other employers (73.5%) for 2008. Conclusions Often the largest employers in their communities, school districts demonstrate a commitment to provide choice of benefits and affordability for employees and their families. Despite constraints typical of public employers, the 5 largest school districts in the United States have decelerated in premium growth consistent with other purchasers, albeit at a slower pace. PMID:25126311
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hamilton Pozo
2012-04-01
Full Text Available The social responsibility that, a lot of times, it is confused with philanthropy, becomes to have larger importance for the companies. With the growth of the Third Sector, in financial resources, social and political relevance, and the consequent professionalization of the modern techniques of management are being incorporate to the social area. The social marketing with base in the social responsibility already begins to build a value differential for the brand and a competitive advantage for the companies. The objective of this research was to present values to collaborate with the largest involvement and performance for the companies in that field, mainly in order to strengthen the tourism in the Region of Baixada Santista-SP.
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Gupta, S; Paichadze, N; Gritsenko, E; Klyavin, V; Yurasova, E; Hyder, A A
2017-03-01
Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. In Russia, a road safety program was implemented in Lipetskaya and Ivanovskaya oblasts (regions) as part of a 10-country effort funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The program was focused on increasing seat belt and child restraint use and reducing speeding. The primary goals of this monitoring and evaluation study are to assess trends in seat belt use, child restraint use, and speed compliance in the two oblasts over the 5 years and to explore the overall impact of the program on road traffic injury and death rates. Primary data via roadside observations and interviews, and secondary data from official government sources were collected and analyzed for this study. Our results indicate significant improvements in seat belt wearing and child seat use rates and in prevalence of speeding in both intervention oblasts. The observations were consistent with the results from the roadside interviews. In Lipetskaya, restraint use by all occupants increased from 52.4% (baseline, October 2010) to 77.4% (final round, October 2014) and child restraint use increased from 20.9% to 54.1% during the same period. In Ivanovskaya, restraint use by all occupants increased from 48% (baseline, April 2012) to 88.7% (final round, October 2014) and child restraint use increased from 20.6% to 89.4% during the same period. In Lipetskaya, the overall prevalence of speeding (vehicles driving above speed limit) declined from 47.0% (baseline, July 2011) to 30.4% (final round, October 2014) and a similar pattern was observed in Ivanovskaya where the prevalence of speeding decreased from 54.6% (baseline, March 2012) to 46.6% (final round, October 2014). Through 2010-2014, the road traffic crash and injury rates per 100,000 population decreased in Lipetskaya oblast (191.5 and 246.9 in 2010 and 170.4 and 208.6 in 2014, respectively) and slightly increased in Ivanovskaya oblast (184.4 and 236.0 in 2010 and 186.7 and 243
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The largest glitch observed in the Crab pulsar
Shaw, B.; Lyne, A. G.; Stappers, B. W.; Weltevrede, P.; Bassa, C. G.; Lien, A. Y.; Mickaliger, M. B.; Breton, R. P.; Jordan, C. A.; Keith, M. J.; Krimm, H. A.
2018-05-01
We have observed a large glitch in the Crab pulsar (PSR B0531+21). The glitch occurred around MJD 58064 (2017 November 8) when the pulsar underwent an increase in the rotation rate of Δν = 1.530 × 10-5 Hz, corresponding to a fractional increase of Δν/ν = 0.516 × 10-6 making this event the largest glitch ever observed in this source. Due to our high-cadence and long-dwell time observations of the Crab pulsar we are able to partially resolve a fraction of the total spin-up of the star. This delayed spin-up occurred over a timescale of ˜1.7 days and is similar to the behaviour seen in the 1989 and 1996 large Crab pulsar glitches. The spin-down rate also increased at the glitch epoch by Δ \\dot{ν } / \\dot{ν } = 7 × 10^{-3}. In addition to being the largest such event observed in the Crab, the glitch occurred after the longest period of glitch inactivity since at least 1984 and we discuss a possible relationship between glitch size and waiting time. No changes to the shape of the pulse profile were observed near the glitch epoch at 610 MHz or 1520 MHz, nor did we identify any changes in the X-ray flux from the pulsar. The long-term recovery from the glitch continues to progress as \\dot{ν } slowly rises towards pre-glitch values. In line with other large Crab glitches, we expect there to be a persistent change to \\dot{ν }. We continue to monitor the long-term recovery with frequent, high quality observations.
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Longevity in Calumma parsonii, the World's largest chameleon.
Tessa, Giulia; Glaw, Frank; Andreone, Franco
2017-03-01
Large body size of ectothermic species can be correlated with high life expectancy. We assessed the longevity of the World's largest chameleon, the Parson's chameleon Calumma parsonii from Madagascar by using skeletochronology of phalanges taken from preserved specimens held in European natural history museums. Due to the high bone resorption we can provide only the minimum age of each specimen. The highest minimum age detected was nine years for a male and eight years for a female, confirming that this species is considerably long living among chameleons. Our data also show a strong correlation between snout-vent length and estimated age. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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A special issue devoted to gold deposits in northern Nevada: Part 2. Carlin-type Deposits
Hofstra, Albert H.; John, David A.; Theodore, Ted G.
2003-01-01
This is the second of two special issues of Economic Geology devoted to gold deposits in northern Nevada. Readers interested in a general overview of these deposits, their economic significance, their context within the tectonic evolution of the region, and synoptic references on each gold deposit type are directed to the preface of the first special issue (John et al., 2003). Volume 98, issue 2, contains five papers that address regional aspects important to the genesis of gold deposits in northern Nevada and five papers that present detailed studies of epithermal deposits and districts. All of the regional papers are pertinent to Carlin-type gold deposits, because they address the age of mineralization (Arehart et al., 2003), origin and evolutionary history of the northwest-striking mineral belts that localize many deposits (Grauch et al., 2003), nature of the middle and lower crust below these mineral belts (Howard, 2003), district- to deposit-scale stream sediment and lithogeochemical anomalies (Theodore et al., 2003), and stratigraphy and structure of a district located along a northeast-striking lineament (Peters et al., 2003).
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MEASURES TO SOCIETY OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS AN EXAMPLE OF AGRIBUSINESS ENTERPRISES
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Marcin Ratajczak
2014-12-01
Full Text Available The first part of the article presents basic issues regarding the concept of CSR, highlighting themes taking socially responsible activities and areas of this activity. The main part of the article is devoted to the presentation of their own research on the activity of the surveyed companies from the Warmia and Mazury undertaken to society, embedded in the concept of CSR. The study, which was conducted in the second half of 2013, consisted of 174 micro, small and medium-sized agribusiness in rural areas. The study was conducted by a diagnostic survey using a questionnaire as a research tool. Material derived from respondents was analysed mathematically and statistically and properly presented. The conducted investigations indicate that the involvement of companies surveyed for the local community is high (83% of responses. However, it is quite of one-sided nature and focuses mainly on issues of philanthropy and sponsorship.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Christin Mays
2015-05-01
Full Text Available The importance of philanthropy for academic exchange cannot be overestimated. Especially in the first half of the twentieth century, scholarships for academic exchange originated from the private sector instead of the state. But what is the relationship between academic exchange and the donations which finance scholarships? How can specific donations and the restrictions placed on them change the flow of exchange? This article investigates donation and scholarship praxis within the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF from 1912–1995, a philanthropic organisation devoted to academic exchange between Scandinavia and the United States. The period, 1912–1944, is characterised by various small donations and few scholarships to mostly American fellows. The second period, 1945–1995, represents an era of economic growth created from a surge in large, restricted donations invested in scholarship funds. This led to an increased number of scholarships to a more geographically diverse population.
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Analytic approximation to the largest eigenvalue distribution of a white Wishart matrix
CSIR Research Space (South Africa)
Vlok, JD
2012-08-14
Full Text Available offers largely simplified computation and provides statistics such as the mean value and region of support of the largest eigenvalue distribution. Numeric results from the literature are compared with the approximation and Monte Carlo simulation results...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Garcia-Tenorio, R.; Bolivar, J. P.
2010-01-01
In this work it is documented why is quite limited the number os Spanish NORM industries devoted to the processing of minerals and/or raw materials where it is necessary to adopt occupational radiological protection countermeasures. These countermeasures are coincident in some cases with OHS countermeasures historically applied in the affected industries and in most cases can be only needed in working situations associated with maintenance operations. (Author) 6 refs.
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Switzerland's largest wood-pellet factory in Balsthal
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Stohler, F.
2004-01-01
This article describes how a small Swiss electricity utility has broken out of its traditional role in power generation and the distribution of electricity and gone into the production of wood pellets. The pellets, which are made from waste wood (sawdust) available from wood processing companies, are produced on a large scale in one of Europe's largest pellets production facilities. The boom in the use of wood pellets for heating purposes is discussed. The article discusses this unusual approach for a Swiss power utility, which also operates a wood-fired power station and is even involved in an incineration plant for household wastes. The markets being aimed for in Switzerland and in Europe are described, including modern low-energy-consumption housing projects. A further project is described that is to use waste wood available from a large wood processing facility planned in the utility's own region
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Advancement in Higher Education: The Role of Marketing in Building Philanthropic Giving
McAlexander, James H.; Koenig, Harold F.; DuFault, Beth
2014-01-01
This paper empirically explores ways in which marketers of higher education can contribute to the important task of cultivating alumni philanthropy. Advancement professionals understand that philanthropy is influenced by wealth and affinity. As marketers, we anticipate that our contribution resides with investments in building affinity. Using…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Felipe Reyno Capurro
2018-05-01
Full Text Available The subject of our research is the curatorial strategy behind the project for the last major exhibition devoted to Latin America by the New York Museum of Modern Art. The show is understood itself as a project, where each of the implicated agents—the institution, curators and the works themselves—relate to each other in building an action, a narrative, and in the best of cases, contributing to critical thinking. We will analyze the mass information strategies used by the museum in selecting the works, designing the spaces and advertising the exhibition.
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The global diversion of pharmaceutical drugs. India: the third largest illicit opium producer?
Paoli, Letizia; Greenfield, Victoria A; Charles, Molly; Reuter, Peter
2009-03-01
This paper explores India's role in the world illicit opiate market, particularly its role as a producer. India, a major illicit opiate consumer, is also the sole licensed exporter of raw opium: this unique status may be enabling substantial diversion to the illicit market. Participant observation and interviews were carried out at eight different sites. Information was also drawn from all standard secondary sources and the analysis of about 180 drug-related criminal proceedings reviewed by Indian High Courts and the Supreme Court from 1985 to 2001. Diversion from licit opium production takes place on such a large scale that India may be the third largest illicit opium producer after Afghanistan and Burma. With the possible exceptions of 2005 and 2006, 200-300 tons of India's opium may be diverted yearly. After estimating India's opiate consumption on the basis of UN-reported prevalence estimates, we find that diversion from licit production might have satisfied a quarter to more than a third of India's illicit opiate demand to 2004. India is not only among the world's largest consumer of illicit opiates but also one of the largest illicit opium producers. In contrast to all other illicit producers, India owes the latter distinction not to blatantly illicit cultivation but to diversion from licit cultivation. India's experience suggests the difficulty of preventing substantial leakage, even in a relatively well-governed nation.
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Corporate Investments in Education during an Economic Downturn
McCarthy, Kirstin; Contardo, Jeanne; Eckert, Leila Morsy
2010-01-01
Corporate philanthropies can provide much-needed support to K-12 and postsecondary education efforts. This article analyzes whether select multi-billion dollar corporate philanthropies continue such support and adhere to best-funding practices during an economic downtown. Drawing on interview and document review data, the authors examine the…
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Giving in Europe : The state of research on giving in 20 European countries
Hoolwerf, L.K.; Schuyt, T.N.M.
2017-01-01
This study is in intitial attempt to map philanthropy in Europe and presents a first overall estimation of the European philanthropic sector. Containing an overview of what we know about research on the philanthropy sector, it provides data and and assesment of the data on giving by households,
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BALU: Largest autoclave research facility in the world
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Hakan Ucan
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Among the large-scale facilities operated at the Center for Lightweight-Production-Technology of the German Aerospace Center in Stade BALU is the world's largest research autoclave. With a loading length of 20m and a loading diameter of 5.8 m the main objective of the facility is the optimization of the curing process operated by components made of carbon fiber on an industrial scale. For this reason, a novel dynamic autoclaving control has been developed that is characterized by peripheral devices to expend the performance of the facility for differential applications, by sensing systems to detect the component state throughout the curing process and by a feedback system, which is capable to intervene into the running autoclave process.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jiashun Huang
2017-05-01
Full Text Available When developing land to meet various human needs, conducting assessments of different alternatives regarding their sustainability is critical. Among different alternatives of land-use, devoting land to bioenergy is relatively novel, in high demand, and important for addressing the energy crisis and mitigating carbon emissions. Furthermore, the competition and disputes among limited land-use for bioenergy and the combination of food production and housing are tense. Thus, which alternative of land-use is more sustainable is an important question, yet it is still under-investigated. The main purposes of this study are to investigate the merits and problems of land-use for bioenergy and to compare the relative sustainability of land-use for bioenergy, food production, and housing based on habitants’ perceptions. Multi-criteria analysis is applied to the case study in the context of China, evaluating multiple criteria in economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Therefore, this study presents a comprehensive assessment of different scenarios of land-use designed to be implemented and some implications for optimum land-use policies.
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Canada's largest co-gen project
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Salaff, S.
2000-01-01
In November 2000, the TransAlta Energy Corp. began construction on its $400 million natural gas fuelled cogeneration project in Sarnia Ontario. The Sarnia Regional Cogeneration Project (SRCP) is designed to integrate a new 440 MW cogeneration facility to be built at the Sarnia Division of Dow Chemicals Canada Inc. with nearby existing generators totaling 210 MW at Dow and Bayer Inc. At 650 MW, the new facility will rank as Canada's largest cogeneration installation. Commercial operation is scheduled for October 2002. TransAlta owns three natural gas fuelled cogeneration facilities in Ontario (in Ottawa, Mississauga and Windsor) totaling 250 MW. The cost of electric power in Ontario is currently controlled by rising natural gas prices and the supply demand imbalance. This balance will be significantly affected by the possible return to service of 2000 MW of nuclear generating capacity. The SRCP project was announced just prior to the Ontario Energy Competition Act of October 1998 which committed the province to introduce competition to the electricity sector and which created major uncertainties in the electricity market. Some of the small, 25 MW projects which survived the market uncertainty included the Toronto-based Toromont Energy Ltd. project involving gas fuelled cogeneration and methane gas generation from landfill projects in Sudbury and Waterloo. It was emphasized that cogeneration and combined heat and power projects have significant environmental advantages over large combined cycle facilities. The Ontario Energy Board is currently considering an application from TransAlta to link the SRCP facility to Ontario's Hydro One Network Inc.'s transmission grid. 1 fig
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van den Heuvel, Marion I; Henrichs, Jens; Donkers, Franc C L; Van den Bergh, Bea R H
2017-10-22
Maternal anxiety during pregnancy can negatively affect fetal neurodevelopment, predisposing the offspring to a higher risk of behavioral and emotional problems later in life. The current study investigates the association between maternal anxiety during pregnancy and child affective picture processing using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Mothers reported anxiety during the second trimester using the anxiety subscale of the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90). At age 4 years, child affective picture processing (N = 86) was measured by recording ERPs during viewing of neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant pictures selected from the International Affective Pictures System. The late positive potential (LPP)-an ERP component reflecting individual differences in affective processing-was used as child outcome. The expected positive association between maternal anxiety and LPP amplitude for unpleasant pictures was not found. Nevertheless, we found a positive association between maternal anxiety during pregnancy and LPP amplitudes for neutral pictures in the middle and late time window at anterior locations (all p anxiety and gestational age at birth and after FDR correction for multiple comparisons. Our study provides neurophysiological evidence that children prenatally exposed to higher maternal anxiety devote more attentional resources to neutral pictures, but not to unpleasant pictures. Possibly, these children show enhanced vigilance for threat when viewing neutral pictures. Although useful in dangerous environments, this enhanced vigilance may predispose children prenatally exposed to higher maternal anxiety to developing behavioral and/or emotional problems later in life. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEzYi6IS2HA. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Eriksen, Krister; Wedøe, Ola
2010-01-01
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the largest non-financial companies in Norway manage their foreign exchange rate exposure. This is investigated through the use of a survey distributed to a sample the largest non-financial firms in Norway. According to our results, the largest non-financial companies in Norway have a predefined strategy for managing foreign exchange risk, which is defined by the board of directors or by the management in the organisation. The companies’ mai...
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New Chicago-Indiana computer network will handle dataflow from world's largest scientific experiment
2006-01-01
"Massive quantities of data will soon begin flowing from the largest scientific instrument ever built into an international netword of computer centers, including one operated jointly by the University of Chicago and Indiana University." (1,5 page)
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Opportunities for biodiversity gains under the world’s largest reforestation programme
Hua, Fangyuan; Wang, Xiaoyang; Zheng, Xinlei; Fisher, Brendan; Wang, Lin; Zhu, Jianguo; Tang, Ya; Yu, Douglas W.; Wilcove, David S.
2016-01-01
Reforestation is a critical means of addressing the environmental and social problems of deforestation. China’s Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) is the world’s largest reforestation scheme. Here we provide the first nationwide assessment of the tree composition of GFGP forests and the first combined ecological and economic study aimed at understanding GFGP’s biodiversity implications. Across China, GFGP forests are overwhelmingly monocultures or compositionally simple mixed forests. Focusing on...
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Carneiro, Ana; Amaral, Isabel
2015-05-01
This paper focuses on the internal organization and dynamics of the Institute Bento da Rocha Cabral (IRC) in Lisbon, a privately-funded institution devoted to biomedical research, from the particular vantage point of its laboratory of biochemistry; in particular, the process through which the institution turned from medically-related to chemically-related research in the period spanning from 1925 to 1953. The history of the IRC raises interesting questions regarding the social politics of science as it materialized the desire of leading physicians of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon to create proper physical facilities for medically-related scientific research. We argue that the process which led to the creation of the IRC coincided with the gradual professional and political ascendance of physicians in Portuguese society initiated in the late nineteenth century, and is closely associated with Portuguese republicanism and the process of Lisbon becoming the scientific capital.
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Résultats de recherche | Page 29 | CRDI - Centre de recherches ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Transition et amélioration des indices mondiaux de philanthropie. Cette subvention aide à transférer les activités d'élaboration des indices mondiaux de dons privés du Center for Global Prosperity de l'Hudson Institute à la Lilly Family School of Philanthropy de l'Université de l'Indiana.
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Rehabilitation of the 6 largest hydropower plants in the Republic of Macedonia
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chingoski, Vlatko; Savevski, Vasil
2004-01-01
In 1998, ESM (Electric Power Co. of Macedonia) received a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD - The World bank) for the cost of the Power System Improvement Project, major part of which is the partial rehabilitation of the six largest HPPs in the Republic of Macedonia. Rehabilitation and life extension of these six largest hydro power plants is given the highest priority in the whole Power System Improvement Project mainly because these HPPs are, in general, fairly old, older than most of the thermal generation capacity and because a significant part of their equipment is wearing out, or is now obsolete with spare parts difficult to obtain. Furthermore, these plants play a vital role in the Macedonian Power System, providing peaking capacity, reserve capacity and frequency control. With the realization of this project, greater hydropower production is expected. It is also expected that HPPs will become a more vital part of the Macedonian Power System, which is also beneficial from an environmental aspect, due to greater usage of renewable energy resources in the country. (Original)
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Harrington, Charlene; Hauser, Clarilee; Olney, Brian; Rosenau, Pauline Vaillancourt
2011-01-01
This study examined the ownership, financing, and management strategies of the 10 largest for-profit nursing home chains in the United States, including the four largest chains purchased by private equity corporations. Descriptive data were collected from Internet searches, company reports, and other sources for the decade 1998-2008. Since 1998, the largest chains have made many changes in their ownership and structure, and some have converted from publicly traded companies to private ownership. This study shows the increasing complexity of corporate nursing home ownership and the lack of public information about ownership and financial status. The chains have used strategies to maximize shareholder and investor value that include increasing Medicare revenues, occupancy rates, and company diversification, establishing multiple layers of corporate ownership, developing real estate investment trusts, and creating limited liability companies. These strategies enhance shareholder and investor profits, reduce corporate taxes, and reduce liability risk. There is a need for greater transparency in ownership and financial reporting and for more government oversight of the largest for-profit chains, including those owned by private equity companies.
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1978-12-15
Utilization Review Procedures ................ 22 Reduced Philanthropy ......................... 22 Lack of Incentives ........................... 23 Reductions...challenges are made on hospitals in the form of status of technology, elite physician compliments, and increased specialization of labor which ccnstantly...construction are now marginally subsidized by philanthropy . Third party reimbursement is now the dominant source of hospital revenue with cost based formula
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2008-06-01
have knowledge of host populations: social structure (ethnic groups, tribes, elite networks, institutions, organizations and the relationships...from asking a question on religious affiliation on a mandatory basis. 4 United Jewish Appeal--Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, The...to complications. At a scale of 5 United Jewish Appeal--Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New
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Résultats de recherche | Page 41 | CRDI - Centre de recherches ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Transition et amélioration des indices mondiaux de philanthropie. Cette subvention aide à transférer les activités d'élaboration des indices mondiaux de dons privés du Center for Global Prosperity de l'Hudson Institute à la Lilly Family School of Philanthropy de l'Université de l'Indiana. Projet.
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Résultats de recherche | Page 40 | CRDI - Centre de recherches ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Transition et amélioration des indices mondiaux de philanthropie. Cette subvention aide à transférer les activités d'élaboration des indices mondiaux de dons privés du Center for Global Prosperity de l'Hudson Institute à la Lilly Family School of Philanthropy de l'Université de l'Indiana. Projet.
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Résultats de recherche | Page 23 | CRDI - Centre de recherches ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Transition et amélioration des indices mondiaux de philanthropie. Cette subvention aide à transférer les activités d'élaboration des indices mondiaux de dons privés du Center for Global Prosperity de l'Hudson Institute à la Lilly Family School of Philanthropy de l'Université de l'Indiana. Projet ...
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SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kalygin, V.V.
1997-01-01
The State Scientific Centre (SSC) ''Research Institute of Atomic Reactors'' (RIAR) is situated 100 km to the south-east from Moscow, in Dimitrovgrad, the Volga Region of the Russian Federation. SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors in Russia. At present there are 5 types of reactor facilities in operation, including two NPP. One of the main tasks the Centre is the investigations on safety increase for power reactors. Broad international connections are available at the Institute. On the basis of the SSC RIAR during 3 years work has been done on the development of the branch training centre (TC) for the training of operation personnel of research and pilot reactors in Russia. (author). 3 tabs
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SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kalygin, V V [State Scientific Centre, Research Inst. of Atomic Reactors (Russian Federation)
1997-10-01
The State Scientific Centre (SSC) ``Research Institute of Atomic Reactors`` (RIAR) is situated 100 km to the south-east from Moscow, in Dimitrovgrad, the Volga Region of the Russian Federation. SSC RIAR is the largest centre of research reactors in Russia. At present there are 5 types of reactor facilities in operation, including two NPP. One of the main tasks the Centre is the investigations on safety increase for power reactors. Broad international connections are available at the Institute. On the basis of the SSC RIAR during 3 years work has been done on the development of the branch training centre (TC) for the training of operation personnel of research and pilot reactors in Russia. (author). 3 tabs.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Glenn A. Melnick PhD
2016-06-01
Full Text Available A surge in hospital consolidation is fueling formation of ever larger multi-hospital systems throughout the United States. This article examines hospital prices in California over time with a focus on hospitals in the largest multi-hospital systems. Our data show that hospital prices in California grew substantially (+76% per hospital admission across all hospitals and all services between 2004 and 2013 and that prices at hospitals that are members of the largest, multi-hospital systems grew substantially more (113% than prices paid to all other California hospitals (70%. Prices were similar in both groups at the start of the period (approximately $9200 per admission. By the end of the period, prices at hospitals in the largest systems exceeded prices at other California hospitals by almost $4000 per patient admission. Our study findings are potentially useful to policy makers across the country for several reasons. Our data measure actual prices for a large sample of hospitals over a long period of time in California. California experienced its wave of consolidation much earlier than the rest of the country and as such our findings may provide some insights into what may happen across the United States from hospital consolidation including growth of large, multi-hospital systems now forming in the rest of the rest of the country.
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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks
Arias-Ortiz, Ariane; Serrano, Oscar; Masqué , Pere; Lavery, P. S.; Mueller, U.; Kendrick, G. A.; Rozaimi, M.; Esteban, A.; Fourqurean, J. W.; Marbà , N.; Mateo, M. A.; Murray, K.; Rule, M. J.; Duarte, Carlos M.
2018-01-01
Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass
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The largest Silurian vertebrate and its palaeoecological implications
Choo, Brian; Zhu, Min; Zhao, Wenjin; Jia, Liaotao; Zhu, You'an
2014-01-01
An apparent absence of Silurian fishes more than half-a-metre in length has been viewed as evidence that gnathostomes were restricted in size and diversity prior to the Devonian. Here we describe the largest pre-Devonian vertebrate (Megamastax amblyodus gen. et sp. nov.), a predatory marine osteichthyan from the Silurian Kuanti Formation (late Ludlow, ~423 million years ago) of Yunnan, China, with an estimated length of about 1 meter. The unusual dentition of the new form suggests a durophagous diet which, combined with its large size, indicates a considerable degree of trophic specialisation among early osteichthyans. The lack of large Silurian vertebrates has recently been used as constraint in palaeoatmospheric modelling, with purported lower oxygen levels imposing a physiological size limit. Regardless of the exact causal relationship between oxygen availability and evolutionary success, this finding refutes the assumption that pre-Emsian vertebrates were restricted to small body sizes. PMID:24921626
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THE MASS OF (4) VESTA DERIVED FROM ITS LARGEST GRAVITATIONAL EFFECTS
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kuzmanoski, Mike; Novakovic, Bojan; Apostolovska, Gordana
2010-01-01
In this paper, we present a recalculated value of the mass of (4) Vesta, derived from its largest gravitational perturbations on selected asteroids during their mutual close encounters. This was done by using a new method for mass determination, which is based on the linking of pre-encounter observations to the orbit determined from post-encounter ones. The estimated weighted mean of the mass of (4) Vesta is (1.300 ± 0.001) x 10 -10 M sun .
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
2014-01-01
Full Text Available Symposium devoted to the 10th anniversary of the journal “Rational Pharmacotherapy in Cardiology” “Advance in cardiovascular diseases prevention and management in the past decade”. September 25, 2014, Kazan.
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Key U.S.-built part fails during testing for world's largest particle collider
2007-01-01
"Scientists are scrambling to redesign a key U.S.-built part that broke "with a loud bang and a cloud of dust" during a high-pressure test for the world's largest particle physics collider that is supposed to start up in November, officials sais Tuesday." (1,5 page)
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Constraining the magnitude of the largest event in a foreshock-main shock-aftershock sequence
Shcherbakov, Robert; Zhuang, Jiancang; Ogata, Yosihiko
2018-01-01
Extreme value statistics and Bayesian methods are used to constrain the magnitudes of the largest expected earthquakes in a sequence governed by the parametric time-dependent occurrence rate and frequency-magnitude statistics. The Bayesian predictive distribution for the magnitude of the largest event in a sequence is derived. Two types of sequences are considered, that is, the classical aftershock sequences generated by large main shocks and the aftershocks generated by large foreshocks preceding a main shock. For the former sequences, the early aftershocks during a training time interval are used to constrain the magnitude of the future extreme event during the forecasting time interval. For the latter sequences, the earthquakes preceding the main shock are used to constrain the magnitudes of the subsequent extreme events including the main shock. The analysis is applied retrospectively to past prominent earthquake sequences.
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Evolution of the Largest Mammalian Genome.
Evans, Ben J; Upham, Nathan S; Golding, Goeffrey B; Ojeda, Ricardo A; Ojeda, Agustina A
2017-06-01
The genome of the red vizcacha rat (Rodentia, Octodontidae, Tympanoctomys barrerae) is the largest of all mammals, and about double the size of their close relative, the mountain vizcacha rat Octomys mimax, even though the lineages that gave rise to these species diverged from each other only about 5 Ma. The mechanism for this rapid genome expansion is controversial, and hypothesized to be a consequence of whole genome duplication or accumulation of repetitive elements. To test these alternative but nonexclusive hypotheses, we gathered and evaluated evidence from whole transcriptome and whole genome sequences of T. barrerae and O. mimax. We recovered support for genome expansion due to accumulation of a diverse assemblage of repetitive elements, which represent about one half and one fifth of the genomes of T. barrerae and O. mimax, respectively, but we found no strong signal of whole genome duplication. In both species, repetitive sequences were rare in transcribed regions as compared with the rest of the genome, and mostly had no close match to annotated repetitive sequences from other rodents. These findings raise new questions about the genomic dynamics of these repetitive elements, their connection to widespread chromosomal fissions that occurred in the T. barrerae ancestor, and their fitness effects-including during the evolution of hypersaline dietary tolerance in T. barrerae. ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
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Largest US oil and gas fields, August 1993
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
1993-08-06
The Largest US Oil and Gas Fields is a technical report and part of an Energy Information Administration (EIA) series presenting distributions of US crude oil and natural gas resources, developed using field-level data collected by EIA`s annual survey of oil and gas proved reserves. The series` objective is to provide useful information beyond that routinely presented in the EIA annual report on crude oil and natural gas reserves. These special reports also will provide oil and gas resource analysts with a fuller understanding of the nature of US crude oil and natural gas occurrence, both at the macro level and with respect to the specific subjects addressed. The series` approach is to integrate EIA`s crude oil and natural gas survey data with related data obtained from other authoritative sources, and then to present illustrations and analyses of interest to a broad spectrum of energy information users ranging from the general public to oil and gas industry personnel.
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Largest US oil and gas fields, August 1993
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
1993-01-01
The Largest US Oil and Gas Fields is a technical report and part of an Energy Information Administration (EIA) series presenting distributions of US crude oil and natural gas resources, developed using field-level data collected by EIA's annual survey of oil and gas proved reserves. The series' objective is to provide useful information beyond that routinely presented in the EIA annual report on crude oil and natural gas reserves. These special reports also will provide oil and gas resource analysts with a fuller understanding of the nature of US crude oil and natural gas occurrence, both at the macro level and with respect to the specific subjects addressed. The series' approach is to integrate EIA's crude oil and natural gas survey data with related data obtained from other authoritative sources, and then to present illustrations and analyses of interest to a broad spectrum of energy information users ranging from the general public to oil and gas industry personnel
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How the largest electric and gas utility companies administer public relations
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bogart, J.D.
1979-04-12
This article describes the findings of a survey conducted by the author in the second half of 1978 to determine the sizes of the public relations staffs of the nation's largest operating electric and gas utilities, their budgets, organizational differences, and specific functions. Common public relations issues and major public relations problems of the utilities are identified, as well as recent trends or changes in budgeting and organization. Some functional variations of public relations departments among utility companies were detected and described.
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Environmental isotope signatures of the largest freshwater lake in Kerala
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Unnikrishnan Warrier, C.
2007-01-01
Sasthamkotta lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, serves as a source for drinking water for more than half a million people. Environmental 137 Cs analysis done on undisturbed sediment core samples reveals that the recent rate of sedimentation is not uniform in the lake. The useful life of lake is estimated as about 800 years. The δD and δ 18 O values of the lake waters indicate that the lake is well mixed with a slight variation horizontally. The stable isotope studies on well waters from the catchment indicate hydraulic communication with the lake and lake groundwater system is flow-through type. Analytical model also supports this view. (author)
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CERN: Digital image analysis in the world's largest research center for particle physics
2005-01-01
Those interested in researching into the smallest building blocks that matter is made up of need the largest instruments. CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland is where the most powerful circular accelerator in the world is being built: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for proton collisions. It has a circumference of 26.7 km (4 pages)
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Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin; Tsai, Sang-Bing
2017-01-01
This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degr...
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Shakir, Muhammad
2011-12-01
In this paper, we introduce a new detector referred to as Geometric mean detector (GEMD) which is based on the ratio of the largest eigenvalue to the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues for collaborative spectrum sensing. The decision threshold has been derived by employing Gaussian approximation approach. In this approach, the two random variables, i.e. The largest eigenvalue and the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues are considered as independent Gaussian random variables such that their cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) are approximated by a univariate Gaussian distribution function for any number of cooperating secondary users and received samples. The approximation approach is based on the calculation of exact analytical moments of the largest eigenvalue and the Geometric mean of the eigenvalues of the received covariance matrix. The decision threshold has been calculated by exploiting the CDF of the ratio of two Gaussian distributed random variables. In this context, we exchange the analytical moments of the two random variables with the moments of the Gaussian distribution function. The performance of the detector is compared with the performance of the energy detector and eigenvalue ratio detector. Analytical and simulation results show that our newly proposed detector yields considerable performance advantage in realistic spectrum sensing scenarios. Moreover, our results based on proposed approximation approach are in perfect agreement with the empirical results. © 2011 IEEE.
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Signal Incongruence and its Consequences
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Vergne, Jean-Philippe; Wernicke, Maria Stokholm; Brenner, Steffen
2018-01-01
theory on signal incongruence, we find that firms engaged in philanthropy receive more media disapproval when they overcompensate their CEO, but they are also more likely to decrease CEO overcompensation as a response. Our study contributes to the signaling literature by theorizing about signal......We draw on the signaling and infomediary literatures to examine how media evaluations of CEO overcompensation (a negative cue associated with selfishness and greed) are affected by the presence of corporate philanthropy (a positive cue associated with altruism and generosity). In line with our...... incongruence, and to infomediary and corporate governance research by showing that media disapproval can lead to lower executive compensation. We also reconcile two conflicting views on firm prosocial behavior by showing that, in the presence of incongruent cues, philanthropy can simultaneously enhance...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Rui Wang
2014-01-01
Full Text Available A modified multiple structural changes model is built to test structural breaks of the financial system based on calculating the largest Lyapunov exponents of the financial time series. Afterwards, the Lorenz system is used as a simulation example to inspect the new model. As the Lorenz system has strong nonlinearity, the verification results show that the new model has good capability in both finding the breakpoint and revealing the changes in nonlinear characteristics of the time series. The empirical study based on the model used daily data from the S&P 500 stock index during the global financial crisis from 2005 to 2012. The results provide four breakpoints of the period, which divide the contagion into four stages: stationary, local outbreak, global outbreak, and recovery period. An additional significant result is the obvious chaos characteristic difference in the largest Lyapunov exponents and the standard deviation at various stages, particularly at the local outbreak stage.
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World's largest off-road tires to be recycled
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Anon.
2005-07-01
Suncor Energy is the first company in Canada to use a new technology designed uniquely for tire recycling at oil sand facilities. The technology is owned by CuttingEdge Tire Recycling, a partnership between Denesoline Environmental Limited Partnership and Beaver Environmental Rubber Technologies Limited. Suncor has supported the development of this Aboriginal-owned and operated business by offering land, electricity, diesel fuel and stockpiles of used truck tires from its oil sand mining activities. These tires are the largest off-road tires in the world. In this new technology, tires that are worn-out through oil sand mining are shredded in a portable shredder before being recycled for subsequent use by the Alberta Recycling Management Association. 1 fig.
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19th Century Christian Benevolence and the Unwritten Constitution
2007-05-01
arranged. In this way, wealthy benefactors would be much more inclined to donate to the ABS because their philanthropy encouraged self-reliance...employment, that of doing good, and may lay the foundation of enlarged philanthropy , as well as solid piety, at a maturer age." 81 Butler, (450...the formal union of church and state. 102 Through their Machiavellian tactics and vast reservoirs of money and liquid assets, religious elites
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菅家, 正瑞
2008-01-01
Every large corporation in the world, now, practices philanthropy, that is contributive activities to local communities, local countries and world-wide societies, especially in the field of culture and arts (mecenat). Japanes campanies, of course, also make an organizational section of philanthropy work, for example, corporate citizenship office, and practice very wonderful mecenat. Yet, corporation is an economic institution and its abject is the maximalization of profit. Mecenat activities ...
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Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics in Backwaters of North America's Largest River Swamp
Bueche, S. M.; Xu, Y. J.; Reiman, J. H.
2017-12-01
The Atchafalaya River (AR) is the largest distributary of the Mississippi River flowing through south-central Louisiana, creating North America's largest river swamp basin - the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB). Prior to human settlement, the AR's main channel was highly connected to this large wetland ecosystem. However, due to constructed levee systems and other human modifications, much of the ARB is now hydrologically disconnected from the AR's main channel except during high flow events. This lack of regular inputs of fresh, oxygenated water to these wetlands, paired with high levels of organic matter decomposition in wetlands, has caused low oxygen-deprived hypoxic conditions in the ARB's back waters. In addition, due to the incredibly nutrient-rich and warm nature of the ARB, microbial decomposition in backwater areas with limited flow often results in potentially stressful, if not lethal, levels of DO for organisms during and after flood pulses. This study aims to investigate dynamics of dissolved oxygen in backwaters of the Atchafalaya River Basin, intending to answer a crucial question about hydrological and water quality connectivity between the river's mainstem and its floodplain. Specifically, the study will 1) conduct field water quality measurements, 2) collect composite water samples for chemical analysis of nutrients and carbon, 3) investigate DO dynamics over different seasons for one year, and 4) determine the major factors that affect DO dynamics in this unique swamp ecosystem. The study is currently underway; therefore, in this presentation we will share the major findings gained in the past several months and discuss backwater effects on river chemistry.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tatiana Aquino Almeida
2016-01-01
Full Text Available The disclosure of sustainable practices has become important in the search for competitive advantage, so as to meet the expectations of the various stakeholders. Thus, the study aims to investigate the relationship between the ownership structure and the economic and environmental voluntary disclosure in the largest Brazilian companies, analyzing ownership concentration and the identity of the controlling shareholder. For the analysis, we considered the economic, social and environmental perspectives, addressed both individually and jointly. The sample consists of 47 companies from the 100 largest public companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA, according to the magazine Exame Biggest and Best, edition 2013. The research is descriptive and quantitative, using Multiple Linear Regression for statistical analysis. The descriptive analysis of the prospects of (economic, social, environmental and sustainability disclosure showed lower average disclosure for the environmental aspect. The state control organizations stood out with the highest average in three of the four levels of disclosure: economic, social and sustainability. As regards the application of statistical analysis, the regression models were not statistically significant, indicating that, for the companies in the sample, the ownership structure does not influence the economic and socio-environmental disclosure.
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OBJECT TRACKING WITH ROTATION-INVARIANT LARGEST DIFFERENCE INDEXED LOCAL TERNARY PATTERN
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
J Shajeena
2017-02-01
Full Text Available This paper presents an ideal method for object tracking directly in the compressed domain in video sequences. An enhanced rotation-invariant image operator called Largest Difference Indexed Local Ternary Pattern (LDILTP has been proposed. The Local Ternary Pattern which worked very well in texture classification and face recognition is now extended for rotation invariant object tracking. Histogramming the LTP code makes the descriptor resistant to translation. The histogram intersection is used to find the similarity measure. This method is robust to noise and retain contrast details. The proposed scheme has been verified on various datasets and shows a commendable performance.
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Trust Ownership of the Tata Group
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Thomsen, Steen
The Indian Tata Group is one of the largest and most admired business groups in the world. It has 28 listed subsidiaries and more than 80 operating businesses. It has shown strong financial performance and social responsibility for decades. Interestingly, it has a unique ownership structure......: the main holding company Tata Sons Limited is majority-owned by charitable trusts. We examine the governance of this remarkable entity. The Trusts own 66% of Tata Sons, the main holding company of the Group, while members of the founding Tata family are very small minority shareholders. The governance...... structure is characterized by managerial distance between trusts and Group companies. The Trusts are almost exclusively concerned with philanthropy, and according to the Articles of Association of Tata Sons Limited, their governance role is limited to nominating two members to the Selection Committee which...
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Halrynjo, Sigtona; Lyng, Selma Therese
2009-06-01
Despite decades of focus on gender equality and work-family balance, parenthood still affects mothers' and fathers' careers differently. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Norwegian mothers who are relinquishing high-commitment careers of law and consultancy, this paper questions the adequacy of established explanations emphasizing constraints vs. individual preferences. Our sample of female professionals living in a well-developed welfare state is particularly apt to explore the processes and mechanisms upholding the statistically gendered pattern of women reducing their work commitment after childbirth. These doubly privileged mothers might be considered to have the best odds for combining career and work commitment with motherhood. Thus, we argue that the approach emphasizing practical constraints does not sufficiently account for the withdrawal from high-commitment careers among these female professionals. Nevertheless, we are not content with the claim of Preference Theory that this shift in commitment is merely a matter of 'not-so-dedicated' women discovering their 'genuine' preferences. Rather, in order to understand why and how this shift occurs, we explore the culturally constructed rationalities and schemas of both work and family devotions. We specifically examine the circumstances, mechanisms and steps in a seemingly individual process of making the shift in commitment from a promising career to a family-friendly job. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates how generous parental leave arrangements designed to enhance gender equality and work-family balance by simply reducing practical constraints may have limited--or even counterproductive--impact within high-commitment occupations where the 'irreplaceability' of workers is taken for granted. Our findings indicate that unless the culturally (re)produced discourses, demands and expectations of both work and family are exposed and challenged, even intentionally gender neutral work-family policies will
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Takahashi Toru
2010-02-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Bovine follicular development is regulated by numerous molecular mechanisms and biological pathways. In this study, we tried to identify differentially expressed genes between largest (F1 and second-largest follicles (F2, and classify them by global gene expression profiling using a combination of microarray and quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR analysis. The follicular status of F1 and F2 were further evaluated in terms of healthy and atretic conditions by investigating mRNA localization of identified genes. Methods Global gene expression profiles of F1 (10.7 +/- 0.7 mm and F2 (7.8 +/- 0.2 mm were analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis and expression profiles of 16 representative genes were confirmed by QPCR analysis. In addition, localization of six identified transcripts was investigated in healthy and atretic follicles using in situ hybridization. The healthy or atretic condition of examined follicles was classified by progesterone and estradiol concentrations in follicular fluid. Results Hierarchical cluster analysis of microarray data classified the follicles into two clusters. Cluster A was composed of only F2 and was characterized by high expression of 31 genes including IGFBP5, whereas cluster B contained only F1 and predominantly expressed 45 genes including CYP19 and FSHR. QPCR analysis confirmed AMH, CYP19, FSHR, GPX3, PlGF, PLA2G1B, SCD and TRB2 were greater in F1 than F2, while CCL2, GADD45A, IGFBP5, PLAUR, SELP, SPP1, TIMP1 and TSP2 were greater in F2 than in F1. In situ hybridization showed that AMH and CYP19 were detected in granulosa cells (GC of healthy as well as atretic follicles. PlGF was localized in GC and in the theca layer (TL of healthy follicles. IGFBP5 was detected in both GC and TL of atretic follicles. GADD45A and TSP2 were localized in both GC and TL of atretic follicles, whereas healthy follicles expressed them only in GC. Conclusion We demonstrated that global gene expression profiling of F
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Viergever, Roderik F; Hendriks, Thom C C
2016-02-18
Little is known about who the main public and philanthropic funders of health research are globally, what they fund and how they decide what gets funded. This study aims to identify the 10 largest public and philanthropic health research funding organizations in the world, to report on what they fund, and on how they distribute their funds. The world's key health research funding organizations were identified through a search strategy aimed at identifying different types of funding organizations. Organizations were ranked by their reported total annual health research expenditures. For the 10 largest funding organizations, data were collected on (1) funding amounts allocated towards 20 health areas, and (2) schemes employed for distributing funding (intramural/extramural, project/'people'/organizational and targeted/untargeted funding). Data collection consisted of a review of reports and websites and interviews with representatives of funding organizations. Data collection was challenging; data were often not reported or reported using different classification systems. Overall, 55 key health research funding organizations were identified. The 10 largest funding organizations together funded research for $37.1 billion, constituting 40% of all public and philanthropic health research spending globally. The largest funder was the United States National Institutes of Health ($26.1 billion), followed by the European Commission ($3.7 billion), and the United Kingdom Medical Research Council ($1.3 billion). The largest philanthropic funder was the Wellcome Trust ($909.1 million), the largest funder of health research through official development assistance was USAID ($186.4 million), and the largest multilateral funder was the World Health Organization ($135.0 million). Funding distribution mechanisms and funding patterns varied substantially between the 10 largest funders. There is a need for increased transparency about who the main funders of health research are
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Phase space reconstruction and estimation of the largest Lyapunov exponent for gait kinematic data
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Josiński, Henryk [Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, 44-100 Gliwice (Poland); Świtoński, Adam [Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, Aleja Legionów 2, 41-902 Bytom (Poland); Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 16, 44-100 Gliwice (Poland); Michalczuk, Agnieszka; Wojciechowski, Konrad [Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology, Aleja Legionów 2, 41-902 Bytom (Poland)
2015-03-10
The authors describe an example of application of nonlinear time series analysis directed at identifying the presence of deterministic chaos in human motion data by means of the largest Lyapunov exponent. The method was previously verified on the basis of a time series constructed from the numerical solutions of both the Lorenz and the Rössler nonlinear dynamical systems.
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Carbon and energy fluxes from China's largest freshwater lake
Gan, G.; LIU, Y.
2017-12-01
Carbon and energy fluxes between lakes and the atmosphere are important aspects of hydrology, limnology, and ecology studies. China's largest freshwater lake, the Poyang lake experiences tremendous water-land transitions periodically throughout the year, which provides natural experimental settings for the study of carbon and energy fluxes. In this study, we use the eddy covariance technique to explore the seasonal and diurnal variation patterns of sensible and latent heat fluxes of Poyang lake during its high-water and low-water periods, when the lake is covered by water and mudflat, respectively. We also determine the annual NEE of Poyang lake and the variations of NEE's components: Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (Re). Controlling factors of seasonal and diurnal variations of carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed, and land cover impacts on the variation patterns are also studied. Finally, the coupling between the carbon and energy fluxes are analyzed under different atmospheric, boundary stability and land cover conditions.
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Trend of CO2 emissions of the 30 largest power plants in Germany
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Hermann, Hauke
2014-01-01
The brochure on the trend of CO 2 emissions of the 30 largest power plants in Germany includes tables of the emissions of these power plants. The CO 2 emissions of these power plants in 2013 (25% of the total German greenhouse gas emissions) have increased by 5% compared to 2012. The total CO 2 emission sin Germany increased by 1.5%. The differences between brown coal and black coal fired power plants are discussed.
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Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin
2017-01-01
This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy. PMID:29064451
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Liu, Wei; Wei, Qiao; Huang, Song-Qin; Tsai, Sang-Bing
2017-10-24
This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Wei Liu
2017-10-01
Full Text Available This study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and corporate philanthropy. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2013, this paper examines the role of corporate environmental responsibility in corporate philanthropy and the moderating influence of the institutional environment using multilevel analysis. The results show that corporate eco-friendly events are positively associated with corporate philanthropic strategy to a significant degree. Provincial-level government intervention positively moderate the positive relationship between eco-friendly events and corporate philanthropy and government corruption is negatively moderate the relationship. All these results are robust according to robustness checks. These findings provide a new perspective on corporate philanthropic strategy as a means to obtain critical resources from the government in order to compensate for the loss made on environmental responsibility. Moreover, the institutional environment is proved here to play an important role in corporate philanthropic strategy.
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Zeolite-like Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) Encaged Pt(II)-Porphyrin for Anion-Selective Sensing
Masih, Dilshad; Chernikova, Valeriya; Shekhah, Osama; Eddaoudi, Mohamed; Mohammed, Omar F.
2018-01-01
The selectivity and sensitivity of sensors are of great interest to the materials chemistry community, and a lot of effort is now devoted to improving these characteristics. More specifically, the selective sensing of anions is one of the largest
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Quicksort, largest bucket, and min-wise hashing with limited independence
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Knudsen, Mathias Bæk Tejs; Stöckel, Morten
2015-01-01
Randomized algorithms and data structures are often analyzed under the assumption of access to a perfect source of randomness. The most fundamental metric used to measure how “random” a hash function or a random number generator is, is its independence: a sequence of random variables is said...... to be k-independent if every variable is uniform and every size k subset is independent. In this paper we consider three classic algorithms under limited independence. Besides the theoretical interest in removing the unrealistic assumption of full independence, the work is motivated by lower independence...... being more practical. We provide new bounds for randomized quicksort, min-wise hashing and largest bucket size under limited independence. Our results can be summarized as follows. Randomized Quicksort. When pivot elements are computed using a 5-independent hash function, Karloff and Raghavan, J.ACM’93...
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Siegmund-Schultze, Reinhard
2001-01-01
Philanthropies funded by the Rockefeller family have been prominent in the social history of the twentieth century for their involvement in medicine and applied science. This book provides the first detailed study of their relatively brief but nonetheless influential foray into the field of mathematics. The careers of a generation of pathbreakers in modern mathematics, such as S.Banach, B.L.van der Waerden and André Weil, were decisively affected by their becoming fellows of the Rockefeller-funded International Education Board in the 1920s. To help promote cooperation between physics and mathematics Rockefeller funds supported the erection of the new Mathematical Institute in Göttingen between 1926 and 1929, while the rise of probability and mathematical statistics owes much to the creation of the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris by American philanthropy at about the same time. This account draws upon the documented evaluation processes behind these personal and institutional involvements of philanthropies...
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Whitworth, Leila; Ragtime; Nolowerboundonsize; Quandry12
2014-05-01
In reply to the news story “Cambridge physicists divided over Hawking chair” (April p12, http://ow.ly/vyLil) about the university's new Stephen W Hawking Professorship, which must, according to its philanthropic funders, have an associated salary “equal to or greater than the average” for other professorships of similar rank in the department.
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McGervey, Teresa
2000-01-01
Discusses the concept of Earth's Largest Library (ELL), a mega-virtual library based on the Amazon.com model. Topics include who will be included; privacy; censorship; scope of the collection; costs; legal aspects; collection development; personnel management; access; the concept of community; public service; lending policies; technical…
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Debbah, Merouane; Matthes, Ruediger; Isabelle Deltour; Veyret, Bernard; Mann, Simon; Van Rongen, Eric; Laurent, L.; Celli, Bernard; Wiedemann, Peter; Ravazzani, P.; Rowley, Jack; Wiart, Joe
2012-12-01
This 2012 edition of the annual meeting devoted to the electromagnetic waves and to their interactions with the human being was the occasion to tackle the problem of RF waves under various aspects: technological, biological, epidemiological, societal, risk management. This document gathers the available presentations (slides) given during the meeting and dealing with: 1 - Green Small Cell Flexible Networks (Debbah, M.); 2 - Electromagnetic Fields - The ICNIRP View (Matthes, R.); 3 - IARC Research Actions on Radio-frequencies (Deltour, I.); 4 - Research activity worldwide on mobile telephony and health/Review of international research on RF bio-effects (Veyret, B.); 5 - HPA Research on RF Exposures (Mann, S.); 6 - The Dutch research programme 'Electromagnetic Fields and Health' (Van Rongen, E.); 7 - National Programme 'Occupational and environmental health and safety' of ANSES (Laurent, L.); 8 - ANFR and public exposure to radioelectric waves (Celli, B.); 9 - EMF exposure and risk perception: Challenges and needs of the next decade (Wiedemann, P.); 10 - The EFHRAN project: an European experience of EMF Health Risk Assessment (Ravazzani, P.); 11 - Mobile Networks: Exposure Levels (Rowley, J.); 12 - Lexnet, low EMF exposure future networks (Wiart, J.)
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Is Kasei Valles (Mars) the largest volcanic channel in the solar system?
Leverington, David W.
2018-02-01
With a length of more than 2000 km and widths of up to several hundred kilometers, Kasei Valles is the largest outflow system on Mars. Superficially, the scabland-like character of Kasei Valles is evocative of terrestrial systems carved by catastrophic aqueous floods, and the system is widely interpreted as a product of outbursts from aquifers. However, as at other Martian outflow channels, clear examples of fluvial sedimentary deposits have proven difficult to identify here. Though Kasei Valles lacks several key properties expected of aqueous systems, its basic morphological and contextual properties are aligned with those of ancient volcanic channels on Venus, the Moon, Mercury, and Earth. There is abundant evidence that voluminous effusions of low-viscosity magmas occurred at the head of Kasei Valles, the channel system acted as a conduit for associated flows, and mare-style volcanic plains developed within its terminal basin. Combined mechanical and thermal incision rates of at least several meters per day are estimated to have been readily achieved at Kasei Valles by 20-m-deep magmas flowing with viscosities of 1 Pa s across low topographic slopes underlain by bedrock. If Kasei Valles formed through incision by magma, it would be the largest known volcanic channel in the solar system. The total volume of magma erupted at Kasei Valles is estimated here to have possibly reached or exceeded ∼5 × 106 km3, a volume comparable in magnitude to those that characterize individual Large Igneous Provinces on Earth. Development of other large outflow systems on Mars is expected to have similarly involved eruption of up to millions of cubic kilometers of magma.
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Next challenges in protein–protein docking: from proteome to interactome and beyond
Melquiond, A.S.J.; Karaca, E.; Kastritis, P.; Bonvin, A.M.J.J.
2012-01-01
Advances in biophysics and biochemistry have pushed back the limits for the structural characterization of biomolecular assemblies. Large efforts have been devoted to increase both resolution and accuracy of the methods, probe into the smallest biomolecules as well as the largest macromolecular
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Gonzalez-Hidalgo, J. C.; Batalla, R.; Cerda, A.; de Luis, M.
2009-04-01
When Thornes and Brunsden wrote in 1977 "How often one hears the researcher (and no less the undergraduate) complain that after weeks of observation "nothing happened" only to learn that, the day after his departure, a flood caused unprecedent erosion and channel changes!" (Thornes and Brunsden, 1977, p. 57), they focussed on two different problems in geomorphological research: the effects of extreme events and the temporal compression of geomorphological processes. The time compression is one of the main characteristic of erosion processes. It means that an important amount of the total soil eroded is produced in very short temporal intervals, i.e. few events mostly related to extreme events. From magnitude-frequency analysis we know that few events, not necessarily extreme by magnitude, produce high amount of geomorphological work. Last but not least, extreme isolated events are a classical issue in geomorphology by their specific effects, and they are receiving permanent attention, increased at present because of scenarios of global change. Notwithstanding, the time compression of geomorphological processes could be focused not only on the analysis of extreme events and the traditional magnitude-frequency approach, but on new complementary approach based on the effects of largest events. The classical approach define extreme event as a rare event (identified by its magnitude and quantified by some deviation from central value), while we define largest events by the rank, whatever their magnitude. In a previous research on time compression of soil erosion, using USLE soil erosion database (Gonzalez-Hidalgo et al., EGU 2007), we described a relationship between the total amount of daily erosive events recorded by plot and the percentage contribution to total soil erosion of n-largest aggregated daily events. Now we offer a further refined analysis comparing different agricultural regions in USA. To do that we have analyzed data from 594 erosion plots from USLE
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Zábranská, Žaneta
2008-01-01
This thesis deals with gifts, firstly with their general concept and secondly with donations and corporate philanthropy. The last part of thesis is dedicated to research the opinions on corporate philanthropy. Gifts playa major role in society. Their key role is to create a moral obligation between a donor and a recipient. There is always somebody who is obliged, but both parties can have the different view about the size of the debt and about the time to pay it back. There can be a reciproci...
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Natural radionuclides in soil profiles surrounding the largest coal-fired power plant in Serbia
Tanić Milan N.; Janković-Mandić Ljiljana J.; Gajić Boško A.; Daković Marko Z.; Dragović Snežana D.; Bačić Goran G.
2016-01-01
This study evaluates the influence of the largest Serbian coal-fired power plant on radionuclide concentrations in soil profiles up to 50 cm in depth. Thirty soil profiles were sampled from the plant surroundings (up to 10 km distance) and analyzed using standard methods for soil physicochemical properties and gamma ray spectrometry for specific activities of natural radionuclides (40K, 226Ra and 232Th). Spatial and vertical distribution of radionuclides wa...
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Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. Case Study: Vodafone Albania
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Everest Haxhi
2014-06-01
Full Text Available There are many discussions about ethics beginning with a fair and fundamental question: “What is ethics all about?” It is the same as morality, or is kind of a soft law that imposes values but without enforcing them? What is the contribution of the society in imposing values and ethical standards, and how business is involved? Ethical standards are applied in business word, differing from social responsibilities that business has in the social environment where it operates. To better exemplify those concepts the researcher goes through one of the largest companies that offers wireless communications, Vodafone Albania; also one of the world’s largest mobile telecommunication operators. The bright side of social responsibilities is associated in some cases by regressive informal standards applied to all investors and new businesses in the country. The cost of informality is paid in full by the society diminishing the values of social responsibilities and ethical standards applied by business organizations. Even though, Vodafone has successfully implemented social responsiveness initiatives through cause promotions initiatives, corporate social marketing, cause related marketing, company philanthropy, community volunteering, and socially responsible business practices that support social causes to improve community well-being and protect the environment.
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Opportunities for biodiversity gains under the world's largest reforestation programme
Hua, Fangyuan; Wang, Xiaoyang; Zheng, Xinlei; Fisher, Brendan; Wang, Lin; Zhu, Jianguo; Tang, Ya; Yu, Douglas W.; Wilcove, David S.
2016-01-01
Reforestation is a critical means of addressing the environmental and social problems of deforestation. China's Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP) is the world's largest reforestation scheme. Here we provide the first nationwide assessment of the tree composition of GFGP forests and the first combined ecological and economic study aimed at understanding GFGP's biodiversity implications. Across China, GFGP forests are overwhelmingly monocultures or compositionally simple mixed forests. Focusing on birds and bees in Sichuan Province, we find that GFGP reforestation results in modest gains (via mixed forest) and losses (via monocultures) of bird diversity, along with major losses of bee diversity. Moreover, all current modes of GFGP reforestation fall short of restoring biodiversity to levels approximating native forests. However, even within existing modes of reforestation, GFGP can achieve greater biodiversity gains by promoting mixed forests over monocultures; doing so is unlikely to entail major opportunity costs or pose unforeseen economic risks to households. PMID:27598524
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El Paso natural gas nearing completion of system's largest expansion
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Anon.
1992-01-01
El Paso Natural Gas Co.'s largest expansion program in its 64-year history will be completed along its northern system this spring or early summer. According to the company, the three-tiered, $241.5 million expansion program will increase El Paso's gas-transport capacity by 835 MMcfd to 2.5 bcfd of conventional and coal-seam gas from the San Juan basin in northwestern New Mexico. That's enough natural gas, says the company, to supply the needs of a city of more than 800,000 residents. This paper reports that the expansion involves the San Juan Triangle system, the company's northern main line, and the Permian-San Juan crossover line. The company also filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in October 1991 to construct a new $15.2 million compressor station, Rio Vista, south of Bloomfield, N.M. The station would be used to move additional gas to the main line
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Contamination Control Assessment of the World's Largest Space Environment Simulation Chamber
Snyder, Aaron; Henry, Michael W.; Grisnik, Stanley P.; Sinclair, Stephen M.
2012-01-01
The Space Power Facility s thermal vacuum test chamber is the largest chamber in the world capable of providing an environment for space simulation. To improve performance and meet stringent requirements of a wide customer base, significant modifications were made to the vacuum chamber. These include major changes to the vacuum system and numerous enhancements to the chamber s unique polar crane, with a goal of providing high cleanliness levels. The significance of these changes and modifications are discussed in this paper. In addition, the composition and arrangement of the pumping system and its impact on molecular back-streaming are discussed in detail. Molecular contamination measurements obtained with a TQCM and witness wafers during two recent integrated system tests of the chamber are presented and discussed. Finally, a concluding remarks section is presented.
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Slyunkina, Ekaterina S; Kliavin, Vladimir E; Gritsenko, Elena A; Petruhin, Alexandr B; Zambon, Francesco; He, Huan; Hyder, Adnan A
2013-12-01
In Russia, the high Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) rate has been attributed to two well-known risk factors - the low rates of seatbelt and child restraints use and speeding. Despite the importance of understanding both speeding and seatbelt use patterns for the purpose of direct interventions or monitoring road safety situation, no study has assessed the current status of speeding among all vehicles and seatbelt wearing rates among all vehicle occupants in Russia. We are aware that alcohol is a known risk factor for RTI in the country however the work focused on seat belts and speed. This research was conducted as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme and focuses on observed speeding and seatbelt use in two Russian regions: Lipetskaya and Ivanovskaya Oblast. Data was collected through observational surveys on selected roads in the two interventions sites (Lipetskaya and Ivanovskaya Oblast) between October 2010 and March 2013. The percentage of seatbelt use by drivers and passengers and the percentage of speeding vehicles by speed limit and road types were calculated. Observational studies on speeding show signs that drivers are speeding less from the first survey held in July 2011 in Lipetskaya Oblast and March 2012 in Ivanovksya Oblast. Overall the observational studies showed a consistent reduction in the proportion of vehicles exceeding the speed limit: from 54.7% (2012) to 40.1% (2013) in Ivanovskaya Oblast and from 47.0% (2011) to 26.1% (2013) in Lipetskaya Oblast. Observational studies on seatbelt use demonstrate an increase in seatbelt wearing rates from the first survey held in October 2010 in Lipetskaya Oblast and April 2011 in Ivanovskaya Oblast. The overall prevalence of seatbelt use increased from 52.4% (2010) to 73.5% (2013) amongst all occupants in Lipetskaya Oblast and from 47.5% (2011) to 88.8% (2013) in Ivanovskaya Oblast. Preliminary results show some promising signs that speeding and seatbelt use are moving in the right
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The Mosquito and Fly Research Unit of the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology located in Gainesville Florida is the largest Federal laboratory devoted to specifically solving operational mosquito and fly surveillance and control challenges in the U.S. and internationa...
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Bense, Katharina
2015-01-01
The research reported in this paper investigates the situation of German migrant teachers in Australia. Although German born teachers represent the largest group of non-English speaking background teachers in Australia, there is no study of the circumstances and experiences of these teachers in Australia. This study aims to fill this gap. It…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nurtac Yildirim
2015-06-01
Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to test the impacts of oil price increases on monetary policy implementation in the largest oil importers. For that purpose, we estimate structural vector error correction (SVEC models to show the impacts of oil price increases on industrial production, consumer prices and immediate interest rates which are the elements of Taylor rule for the four largest oil importers (the USA, the EU, China and Japan. Our results indicate that oil price increases transmit to output and inflation and lead to fluctuations in industrial production, consumer prices and immediate interest rates which in turn influence the monetary policy stance in the following periods. The basic conclusion of research is that the channels through which oil prices affect output, inflation and interest rates should be identified by the monetary policy authorities of the USA, the EU, China and Japan. We also emphasize the importance of the determination of the optimal monetary policy framework to eliminate the negative consequences of oil price increases.
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The largest deep-ocean silicic volcanic eruption of the past century.
Carey, Rebecca; Soule, S Adam; Manga, Michael; White, James; McPhie, Jocelyn; Wysoczanski, Richard; Jutzeler, Martin; Tani, Kenichiro; Yoerger, Dana; Fornari, Daniel; Caratori-Tontini, Fabio; Houghton, Bruce; Mitchell, Samuel; Ikegami, Fumihiko; Conway, Chris; Murch, Arran; Fauria, Kristen; Jones, Meghan; Cahalan, Ryan; McKenzie, Warren
2018-01-01
The 2012 submarine eruption of Havre volcano in the Kermadec arc, New Zealand, is the largest deep-ocean eruption in history and one of very few recorded submarine eruptions involving rhyolite magma. It was recognized from a gigantic 400-km 2 pumice raft seen in satellite imagery, but the complexity of this event was concealed beneath the sea surface. Mapping, observations, and sampling by submersibles have provided an exceptionally high fidelity record of the seafloor products, which included lava sourced from 14 vents at water depths of 900 to 1220 m, and fragmental deposits including giant pumice clasts up to 9 m in diameter. Most (>75%) of the total erupted volume was partitioned into the pumice raft and transported far from the volcano. The geological record on submarine volcanic edifices in volcanic arcs does not faithfully archive eruption size or magma production.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sibille, Alain; Veyret, B.; Laurent, L.; Deltour, I.; Slottje, Pauline; Cardis, E.; Bontoux, L.; Miquel, A.; Wiedemann, P.; Ravazzani, P.; Wiart, J.
2011-12-01
This 2011 edition of the annual meeting devoted to the electromagnetic waves and to their interactions with the human being brought together 170 participants from various European countries and communities (academic, regulators, operators, industrialists..). Various aspects of the problem of RF waves were approached during this conference day: technological, biological, epidemiological, societal, risk management. This document gathers the available presentations (slides) given during the meeting and dealing with: 1 - A key parameters based vision of trends in Wireless systems (A. Sibille); 2 - In search of the missing 'non-thermal' effect (B. Veyret); 3 - National Programme 'Occupational and environmental health and safety' of ANSES (L. Laurent); 4 - Epidemiological evidence in relation to the IARC 2b classification (I. Deltour); 5 - COSMOS: International Cohort Study on Mobile Phones and Health (P. Slottje); 6 - Mobi-kids: study on communication technology, environmental dn brain tumors in young people (E. Cardis); 7 - The EMF issue at DG SANCO - Latest developments (L. Bontoux); 8 - Upgrade of the exposure control system - the COMOP (operational committee) works (A. Miquel); 9 - 2B: possibly carcinogenic to humans - A communication challenge (P. Wiedemann); 10 - EFHRAN Project. State of the art and next actions (P. Ravazzani); 11 - Trends in dosimetry and standards (J. Wiart)
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Benchmark Testing of the Largest Titanium Aluminide Sheet Subelement Conducted
Bartolotta, Paul A.; Krause, David L.
2000-01-01
To evaluate wrought titanium aluminide (gamma TiAl) as a viable candidate material for the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) exhaust nozzle, an international team led by the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field successfully fabricated and tested the largest gamma TiAl sheet structure ever manufactured. The gamma TiAl sheet structure, a 56-percent subscale divergent flap subelement, was fabricated for benchmark testing in three-point bending. Overall, the subelement was 84-cm (33-in.) long by 13-cm (5-in.) wide by 8-cm (3-in.) deep. Incorporated into the subelement were features that might be used in the fabrication of a full-scale divergent flap. These features include the use of: (1) gamma TiAl shear clips to join together sections of corrugations, (2) multiple gamma TiAl face sheets, (3) double hot-formed gamma TiAl corrugations, and (4) brazed joints. The structural integrity of the gamma TiAl sheet subelement was evaluated by conducting a room-temperature three-point static bend test.
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LHC : The World's Largest Vacuum Systems being commissioned at CERN
Jiménez, J M
2008-01-01
When it switches on in 2008, the 26.7 km Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, will have the world's largest vacuum system operating over a wide range of pressures and employing an impressive array of vacuum technologies. This system is composed by 54 km of UHV vacuum for the circulating beams and 50 km of insulation vacuum around the cryogenic magnets and the liquid helium transfer lines. Over the 54 km of UHV beam vacuum, 48 km of this are at cryogenic temperature (1.9 K). The remaining 6 km of beam vacuum containing the insertions for "cleaning" the proton beams, radiofrequency cavities for accelerating the protons as well as beam-monitoring equipment is at ambient temperature and uses non-evaporable getter (NEG) coatings - a vacuum technology that was born and industrialized at CERN. The pumping scheme is completed using 780 ion pumps to remove noble gases and to provide pressure interlocks to the 303 vacuum safety valves. Pressure readings are provided by 170 Bayard-Alpert gauges and 1084 gauges (Pirani a...
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Tedim, Fantina; Remelgado, Ruben; Martins, João; Carvalho, Salete
2015-01-01
Portugal is a European country with highest forest fires density and burned area. Since beginning of official forest fires database in 1980, an increase in number of fires and burned area as well as appearance of large and catastrophic fires have characterized fire activity in Portugal. In 1980s, the largest fires were just a little bit over 10,000 ha. However, in the beginning of 21st century several fires occurred with a burned area over 20,000 ha. Some of these events can be classified as mega-fires due to their ecological and socioeconomic severity. The present study aimed to discuss the characterization of large forest fires trend, in order to understand if the largest fires that occurred in Portugal were exceptional events or evidences of a new trend, and the constraints of fire size to characterize fire effects because, usually, it is assumed that larger the fire higher the damages. Using Portuguese forest fire database and satellite imagery, the present study showed that the largest fires could be seen at the same time as exceptional events and as evidence of a new fire regime. It highlighted the importance of size and patterns of unburned patches within fire perimeter as well as heterogeneity of fire ecological severity, usually not included in fire regime description, which are critical to fire management and research. The findings of this research can be used in forest risk reduction and suppression planning.
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Epidemic Processes on Complex Networks : Modelling, Simulation and Algorithms
Van de Bovenkamp, R.
2015-01-01
Local interactions on a graph will lead to global dynamic behaviour. In this thesis we focus on two types of dynamic processes on graphs: the Susceptible-Infected-Susceptilbe (SIS) virus spreading model, and gossip style epidemic algorithms. The largest part of this thesis is devoted to the SIS
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WISMUT AG: Past, present and future of the largest uranium producer in Europe
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Madel, J.
1990-01-01
The author gives a brief summary of WISMUT AG the largest uranium producer operating in Europe. The jointly owned German-Soviet company operates its production facilities in the southern part of the former German Democratic Republic. Given the new political and economic frame in Germany and the Soviet Union WISMUT AG will receive due recognition. Uranium exploration, mining, and milling activities are summarized from 1946-1989, and a summary of present activities and projections of future activities in the area of decontamination, restoration, and recultivation of present and abandoned mining and milling sites are noted. A statement of WISMUT AG's projected role in the international nuclear fuels market is made
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THE EVOLUTION OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST AUTOMAKERS IN THE PERIOD 2013-2014
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sorin-George TOMA
2015-04-01
Full Text Available The automotive industry has always represented an economic engine for many countries. It is dealing with the design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of the motor vehicles. Nowadays, this industry is full of intense competition between big auto groups fighting for higher profits and larger market shares. The key players in the automotive market are operating at a global scale in a highly competitive environment. In the last years, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group have proved to be the main competitors. The aim of our paper is to analyze the evolution of the world’s largest automakers in the period 2013-2014. The research type is literature review.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ben Marx
2009-12-01
Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate and analyse the effective functioning of audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa. Problem investigated: The modern audit committee is often seen as the panacea of the corporate world and as such is looked upon to cure all the financial reporting and control-related problems of entities. Audit committees are, however, not always as effective as they are held to be, as is evidenced by the many well-known corporate scandals and business failures that occurred where audit committees existed and fraudulent financial reporting, audit failures, internal control breakdowns and other irregularities prevailed. The modern audit committee will be of value only if it is properly constituted, is functioning effectively and if its role is clearly understood by all the parties concerned. The research problem investigated stems precisely from this issue, and the paper therefore aims to analyse the effective functioning of the audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa. Methodology: The study empirically tested the audit committee practices at the largest listed companies in South Africa. This was done through questionnaires addressed to the CFOs and audit committee chairs. Findings: The study found that audit committees at the largest listed companies in South Africa are well established, properly constituted, have the authority and resources to effectively discharge their responsibilities and consist of members who act independently and who have the right mix of appropriate experience, financial literacy and financial expertise amongst their members. The audit committee's role was found to be generally well understood and supported by the board and the Chief Financial Officers. It was further found that the audit committees are effective in discharging their oversight responsibilities on the board's behalf, with the only real exception being their effectiveness
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Di Mayo, J.L.
1993-01-01
The Nuclear Power Station Cruas Meysse is on the most important communication way of France, in the Rhone Valley, between the Rhin and the Mediterranean Sea. In the South of the Rhone Valley, the Nuclear Power Plant is situated near the very important site of 'Tricastin', the largest nuclear area in France. Cruas Meysse has a very good integration to the economy, social, and cultural scheme ; that's why EDF and the Ardeche Department had enter into partnership to associate art and technology of our time, and offer a work for everybody - 'Le Verseau' is the largest fresco in Europe - It gives a gigantic signalling system to the Ardeche Department, because the Nuclear Power Station has a very interesting position, close the motor way A7, the National 7 road, and the way of high speed train (TGV) an another symbol of the high French technology
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Pashaev, A.M.; Gakhramanov, N.F.
2013-12-01
Many known scientists and governmental persons from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Belarus, Austria took part at the seventh eurasian conference devoted to Nuclear science and its application which had a big role in considering of Nuclear activities in Azerbaijan. Conference activity has been related to nuclear energy and its facilities, materials and waste management, application of the nuclear facilities in industry and radioecology fileld, connection beetween safety, radiation doses and materials physics; properties, also concerned some other nuclear related themes like nuclear physics and chemistry. During the conference many scientific and practical proposals have been made, a lot of pictures, tables and graphics were presented. In common this book of abstracts was divided into 4 parts named : 1) Nuclear physics and chemistry; 2) Radiation science of materials; 3) Radiation technologies; 4) Radiation ecology, biology and safety
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Approaching the largest ‘API’: extracting information from the Internet with Python
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jonathan E. Germann
2018-02-01
Full Text Available This article explores the need for libraries to algorithmically access and manipulate the world’s largest API: the Internet. The billions of pages on the ‘Internet API’ (HTTP, HTML, CSS, XPath, DOM, etc. are easily accessible and manipulable. Libraries can assist in creating meaning through the datafication of information on the world wide web. Because most information is created for human consumption, some programming is required for automated extraction. Python is an easy-to-learn programming language with extensive packages and community support for web page automation. Four packages (Urllib, Selenium, BeautifulSoup, Scrapy in Python can automate almost any web page for all sized projects. An example warrant data project is explained to illustrate how well Python packages can manipulate web pages to create meaning through assembling custom datasets.
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Özdemir, Vural; Badr, Kamal F; Dove, Edward S; Endrenyi, Laszlo; Geraci, Christy Jo; Hotez, Peter J; Milius, Djims; Neves-Pereira, Maria; Pang, Tikki; Rotimi, Charles N; Sabra, Ramzi; Sarkissian, Christineh N; Srivastava, Sanjeeva; Tims, Hesther; Zgheib, Nathalie K; Kickbusch, Ilona
2013-04-01
Biomedical science in the 21(st) century is embedded in, and draws from, a digital commons and "Big Data" created by high-throughput Omics technologies such as genomics. Classic Edisonian metaphors of science and scientists (i.e., "the lone genius" or other narrow definitions of expertise) are ill equipped to harness the vast promises of the 21(st) century digital commons. Moreover, in medicine and life sciences, experts often under-appreciate the important contributions made by citizen scholars and lead users of innovations to design innovative products and co-create new knowledge. We believe there are a large number of users waiting to be mobilized so as to engage with Big Data as citizen scientists-only if some funding were available. Yet many of these scholars may not meet the meta-criteria used to judge expertise, such as a track record in obtaining large research grants or a traditional academic curriculum vitae. This innovation research article describes a novel idea and action framework: micro-grants, each worth $1000, for genomics and Big Data. Though a relatively small amount at first glance, this far exceeds the annual income of the "bottom one billion"-the 1.4 billion people living below the extreme poverty level defined by the World Bank ($1.25/day). We describe two types of micro-grants. Type 1 micro-grants can be awarded through established funding agencies and philanthropies that create micro-granting programs to fund a broad and highly diverse array of small artisan labs and citizen scholars to connect genomics and Big Data with new models of discovery such as open user innovation. Type 2 micro-grants can be funded by existing or new science observatories and citizen think tanks through crowd-funding mechanisms described herein. Type 2 micro-grants would also facilitate global health diplomacy by co-creating crowd-funded micro-granting programs across nation-states in regions facing political and financial instability, while sharing similar disease
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Mauna Loa--history, hazards and risk of living with the world's largest volcano
Trusdell, Frank A.
2012-01-01
Mauna Loa on the Island Hawaiʻi is the world’s largest volcano. People residing on its flanks face many hazards that come with living on or near an active volcano, including lava flows, explosive eruptions, volcanic smog, damaging earthquakes, and local tsunami (giant seawaves). The County of Hawaiʻi (Island of Hawaiʻi) is the fastest growing County in the State of Hawaii. Its expanding population and increasing development mean that risk from volcano hazards will continue to grow. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) closely monitor and study Mauna Loa Volcano to enable timely warning of hazardous activity and help protect lives and property.
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Yagi, Yuji; Kikuchi, Masayuki; Nishimura, Takuya
2003-11-01
We analyzed continuous GPS data to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of co-seismic slip, post-seismic slip, and largest aftershock associated with the 1994 Sanriku-haruka-oki, Japan, earthquake (Mw = 7.7). To get better resolution for co-seismic and post-seismic slip distribution, we imposed a weak constraint as a priori information of the co-seismic slip determined by seismic wave analyses. We found that the post-seismic slip during 100 days following the main-shock amount to as much moment release as the main-shock, and that the sites of co-seismic slip and post-seismic slip are partitioning on a plate boundary region in complimentary fashion. The major post-seismic slip was triggered by the mainshock in western side of the co-seismic slip, and the extent of the post-seismic slip is almost unchanged with time. It rapidly developed a shear stress concentration ahead of the slip area, and triggered the largest aftershock.
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Bush, Seth D; Pelaez, Nancy; Rudd, James A, II; Stevens, Michael T; Tanner, Kimberly D; Williams, Kathy, PhD
2011-01-01
Efforts to improve science education include university science departments hiring Science Faculty with Education Specialties (SFES), scientists who take on specialized roles in science education within their discipline. Although these positions have existed for decades and may be growing more common, few reports have investigated the SFES approach to improving science education. We present comprehensive data on the SFES in the California State University (CSU) system, the largest university ...
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Guiping Wu; Yuanbo Liu
2016-01-01
Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake are the two largest freshwater lakes in China. The lakes are located approximately 300 km apart on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and are differently connected through their respective tributary systems, which will lead to different river–lake water exchanges and discharges. Thus, differences in their morphological and hydrological conditions should induce individual lake spatio-temporal inundation patterns. Quantitative comparative analyses of the dynam...
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Morrison, B. F.; Aiken, W.; Mayhew, R.; Gordon, Y.; Reid, M.
2016-01-01
Prostate cancer is highly prevalent in Jamaica and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Our aim was to evaluate the patterns of screening in the largest organized screening clinic in Jamaica at the Jamaica Cancer Society. A retrospective analysis of all men presenting for screening at the Jamaica Cancer Society from 1995 to 2005 was done. All patients had digital rectal examinations (DRE) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests done. Results of prostate biopsies were noted. 1117 men of mean age 59.9 ± 8.2 years presented for screening. The median documented PSA was 1.6 ng/mL (maximum of 5170 ng/mL). Most patients presented for only 1 screen. There was a gradual reduction in the mean age of presentation for screening over the period. Prostate biopsies were requested on 11% of screening visits; however, only 59% of these were done. 5.6% of all persons screened were found to have cancer. Of the cancers diagnosed, Gleason 6 adenocarcinoma was the commonest grade and median PSA was 8.9 ng/mL (range 1.5-1059 ng/mL). Older men tend to screen for prostate cancer in Jamaica. However, compliance with regular maintenance visits and requests for confirmatory biopsies are poor. Screening needs intervention in the Jamaican population.
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Westerhuis, Gerarda; Mulder, Arjen
2015-01-01
This article analyses the determinants of bank internationalisation, of the world's largest banks from the period 1980–2007. The purpose of the article is twofold. First, we show how a mixed-methods research design, in which we combine a variables-based research with three case studies, can
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Pengembangan Model Pembangunan Ummat Melalui Lembaga Filantropi Islam Sebagai Bentuk Dakwah bil Hal
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Abdurrazaq Abdurrazaq
2016-03-01
Full Text Available Makalah ini mengkaji mengenai dakwah bil hal. Dakwah bil-hal yang merupakan salah satu metode dalam berdakwah menjadi bagian yang mempertemukan dengan konsep filantropi dalam Islam. Dalam ajaran Islam, wacana filantropi sesungguhnya sudah ada dan melekat dalam sistem teologi yang dimilikinya dan telah dipraktekkan sejak dahulu dalam bentuk zakat, wakaf, dan sebagainya. Program-program filantropi yang dalam pelaksanaannya membantu memperbaiki kondisi ummat dalam bidang pendidikan, kesejahteraan, kesehatan, menjauhkan dari kefakiran dan meningkatkan kualitas hidup adalah bagian dari ajaran Islam. Bentuk-bentuk pelaksanaan filantropi inilah yang merupakan bentuk dakwah bil hal. Melalui kegiatan meredistribusi kekayaan, memberikan santunan dan banyak lagi kegiatan amal lainnya sebagaimana halnya dalam filantropi Islam, maka pelaku-pelaku atau mediator yang menjalankan kegiatan meredistribusi kekayaan ini menjadi penting, melakukan aksi nyata dalam perbaikan kondisi umat (dakwah bil hal. Program filantropi dalam bentuk CSR yang telah dijalankan oleh Perbankan Syariah di Indonesia telah menyentuh aspek-aspek penting dalam rangka pembangunan umat, seperti: kesehatan, pendidikan dan kesejahteraan. This paper examined about dakwah bil hal. Da'wah bil-hal was one method of preaching that became part that brought with the concept of philanthropy in Islam. In Islamic doctrine, philanthropy discourse in fact already existed and was inherent in theological system and had been practiced since long ago in the form of zakat, waqf, and so on. Philanthropic programs in implementation helped improve the condition of the Ummah in the areas of education, welfare, health, estranged from poverty and improved the quality of life was part of the doctrine of Islam. The forms of implementation of philanthropy were what a form of dakwah bil hal was. Through the activities of redistribute wealth, providing compensation and many other charitable activities, as well as in
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Oceans of Opportunity. Harnessing Europe's largest domestic energy resource
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Fichaux, N.; Wilkes, J.
2009-09-01
Europe's offshore wind potential is enormous and able to power Europe seven times over. Over 100 GW of offshore wind projects are already in various stages of planning. If realised, these projects would produce 10% of the EU's electricity whilst avoiding 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. EWEA has a target of 40 GW of offshore wind in the EU by 2020, implying an average annual market growth of 28% over the coming 12 years. The EU market for onshore wind grew by an average 32% per year in the 12-year period from 1992-2004 - what the wind energy industry has achieved on land can be repeated at sea. EWEA's proposed offshore grid builds on the 11 offshore grids currently operating and 21 offshore grids currently being considered by the grid operators in the Baltic and North Seas to give Europe a truly pan-European electricity super highway. Strong political support and action from Europe's policy-makers will allow a new, multi-billion euro industry to be built. This new industry will deliver thousands of green collar jobs and a new renewable energy economy and establish Europe as world leader in offshore wind power technology. A single European electricity market with large amounts of wind power will bring affordable electricity to consumers, reduce import dependence, cut CO2 emissions and allow Europe to access its largest domestic energy source.
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Mangan, T.; Brouwer, R.; Lohano, H.; Nagraj, G.M.
2013-01-01
Keenjhar Lake, Pakistan's largest freshwater lake and an important Ramsar site, provides habitat for internationally important water birds. Annually, 385,000 people visit the lake. The lake is threatened by a variety of causes, including industrial and agricultural pollution. To support its
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Saichev, A.; Sornette, D.
2005-01-01
Using the epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) branching model of triggered seismicity, we apply the formalism of generating probability functions to calculate exactly the average difference between the magnitude of a mainshock and the magnitude of its largest aftershock over all generations. This average magnitude difference is found empirically to be independent of the mainshock magnitude and equal to 1.2, a universal behavior known as Baath's law. Our theory shows that Baath's law holds only sufficiently close to the critical regime of the ETAS branching process. Allowing for error bars ±0.1 for Baath's constant value around 1.2, our exact analytical treatment of Baath's law provides new constraints on the productivity exponent α and the branching ratio n: 0.9 < or approx. α≤1 and 0.8 < or approx. n≤1. We propose a method for measuring α based on the predicted renormalization of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution of the magnitudes of the largest aftershock. We also introduce the 'second Baath law for foreshocks': the probability that a main earthquake turns out to be the foreshock does not depend on its magnitude ρ
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The Mediatization of Philanthropy
Mitchell, Matthew
2014-01-01
This study seeks to better understand the motivations and mechanics of individuals contributing to nonprofits organizations today. Through the prism of our highly mediatized (Hjarvard, 2008) social environment, this study examines the individual motivations and actions of cause-champions running in the 2013 NYC marathon and fundraising through social media and offline on behalf of the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF). To gain the necessary detail and understanding of these micro-actions of a...
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State-owned companies dominate list of largest non-U.S. producers
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Beck, R.J.; Williamson, M.
1994-01-01
Because state-owned oil and gas companies dominate Oil and Gas Journal's list of largest non-US producers, data aren't fully comparable with those of the OGJ300. Many state companies report only production and reserves, with little or no financial data. Companies on the OGJ100, therefore, cannot be ranked by assets or revenues. Instead, they are listed by regions, based on location of corporate headquarters. There was no change in makeup of the top 20 holders of crude oil reserves. These companies' reserves totaled 872.3 billion bbl in 1993. The top 20 non-US companies now control 87.3 % of total world crude oil reserves, according to OGJ estimates. This is up marginally from 87.2 % of total world oil reserves in 1992. The top 20 had 87.7 % of total world reserves in 1991 and 85.5 % in 1990. The table lists company name, total assets, revenues, net income, capital and exploratory expenditures, worldwide oil production, gas production, oil and gas reserves worldwide
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Line Balancing Using Largest Candidate Rule Algorithm In A Garment Industry: A Case Study
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
V. P.Jaganathan
2014-12-01
Full Text Available The emergence of fast changes in fashion has given rise to the need to shorten production cycle times in the garment industry. As effective usage of resources has a significant effect on the productivity and efficiency of production operations, garment manufacturers are urged to utilize their resources effectively in order to meet dynamic customer demand. This paper focuses specifically on line balancing and layout modification. The aim of assembly line balance in sewing lines is to assign tasks to the workstations, so that the machines of the workstation can perform the assigned tasks with a balanced loading. Largest Candidate Rule Algorithm (LCR has been deployed in this paper.
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Badr, Kamal F.; Dove, Edward S.; Endrenyi, Laszlo; Geraci, Christy Jo; Hotez, Peter J.; Milius, Djims; Neves-Pereira, Maria; Pang, Tikki; Rotimi, Charles N.; Sabra, Ramzi; Sarkissian, Christineh N.; Srivastava, Sanjeeva; Tims, Hesther; Zgheib, Nathalie K.; Kickbusch, Ilona
2013-01-01
Abstract Biomedical science in the 21st century is embedded in, and draws from, a digital commons and “Big Data” created by high-throughput Omics technologies such as genomics. Classic Edisonian metaphors of science and scientists (i.e., “the lone genius” or other narrow definitions of expertise) are ill equipped to harness the vast promises of the 21st century digital commons. Moreover, in medicine and life sciences, experts often under-appreciate the important contributions made by citizen scholars and lead users of innovations to design innovative products and co-create new knowledge. We believe there are a large number of users waiting to be mobilized so as to engage with Big Data as citizen scientists—only if some funding were available. Yet many of these scholars may not meet the meta-criteria used to judge expertise, such as a track record in obtaining large research grants or a traditional academic curriculum vitae. This innovation research article describes a novel idea and action framework: micro-grants, each worth $1000, for genomics and Big Data. Though a relatively small amount at first glance, this far exceeds the annual income of the “bottom one billion”—the 1.4 billion people living below the extreme poverty level defined by the World Bank ($1.25/day). We describe two types of micro-grants. Type 1 micro-grants can be awarded through established funding agencies and philanthropies that create micro-granting programs to fund a broad and highly diverse array of small artisan labs and citizen scholars to connect genomics and Big Data with new models of discovery such as open user innovation. Type 2 micro-grants can be funded by existing or new science observatories and citizen think tanks through crowd-funding mechanisms described herein. Type 2 micro-grants would also facilitate global health diplomacy by co-creating crowd-funded micro-granting programs across nation-states in regions facing political and financial instability, while
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kortsenshtein, V.N.
1977-01-01
A description is given of water-pressure systems in a number of the largest gas and gas-condensate fields of the Soviet Union, whose industrial reserves exceed 500 billion cubic meters. These include fields located in the concluding stage of development with sharply reduced recovery (Shebelinsk), fields that have just begun to operate and are characterized by increasing production (Vuktyl, Medved, Orenburg, Shatlyk, Urengoisk), and fields that are not yet developed (Yamburg and Zapolyar). Problems in the theory and practice of studying water-pressure systems of the largest gas and gas-condensate fields are analyzed primarily in connection with conditions required for their rational development which would provide for a maximum extraction of hydrocarbons from the interior. Importance is also given to the hydrogeological aspects of the formation of large hydrocarbon deposits and their distribution in the earth's crust. The most reliable factual materials on hydrogeology are utilized. The book is designed for personnel in the gas and oil industries, hydrogeologists, and scientists interested in problems of the formation, survey, and development of the largest hydrocarbon deposits. 92 references, 65 figures, 71 tables.
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Liu, Qiang; Van Mieghem, Piet
2018-02-01
Since a real epidemic process is not necessarily Markovian, the epidemic threshold obtained under the Markovian assumption may be not realistic. To understand general non-Markovian epidemic processes on networks, we study the Weibullian susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) process in which the infection process is a renewal process with a Weibull time distribution. We find that, if the infection rate exceeds 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) , where λ1 is the largest eigenvalue of the network's adjacency matrix, then the infection will persist on the network under the mean-field approximation. Thus, 1 /ln(λ1+1 ) is possibly the largest epidemic threshold for a general non-Markovian SIS process with a Poisson curing process under the mean-field approximation. Furthermore, non-Markovian SIS processes may result in a multimodal prevalence. As a byproduct, we show that a limiting Weibullian SIS process has the potential to model bursts of a synchronized infection.
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Pay less, take more: the myth of quality of life at the Brazil’s largest drugstore chain counter
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
André Luiz Maranhão de Souza Leão
2013-06-01
Full Text Available Considering the role of cultural transformer that the brandoccupies in the contemporary and seeking to delineate the role played bymyth in this construction, we look at Pague Menos, the largest pharmacyretail network in the country, through a qualitative study based on Barthesiansemiology. Our results showed six myths, whose relationships reveal ametanarrative: the quality of life.
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Largest solar installation on a hotel in Switzerland; Groesste Hotel-Solaranlage der Schweiz
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Stadelmann, M.
2008-07-01
This article describes the solar thermal installation on the Hotel Europa in St. Moritz-Champfer, Switzerland. The installation provides heat energy for domestic hot water preparation and for the heating of the hotel's indoor swimming pool. A thirty-percent reduction of heating oil consumption has been obtained. The system, which is based on the 'low-flow' principle, provides the highest possible temperature difference while using low pumping energy. The hotel's hot-water circulation system, which ensures fast availability of hot water at the taps, is also discussed. This largest hotel solar installation is designed to meet heating and hot-water requirements during the summer season. The high requirements placed on the materials used are discussed. Schematics are provided and first operational experience is briefly discussed.
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A general scaling law reveals why the largest animals are not the fastest.
Hirt, Myriam R; Jetz, Walter; Rall, Björn C; Brose, Ulrich
2017-08-01
Speed is the fundamental constraint on animal movement, yet there is no general consensus on the determinants of maximum speed itself. Here, we provide a general scaling model of maximum speed with body mass, which holds across locomotion modes, ecosystem types and taxonomic groups. In contrast to traditional power-law scaling, we predict a hump-shaped relationship resulting from a finite acceleration time for animals, which explains why the largest animals are not the fastest. This model is strongly supported by extensive empirical data (474 species, with body masses ranging from 30 μg to 100 tonnes) from terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. Our approach unravels a fundamental constraint on the upper limit of animal movement, thus enabling a better understanding of realized movement patterns in nature and their multifold ecological consequences.
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Radchenko, Mikhail V.; Kiselev, Vadim S.; Shevtsov, Yuri O.; Radchenko, Tatyana B.
2017-10-01
The article is devoted to the research and development of technological recommendations of supersonic gas-powder surfacing, an example of the practical use of the developed technology is given. Market research indicates that demand for these products is stable due to the growing quality requirements of components and parts produced by the largest machine-building enterprises of Russia.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Guerrieri, A.
2009-01-01
In this report the largest Lyapunov characteristic exponent of a high dimensional atmospheric global circulation model of intermediate complexity has been estimated numerically. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out by varying the equator-to-pole temperature difference, the space resolution and the value of some parameters employed by the model. Chaotic and non-chaotic regimes of circulation have been found. [it
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When clusters collide: constraints on antimatter on the largest scales
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Steigman, Gary
2008-01-01
Observations have ruled out the presence of significant amounts of antimatter in the Universe on scales ranging from the solar system, to the Galaxy, to groups and clusters of galaxies, and even to distances comparable to the scale of the present horizon. Except for the model-dependent constraints on the largest scales, the most significant upper limits to diffuse antimatter in the Universe are those on the ∼Mpc scale of clusters of galaxies provided by the EGRET upper bounds to annihilation gamma rays from galaxy clusters whose intracluster gas is revealed through its x-ray emission. On the scale of individual clusters of galaxies the upper bounds to the fraction of mixed matter and antimatter for the 55 clusters from a flux-limited x-ray survey range from 5 × 10 −9 to −6 , strongly suggesting that individual clusters of galaxies are made entirely of matter or of antimatter. X-ray and gamma-ray observations of colliding clusters of galaxies, such as the Bullet Cluster, permit these constraints to be extended to even larger scales. If the observations of the Bullet Cluster, where the upper bound to the antimatter fraction is found to be −6 , can be generalized to other colliding clusters of galaxies, cosmologically significant amounts of antimatter will be excluded on scales of order ∼20 Mpc (M∼5×10 15 M sun )
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Jørgensen, Frances; Sluhan, Anne
2015-01-01
In this paper, we investigate how corporate philanthropy serves as a mechanism for building organizational commitment. Although much research has reported on the potential benefits of philanthropy and highlighted its impact on organizational commitment, reports are lacking on how philanthropic...... activities can be implemented to actively influence organizational commitment. We address this gap through a longitudinal qualitative study in a Danish family-owned firm, where we model how initiation of and participation in philanthropic activities encourages organizational commitment through...... an organizational identification process. Theoretically, we contribute to the literature by providing an in-depth processual perspective on how engagement in philanthropic activities facilitates value alignment between employees and their organization, and therein fosters organizational commitment. Practically...
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Ethics: an essential dimension of soliciting philanthropic gifts from donors.
Chervenak, Frank A; McCullough, Laurence B; Fraley, Milinda; Golding, Joe
2010-12-01
Obstetrics and gynecology continues to experience fiscal pressures that challenge its core missions. In such an increasingly economically unforgiving environment, philanthropy will become a major source of revenue. This article provides ethical guidance for seeking philanthropic gifts by translating ethical theory into practice. The basis for this guidance is an account of the ethics of philanthropy that identifies both its consequentialist and deontologic components and shows their relevance to the ethical significance of donors' motivations and directiveness. The prevention of abuse of vulnerable donors and of distortions of the physician-patient relationship is emphasized. Ethics is an essential component of the responsible solicitation of philanthropic support from donors. Copyright © 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
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From Pushing Paper to Pushing Dirt - Canada's Largest LLRW Cleanup Gets Underway - 13111
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Veen, Walter van; Lawrence, Dave
2013-01-01
The Port Hope Project is the larger of the two projects in the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), Canada's largest low level radioactive waste (LLRW) cleanup. With a budget of approximately $1 billion, the Port Hope Project includes a broad and complex range of remedial elements from a state of the art water treatment plant, an engineered waste management facility, municipal solid waste removal, remediation of 18 major sites within the Municipality of Port Hope (MPH), sediment dredging and dewatering, an investigation of 4,800 properties (many of these homes) to identify LLRW and remediation of approximately 450 of these properties. This paper discusses the status of the Port Hope Project in terms of designs completed and regulatory approvals received, and sets out the scope and schedule for the remaining studies, engineering designs and remediation contracts. (authors)
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Reach and messages of the world's largest ivory burn.
Braczkowski, Alexander; Holden, Matthew H; O'Bryan, Christopher; Choi, Chi-Yeung; Gan, Xiaojing; Beesley, Nicholas; Gao, Yufang; Allan, James; Tyrrell, Peter; Stiles, Daniel; Brehony, Peadar; Meney, Revocatus; Brink, Henry; Takashina, Nao; Lin, Ming-Ching; Lin, Hsien-Yung; Rust, Niki; Salmo, Severino G; Watson, James Em; Kahumbu, Paula; Maron, Martine; Possingham, Hugh P; Biggs, Duan
2018-03-01
Recent increases in ivory poaching have depressed African elephant populations. Successful enforcement has led to ivory being stockpiled. Stockpile destruction is becoming increasingly popular, and most destruction has occurred in the last five years. Ivory destruction is intended to send a strong message against ivory consumption, both in promoting a taboo on ivory use and catalyzing policy change. However, there has been no effort to establish the distribution and extent of media reporting on ivory destruction events globally. We analyze media coverage across eleven important nation states of the largest ivory destruction event in history (Kenya, 30 April 2016). We used a well-accepted online media crawling tool and key language translations to search online and print newspapers. We found most online news on the ivory burn came from the US (81% of articles), while print news was dominated by Kenya (61% of articles). We subjected online articles from five key countries and territories to content analysis and found 86-97% of all online articles reported the burn as a positive conservation action, while between 4-50% discussed ivory burning as having a negative impact on elephant conservation. Most articles discussed law enforcement and trade bans as effective for elephant conservation. There was more relative search interest globally on the 2016 Kenyan ivory burn than any other in five years. Our study is the first attempt to track the spread of media around an ivory burn and is a case study in tracking the effects of a conservation-marketing event. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kopnina Galina Anatolyevna
2015-03-01
Full Text Available The present article gives a brief overview of the major scientific theories and ideas developed by Professor Alexander Skovorodnikov, such as the system of expressive syntactic constructions analyzed in the syntactic fields in speech in the Russian language; the system of rhetorical devices viewed as a deliberate and pragmatic deviation from the language norm; the idea of humanitarian constituent of the educational process in modern innovative Russian University. The concept of linguistic ecology as an interdisciplinary branch of contemporary linguistics (language ecology and speech ecology involved and the theory of systematic approach to the development of the basic components of the linguocultural competence of undergraduate students are also covered in the article. Here it is confirmed that the concept of language system still remains to be prevailing and dominating in all the theories and ideas mentioned above, thus serving as the evidence and manifestation of the complete devotion of the outstanding scholar to linguistics. The conceptual findings of Alexander Skovorodnikov are published in different types of publications, such as the course book "Russian language and speech culture", encyclopedic reference books "Expressive means of the Russian language and speech errors" and "Effective speech communication (set of basic skills" under Skovorodnikov's editorship. The researcher's enthusiasm toward the academic search, his decades-long service for Russian philology, are the clear evidence that the scholarship is "the highest expression of love".
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78 FR 68857 - Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 Funding Opportunity
2013-11-15
... Leadership Forum, and CADCA's Mid-Year Training Institute. These conferences serve as a portal for knowledge... and local governments, philanthropies, and universities to bring the best available knowledge...
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Urbanization on the US landscape: looking ahead in the 21st century.
Ralph J. Alig; Jeffrey D. Kline; Mark Lichtenstein
2004-01-01
Conversion of rural lands to urban and other built-up uses affects the mix of commodities and services produced from the global land base. In the United States, there was a 34% increase in the amount of land devoted to urban and built-up uses between 1982 and 1997. This increase came predominantly from the conversion of croplands and forestland, with the largest...
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Characterization of the largest effector gene cluster of Ustilago maydis.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Thomas Brefort
2014-07-01
Full Text Available In the genome of the biotrophic plant pathogen Ustilago maydis, many of the genes coding for secreted protein effectors modulating virulence are arranged in gene clusters. The vast majority of these genes encode novel proteins whose expression is coupled to plant colonization. The largest of these gene clusters, cluster 19A, encodes 24 secreted effectors. Deletion of the entire cluster results in severe attenuation of virulence. Here we present the functional analysis of this genomic region. We show that a 19A deletion mutant behaves like an endophyte, i.e. is still able to colonize plants and complete the infection cycle. However, tumors, the most conspicuous symptoms of maize smut disease, are only rarely formed and fungal biomass in infected tissue is significantly reduced. The generation and analysis of strains carrying sub-deletions identified several genes significantly contributing to tumor formation after seedling infection. Another of the effectors could be linked specifically to anthocyanin induction in the infected tissue. As the individual contributions of these genes to tumor formation were small, we studied the response of maize plants to the whole cluster mutant as well as to several individual mutants by array analysis. This revealed distinct plant responses, demonstrating that the respective effectors have discrete plant targets. We propose that the analysis of plant responses to effector mutant strains that lack a strong virulence phenotype may be a general way to visualize differences in effector function.
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North Andean origin and diversification of the largest ithomiine butterfly genus
Lisa De-Silva, Donna; Mota, Luísa L.; Chazot, Nicolas; Mallarino, Ricardo; Silva-Brandão, Karina L.; Piñerez, Luz Miryam Gómez; Freitas, André V.L.; Lamas, Gerardo; Joron, Mathieu; Mallet, James; Giraldo, Carlos E.; Uribe, Sandra; Särkinen, Tiina; Knapp, Sandra; Jiggins, Chris D.; Willmott, Keith R.; Elias, Marianne
2017-01-01
The Neotropics harbour the most diverse flora and fauna on Earth. The Andes are a major centre of diversification and source of diversity for adjacent areas in plants and vertebrates, but studies on insects remain scarce, even though they constitute the largest fraction of terrestrial biodiversity. Here, we combine molecular and morphological characters to generate a dated phylogeny of the butterfly genus Pteronymia (Nymphalidae: Danainae), which we use to infer spatial, elevational and temporal diversification patterns. We first propose six taxonomic changes that raise the generic species total to 53, making Pteronymia the most diverse genus of the tribe Ithomiini. Our biogeographic reconstruction shows that Pteronymia originated in the Northern Andes, where it diversified extensively. Some lineages colonized lowlands and adjacent montane areas, but diversification in those areas remained scarce. The recent colonization of lowland areas was reflected by an increase in the rate of evolution of species’ elevational ranges towards present. By contrast, speciation rate decelerated with time, with no extinction. The geological history of the Andes and adjacent regions have likely contributed to Pteronymia diversification by providing compartmentalized habitats and an array of biotic and abiotic conditions, and by limiting dispersal between some areas while promoting interchange across others. PMID:28387233
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Mapping Biomass for REDD in the Largest Forest of Central Africa: the Democratic Republic of Congo
Shapiro, Aurelie; Saatchi, Sassan
2014-05-01
With the support of the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Nuclear Security, the implementation of the German Development Bank KfW, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and local DRC partners will produce a national scale biomass map for the entire forest coverage of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along with feasibility assessments of different forest protection measures within a framework of a REDD+ model project. The « Carbon Map and Model (CO2M&M) » project will produce a national forest biomass map for the DRC, which will enable quantitative assessments of carbon stocks and emissions in the largest forest of the Congo Basin. This effort will support the national REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) program in DRC, which plays a major role in sustainable development and poverty alleviation. This map will be developed from field data, complemented by airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and aerial photos, systematically sampled throughout the forests of the DRC and up-scaled to satellite images to accurately estimate carbon content in all forested areas. The second component of the project is to develop specific approaches for model REDD projects in key landscapes. This project represents the largest LiDAR-derived mapping effort in Africa, under unprecedented logistical constraints, which will provide one of the poorest nations in the world with the richest airborne and satellites derived datasets for analyzing forest structure, biomass and biodiversity.
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EVALUATION OF E-RECRUITMENT LEVEL AMONG THE LARGEST COMPANIES IN POLAND - PROJECT OF RESEARCH
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dorota Buchnowska
2015-12-01
Full Text Available The changes taking place in the labor market cause that it is increasingly difficult to recruit employees with the right skills and competencies to companies. To reach the right candidates, they use modern IT solutions, such as ATS (Applicant Tracking System, which are supporting the processes of recruitment. Among others, they enable the publication of job offers on the Internet - on corporate websites, job portals and business social networking services - and apply for jobs online through these channels. This article pre-sents the evolution of the use of the Internet, and particularly the social media, in the recruitment process and presents a projekt of comprehensive research, which aims is to analyze and evaluate of the level of development of e-recruitment in Poland among largest companies.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Dante Marciano Girardi
2012-04-01
Full Text Available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8077.2012v14n32p65 The aim of this article is to introduce the practices of leadership in the largest industries of Santa Catarina and their contribution to the Knowledge Management. The organization competitiveness is related to the people and to the capacity of the companies to improve the constant development of knowledge. Using the leadership, the managers and the People Management have created compromise and improved the results of the organizations. The adopted methodology followed the qualitative methodology, descriptive and applied research. There were interviewed the seven largest industries of the state of Santa Catarina, in number of collaborators. The data were analyzed by the technique of analysis of content. It has been observed that the leadership is present in the most of the studied companies, by the use of formal programs of development of leaders or of actions related to leadership. It is concluded that the companies have the focus in the people and in the knowledge, in bigger or smaller degree, but some of them are in phase of transition and revision of programs towards the development of their talents and of the Knowledge Management.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Manas Ranjan Pradhan
2012-01-01
Full Text Available Female urethral diverticulum is a rare entity with diverse spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is a very rare cause of bladder outlet obstruction and should be considered as a differential diagnosis in females presenting with acute urinary retention associated with a vaginal mass. Strong clinical suspicion combined with thorough physical examination and focused radiological investigations are vital for its diagnosis. Herein we report a case of giant urethral diverticulum presenting with acute urinary retention in a young female. It was managed by excision and urethral closure, and is the largest urethral diverticulum reported till date in the literature.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Bossel, U
1976-03-01
An overview is given over the solar heating plant which has recently been commissioned in the Camargue (France). This is the largest plant in Europe, with a mean heat output of about 200 kW, for the production of thermal energy from solar energy. The plant consists of 108 parabolic collectors (200 sq. metres) and 48 flat collectors (110 sq. metres). Two windmills with outputs of 10 kW each complete the system. The heat energy produced by the solar collectors is given up to 3 different stores, which in turn are connected to various consumers.
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Victor Heinrich Riecke a Brno jako osvícenské srdce moravského protestantismu
Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database
Bolom-Kotari, Sixtus
2015-01-01
Roč. 28, [1] (2015), s. 195-225 ISSN 0524-689X Institutional support: RVO:67985963 Keywords : Protestantism * late Enlightenment * philanthropy * secret societies * Czech-German relations Subject RIV: AB - History
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Rewriting the Landform History of One of Africa's Three Largest Basins
Wilkinson, Justin
2014-01-01
The Kalahari Basin in southern Africa - one of the largest basins in Africa, along with the Congo and Chad basins - has attracted attention since David Livingstone traveled through the area in the 1840s. It is a semiarid desert with a large freshwater swampland known as the Okavango Swamp (150 km radius). This prominent megafan (a fan with radii >100 km), with its fingers of dark green forests projecting into the dun colors of the dunes of the Kalahari semi-desert, has been well photographed by astronauts over the years. The study area in the northern Kalahari basin is centered on the Okavango megafan of northwest Botswana, whose swampland has become well known as an African wildlife preserve of importance to biology and tourism alike. The Okavango River is unusual because it has deposited not one but two megafans along its course: the Okavango megafan and the Cubango megafan. The Okavango megafan is one of only three well-known megafans in Africa. Megafans on Earth were once thought to be rare, but recent research has documented 68 in Africa alone. Eleven megafans, plus three more candidates, have been documented in the area immediately surrounding the Okavango feature. These 11 megafans occupy the flattest and smoothest terrains adjacent to the neighboring upland and stand out as the darkest areas in the roughness map of the area. Megafan terrains occupy at least 200,000 sq km of the study area. The roughness map shown is based on an algorithm used first on Mars to quantify topographic roughness. Research of Earth's flattest terrains is just beginning with the aid of such maps, and it appears that these terrains are analogous to the flattest regions of Mars. Implications: 1. The variability in depositional style in each subbasin may apply Africa-wide: rift megafan length is dominated by rift width, whereas Owambo subbasin megafans are probably controlled by upland basin size; Zambezi subbasin megafans appear more like foreland basin types, with the position of
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Field Note: Threatening Tonle Sap: Challenges for Southeast-Asia’s largest Freshwater Lake
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kuenzer, Claudia
2013-09-01
Full Text Available The Tonle Sap ecosystem in Cambodia is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake; strongly impacted by the Mekong river flood pulse. The lake is home to exceptional biodiversity, and rural communities living in free floating villages on the lake and on its shores. The fragile niche ecosystems as well as the rural livelihoods of Tonle Sap are under severe threat. Overfishing, illegal wood harvesting, further resource exploitation, and water quality deterioration all impact the stability of the socio-ecological system of Tonle Sap. At the same time, expected flood pulse changes due to regulatory measures in the context of hydropower development upstream on the Mekong are a severe threat for Tonle Sap’s ecosystem stability. The area needs to shift into the focus of attention of national and international re-searchers, stakeholders, and decision makers, to find suitable pathways for a future sustainable development of this unique and pristine region.
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Level of patient and operator dose in the largest cardiac centre in Greece
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tsapaki, V.; Patsilinakos, S.; Voudris, V.; Magginas, A.; Pavlidis, S.; Maounis, T.; Theodorakis, G.; Koutelou, M.; Vrantza, T.; Nearchou, M.; Nikolaki, N.; Kollaros, N.; Kyrozi, E.; Kottou, S.; Karaiskos, P.; Neofotistou, E.; Cokkinos, D.
2008-01-01
The objective of this study was to investigate the patient and staff doses in the most frequent interventional cardiology (IC) procedures performed in Onassio, the largest Cardiac Centre in Greece. Data were collected from three digital X-ray systems for 212 coronary angiographies, 203 percutaneous transluminal coronary angio-plasties (PTCA) and 134 various electrophysiological studies. Patient skin dose was measured using suitably calibrated slow radiotherapy films and cardiologist dose using suitably calibrated thermoluminescent dosemeters placed on left arm, hand and foot. Patient median dose area product (DAP) (all examinations) ranged between 6.7 and 83.5 Gy cm 2 . Patient median skin dose in PTCA was 799 mGy (320-1660 mGy) and in RF ablation 160 mGy (35-1920 mGy). Median arm, hand and foot dose to the cardiologist were 12.6, 27 and 13 μSv, respectively, per procedure. The great range of radiation doses received by both patients and operators confirms the need for continuous monitoring of all IC techniques. (authors)
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Using largest Lyapunov exponent to confirm the intrinsic stability of boiling water reactors
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gavilian-Moreno, Carlos; Espinosa-Paredes, Gilberto
2016-01-01
The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs). Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution
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Using largest Lyapunov exponent to confirm the intrinsic stability of boiling water reactors
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Gavilian-Moreno, Carlos [Iberdrola Generacion, S.A., Cofrentes Nuclear Power Plant, Project Engineering Department, Paraje le Plano S/N, Valencia (Spain); Espinosa-Paredes, Gilberto [Area de ingeniera en Recursos Energeticos, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico city (Mexico)
2016-04-15
The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs). Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution.
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Estimation of the largest enterprises’ impact on the socio-economic development of territories
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Ekaterina Dmitrievna Razgulina
2014-07-01
Full Text Available The key basic trends of modern society development are associated with the transfer of some government functions to big business. Thus, scientific and public circles argue about social partnership between government, business and employees and offer different variants of the corporate social responsibility concept. The article presents the experience to assess social responsibility of business on the example of the largest chemical enterprises located in the Vologda and Novgorod oblasts. The evaluation results have revealed a number of problems hindering the formation of socially responsible behavior of enterprises, particularly the lack of standardized reporting on corporate social responsibility; provision of formal corporate social responsibility report; business’ non-system participation in social and economic development of territories. According to the authors, the development of a special model to regulate participants’ mutual relations can increase social responsibility of Russian business. Unified interests and resources of business and government promote the development of an agreed strategy in the field of regional social-economic development
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Using Largest Lyapunov Exponent to Confirm the Intrinsic Stability of Boiling Water Reactors
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Carlos J. Gavilán-Moreno
2016-04-01
Full Text Available The aim of this paper is the study of instability state of boiling water reactors with a method based in largest Lyapunov exponents (LLEs. Detecting the presence of chaos in a dynamical system is an important problem that is solved by measuring the LLE. Lyapunov exponents quantify the exponential divergence of initially close state-space trajectories and estimate the amount of chaos in a system. This method was applied to a set of signals from several nuclear power plant (NPP reactors under commercial operating conditions that experienced instabilities events, apparently each of a different nature. Laguna Verde and Forsmark NPPs with in-phase instabilities, and Cofrentes NPP with out-of-phases instability. This study presents the results of intrinsic instability in the boiling water reactors of three NPPs. In the analyzed cases the limit cycle was not reached, which implies that the point of equilibrium exerts influence and attraction on system evolution.
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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world's largest seagrass carbon stocks
Arias-Ortiz, A.; Serrano, O.; Masqué, P.; Lavery, P. S.; Mueller, U.; Kendrick, G. A.; Rozaimi, M.; Esteban, A.; Fourqurean, J. W.; Marbà, N.; Mateo, M. A.; Murray, K.; Rule, M. J.; Duarte, C. M.
2018-04-01
Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay's seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO2 could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4-21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.
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Phosphorus Loadings to the World's Largest Lakes: Sources and Trends
Fink, Gabriel; Alcamo, Joseph; Flörke, Martina; Reder, Klara
2018-04-01
Eutrophication is a major water quality issue in lakes worldwide and is principally caused by the loadings of phosphorus from catchment areas. It follows that to develop strategies to mitigate eutrophication, we must have a good understanding of the amount, sources, and trends of phosphorus pollution. This paper provides the first consistent and harmonious estimates of current phosphorus loadings to the world's largest 100 lakes, along with the sources of these loadings and their trends. These estimates provide a perspective on the extent of lake eutrophication worldwide, as well as potential input to the evaluation and management of eutrophication in these lakes. We take a modeling approach and apply the WorldQual model for these estimates. The advantage of this approach is that it allows us to fill in large gaps in observational data. From the analysis, we find that about 66 of the 100 lakes are located in developing countries and their catchments have a much larger average phosphorus yield than the lake catchments in developed countries (11.1 versus 0.7 kg TP km-2 year-1). Second, the main source of phosphorus to the examined lakes is inorganic fertilizer (47% of total). Third, between 2005-2010 and 1990-1994, phosphorus pollution increased at 50 out of 100 lakes. Sixty percent of lakes with increasing pollution are in developing countries. P pollution changed primarily due to changing P fertilizer use. In conclusion, we show that the risk of P-stimulated eutrophication is higher in developing countries.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Wang Jianzhou; Jia Ruiling; Zhao Weigang; Wu Jie; Dong Yao
2012-01-01
Highlights: ► The maximal predictive step size is determined by the largest Lyapunov exponent. ► A proper forecasting step size is applied to load demand forecasting. ► The improved approach is validated by the actual load demand data. ► Non-linear fractal extrapolation method is compared with three forecasting models. ► Performance of the models is evaluated by three different error measures. - Abstract: Precise short-term load forecasting (STLF) plays a key role in unit commitment, maintenance and economic dispatch problems. Employing a subjective and arbitrary predictive step size is one of the most important factors causing the low forecasting accuracy. To solve this problem, the largest Lyapunov exponent is adopted to estimate the maximal predictive step size so that the step size in the forecasting is no more than this maximal one. In addition, in this paper a seldom used forecasting model, which is based on the non-linear fractal extrapolation (NLFE) algorithm, is considered to develop the accuracy of predictions. The suitability and superiority of the two solutions are illustrated through an application to real load forecasting using New South Wales electricity load data from the Australian National Electricity Market. Meanwhile, three forecasting models: the gray model, the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average approach and the support vector machine method, which received high approval in STLF, are selected to compare with the NLFE algorithm. Comparison results also show that the NLFE model is outstanding, effective, practical and feasible.
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Mertens, T
1999-01-01
The seriousness of plague epidemics can be expressed in numbers and medical terms, but we get closer to the past, and it becomes our own history more than in any other way, when we can empathise with the story of a single individual. In the summer months of 1398, the plague raged in the city of Deventer, which lies on the river IJssel, in the east of the present-day Netherlands. This plague epidemic also threatened the small community of priests and minor clerics which gave rise to the new spiritual movement of the Modern Devotion. This new community was concerned about its survival. Their vocation required that the brethren should help the citizens who remained behind. However, this could prove to be their undoing, and therefore it would be better to leave the city. They resolved the dilemma by dividing into two groups. Half of the brethren left to ensure the continuity of the community; the other half stayed in Deventer to help the people. The two groups stayed in contact by means of letters, the text of which has survived in several sources. The fears and forebodings became reality. The plague also affected the new community of brethren. The deputy rector, Lubbert ten Busch, also died of the plague. There is a letter from him which he wrote just before he died. This farewell letter was sent together with a letter from one of the brethren, saying that Lubbert had meanwhile died, and describing the scene of his death. Because of the personal tone and the tragic of content, the letters about the death of Lubbert ten Busch are unique medieval documents. They give a good insight into the way in which the plague could personally affect someone and his immediate companions in the late Middle Ages. This paper focuses attention on these letters, and reconstructs the events around this death, so that the letters speak to us once again.
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SCHOENBERG AND HERRMANN: DIALOGUE OF DEVOTED
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vybyvanets Eleonora V.
2017-12-01
Full Text Available The analysis and possible figurative interpretation of the movie-on-music "One Night. One Life" (directed by O.Herrmann, Germany, 1999 are presented in the article. A synthetic audiovisual text unites the musical and lyrical text of the primary source, the vocal cycle "Pierrot Lunaire" composed by A.Schoenberg, and the video text of the director, enclosing a "counter-imagery". The proposed concept of studying this film is revealed with using a certain methodology and it realizes the subject of Personality’s psychological problems in the modern world, which are inherent to the original music text and they are considerably strengthened by the filmmaker. The artistic film discourse in the philosophicalexistential and sociological manner reveals both the ontological constancy and universality of these problems and their hypertrophy in the contemporary "society of the spectacle". Also, it leads us to the idea of the need to resist the role imposed for citizens by the established economic order.
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Religious tourism: devotion or business opportunity?
Carvalho, Aida
2012-01-01
Religious tourism can be understood as an activity in which people travel either for worshipping purposes or to participate in events of religious significance. It can be seen as an alternative to mass tourism activities, aiming for specific targets. Portugal has a significant and rich religious heritage which can help to revitalize traditionally neglected rural areas. The active participation of the Church is of utmost importance as far as the visitors are concerned. On one hand it sh...
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Synchrotrons are also devoted to society
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gacoin, M.P.; Cornuejols, D.; Cotte, M.; Deblay, P.; Mitchell, E.P.; McCarthy, J.; Fraissard, F.
2013-01-01
The ESRF and the SOLEIL synchrotrons are not only scientific instruments but also active players in the cultural and economic fields. This document gathers 6 short articles. The 2 first present the actions of SOLEIL and ESRS scientific teams towards the spreading of scientific knowledge in the public. The third article is dedicated to the uses of synchrotron radiation to the study of cultural objects to learn more about their fabrication, present state or the remedial actions that could be used to renovate them. The fourth and fifth articles present the contributions of ESRF and SOLEIL to the industrial world, in fact these contributions are not limited to the research field but also appear for quality assurance or the control of aging processes. Partnerships have been signed between both synchrotrons and enterprises to develop industrial products based on instrumentation or on the use of synchrotron radiation. The last article describes the procedure to have access to both facilities. (A.C.)
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The role and attributes of entrepreneurs at South Africa´s largest arts festival
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
E. Jonker
2009-01-01
Full Text Available The Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, is the largest arts festival in South Africa. The purpose of this research was to determine the attributes and role of the entrepreneurs at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival. This was done by means of a questionnaire survey (N=249. After data capturing was completed, two factor analyses were conducted. The first factor analysis revealed six factors (entrepreneurial attributes, namely organisational skills, resourcefulness, self-edification, explorative, acquired skill and drive, of which resourcefulness had the highest mean value. The second factor analysis identified the role of entrepreneurs at KKNK and revealed three primary roles, namely festival promotion, product promotion and income generation, of which product promotion had the highest mean value. This is the first time that the roles of entrepreneurs at festivals were investigated in South Africa.
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Damage and protection cost curves for coastal floods within the 600 largest European cities
Prahl, Boris F.; Boettle, Markus; Costa, Luís; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego
2018-01-01
The economic assessment of the impacts of storm surges and sea-level rise in coastal cities requires high-level information on the damage and protection costs associated with varying flood heights. We provide a systematically and consistently calculated dataset of macroscale damage and protection cost curves for the 600 largest European coastal cities opening the perspective for a wide range of applications. Offering the first comprehensive dataset to include the costs of dike protection, we provide the underpinning information to run comparative assessments of costs and benefits of coastal adaptation. Aggregate cost curves for coastal flooding at the city-level are commonly regarded as by-products of impact assessments and are generally not published as a standalone dataset. Hence, our work also aims at initiating a more critical discussion on the availability and derivation of cost curves. PMID:29557944
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Damage and protection cost curves for coastal floods within the 600 largest European cities
Prahl, Boris F.; Boettle, Markus; Costa, Luís; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego
2018-03-01
The economic assessment of the impacts of storm surges and sea-level rise in coastal cities requires high-level information on the damage and protection costs associated with varying flood heights. We provide a systematically and consistently calculated dataset of macroscale damage and protection cost curves for the 600 largest European coastal cities opening the perspective for a wide range of applications. Offering the first comprehensive dataset to include the costs of dike protection, we provide the underpinning information to run comparative assessments of costs and benefits of coastal adaptation. Aggregate cost curves for coastal flooding at the city-level are commonly regarded as by-products of impact assessments and are generally not published as a standalone dataset. Hence, our work also aims at initiating a more critical discussion on the availability and derivation of cost curves.
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Percolation under noise: Detecting explosive percolation using the second-largest component
Viles, Wes; Ginestet, Cedric E.; Tang, Ariana; Kramer, Mark A.; Kolaczyk, Eric D.
2016-05-01
We consider the problem of distinguishing between different rates of percolation under noise. A statistical model of percolation is constructed allowing for the birth and death of edges as well as the presence of noise in the observations. This graph-valued stochastic process is composed of a latent and an observed nonstationary process, where the observed graph process is corrupted by type-I and type-II errors. This produces a hidden Markov graph model. We show that for certain choices of parameters controlling the noise, the classical (Erdős-Rényi) percolation is visually indistinguishable from a more rapid form of percolation. In this setting, we compare two different criteria for discriminating between these two percolation models, based on the interquartile range (IQR) of the first component's size, and on the maximal size of the second-largest component. We show through data simulations that this second criterion outperforms the IQR of the first component's size, in terms of discriminatory power. The maximal size of the second component therefore provides a useful statistic for distinguishing between different rates of percolation, under physically motivated conditions for the birth and death of edges, and under noise. The potential application of the proposed criteria for the detection of clinically relevant percolation in the context of applied neuroscience is also discussed.
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Astronomer's new guide to the galaxy: largest map of cold dust revealed
2009-07-01
Astronomers have unveiled an unprecedented new atlas of the inner regions of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, peppered with thousands of previously undiscovered dense knots of cold cosmic dust -- the potential birthplaces of new stars. Made using observations from the APEX telescope in Chile, this survey is the largest map of cold dust so far, and will prove an invaluable map for observations made with the forthcoming ALMA telescope, as well as the recently launched ESA Herschel space telescope. ESO PR Photo 24a/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (annotated and in five sections) ESO PR Photo 24b/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (annotated) ESO PR Photo 24c/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey (in five sections) ESO PR Photo 24d/09 View of the Galactic Plane from the ATLASGAL survey ESO PR Photo 24e/09 The Galactic Centre and Sagittarius B2 ESO PR Photo 24f/09 The NGC 6357 and NGC 6334 nebulae ESO PR Photo 24g/09 The RCW120 nebula ESO PR Video 24a/09 Annotated pan as seen by the ATLASGAL survey This new guide for astronomers, known as the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) shows the Milky Way in submillimetre-wavelength light (between infrared light and radio waves [1]). Images of the cosmos at these wavelengths are vital for studying the birthplaces of new stars and the structure of the crowded galactic core. "ATLASGAL gives us a new look at the Milky Way. Not only will it help us investigate how massive stars form, but it will also give us an overview of the larger-scale structure of our galaxy", said Frederic Schuller from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, leader of the ATLASGAL team. The area of the new submillimetre map is approximately 95 square degrees, covering a very long and narrow strip along the galactic plane two degrees wide (four times the width of the full Moon) and over 40 degrees long. The 16 000 pixel-long map was made with the LABOCA submillimetre
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YASEEN, Hakam; YASEEN, Hoda
2010-01-01
Objective: to investigate the survival rate of extreme premature infants born between 2000 and 2008 at AL Qassimi hospital that is the largest Ministry of Health (MOH) referral hospital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: This was an institutional review board approved retrospective study of the outcomes of pregnancies in women who were in labor and delivered between 23 and 25 weeks' completed gestation at Al Qassimi Hospital in the Emirate of Sharjah between January 1,2000 and De...
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Grassroots Philanthropy on the Prairie
Marshall, Joanne M.
2013-01-01
Twenty-one students were homeless. One student had asked a cafeteria worker on a Friday afternoon for leftover food to take home for the weekend. Those were among the facts that high school English teacher Ann Haugland heard at a professional development event in her Boone, Iowa, Community School District. "I couldn't sleep that night,"…
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Arroyo-García, R.; Cantos, M.; Lara, M.; López, M.A.; Gallardo, A.; Ocete, C.A.; Pérez, A.; Bánáti, B.; García, J.L.; Ocete, R.
2016-11-01
Wild grapevine is becoming a threatened species in the Iberian Peninsula due to human impacts. The aim of this work was to carry out a holistic study for six years of the largest wild grapevine population found up to date in SW Iberian Peninsula. This population has 115 vines. Ampelographic and soil characteristics have been studied. Evaluation of its environment has also been studied by describing the main parasitic species and natural enemies of pests. The ability of this plant material for its micropropagation and storage in slow-growth conditions has been tested. Microvinification resulted in a wine with good acidity and medium color intensity, two interesting characteristics under a warm climatology. Finally, the identification of private alleles in this wild population, absent in other locations from the Northern and Southern Iberian territories, is a very valuable feature and confirms the importance of establishing conservation programs. The population here studied is genetically unique and potentially useful for commercial rootstocks and cultivars breeding that would improve viticulture and enology. (Author)
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Warren, P.; Elliott, J.B.; Gilkes, M.L.; Hauger, A.; Hirsch, A.S.
1993-01-01
Large fluctuations in quantities such as density are characteristic of critical phenomena in the neighborhood of the critical point. Using the EOS apparatus at the Bevalac, we have performed an exclusive experiment in which the size of the largest projectile fragment produced in 1 GeV/nucleon Au+C collisions is studied as a function of the charged multiplicity of the event. A peak in the fluctuations is expected at the critical multiplicity. The data are compared to a percolation model and a statistical multifragmentation model
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Santini, Sebastien; Jeudy, Sandra; Bartoli, Julia; Poirot, Olivier; Lescot, Magali; Abergel, Chantal; Barbe, Valérie; Wommack, K. Eric; Noordeloos, Anna A. M.; Brussaard, Corina P. D.; Claverie, Jean-Michel
2013-01-01
Large dsDNA viruses are involved in the population control of many globally distributed species of eukaryotic phytoplankton and have a prominent role in bloom termination. The genus Phaeocystis (Haptophyta, Prymnesiophyceae) includes several high-biomass-forming phytoplankton species, such as Phaeocystis globosa, the blooms of which occur mostly in the coastal zone of the North Atlantic and the North Sea. Here, we report the 459,984-bp-long genome sequence of P. globosa virus strain PgV-16T, encoding 434 proteins and eight tRNAs and, thus, the largest fully sequenced genome to date among viruses infecting algae. Surprisingly, PgV-16T exhibits no phylogenetic affinity with other viruses infecting microalgae (e.g., phycodnaviruses), including those infecting Emiliania huxleyi, another ubiquitous bloom-forming haptophyte. Rather, PgV-16T belongs to an emerging clade (the Megaviridae) clustering the viruses endowed with the largest known genomes, including Megavirus, Mimivirus (both infecting acanthamoeba), and a virus infecting the marine microflagellate grazer Cafeteria roenbergensis. Seventy-five percent of the best matches of PgV-16T–predicted proteins correspond to two viruses [Organic Lake phycodnavirus (OLPV)1 and OLPV2] from a hypersaline lake in Antarctica (Organic Lake), the hosts of which are unknown. As for OLPVs and other Megaviridae, the PgV-16T sequence data revealed the presence of a virophage-like genome. However, no virophage particle was detected in infected P. globosa cultures. The presence of many genes found only in Megaviridae in its genome and the presence of an associated virophage strongly suggest that PgV-16T shares a common ancestry with the largest known dsDNA viruses, the host range of which already encompasses the earliest diverging branches of domain Eukarya. PMID:23754393
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Pan Ziqiang; Liu Yanyang
2011-01-01
For the radiation exposure caused by human activities, the enhanced natural radiation exposure is the largest contributor to Chinese population dose. This problem has attracted social attention in recent years. Efforts have been made in several fields, such as radon indoors and in workplace, environmental problems associated with NORMs, occupational radiation hazards of non-uranium mine, and radiation dose evaluation for energy chain, but there are still many problems to be solved. In order to protect the health of workers and the public, while ensuring industrial production and economic development, it is also necessary to continue to strengthen research in all aspects above mentioned, and gradually promote the control of natural radiation exposure enhanced by human activities. (authors)
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Knechtle, B; Nikolaidis, P T
2018-01-01
In road runners, the age-related performance decline has been well investigated for marathoners, but little is known for half-marathoners. We analysed data from 138,616 runners (48,148 women and 90,469 men) competing between 2014 and 2016 in GöteborgsVarvet, the world's largest half-marathon. The men-to-women ratio in participants increased with age, the fastest race times were observed in age groups ˂35 and 35-39 years in women and in age group 35-39 years in men, the main effect of sex and the sex × age group interaction on race time were trivial, and the competitiveness was denser in men and in the younger age groups. In summary, in half-marathon running in the largest half-marathon in the world, the GöteborgsVarvet, women achieved the fastest race time at an earlier age compared to men where the fastest race times were observed in women in age groups ˂35 and 35-39 years and in men in age group 35-39 years.
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Bedrock Canyons Carved by the Largest Known Floods on Earth and Mars
Lamb, M. P.; Lapôtre, M. G. A.; Larsen, I. J.; Williams, R. M. E.
2017-12-01
The surface of Earth is a dynamic and permeable interface where the rocky crust is sculpted by ice, wind and water resulting in spectacular mountain ranges, vast depositional basins and environments that support life. These landforms and deposits contain a rich, yet incomplete, record of Earth history that we are just beginning to understand. Some of the most dramatic landforms are the huge bedrock canyons carved by catastrophic floods. On Mars, similar bedrock canyons, known as Outflow Channels, are the most important indicators of large volumes of surface water in the past. Despite their importance and now decades of observations of canyon morphology, we lack a basic understanding of how the canyons formed, which limits our ability to reconstruct flood discharge, duration and water volume. In this presentation I will summarize recent work - using mechanistic numerical models and field observations - that suggests that bedrock canyons carved by megafloods rapidly evolve to a size and shape such that boundary shear stresses just exceed that required to entrain fractured blocks of rock. The threshold shear stress constraint allows for quantitative reconstruction of the largest known floods on Earth and Mars, and implies far smaller discharges than previous methods that assume flood waters fully filled the canyons to high water marks.
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The largest subsea hot tap (future tap flange) at Angel Field, Australia
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Lad, Deepak; Drysdale, Colin [T.D. Williamson (United States); Naidoo, Sashie [T.D. Williamson (Australia)
2008-07-01
A subsea hot tap was conducted near the gas production platforms in Angel Field, Australia in September 2007 and verified as the largest no. 900 subsea hot tap by Australian authorities. This paper outlines the subsea tapping process, risks and safety issues in deep water environment, including the need to ensure 100% system accuracy and that the machine fluids used to operate the subsea tapping machines were environmentally friendly. The testing phase included land and water testing. In the land tests, issues relating to metal hardness, temperature, pressure and ocean currents that affected machine stability, torque and cutting rate were considered. All preliminary design and testing focused on being able to mount the tapping machine to a pre-existing hot-tap flange and conduct the tapping operation, start to finish, preferably without changing the cutter. The water depth tests took place inside a pressurized, underwater hyperbaric chamber. The equipment repeated the land testing process in conditions duplicating that of the actual project site. Timing was also measured in multiple climatic conditions (except water depth) to obtain an estimation of various scenarios. The field tapping process was conducted without problems in over six hours with a single cutter and without any stalls. (author)
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Hadre, J
2015-01-01
ALICE is the acronym for A Large Ion Collider Experiment, one of the largest experiments in the world devoted to research in the physics of matter at an infinitely small scale. Hosted at CERN, the European Laboratory for Nuclear Research, this project involves an international collaboration of more than 1400 physicists, engineers and technicians, including around 340 graduate students, from 132 physics institutes in 37 countries across the world.
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Gouriou, Nathalie
2016-01-01
ALICE is the acronym for A Large Ion Collider Experiment, one of the largest experiments in the world devoted to research in the physics of matter at an infinitely small scale. Hosted at CERN, the European Laboratory for Nuclear Research, this project involves an international collaboration of more than 1400 physicists, engineers and technicians, including about 340 graduate students, from 132 physics institutes in 37 countries across the world.
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Antisepsis with Argyrol, Acrimony and Advocacy for African Art
African Journals Online (AJOL)
Erah
child transmission; Partnerships; Equity. Agenda. With tax exemption playing a substantial role in philanthropy for .... their statements as authoritative”.7 Whilst the role of Hille was limited to technical procedures within the laboratory, there was ...
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Viergever, R.F.; Hendriks, T.C.
2016-01-01
BACKGROUND: Little is known about who the main public and philanthropic funders of health research are globally, what they fund and how they decide what gets funded. This study aims to identify the 10 largest public and philanthropic health research funding organizations in the world, to report on
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Reconstructing the population history of the largest tribe of India: the Dravidian speaking Gond.
Chaubey, Gyaneshwer; Tamang, Rakesh; Pennarun, Erwan; Dubey, Pavan; Rai, Niraj; Upadhyay, Rakesh Kumar; Meena, Rajendra Prasad; Patel, Jayanti R; van Driem, George; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Metspalu, Mait; Villems, Richard
2017-04-01
The Gond comprise the largest tribal group of India with a population exceeding 12 million. Linguistically, the Gond belong to the Gondi-Manda subgroup of the South Central branch of the Dravidian language family. Ethnographers, anthropologists and linguists entertain mutually incompatible hypotheses on their origin. Genetic studies of these people have thus far suffered from the low resolution of the genetic data or the limited number of samples. Therefore, to gain a more comprehensive view on ancient ancestry and genetic affinities of the Gond with the neighbouring populations speaking Indo-European, Dravidian and Austroasiatic languages, we have studied four geographically distinct groups of Gond using high-resolution data. All the Gond groups share a common ancestry with a certain degree of isolation and differentiation. Our allele frequency and haplotype-based analyses reveal that the Gond share substantial genetic ancestry with the Indian Austroasiatic (ie, Munda) groups, rather than with the other Dravidian groups to whom they are most closely related linguistically.
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A marine heatwave drives massive losses from the world’s largest seagrass carbon stocks
Arias-Ortiz, A.
2018-03-29
Seagrass ecosystems contain globally significant organic carbon (C) stocks. However, climate change and increasing frequency of extreme events threaten their preservation. Shark Bay, Western Australia, has the largest C stock reported for a seagrass ecosystem, containing up to 1.3% of the total C stored within the top metre of seagrass sediments worldwide. On the basis of field studies and satellite imagery, we estimate that 36% of Shark Bay’s seagrass meadows were damaged following a marine heatwave in 2010/2011. Assuming that 10 to 50% of the seagrass sediment C stock was exposed to oxic conditions after disturbance, between 2 and 9 Tg CO could have been released to the atmosphere during the following three years, increasing emissions from land-use change in Australia by 4–21% per annum. With heatwaves predicted to increase with further climate warming, conservation of seagrass ecosystems is essential to avoid adverse feedbacks on the climate system.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
NONE
2002-07-01
This document is the proceedings of the 7. session of the series of conferences on energy policies jointly organized by the general commission of national development and the general direction of energy and raw materials (DGEMP). A first part is devoted to the presentation of the report entitled 'greenhouse effect: economic modeling and public decision'. This report presents the work carried out for the building of a reference scenario for the evaluation of the expected impact of policies and measures on the evolution of CO{sub 2} emissions. A second part gives some comments about the cost-benefit impacts of environmental policies and the last part summarizes the interventions of some of the participants during the debates. (J.S.)
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Winfield, I.J.; Fletcher, J.M.; James, J.B.
2011-01-01
An invasive species is defined as an alien (or introduced or non-native) species whose establishment and spread threaten ecosystems, habitats or species with harm. Such threats to UK lake fish communities have long been appreciated and this review assembles case histories, including new data, from the largest lakes of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England to examine the hypothesis that at least some of these introductions have become invasive. Loch Lomond in Scotland has experienced s...
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Muller, A.; Whiteman, G.
2015-01-01
Research on corporate philanthropy typically focuses on organization-external pressures and aggregated donation behavior. Hence, our understanding of the organization-internal structures that determine whether a given organization will respond philanthropically to a specific human need remains
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Your Lung Operation: After Your Operation
Full Text Available ... Chapter Competition Editorial Board Contact Resources in Surgical Education Newsletters Newsletters Overview Newsletters Overview ACS-AEI Consortium Quarterly ACS Chapter News Cancer Programs Brief Committee on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work ...
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Full Text Available ... Chapter Competition Editorial Board Contact Resources in Surgical Education Newsletters Newsletters Overview Newsletters Overview ACS-AEI Consortium Quarterly ACS Chapter News Cancer Programs Brief Committee on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work ...
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Full Text Available ... Program About ACS NSQIP Join ACS NSQIP Now Collaboratives Hospital Compare Quality and Safety Conference Participant Use ... on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work RAS E-News YFA E-News Primers and ...
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Your Lung Operation: After Your Operation
Full Text Available ... Program About ACS NSQIP Join ACS NSQIP Now Collaboratives Hospital Compare Quality and Safety Conference Participant Use ... on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work RAS E-News YFA E-News Primers and ...
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Your Lung Operation: After Your Operation
Full Text Available ... Meetings and Events Scholarships, Competitions, Awards, and Project Work Top 10 Reasons to Participate Grand Rounds Webinar ... on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work RAS E-News YFA E-News Primers and ...
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Philanthropic partnerships and the future of cancer research.
Murciano-Goroff, Yonina R
2015-02-01
Complementing government and industry funding, philanthropies have made distinct contributions to altering the trajectory of cancer research, often in ways that reflect both the business training of their donors and their close ties to the lay public.
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Full Text Available ... Meetings and Events Scholarships, Competitions, Awards, and Project Work Top 10 Reasons to Participate Grand Rounds Webinar ... on Trauma News The Cutting Edge Philanthropy at Work RAS E-News YFA E-News Primers and ...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Guang-Yu Wu
Full Text Available To study the value of assessing renal masses using different methods in parameter approaches and to determine whether BOLD MRI is helpful in differentiating RCC from benign renal masses, differentiating clear-cell RCC from renal masses other than clear-cell RCC and determining the tumour grade.Ninety-five patients with 139 renal masses (93 malignant and 46 benign who underwent abdominal BOLD MRI were enrolled. R2* values were derived from the largest cross-section (R2*largest and from the whole tumour (R2*whole. Intra-observer and inter-observer agreements were analysed based on two measurements by the same observer and the first measurement from each observer, respectively, and these agreements are reported with intra-class correlation coefficients and 95% confidence intervals. The diagnostic value of the R2* value in the evaluation was assessed with receiver-operating characteristic analysis.The intra-observer agreement was very good for R2*largest and R2*whole (all > 0.8. The inter-observer agreement of R2*whole (0.75, 95% confidence interval: 0.69~0.79 was good and was significantly improved compared with the R2*largest (0.61, 95% confidence interval: 0.52~0.68, as there was no overlap in the 95% confidence interval of the intra-class correlation coefficients. The diagnostic value in differentiating renal cell carcinoma from benign lesions with R2*whole (AUC=0.79/0.78[observer1/observer2] and R2*largest (AUC=0.75[observer1] was good and significantly higher (p=0.01 for R2*largest[observer2] vs R2*whole[observer2], p 0.7 and were not significantly different (p=0.89/0.93 for R2*largest vs R2*whole[observer1/observer2], 0.96 for R2*whole[observer1] vs R2*largest[observer2] and 0.96 for R2*whole [observer2] vs R2*largest[observer1].BOLD MRI could provide a feasible parameter for differentiating renal cell carcinoma from benign renal masses and for predicting clear-cell renal cell carcinoma grading. Compared with the largest cross
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Barasinska, Nataliya; Schäfer, Dorothea
2010-01-01
Studies of peer-to-peer lending in the USA find that female borrowers have better chances of getting funds than males. Is differential treatment of borrowers of different sexes a common feature of peer-to-peer lendingmarkets or is it subject to specific businessmodels, ways of fixing loan contracts and even national financial systems? We aim at answering this question by providing evidence on loan procurement at the largest German peer-to-peer lending platform Smava.de. Our results show that ...
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Bubble nucleation in simple and molecular liquids via the largest spherical cavity method
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gonzalez, Miguel A.; Abascal, José L. F.; Valeriani, Chantal; Bresme, Fernando
2015-01-01
In this work, we propose a methodology to compute bubble nucleation free energy barriers using trajectories generated via molecular dynamics simulations. We follow the bubble nucleation process by means of a local order parameter, defined by the volume of the largest spherical cavity (LSC) formed in the nucleating trajectories. This order parameter simplifies considerably the monitoring of the nucleation events, as compared with the previous approaches which require ad hoc criteria to classify the atoms and molecules as liquid or vapor. The combination of the LSC and the mean first passage time technique can then be used to obtain the free energy curves. Upon computation of the cavity distribution function the nucleation rate and free-energy barrier can then be computed. We test our method against recent computations of bubble nucleation in simple liquids and water at negative pressures. We obtain free-energy barriers in good agreement with the previous works. The LSC method provides a versatile and computationally efficient route to estimate the volume of critical bubbles the nucleation rate and to compute bubble nucleation free-energies in both simple and molecular liquids
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KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Kostov, Veselin B. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 665, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R. [Department of Astronomy, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States); Doyle, Laurance R. [SETI Institute, 189 Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Principia College, IMoP, One Maybeck Place, Elsah, IL 62028 (United States); Fabrycky, Daniel C. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Haghighipour, Nader [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Quarles, Billy [Department of Physics and Physical Science, The University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849 (United States); Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael [McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas as Austin, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States); Ford, Eric B. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 428A Davey Lab, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Gregorio, Joao [Atalaia Group and Crow-Observatory, Portalegre (Portugal); Hinse, Tobias C. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Advanced Astronomy and Space Science Division, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Isaacson, Howard [Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, 501 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Jenkins, Jon M. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Jensen, Eric L. N. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081 (United States); Kane, Stephen [Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 (United States); Kull, Ilya, E-mail: veselin.b.kostov@nasa.gov [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv (Israel); and others
2016-08-10
We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R {sub Jup}, it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M {sub Jup}. The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e {sub bin} = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.
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Monitoring coastal pollution associated with the largest oil refinery complex of Venezuela
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Aldo Croquer
2016-06-01
Full Text Available This study evaluated pollution levels in water and sediments of Península de Paraguaná and related these levels with benthic macrofauna along a coastal area where the largest Venezuelan oil refineries have operated over the past 60 years. For this, the concentration of heavy metals, of hydrocarbon compounds and the community structure of the macrobenthos were examined at 20 sites distributed along 40 km of coastline for six consecutive years, which included windy and calm seasons. The spatial variability of organic and inorganic compounds showed considerably high coastal pollution along the study area, across both years and seasons. The southern sites, closest to the refineries, had consistently higher concentrations of heavy metals and organic compounds in water and sediments when compared to those in the north. The benthic community was dominated by polychaetes at all sites, seasons and years, and their abundance and distribution were significantly correlated with physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments. Sites close to the oil refineries were consistently dominated by families known to tolerate xenobiotics, such as Capitellidae and Spionidae. The results from this study highlight the importance of continuing long-term environmental monitoring programs to assess the impact of effluent discharge and spill events from the oil refineries that operate in the western coast of Paraguaná, Venezuela.
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KEPLER-1647B: THE LARGEST AND LONGEST-PERIOD KEPLER TRANSITING CIRCUMBINARY PLANET
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Kostov, Veselin B.; Orosz, Jerome A.; Welsh, William F.; Short, Donald R.; Doyle, Laurance R.; Fabrycky, Daniel C.; Haghighipour, Nader; Quarles, Billy; Cochran, William D.; Endl, Michael; Ford, Eric B.; Gregorio, Joao; Hinse, Tobias C.; Isaacson, Howard; Jenkins, Jon M.; Jensen, Eric L. N.; Kane, Stephen; Kull, Ilya
2016-01-01
We report the discovery of a new Kepler transiting circumbinary planet (CBP). This latest addition to the still-small family of CBPs defies the current trend of known short-period planets orbiting near the stability limit of binary stars. Unlike the previous discoveries, the planet revolving around the eclipsing binary system Kepler-1647 has a very long orbital period (∼1100 days) and was at conjunction only twice during the Kepler mission lifetime. Due to the singular configuration of the system, Kepler-1647b is not only the longest-period transiting CBP at the time of writing, but also one of the longest-period transiting planets. With a radius of 1.06 ± 0.01 R Jup , it is also the largest CBP to date. The planet produced three transits in the light curve of Kepler-1647 (one of them during an eclipse, creating a syzygy) and measurably perturbed the times of the stellar eclipses, allowing us to measure its mass, 1.52 ± 0.65 M Jup . The planet revolves around an 11-day period eclipsing binary consisting of two solar-mass stars on a slightly inclined, mildly eccentric ( e bin = 0.16), spin-synchronized orbit. Despite having an orbital period three times longer than Earth’s, Kepler-1647b is in the conservative habitable zone of the binary star throughout its orbit.
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Lighting fires for tobacco control | IDRC - International Development ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
2011-07-22
Jul 22, 2011 ... Moreover, internal tobacco industry documents point to a deliberate strategy on the part ... advocacy, as well as a lack of a tradition of corporate philanthropy in the region. .... Exploring eco-health in China and Southeast Asia.
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All projects related to | Page 118 | IDRC - International Development ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Strengthening the Evidence Base for Open Government in Developing Countries. Project. The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an ... Project. Despite growing philanthropy in emerging economies, there are significant data gaps on amounts and sources. Topic: POLICY MAKING, REGULATIONS, HUMANITARIAN ...
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Watching the Creation of Southern California's Largest Reservoir
2001-01-01
The new Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir near the city of Hemet in Riverside County is billed as the largest earthworks construction project in U.S.history. Construction began in 1995 and involved 31 million cubic meters of foundation excavation and 84 million cubic meters of embankment construction. This set of MISR images captures the most recent phase in the reservoir's activation. At the upper left is a natural-color view acquired by the instrument's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on March 14, 2000 (Terra orbit 1273), shortly after the Metropolitan Water District began filling the reservoir with water from the Colorado River and Northern California. Water appears darker than the surrounding land. The image at the upper right was acquired nearly one year later on March 1, 2001 (Terra orbit 6399), and shows a clear increase in the reservoir's water content. When full, the lake will hold nearly a trillion liters of water.According to the Metropolitan Water District, the 7 kilometer x 3 kilometer reservoir nearly doubles Southern California's above-groundwater storage capacity. In addition to routine water management, Diamond Valley Lake is designed to provide protection against drought and a six-month emergency supply in the event of earthquake damage to a major aqueduct. In the face of electrical power shortages, it is also expected to reduce dependence on the pumping of water from northern mountains during the high-demand summer months. An unexpected result of site excavation was the uncovering of mastodon and mammoth skeletons along with bones from extinct species not previously thought to have been indigenous to the area, such as the giant long-horned bison and North American lion. A museum and interpretive center is being built to protect these finds.The lower MISR image, from May 20, 2001 (Terra orbit 7564), is a false-color view combining data from the instrument's 26-degree forward view (displayed as blue) with data from the 26-degree backward view
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2011-10-28
... imaging, diagnostics and therapy. In addition, these companies should have (1) A corporate structure with... immediate consequence of this effort will be the formation of a consortium involving government and... development through appropriate partnerships among industry, academia, government, and philanthropy...
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Building Collaborative Capacity for Homeland Security
2004-11-01
Kesner, I. F. (1993). Top Managerial Prestige, Power and Tender Offer Response - a Study of Elite Social Networks and Target Firm Cooperation During...Organization Science, 12(3), 372-388. Galaskiewicz, J., & Burt, R. S. (1991). Interorganization Contagion in Corporate Philanthropy . Administrative
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The Tsunami’s CSR Effect: MNEs and Philanthropic Responses to the Disaster
G.M. Whiteman (Gail); A.R. Muller (Allan); J. van der Voort (Judith); J.C.A.C. van Wijk (Jeroen); L.C.P.M. Meijs (Lucas); C. Piqué
2005-01-01
textabstractThis paper contributes to the literature on CSR and International Business by linking firm internationalization to corporate philanthropy. Considering the 2004 Tsunami disaster as a highly relevant case of an international societal issue, we analyze the characteristics of the corporate
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Georgian Public attitudes to a tobacco free environment
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
George Bakhturidze
2017-05-01
The study was funded in scope of Bloomberg Philanthropies Grant through Tobacco Free Kinds. Study was conducted by Georgian Institute of Social Studies and Analyses by cooperation with the FCTC Implementation and Monitoring Center in Georgia and Georgian Public Health Institute.
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A study on the regionalization of tornadogenesis for the domestic largest scale of tornado
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Sugimoto, Soichiro; Nohara, Daisuke; Hirakuchi, Hiromaru
2014-01-01
A new regulatory guide has been issued by the Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan since the last year. According to this guide, electric power companies have to assess the influence of tornadoes on their nuclear power plants for operation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the likelihood of the occurrence of F3 tornadoes, which are the largest encountered in Japan, and to consider the possibility of the regionalization of the maximum wind speed. Then, mesoscale analysis with a numerical meteorological model and re-analysis data is performed along with synoptic scale analysis. Especially, tornado parameters such as SReH (Storm Relative Helicity) and CAPE (Convective Available Potential Energy) are used for evaluating the potential tornadogenesis of F3 tornado. Both analyses indicate that favorable meteorological condition tends to occur in the coastal zones in the Pacific side west of Ibaraki and around Kyushu island. The frequency in these zones is different from the one in the other area in the order of 1 or 2, which is large enough for regionalization. (author)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tânia Maria PINTO DE SANTANA
2016-06-01
Full Text Available Organized by Frei Agostinho de Santa Maria and published in 1722, the Marian Sanctuary and History of the Miracles image of Our Lady consist the registrations of marian invocations worshiped in Portuguese territory, made by clergymen from differents parishes in the xviii century. The ninth volume deal witch the invocations found in Bahia. In this article we mean to use this text as a study sourse for the history religious belief, as well as in the study of the Catholic religiosity history among the black people in the reconcavo baiano. The reconcavo baiano was one of the most important region of the sugar cane production in the American Portuguesa in that period where concentrated an expressive population of black people that was used in the slave labor in that production. Our analysis which has as a main objective of study Our Lady of Rosario worship in the brotherhoods and the black people’s devotions in that region. Seeking to understand at first the motivation for such worship, experienced in the context of the slavery. Subsequently we will concentrate our analysis in the aspects linked to its growth and development, such as celebrations for their Patroness, and the use of images in moments of celebrations. From here it’s necessary to comprehend how the place of the black, as a slave or a free man, marked the relations established and the differents moments of celebrations.
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Genome size analyses of Pucciniales reveal the largest fungal genomes.
Tavares, Sílvia; Ramos, Ana Paula; Pires, Ana Sofia; Azinheira, Helena G; Caldeirinha, Patrícia; Link, Tobias; Abranches, Rita; Silva, Maria do Céu; Voegele, Ralf T; Loureiro, João; Talhinhas, Pedro
2014-01-01
Rust fungi (Basidiomycota, Pucciniales) are biotrophic plant pathogens which exhibit diverse complexities in their life cycles and host ranges. The completion of genome sequencing of a few rust fungi has revealed the occurrence of large genomes. Sequencing efforts for other rust fungi have been hampered by uncertainty concerning their genome sizes. Flow cytometry was recently applied to estimate the genome size of a few rust fungi, and confirmed the occurrence of large genomes in this order (averaging 225.3 Mbp, while the average for Basidiomycota was 49.9 Mbp and was 37.7 Mbp for all fungi). In this work, we have used an innovative and simple approach to simultaneously isolate nuclei from the rust and its host plant in order to estimate the genome size of 30 rust species by flow cytometry. Genome sizes varied over 10-fold, from 70 to 893 Mbp, with an average genome size value of 380.2 Mbp. Compared to the genome sizes of over 1800 fungi, Gymnosporangium confusum possesses the largest fungal genome ever reported (893.2 Mbp). Moreover, even the smallest rust genome determined in this study is larger than the vast majority of fungal genomes (94%). The average genome size of the Pucciniales is now of 305.5 Mbp, while the average Basidiomycota genome size has shifted to 70.4 Mbp and the average for all fungi reached 44.2 Mbp. Despite the fact that no correlation could be drawn between the genome sizes, the phylogenomics or the life cycle of rust fungi, it is interesting to note that rusts with Fabaceae hosts present genomes clearly larger than those with Poaceae hosts. Although this study comprises only a small fraction of the more than 7000 rust species described, it seems already evident that the Pucciniales represent a group where genome size expansion could be a common characteristic. This is in sharp contrast to sister taxa, placing this order in a relevant position in fungal genomics research.
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Xu, Li; Zhang, Xingliao; Pu, Hanyong; Jia, Songhai; Zhang, Jiming; Lü, Junchang; Meng, Jin
2015-10-22
A new multituberculate, Yubaartar zhongyuanensis gen. and sp. nov., is reported from the Upper Cretaceous of Luanchuan County, Henan Province, China. The holotype of the new taxon is a partial skeleton with nearly complete cranium and associated lower jaws with in situ dentitions. The new species is the southern-most record of a Late Cretaceous multituberculate from outside of the Mongolian Plateau in Asia and represents the largest known Mesozoic multituberculate from Eurasia. The new specimen displays some intriguing features previously unknown in multituberculates, such as the first evidence of replacement of the ultimate upper premolar and a unique paleopathological case in Mesozoic mammals in which the animal with a severely broken right tibia could heal and survive in natural condition. The phylogenetic analysis based on craniodental characters places Yubaartar as the immediate outgroup of Taeniolabidoidea, a group consisting of a North American clade and an Asian clade. This relationship indicates at least a faunal interchange of multituberculates before the K-Pg transition. The new evidence further supports the hypothesis that disparity in dental complexity, which relates to animal diets, increased with generic richness and disparity in body size, and that an adaptive shift towards increased herbivory across the K-Pg transitional interval.
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Sources and distribution of microplastics in China's largest inland lake - Qinghai Lake.
Xiong, Xiong; Zhang, Kai; Chen, Xianchuan; Shi, Huahong; Luo, Ze; Wu, Chenxi
2018-04-01
Microplastic pollution was studied in China's largest inland lake - Qinghai Lake in this work. Microplastics were detected with abundance varies from 0.05 × 10 5 to 7.58 × 10 5 items km -2 in the lake surface water, 0.03 × 10 5 to 0.31 × 10 5 items km -2 in the inflowing rivers, 50 to 1292 items m -2 in the lakeshore sediment, and 2 to 15 items per individual in the fish samples, respectively. Small microplastics (0.1-0.5 mm) dominated in the lake surface water while large microplastics (1-5 mm) are more abundant in the river samples. Microplastics were predominantly in sheet and fiber shapes in the lake and river water samples but were more diverse in the lakeshore sediment samples. Polymer types of microplastics were mainly polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as identified using Raman Spectroscopy. Spatially, microplastic abundance was the highest in the central part of the lake, likely due to the transport of lake current. Based on the higher abundance of microplastics near the tourist access points, plastic wastes from tourism are considered as an important source of microplastics in Qinghai Lake. As an important area for wildlife conservation, better waste management practice should be implemented, and waste disposal and recycling infrastructures should be improved for the protection of Qinghai Lake. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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De meilleures données probantes sur les dons privés dans les ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
... mesurer l'ampleur, les sources et les réussites de la philanthropie ainsi que les facteurs qui la favorisent. ... et futures grâce à son vaste réseau de partenaires individuels et institutionnels. ... Framework Agreement between IISD and IDRC.
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The Tsunami's CSR Effect: MNEs and Philanthropic Responses to the Disaster
Whiteman, G.; Muller, A.R.; van der Voort, J.; van Wijk, J.; Meijs, L.; Pique, C.
2005-01-01
'This paper contributes to the literature on CSR and International Business by linking firm internationalization to corporate philanthropy. Considering the 2004 Tsunami disaster as a highly relevant case of an international societal issue, we analyze the characteristics of the corporate response to
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2013-12-13
political elites constitute a form of political embeddedness. Instead of engaging directly with affected parties, NFCA expects the Zambian government to...profits, but also how they make them. It goes beyond philanthropy and compliance and addresses how companies manage their economic, social, and
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2006-06-01
elites are not particularly threatened by democraticization” since the institutions required to run the democracy “are already well established before... Philanthropy website, http://www.covekoljublje.org/proj_completed.htm (accessed 18 May 2006). 244 “More Ethnic Fighting in Kosovo Leaves Thousands
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2008-12-09
be an ideal " franchise model" across localities critical to DOD missions. RECOMMENDATION: DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE • The Under Secretary of Defense...along with engaging capabilities of new philanthropy and social entrepreneurship (such as the Gates Foundation). Marketing and entertainment talent can
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2013-12-06
... postsecondary educational institutions participating in one or more of eight on- going experiments. Information... program accountability. Institutions and others, including businesses, philanthropies, and State agencies... Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys . At this site you...
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African Journals Online (AJOL)
Tamara Shefer
Bloomberg Philanthropies. The conference theme “from research to implementation” emphasised the importance of connecting knowledge around violence with injury prevention, while stressing the need to address the multitude of transnational public health challenges. In speaking to this theme, the. Tampere Declaration ...
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Do markets love misery? Stock prices and corporate disaster response
Muller, A.R.; Kräussl, R.
2007-01-01
While companies have emerged as very proactive donors in the wake of recent major disasters like Hurricane Katrina, it remains unclear whether that corporate generosity generates benefits to firms themselves. The literature on strategic philanthropy suggests that such philanthropic behavior may be
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Bertoni, Steven
2013-01-01
Duty Free Shoppersi asutaja Chuck Feeney on oma sihtasutusega Atlantic Philanthropies 30 aasta jooksul annetanud juba üle 6 miljardi dollari toetades erinevaid meditsiini, haridust ning päästeprojekte kogu maailmas, tehes seejuures kõik, et tema isik avalikuks ei tuleks
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Pedersen, Torben; Thomsen, Steen
1999-01-01
The paper examines causes and effects of ownership concentration among the largest companies in 12 European countries. As a reference point the paper takes a seminal empirical study on US data by Demsetz and Lehn (1985) and examines to what extent their model is applicable in European countries....... The findings indicate that both general economic effects and system effects are significant. Ownership concentration is found to decrease with firm size and to increase with earnings volatility. But in support of the system theories advocated by Roe (1991), Laporta et al. (1996) and Shleifer and Vishny (1997......) nationality is also found to have a significant effect which is partly attributable to institutional differences between nations such as stock market size and the frequency of large banks. Finally, in line with Demsetz and Lehn (1985), ownership concentration is found to have an insignificant effect...
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Šverc, Magdalena; Flogie, Andrej; Krabonja, Maja Vicic; Percic, Kristjan
2013-01-01
During the years 2008-2013 Ministry of Education in the Republic of Slovenia prepared largest project of informatization of educational institutions. One of the main goals of the project E-Education is the development of the standard E-Competent Teacher, School Principal and IT Expert. The standard E-Competent Teacher, Principal and IT Expert…
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A.K. SPIESS. LIFE, DEVOTED TO PORCELAIN
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Екатерина Сергеевна Хмельницкая
2014-02-01
Full Text Available The article reconstructs the creative biography of the sculptor of the Imperial Porcelain Factory A.K. Spiess, development of his career in Russia. Over the 47 years he was the Chief sculptor of the porcelain factory and was the author of most of the figures created during the "historicism." The article investigates his creative activity, historical and cultural conditions of the development of the porcelain sculpture under his leadership. The author examines in detail the identity of the sculptor, the evolution of his creative activity, discusses the key factors in the development of his career. After four years after arriving in Russia, a former student and assistant sculptor received a position of the chief sculptor of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Spies managed to perfectly flatter the taste of the Empress Maria, skillfully using the latest achievements of porcelain production, sculptor borrowed from Europe. Due to the great diversity of Spies, it should be noted porcelain amazing adaptability to any changes in the art of Historicism, where one style of fashion rapidly replaced by others. Porcelain Spies "successfully coped with any role": central interior decoration, household items, personal preferences, or evidence of the imperial status of the owner. Author concludes that the "secret" so successful creative activity of August Spiess, who for decades defined the artistic policy sculpture department, consists in the fact that his art was not just on time and responded to the artistic needs of the society. "From porcelain man can do everything" - said I.-I. Candler, whom Europe obliged the birth of porcelain. This phrase is also the key to the art of A. K Spiess.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2014-1-5
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Jiang Shuqin: a devoted family planning worker.
Zhu, H
1997-04-01
This article describes the family planning activities of a barefoot doctor, Jiang Shuqin, who has delivered family planning and other medical services to poor local farmers in China over the past 20 years. The once backward township of Kulongshan in Fengning Manchu Nationality Autonomous County, Chengde City, Hebei Province in North China, where she works, has advanced. Her efforts were recognized at the 1997 National Conference on Family Planning Work. Her first success was in treating a poor woman's sick child, which resulted in such gratitude that her initial reluctance to accept contraception was overcome and she agreed to terminate her pregnancy. Another case involved an elder sister who became pregnant for her infertile sister; when the latter was diagnosed and treated for gynecological disease and subsequently conceived herself, the older sister was convinced to abort her pregnancy. One woman was counseled to delay a pregnancy until treatment for tuberculosis was completed and was happy to avoid birth defects and enjoyed having a healthy baby 3 years later. Ms. Shuqin was known to quickly respond to a home delivery and difficult labor and even saved a baby whose supply of oxygen was limited during a difficult labor. She even performed an operation to stop massive hemorrhaging from a retained placenta while in her 8th month of pregnancy and being barely able to stand on her swollen and painful legs; she completed the operation on her knees. She wrote a paper to county officials on rice production on reclaimed paddy fields that benefitted hundreds of farmers. Her practice expanded to include treatment of animals. Her family complains about her absences, but everyone in the township appreciates her services. The township is proud to be one with no unplanned births.
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Synchrotrons are also devoted to the society
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Gacoin, M.P.; Cornuejols, D.; Cotte, M.; Deblay, P.; Mitchell, E.P.; McCarthy, J.; Fraissard, F.
2013-01-01
The ESRF and the SOLEIL synchrotrons are not only scientific instruments but also active players in the cultural and economic fields. This document gathers 6 short articles. The 2 first present the actions of SOLEIL and ESRS scientific teams towards the spreading of scientific knowledge in the public. The third article is dedicated to the uses of synchrotron radiation to the study of cultural objects to learn more about their fabrication, present state or the remedial actions that could be used to renovate them. The fourth and fifth articles present the contributions of ESRF and SOLEIL to the industrial world, in fact these contributions are not limited to the research field but also appear for quality assurance or the control of aging processes. Partnerships have been signed between both synchrotrons and enterprises to develop industrial products based on instrumentation or on the use of synchrotron radiation. The last article describes the procedure to have access to both facilities. (A.C.)
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Negotiating place and gendered violence in Canada's largest open drug scene.
McNeil, Ryan; Shannon, Kate; Shaver, Laura; Kerr, Thomas; Small, Will
2014-05-01
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is home to Canada's largest street-based drug scene and only supervised injection facility (Insite). High levels of violence among men and women have been documented in this neighbourhood. This study was undertaken to explore the role of violence in shaping the socio-spatial relations of women and 'marginal men' (i.e., those occupying subordinate positions within the drug scene) in the Downtown Eastside, including access to Insite. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 people who inject drugs (PWID) recruited through the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, a local drug user organization. Interviews included a mapping exercise. Interview transcripts and maps were analyzed thematically, with an emphasis on how gendered violence shaped participants' spatial practices. Hegemonic forms of masculinity operating within the Downtown Eastside framed the everyday violence experienced by women and marginal men. This violence shaped the spatial practices of women and marginal men, in that they avoided drug scene milieus where they had experienced violence or that they perceived to be dangerous. Some men linked their spatial restrictions to the perceived 'dope quality' of neighbourhood drug dealers to maintain claims to dominant masculinities while enacting spatial strategies to promote safety. Environmental supports provided by health and social care agencies were critical in enabling women and marginal men to negotiate place and survival within the context of drug scene violence. Access to Insite did not motivate participants to enter into "dangerous" drug scene milieus but they did venture into these areas if necessary to obtain drugs or generate income. Gendered violence is critical in restricting the geographies of men and marginal men within the street-based drug scene. There is a need to scale up existing environmental interventions, including supervised injection services, to minimize violence and potential drug
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Solar energy potential of the largest buildings in the United States
Wence, E. R.; Grodsky, S.; Hernandez, R. R.
2017-12-01
Sustainable pathways of land use for energy are necessary to mitigate climate change and limit conversion of finite land resources needed for conservation and food production. Large, commercial buildings (LCBs) are increasing in size and number throughout the United States (US) and may serve as suitable recipient environments for photovoltaic (PV) solar energy infrastructure that may support a low carbon, low land footprint energy transition. In this study, we identified, characterized, and evaluated the technical potential of the largest, commercial building rooftops (i.e., exceeding 110,000 m2) and their associated parking lots in the US for PV solar energy systems using Aurora, a cloud-based solar optimization platform. We also performed a case study of building-specific electricity generation: electricity consumption balance. Further, we quantified the environmental co-benefit of land sparing and associated avoided emissions (t-CO2-eq) conferred under the counterfactual scenario that solar development would otherwise proceed as a ground-mounted, utility-scale PV installation of equal nominal capacity. We identified and mapped 37 LCBs (by rooftop area) across 18 states in the US, spanning from as far north as the state of Minnesota to as far south as Florida. Rooftop footprints range from 427,297 to 113,689 m2 and have a cumulative surface area of 99.8 million ft2. We characterize the LCBs as either: distribution/warehouse, factory, shopping center, or administrative office/facility. Three of the 37 LCBs currently support rooftop PV and the numbers of associated, detached buildings number up to 38. This study elucidates the extent to which LCBs and their respective parking lots can serve as suitable sites for PV solar energy generation. Lastly, this study demonstrates research-based applications of the Aurora energy modeling platform and informs decision-making focused on redirecting energy development towards human-modified landscapes to prioritize land use for
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Invertebrate population genetics across Earth's largest habitat: The deep-sea floor.
Taylor, M L; Roterman, C N
2017-10-01
Despite the deep sea being the largest habitat on Earth, there are just 77 population genetic studies of invertebrates (115 species) inhabiting non-chemosynthetic ecosystems on the deep-sea floor (below 200 m depth). We review and synthesize the results of these papers. Studies reveal levels of genetic diversity comparable to shallow-water species. Generally, populations at similar depths were well connected over 100s-1,000s km, but studies that sampled across depth ranges reveal population structure at much smaller scales (100s-1,000s m) consistent with isolation by adaptation across environmental gradients, or the existence of physical barriers to connectivity with depth. Few studies were ocean-wide (under 4%), and 48% were Atlantic-focused. There is strong emphasis on megafauna and commercial species with research into meiofauna, "ecosystem engineers" and other ecologically important species lacking. Only nine papers account for ~50% of the planet's surface (depths below 3,500 m). Just two species were studied below 5,000 m, a quarter of Earth's seafloor. Most studies used single-locus mitochondrial genes revealing a common pattern of non-neutrality, consistent with demographic instability or selective sweeps; similar to deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. The absence of a clear difference between vent and non-vent could signify that demographic instability is common in the deep sea, or that selective sweeps render single-locus mitochondrial studies demographically uninformative. The number of population genetics studies to date is miniscule in relation to the size of the deep sea. The paucity of studies constrains meta-analyses where broad inferences about deep-sea ecology could be made. © 2017 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Sexual and reproductive health and philanthropic funding in Australia.
Gill-Atkinson, Liz; Vaughan, Cathy; Williams, Hennie
2014-09-01
Background Australia's philanthropic sector is growing and could support efforts to improve sexual and reproductive health (SRH). However, philanthropy is often misunderstood in Australia and there is limited evidence of philanthropic support for SRH initiatives. We aimed to understand the barriers and facilitators to philanthropic funding of SRH initiatives in Australia. A qualitative approach was used and involved 13 in-depth interviews with professionals from the philanthropic sector, and from organisations and services involved in SRH. Barriers to organisations in seeking philanthropic funding for SRH activities included insufficient resources for writing grant applications and the small financial value of philanthropic grants. Facilitators to seeking philanthropic funding for SRH included a perception that government funding is shrinking and that philanthropic research grants are less competitive than government grants. Philanthropic participants identified that barriers to funding SRH include the sensitive nature of SRH and the perceived conservative nature of philanthropy. Facilitators identified by these participants in supporting SRH initiatives included networking and relationships between grant-makers and grant-seekers. All participants agreed that philanthropy does and could have a role in funding SRH in Australia. The findings of this research suggest that barriers to philanthropic funding for SRH in Australia exist for organisations attempting to access philanthropic funding. Philanthropic organisations could provide more financial support to Australian SRH service providers, as happens in countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. Addressing these barriers and promoting the facilitators could lead to increased awareness of SRH by Australia's philanthropic sector.
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Seasonal variations of trace elements in precipitation at the largest city in Tibet, Lhasa
Guo, Junming; Kang, Shichang; Huang, Jie; Zhang, Qianggong; Tripathee, Lekhendra; Sillanpää, Mika
2015-02-01
Precipitation samples were collected from March 2010 to August 2012 at an urban site in Lhasa, the capital and largest city of Tibet. The volume weighted mean (VWM) concentrations of 17 trace elements in precipitation were higher during the non-monsoon season than in the monsoon season, but inverse seasonal variations occurred for wet deposition fluxes of most of the trace elements. Concentrations for most of trace elements were negatively correlated with precipitation amount, indicating that below-cloud scavenging of trace elements was an important mechanism contributing to wet deposition of these elements. The elements Al, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Mn, Ni, and U displayed low crustal enrichment factors (EFs), whereas Co, Cu, Zn, As, Cd Sn, Pb, and Bi showed high EF values in precipitation, suggesting that anthropogenic activities might be important contributors of these elements at Lhasa. However, this present work indicates a much lower anthropogenic emission at Lhasa than in seriously polluted regions. Our study will not only provide insights for assessing the current status of the atmospheric environment in Lhasa but also enhance our understanding for updating the baseline for environmental protection over the Tibetan Plateau.
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2011-11-17
...) Community Engagement (volunteerism, philanthropy, and social/ corporate responsibility). The exchange format... thoroughly explore the primary themes and selected subtheme in a creative, memorable, and practical way. All... outcomes will be measured; and (4) provides a clear description of the data collection strategies for each...
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Shaping the Future: Security Cooperation to Shape Chinese Diplomacy in the South Pacific
2008-10-31
Chinese philanthropy ; however, debate remains over whether PRC investment and aid represents “well-funded, integrated foreign policy goals, developed...quality of life for islanders and on supporting the rule of law vice Chinese investment strategy which often targets government officials and elites with
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[History and evolution of the organization of health care in prisons].
Bodon-Bruzel, Magali
2013-03-01
It was on the eve of the French Revolution, with the trend for health and philanthropy, that the focus on the health of prisoners, including their mental health, started to evolve. However, psychiatric care for prisoners only became widespread after the Second World War.
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Giving and volunteering in the Netherlands : Sociological and psychological perspectives
Bekkers, R.H.F.P.
2004-01-01
Volunteer work, membership of voluntary associations, philanthropy and donation of blood and organs are studied by scholars from a wide range of disciplines. Sociologists and economists assume that good intentions are universal, but that some people have a stock of human and social capital that
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Supply and Demand: Religious Schooling in Ninteenth-Century France.
Curtis, Sarah A.
1999-01-01
Examines the reasons behind the expansion of congregational primary education before the educational push of the Third Republic in the diocese of Lyon (France). Argues that the popularity of Catholic-sponsored schooling in Lyon depended on the conjuncture of religious philanthropy and cost effectiveness. (CMK)
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Carroll, Barry J.
A study identified motivations and disincentives for business philanthropy among 101 small and medium-sized corporations operating nationwide, as revealed through interviews conducted with their executives from March through August 1984. Discussions identified several principal incentives to encourage corporate support of community services and…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Régis de Toledo Souza
2010-01-01
Full Text Available Dentro da dinâmica de lutas de reconhecimento da cultura popular do vale do Paraíba paulista, identificamos sujeitos responsáveis pelo registro e pela transmissão oral das narrativas de grupos devocionais do catolicismo popular. Atualmente, para sistematizar o registro de suas narrativas, verificamos que alguns sujeitos populares apropriam-se das técnicas e tecnologias antes exclusivas dos profissionais (jornalistas e pesquisadores que geralmente não participam do cotidiano dos sujeitos populares. Constatamos que, ao realizarem esse movimento, esses sujeitos populares passaram a ocupar um espaço de coexistência de vários discursos que disputam os sentidos dessas práticas religiosas, criando uma circularidade dos significados que colocam um desafio para os próprios pesquisadores, pois os discursos e práticas dos pesquisadores tornam agora mais complexas as interpretações das devoções populares e de seus sujeitos. Nas novas narrativas dos especialistas “nativos" existe o uso de categorias assimiladas da lógica de domínios exógenos mais amplos que se fazem presentes em seus cotidianos. / Within the dynamic of struggles for recognition of popular culture in Paraiba Valley, state of São Paulo/Brazil, we identified individuals responsible for the register and oral transmission of narratives of devotional groups of popular Catholicism. Nowadays, to systematize the register of their narratives, we verified that some individuals of these groups appropriate techniques and technologies which were once exclusive to professionals (journalists and researchers that generally do not participate in the individual‟s everyday life. It was observed that, by making this movement, these popular Catholics started to occupy a space of coexistence of several discourses which fight for the meanings of these religious practices, creating a circularity of meanings that challenge the researchers, since their discourses and practices now make the
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Batsale, Jean-Christophe; Pradere, Christophe
2015-01-01
The cost of IR cameras is more and more decreasing. Beyond the preliminary calibration step and the global instrumentation, the infrared image processing is then one of the key step for achieving in very broad domains.Generally the IR images are coming from the transient temperature field related to the emission of a black surface in response to an external or internal heating (active IR thermography). The first applications were devoted to the so called thermal Non-Destructive Evaluation methods by considering a thin sample and 1D transient heat diffusion through the sample (transverse diffusion). With simplified assumptions related to the transverse diffusion, the in-plane diffusion and transport phenomena can be also considered.A general equation can be applied in order to balance the heat transfer at the pixel scale or between groups of pixels in order to estimate several fields of thermophysical properties (heterogeneous field of in-plane diffusivity, flow distributions, source terms).There is a lot of possible strategies to process the space and time distributed big amount of data (previous integral transformation of the images, compression, elimination of the non useful areas...), generally based on the necessity to analyse the derivative versus space and time of the temperature field. Several illustrative examples related to the Non-Destructive Evaluation of heterogeneous solids, the thermal characterization of chemical reactions in microfluidic channels and the design of systems for multispectral tomography, will be presented. (paper)
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Viktor Vladimirovich Ivanov; Maria Olegovna Kakaulina; Oleg Anatolievich Tsepelev
2018-01-01
According to the Government of the Amur region, tax collection from the implementation of investment projects was tightly controlled from 2016, because of the region’s high debt load. This situation requires assessing the acceptability of the level of regional tax burden for business entities. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for assessing the level of regional tax burden, taking into account the implementation of the largest investment projects in the territory. The m...
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jun-Hong Shen
2016-11-01
Full Text Available In pervasive computing, location-based services (LBSs are valuable for mobile clients based on their current locations. LBSs use spatial window queries to enable useful applications for mobile clients. Based on skewed access patterns of mobile clients, non-flat wireless broadcast has been shown to efficiently disseminate spatial objects to mobile clients. In this paper, we consider a scenario in which spatial objects are broadcast to mobile clients over a wireless channel in a non-flat broadcast manner to process window queries. For such a scenario, we propose an efficient spatial air index method to handle window query access in non-flat wireless broadcast environments. The concept of largest empty rectangles is used to avoid unnecessary examination of the broadcast content, thus reducing the processing time for window queries. Simulation results show that the proposed spatial air index method outperforms the existing methods under various settings.
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The Curse of the Gold: Discourses Surrounding the Project of the Largest Pit-mine in Europe
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Istvan Egresi
2011-11-01
Full Text Available In 1996, a Canadian company started geological explorations in the Rosia Montana area in the Romanian Carpathians. Two years later it formed a joint-venture with a Romanian state company to exploit what is believed to be Europe´s largest gold reserves. However, as of June 2011 extraction has not started yet and it may never start due to the opposition of numerous NGO´s that have pointed out the environmental, social and economic unsustainability of this mining project. This situation is highly unusual for a country that is hungry for foreign investment especially since up until very recently the state had supported any project promising to revitalize its mining sector. This paper will investigate the changes in the discourses surrounding this mining project taking into consideration the effects of globalization and the effects of Romania´s EU membership after 2007.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Gorbunov Dmitry
2017-01-01
Full Text Available The very well known example of cosmology testing particle physics is the number of relativistic particles (photons and three active neutrinos within the Standard Model at primordial nucleosynthesis. These days the earliest moment we can hope to probe with present cosmological data is the early time inflation. The particle physics conditions there and now are different because of different energy scales and different values of the scalar fields, that usually prohibits a reliable connection between the particle physics parameters at the two interesting epochs. The physics at the highest energy scales may be probed with observations at the largest spatial scales (just somewhat smaller than the size of the visible Universe. However, we are not (yet ready to make the tests realistic, because of lack of a self-consistent theoretical description of the presently favorite cosmological models to be valid right after inflation.
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Mortgage loans: an analysis of the portfolios of the largest banks in Brazil
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Bruno Vinícius Ramos Fernandes
2013-05-01
Full Text Available Given the current macroeconomic environment experienced in Brazil, where inflation has stabilized and the basic interest rate of the economy is in one of their historical lows, demand for mortgages is increasing. In this context, the mortgage is presented with great emphasis to meet the demand for purchasing housing in addition to being a catalyst for the reduction of the high housing deficit. From a descriptive and empirical-analytic was analyzed the mortgage loan portfolio of the largest banks of the country between the years 2001 and 2010 through Quarterly Financial Information (IFT available on the Central Bank website. It was settled a comparative relationship between the data in order to check the development of mortgage portfolios over the years and the factors that influenced this evolution, and evaluate the timeliness and quality of those loans. For the evolution of the portfolio there was an economic context in which Brazil was included in the period, and observed that for most of these operations are long term the banks are more exposed to market risk. With regard to credit risk parse that, over the years, Brazilian banks are presenting a mortgage loan portfolio with lower risk, and it is found that institutions with real estate credits with higher levels of portfolio risk are subject to have higher losses on such operations in the possibility of default.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Tani, Takashi; Nakanishi, Yuji; Horita, Tsuyoshi; Kawase, Chiharu; Oyabu, Isao; Kishimoto, Takeshi.
1996-01-01
Mitsubishi Electric has delivered the world's largest DC generator for the toroidal field coil power supply of the JFT-2M Tokamak at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The unit rotates at 225 or 460 rpm, providing a maximum rated output of 2,700 V, 19,000 A and 51.3 MW. The toroidal field is a DC field, so use of a DC generator permits a simpler design consuming less floor space than an AC drive system. The generator was manufactured following extensive studies on commutation, mechanical strength and insulation. (author)
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Benchmarking 2010: Trends in Education Philanthropy
Bearman, Jessica
2010-01-01
"Benchmarking 2010" offers insights into the current priorities, practices and concerns of education grantmakers. The report is divided into five sections: (1) Mapping the Education Grantmaking Landscape; (2) 2010 Funding Priorities; (3) Strategies for Leveraging Greater Impact; (4) Identifying Significant Trends in Education Funding; and (5)…
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Benchmarking 2011: Trends in Education Philanthropy
Grantmakers for Education, 2011
2011-01-01
The analysis in "Benchmarking 2011" is based on data from an unduplicated sample of 184 education grantmaking organizations--approximately two-thirds of Grantmakers for Education's (GFE's) network of grantmakers--who responded to an online survey consisting of fixed-choice and open-ended questions. Because a different subset of funders elects to…
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Euphemisms and Hypocrisy in Corporate Philanthropy
DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
la Cour, Anders; Kromann, Joakim
2011-01-01
philanthropic while remaining economically responsible. In this situation, some researchers have argued, corporations run the risk of being caught out as hypocrites. Through an analysis of the corporate social responsibility reports of the biggest multinational corporations, this article shows how the risk...... of hypocrisy is managed communicatively through the use of euphemisms. The article argues that the use of euphemisms makes it possible to communicate both economically and philanthropically without manifest contradictions. Euphemisms, however, are also risky in their own right....
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Philanthropy and Education: Strategies for Impact
Anheier, Helmut K.; Thumler, Ekkehard; Bögelein, Nicole; Beller , Annelie
2014-01-01
The reform of public schools is high on the public agenda in Europe as well as North America. Philanthropic foundations play an increasingly important role in attempts to enhance the performance of the system. However, the degree to which their ambitious aspirations are actually realized is often very low. This book addresses the question of how philanthropic actors can make a more effective, beneficial and responsible contribution to the field of public education. It develops an innovative m...
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Hall, Ed K; Schoolmaster, Donald; Amado, A.M; Stets, Edward G.; Lennon, J.T.; Domaine, L.; Cotner, J.B.
2016-01-01
To address how various environmental parameters control or constrain planktonic respiration (PR), we used geometric scaling relationships and established biological scaling laws to derive quantitative predictions for the relationships among key drivers of PR. We then used empirical measurements of PR and environmental (soluble reactive phosphate [SRP], carbon [DOC], chlorophyll a [Chl-a)], and temperature) and landscape parameters (lake area [LA] and watershed area [WA]) from a set of 44 lakes that varied in size and trophic status to test our hypotheses. We found that landscape-level processes affected PR through direct effects on DOC and temperature and indirectly via SRP. In accordance with predictions made from known relationships and scaling laws, scale coefficients (the parameter that describes the shape of a relationship between 2 variables) were found to be negative and have an absolute value 1, others respiration from small pond catchments to the largest body of freshwater on the planet, Lake Superior, these findings should be applicable to controls of PR for the great majority of temperate aquatic ecosystems.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Xiaohong Wang
2011-01-01
Full Text Available The depth of the ocean is plentifully populated with a highly diverse fauna and flora, from where the Challenger expedition (1873–1876 treasured up a rich collection of vitreous sponges [Hexactinellida]. They have been described by Schulze and represent the phylogenetically oldest class of siliceous sponges [phylum Porifera]; they are eye-catching because of their distinct body plan, which relies on a filigree skeleton. It is constructed by an array of morphologically determined elements, the spicules. Later, during the German Deep Sea Expedition “Valdivia” (1898-1899, Schulze could describe the largest siliceous hexactinellid sponge on Earth, the up to 3 m high Monorhaphis chuni, which develops the equally largest bio-silica structures, the giant basal spicules (3 m × 10 mm. With such spicules as a model, basic knowledge on the morphology, formation, and development of the skeletal elements could be elaborated. Spicules are formed by a proteinaceous scaffold which mediates the formation of siliceous lamellae in which the proteins are encased. Up to eight hundred 5 to 10 μm thick lamellae can be concentrically arranged around an axial canal. The silica matrix is composed of almost pure silicon and oxygen, providing it with unusual optophysical properties that are superior to those of man-made waveguides. Experiments indicated that the spicules function in vivo as a nonocular photoreception system. In addition, the spicules have exceptional mechanical properties, combining mechanical stability with strength and stiffness. Like demosponges the hexactinellids synthesize their silica enzymatically, via the enzyme silicatein. All these basic insights will surely contribute also to a further applied utilization and exploration of bio-silica in material/medical science.
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Wang, Xiaohong; Gan, Lu; Jochum, Klaus P; Schröder, Heinz C; Müller, Werner E G
2011-01-01
The depth of the ocean is plentifully populated with a highly diverse fauna and flora, from where the Challenger expedition (1873-1876) treasured up a rich collection of vitreous sponges [Hexactinellida]. They have been described by Schulze and represent the phylogenetically oldest class of siliceous sponges [phylum Porifera]; they are eye-catching because of their distinct body plan, which relies on a filigree skeleton. It is constructed by an array of morphologically determined elements, the spicules. Later, during the German Deep Sea Expedition "Valdivia" (1898-1899), Schulze could describe the largest siliceous hexactinellid sponge on Earth, the up to 3 m high Monorhaphis chuni, which develops the equally largest bio-silica structures, the giant basal spicules (3 m × 10 mm). With such spicules as a model, basic knowledge on the morphology, formation, and development of the skeletal elements could be elaborated. Spicules are formed by a proteinaceous scaffold which mediates the formation of siliceous lamellae in which the proteins are encased. Up to eight hundred 5 to 10 μm thick lamellae can be concentrically arranged around an axial canal. The silica matrix is composed of almost pure silicon and oxygen, providing it with unusual optophysical properties that are superior to those of man-made waveguides. Experiments indicated that the spicules function in vivo as a nonocular photoreception system. In addition, the spicules have exceptional mechanical properties, combining mechanical stability with strength and stiffness. Like demosponges the hexactinellids synthesize their silica enzymatically, via the enzyme silicatein. All these basic insights will surely contribute also to a further applied utilization and exploration of bio-silica in material/medical science.
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Teachers for the Global Age: A Call to Action for Funders
Devlin-Foltz, Betsy
2010-01-01
This postscript commentary challenges private and public funders to take action in support of the internationalization of teacher preparation programs by funding efforts for much needed resources, in order to prepare twenty-first-century teachers to teach with global perspectives. Specific ideas for foundations, corporate philanthropy, and…
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Altruism, warm glow, and charitable giving: Three experiments
Bekkers, R.H.F.P.; Ottoni-Wilhelm, M.; Verkaik, D.J.
2015-01-01
One of the key questions in the science of philanthropy is to what extent donations to charity are motivated by altruism – concern for public benefits, including the well-being of recipients – and warm glow – concerns for private benefits, including emotional gratification. To disentangle altruism
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DEFF Research Database (Denmark)
Richey, Lisa Ann; Ponte, Stefano
A critical account of the rise of celebrity-driven “compassionate consumption” Cofounded by the rock star Bono in 2006, Product RED exemplifies a new trend in celebrity-driven international aid and development, one explicitly linked to commerce, not philanthropy. Brand Aid offers a deeply informed...
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Exploring gender differences in charitable giving : The Dutch Case
De Wit, Arjen; Bekkers, René
2016-01-01
Women’s philanthropy has drawn much attention during recent years, mostly in studies from the United States or the United Kingdom. Relevant issues are to what extent gender differences in charitable giving exist in another national context and how these differences can be explained. In this study,
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Why do national NGOs go where they go? The case of Yemen
Elayah, M.A.A.; Schulpen, L.W.M.
2016-01-01
This paper presented at 5th Annual Conference on Arab Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, which begins with a brief overview of the Yemeni context focusing particularly on political change and the political/administrative structure of the country. This is followed by an overview of LNGOs (and partly
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Сharitable activities of Alexander Andreevich Zhelobovskiy
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Zhukova Lekkha
2014-08-01
Full Text Available The article is devoted to charitable works of Alexander Andreevich Zhelobovskiy, and his participation in various charitable General communities. He was the first Russian protopresbyter of the military clergy and did much to shape the staff of experienced and knowledgeable priests who actively worked not only to ensure religious worship in the army, but also for the Patriotic upbringing of soldiers. In these purposes and based on personal beliefs, Zhelobovskiy set up several scholarships for talented students studying in the Theological Academies. In addition, Zhelobovskiy made a great contribution to provision of pensions little-haves elderly priests, as well as to their widows and orphans. To help the poor, by Zhelobovskiy’s own money was built candle factory, profit from which amounted to “orphan’s capital”. The scope of the paper includes the activities of the first Russian protopresbyter of the military clergy on the planting and construction of military and regimental churches in various cities. Until 1901 military churches were required to actively participate in the search of philanthropists. One of the themes of this article is the charity organization and own philanthropy activities Zhelobovskiy during the Russo-Japanese war. Special attention is paid to the contribution of Zhelobovskiy in the case of charity on his «small Motherland». Where Zhelobovskiy not only built the temple, but also established the hospice and also did much to Belozersky spiritual school.
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Building Energy-Efficiency Best Practice Policies and Policy Packages
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Levine, Mark [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); de la Rue de Can, Stephane [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Zheng, Nina [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Williams, Christopher [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Amann, Jennifer Thorne [American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Washington, D.C. (United States); Staniaszek, Dan [Sustainability Consulting Ltd., London (United Kingdom)
2012-10-26
This report addresses the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the greatest opportunity to reduce these emissions. The IPCC 4th Assessment Report estimates that globally 35% to 40% of all energy-related CO2 emissions (relative to a growing baseline) result from energy use in buildings. Emissions reductions from a combination of energy efficiency and conservation (using less energy) in buildings have the potential to cut emissions as much as all other energy-using sectors combined. This is especially the case for China, India and other developing countries that are expected to account for 80% or more of growth in building energy use worldwide over the coming decades. In short, buildings constitute the largest opportunity to mitigate climate change and special attention needs to be devoted to developing countries.
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Philanthro-metrics: Mining multi-million-dollar gifts.
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Una O Osili
Full Text Available The Million Dollar List (MDL, online at http://www.milliondollarlist.org is a compilation of publicly announced charitable donations of $1 million or more from across the United States since 2000; as of December 2016, the database contains close to 80,000 gifts made by U.S. individuals, corporations, foundations, and other grant-making nonprofit organizations. This paper discusses the unique value of the Million Dollar List and provides unique insights to key questions such as: How does distance affect giving? How do networks impact million-dollar-plus gifts? Understanding the geospatial and temporal dimensions of philanthropy can assist researchers and policymakers to better understand the role of private funding in innovation and discovery. Moreover, the results from the paper emphasize the importance of philanthropy for fueling research and development in science, the arts, environment, and health. The paper also includes the limitations of the presented analyses and promising future work.
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Philanthropic dilemmas and the nurse administrator role.
Klein, Tracy
2014-01-01
Nurse administrators are in a position to encounter ethical dilemmas when evaluating philanthropic proposals. Nurses may have little formal training in ethics, or they may be most experienced with ethical frameworks that apply primarily to clinical patient encounters. Gifts of goods, services, education, or other benefits to nurses may create ethical dilemmas. Philanthropic ethics and potential dilemmas are discussed in nonnursing professions such as medicine and nonprofit administration but rarely explored in the nursing administration context. Nurse administrators in a position to evaluate generous offers of philanthropy should identify key components to fully assess the ethics of their receipt. A survey of several resources is done to provide nurse administrators with the foundation to develop policies related to philanthropy if they are absent, preferably in advance of the offer. Recommendations for assessment and evaluation of philanthropic proposals are provided to aid nurse administrators in their synthesis and application of ethical principles from multiple sources.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
2008-01-01
China becomes the largest emitter along with the United States. Contents: 1990-2007 evolution (key figures of Yearly average evolutions); Global CO_2-energy emissions in 2007: 27,3 GtCO_2; Global CO_2-energy emissions have increased by 3,2% in 2007, largely driven by China. Since 1990, China has more than doubled its CO_2-energy emissions, to reach the same emission level as the USA in 2007. Two very contrasting tendencies appear since 1990: stabilization of emissions in Annex B countries, boom in China and India. Since 1990, more than half of CO_2-energy emissions growth is (logically) due to coal. (authors)
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Sydnor, George H.; Bhatia, Ram; Krattiger, Hansueli; Mylius, Justus; Schafer, D.
2012-01-01
In September 1995, a project was initiated to replace the existing drive line at NASA's most unique transonic wind tunnel, the National Transonic Facility (NTF), with a single 101 MW synchronous motor driven by a Load Commutated Inverter (LCI). This Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) system also included a custom four-winding transformer, harmonic filter, exciter, switch gear, control system, and feeder cable. The complete system requirements and design details have previously been presented and published [1], as well as the commissioning and acceptance test results [2]. The NTF was returned to service in December 1997 with the new drive system powering the fan. Today, this installation still represents the world s largest horizontal single motor/drive combination. This paper describes some significant events that occurred with the drive system during the first 15 years of service. These noteworthy issues are analyzed and root causes presented. Improvements that have substantially increased the long term viability of the system are given.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Riva, Consuelo; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo
2008-01-01
Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Riva, Consuelo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)], E-mail: consuelo.riva@unimi.it; Binelli, Andrea; Provini, Alfredo [Department of Biology, Ecology Section, University of Milan, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milan (Italy)
2008-02-15
Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has been used for the biomonitoring of several POPs (PCBs, DDTs, HCB and HCHs) in the largest Italian subalpine great lakes (Lake Maggiore, Garda, Como, Iseo and Lugano). Samplings were carried out in April 2003 at 15 locations selected according to industrial and anthropic levels of lakes. Results have pointed out high DDT levels in D. polymorpha specimens from Lake Maggiore (700-1400 ng/g lipids, 5-9 times higher than those measured in mussels of other Italian lakes), due to a contamination from a chemical plant located on one of the main lake inlet that occurred in 1996. On the contrary, PCB levels (400-2509 ng/g lipids) highlighted an overall pollution, with some sporadic peaks of contamination. Data showed a moderate increase trend compared to those found in a previous monitoring campaign carried out in 1996. Future monitoring is needed in order to confirm this tendency. - Significant levels of DDTs and PCBs are still present in the Italian subalpine great lakes.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Ng, Francesca; Kozarski, Robert; Ganeshan, Balaji; Goh, Vicky
2013-01-01
Objective: To determine if there is a difference between contrast enhanced CT texture features from the largest cross-sectional area versus the whole tumor, and its effect on clinical outcome prediction. Methods: Entropy (E) and uniformity (U) were derived for different filter values (1.0–2.5: fine to coarse textures) for the largest primary tumor cross-sectional area and the whole tumor of the staging contrast enhanced CT in 55 patients with primary colorectal cancer. Parameters were compared using non-parametric Wilcoxon test. Kaplan–Meier analysis was performed to determine the relationship between CT texture and 5-year overall survival. Results: E was higher and U lower for the whole tumor indicating greater heterogeneity at all filter levels (1.0–2.5): median (range) for E and U for whole tumor versus largest cross-sectional area of 7.89 (7.43–8.31) versus 7.62 (6.94–8.08) and 0.005 (0.004–0.01) versus 0.006 (0.005–0.01) for filter 1.0; 7.88 (7.22–8.48) versus 7.54 (6.86–8.1) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.007 (0.004–0.01) for filter 1.5; 7.88 (7.17–8.54) versus 7.48 (5.84–8.25) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.007 (0.004–0.02) for filter 2.0; and 7.83 (7.03–8.57) versus 7.42 (5.19–8.26) and 0.005 (0.003–0.01) versus 0.006 (0.004–0.03) for filter 2.5 respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated better separation of E and U for whole tumor analysis for 5-year overall survival. Conclusion: Whole tumor analysis appears more representative of tumor heterogeneity
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Nature Appropriation and Associations with Population Health in Canada’s Largest Cities
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Timothy Jason
2013-03-01
Full Text Available Earth is a finite system with a limited supply of resources. As the human population grows, so does the appropriation of Earth’s natural capital, thereby exacerbating environmental concerns such as biodiversity loss, increased pollution, deforestation and global warming. Such concerns will negatively impact human health although it is widely believed that improving socio-economic circumstances will help to ameliorate environmental impacts and improve health outcomes. However, this belief does not explicitly acknowledge the fact that improvements in socio-economic position are reliant on increased inputs from nature. Gains in population health, particularly through economic means, are disconnected from the appropriation of nature to create wealth so that health gains become unsustainable. The current study investigated the sustainability of human population health in Canada with regard to resource consumption or “ecological footprints” (i.e., the resources required to sustain a given population. Ecological footprints of the 20 largest Canadian cities, along with several important determinants of health such as income and education, were statistically compared with corresponding indicators of human population health outcomes. A significant positive relationship was found between ecological footprints and life expectancy, as well as a significant negative relationship between ecological footprints and the prevalence of high blood pressure. Results suggest that increased appropriation of nature is linked to improved health outcomes. To prevent environmental degradation from excessive appropriation of natural resources will require the development of health promotion strategies that are de-coupled from ever-increasing and unsustainable resource use. Efforts to promote population health should focus on health benefits achieved from a lifestyle based on significantly reduced consumption of natural resources.
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Lessons Learned in Deploying the World s Largest Scale Lustre File System
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Dillow, David A [ORNL; Fuller, Douglas [ORNL; Wang, Feiyi [ORNL; Oral, H Sarp [ORNL; Zhang, Zhe [ORNL; Hill, Jason J [ORNL; Shipman, Galen M [ORNL
2010-01-01
The Spider system at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) is the world's largest scale Lustre parallel file system. Envisioned as a shared parallel file system capable of delivering both the bandwidth and capacity requirements of the OLCF's diverse computational environment, the project had a number of ambitious goals. To support the workloads of the OLCF's diverse computational platforms, the aggregate performance and storage capacity of Spider exceed that of our previously deployed systems by a factor of 6x - 240 GB/sec, and 17x - 10 Petabytes, respectively. Furthermore, Spider supports over 26,000 clients concurrently accessing the file system, which exceeds our previously deployed systems by nearly 4x. In addition to these scalability challenges, moving to a center-wide shared file system required dramatically improved resiliency and fault-tolerance mechanisms. This paper details our efforts in designing, deploying, and operating Spider. Through a phased approach of research and development, prototyping, deployment, and transition to operations, this work has resulted in a number of insights into large-scale parallel file system architectures, from both the design and the operational perspectives. We present in this paper our solutions to issues such as network congestion, performance baselining and evaluation, file system journaling overheads, and high availability in a system with tens of thousands of components. We also discuss areas of continued challenges, such as stressed metadata performance and the need for file system quality of service alongside with our efforts to address them. Finally, operational aspects of managing a system of this scale are discussed along with real-world data and observations.
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DISCOVERY OF THE LARGEST KNOWN LENSED IMAGES FORMED BY A CRITICALLY CONVERGENT LENSING CLUSTER
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Zitrin, Adi; Broadhurst, Tom
2009-01-01
We identify the largest known lensed images of a single spiral galaxy, lying close to the center of the distant cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 (z = 0.544). These images cover a total area of ≅150 mbox '' and are magnified ≅200 times. Unusually, there is very little image distortion, implying that the central mass distribution is almost uniform over a wide area (r ≅ 200 kpc) with a surface density equal to the critical density for lensing, corresponding to maximal lens magnification. Many fainter multiply lensed galaxies are also uncovered by our model, outlining a very large tangential critical curve, of radius r ≅ 170 kpc, posing a potential challenge for the standard LCDM cosmology. Because of the uniform central mass distribution, a particularly clean measurement of the mass of the brightest cluster galaxy is possible here, for which we infer stars contribute most of the mass within a limiting radius of ≅30 kpc, with a mass-to-light ratio of M/L B ≅ 4.5(M/L) sun . This cluster with its uniform and central mass distribution acts analogously to a regular magnifying glass, converging light without distorting the images, resulting in the most powerful lens yet discovered for accessing the faint high-z universe.
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HOT Faults", Fault Organization, and the Occurrence of the Largest Earthquakes
Carlson, J. M.; Hillers, G.; Archuleta, R. J.
2006-12-01
We apply the concept of "Highly Optimized Tolerance" (HOT) for the investigation of spatio-temporal seismicity evolution, in particular mechanisms associated with largest earthquakes. HOT provides a framework for investigating both qualitative and quantitative features of complex feedback systems that are far from equilibrium and punctuated by rare, catastrophic events. In HOT, robustness trade-offs lead to complexity and power laws in systems that are coupled to evolving environments. HOT was originally inspired by biology and engineering, where systems are internally very highly structured, through biological evolution or deliberate design, and perform in an optimum manner despite fluctuations in their surroundings. Though faults and fault systems are not designed in ways comparable to biological and engineered structures, feedback processes are responsible in a conceptually comparable way for the development, evolution and maintenance of younger fault structures and primary slip surfaces of mature faults, respectively. Hence, in geophysical applications the "optimization" approach is perhaps more aptly replaced by "organization", reflecting the distinction between HOT and random, disorganized configurations, and highlighting the importance of structured interdependencies that evolve via feedback among and between different spatial and temporal scales. Expressed in the terminology of the HOT concept, mature faults represent a configuration optimally organized for the release of strain energy; whereas immature, more heterogeneous fault networks represent intermittent, suboptimal systems that are regularized towards structural simplicity and the ability to generate large earthquakes more easily. We discuss fault structure and associated seismic response pattern within the HOT concept, and outline fundamental differences between this novel interpretation to more orthodox viewpoints like the criticality concept. The discussion is flanked by numerical simulations of a
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International Remittances, Poverty and Inequality : a Case Study of ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
1 oct. 2010 ... The idea is to obtain a better understanding of the effect of remittances and diasporic philanthropy on poverty and income inequality; to inform policy by discussing the findings with policymakers, civil society organizations and other stakeholders; and to build capacity for migration research in the region.
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Cognition 2035: Surviving a Complex Environment Through Unprecedented Intelligence
2009-02-12
challenge yet, competing with her generation’s elite in her fancy new law school. 14 … How does she explain what the enhanced kids are like...super goal” of philanthropy into the core logic of the artificial intelligence.48 Lower magnitude, non- existential threats to safety are more likely
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Leading Through Civilian Power: The First Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review
2010-01-01
to a shop owner in Kenya who can accept payments using a mobile phone. We see an American resurgence in philanthropy and in corpo- rate interest...responsibility by elites , or simply grinding pov- erty and the absence of any tradition of functioning government. States and peoples compete for scarce
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Abeywardena, Ishan Sudeera; Tham, Choy Yoong; Raviraja, S.
2012-01-01
Open educational resources (OER) are a global phenomenon that is fast gaining credibility in many academic circles as a possible solution for bridging the knowledge divide. With increased funding and advocacy from governmental and nongovernmental organisations paired with generous philanthropy, many OER repositories, which host a vast array of…
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Search Results | Page 99 | IDRC - International Development ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Results 981 - 990 of 1804 ... Gender 422 Apply Gender filter · POLICY MAKING 267 Apply POLICY MAKING filter ... This collaborative project will examine the role the Integrated ... under Climate Change in Small Island States of the Caribbean ... Philanthropy in Singapore has traditionally had a charitable and local orientation.
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Examen de l'utilisation et de la qualité du système de production de ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Toshiba
de RFPd sur les plans du processus, de la production des rapports et de leur utilisation. ...... difficulté à utiliser l'outil servant à la préparation du RFPd. .... De plus, c'est l'un des rares instruments utilisés dans le secteur de la philanthropie dont.
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The Broad Challenge to Democratic Leadership: The Other Crisis in Education
Miller, Vachel W.
2012-01-01
This article interrogates the workings of the Broad Superintendents Academy, as a specific illustration of the influence of venture philanthropy in American public education. It introduces the Broad Foundation's agenda for educational leadership training, foregrounding how it frames the problem of leadership and the implications of such training…
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77 FR 6122 - Meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
2012-02-07
... and AIDS, public health, global health, philanthropy, marketing or business, as well as other national... will need your full name, social security number, date of birth, country of origin, gender, and city... business Tuesday, February 21, 2012. Members of the public will have the opportunity to provide comments at...
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Chronic Early Absence: What States Can Do
Chang, Hedy N.; Russell-Tucker, Charlene M.; Sullivan, Kari
2016-01-01
When troubling attendance data in New Britain, Conn., caught district leaders by surprise, they reconsidered their focus on truancy in the older grades and turned their attention on their elementary schools. With support from local philanthropy and assistance from Attendance Works, the district significantly reduced the incidence of chronic…
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In Praise of George Peabody, 1795-1869.
Parker, Franklin
1994-01-01
One of several papers on self-made millionaire and educational philanthropist George Peabody defends Peabody's philanthropy against those who criticized him as miserly, highlighting his establishment of colleges, libraries, museums, hospitals, and other charities. The paper details his life, work, politics, and death, describing the causes that he…
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Seminar on the Professions and Public Life (Washington, DC, June 1998).
London, Scott
This seminar brought together professionals from three fields--higher education, philanthropy and journalism. Discussed at the seminar was the role that these professions play in public life. It was noted that there is increasing dismay over the public's declining trust in America's institutions. Professional reform efforts to remedy this…
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Global Citizenship Incorporated: Competing Responsibilities in the Education of Global Citizens
Hartung, Catherine
2017-01-01
Interest in the education of young people to be 'responsible global citizens' has grown exponentially since the turn of the century, led by increasingly diverse networks of sectors, including government, community, business and philanthropy. These networks now have a significant influence on education policy and practice, indicative of wider…
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Kolesnikov Sergey Anatol’evich
2015-01-01
Full Text Available This article presents some results of the author’s dissertation research dedicated to formation of an architectural typology of high urbanized multifunctional units of urban structure of the largest cities (further HUMUUS as centers of social activity, which include buildings, constructions, transportation equipment and open spaces, where human flows transpose, start and end with the purpose of bringing into this space a concentrated maximum of goods, services and information with minimum time expenditures. This article draws attention to the development analysis of the structure-forming functions of HUMUUS and their town planning and environmental impact on the surrounding area. The study of planning structures of the largest Russian cities (Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod made it possible to identify a number of main objects, in which structure-forming functions of HUMUUS are materialized: railroad complex (historically formed, developed, dominated, system-wide road junction, transport interchange hub (providing intraurban messages, public office and business centers, leisure and entertainment centers, shopping centers. Basing on researches of Russian and foreign experience, it is possible to predict with full confidence the following trends and streams of environmental and urban development of HUMUUS in the near-term perspective: Strengthening of the environmental and urban frame by network evolution of HUMUUS; Inclusion of green areas of HUMUUS in the system of citywide green areas; Increment of the interest of the investors to the public road junction for the purpose of reorganization of them to full HUMUUS with all characteristics of high-urbanized and environmental and urban reorganization (separation of traffic and pedestrian flows, maximum capacity, multiple-level system, multifunctional, increase in landscaped green space, reconstruction of engineering systems and communications, the use of modern ecological building designs and
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Nii A. Addy
2018-03-01
Full Text Available Sustainable solutions for complex societal problems, like poverty, require informing stakeholders about progress and changes needed as they collaborate. Yet, inter-organizational collaboration researchers highlight monumental challenges in measuring seemingly intangible factors during collective impact processes. We grapple with the question: How can decision-makers coherently conceptualize and measure seemingly intangible factors to sustain partnerships for the emergence of collective impact? We conducted an inductive process case study to address this question, analyzing data from documents, observations, and interviews of 24 philanthropy leaders and multiple stakeholders in a decades-long partnership involving Canada’s largest private family foundation, government and community networks, and during which a “collective impact project” emerged in Quebec Province, Canada. The multidimensional proximity framework provided an analytical lens. During the first phase of the partnership studied, there was a lack of baseline measurement of largely qualitative factors—conceptualized as cognitive, social, and institutional proximity between stakeholders—which evaluations suggested were important for explaining which community networks successfully brought about desired outcomes. Non-measurement of these factors was a problem in providing evidence for sustained engagement of stakeholders, such as government and local businesses. We develop a multidimensional proximity model that coherently conceptualizes qualitative proximity factors, for measuring their change over time.
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GIS learning tool for world's largest earthquakes and their causes
Chatterjee, Moumita
The objective of this thesis is to increase awareness about earthquakes among people, especially young students by showing the five largest and two most predictable earthquake locations in the world and their plate tectonic settings. This is a geographic based interactive tool which could be used for learning about the cause of great earthquakes in the past and the safest places on the earth in order to avoid direct effect of earthquakes. This approach provides an effective way of learning for the students as it is very user friendly and more aligned to the interests of the younger generation. In this tool the user can click on the various points located on the world map which will open a picture and link to the webpage for that point, showing detailed information of the earthquake history of that place including magnitude of quake, year of past quakes and the plate tectonic settings that made this place earthquake prone. Apart from knowing the earthquake related information students will also be able to customize the tool to suit their needs or interests. Students will be able to add/remove layers, measure distance between any two points on the map, select any place on the map and know more information for that place, create a layer from this set to do a detail analysis, run a query, change display settings, etc. At the end of this tool the user has to go through the earthquake safely guidelines in order to be safe during an earthquake. This tool uses Java as programming language and uses Map Objects Java Edition (MOJO) provided by ESRI. This tool is developed for educational purpose and hence its interface has been kept simple and easy to use so that students can gain maximum knowledge through it instead of having a hard time to install it. There are lots of details to explore which can help more about what a GIS based tool is capable of. Only thing needed to run this tool is latest JAVA edition installed in their machine. This approach makes study more fun and
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Matsumura, Emilyn E.; Nerva, Luca; Nigg, Jared C.; Falk, Bryce W.; Nouri, Shahideh
2016-01-01
A novel flavi-like virus tentatively named Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus (DcFLV) was identified in field populations of Diaphorina citri through small RNA and transcriptome sequencing followed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. We report here the complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of DcFLV, the largest flavi-like virus identified to date.
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Hydrodynamic and Inundation Modeling of China’s Largest Freshwater Lake Aided by Remote Sensing Data
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Peng Zhang
2015-04-01
Full Text Available China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake, is characterized by rapid changes in its inundation area and hydrodynamics, so in this study, a hydrodynamic model of Poyang Lake was established to simulate these long-term changes. Inundation information was extracted from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS remote sensing data and used to calibrate the wetting and drying parameter by assessing the accuracy of the simulated inundation area and its boundary. The bottom friction parameter was calibrated using current velocity measurements from Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP. The results show the model is capable of predicting the inundation area dynamic through cross-validation with remotely sensed inundation data, and can reproduce the seasonal dynamics of the water level, and water discharge through a comparison with hydrological data. Based on the model results, the characteristics of the current velocities of the lake in the wet season and the dry season of the lake were explored, and the potential effect of the current dynamic on water quality patterns was discussed. The model is a promising basic tool for prediction and management of the water resource and water quality of Poyang Lake.
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International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Very, F.; Rosenkrantz, E.; Combette, P.; Ferrandis, J.Y.; Fourmentel, D.; Destouches, C.; Villard, J.F.
2015-01-01
The development of advanced instrumentation for in-pile experiments in Material Testing Reactor constitutes a main goal for the improvement of the nuclear fuel behavior knowledge. An acoustic method for fission gas release detection was tested with success during a first experiment called REMORA 3 in 2010 and 2011, and the results were used to differentiate helium and fission gas release kinetics under transient operating conditions. This experiment was lead at OSIRIS reactor (CEA Saclay, France). The maximal temperature on the sensor during the irradiation was about 150 deg. C. In this paper we present a thick film transducer produce by screen printing process. The screen printing of piezoelectric offers a wide range of possible applications for the development of acoustic sensors and piezoelectric structure for measurements in high temperature environment. We firstly produced a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) based paste composed of Pz27 powder from Ferroperm, CF7575 glass, and organic solvent ESL 400. Likewise a Bismuth Titanate based paste synthesized in our laboratory was produced. With these inks we produced thick film up to 130 μm by screen printing process. Material properties characterizations of these thick-film resonators are essential for device design and applications. The piezoelectric coefficients d33 and pyro-electric P(T) coefficient are investigated. The highest P(T) and d33 are respectively 80 μC.m -2 .K -1 and 130 μC.N -1 for the PZT transducer -which validates the fabrication process-. In view of the development of this transducer oriented for high temperature and irradiation environment, we investigated the electrical properties of the transducers for different ranges of frequencies and temperature - from 20 Hz up to 40 MHz between 30 and 400 deg. C. We highlight the evolution of the impedance response and piezoelectric parameters of screen printed piezoelectric structures on alumina. Shortly an irradiation will be realized in order to investigate their reliability towards neutron fluence. (authors)
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Very, F.; Rosenkrantz, E.; Combette, P.; Ferrandis, J.Y. [University Montpellier, IES, UMR 5214, F-34000, Montpellier (France); CNRS, IES, UMR 5214, F-34000, Montpellier (France); Fourmentel, D.; Destouches, C.; Villard, J.F. [CEA, DEN, Instrumentation Sensors and Dosimetry Laboratory, Cadarache, F-13108 St Paul lez Durance (France)
2015-07-01
The development of advanced instrumentation for in-pile experiments in Material Testing Reactor constitutes a main goal for the improvement of the nuclear fuel behavior knowledge. An acoustic method for fission gas release detection was tested with success during a first experiment called REMORA 3 in 2010 and 2011, and the results were used to differentiate helium and fission gas release kinetics under transient operating conditions. This experiment was lead at OSIRIS reactor (CEA Saclay, France). The maximal temperature on the sensor during the irradiation was about 150 deg. C. In this paper we present a thick film transducer produce by screen printing process. The screen printing of piezoelectric offers a wide range of possible applications for the development of acoustic sensors and piezoelectric structure for measurements in high temperature environment. We firstly produced a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) based paste composed of Pz27 powder from Ferroperm, CF7575 glass, and organic solvent ESL 400. Likewise a Bismuth Titanate based paste synthesized in our laboratory was produced. With these inks we produced thick film up to 130 μm by screen printing process. Material properties characterizations of these thick-film resonators are essential for device design and applications. The piezoelectric coefficients d33 and pyro-electric P(T) coefficient are investigated. The highest P(T) and d33 are respectively 80 μC.m{sup -2}.K{sup -1} and 130 μC.N{sup -1} for the PZT transducer -which validates the fabrication process-. In view of the development of this transducer oriented for high temperature and irradiation environment, we investigated the electrical properties of the transducers for different ranges of frequencies and temperature - from 20 Hz up to 40 MHz between 30 and 400 deg. C. We highlight the evolution of the impedance response and piezoelectric parameters of screen printed piezoelectric structures on alumina. Shortly an irradiation will be realized in order to investigate their reliability towards neutron fluence. (authors)
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Philanthropic behaviour and motives
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Vladimír Hyánek
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Even though philanthropy tends to be considered a sociological theme rather than an economic one, it poses a number of questions that challenge economists as well. We chose to address the following: How can economists contribute to the theories related to philanthropy? We examine some terms that are used in public economics theory and use them to explore the issues of philanthropy like Samaritan’s Dilemma, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and the Free-Rider Problem, which we consider to be interesting and inspiring (Stone, 2008. We have to find and identify the social values of donors and volunteers rather than their economic values, because economists are not fully able to explain empathy, altruism, and helpful behaviour using traditional economic principles (Rutherford, 2008. The theoretical frame is supported by relevant empirical data. Before starting a large-scale survey, we decided to conduct smaller pre-research probes into people’s attitudes towards altruism, philanthropy, and giving. Even though our sample was not fully representative, the responses that we collected generated interesting findings about people’s views and attitudes. The first wave of data was collected between February and April 2009; the second wave between February and April 2010.Because of this pilot research mission and because of the budget restriction too, the non-representative sample of 823 respondents has been used; students of our Public Economics study programme were used as interviewers. They have also obtained a proper training of the professional sociologist. Students utilized the face to face interviewing method; non-standardized questions were immediately recorded into the reply form. Questions were divided into three groups with typical characteristics. The first one focuses on personal (individual motives for financial donating (only financial gifts for non-profit organizations. Second part examines the attitudes of individual towards the non
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Niazi, Sadegh; Hassanvand, Mohammad Sadegh; Mahvi, Amir Hossein; Nabizadeh, Ramin; Alimohammadi, Mahmood; Nabavi, Samira; Faridi, Sasan; Dehghani, Asghar; Hoseini, Mohammad; Moradi-Joo, Mohammad; Mokamel, Adel; Kashani, Homa; Yarali, Navid; Yunesian, Masud
2015-10-01
Bioaerosol concentration was measured in wastewater treatment units in south of Tehran, the largest wastewater treatment plant in the Middle East. Active sampling was carried out around four operational units and a point as background. The results showed that the aeration tank with an average of 1016 CFU/m(3) in winter and 1973 CFU/m(3) in summer had the greatest effect on emission of bacterial bioaerosols. In addition, primary treatment had the highest impact on fungal emission. Among the bacteria, Micrococcus spp. showed the widest emission in the winter, and Bacillus spp. was dominant in summer. Furthermore, fungi such as Penicillium spp. and Cladosporium spp. were the dominant types in the seasons. Overall, significant relationship was observed between meteorological parameters and the concentration of bacterial and fungal aerosols.
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Recent Developments in the Information Technology Sector in North Korea: An NGO Perspective
2005-08-01
primarily in DPRK and other countries in Asia such as Myanmar, Vietnam, and China. He also works in the area of philanthropy , representing some family...hands, and not to the military and the privileged elite . The second problem is that while these humanitarian supplies do help, they also reinforce the
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Extended Deterrence and Arms Control: A Collection of Conference Papers
1988-05-01
differences between governments and opposi- tion parties and between elite opinion and mass public opinion. In both the Federal Republic of Germany and...firms rarely practice philanthropy , but instead drive very hard bargains indeed. Margaret Thatcher’s hope to secure for the UK a whole slice of the SDI
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Garvey, Jason C.; Drezner, Noah D.
2013-01-01
Using a constructivist case-study analysis, we explore philanthropy toward higher education among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) alumni, examining the role of advancement staff and alumni advocates in engaging LGBTQ alumni to promote individual and community uplift. Data come from focus groups with 37 advancement staff and…
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Assessment of health-promoting behavior and lifestyle of adolescents of a North Indian city
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Sonika Raj
2013-01-01
Conclusions: The result of the study showed that North Indian students had reasonably good orientations toward health behaviors, with a mean score of 67.5. The topics related to diet, physical exercise, spiritual growth and philanthropy promotion should be incorporated within the curriculum of students for their all round personality development.
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Revealing Campus Nature: The Lessons of the Native Landscape for Campus Heritage Planning
Bruce, Jeffrey L.
2011-01-01
As American settlement spread to the Midwest, college and university campuses came to symbolize some of the greatest achievements of public policy and private philanthropy. However, the expansion westward often ignored the cultural precedents of Native Americans and the diversity of the varied native landscapes. Today, campus planners and historic…
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Antecedents of Philanthropic Behavior of Health Care Volunteers
Alias, Siti Noormi; Ismail, Maimunah
2015-01-01
Purpose: This paper aims to propose a conceptual model of philanthropic behavior of volunteers in the health care sector. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on an extensive review of past research on philanthropic behavior. To conduct the literature review, keywords such as philanthropy, philanthropic behavior, giving, donating,…
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Hammond, Russell E.
2012-01-01
The case study engaged selected stakeholders who explored their perceptions and understanding of why they made significant commitments of volunteerism and philanthropy to a capital campaign at one public community college, and the particular factors that influenced their decisions. A paucity of inquiries examines this topic from the volunteer or…
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Anderson, Albert
Intended for professionals and others in the field of philanthropy, this book applies ethics and ethical decision-making to fund raising. Its primary aim is to enhance the level of ethical fund raising throughout the nonprofit sector by equipping those involved with frameworks for understanding and taking principled actions and preventing…
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Imagining Powerful Co-Operative Schools: Theorising Dynamic Co-Operation with Spinoza
Dennis, Joanna
2018-01-01
The recent expansion of the English academies programme has initiated a period of significant change within the state education system. As established administration has been disrupted, new providers from business and philanthropy have entered the sector with a range of approaches to transform schools. This paper examines the development of…
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Substitution or Symbiosis? Assessing the Relationship between Religious and Secular Giving
Hill, Jonathan P.; Vaidyanathan, Brandon
2011-01-01
Research on philanthropy has not sufficiently examined whether charitable giving to religious causes impinges on giving to secular causes. Examining three waves of national panel data, we find that the relationship between religious and secular giving is generally not of a zero-sum nature; families that increase their religious giving also…
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Uniting Hispanic Film Studies with Civic Engagement: A Chance for Personal Transformation
Larson, Kajsa C.
2015-01-01
This current study presents a unique approach to the examination of Hispanic film through the incorporation of a civic engagement project, the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project (MSPP), into the curriculum. Students examined and assessed important global issues, and how they are portrayed in films from several Spanish-speaking countries, while…
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Jaiswara, Ranjana; Souza-Dias, Pedro G B; De Campos, Lucas Denadai; RedÜ, Darlan R; De Mello, Francisco de A G; Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure
2018-03-29
Titanogryllus, a new genus and three new species T. salgado n. gen. n. sp., T. oxossi n. gen. n. sp., and T. oxente n. gen. n. sp. from subfamily Gryllinae (Grylloidea, Gryllidae) are described from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This genus is characterized by its very large size, and establishes a new record for the largest known cricket from Neotropical Region. The new taxa are characterized by their external morphology and male and female genitalia.
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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Lee, Jang Hee; Kim, Dong Wook; Baek, Seung Hun [Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan (Korea, Republic of)
2012-03-15
This study assessed the adequacy and accuracy of ultrasonography (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration (US-FNA) of solid thyroid nodules, less than 5 mm in maximum diameter. From January to December 2009, US-FNA was performed for small solid thyroid nodules in 201 patients. Each thyroid nodule was classified into group A and B according to the largest diameter (1 mm {<=} group A < 3 mm and 3 mm {<=} group B < 5 mm). The adequacy and accuracy of US-FNA in two groups were compared using the histopathological results as a reference standard. Of the 227 thyroid nodules in 201 patients, the inadequacy of US-FNA in group A and B was 24.3% (18/74) and 13.1% (20/153), respectively, showing a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.0333, chi-square test). Eighty nodules were removed surgically in 72 patients, from which papillary thyroid carcinoma (n = 52), follicular thyroid carcinoma (n = 1), nodular hyperplasia (n = 26), and pseudonodule related to thyroiditis (n = 1) were confirmed. Based on the histopathological results of the 80 surgical nodules, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of US-FNA in group A and B were 55.0% and 79.4%, 81.8% and 100%, 84.6% and 100%, 50% and 68.2%, and 64.5% and 85.7%, respectively. The adequacy and accuracy of US-FNA for solid thyroid nodules, {>=} 3 mm in the largest diameter, were higher than those of US-FNA for very small nodules, < 3 mm in the largest diameter
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Stand Up for the Burrup: Saving the Largest Aboriginal Rock Art Precinct in Australia
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Jenny Gregory
2009-12-01
Full Text Available The Dampier Rock Art Precinct contains the largest and most ancient collection of Aboriginal rock art in Australia. The cultural landscape created by generations of Aboriginal people includes images of long-extinct fauna and demonstrates the response of peoples to a changing climate over thousands of years as well as the continuity of lived experience. Despite Australian national heritage listing in 2007, this cultural landscape continues to be threatened by industrial development. Rock art on the eastern side of the archipelago, on the Burrup Peninsula, was relocated following the discovery of adjacent off-shore gas reserves so that a major gas plant could be constructed. Work has now begun on the construction of a second major gas plant nearby. This article describes the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago and the troubled history of European-Aboriginal contact history, before examining the impact of industry on the region and its environment. The destruction of Aboriginal rock art to meet the needs of industry is an example of continuing indifference to Aboriginal culture. While the complex struggle to protect the cultural landscape of the Burrup, in particular, involving Indigenous people, archaeologists, historians, state and federal politicians, government bureaucrats and multi-national companies, eventually led to national heritage listing, it is not clear that the battle to save the Burrup has been won.
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A look at one of the world`s largest apron feeder drives - Alberta Oil Sands Project
Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)
Persson, O. [Hagglunds Drives Canada Inc., Vancouver, BC (Canada)
1999-10-01
Various types of equipment to transport tar sands to processing plants are discussed, with special attention to the advantages of hydraulic direct drives over conventional electro-mechanical drives. A hydraulic direct drive such as the Hagglund Drive has exceptional starting torque capacity due to the high torque capability of the hydraulic motor. As such, it can be particularly useful in applications where shock loads occur with some frequency, or where many starts and stops are needed. Application of the Hagglund drive to power one of the world`s largest apron feeders in the Alberta Oil Sands is described as an illustration of the exceptional reliability, productivity and performance of this equipment. It has about one five-hundredth of the inertia of an equivalent high speed drive with gear reducer, a feature which is particularly significant in the case of feeders which are known to suffer much downtime due to chain related problems. These types of drives have also been used to great advantage in the process industries like pulp and paper, chemical, rubber and plastics, recycling and steel. 1 tab., 1 fig.
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Largest global shark biomass found in the northern Galápagos Islands of Darwin and Wolf
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Pelayo Salinas de León
2016-05-01
Full Text Available Overfishing has dramatically depleted sharks and other large predatory fishes worldwide except for a few remote and/or well-protected areas. The islands of Darwin and Wolf in the far north of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR are known for their large shark abundance, making them a global scuba diving and conservation hotspot. Here we report quantitative estimates of fish abundance at Darwin and Wolf over two consecutive years using stereo-video surveys, which reveal the largest reef fish biomass ever reported (17.5 t ${\\mathrm{ha}}^{-1}$ ha − 1 on average, consisting largely of sharks. Despite this, the abundance of reef fishes around the GMR, such as groupers, has been severely reduced because of unsustainable fishing practices. Although Darwin and Wolf are within the GMR, they were not fully protected from fishing until March 2016. Given the ecological value and the economic importance of Darwin and Wolf for the dive tourism industry, the current protection should ensure the long-term conservation of this hotspot of unique global value.
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Setting-up a cost recovery system for the largest wastewater treatment plant in South-East Asia.
Lønholdt, J; Elberg Jørgensen, P; O'Hearn, D
2005-01-01
A tariff system has been set up for the largest wastewater treatment plant in South-East Asia, the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Treatment Plant south of Bangkok, which is currently under completion. Fully functional the plant will have a design capacity for 500,000 m3 per day and will service a combined residential and industrial area with approximately 600,000 residents and 2,300 factories. The tariff system, which includes a tariff model, is based on water consumption and BOD load. As background for setting the tariffs a comprehensive monitoring system including an industrial permitting system has been developed. The paper presents the background and rationale for setting up the system as well as the objective, scope and content of the tariff system and the industrial permit system. Further, the feasibility of introducing cost recovery systems, which is widely accepted in developing economies on the conceptual level and to some extent implemented at the legal and regulatory level, but has yet to be implemented at large, is discussed.
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Corporate social responsibility: an assessment of the enlightened self-interest model.
Keim, G D
1978-01-01
Much recent discussion of corporate social responsibility has concerned operationality. Many activities subsumed under corporate social responsibility can be shown to be public or partially public goods. The theory of public goods can clarify and explain some complex problems of operationalizing the social responsibility doctrine. An examination of philanthropy provides some behavioral applications.
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Melehy, Hassan
2012-01-01
Given the widespread tendency to direct budget cuts in higher education toward areas perceived as less essential to economic productivity, there is not a single college or university humanities program in the United States that would not benefit from philanthropy. However, because some moneyed interests use the current crisis as a pretext to…
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The Power Brokers of Neoliberalism: Philanthrocapitalists and Public Education
Baltodano, Marta P.
2017-01-01
Since the 1970s business groups have staged the control of education, first in the form of partnerships with schools and universities to support science, math, and technology, and more recently in the form of venture philanthropy. This article examines how these business groups, including the "billionaire boys club" and their mega…
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Worth, Michael
2012-01-01
In the face of rising costs and a prolonged economic downturn, public colleges and universities are being challenged to increase their sources of private support and philanthropy. Drawing on the findings of a recent AGB survey of public college- and university-affiliated foundation board chairs and chief executive officers, Foundations for the…
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Identifying and Ranking the Factors Affecting Virtuousness in Yazd University-Affiliated Hospitals
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
H Shekari
2015-07-01
Conclusion: The results of ranking the factors of organizational virtuous showed that for moving toward virtuousness, the factors of ethical Culture, vision and Care for Community should be improvedby promoting ethics (Providing ethical standards for employee’s and manager’s behavior, Corporate Philanthropy, considering virtues in mission and vision etc. in mentioned hospitals.
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Philanthropic Engagement in Education: Localised Expressions of Global Flows in India
Srivastava, Prachi
2016-01-01
This article argues that the rise of domestic and international philanthropic engagement in education in India cannot be understood in isolation; rather, it is part of a broader trend of what is termed "new global philanthropy in education" in the Global South. Central to understanding the nature of this engagement is the localised…
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Movement Conservatism and the Attack on Ethnic Studies
Nicol, Donna J.
2013-01-01
This article offers a critical examination of the role that conservative corporate philanthropy played in initiating the assault against the Ethnic Studies discipline during the Academic Culture Wars of the 1980s and 1990s. This research focuses on the development of movement conservatism as an emerging political force that brought together…
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Advancing Entrepreneurship Education. A Report of the Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy Group
Aspen Institute, 2008
2008-01-01
The Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy Group convened its inaugural meeting from September 26-28, 2007 at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. A group of dynamic national leaders from the fields of education, entrepreneurship and business, public policy, media, and philanthropy met over three days to explore the promise of, and obstacles to,…
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Matsumura, Emilyn E; Nerva, Luca; Nigg, Jared C; Falk, Bryce W; Nouri, Shahideh
2016-09-08
A novel flavi-like virus tentatively named Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus (DcFLV) was identified in field populations of Diaphorina citri through small RNA and transcriptome sequencing followed by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. We report here the complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of DcFLV, the largest flavi-like virus identified to date. Copyright © 2016 Matsumura et al.
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Krieger Jakob
2010-09-01
Full Text Available Abstract Background Several lineages within the Crustacea conquered land independently during evolution, thereby requiring physiological adaptations for a semi-terrestrial or even a fully terrestrial lifestyle. Birgus latro Linnaeus, 1767, the giant robber crab or coconut crab (Anomura, Coenobitidae, is the largest land-living arthropod and inhabits Indo-Pacific islands such as Christmas Island. B. latro has served as a model in numerous studies of physiological aspects related to the conquest of land by crustaceans. From an olfactory point of view, a transition from sea to land means that molecules need to be detected in gas phase instead of in water solution. Previous studies have provided physiological evidence that terrestrial hermit crabs (Coenobitidae such as B. latro have a sensitive and well differentiated sense of smell. Here we analyze the brain, in particular the olfactory processing areas of B. latro, by morphological analysis followed by 3 D reconstruction and immunocytochemical studies of synaptic proteins and a neuropeptide. Results The primary and secondary olfactory centers dominate the brain of B. latro and together account for ca. 40% of the neuropil volume in its brain. The paired olfactory neuropils are tripartite and composed of more than 1,000 columnar olfactory glomeruli, which are radially arranged around the periphery of the olfactory neuropils. The glomeruli are innervated ca. 90,000 local interneurons and ca. 160,000 projection neurons per side. The secondary olfactory centers, the paired hemiellipsoid neuropils, are targeted by the axons of these olfactory projection neurons. The projection neuron axonal branches make contact to ca. 250.000 interneurons (per side associated with the hemiellipsoid neuropils. The hemiellipsoid body neuropil is organized into parallel neuropil lamellae, a design that is quite unusual for decapod crustaceans. The architecture of the optic neuropils and areas associated with antenna two
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Björkqvist, Johanna; Johannesson, Erik; Jorikson, Linn
2011-01-01
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to see if the 100 largest Swedish companies are present on Facebook, and if they are, how they use their business pages. Further the customers’ perception of companies’ use of Facebook will be included. To investigate this, three research questions were created. Background: As Web 2.0 and its application has changed, the use of Internet, both for companies and customers, there has been change in how information is delivered and how people take in ...
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Mitchell, Bruce C.; Chakraborty, Jayajit
2015-11-01
Heat waves are the most significant cause of mortality in the US compared to other natural hazards. Prior studies have found increased heat exposure for individuals of lower socioeconomic status in several US cities, but few comparative analyses of the social distribution of urban heat have been conducted. To address this gap, our paper examines and compares the environmental justice consequences of urban heat risk in the three largest US cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Risk to urban heat is estimated on the basis of three characteristics of the urban thermal landscape: land surface temperature, vegetation abundance, and structural density of the built urban environment. These variables are combined to develop an urban heat risk index, which is then statistically compared with social vulnerability indicators representing socioeconomic status, age, disability, race/ethnicity, and linguistic isolation. The results indicate a consistent and significant statistical association between lower socioeconomic and minority status and greater urban heat risk, in all three cities. Our findings support a growing body of environmental justice literature that indicates the presence of a landscape of thermal inequity in US cities and underscores the need to conduct comparative analyses of social inequities in exposure to urban heat.
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Sistema Faro, Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico: speleogenesis of the worlds largest flank margin cave
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Lace, M. J.; Kambesis, P. N.; Mylroie, J. E.
2016-01-01
Isla de Mona, a small, uplifted carbonate plateau jutting out of the waters of the Mona Passage, is an incredibly fragile and densely karstic environment. Expedition work was conducted by the Isla de Mona Project in cooperation with the Departamento Recursos Naturales y Ambientales de Puerto Rico (DRNA), including contributions from many researchers and cavers volunteering from across the U.S and Puerto Rico in the course of 12 separate expeditions, spanning a 14 year period (1998 to 2013). Over 200 caves have been documented on the island to date, the majority of this inventory is composed of flank margin caves but also includes sea caves, pit caves and talus caves. The most extensive example of cave development on the island is Sistema Faro - a sprawling maze-like series of chambers formed within the eastern point of the island with over 40 cliffside entrances overlooking the Caribbean Sea. Detailed cartography and analysis of the geomorphology and development of the Sistema Faro has helped form a complex model of carbonate island cave development as a function of tectonic uplift, lithology, sea level changes, karst hydrogeology and cliff retreat. This communication examines the roles these controls have played in the genesis of the world's largest flank margin cave. (Author)
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Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Avinash Mulky
2013-01-01
Full Text Available Corporate social responsibility has become an important concept in the business world in recent decades. CSR is important in all countries but is particularly relevant in emerging markets where the levels of human development are not high. The United Nations Development Programme has created the Human Development Index (HDI to measure the human development in countries. The present study analyzes the CSR communication on the websites of the 100 largest Indian companies. The objective was to examine the reported CSR activities and determine whether the activities address the dimensions and indicators of the HDI. The study uses content analysis to classify the CSR activities into categories corresponding to HDI parameters. The findings indicate that about two thirds of the companies are using their websites to communicate CSR. Of the companies which reported CSR, about eighty percent report support for primary education and about seventy percent undertake livelihood support activities. The level of corporate involvement in the health dimension of human development is quite low. Reduction of infant and maternal mortality does not get much corporate attention. This study will add to the literature on CSR in emerging markets and will be useful for firms in India and other emerging markets that are planning CSR activities aimed at human development parameters.
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Iriarte, Alfredo; Almeida, Maria Gabriela; Villalobos, Pablo
2014-02-15
Nowadays, the new international market demands challenge the food producing countries to include the measurement of the environmental impact generated along the production process for their products. In order to comply with the environmentally responsible market requests the measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions of Ecuadorian agricultural goods has been promoted employing the carbon footprint concept. Ecuador is the largest exporter of bananas in the world. Within this context, this study is a first assessment of the carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian premium export banana (Musa AAA) using a considerable amount of field data. The system boundaries considered from agricultural production to delivery in a European destination port. The data collected over three years permitted identifying the hot spot stages. For the calculation, the CCaLC V3.0 software developed by the University of Manchester is used. The carbon footprint of the Ecuadorian export banana ranged from 0.45 to 1.04 kg CO2-equivalent/kg banana depending on the international overseas transport employed. The principal contributors to the carbon footprint are the on farm production and overseas transport stages. Mitigation and reduction strategies were suggested for the main emission sources in order to achieve sustainable banana production. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Dragon bridge - the world largest dragon-shaped (ARCH steel bridge as element of smart city
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Chinh Luong Minh
2016-01-01
Full Text Available Dragon Bridge - The world’s largest dragon-shaped steel bridge, with an installation cost of $85 million USD, features 6 lanes for two separate directions, 666 meters of undulating steel in the shape of a dragon in the Ly Dynasty, the symbol of prosperity in Vietnamese culture. This unique and beautifully lit bridge, which also breathes fire and sprays water. It’s the purposeful integration of the lighting hardware articulates the dragon’s form, and the fire-breathing dragon head. This project transcends the notion of monumental bridge with dynamic colour-changing lighting, creating an iconic sculpture in the skyline that is both reverent and whimsical. The signature feature of the bridge was the massive undulating support structure resembling a dragon flying over the river. The dragon is prominent in Vietnamese culture as a symbol of power and nobility. Dragon Bridge stands out as a model of innovation. It has received worldwide attention in the design community and from the global media for its unique arch support system. Dragon Bridge serves as an example of how aesthetic quality of a design can serve cultural, economic and functional purposes. The article presents design solutions of the object and the evaluation of the technical condition before putting the facility into service.
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Spiritually journeying through illness: default or devoted God?
Wilder, Mary
2010-01-01
Nurses have the opportunity to companion patients on their spiritual journey during illness. The author, a nurse and spiritual director, relays the use of Ignatian Contemplation to help a friend journeying through the experience of renal carcinoma.
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Carbon market: to which emission quota to devote?
International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
Chandes, Camille
2013-01-01
As the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is entering its third phase, an article discusses uncertainties and problems regarding this system: CO 2 price is falling down, French industrials do not know which quantity they'll have to buy for their installations, and even some frauds and swindles occurred. Besides the fact that the low level of carbon price is not a motivation for investors, the market is criticised for its imbalance between supply and demand. As some industrials find the costs too high, some sectors may consider off-shoring their activities. Some actors suggest the creation of a central bank of carbon. Countries are using the product of emission bidding in different sectors: housing rehabilitation in France, industry support in Germany, reduction of budget deficit in Italy and Great Britain, construction of passive dwellings in Czech Republic
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Sato, K.; Iwata, T.; Asano, K.; Kubo, H.; Aoi, S.
2013-12-01
The 2011 great Tohoku earthquake (Mw 9.0) occurred on March 11, 2011, and the largest aftershock (Mw 7.7) at the region adjacent to south boundary of the mainshock's source region. Long-period ground motions (1-10s) of large amplitude were observed in the Osaka sedimentary basin about 550-800km away from the source regions during both events. We studied propagation and site characteristics of these ground motions, and found some common features between these two events in the Osaka basin. (1) The amplitude of horizontal components of the ground motion at the site-specific period is amplified at each sedimentary station. The predominant period is around 7s in the bayside area where the largest pSv were observed. (2) The velocity Fourier spectra have their peak values around 7s at the bedrock sites surrounding the Osaka basin. (3) Two remarkable wave packets separated by 30s propagating from stations around the Nobi plain to the bedrock sites near the Osaka basin were seen in the pasted-up velocity waveforms from the source regions to the Osaka basin for both events (Sato et al., 2012). Therefore, large long-period ground motions in the Osaka basin are generated by the combination of propagation-path and basin effects. Firstly, we simulate ground motions due to the largest aftershock using three-dimensional FDM (GMS; Aoi and Fujiwara, 1999). The reason we focus on the largest aftershock is that this event has a relatively small rupture area and simple rupture process compared to the mainshock. The source model is based on the model estimated by Kubo et al. (2013). The velocity structure model is a three-dimensional velocity structure based on the Japan Integrated Velocity Structure Model (Koketsu et al., 2012) and the layer of Vs 350m/s in this model is replaced with one of Vs 500m/s. The minimum effective period in this computation is 3s. Then, we compare synthetic waveforms with observed ones. At CHBH14, the nearest station to the source and 60km away from the
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Read, Timothy D; Petit, Robert A; Joseph, Sandeep J; Alam, Md Tauqeer; Weil, M Ryan; Ahmad, Maida; Bhimani, Ravila; Vuong, Jocelyn S; Haase, Chad P; Webb, D Harry; Tan, Milton; Dove, Alistair D M
2017-07-14
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) has by far the largest body size of any elasmobranch (shark or ray) species. Therefore, it is also the largest extant species of the paraphyletic assemblage commonly referred to as fishes. As both a phenotypic extreme and a member of the group Chondrichthyes - the sister group to the remaining gnathostomes, which includes all tetrapods and therefore also humans - its genome is of substantial comparative interest. Whale sharks are also listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species and are of growing popularity as both a target of ecotourism and as a charismatic conservation ambassador for the pelagic ecosystem. A genome map for this species would aid in defining effective conservation units and understanding global population structure. We characterised the nuclear genome of the whale shark using next generation sequencing (454, Illumina) and de novo assembly and annotation methods, based on material collected from the Georgia Aquarium. The data set consisted of 878,654,233 reads, which yielded a draft assembly of 1,213,200 contigs and 997,976 scaffolds. The estimated genome size was 3.44Gb. As expected, the proteome of the whale shark was most closely related to the only other complete genome of a cartilaginous fish, the holocephalan elephant shark. The whale shark contained a novel Toll-like-receptor (TLR) protein with sequence similarity to both the TLR4 and TLR13 proteins of mammals and TLR21 of teleosts. The data are publicly available on GenBank, FigShare, and from the NCBI Short Read Archive under accession number SRP044374. This represents the first shotgun elasmobranch genome and will aid studies of molecular systematics, biogeography, genetic differentiation, and conservation genetics in this and other shark species, as well as providing comparative data for studies of evolutionary biology and immunology across the jawed vertebrate lineages.
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The Growth of Single-Sex Schools: Federal Policy Meets Local Needs and Interests
Mansfield, Katherine Cumings
2013-01-01
Changes to Title IX allowing the growth of single-sex schools have garnered media attention promoting the benefits of separating boys and girls. Alternately, civil rights groups such as the ACLU continue to oppose any type of school segregation. Within this context, a private philanthropy, the Foundation for the Education of Young Women (FEYW) has…
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Who Decides in Giving to Education? A Study of Charitable Giving by Married Couples
Rooney, Patrick; Brown, Eleanor; Mesch, Debra
2007-01-01
Using data from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study and the Panel Study on Income Dynamics, we analyzed whether husbands or wives were more likely to determine whether and how much money to donate to educational institutions. Among donor households, we are able to examine what socio-economic-demographic factors explain differences in whether…
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Ruthless Rhetoric: Child and Youth Prostitution in Brazil.
Rosemberg, Fulvia; Andrade, Leandro Feitosa
1999-01-01
Examines representations of street children and child and youth prostitution disseminated through literature and by international and Brazilian media during the 1980s and 1990s. Argues that dissemination of images that stigmatize the poor is caused by the need of the media and of modern philanthropy to make an impact on the public. (Author)
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Japanese Fundraising: A Comparative Study of the United States and Japan
Onishi, Tamaki
2007-01-01
The enactment of the Law to Promote Specified Nonprofit Activities in 1998 has resulted not only in a rapid increase in the number of specified nonprofit corporations (NPO corporations) but also in an urgent need for effective fundraising in Japan. Despite Japan's long and rich tradition of philanthropy and a serious need for fundraising, very…
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Morrison, Anna Lee
2015-01-01
Higher education is faced with a challenge to its traditional funding structure. As a result, academic programs must seek alternative sources of support. Chief among these sources is philanthropy in the form of major gifts. Insight into donor motivations and decision making when approached to consider a major gift may help to maximize the success…
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Far East Asia | Page 34 | IDRC - International Development ...
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)
Language English. Read more about Impact, en ce qui a trait aux revenus et à la santé, de la restructuration de la taxe d'accise sur le tabac aux Philippines. Language French. Read more about Dénutrition et politiques publiques en Inde. Language French. Read more about Anchoring Singapore Philanthropy in Southeast ...
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Advice for Fund Raisers: Know Your Donors and Never Let Them See You Sweat
Masterson, Kathryn
2008-01-01
The psychology behind getting the big gift and making "the ask" for it was a major topic at Fund Raising Day in New York 2008, which drew representatives from across the nonprofit world, including charities, hospitals, colleges, and museums. Laura Fredricks, who was vice president for philanthropy at Pace University from 2002 until earlier this…
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Field, Anne
2011-01-01
Strengthening after-school programming for city youngsters has long been an objective of The Wallace Foundation, a national philanthropy based in New York City. In its work over the years, Wallace has found that weak financial management of the nonprofits running many high-quality programs hampers their ability to improve and expand. In 2009,…
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Natural radionuclides in soil profiles surrounding the largest coal-fired power plant in Serbia
Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)
Tanić Milan N.
2016-01-01
Full Text Available This study evaluates the influence of the largest Serbian coal-fired power plant on radionuclide concentrations in soil profiles up to 50 cm in depth. Thirty soil profiles were sampled from the plant surroundings (up to 10 km distance and analyzed using standard methods for soil physicochemical properties and gamma ray spectrometry for specific activities of natural radionuclides (40K, 226Ra and 232Th. Spatial and vertical distribution of radionuclides was determined and analyzed to show the relations between the specific activities in the soil and soil properties and the most influential factors of natural radionuclide variability were identified. The radiological indices for surface soil were calculated and radiological risk assessment was performed. The measured specific activities were similar to values of background levels for Serbia. The sampling depth did not show any significant influence on specific activities of natural radionuclides. The strongest predictor of specific activities of the investigated radionuclides was soil granulometry. All parameters of radiological risk assessment were below the recommended values and adopted limits. It appears that the coal-fired power plant does not have a significant impact on the spatial and vertical distribution of natural radionuclides in the area of interest, but technologically enhanced natural radioactivity as a consequence of the plant operations was identified within the first 1.5 km from the power plant. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije br. III43009 i br. III41005
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Psyche's UV Reflectance Spectra: Exploring the origins of the largest exposed-core metallic asteroid
Becker, Tracy
2016-10-01
(16) Psyche is the largest of the M-class asteroids, and is presumed to be the exposed core of a differentiated asteroid stripped of its mantle through hit-and-run collisions. However, other origins for Psyche have been proposed, including that it formed from a highly-reduced, metal rich material in the inner solar system or that its surface is olivine that has been space weathered. If (16) Psyche is an exposed core, then studying its properties enhances our understanding of the cores of all terrestrial planets, including the Earth's. If it accreted in the inner part of the solar system and was later injected into the asteroid belt, then Psyche sheds light on the conditions and subsequent evolution of the early solar system. Lastly, if Psyche is weathered olivine, then olivine may be more abundant in the solar system than currently measured, rectifying the so-called Great Dunite Shortage. Our program to obtain high-resolution UV spectra of Psyche with the COS G140L mode and the STIS NUV MAMA G230L mode to measure spectral signatures between 90 - 315 nm is designed to distinguish between the 3 hypothesized cases. These observations will enable identification of absorption bands, especially Fe-O charge transfer bands and will be sensitive to spectral blueing that occurs at UV wavelengths for space-weathered objects. When combined, the presence of these UV features, or not, provides a novel test of Psyche formation theories.
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2003-01-01
"With the completion of its hundredth surface detector, the Pierre Auger Observatory, under construction in Argentina, this week became the largest cosmic-ray air shower array in the world. Managed by scientists at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Pierre Auger project so far encompasses a 70-square-mile array of detectors that are tracking the most violent-and perhaps most puzzling- processes in the entire universe" (1 page).
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Birn, A-E
2014-02-01
In recent years, there has been a growing debate about what role foundations should play in global health governance generally, and particularly vis-à-vis the World Health Organization (WHO). Much of this discussion revolves around today's gargantuan philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and its sway over the agenda and modus operandi of global health. Yet such pre-occupations are not new. The Rockefeller Foundation (RF), the unparalleled 20th century health philanthropy heavyweight, both profoundly shaped WHO and maintained long and complex relations with it, even as both institutions changed over time. This article examines the WHO-RF relationship from the 1940s to the 1960s, tracing its ebbs and flows, key moments, challenges, and quandaries, concluding with a reflection on the role of the Cold War in both fully institutionalizing the RF's dominant disease-control approach and limiting its smaller social medicine efforts, even as the RF's quotidian influence at WHO diminished. Copyright © 2013 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Nanez-James, S. E.; Sager, W.
2016-02-01
Research published in 2013 showed that TAMU Massif, the largest mountain in the Shatsky Rise oceanic plateau, located approximately 1500 kilometers east of Japan, is the "World's Largest Single Volcano." This claim garnered widespread public interest and wonder concerning how something so big could remain so mysterious in the 21st century. This disconnect highlights the fact that oceans are still widely unexplored, especially the middle of the deep ocean. Because there is so much interest in TAMU Massif, a diverse outreach team lead by chief scientist Dr. William Sager from the University of Houston in partnership with the Texas State Aquarium and the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) conducted a multifaceted ship-to-shore outreach project that included secondary school students, formal and informal educators, university students and professors, the aquarium and museum audience, and the general public. The objective was to work in conjunction with SOI and various other partners, including the Texas Regional Collaborative, the Aquarium of the Pacific, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, to promote science and ocean literacy while inspiring future scientists - especially those from underserved and underrepresented groups - through ocean connections. Participants were connected through live ship-to-shore distance learning broadcasts of ongoing marine research and discovery of TAMU Massif aboard the R/V Falkor, allowing audiences to participate in real-time research and apply real world science to curriculum in the classrooms. These ship-to-shore presentations connected to existing curriculums and standards, lessons, and career interests of the students and educators with special teacher events and professional development workshops conducted from aboard the R/V Falkor.