Corruption and Economic Development

There is no sustainable economic development without a functioning rule of law. Besides sustainable economic policies like low interest rates, low inflation, low budget deficit, reasonable taxes and economic freedom for business development, the necessary ones for country’s economic growth are functioning of state institutions, support and development of reforms as well as successful fight against corruption.Corruption is a phenomena often encountered and spread in countries that have problems with rule of law as well as with judiciary system. Corruption manifestation is inevitable in circumstances when state institutions are weak. The phenomena is especially problematic in countries that go through transition periods since these countries are often characterized as nonefficient in fighting this phenomena1 . Countries in transition continue to have the image of countries with high level of corruption, which causes serious crisis from local opinion and continuous demand from international community due to the unsuccessful fight against this malevolence.World Bank considers corruption as the biggest obstacle in the fight for poverty eradication, since it undermines the rule of law, weakens state institutions and most of all it affects the poor. Politically, it undermines democracy and good governance, economic equal growth and development, as well as people’s trust in state institutions.Lately, several anti-corruption laws have been adopted in Kosovo, but they have not been implemented in practice and were not sufficient in fight against corruption. Kosovo’s long lasting dream of integrating in European Union, necessarily demands to built and functionalize anti-corruptive measures with priority, as a fundamental precondition for EU pre-accession process

Das zufällige Erfüllbarkeitsproblem

Die Arbeit befasst sich insbesondere mit dem Phasenübergang des zufälligen k-SAT Problems

Preventing Preventative Health

With the Earth’s human population estimated to exceed 10 billion by 2050, the now globalised community has some serious discussions involving the upcoming, necessary transition to sustainable habitation and preventative healthcare. This paper examines the social and economic structures preventing this transition at individual, national and multinational levels and their responsibilities to public health. Greater responsibility for ones individual health and consumption is essential and should be supported and encouraged by national governance that in turn has a responsibility to provide the environment in which healthy sustainable lifestyles are achievable and affordable. Multi-national corporations must also accept their responsibilities to public health and cease profiting from environmental destruction, inequity and suffering. There are many levels at which preventative health is prevented from being implemented, all of which must be acknowledged honestly and tackled simultaneously for a healthy sustainable future

IR laser photochemistry of alkanols and 3,3-dimethyloxetane

In this work, a pulsed CO₂ laser was used to excite methanol, ethanol, propan-2-ol, butan-2-ol, t-butanol, pentan-2-ol, hexan-2-ol, and 3,3-dimethyloxetane in order to study how these moleCUles absorb laser energy and decompose. The dependence of absorbed energy and fractional yield on laser parameters such as irradiating wavelength.,fluence and pulse type, and on reactant molecular size, pressure and diluent, was examined.The absorbed energy was measured using the optoacoustic (OA) technique. A new method for calibrating the OA cell was developed and is described in full in the thesis. The approach enables calibration to be extended to lower absorption levels (about 200µJ for a signal-to-noise ratio of six) than is possible with the more usual transmission methods, and was found to be capable of measuring as little as 5µJ. A particular advantage of the technique, is that it is simple, rapid, and provides an immediate visual indication of the absorption level.It is observed, for all reactants studied, that the absorption cross-section at low pressure was less than at high pressure, but that the difference diminishes with molecular size with the absorption cross-section taking on a value comparable to that of the small signal, broadband cross-section. These findings are consistent with the explanation that rotational hole-burning exists, but decreases in importance as the molecular size, and hence density of states, increases. As the fluence is varied, the absorption cross-section is found to increase with decreasing fluence towards the small signal, broadband value. With increasing molecular size the increase is less noticeable, and the absorption cross-section takes on the value comparable to that of the small signal, broadband cross-section.With increasing alkanol molecular size, it is observed that the major decomposition products can always be explained in terms of a molecular elimination channel i.e. one of dehydration. Also, the number of minor products and their yields both increase. It is believed that most of the minor products arise as a consequence of carbon-carbon fission processes, with minor contributions due to molecular elimination

In vivo testing of alternatives for conventional treatment of Ascaris suum in pigs

Summary The percentage of disapproved livers of growing and finishing pigs has been increased significantly during the last years. In organic pig farms, this percentage is often higher than in conventional pig farms. In most cases, disapproved livers are the result of an infection with Ascaris suum. Usually, an infection of Ascaris suum is treated or controlled by using conventional synthetic drugs belonging to the benzimidazoles, levamisole and macrocyclic lactones. Organic farmers, however, prefer a non-pharmaceutical approach of worm control. Therefore, phytotherapy could be an perspective alternative. The objective of this study was to test herb alternatives for the prevention and control of a mild infection of Ascaris suum in growing and finishing pigs. Two different herb mixtures were tested. Feed was supplemented with 3% of a herb mixture, thereby adding 1% Thymus vulgaris, 1% Melissa officinalis and 1% Echinacea purpurea to the diet, or with 4% of a herb mixture, thereby adding the mentioned herbs plus 1% Camellia sinensis (black tea) to the diet. Pigs were infected by 1000 worm eggs each. Comparatively, a negative control group (no treatment) and a positive control group (treatment with conventional synthetic drug Flubendazole) were included. An experiment was conducted with 32 young boars (average starter weight was 24 kg) purchased from a SPF-pig farm. The pigs were monitored during 67 days in the period December 2006 until February 2007. In this study, four experimental treatments were compared: 1. negative control: no treatment was applied to prevent or control an infection with Ascaris suum; 2. positive control: pigs were treated with a conventional anthelmintic (Flubendazole) one week before slaughter; 3. herb mixture: pigs were fed a diet supplemented with a herb mixture; 4. herb mixture + tea: pigs were fed a diet supplemented with a herb mixture (as treatment 3) plus black tea. From this experiment it was concluded that a diet with a herb mixture containing 1% Thymus vulgaris, 1% Melissa officinalis and 1% Echinacea purpurea for growing and finishing pigs did not decrease the number of pigs which are infected with Ascaris suum, but did reduce the average number of worms in the gastro intestinal tract. The addition of 1% black tea to this herb mixture did not result in a lower number of infected pigs and also did not reduce the average number of worms in pigs. Flubendazole appeared to be an effective deworming product. On organic farms with a low worm infection probably a combination of a conventional synthetic drug and a diet with herb mixture containing 1% Thymus vulgaris, 1% Melissa officinalis and 1% Echinacea purpurea is an option. It depends on the level of worm infection whether it is an opportunity to deworm sows, weaners and/or growing finishing pigs with a diet containing the herb mixture to keep the level of Ascaris suum at an acceptable low level. Examination of faeces of sows, weaners and growing and finishing pigs regularly, and also the percentage of disapproved livers of growing and finishing pigs, can support to monitor the level of worm infection on the farm. Based on this monitoring probably a strategy of varying deworming with a synthetic drug and a diet with herb mixture can be developed for the different categories of pigs. Further research on this method, and also the suitable period to supply this herb mixture to sows related to stage of pregnancy and weaners related to age and feed intake, is desirable