Business rescue: How can its success be evaluated at company level?

The question of what constitutes a successful business rescue is a very topical and unanswered one. Reports on success are contradictory and seem to lack a set of standardised evaluation criteria. The purpose of this article is to investigate how business rescue success is evaluated internationally in order to develop a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate business rescue success at company level in South Africa. A comparative review approach was used to investigate data from four leading international countries with similar business rescue regimes. A number of evaluation criteria were identified and aligned with the business rescue legislation as set out in Chapter 6 of the South African Companies Act. The fi ndings indicated that the international business rescue regimes and Chapter 6 share similar goals. Several criteria for evaluating success were identifi ed, the key indicators being the going concern status on exiting business rescue, and whether the return to creditors was maximised as opposed to liquidation. It was further found that an initial exit as a going concern may be a short-term success indicator. Success can ultimately only be established if further investigation after some time period indicates no re-filing for business rescue.Key words: business rescue, South African Companies Act, success, evaluation, going concern, liquidation, stakeholders, restructurin

The effects of an artificially enhanced clinoptilolite in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

Background: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders presenting in clinical practice. IBS is a functional bowel disorder in which abdominal pain or discomfort is associated with a change in bowel habit and with features of disordered defecation.Methods: IBS candidates were enrolled in the study using the Rome III diagnostic criteria. Participants were identified as IBS-D (diarrhoea dominant), IBS-C (constipation dominant) as well as an IBS-M (mixed group). The participants were randomly assigned; for intention to treat with 750 mg potentiated clinoptilolite three times daily or placebo. The primary endpoint was to determine whether or not the patient experienced adequate relief of symptoms.Results: At the end of treatment 67% and 40% of patients were classified as overall responders in the potentiated clinoptilolite and placebo groups respectively (N=50). After week three of treatment the number of weekly responders was significantly higher (p=0.048) in the potentiated clinoptilolite group compared to the Placebo group, and at week four of treatment the number of weekly responders was borderline significant higher in the potentiated clinoptilolite group (P=0.06). Secondary endpoints were measured but the population size proved too small to realistically obtain statistical significance (p > 0.5).Conclusion: Potentiated clinoptilolite shows clinical benefit, and should be tested further in larger clinical trials. In addition, potentiated clinoptilolite also shows reduced symptoms of IBD-D and IBS-M respectively. It is recommended that clinical response to dose variation should also be further investigated in designated populations of IBS-M and IBS-D patients.Keywords: Irritable Bowel Syndrome; potentiated clinoptilolite; zeolite; randomised controlled trial; efficac

Non-reversible airway obstruction in never smokers: Results from the Austrian BOLD study

SummaryBackgroundThe presence of non-reversible airway obstruction (AO) in never smokers has only received limited attention until now.MethodsWe analyzed data from the Austrian Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study. We defined non-reversible AO as post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <0.7 which corresponds to COPD I and higher (COPD I+) according to current GOLD guidelines. Significant AO was defined as FEV1/FVC <0.7 and FEV1 <80% predicted (GOLD II and higher, GOLD II+). The prevalence and characteristics of non-reversible AO in never smokers were analyzed in relation to the severity of the disease.ResultsNever smokers comprised 47.3% of the study population. Non-reversible AO was seen in 18.2% of never smokers, and 5.5% of never smokers fulfilled criteria for significant non-reversible AO (GOLD stage II+). Therefore, the resulting population prevalence of significant non-reversible AO (GOLD stage II+) was 2.6%. Never smokers with non-reversible AO were predominantly female and slightly older. The airway obstruction was found to be less severe as compared with ever smokers. Despite this, 20% of never smokers with significant non-reversible AO (GOLD stage II+) reported respiratory symptoms and 50% reported impairment of quality of life. This burden of illness in never smokers was similar to that in smokers when severity of AO was taken into account.ConclusionApproximately every third subject with non-reversible AO has never smoked, yet still demonstrates a substantial burden of symptoms and impairment of quality of life. Never smokers should receive far greater attention when efforts are undertaken to prevent and treat chronic airway obstruction

Positive-P and Wigner representations for quantum-optical systems with nonorthogonal modes

We generalize the basic concepts of the positive-P and Wigner representations to unstable quantum-optical systems that are based on nonorthogonal quasimodes. This lays the foundation for a quantum description of such systems, such as, for example an unstable cavity laser. We compare both representations by calculating the tunneling times for an unstable resonator optical parametric oscillator

A 160Gb/s (4x40) WDM O-band Tx subassembly using a 4-ch array of silicon rings co-packaged with a SiGe BiCMOS IC driver

We present a 400 (8×50) Gb/s-capable RM-based Si-photonic WDM O-band TxRx with 1.17nm channel spacing for high-speed optical interconnects and demonstrate successful 50Gb/s-NRZ TxRx operation achieving a ~4.5dB Tx extinction ratio under 2.15Vpp drive

Expression and function of PML-RARA in the hematopoietic progenitor cells of Ctsg-PML-RARA mice

Because PML-RARA-induced acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a morphologically differentiated leukemia, many groups have speculated about whether its leukemic cell of origin is a committed myeloid precursor (e.g. a promyelocyte) versus an hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC). We originally targeted PML-RARA expression with CTSG regulatory elements, based on the early observation that this gene was maximally expressed in cells with promyelocyte morphology. Here, we show that both Ctsg, and PML-RARA targeted to the Ctsg locus (in Ctsg-PML-RARA mice), are expressed in the purified KLS cells of these mice (KLS = Kit(+)Lin(-)Sca(+), which are highly enriched for HSPCs), and this expression results in biological effects in multi-lineage competitive repopulation assays. Further, we demonstrate the transcriptional consequences of PML-RARA expression in Ctsg-PML-RARA mice in early myeloid development in other myeloid progenitor compartments [common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) and granulocyte/monocyte progenitors (GMPs)], which have a distinct gene expression signature compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Although PML-RARA is indeed expressed at high levels in the promyelocytes of Ctsg-PML-RARA mice and alters the transcriptional signature of these cells, it does not induce their self-renewal. In sum, these results demonstrate that in the Ctsg-PML-RARA mouse model of APL, PML-RARA is expressed in and affects the function of multipotent progenitor cells. Finally, since PML/Pml is normally expressed in the HSPCs of both humans and mice, and since some human APL samples contain TCR rearrangements and express T lineage genes, we suggest that the very early hematopoietic expression of PML-RARA in this mouse model may closely mimic the physiologic expression pattern of PML-RARA in human APL patients

Field quantization for open optical cavities

We study the quantum properties of the electromagnetic field in optical cavities coupled to an arbitrary number of escape channels. We consider both inhomogeneous dielectric resonators with a scalar dielectric constant $\epsilon({\bf r})$ and cavities defined by mirrors of arbitrary shape. Using the Feshbach projector technique we quantize the field in terms of a set of resonator and bath modes. We rigorously show that the field Hamiltonian reduces to the system--and--bath Hamiltonian of quantum optics. The field dynamics is investigated using the input--output theory of Gardiner and Collet. In the case of strong coupling to the external radiation field we find spectrally overlapping resonator modes. The mode dynamics is coupled due to the damping and noise inflicted by the external field. For wave chaotic resonators the mode dynamics is determined by a non--Hermitean random matrix. Upon including an amplifying medium, our dynamics of open-resonator modes may serve as a starting point for a quantum theory of random lasing.Comment: 16 pages, added references, corrected typo

Quantum Statistics of Surface Plasmon Polaritons in Metallic Stripe Waveguides

Single surface plasmon polaritons are excited using photons generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The mean excitation rates, intensity correlations and Fock state populations are studied. The observed dependence of the second order coherence in our experiment is consistent with a linear uncorrelated Markovian environment in the quantum regime. Our results provide important information about the effect of loss for assessing the potential of plasmonic waveguides for future nanophotonic circuitry in the quantum regime.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, published in Nano Letters, publication date (web): March 27 (2012

Tourism policy and destination marketing in developing countries: the chain of influence

Tourism marketers including destination marketing organisations (DMOs) and international tour operators play a pivotal role in destination marketing, especially in creating destination images. These images, apparent in tourist brochures, are designed to influence tourist decision-making and behaviour. This paper proposes the concept of a “chain of influence” in destination marketing and image-making, suggesting that the content of marketing materials is influenced by the priorities of those who design these materials, e.g. tour operators and DMOs. A content analysis of 2,000 pictures from DMO and tour operator brochures revealed synergies and divergence between these marketers. The brochure content was then compared to the South African tourism policy, concluding that the dominant factor in the chain of influence in the South African context is in fact its organic image