In vitro activity of rifampicin, rifapentine and rifabutin against South Indian isolates of M. tuberculosis

M. tuberculosis isolates from 51 resistant and 52 susceptible to Rifampicin patients were concurrently tested for in vitro susceptibility to Rifampicin, Rifapentine and Rifabutin. All the 52 Rifampicin susceptible strains were susceptible to Rifapentine, the geometric mean MICs being 13.3 m g/ml for Rifampicin and 6.0 m g/ml for Rifapentine. However, the geometric mean MIC for Rifabautin was as low as 13 m g/ml. All 51 Rifampicin resistant strains were also resistant to Rifapentine, indicating a complete cross-resistance between the two compounds. However, 11 (22%) of the Rifampicin resistant strains were found to be susceptible to Rifabutin. The geometric mean; MICs of the 40 resistant strains were 22 m g/ml for Rifampicin and113 m g/ml for Rifabutin. Thus, even among Rifampicin resistant strains, Rifabutin showed a 1.97 fold higher activity; the difference in the means attained statistical significance

La Història pren els actors seriosament?

Se señala el olvido de la problemática de la actuación libre de la persona en historiografia francesa moderna, y se reivindica la importancia de la misma. Se analiza brevemente el ejemplo de los Conseils de Prud'hommes de la Francia de la Restauración, y se concluye defendiendo la conveniencia de un enfoque historiográfico en el que la el estado de una sociedad aparezca determinada por las decisiones libres y múltiples de los individuos.Lepetit points out the problem of personal freedom of acts' oblivion in the modern French historiography and he vindicates the importante of this factor. He also analyses the example of the Conseils de Prud'hommes in the time of the Restoration in France and he Jinishes his article advocating for the conveniente of an approach that would consider the state of a society as determined for personal (free and multiple) choices

Franchising Model for Expansion of the International Travel Business

The hotel sector of the travel industry is the leader according to the indicator of economic growth, which is observed in both developed and developing countries. Even under the economic instability and global natural disasters, the industry has seen growth in recent years. The franchising model for expanding activities is central to all successful hotel chains. The article deals with the franchising model for the travel business expansion and the economic performance of hotel chains such as Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels, and Hilton. They hold a prominent place in the global hotel business, have a steady tendency to expand their business, hold high positions in the ranking of the best franchises in the world and have been recognized by experts. The main risks for the franchisor and franchisee are determined when making a decision on the expansion of the international travel business, which must be taken into account when developing new markets for hotel chains. The main advantages of the franchising model of expansion, which promote understanding between the parties of the franchise agreement, dynamicize hotel chains expansion and allow for reducing their expenses and increasing incomes. It was found that the growth of net profit and total income in the indicated hotel chains was due to the increase in the number of rooms in franchising and the positive dynamics of franchise income. A more dynamic pace occurred after the crisis growth in revenues from the franchisee compared with the managerial model. A closer relationship between revenues and key financial indicators has been proved when using a franchising model

Loan loss provisioning in the commercial banking system of Barbados: practices and determinants

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of loan loss provisioning within the commercial banking system of Barbados. It uses questionnaires and interviews to ascertain how banks set their provisional standards and levels. In addition, the results from this approach reveal, for the first time in Barbados, the individual banks‟ procedures for loan loss provisioning. An evaluation of the impact of macroeconomic and bank specific factors on commercial banks‟ provisions utilising panel dynamic ordinary least squares is also undertaken. Both sets of factors are found to influence the level of provisions. In particular, loan loss provisions are heavily dependent upon the performance of the real economy and competition in international markets is shown to have serious implications for the banking sector in both the short and long run. Moreover, this study asserts that larger banks in Barbados are better able to screen loans and avoid defaults.Loan Loss Provisioning; Banking System; Loan Classification

The procyclicality of loan loss provisions in Islamic banks: Do managerial discretions matter?

This paper is the first to examine whether the loan loss provisioning behavior of Islamic banks is procyclical. From a dynamic panel data methodology, the empirical results show that loan loss provisioning in Islamic banks is indeed procyclical, as higher economic growth leads to a decline in loan loss provisions. A closer investigation is also conducted to examine whether capital management, income smoothing, or signaling behavior can alter the procyclicality of loan loss provisions. Specifically, our results document that only capital management behavior can overcome the procyclicality of loan loss provisions. This paper therefore advocates the importance of strengthening discretionary behavior in Islamic banks in terms of capital management using loan loss provisions, particularly during economic boom

Proton Zemach radius from measurements of the hyperfine splitting of hydrogen and muonic hydrogen

While measurements of the hyperfine structure of hydrogen-like atoms are traditionally regarded as test of bound-state QED, we assume that theoretical QED predictions are accurate and discuss the information about the electromagnetic structure of protons that could be extracted from the experimental values of the ground state hyperfine splitting in hydrogen and muonic hydrogen. Using recent theoretical results on the proton polarizability effects and the experimental hydrogen hyperfine splitting we obtain for the Zemach radius of the proton the value 1.040(16) fm. We compare it to the various theoretical estimates the uncertainty of which is shown to be larger that 0.016 fm. This point of view gives quite convincing arguments in support of projects to measure the hyperfine splitting of muonic hydrogen.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Les relations entre histoire et géographie en France : tensions, controverses et accalmies

International audienceIn France relations between history and geography have been strongly influenced by the existence of tensions on the long run. These come from separation between these two disciplines during the erection of geography as university discipline at the end of the XIXth century. With highly marked historical contents theses, the geography of the first half of the XXth century has had to build its identity against history. Recurrent justification gave then at the idea of a ladder of incommensurable time with that of history. From 1950s till 1980s, tensions have consolidated around the topic of the treason preventing the creation of single social science, in the same time, criticisms related to the determinism, which, due to a growing ignorance, does not correspond any longer to geography being made. Since the beginning of 1990s, the interest of the historians for anthropology or sociology have led to an appeasing of relations. In addition, researches which link history and geography are not any more recovering from an interdisciplinary logic, but are at the level of relation between researchers on a limited project.En France les relations entre l'histoire et la géographie ont été fortement influencées par l'existence de tensions sur le long terme. Celles-ci proviennent de la séparation entre ces deux disciplines lors de l'érection en discipline universitaire de la géographie à la fin du XIXe siècle. Avec des thèses au contenu historique fortement marqué, la géographie de la première moitié du XXe siècle a eu à construire son identité contre l'histoire. La justification récurrente renvoyait alors à l'idée d'une échelle de temps incommensurable avec celle de l'histoire. Des années 1950 aux années 1980, les tensions se sont consolidées autour du thème de la trahison empêchant la création d'une science sociale unique, en même temps que de critiques liées au déterminisme qui, du fait d'une méconnaissance croissante, ne correspondaient plus à la géographie en train de se faire. Depuis le début des années 1990, l'intérêt des historiens pour l'anthropologie ou la sociologie ont mené à un apaisement des relations. Par ailleurs, les recherches qui lient histoire et géographie ne relèvent plus d'une logique interdisciplinaire, mais se situent au niveau d'une relation entre chercheurs sur un projet limité