Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft in Cooperatives

A cooperative business consists of a cooperative society and a cooperative business firm. The society of members intends to control the business in such a way as to focus the business operations on its interests. The two organizational units tend, however, to follow different behavioral logics. Borrowing some core concepts from classical sociology, Gemeinschaft norms rule ruling within the membership, while Gesellschaft norms dominate the business firms. Thereby it may be difficult to accomplish alignment between the membership organization and the business organization in order to be competitive. This paper addresses the difficulties of following the different logics by exploring Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft within agricultural cooperatives with a focus on the membership logics

Recreational use of urban green space in Malaysian cities

To support green space provision and management, it is important to obtain accurate information about the recreational use of green space, regarding use frequency and types of use, visiting time and duration of visits, but also on how the characteristics of different users influence these. Although these studies have become more common in developed countries, developing countries are lagging behind. In Malaysia, major cities such as Kuala Lumpur (Peninsular Malaysia) and Kuching (Sarawak) have experienced growth and policy makers recognise the importance of their green spaces, but lack comprehensive user studies. This paper presents the results from a comparative study on the use of green spaces and visitor preferences for five selected parks in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. The study comprised, among others, a survey among residents living within a two kilometre radius of the park boundaries. A total of 1,692 respondents answered the questionnaire. Results show that close to 9 out of 10 people living within a 2 km radius of the studied parks use them for recreational purposes. Most of the respondents visit the parks during weekends and typically travel by car, in spite of the short distance to the park. The study also identified differences in green space usage patterns according to different socio-demographic and economic factors, including ethnicity. Malaysians of Chinese descent, for example, have a greater preference for using parks during the morning compared to Malaysians of Malay and Indian descent. Differences were also found regarding motivations for using the parks. However, various similarities can also be noted, e.g. regarding length of use visiting together with family members. It is important for park management to recognise park use patterns and preferences, in particular also where different groups are concerned

Malaysian case studies on the relation between the use of green space and health promotion

This study explores the use of green spaces and visitors´ self-reported health for five parks located in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, Malaysia. A survey was conducted among the residents living within two kilometres radius from the park boundaries. A total of 1692 respondents participated in the survey. The results indicate differences in self-reported health between people according to frequency of park use, apart from the differences explained by the sociodemographic factors. The results related to the differences in self-reported health according to the distance of the residence from the park were not statistically significant. Among the ‘health improving’ recommendations made to close friends and family members were going for a vacation and engaging in some exercise or sport activities. These were ranked higher than taking a break in a quiet and peaceful park or forest. Although this study offers some further evidence of the positive impacts of using green spaces on health, the results show some new findings as compared to similar studies conducted in Europe. Thus, more in-depth works are needed in order to provide information to Malaysian decision makers and green space manager

Comparative chemistry of diffuse clouds III: sulfur-bearing molecules

Using data from IRAM's Plateau de Bure Interferometer and 30 m Telescope, we discuss the mm-wave absorption lines of CS, SO, H2S and HCS+ which arise in diffuse clouds occulting several extragalactic continuum sources. Typical relative abundances are X(CS)/X(HCO+) ~ 2, X(CS)/X(SO) ~ 2, X(CS)/X(H2S) ~ 6 and X(CS)/X(HCS+) ~ 13.Comment: Accepted by A&A 2002-Jan-1

Assessment of an evolution equation for the averaged displacement speed of a reactive scalar field

For turbulent premixed reacting flow modeled by a simplified transport equation for a reaction progress scalar field, an evolution equation for the displacement speed conditionally averaged on the reaction progress was derived in a recent work. In the current paper this equation isused to analyze the basic problem of propagation of a planar reaction wave in homogeneous isotropic constant-density turbulence using a DNS approach. We examine both the transient process of the initial planar wave being disturbed by turbulence as well as the fully developedwave after all statistics has evolved to a stationary state. The numerical results support the derived equation by showing good match between the left hand side term and the sum of all right hand side terms. The derived equation reveals three effects that cause temporal variation in averaged displacement speed: (i) T1, the isosurface-following rate of change in reaction surface density, (ii) T2, the isosurface-following rate of change due to diffusion, and (iii) T3, a stretch-rate-induced difference between averaged isosurface-following derivative and time derivative of the isosurface averaged value. For a fully developed wave the equation reduces to a constraint of zero sum of the three terms; this is realized by (i) the terms T1 andT3 averaged over all reaction scalar zones stay positive and negative, respectively, and (ii) T2 stays largely positive except in the preheat zone for a highly disturbed reaction wave where it becomes slightly negative. Among the three terms, the diffusion contribution term T3 is found to be largely responsible for early transient variation in averaged displacement speed. For the transient evolution of highly turbulent reaction waves, it is also found that all three terms tend to flip their signs when moving from the preheat zone to the reaction zone

Recreational use of urban green space in Malaysian cities

To support green space provision and management, it is important to obtain accurate information about the recreational use of green space, regarding use frequency and types of use, visiting time and duration of visits, but also on how the characteristics of different users influence these. Although these studies have become more common in developed countries, developing countries are lagging behind. In Malaysia, major cities such as Kuala Lumpur (Peninsular Malaysia) and Kuching (Sarawak) have experienced growth and policy makers recognise the importance of their green spaces, but lack comprehensive user studies. This paper presents the results from a comparative study on the use of green spaces and visitor preferences for five selected parks in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. The study comprised, among others, a survey among residents living within a two kilometre radius of the park boundaries. A total of 1,692 respondents answered the questionnaire. Results show that close to 9 out of 10 people living within a 2 km radius of the studied parks use them for recreational purposes. Most of the respondents visit the parks during weekends and typically travel by car, in spite of the short distance to the park. The study also identified differences in green space usage patterns according to different socio-demographic and economic factors, including ethnicity. Malaysians of Chinese descent, for example, have a greater preference for using parks during the morning compared to Malaysians of Malay and Indian descent. Differences were also found regarding motivations for using the parks. However, various similarities can also be noted, e.g. regarding length of use visiting together with family members. It is important for park management to recognise park use patterns and preferences, in particular also where different groups are concerned

Calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate mixed cement compositions for bone reconstruction

The feasibility of making calcium carbonate-calcium phosphate (CaCO3-CaP) mixed cements, comprising at least 40 % (w/w) CaCO3 in the dry powder ingredients, has been demonstrated. Several original cement compositions were obtained by mixing metastable crystalline calcium carbonate phases with metastable amorphous or crystalline calcium phosphate powders in aqueous medium. The cements set within at most 1 hour at 37°C in atmosphere saturated with water. The hardened cement is microporous and exhibits weak compressive strength. The setting reaction appeared to be essentially related to the formation of a highly carbonated nanocrystalline apatite phase by reaction of the mestastable CaP phase with part or almost all of the metastable CaCO3 phase. The recrystallization of metastable CaP varieties led to a final cement consisting of a highly carbonated poorly crystalline apatite (PCA) analogous to bone mineral associated with various amounts of vaterite and/or aragonite. The presence of controlled amounts of CaCO3 with a higher solubility than the apatite formed in the well-developed calcium phosphate cements might be of interest to increase resorption rates in biomedical cement and favor its replacement by bone tissue. Cytotoxicity testing revealed excellent cytocompatibility of CaCO3-CaP mixed cement compositions

Elucidating an amorphous form stabilization mechanism of tenapanor hydrochloride: crystal structure analysis using Xray diffraction, NMR crystallography and molecular modelling

By the combined use of powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR, and molecular modelling, the crystal structures of two systems containing the unusually large tenapanor drug molecule have been determined: the free form, ANHY and a dihydrochloride salt form, 2HCl. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) assisted solid-state NMR (SSNMR) crystallography investigations were found essential for the final assignment, and were used to validate the crystal structure of ANHY. From the structural informatics analysis of ANHY and 2HCl, conformational ring differences in one part of the molecule were observed which influences the relative orientation of a methyl group on a ring nitrogen and thereby impacts the crystallizability of the dihydrochloride salt. From quantum chemistry calculations, the dynamics between different ring conformations in tenapanor is predicted to be fast. Addition of HCl to tenapanor results in general in a mixture of protonated ring conformers and hence a statistical mix of diastereoisomers which builds up the amorphous form, a-2HCl. This was qualitatively verified by 13C CP/MAS NMR investigations of the amorphous form. Thus, to form any significant amount of the crystalline material 2HCl, which originates from the minor (i.e., energetically less stable) ring conformations, one needs to involve nitrogen deprotonation to allow exchange between minor and major conformations of ANHY in solution. Thus, by controlling the solution pH value to well below the pKa of ANHY, the equilibrium between ANHY and 2HCl can be controlled and by this mechanism the crystallization of 2HCl can be avoided and the amorphous form of the dichloride salt can therefore be stabilized

High-levelexpression of functional recombinant human coagulation factor VII in insect cells

Abstract: Recombinant coagulation factor VII (FVII) is used as a potential therapeutic intervention in hemophilia patients who produce antibodies against the coagulation factors. Mammalian cell lines provide low levels of expression, however, the Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cell line and baculovirus expression system are powerful systems for high-level expression of recombinant proteins, but due to the lack of endogenous vitamin K-dependent carboxylase, expression of functional FVII using this system is impossible. In the present study, we report a simple but versatile method to overcome the defect for high-level expression of the functional recombinant coagulation FVII in Sf9 cells. This method involves simultaneous expression of both human γ-carboxylase (hGC) and human FVII genes in the host. It may be possible to express other vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors using this method in the future. Keywords: Baculovirus; γ-carboxylase; Coagulation FVII; Factor VII; Insect cel