Red data book for the Maltese Islands

A study detailing the various flora and fauna found on the Maltese Islands, these includes some 1000 flowering plants, 1000 lower plants, some 50 molluscs, 500 species of arachnids, 100 crustaceans, more than 3000 insects, 1 amphibian, 9 reptiles, 160 birds and 20 mammals. This does not include migratory birds and insects and marine animals, if these were to be included the number would nearly double.peer-reviewe

How do European trade promotion organisations manage their stakeholders?

Trade Promotion Organisations (TPOs) exert significant influence on the internationalisation potential of domestic firms and improving the indigenous country’s trade balance. However, TPOs’ strategies to uphold their impact as to the relationship vis-à-vis their stakeholders are largely unknown. This is an important gap in the literature considering that effective stakeholder management can enhance TPOs’ performance and the value they develop for three primary stakeholder groups, namely home country government, domestic firms and foreign trade offices. In this study, we employ the stakeholder theory and draw upon in-depth case studies of 14 European TPOs to address this gap. We advance six related propositions on how funding sourcing, services to domestic firms and functions of foreign trade offices can be effectively associated with TPOs’ relationship management towards these stakeholder groups. The contribution of the study lies on the application of stakeholder theory in trade promotion and the derivation of related sets of strategies

The BRICS (Bronchiectasis Radiologically Indexed CT Score)- a multi-center study score for use in idiopathic and post infective bronchiectasis

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to develop a simplified radiological score that could assess clinical disease severity in bronchiectasis. METHODS: The Bronchiectasis Radiologically Indexed CT Score (BRICS) was devised based on a multivariable analysis of the Bhalla score and its ability in predicting clinical parameters of severity. The score was then externally validated in six centers in 302 patients. RESULTS: A total of 184 high-resolution CT scans were scored for the validation cohort. In a multiple logistic regression model, disease severity markers significantly associated with the Bhalla score were percent predicted FEV1, sputum purulence, and exacerbations requiring hospital admission. Components of the Bhalla score that were significantly associated with the disease severity markers were bronchial dilatation and number of bronchopulmonary segments with emphysema. The BRICS was developed with these two parameters. The receiver operating-characteristic curve values for BRICS in the derivation cohort were 0.79 for percent predicted FEV1, 0.71 for sputum purulence, and 0.75 for hospital admissions per year; these values were 0.81, 0.70, and 0.70, respectively, in the validation cohort. Sputum free neutrophil elastase activity was significantly elevated in the group with emphysema on CT imaging. CONCLUSIONS: A simplified CT scoring system can be used as an adjunct to clinical parameters to predict disease severity in patients with idiopathic and postinfective bronchiectasis

Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Grand Prix ta’ Carmel Azzopardi – Pizza marinara ta’ Carmel Azzopardi – Ħajku ta’ Kit Azzopardi – Ix-xemgħa qiegħda ta’ Charles Bezzina – U taħti ramel, ramel ta’ Charles Bezzina – Vażett ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Bniedem li mhux ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Il-ħajbu ta’ Antoine Cassar – Il-mistoħbija ta’ Manwel Cassar – Għasel ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – Dgħajsa ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – Ħitan ta’ Alfred Degabriele – Skeletru silwett...f’realtà moħbija ta’ Stefano Farrugia – Minjatura tal-enimmi ta’ Stefano Farrugia – Mnejn jgħaddi Kristu ta’ Joe Friggieri – Rebbiegħa ta’ Reno Fenech – Blogger ta’ Charles Flores – Veġeterjana ta’ Charles Flores – Mejju ta’ Joe P. Galea – Kien hemm lejla u tmien nisa ta’ Claudia Gauci – Ħobbni ta’ Sergio Grech – Mitlufin ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Moħħi ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Viżjoni ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Inkontinenza ta’ Adrian Grima – Andrew jħebb in-nar ta’ Adrian Grima – It-Tlieta, 20 ta’ Lulju 2004 ta’ Alfred Massa – Fuq l-għolja tal- Verdala ta’ Jane Micallef – Imm’issa ta’ Jane Micallef – Baby blues ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Ġo dar sawra ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Lil Dun Karm ta’ Maurice Mifsud Bonnici – Il-fuklar ta’ Achille Mizzi – Ut videam ta’ Achille Mizzi – Karnival solitarju ta’ Patrick Sammut – Mill-baħħ etern ta’ Joe Zammit Tabona – ...fil-ħmieġ ta’ ftit blatiet... ta’ Paul P. Borg – Bħall-qasab ta’ Steve Borg – L-aħħar żjara ta’ Victor Fenech – Ħelwa.morra 18 ta’ Ann Marie Schembri – Jack & Jill ta’ Trevor Żahra – Għadbilura ta’ Russell Davis, traduzzjoni ta’ Toni Aquilina – Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare, traduzzjoni ta’ Oliver Friggieri.peer-reviewe

The development of international opportunities by knowledge-intensive firms from a small, peripheral economy

While the internationalization of knowledge-intensive (KI) firms is important for Europe’s competitiveness, its extent remains below expectations. This is a challenge especially for firms from small peripheral regions. Research in International Business (IB) and International Entrepreneurship (IE) converges around the opportunities which firms identify and develop over time. What is known on opportunities has grown but understanding the underlying mechanisms of opportunity development remains inadequate, just as knowledge of the organisational changes necessary for opportunity development. This thesis addresses these gaps by investigating the internationalization of KI firms through the opportunities they develop. Grounded in the literature on entrepreneurial opportunities, it asks how firms develop international opportunities over time and how such opportunities shape the international trajectory of such firms. It also explores the role of organisational structure and daily routines in the process of opportunity development. The research adopts a qualitative, process-based design, studying seven KI-firms based in Malta. Using a longitudinal approach, collecting data retrospectively and in real time over a two-year period, it develops a deep understanding of changes in opportunities, organisational structure and routines. Adopting the opportunity-firm nexus as a unit of analysis, the investigation iterates between data and theory in an abductive fashion, seeking to explain the development of key opportunities in their context. Data collected from 55 interviews, documentation and performance surveys was analysed using thematic and time-series analysis. Findings suggest that the development of international opportunities over time follows three broad phases in a cyclical and iterative process. In the first phase firms clarify the opportunity space they want to occupy, as they learn from early opportunities. The early development of opportunities with a strategic consequence leads firms to a second phase, characterised by learning and growing. During this phase, firms seek to replicate opportunities, introducing routines and an element of organisational structure to do so. In the third phase, firms develop new opportunities while replicating older ones. Stepping up their market presence they commit to more organisational set-up as the uncertainty of the initial phases is reduced. Opportunity development is found to be dependent on firm and founder history as well as on networking, both having a path-dependent character. The study finds that early opportunities are discovered while the process of replicating opportunities on an ongoing basis is characterised by active search. Later opportunities are developed by a combination of discovery and search. The process is an uncertainty-reduction one with Psychic Distance (PD) being an important consideration in subsequent opportunities but close to irrelevant in early ones when management discretion is low. The type, intensity and sequence of opportunities determines the international trajectory of the firm, and it commits resources when key opportunities are in sight. A degree of formality, in governance, knowledge collection and sharing may improve the firm’s opportunity development capabilities. Based on the findings, the thesis attempts to reconcile ideas from International Process Theory (IPT) and the Opportunity Based View (OBV) and discusses the implications for theory, management and policy

Opportunities approach to international entrepreneurship

No abstract available

F9 Fimbriae of uropathogenic Escherichia coli are expressed at low temperature and recognise Galbeta1-3GlcNAc-containing glycans

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the leading causative agent of urinary tract infections (UTI) in the developed world. Among the major virulence factors of UPEC, surface expressed adhesins mediate attachment and tissue tropism. UPEC strains typically possess a range of adhesins, with type 1 fimbriae and P fimbriae of the chaperone-usher class the best characterised. We previously identified and characterised F9 as a new chaperone-usher fimbrial type that mediates biofilm formation. However, the regulation and specific role of F9 fimbriae remained to be determined in the context of wild-type clinical UPEC strains. In this study we have assessed the distribution and genetic context of the f9 operon among diverse E. coli lineages and pathotypes and demonstrated that f9 genes are significantly more conserved in a UPEC strain collection in comparison to the well-defined E. coli reference (ECOR) collection. In the prototypic UPEC strain CFT073, the global regulator protein H-NS was identified as a transcriptional repressor of f9 gene expression at 37°C through its ability to bind directly to the f9 promoter region. F9 fimbriae expression was demonstrated at 20°C, representing the first evidence of functional F9 fimbriae expression by wild-type E. coli. Finally, glycan array analysis demonstrated that F9 fimbriae recognise and bind to terminal Galβ1-3GlcNAc structures

Expression of F9 fimbriae is temperature-dependent.

<p>(A) Western blot analysis of wild-type CFT073 and isogenic <i>f9</i> null-mutants cultured at various temperatures. The F9 specific antiserum reacts with the F9 mature major subunit protein (∼18.3 kDa) in over-expressing strain CFT073<i>f9</i> (pF9). No expression is observed in wild-type CFT073 when cultured at 37°C or 28°C. F9 expression is observed in CFT073 at 20°C, and lost again in isogenic null-mutant CFT073<i>f9</i>, illustrating the temperature dependent regulation of F9 fimbriae in UPEC. The mature F9 major subunit (MS) is indicated by an arrow. The 22 kDa higher molecular weight cross-reacting band detected from CFT073 following growth at 20°C is consistent with the size of the unprocessed F9 major subunit protein. TEM micrograph of CFT073<i>Δ4</i> (B) and CFT073<i>Δ4 f9</i> (C) labelled with immunogold anti-F9 serum after growth at 20°C. Scale bars (500 nm).</p

F9 fimbriae mediate biofilm formation in UPEC CFT073 at 20°C.

<p>PVC microtitre plate biofilm formation assay of CFT073 and isogenic <i>f9</i> null mutants cultured in M9 medium at 20°C. The optical density (OD) at 595 nm (mean ± SD) is an indication of biofilm formation. CFT073 formed a significantly stronger biofilm in comparison to the isogenic <i>f9</i> null mutant. The strong biofilm phenotype was restored by complementation of the <i>f9</i> deletion mutant with the F9 expression vector pF9 but not with the empty vector pBAD. * Statistically significant (<i>P</i><0.001).</p