Investment climate and regional development in the Philippines

This paper examines the Philippines' investment climate in its many dimensions, relating these to the performance of the economy at the national, regional, and provincial levels. The central thesis is that the economy's slow growth over the past two decades or more can be attributed in large measure to its poor investment climate that constricted capital formation and hampered the productivity improvements and competitiveness of firms; by extension, the differential development of regional and provincial economies can be explained by, among other factors, differences in their investment climates. From a cross-country comparative perspective, the Philippines appears to rate quite poorly in terms of a number of investment climate dimensions, including entry and exit of firms, regulatory burden and corruption, and infrastructure. These macro-level observations are largely corroborated by the results of more rigorous analysis of micro (firm-level) and provincial and regional data. The paper concludes that addressing the deficiencies of the investment climate, complemented by other relevant policy reforms, at the national and local levels, would significantly contribute to enhancing the economy's productivity and long-run growth, as well as raise the performance of the lagging regions towards the level of the leading regions

Living a Holistic and Integrated Life: Ignatian Spirituality and Conscience in the Public Sphere

At the core of the human being is a longing to live a meaningful and integrated life. In an effort to understand what the integrated life entails, this thesis compares theological, legal, and spiritual sources in order to understand the practical human faculty known as the conscience. The interdisciplinary dialogue is significant because it takes into account the multiple facets of conscience and how it relates to decision-making. The comparison between these different sources reveals the necessary balancing between an individual’s internal and external worlds. This thesis also demonstrates the inherent relationality of the human being and the importance of an individual’s membership in his or her communities. Although the journey towards a holistic and integrated life is complex, this thesis frames the important questions relating to the conscience so that an individual can seriously work towards living a holistic and integrated life

Mitigating nurse-workplace violence: An evidence-based approach

Workplace violence in healthcare is an emerging national issue that needs to be stopped. It is everyone\u27s responsibility to solve this issue. Nurses want to practice without the danger of assault, and it\u27s costly for hospitals to replace nurses who leave due to injury and burnout

Haptoglobin frequencies in Jewish communities *

Haptoglobin and transferrin types have been determined by starch gel electrophoresis on blood from 929 subjects belonging to various Jewish communities. The frequency of the Hp 1 gene in 499 Ashkenazic Jews is 0.29 and does not differ significantly from the value of 0–26 found in 345 Jews of Oriental origin. The Hp 1 frequency of Ashkenazic Jews is significantly lower than that reported for the autochthonous populations of Central and Western Europe. Two small samples collected among Sephardic Jews and among the offspring of intercommunity marriages exhibit somewhat higher frequencies of the Hp 1 gene. The modified 2-1 phenotype was found in a single subject from Baghdad. There were three cases of ahaptoglobinaemia among Ashkenazic Jews and three among the Oriental groups. No ahaptoglobinaemia was discovered in a family sample of ninety-two Jews from Kurdistan among whom thalassaemia minor was common and the majority of whom were affeeted with G-6-P-D deficiency. All transferrins were of type C.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66130/1/j.1469-1809.1962.tb01307.x.pd

Determining School and Home Environment Factors Associated with Academic Productivity among Senior High School Students in a BlendFlex Set-up

Academic productivity is correlated with various factors surrounding the student, particularly in the workspace environment. However, the environment in some respective homes of students is not upheld to a certain standard and is underutilized as a factor for academic success. As a result, this lack of attention from the students, educators, and parents could disrupt the productivity of students, which would eventually impact students\u27 academic achievement. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to determine the various environmental factors that impact the academic productivity among Senior High School students under a BlendFlex set-up. The researchers then utilized a quantitative approach by creating a BOSSA time-lapsed IEQ-inspired survey questionnaire answered by 100 participants–divided into two sets (home and school environment) of four environmental factors. After gathering the necessary data, it was revealed that there is a direct correlation between workspace cleanliness and academic productivity in such a way that as levels of tidiness increase, so does productivity. Finally, the researchers discovered that privacy and tranquillity were the highest factors that positively correlate to a student’s academic productivity, proving the increased effectiveness of students when studying in secluded and private library areas

The statistics of identifying differentially expressed genes in Expresso and TM4: a comparison

BACKGROUND: Analysis of DNA microarray data takes as input spot intensity measurements from scanner software and returns differential expression of genes between two conditions, together with a statistical significance assessment. This process typically consists of two steps: data normalization and identification of differentially expressed genes through statistical analysis. The Expresso microarray experiment management system implements these steps with a two-stage, log-linear ANOVA mixed model technique, tailored to individual experimental designs. The complement of tools in TM4, on the other hand, is based on a number of preset design choices that limit its flexibility. In the TM4 microarray analysis suite, normalization, filter, and analysis methods form an analysis pipeline. TM4 computes integrated intensity values (IIV) from the average intensities and spot pixel counts returned by the scanner software as input to its normalization steps. By contrast, Expresso can use either IIV data or median intensity values (MIV). Here, we compare Expresso and TM4 analysis of two experiments and assess the results against qRT-PCR data. RESULTS: The Expresso analysis using MIV data consistently identifies more genes as differentially expressed, when compared to Expresso analysis with IIV data. The typical TM4 normalization and filtering pipeline corrects systematic intensity-specific bias on a per microarray basis. Subsequent statistical analysis with Expresso or a TM4 t-test can effectively identify differentially expressed genes. The best agreement with qRT-PCR data is obtained through the use of Expresso analysis and MIV data. CONCLUSION: The results of this research are of practical value to biologists who analyze microarray data sets. The TM4 normalization and filtering pipeline corrects microarray-specific systematic bias and complements the normalization stage in Expresso analysis. The results of Expresso using MIV data have the best agreement with qRT-PCR results. In one experiment, MIV is a better choice than IIV as input to data normalization and statistical analysis methods, as it yields as greater number of statistically significant differentially expressed genes; TM4 does not support the choice of MIV input data. Overall, the more flexible and extensive statistical models of Expresso achieve more accurate analytical results, when judged by the yardstick of qRT-PCR data, in the context of an experimental design of modest complexity