What factors influence scientific and technological output: The case of Thailand and Malaysia

The paper aims to examine the factors that impact scientific outputs and technological outcomes in two Asian countries, Malaysia and Thailand. Using a survey instrument sent to young scientists in these two countries, we find that devoting a higher proportion of time to teaching, which we associate with career maturity, raising a greater proportion of research funds from international sources and collaborating more often at the national level are the main factors that influence research output. In addition, the survey shows that men are slightly more prolific than women in terms of research output, but the difference is not statistically significant. Moreover, once we account for a variety of factors that influence scientific production, our research does not give credence to the common argument that female researchers are less prolific, with one exception, however, women who have more children are less productive than their male counterparts

Effects of reduced shoreline erosion on Chesapeake Bay water clarity

Shoreline erosion supplies sediments to estuaries and coastal waters, influencing water clarity and primary production. Globally, shoreline erosion sediment inputs are changing with anthropogenic alteration of coastlines in populated regions. Chesapeake Bay, a prime example of such a system where shoreline erosion accounts for a large proportion of sediments entering the estuary, serves here as a case study for investigating the effects of changing sediment inputs on water clarity. Long-term increases in shoreline armoring have contributed to decreased erosional sediment inputs to the estuary, changing the composition of suspended particles in surface waters. This study examined the impact of shoreline erosion on water clarity using a coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical model. Experiments were conducted to simulate realistic shoreline conditions representative of the early 2000s, increased shoreline erosion, and highly armored shorelines. Together, reduced shoreline erosion and the corresponding reduced rates of resuspension result in decreased concentrations of inorganic particles, improving water clarity particularly in the lower Bay and in dry years where/when riverine sediment influence is low. This clarity improvement relaxed light limitation, which increased organic matter production. Differences between the two extreme experiments revealed that in the mid-estuary in February-April, surface inorganic suspended sediment concentrations decreased 3-7 mg L-1, while organic suspended solids increased 1-3 mg L-1. The resulting increase in the organic-to-inorganic ratio often had opposite effects on clarity according to different metrics, improving clarity in mid-Bay central channel waters in terms of light attenuation depth, but simultaneously degrading clarity in terms of Secchi depth because the resulting increase in organic suspended solids decreased the water’s transparency. This incongruous water clarity effect, the spatial extent of which is defined here as an Organic Fog Zone, was present in February-April in all years studied, but occurred farther south in wet years

1963

Trees for a Beautiful Golf Course by Philip Scott (page 1) The Golf Course\u27s Worst Enemy by Charles Amorim and Hal Haskell (2) Message from the President by James f. Gilligan (2) Turf Management Club News (3) Quotes from 1962 Freshman (4) When I consider How my Night is Spent Leonard Mailloux(5) Protection of a Golf Course by Pay Lucas Jr. (6) Safety - The Superintendents\u27 Responsibility by Gerald Peters (7) Picture - Senior Stockbridge Turf Majors (8) Picture - Freshmen Stockbridge Turf Majors (9) Kansas - In the Transition Zone by Carl Beer (10 Seeds by Don Daigle (11) Picture - Dean F. P. Jeffrey, Dr. W.G. Colby and Director J. R. Beattie (12) Picture - Graduates of Winter School for Turf Managers - 1963 (13) The Effect of Last Year\u27s Weather Upon This Year\u27s Incidence of Turf Insects by John C. Schread (A-1) Labor-Management Relations by Mortimer H. Gavin S.J. (A-4) Massachusetts Labor Laws by Andrew C. SInclair (A-7) Golf Course Budget by John Espey (A-10) Golf Course Budgets by Robert St. Thomas (A-12) Purpose & Method of Budgeting by Leon St. Pierre (A-13) The Committee Chairman, His Duties by Charles Connelly (A-16) Long-range vs. Short-range Planning by George Farber (A-18) The Golf Course Superintendent, His Duties by Sherwood Moore (A-20) The Budget by Leo Kowalski (A-25) Public Relations by Leon St. Pierre (A-26) A Study of WIlt by Harry Meusal (A-28) Specifications for a Method of Putting Green Construction by Alexander Radko (A-33) Management of Kentucky Bluegrass & Grass Mixtures for Turf by F.V. Juska (A-38) What\u27s New in Fertilizers by Geoffrey S. Cornish (A-40) Methylene Ureas by Harvey Stangel (A-42) Plastic Coated Fertilizers by Louis I. Hansen (A-44) The Role of Sewage Sludge by James Latham Jr. (A-49) The Role of Ureaforms in the Turf Fertilizer Industry by Robert T. Miller (A-51) Why Low Phosphorus & Higher Potassium by L. J. Sullivan (A-55) Uptake of Potassium by Evangel Bredakis (A-59) Responsibility of Industry & Community in Land Usage & Plantings by Joseph L. Beasley (A-61) Turf & Other Planting Problems by H. Thurston Handley Jr. (A-65) Weeds & Diseases by Dominic Marini (A-67) General Maintenacne & Equipment by Lewis Hodgkinson (A-68) Fertilizer Problems by William J. Bennett (A-70) Lawn Construction & Insect Problems by herbert C. Fordham (A-71

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia