Foreign aid, women in parliament and corruption: empirical evidence from the 2000s

Using data for the 2000s, this paper explores the impact of foreign aid and the percentage of women in parliament on corruption. In doing so, it combines the aid – corruption literature with the literature that addresses the impact of gender on corruption. We also inquire if aid is more effective in countries with a larger participation of women in parliament. We find that neither aid nor the percentage of women in parliament affects perceived corruption in a significant way. Moreover, the impact of aid on corruption does not seem to be affected by the share of women in parliament.On the other hand,a long-established democracy is consistently found to be significant in affecting corruption.Our results are robust to various specifications, alternative measures of corruption and use of estimation techniques.Foreign aid, women in parliament, corruption

Education in Pediatrics in US Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy

Objective. To determine the extent to which pediatrics is taught at US doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs and to characterize what is being taught and how. Methods. A 40-question online survey instrument was sent to accredited and candidate-status US PharmD programs. Results. Of 86 participating programs (67.2% response rate), 81 (94.2%) indicated that pediatric topics were included in their required classroom curricula (mean, 21.9 contact hours). A pediatric elective course was offered by 61.0% of programs (mean, 25.9 contact hours). Advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs) in pediatrics were offered by 97.4% of programs, with an average of 27 students per program completing this practice experience annually. Conclusions. Almost all responding programs incorporated pediatrics in their required curricula. Pediatric elective courses provided an adequate mean number of contact hours, but 39.0% of programs did not offer an elective course. One-fifth of students completed a pediatric APPE prior to graduation. Continued expansion of pediatric-focused classroom and experiential curricula across US PharmD programs is recommended

A field compensated Michelson spectrometer for the visible region

Imperial Users onl

Poesía y filosofía en los sofistas

This paper examines the relationship between poetry and philosophy in the sophists, asking what role earlier traditions of poetry and song played in their work. The sophists’ influence on various genres of literature and philosophy is widely acknowledged, but, as this paper shows, the influence of earlier traditions of poetry and myth on their work was no less important. The paper demonstrates too how the sophists’ engagement with the poetic tradition, like that of the Presocratics, was geared primarily to serve their philosophical or didactic goals, even if the aesthetic benefits of poetic language and style were also appreciated and exploited. Moreover, the sophists recognized poetry’s important role in education, and their varied use of poetic language, style, and content in their own teaching was a continuation of this traditional aspect of poetry. In conclusion, the sophists’ work on rhetorical, political, and ethical issues engaged with, and was enriched by, the shared poetic culture of their time.Este artículo examina la relación entre poesía y filosofía en los sofistas, preguntando qué papel jugaron las tradiciones anteriores de poesía y canto en su obra. La influencia de los sofistas en varios géneros de literatura y filosofía es ampliamente reconocida, pero, como muestra este artículo, la influencia de las tradiciones anteriores de poesía y mito en su obra no fue menos importante. El artículo demuestra también cómo el compromiso de los sofistas con la tradición poética, como la de los presocráticos, se orientó principalmente en pos de sus objetivos filosóficos o didácticos, aun cuando los beneficios estéticos del lenguaje poético y del estilo también fueran apreciados y explotados. Los sofistas, además, reconocieron el importante papel de la poesía en la educación, y el uso variado del lenguaje poético, el estilo y el contenido en su propia enseñanza era una continuidad de ese aspecto tradicional de la poesía. En conclusión, la obra de los sofistas en cuestiones retóricas, políticas y éticas se relacionó y enriqueció con la cultura poética compartida de su tiempo

Fiber optic microphone having a pressure sensing reflective membrane and a voltage source for calibration purpose

A fiber optic microphone is provided for measuring fluctuating pressures. An optical fiber probe having at least one transmitting fiber for transmitting light to a pressure-sensing membrane and at least one receiving fiber for receiving light reflected from a stretched membrane is provided. The pressure-sensing membrane may be stretched for high frequency response. Further, a reflecting surface of the pressure-sensing membrane may have dimensions which substantially correspond to dimensions of a cross section of the optical fiber probe. Further, the fiber optic microphone can be made of materials for use in high temperature environments, for example greater than 1000 F. A fiber optic probe is also provided with a back plate for damping membrane motion. The back plate further provides a means for on-line calibration of the microphone

Siphonaptera Records and Host Associations From the Central and Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Fleas were collected from birds and mammals over a five year period in four upper peninsula counties. Identified specimens were compared to published records of distribution for the parasite species and its host species, and only those records which are new county distributions for host or parasite are listed. Four new host records for Michigan, four new flea distribution records for the upper peninsula, and 26 new county records are listed

Land use in rural New Zealand: spatial land use, land-use change, and model validation

Abstract Land is an important social and economic resource. Knowing the spatial distribution of land use and the expected location of future land-use change is important to inform decision makers. This paper documents and validates the baseline land-use maps and the algorithm for spatial land-use change incorporated in the Land Use in Rural New Zealand model (LURNZ). At the time of writing, LURNZ is the only national-level land-use model of New Zealand. While developed for New Zealand, the model provides an intuitive algorithm that would be straightforward to apply to different locations and at different spatial resolutions. LURNZ is based on a heuristic model of dynamic land-use optimisation with conversion costs. It allocates land-use changes to each pixel using a combination of pixel probabilities in a deterministic algorithm and calibration to national-level changes. We simulate out of sample and compare to observed data. As a result of the model construction, we underestimate the “churn” in land use. We demonstrate that the algorithm assigns changes in land use to pixels that are similar in quality to the pixels where land-use changes are observed to occur. We also show that there is a strong positive relationship between observed territorial-authority-level dairy changes and simulated changes in dairy area

Source unit on the history of aviation

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1949. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

An Analysis of Electronic Color Scanning Techniques for Application to the Dye Transfer Process

The dye transfer process is the photographic printing process used to produce the highest quality photographic prints to be submitted to printers for reproduction. Dye transfer prints are valued by advertising agencies for their highly saturated colors and ease of retouching. Photographers, museums, art galleries and collectors also value dye prints for the archival qualities. Dye transfer uses cyan, magenta, and yellow dyes to reproduce a color image. Photographic masking is used extensively for color correction, tone compression, and detail enhancement. The masks are projected with the original transparency to make continuous-tone separation negatives. Shallow-reliefgelatin positive-image matrices are made by exposure from light projected through the separation negatives. The matrices carry the dyes to the paper base for printing. The techniques used to produce the masks and separation negatives are so difficult, expensive, and imprecise that the future of the process is in jeopardy. Manufacturers of electronic color prepress systems and color separation labs would like to take over the market now served by the dye transfer labs. Existing computer graphics technology, however, cannot offer the same quality and capabilities. Electronic color scanners exist to simplify the photographic methods of masking and color separation. Electronic color scanning techniques techniques have reduced the time to produce color separations for printers from eight hours to thirty minutes. The amount of film used to make separations has been greatly reduced also. Analysis of electronic color scanning techniques could result in a similar savings of time and materials for dye transfer labs. Use of scanners to produce continuous-tone separation negatives for dye transfer would open a new market for scanner manufacturers and color separation labs. A less expensive method of producing dye transfer prints could allow a greater profit margin for the dye transfer labs and make the process more affordable for photographers. An experiment was conducted to determine if acceptable first -roll dye prints could be made from continuous-tone separations produced with a scanner. Comparison of the time and amount of materials required by the conventional photographic and scanner methods were made. Four judges with dye transfer process expertise determined that no significant differences of quality existed between a group of dye transfer prints produced by a conventional color separation method and a group produced by an electronic color scanning method. The hypothesis that separation negatives produced by electronic scanning will provide acceptable dye transfer prints that require minimal use of the printing controls, with greater consistency, than separation negatives produced by conventional photographic techniques for dye transfer prints was proved correct