Efficacy of a number of toxic baits and baiting against the voles, Microtus agrestis and Arvicola terrestris

The results from two series of control experiments against the voles, Microtus agrestis and Arvicola terrestris, are reported. In a series of field experiments in the 1970s, three acute toxicants (zinc phosphide, crimidine, and difluorpropanol) were tested against Microtus. Oifluorpropanol (Gliftor) was found to be the most effective, but no ready-made bait containing it was available. The performance of the crimidine bait (Kastrix) was good enough to fulfill the registration requirements, while the zinc phosphide bait (Myrax) failed to give acceptable results. In the second series (early 1980s) a brodifacoum bait (Klerat) was found to be as efficacious as the crimidine bait (Kastrix) against Microtus, and sufficiently effective against Arvicola, on which the crimidine bait does not work. The experiments with bromadiolone (Arvicolon) and flupropadine (M & B 36,892) against Microtus were discouraging; against Arvicola they were promising, though not yet conclusive. In future research, special attention should be paid not only to the screening of potential toxicants and bait formulations, but also to the study of the basic differences in the reactions of even closely related species to the baits and their active ingredients, as well as to the compensatory demographic responses of the target pest populations in cases of suboptimal performance of the bait in the field

Structural educational reform : evidence from a teacher's displacement program in Armenia

This paper reviews the experience of Armenia with the displacement of more than 7,000 teachers during 2003-07 as part of structural reforms in general education. In addition to supplementary severance payments, a variety of services were needed to address difficulties commonly experienced by displaced employees, including job search assistance and counseling services, provision of information on the labor market, on legal rights of job seekers, on services and service providers available, including training, relocation assistance, and so forth. The findings of the paper suggest that the staff rationalization program has resulted in significant efficiency gains: the student-teacher ratio increased from 10.8 in 2003 to 13.9 in 2006. The considerable reduction in staff positions has allowed the government to significantly increase nominal wages and salaries for teaching and non-teaching staff.Labor Markets,,Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Education For All

Employment services and active labor market programs in Eastern European and Central Asian countries

The objective of this paper is to look at employment services and labor market policies in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and identify key benefits and constraints of active labor market programs, as well as the main characteristics and features of successful policy interventions. Various policy options are discussed on how to enhance public employment services but also private employment agencies which might be relevant to and suitable for the countries in the region given their macroeconomic and labor market situation. Overall, this report recommends that greater resources will be needed for active labor market programs (ALMPs) in the future. However, the emphasis should be put on improving the design and effectiveness of ALMPs, rather than on increasing spending levels only.Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Markets and Market Access,Labor Management and Relations,Population Policies

Closed-Form Expressions for Irradiance from Non-Uniform Lambertian Luminaires Part I: Linearly-Varying Radiant Exitance

We present a closed-form expression for the irradiance at a point on a surface due to an arbitrary polygonal Lambertian lurninaire with linearly-varying radiant exitance. The solution consists of elementary functions and a single well-behaved special function that can be either approximated directly or computed exactly in terms of classical special functions such as Clausen's integral or the closely related dilogarithm. We first provide a general boundary integral that applies to all planar luminaires and then derive the closed-form expression that applies to arbitrary polygons, which is the result most relevant for global illumination. Our approach is to express the problem as an integral of a simple class of rational functions over regions of the sphere, and to convert the surface integral to a boundary integral using a generalization of irradiance tensors. The result extends the class of available closed-form expressions for computing direct radiative transfer from finite areas to differential areas. We provide an outline of the derivation, a detailed proof of the resulting formula, and complete pseudo-code of the resulting algorithm. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of our algorithm by comparison with Monte Carlo. While there are direct applications of this work, it is primarily of theoretical interest as it introduces much of the machinery needed to derive closed-form solutions for the general case of luminaires with radiance distributions that vary polynomially in both position and direction

Integrability for Nonlinear Time-Delay Systems

In this note, the notion of integrability is defined for 1-forms defined in the time-delay context. While in the delay-free case, a set of 1-forms defines a vector space, it is shown that 1-forms computed for time-delay systems have to be viewed as elements of a module over a certain non-commutative polynomial ring. Two notions of integrability are defined, strong and weak integrability, which coincide in the delay-free case. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given to check if a set of 1-forms is strongly or weakly integrable. To show the importance of the topic, integrability of 1-forms is used to characterize the accessibility property for nonlinear time-delay systems. The possibility of transforming a system into a certain normal form is also considered

Key characteristics of employment regulation in the Middle East and North Africa

This note provides a general background of the main features of labor regulation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and benchmarks them against international best practices. The note compiles information on available labor laws and other legal acts concerning employment protection regulation. Within the broader scope of labor regulation, and in order to assure regional comparability, information collected focuses on key issues in the labor law associated with commencing or terminating employment and during the period of employment (including maternity benefits). The main sources the data are the World Bank doing business 2010 and International Labour Organisation (ILO) databank. This note is a tool to provide policymakers and international organizations with a regional diagnose of how labor regulation affects labor market outcomes in MENA and inform client governments about strategic approaches to employment creation through labor policy and reform. This activity comes as a response to regional priorities in the context of the Arab World Initiative (AWI). One of the six strategic themes of the AWI focuses explicitly on employment creation as a top priority. Part of the World Bank's mandate under the AWI is to inform client governments about strategic approaches to employment creation through labor policy and reform.Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Labor Standards,Work&Working Conditions,Labor Management and Relations

Viiskümmend aastat intensiivravi algusest Eestis

Tänavu möödub 50 aastat intensiivravi algusest Eestis. Selle kasutuselevõtt seondub 1958. aasta suvel Eestis puhkenud suure lastehalvatustõve epideemiaga. Selle käigus haigestus kokku 991 haiget, neist 462 mitmesuguste halvatustega. Viimaste hulgas oli 73 haiget raskete hingamislihaste-halvatuste ja bulbaarsete häiretega. Epideemia haaras peamiselt Tartu, Elva, Otepää ja Põltsamaa ümbrust, aga haigeid oli ka mujal. Nende haigete peamiseks ravikeskuseks sai Tartu närvikliinik, arvukalt oli haigeid ka Tartu nakkushaiglas. Rakendati erakorralisi meetmeid. Tartu närvikliiniku kogu palatikorpus isoleeriti spetsiaalseks poliohaigete osakonnaks ja muud neuroloogilised haiged viidi siseosakonda. Juulist alates hakkasid saabuma ka raskete hingamishalvatustega haiged. Augustis koondati need ühte suuremasse palatisse ja nendega hakati sihipäraselt tegelema ning septembris moodustati ametlikult juba iseseisev struktuuriüksus – hingamiskeskus

Arstid ja alternatiivmeditsiin

Avalikkuses leiavad sageli käsitlemist mitmesugused ravitsemise viisid, mida ei saa seostada tavapärase tõenduspõhise arstliku tegevusega. Osa inimeste hulgas on need populaarsed ja arvatakse, et need annavad ka soodsaid tulemusi. Sageli toetavad seda ajakirjanduses ilmuvad lood. Eesti Arstide Liidu (EAL) eetikakomiteelt on küsitud selgitust, kuivõrd niisugune tegevus on seostatav igapäevase arstliku praktikaga. EAL eetikakomitee arutas seda probleemi koos Sotsiaalministeeriumi Tervishoiuametiga, kes litsentseerib arste ja korraldab järelevalvet arstide tegevuse üle. Arutelu näitas, et seoses arstide tegevusega on mitmeid probleeme, millele praegu ei ole ühest lahendust. Eesti Arst 2005; 84 (4): 294-29