Performance assessment of Russian homeowners associations : The importance of being social

Performance of Russian homeowners associations – non-profits established to manage common property in residential housing – is assessed using the stochastic frontier technique, which is a powerful tool of productivity analysis. Performance variations are explained by physical and social factors, prominent among them is the availability of social capital among tenants, required to resolve collective action problems and ensure accountability of managing bodies and outside contractors. Lack of civic capacity could be an obstacle to implementing community-governance solutions in residential housing, making homeowners associations dysfunctional or prone to capture by vested interests.homeowners associations; non-profit organizations; common property; stochastic frontier; social capital

Studies on the formation of cortical circuits

Zu den höheren kognitiven Fähigkeiten des menschlichen Neokortex gehören abstraktes Denken, komplexes Verstehen, Sprache und Lernfähigkeit. Die Bildung der Großhirnrinde beginnt in der mittleren Phase der Embryogenese und ist ein hochgradig organisierter und streng regulierter Prozess. Durch asymmetrische Teilung neuronaler Stammzellen entstehen unreife Neuronen, die im Anschluss an ihre Migration ihre spezifische Position innerhalb des Cortex einnehmen. Der korrekte Erwerb der axonalen Morphologie und die Spezifizierung des Dendritenbaums bilden die Grundlage für die Etablierung der kortikalen Konnektivität. Diese morphologischen Merkmale werden durch intrinsische genetische Programme der postmitotischen Differenzierung kodiert sowie durch entwicklungsbedingte Einflüsse im extrazellulären Milieu reguliert. Das im endoplasmatischen Retikulum lokalisierte Inositol-Requiring Enzyme 1α (Ire1α) ist einer der Hauptregulatoren der entfalteten Proteinantwort. In dieser Studie zeigen wir, dass Ire1α für die Spezifizierung der Neurone der oberen Cortexschichten sowie den Erwerb der neuronalen Morphologie von zentraler Bedeutung ist, indem es mRNA-Translationsraten reguliert. Diese Arbeit zeigt auch, dass frühe und späte kortikale neuronale Vorläuferzellen sowie früh und spät geborene postmitotische Neurone unterschiedliche Translationsraten aufweisen, was auf differenzierte Anforderungen an die Proteom-Synthesemaschinerie bezüglich der Entwicklung der kortikalen Schichten hinweist. Störungen in allen Phasen der kortikalen Entwicklung, welche entweder auf Umweltfaktoren oder Genmutationen zurückzuführen sind, können zu einer abweichenden Physiologie der kortikalen Schaltkreise führen. Eine große Anzahl solcher Anomalien kann zu schweren neurologischen Erkrankungen wie Epilepsie oder komplexen Störungen mit Epilepsie wie Rett-Syndrom, Angelman-Syndrom, Mowat-Wilson-Syndrom, Lafora-Krankheit und/oder Kaufman-Okulozerebrofazial-Syndrom führen.Higher cognitive abilities of human neocortex comprise abstract thinking, complex comprehension, language and learning capacity. Formation of the cerebral cortex begins in the middle of embryogenesis and is a tightly organized and highly regulated process. Asymmetric divisions of neuronal stem cells give rise to immature neurons that migrate to consequently assume their specific position in the cortical plate. Correct acquisition of a single-axon morphology and specification of the dendritic tree complexity sets grounds for establishment of cortical connectivity. These morphological characteristics are encoded by intrinsic genetic programs of postmitotic differentiation and regulated by developmental cues in the extracellular milieu. Endoplasmic Reticulum resident Inositol-Requiring Enzyme 1α (Ire1α) is one of the main regulators of the unfolded protein response. In this study, we demonstrate that Ire1α is pivotal for specification of upper layer cortical neurons and the acquisition of the neuronal morphology by regulating mRNA translation rates. This work also shows that early and late cortical neuronal progenitors and early- and late-born postmitotic neurons exhibit different translation rates, indicative of the specific requirements for the proteome synthesis machinery for the development of cortical layers. Disturbances of any cortical developmental milestones due to either environmental factors or gene mutations may result in aberrant physiology of cortical circuits. High number of such abnormalities can lead to serious neurological diseases such as epilepsy or complex disorders with epilepsy such as Rett syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Mowat-Wilson syndrome, Lafora disease and/or Kaufman oculocerebrofacial syndrome. One major hypothesis of the causes of epilepsy links its molecular pathology to alterations in excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance in the neuronal networks

The Economic Value of the Precision Disease Management System for Anthracnose and Botrytis Fruit Rot for the Florida Strawberry Industry

The objective of this study was to examine the economic benefits associated with precision fungicide application system for Florida strawberry production. Given the weather and disease forecast system developed by the University of Florida researchers (Peres, 2010a , strawberry growers can potentially 1) reduce fungicide application rates during cool and dry conditions without affecting yields, thus reducing production costs; or 2) apply fungicide at the precise time of high disease pressure during warm and wet weather, therefore, decreasing disease development and spread, and increasing the yields and profits.fungicide application reduction, precision disease management system, strawberry, effect on yield, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

Estimating the innovations impact on country’s economic welfare

The article describes estimating method of innovation impact on welfare of country Applied within the method model represents the translog function for GDP per capita, which describing parameters contain, along with «clas-sic» macro-indicators, innovative development indicators of country Constructed by principal component method innovative development indicators approximate innovativeness of two production factors — labor resources of country and its capital Calculations are based on International Institute for Management Development annual data Implied for several countries’ clusters the model reveals the dependence and the impact of arrangements for in-creasing country’s innovativeness on its welfareGDP; translog function; innovation; principal component method; pooled model; cluster; test Chow

Characteristics of acute intoxications with regard to capacity for effective doctor-patient communication and competent informed decisions

Introduction: Altered mental status caused by certain acute poisonings creates barriers for effective doctor-patient communication and compromises the process of informed consent (IC) for treatment. A categorization of toxicological patients with regard to communication capacity would be helpful for practical purposes.Aim: This article has the following aims:characterization of toxicology patients with mental status altered by poisoning according to the etiology of intoxication;discussion of the impact of cerebral toxic syndrome on the capacity for effective communication between the doctor and the patient and for IC.Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of the medical documentation of 2088 patients with acute intoxications, treated in the Clinic of Intensive Treatment of Acute Intoxications and Toxicoallergies at Naval Hospital, Varna during the 2010–2013 period: case files, IC forms, was conducted. The R program package, version 3.4.2 (2017-09-28), was used for statistics.Results: Toxic cerebral syndrome was found in 966 cases of acute intoxication, 46% of all patients, with especially high percentages in the medicament, alcohol, and narcotics intoxication groups. Regaining lucid mental state was observed within 1 hour in 21.9% of patients, and for the rest, it took from 2 hours to 7 days. Only 1211 patients, or 58%, signed the admission IC form themselves.Conclusion: Characterization of acute intoxications with regard to capacity for effective doctor-patient communication is necessary because of the great percentage of patients with cerebrotoxic syndrome. Good knowledge of the specificity of toxicology patients and good communication skills of physicians can help the proper process of informed decisions of the patient

Stochastic frontier in non-profit associations’ performance assessment (the case of homeowners’ associations)

The paper demonstrates the potential of the stochastic frontier-based methods of performance assessment of non-profit associations. They are commonly used for productivity analysis and could serve as an adequate tool for such assessment, especially when dealing with numerous non-profits pursuing identical and clearly identified objectives. A case in point is homeowners associations (HOA), which are formed within apartment buildings to manage common property. Data was collected by a survey of 82 HOAs in Russia’s national capital Moscow and a large industrial city of Perm. Different techniques and robust checks are applied, exogenous parameters that influence HOA efficiency are revealed. Among those, physical conditions of the housing stock and ability of tenants to resolve the collective action problem in operating housing infrastructure were shown to be of primary importance. Overall, HOA, despite of their appeal and successful performance in developed nations, are not necessarily a superior option in countries and societies where civic capacity is in short supply, and housing stock suffers from wear and tearstochastic frontier; non-profit organizations; homeowners associations; social capital; housing and communal services reform

Performance assessment of Russian homeowners associations : The importance of being social

Performance of Russian homeowners associations – non-profits established to manage common property in residential housing – is assessed using the stochastic frontier technique, which is a powerful tool of productivity analysis. Performance variations are explained by physical and social factors, prominent among them is the availability of social capital among tenants, required to resolve collective action problems and ensure accountability of managing bodies and outside contractors. Lack of civic capacity could be an obstacle to implementing community-governance solutions in residential housing, making homeowners associations dysfunctional or prone to capture by vested interests

Performance assessment of Russian homeowners associations : The importance of being social

Performance of Russian homeowners associations – non-profits established to manage common property in residential housing – is assessed using the stochastic frontier technique, which is a powerful tool of productivity analysis. Performance variations are explained by physical and social factors, prominent among them is the availability of social capital among tenants, required to resolve collective action problems and ensure accountability of managing bodies and outside contractors. Lack of civic capacity could be an obstacle to implementing community-governance solutions in residential housing, making homeowners associations dysfunctional or prone to capture by vested interests