Financial Literacy: What Are Business Schools Teaching?

The financial illiteracy of Americans has attracted the attention and funds of more than 10 federal agencies and countless other state agencies and non-profit organizations. The manifestations of poor financial skills and planning are divorce, depression, and many elderly Americans living in poverty. Hundreds of business and non-business college students have been surveyed. Both groups were found to be financially illiterate. We examined the curricula of 100 AACSB institutions and concluded that business schools are either not offering fundamental courses in personal financial planning or that the courses are not generally available to business students (for credit) or non-business students. It is ironic that college students are graduating with the required 60 credits in the liberal arts, but are not required to pass a course in personal finance. We feel strongly that it is time for business faculty, specifically finance faculty, to argue that being financially literate is as important as being literate in English and the sciences

Minor salivary gland sialolithiasis: a clinical diagnostic challenge

Sialolithiasis is a non-neoplastic salivary gland disease that rarely affects the minor salivary glands. There are no guidelines in the literature which can suggest which is the best surgical approach to treat Minor Salivary Glands Sialolithiasis (MSGL). The present case was of a 48-year-old male patient complaining of painful swelling localized in the left back-commissural zone which was 0.5 mm in diameter, for which surgical enucleation approach was done and in that some small calcific masses ranging from 0.2 to 4 mm in diameter were found. They were surrounded by granulation tissue and associated with small pus oozing. Histopathological examination was carried out leading to a final diagnosis of MSGL

Computation of Madelung Energies for Ionic Crystals of Variable Stoichiometries and Mixed Valencies and their application in Lithium-ion battery voltage modelling

Electrostatic energy (Madelung energy) is a major constituent of the cohesive energy of ionic crystals. Several physicochemical properties of these materials depend on the response of their electrostatic energy to a variety of applied thermal, electrical and mechanical stresses. In the present study, a method has been developed based on Ewalds technique, to compute the electrostatic energy arising from ion-ion interactions in ionic crystals like LixMn2O4 with variable stoichiometries and mixed valencies. An interesting application of this method in computing the voltages of lithium ion batteries employing spinel cathodes is presented for the first time. The advantages of the present method of computation over existing methods are also discussed.Comment: 15 page

Unfolding simulations reveal the mechanism of extreme unfolding cooperativity in the kinetically stable alpha-lytic protease.

Kinetically stable proteins, those whose stability is derived from their slow unfolding kinetics and not thermodynamics, are examples of evolution's best attempts at suppressing unfolding. Especially in highly proteolytic environments, both partially and fully unfolded proteins face potential inactivation through degradation and/or aggregation, hence, slowing unfolding can greatly extend a protein's functional lifetime. The prokaryotic serine protease alpha-lytic protease (alphaLP) has done just that, as its unfolding is both very slow (t(1/2) approximately 1 year) and so cooperative that partial unfolding is negligible, providing a functional advantage over its thermodynamically stable homologs, such as trypsin. Previous studies have identified regions of the domain interface as critical to alphaLP unfolding, though a complete description of the unfolding pathway is missing. In order to identify the alphaLP unfolding pathway and the mechanism for its extreme cooperativity, we performed high temperature molecular dynamics unfolding simulations of both alphaLP and trypsin. The simulated alphaLP unfolding pathway produces a robust transition state ensemble consistent with prior biochemical experiments and clearly shows that unfolding proceeds through a preferential disruption of the domain interface. Through a novel method of calculating unfolding cooperativity, we show that alphaLP unfolds extremely cooperatively while trypsin unfolds gradually. Finally, by examining the behavior of both domain interfaces, we propose a model for the differential unfolding cooperativity of alphaLP and trypsin involving three key regions that differ between the kinetically stable and thermodynamically stable classes of serine proteases

High-efficiency Dc to Dc Converter-regulators

High efficiency dc to dc converter regulators for spacecraft power suppl

PERFORMANCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF CHICKENS WITH DIFFERENT GROWING RATE REARED ACCORDING TO THE ORGANIC SYSTEM

The performance and the behaviour of three different chicken strains, reared according to the EEC-Regulation 1804/1999 organic system, were compared. The strains had very slow (Robusta maculata), slow (Kabir) and fast (Ross) growing rates, respectively. The trial was carried out on 200 chickens (male and female) per strain. Rearing lasted 81 days as required by the EEC Regulations. At slaughter age, 20 birds per group were killed. Robusta maculata and Kabir chickens showed more intense walking activity and better foraging aptitude; their antioxidant capacity was also superior. Ross chickens had a good growth rate and feed conversion index, reaching an excellent body weight, but the mortality and the culling rate were high indicating that fast-growing strains do not adapt well to organic production. Robusta maculata showed the worst productive performance although the mortality was low and Kabir birds gave intermediate results. The carcass traits were the best in Ross and the poorest in Robusta maculata. Male chickens were heavier and leaner than females

MEAT QUALITY OF THREE CHICKEN GENOTYPES REARED ACCORDING TO THE ORGANIC SYSTEM

The meat quality of three poultry genotypes with differing growth rates (fast-growing Ross; medium and slow growing Kabir and Robusta maculata, respectively) was compared. All the birds were reared according to the organic production system which requires a paddock with grass pasture (4 m2/bird) and a slaughter age greater than 81 d. The trial was carried out on 100 female chickens per strain. The meat quality was affected by the 20 different degree of maturity of the strains at slaughter age, which was 70% for Ross, 52 % for Kabir and 78% for Robusta maculata. Ross and Kabir were slaughtered at 81 d, whereas Robusta maculata, required 120 d to reach a commercial weight (>2 kg). The meat of all the three genotypes showed good qualitative traits. The main differences of the three genotypes regarded moisture, lipid, pHu, colour, iron, oxidative stability and overall acceptance. Compared with Kabir and Robusta maculata Ross meat had more fat, lower pHu and iron, and was 25 paler. The oxidative stability during display (24-96 h at 4° C) and acceptance were the worst. Kabir chickens, being the least mature strain, had the highest moisture content with a high cooking loss. The slower-growing genotypes showed a good adaptation to the extensive rearing conditions, while the fast-growing genotype showed unbalanced muscle response to the greater activity and the oxidative stability of the meat was reduced