A synthesis of the echinoderm fauna of the Maltese Islands

A review of existing literature records of echinoderms from Malta and a study of a large collection of specimens was carried out between 2000 and 2004 so as to update and produce a validated checklist of echinoderms occurring in Maltese waters. Seventy different species of echinoderms are recorded, including a number of species for which only single records exist for the Maltese islands and five species that were not found in the present study. The Maltese echinoderm fauna includes 45% of the 153 recorded Mediterranean echinoderm species, and apart from two aliens, is typical of the central Mediterranean region.peer-reviewe

Kajian Efisiensi Bank Umum Syariah di Indonesia

The aim of this study is to measure the efficiency of Islamic Bank in Indonesia and to analyze the factors that affect the level of efficiency. The objects of this study are ten Islamic Bank (BUS) in Indonesia which analyzes from the second quarter of 2012 until the first quarter of 2016. There are three method which are used in this study, two in first stage, namely non parametric method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and parametric method of Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) then the second stage is Tobit estimaton. Overall, the results showed that the efficiency level of Islamic banks in Indonesia during the time period in this study have not reached the optimum level of efficiency yet. Tobit estimation showed that total financing, total wadiah funds, CAR, ROE, total overhead cost significantly affect the Islamic bank`s efficiency in Indonesia

EVALUASI PENGENDALIAN INTERN PENGADAAN BERAS PADA PERUSAHAAN UMUM BADAN URUSAN LOGISTIK KANTOR WILAYAH SULAWESI UTARA DAN GORONTALO

Perkembangan dunia semakin modern sehingga sangat membutuhkan pengendalian intern dalam perusahaan agar dapat berjalan sebagaimana mestinya. Perum Bulog Kanwil Sulawesi Utara dan Gorontalo dalam pengadaan harus meningkatkan pengendalian internal untuk mencapai tujuan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk pengendalian intern pengadaan beras Perum Bulog Kanwil Sulawesi Utara dan Gorontalo dengan COSO. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu metode deskriptif kualitatif dengan menggunakan wawancara dan dokumentasi sebagai pengumpulan data. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukan bahwa kelima komponen pengendalian intern yang telah di tetapkan Perum Bulog Kanwil Sulawesi Utara dan Gorontalo sudah efektif dan sesuai dengan pengendalian intern COSO.Kata Kunci: Evaluasi, Pengendalian Intern, Pengadaan Beras

Efisiensi Asuransi Syariah di Indonesia dengan Pendekatan Data Envelopment Analysis

The purpose of this study is to estimate the efficiency level of Islamic insurance companies in Indonesia. The data used are taken from each financial report of 14 Islamic life insurance companies and 12 Islamic general insurance in the period 2013-2015. Efficiency score estimation is done by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. There are three input variables, namely asset, load, claim payment and two output variables, namely income and tabarru\u27 funds obtained. The results show that islamic life insurance and islamic general insurance companies in Indonesia have not been operating efficiently

Spectral energy distributions and age estimates of 40 massive young stellar objects

In this paper, we present the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 40 massive young stellar objects (YSOs), detected from the NIR imaging survey carried out by Varricatt et al. 2010 and estimated their ages and masses. The SEDs of YSOs in 40 massive star forming regions have been reconstructed using 2MASS, MSX, IRAS, IRAC & MIPS, SCUBA, WISE, SPIRE and IRAM data, partly available from previous works, using the on-line SED Fitting tool (SED Fitter) developed by Robitaille et al. 2006, 2007. Apart from IRAS catalogue fluxes, the fluxes in the Mid-IR and sub-mm/mm were derived directly from the images. With the help of the analysis of SEDs, we have extracted important physical and structural parameters for each of the massive young stellar objects, along with the associated circumstellar disk and envelope. The cumulative distribution of the stellar ages and masses of the massive YSOs lead to a scenario for the formation history of massive stars in their respective star forming regions

Modelling reaction time distribution of fast decision tasks in schizophrenia: Evidence for novel candidate endophenotypes

Increased reaction time (RT) and variability of RT in fast decision tasks is observed in patients with schizophrenia and their first degree relatives. This study used modelling of the RT distribution with the aim of identifying novel candidate endophenotypes for schizophrenia. 20 patients with schizophrenia, 15 siblings of patients and 25 healthy controls performed an oddball task of varying working memory load. Increases in mean and standard deviation (SD) of RT were observed for both patients and siblings compared to controls and they were again independent of working memory load. Ex-Gaussian modelling of the RT distribution confirmed that parameters mu, sigma and tau increased significantly in patients and siblings compared to controls. The Drift Diffusion Model was applied on RT distributions. A decrease in the diffusion drift rate (v) modeling the accumulation of evidence for reaching the decision to choose one stimulus over the other, was observed in patients and siblings compared to controls. The mean time of the non-decisional sensorimotor processes (t0) and it's variance (st0) was also increased in patients and siblings compared to controls. In conclusion modeling of the RT distribution revealed novel potential cognitive endophenotypes in the quest of heritable risk factors for schizophrenia

The electrochemical determination of formaldehyde in aqueous media using nickel modified electrodes

Abstract Glassy carbon (GC) electrodes were modified with nickel metal via a simple deposition procedure, followed by enrichment of the nickel in a potassium hydroxide solution to deliver the catalytic nickel hydroxide species (Ni(OH)2). In solutions of 1 M KOH, the nickel modified GC electrode (Ni-GC) contained a reproducible detection limit of the order of 1.1 × 10−5 M for formaldehyde additions. This is comparable and, in many cases, surpasses, platinum group metal modified electrodes. The potentiometric analytical method also allowed for the accurate determination of “unknown” formaldehyde concentrations, over a linear range of 1 × 10−5–1 × 10−3 M and a sensitivity of 22.7± 3.8 μA/mM. Furthermore, the Ni-GC electrode showed negligible response to formate and methanol, even when they were present in concentrations 10 times greater than the formaldehyde. The electrochemical performance was compared to a simple colorimetric approach to formaldehyde determination, wherein a detection limit of 6 × 10−6 M was obtained