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Business managers must create and keep records for decision-making. Yet doing so presents an obvious problem for those who manage illegal businesses: their records would make for powerful evidence in the hands of prosecutors. That problem raises a question--why would one knowingly create and keep such records when their mere existence risks detection and sanction? The answer, in short, is that the interaction of illicit activity's complexity and continuity compels recordkeeping. A business, including a criminal one, cannot be managed without adequate information about its operations, obligations, and condition. Just how complex and long-lived its affairs are will drive the scale and scope of its recordkeeping requirements. Beyond these high-level intuitions, this Article contributes a theory of how the trueness or falsity of criminal business records, as well as the organizational settings in which they occur, shape their managerial uses and associated criminal-legal risks. This theory in turn yields principles for deterring illicit activity in organizations. When such activity is the kind enabled by recordkeeping, it can be prevented, or at least mitigated, by policies that inhibit the production of business records. It can also be countered by policies that encourage those records' retention. Despite the contradiction implied by these two principles, together they promote ex ante deterrence and ex post detection and sanction. Although such interventions can be directed at any organizationally complex and long-lived illicit activity, their greatest promise is in informing compliance policies, practices, and programs in licit organizations (like large corporations) that already are obliged, or that seek, to proactively prevent law violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pacific fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus velifera), once the most abundant cetacean species in British Columbia (BC), were also one of the most heavily targeted by commercial whaling. Much of what we know about their phenology and ecology is from catch records, but their current status has not yet been summarized in Canadian waters. Here, we collated evidence from dedicated surveys, opportunistic sightings, and passive acoustic records that had not been reported before and reviewed them in the context of past data. This was to add new findings to what is known, and to establish if the population was showing signs of recovery. This is particularly relevant considering discussions of downlisting their population status in Canada from endangered to threatened. We then asked if this rebounding was consistent with what is known about pre-whaling presence and movement patterns, or if changes in whale distribution reflected altered oceanic regimes, prey availability, or increased anthropogenic pressures. The evidence suggested that fin whale populations in the northeast Pacific Ocean are repopulating areas along the BC coast recognized as part of their historic range. However, they are recovering in a different ocean than they were removed from, which makes them increasingly vulnerable to new anthropogenic threats. The sightings data suggested that, at least for the west coast of Vancouver Island, this repopulation has occurred over a relatively short period, with fin whales still absent from regular surveys as recent as the early 2000's. The recent acoustic recordings suggested their presence is not transitory, but that fin whales may be using locales along the BC coast for feeding and breeding activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was written in part to thank the ARSC for the generous award of a grant in spring 2024 to defray expenses whilst researching into British made 78 rpm and vinyl bell records.1 That it focuses on a subset of the 78 rpm record element is because, post-grant, which amongst other things allowed access to two major archives, it became more evident than previously that a relatively large number of privately produced change ringing 78s existed when compared to a relatively small number of change ringing--or indeed any bellringing--records produced by commercial labels. This paper documents attempts by the bellringers themselves to get their music, the result of their exercise2, onto record during the shellac era. The Discography includes all known privately produced church and other tower bell records, including recordings of carillons, plus records of change ringing performed on handbells. Most of these records will have been made in small numbers. Indeed, only two of the records listed were advertised in The Ringing World, the journal of the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR), though a handful more seem to have enjoyed at least some scale of wider distribution within the UK. Perhaps one of the most interesting discoveries made during research was a one-off disc3 made as a 90th birthday present for a bellringer's mother. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay stages an encounter between surveillance studies and the sociology of price and price formation. I argue that surveillance is integral to the calculative operations of retail price strategies, especially during periods of high inflation, and that these calculative operations hinge on the human infrastructure of a precarious data-collecting workforce. I present my argument through a case study of competitor price monitoring, a corporate surveillance practice in which commercial actors record, process, and transmit information on competitors' pricing, inventory, and display strategies. While pricing intelligence services like web-scraping and dynamic pricing algorithms are typically applied in e-commerce settings, I focus here on a firm that specializes in the collection of brick-and-mortar retail price data, with special attention to the labor practices involved in the manual (in-person, device-aided) production of retail price information at the national-industrial scale. Building on auto-ethnographic observations as a price data collector as well as analysis of employee reviews of the firm on sites like Indeed and Glassdoor, I argue that surveillance studies can contribute in significant ways to our understanding of the material practices, and politics, of price and price formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable site selection for the installation of solar power stations in urban areas is critical for the reason that one of the criteria parameters, aerosol pollution, which is a significant threat to the performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems, is happened to be varied place to place within and surrounding areas of the urban region. Therefore, the present work is an attempt to ascertain the potential reduction of solar power generation between a commercial and a background site in the urban region of Lucknow, India. Power generation of 125-kW/h capacities of solar PV modules is installed in two campuses (i.e., commercial region and background region) of a national research institute CSIR-IITR, Lucknow. Simultaneous on-site hourly particle pollution measurements for PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were captured using optical principle-based PALAS Frog Dust Analyzer for both locations from morning 7 AM to evening 5 PM during February 15–21, 2021 (i.e., Monday–Sunday). Mean concentrations of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were recorded for the commercial area as 47 µg/m3, 76 µg/m3, and 164 µg/m3, and in the background area as 20 µg/m3, 39 µg/m3, and 69 µg/m3, respectively. Despite the unchanged solar irradiance over the city, the power outputs of the solar power station located at the background area are found consistently higher than the power station at the commercial area as recorded atmospheric PM# levels at the commercial site are higher. Further, identified the deposition of dust particles on PV panels is gradually increased from clean-day to dusty-day, and this is relatively enhanced with higher level at commercial area than city background due to the load of coarse size particles in the ambient air and their instantaneous deposition on solar panels. Therefore, the loss of solar power output was found maximum of 17.2% and 6.17% in the commercial area and the background area, respectively. The study results revealed the importance of the selection of pollution-free sites for the effectiveness of energy generation by the solar power station in urban regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feed conversion ratio (FCR) is widely used as a measure of feed use efficiency in commercial aquaculture production and research. Surprisingly, little work has focused on the factors that affect FCR in plankton‐based, commercial ponds despite the widespread use of FCR as a production metric. Proposals to use FCR as a numeric standard for environmental regulation (mandatory or voluntary) raise questions as to whether FCR meets the reliability and consistency requirements of a good metric, and whether it would lead to desired behavioral changes. This article summarizes FCR data from university research verification programs conducted on US catfish farms and databases developed from commercial farm records. The relevant research literature is synthesized with respect to factors that affect FCR. US catfish is used as a case study because pond‐level data from verification trials (Extension/research‐led on‐farm trials of best available science) and commercial farm records are available. While specific to US catfish production, the analysis provides insights into factors affecting FCR that likely apply to other pond‐based aquaculture species. Commercial verification of pond data showed (1) significant variation in FCR (coefficients of variation from 1% to 47%) among ponds with similar stocking, feeding, and aeration rates; (2) significant effects of survival on FCR; and (3) no significant effects on FCR of yield, feed type, management, or production system. Improvements in FCR would occur with improved survival that requires improved management of federally protected fish‐eating bird populations and development of additional, effective vaccines for diseases. FCRs were found to not exhibit the degree of reliability and consistency required for use as an effective metric or numeric standard for regulatory purposes. Use of FCR for mandatory or voluntary regulation is unlikely to lead to behavioral changes by farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Danish fire loss dataset records commercial fire losses under three insurance coverages: building, contents, and profits. Existing research has primarily focused on the heavy-tail behaviour of the losses but ignored the relationship among different insurance coverages. In this paper, we aim to model the aggregate loss for all three coverages. To study the pairwise dependence of claims from all types of coverage, an independent model, a hierarchical model, and some copula-based models are proposed for the frequency component. Meanwhile, we applied composite distributions to capture the heavy-tailed severity component. It is shown that consideration of dependence for the multi-peril frequencies (i) significantly enhances model goodness-of-fit and (ii) provides more accurate risk measures of the aggregated losses for all types of coverage in total. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ray Wile (1923 - 2016) was a longtime and beloved member of ARSC and a pre-eminent authority and writer on the early days of sound recording. He was uniquely driven in his pursuit of the history of the early phonograph era, seeking out records of long forgotten entertainment, business and scientific personalities and entities. He was unfailingly generous with his discoveries, and contributed many key articles to the ARSC Journal and presentations at ARSC conferences. In a recent issue of the ARSC Newsletter, President Tim Brooks named Ray's 1985 article "Record Piracy" as one of his key works. It remains a unique contribution to the field, documenting the myriad schemes and methods of making and selling unauthorized copies of commercial recordings that have plagued the recording industry since its earliest days, even as advances in copyright law benefitted and protected other creators and manufacturers. It's all the more impressive when one realizes that there were no internet tools at the time, and one wonders how many coins he fed into library photocopiers, how many miles of microfilm he scrolled through and how many document requests he made. His source note on the five institutions who each held a portion of the complete run of The Phonogram speaks volumes about research in this era. And has anyone yet found the special preview issue of The Phonoscope that he mentions? This will be the first in an occasional series of reprints of articles from the ARSC Journal that represent unique contributions to the field. The original text has been retained with the same formatting of footnotes and endnotes, though it does not reflect the Journal's current formatting. All of the original illustrations have been reproduced, though they are now integrated into the text, rather than being grouped at the end, as in the original publication. Since then, others have built on this research, notably Allan Sutton and Kurt Nauck, who published "Early American Record Piracy" in the September/October, 2009 issue of Antique Phonograph News. More recently, Allan Sutton posted the article "Piracy and Counterfeiting in the Early American Record Industry" at www.mainspringpress.org. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ocular following responses (OFRs)—small-amplitude, short-latency reflexive eye movements—have been used to study visual motion processing, with potential diagnostic applications. However, they are difficult to record with commercial, video-based eye trackers, especially in children. Objective: We aimed to design and develop a noninvasive eye tracker specialized for measuring OFRs, trading off lower temporal resolution and a smaller range for higher spatial resolution. Methods: We developed a high-resolution eye-tracking system based on a high-resolution camera operating in the near-infrared spectral range, coupled with infrared illuminators and a dedicated postprocessing pipeline, optimized to measure OFRs in children. To assess its performance, we: (1) evaluated our algorithm for compensating small head movements in both artificial and real-world settings, (2) compared OFRs measured simultaneously by our system and a reference scleral search coil eye-tracking system, and (3) tested the system's ability to measure OFRs in a clinical setting with children. Results: The simultaneous measurement by our system and a reference system showed that our system achieved an in vivo resolution of approximately 0.06°, which is sufficient for recording OFRs. Head motion compensation was successfully tested, showing a displacement error of less than 5 μm. Finally, robust OFRs were detected in 16 children during recording sessions lasting less than 5 minutes. Conclusions: Our high-resolution, noninvasive eye-tracking system successfully detected OFRs with minimal need for subject cooperation. The system effectively addresses the limits of other OFR measurement methods and offers a versatile solution suitable for clinical applications, particularly in children, where eye tracking is more challenging. The system could potentially be suitable for diagnostic applications, particularly in pediatric populations where early detection of visual disorders like stereodeficiencies is critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a holographic sensor based on reflection holograms recorded in the commercial photopolymer Bayfol® HX 200. The recording geometry and index modulation of the hologram were optimised to improve accuracy for this specific application. The sensor was subjected to tests using various analytes, and it exhibited sensitivity to acetic acid and ethanol. The measurements revealed a correlation between the concentration of the analyte in contact with the sensor's surface and the resulting wavelength shift of the diffracted light. The minimum detectable concentrations were determined to be above 0.09 mol/dm3 for acetic acid and 5% (v/v) for ethanol. Notably, the sensors demonstrated a rapid response time. Given that ethanol serves as a base for alcoholic beverages, and acetic acid is commonly found in commercial vinegar, these sensors hold promise for applications in food quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of engaging with early sound recordings beyond their historical sound information, emphasizing their value as mediums for oral performance remediation. It highlights two books, one focusing on oral performance remediation and the other on the interpretation of Don Giovanni recordings. The text also explores changes in listening behaviors in the twenty-first century, pointing out challenges such as the decline in deep listening and attention span due to digital streaming. The books offer insights into historical performance practices and interpretation, encouraging readers to delve deeper into the world of sound recordings. [Extracted from the article]

Building automation systems installed in large commercial buildings record sub-hourly measurements from hundreds of sensors. The use of such large datasets are challenging because of missing and erroneous data, which can prevent the development of accurate prediction models of the performance of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment. The use of the transfer learning (TL) method for building applications attracted researchers to solve the problems created by small and incomplete datasets. This paper verifies the hypothesis that the deep neural network models that are pre-trained for one chiller (called the source chiller) with a small dataset of measurements from July 2013 could be applied successfully, by using TL strategies, for the prediction of the operation performance of another chiller (called the target chiller) with different datasets that were recorded during the cooling season of 2016. Measurements from a university campus are used as a case study. The results show that the initial hypothesis of this paper is confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annual increases in global energy consumption are an unavoidable consequence of a growing global economy and population. Among different sectors, the construction industry consumes an average of 20.1% of the world's total energy. Therefore, exploring methods for estimating the amount of energy used is critical. There are several approaches that have been developed to address this issue. The proposed methods are expected to contribute to energy savings as well as reduce the risks of global warming. There are diverse types of computational approaches to predicting energy use. These existing approaches belong to the statistics-based, engineeringbased, and machine learning-based categories. Machine learning-based frameworks showed better performance compared to these other approaches. In our study, we proposed using Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), a tree-based ensemble learning algorithm, to tackle the issue. We used a dataset containing energy consumption hourly recorded in an office building in Shanghai, China, from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2016. The experimental results demonstrated that the XGB model developed using both historical and date features worked better than those developed using only one type of feature. The best-performing model achieved RMSE and MAPE values of 109.00 and 0.24, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: Historians have long acknowledged the importance of merchant diasporas and trade networks in Indian Ocean history but paid little attention to merchant capital’s role in transoceanic labor migration in and beyond this part of the globe. Research on slave trading in the Indian Ocean during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries highlights the need to pay closer attention to the complexities of economic life in this oceanic world. Methodology. This article surveys relevant historiography and draws on archival research in the India Office Records in London and the Mauritius National Archives in Coromandel. Originality. This article illustrates some of the ways in which Asian and European merchant capital shaped colonial social and economic life. Conclusions. A deeper understanding of the social, economic, and political complexities inherent in Indian Ocean history is contingent upon situating the specialized case studies that characterize this field of study in more fully developed local, regional, pan-regional, and comparative contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entire glottis has mostly been the focus in the tracking of the vocal folds, both manually and automatically. From a treatment point of view, the various regions of the glottis are of specific interest. The aim of the study was to test if it was possible to supplement an existing convolutional neural network (CNN) with post-network calculations for the localization and quantification of posterior glottal gaps during phonation, usable for vocal fold function analysis of e.g. laryngopharyngeal reflux findings. 30 subjects/videos with insufficient closure in the rear glottal area and 20 normal subjects/videos were selected from our database, recorded with a commercial high-speed video setup (HSV with 4000 frames per second), and segmented with an open-source CNN for validating voice function. We made post-network calculations to localize and quantify the 10% and 50% distance lines from the rear part of the glottis. The results showed a significant difference using the algorithm at the 10% line distance between the two groups of p < 0.0001 and no difference at 50%. These novel results show that it is possible to use post-network calculations on CNNs for the localization and quantification of posterior glottal gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resources are a very important factor in the office administration and records management in company or government office. Performance in the archives and administration section is a unique function that requires high motivation to function as a managerial support in terms of providing archives, documents, and the production of manuscripts both in companies and in government. One important factor in human resources in the archives and music section is the influence of job discipline on performance. This study uses articles that identify the performance of administrative and archive employees in private and government companies. The results of the meta-analysis conducted on 30 research articles obtained a summary effect (average effect size) of 0.860, which means that there is a significant positive effect of increasing performance discipline on performance. Meanwhile, if the research is conducted by dividing the participants into two sections, namely private employees and civil servants, it is found that the summary effect value of private employees is greater than that of civil servants (0.933 and 0.761, respectively), which means that disciplining work can have a greater impact on performance in private company employees compared to government employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Date occupies a position between many crops with its nutritional and medicinal values. The higher fruit loss induces the processing of these fruits to convert to useful products, such as date syrup and date paste. Date syrup is characterized by its high nutritional value. However, it contains a toxic-hazard compound (5-hydroxyl methyl furfural). This compound is usually formed as a result of the dehydration of sugars under higher temperatures during processing (Millard reaction). So, the present paper aimed to reduce HMF levels in date syrup during processing using different extraction methods. The obtained results emphasized that the extraction method has a great influence on HMF levels of the lab-produced date syrup compared with the commercial sample. Where instant pot, traditional oven, hot plate, microwave methods, and commercial sample recorded HMF levels ranged (from 503.63, 285.38, 1010.00, 240.13 & 1844.30 mg/kg, respectively). In this regard, the microwave extraction method presented the best results concerning with safety of the product: the lowest level of toxic hazard (5-HMF) and high-quality characteristics including Fructose, pH, titriable acidity, and a high score of overall acceptability of Panel test. Meanwhile, the instant pot extraction method was characterized by a low level of HMF and the lowest microbial count. While the commercial sample featured elevated levels of (5-HMF), the highest bacterial count, and the darkest color. The commercial sample also showed the highest score in the following: TSS, density, specific weight, color, and total phenolic compounds. However, it showed the lowest score in turbidity, EC, total, and sulfated ash %. Also, sensory evaluation by Hedonic scale showed consumers' appreciation of date syrup especially extracted using microwave methods. So, the microwave method is recommended method for the extraction of date syrup with a minimal level of HMF and higher quality characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors provide a direct comparison made between whole tree-harvesting (WTH) and cut-to length (CTL) methods, which was conducted in two sites in the Slovak Republic and applied to poplar plantations. Both systems, WTH and CTL, have been employed at the highest mechanization level in two sites: "Nivky" and "Skalica". Two different strategies, namely, "mass handling" and "small-scale mechanization", have been used for WTH and CTL, respectively. The study results showed that the level of productivity (ODT SMH−1) in the felling operation was almost double for WTH than for the CTL method in Nivky (+84%) and more than double in Skalica (+113%). The extraction operation under WTH showed a productivity increase from one fifth (+20%) to more than double (104%) that of the CTL method in the Nivky and Skalica sites, respectively. Regarding cost-efficiency (EUR ODT−1), the WTH system offers a similar trend except with respect to extraction in Nivky (higher productivity site), in which the CTL extraction was 4.5% less expensive than the WTH extraction. The study results show that the mass-handling technique deployed in the WTH system offers very good performance in poorer plantations since the very small tree size and low-growing stock challenge the CTL system more than the WTH system. The total operation (felling, bucking, and extraction) costs (EUR ODT−1) recorded by the study in commercial conditions (as contractors perform for revenue purposes) were 32.50 and 45.80 EUR ODT−1 for CTL and 43.30 and 53.60 EUR ODT−1 for WTH for the higher-yield site (Nivky) and lower-yield site (Skalica), respectively. Regarding the WTH System, the researchers found that the drop in efficiency (and the consequent rise in the costs-per-ton of product) depends largely on the bucking phase conducted using the harvester at the landing of the stacked piles of interlocked trees. The main results of this study demonstrate the promising strategy of mass handling associated with the WTH system in medium rotation coppice (MRC) harvesting and shows that bucking is the weaker phase. Future efforts must be made to ensure feasibility of the "mass handling" strategy alongside the entire workflow by means of finding suitable mobile machinery that can delimb, debark, and crosscut tree bunches instead of single trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses newly available state and business records to investigate the effectiveness of Buy British policies when Britain was a member of the EEC between the early 1970s and the mid-1980s – a period of rapid import penetration and deindustrialisation. We show that government pursued a range of overt and covert measures to combat these economic problems. Overt measures sought to encourage domestic consumers to buy British; covert measures, involving nationalised industries and public procurement, attempted to encourage British firms to source domestically. The article contributes to the emerging business history literature on how Member States tried to exploit loopholes in EEC competition and commercial policy, and it provides new evidence on UK consumer preferences for domestic and imported manufactures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay briefly surveys the rich benefits a project like the Congruence Engine offers to national textile collections. Digital technology provides the means to bring dispersed material, written, and oral collections together into one space. However, it also has limitations, and the following will touch upon these. We finish with an overview of themes such a project should engage with and conclude with a mini study of the pre-Samuel Greg (Quarry Bank Mill) family context and how this links the Mill, the collections held at the Northern Ireland Record Office, and West Indian plantations together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian mussel Arcuatula senhousia is known as a successful invader into coastal and estuarine environments worldwide. We here report its Northward expansion along the French Atlantic coast evidenced by new records from the commercial ports of La Rochelle (Bay of Biscay) and Dunkirk (North Sea), both in 2018, following sampling of benthic macroinvertebrates. To date, the Asian mussel has only been observed along the French coast from the Mediterranean Sea and the Southern part of the Bay of Biscay. Its presence in these new locations, which are important for international maritime transport, is most likely related to ship ballast water and/or sediment as vector of introduction. These new insights suggest that this species has not yet finished its expansion process, which could be at the origin of irreversible impacts on ecosystem structure, functioning and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Powder deaggregation in Dry Powder Inhalers (DPI) with carrier-based formulations is a key process for the effectiveness of drug administration. Carrier-wall collisions are one of the recognised mechanisms responsible for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) aerosolisation, and DPI geometries are designed to maximise their efficacy. The detachment of fine and cohesive API particles is investigated at a fundamental level by simulating with DEM the normal collision of a carrier sphere with an API particle attached. The impact velocity at which detachment occurs (escape velocity) is determined as a function of key parameters, such as cohesiveness, coefficient of restitution, static and rolling friction. An analytical model for the escape velocity is then derived, examining the role of the initial position of the particle, cohesion model and particle size. Finally, the results are framed in the context of DPI inhalers, comparing the results obtained with impact velocities typically recorded in commercial devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) scribes in primary care. AI scribes are tools that use speech recognition, natural language processing, and AI technologies to generate clinical documentation during a clinical encounter. Early evidence suggests that AI scribes can reduce administrative burden, improve the quality of medical notes, and enhance the patient experience. However, it is important for clinicians to review and ensure the accuracy and completeness of the AI-generated notes, as they may contain errors. Additionally, clinicians must consider privacy implications and obtain informed consent from patients before using AI scribes. [Extracted from the article]

This research delves into the intricate dynamics of energy consumption in buildings, using data-driven modeling with machine learning (ML) algorithms to optimize design choices for heightened energy efficiency. A substantial dataset, comprising 66,800 operational energy records from office buildings in 40 cities worldwide representing 10 distinct climate conditions, was analyzed using four ML algorithms: Random Forest Regressor, Extra Trees Regressor, Gradient Boosting Regressor (GBR), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting Regressor (XGBR). Notably, the developed GBR and XGBR models demonstrated superior precision in predicting energy use intensity during the testing phase, achieving a mean absolute percentage error of less than 1.2 % and a coefficient of determination of more than 0.99. The findings highlighted the significant impact of building shape and temperature on annual operational energy consumption, providing valuable insights for energy-efficient design optimization. Finally, the grey wolf optimizer was applied to identify optimal design parameters for various scenarios, laying the groundwork for designing energy-efficient buildings in cities with diverse meteorological patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sir William Robinson was the Governor of the Straits Settlements from October 1877 to February 1879. Robinson's presence in Malaysian history is practically non-existent, because of the dismissive statements of later commentators and the short length of his tenure. Robinson's relish of the governor's ceremonial role also contributed to his unpopularity by making him seem distant to the Straits community. Politically, Robinson continued the policy of indirect rule in the Malay States. However, he had concerns about its stability and the authority of the Residents in administering, preferring instead a policy of annexation. However, his suggestions were politely set aside by a Colonial Office resistant to change and also by the differing Malay States policy of his successor, Sir Frederick Weld. Conducted using qualitative methods, this research also used a wide range of primary sources including Colonial Office and Admiralty records, government gazettes, newspapers, and private correspondence. This study presents a more in-depth assessment of Robinson's contribution to Malaysian history, and finds that, despite Robinson's uncontroversial and smooth governance of the colony, the failure of his annexation policy in the Malay States overshadowed his achievements, making his tenure seem undistinguished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CIRCULO de Linguistica Aplicada a la Comunicacion is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Between the 1890 s and the 1920s, several leading Parisian couture businesses, spearheaded by the house of Paquin, expanded to London to exploit the idiosyncratic advantages of British commerce and clientele. Most of these houses opened branch stores there and formed limited liability companies according to English law, but each strategized their expansions with a distinct individuality. This article explores Franco–British relations in the arena of high-end dressmaking, as well as the economic structures inherent to the early and rapidly expanding couture businesses, by analyzing a series of unpublished business records held in both British and French archives. These cases shed new light on the balance between commerce and creativity in French fashion and offer firsthand accounts of an internationalized couture market in its formative stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of a records management plan is an excellent approach to ensure small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are sustained and continue to expand into huge or multi-national corporations. Maintaining records helps businesses in making better judgments and developing appropriate policies, resulting in enhanced effectiveness and efficiency. This will leverage means for tracking business progress and making appropriate decisions to expand the productive component of the economy. SMEs Business growth will help generate tax revenue for the government while also encouraging poverty reduction through tax transfers. We conducted a thorough investigation to determine the impact of each variable on business growth. For statistical analysis, a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was applied. The results suggest that business records management and training have a positive indirect effect on business growth. However, the indirect effect of business records management policies insignificantly influences SMEs' adoption of adequate record-keeping procedures, which harms business growth in Ghana. On the other hand, the total effect of the variables such as business records management training, business records management policies, and business records management positively impact business growth. Findings make a significant contribution to existing knowledge in the areas of record-keeping, management, and business growth. Business records management is an issue that requires more policy attention. This will business owners and managers strategically plan for new business directions based on data acquired. Proper record-keeping is necessary to satisfy end-users such as company directors, shareholders, external auditors, investors, creditors, and other interested parties. SMEs place a high value on business records management because of the impact it has on their long-term viability. The research outcomes provide a means for, and data on, business appraisal and management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane CoPb 96, an early maturing clone is developed at PAU Regional Research Station, Faridkot from segregating F1s of general collections of Co 0238. It recorded commercial cane sugar (CCS t/ha), cane yield (t/ha) and sucrose % of 11.10 t/ha, 90.56 t/ha and 17.92%, respectively in comparison with the standards viz., Co 0238, CoJ 64 and CoPb 92. It was significantly superior to all the commercial varieties in Punjab state trials and on par with Co 0238 under AICRP trials. CoPb 96 was identified as a high sugared variety with 12.55 % CCS and 19.03 % sucrose content in AICRP trials (2P+1R) of North West Zone and performed better than all standard varieties. This clone is tolerant against diseases (red rot, wilt, smuts, pokkah boeng and YLD) and less susceptible against borer complexes. It has erect medium yellow green colored cylindrical canes (~ 244.00 cm length, ~2.64 cm diameter) and with rhomboid bud. CoPb 96 was identified as an early clone in comparison with Co 0238 by SVRC, Punjab for realizing higher cane yield and sugar recovery in the State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earliest surviving sound evidence of music and musicians from Bulgaria is on commercial gramophone records from the early XX century. Although unique sources for ethnomusicological and historical research, these commercial recordings are little known and almost unexplored. The proposed text sets out to collect and describe information on the first decade of commercial gramophone recordings in Bulgaria. The basis for the research is sound evidence from scholarly and museum archives and private collections; music company catalogues, labels on gramophone records, discographies; and supporting information – texts and advertising images from newspapers, memoirs and memoir literature as primary and secondary sources. The sought ethnomusicological approach is achieved through a combination of different research methods: ethnographic, historical, discographic, cultural, anthropological. The results of the research present the role of commercial recordings in musical and popular culture in Bulgaria in the years leading up to the First World War, cultural life, musical history, musicing, intercultural interactions, the cultural choices of Western and local, Slavic and Balkan, traditional music in non-traditional modern contexts, art music in popular contexts, and the role of professional musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]