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A partir de quatro trajetórias de estudantes de Pedagogia provenientes de bairros periféricos e de famílias com baixa posse de capital cultural, analisa-se como esse grupo se relaciona com diferentes práticas culturais (cinema, literatura, música e artes visuais). Por meio de entrevistas semidiretivas, elaborou-se quatro perfis sociológicos que foram analisados tendo como referência a sociologia bourdieusiana e os conceitos de capital cultural e habitus. No decorrer do curso superior, as estudantes apresentaram dificuldades para a vivência no ambiente acadêmico. Suas práticas culturais possuem pontos de aproximação daquilo que é considerado legítimo (em música, literatura, dentre outros), ainda que ocorram de forma ocasional e não duradoura.

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, with subsequent worldwide spread. The first US cases were identified in January 2020. Methods To determine if SARS-CoV-2–reactive antibodies were present in sera prior to the first identified case in the United States on 19 January 2020, residual archived samples from 7389 routine blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from 13 December 2019 to 17 January 2020 from donors resident in 9 states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin) were tested at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for anti–SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Specimens reactive by pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against the full spike protein were tested by IgG and IgM ELISAs, microneutralization test, Ortho total Ig S1 ELISA, and receptor-binding domain/ACE2 blocking activity assay. Results Of the 7389 samples, 106 were reactive by pan-Ig. Of these 106 specimens, 90 were available for further testing. Eighty-four of 90 had neutralizing activity, 1 had S1 binding activity, and 1 had receptor-binding domain/ACE2 blocking activity >50%, suggesting the presence of anti–SARS-CoV-2–reactive antibodies. Donations with reactivity occurred in all 9 states. Conclusions These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may have been introduced into the United States prior to 19 January 2020.

Abstract. Depression is a pervasive psychiatric problem following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). However, the onset and course of symptom expression following mTBI can differ from that of spontaneous episodes of depression. Here, we aimed to assess a physiological metric closely linked to depression: respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of high frequency heart rate variability. RSA is reduced during depressive episodes, and higher resting RSA has been shown to predict future recovery from depression. In this study, we investigated if these patterns were observed throughout the typical timeframe of sub-acute mTBI recovery. Although RSA did not differ between mTBI ( n = 50) and control ( n = 27) groups, depressive symptoms were reliably correlated with RSA only in the mTBI group. This pattern was consistent 2 weeks, 2 months, and 4 months post-injury. Furthermore, resting RSA shortly following injury predicted the trajectory of depressive symptoms 2 months later. These findings generalize the connection between RSA and depression to a clinical population where depressive symptoms are common but often difficult to parse from other post-trauma consequences.

The aim of this article is to present, in chronological form, the changes in the formative requirements for the performance of teachers in the early years of elementary education, comprised in the legislation after the enactment of Law no. 9,394/1996. It becomes evident that the demand for higher education to work at this level of education is eased and relativized over time, maintaining the admissibility of the formation in the Normal School/ Teacher-training colleges. Thus, the current guidelines for teacher-formation in the early years of elementary school are similar to those present in the LDB, promulgated more than two decades ago.

The aim of the paper is to identify the obstacles of the application of electronic management in the strategic planning of the National Commercial Bank NCB, the extent to which the bank employees are familiar with e-management and the extent to which e-management contributes to achieving quality requirements. The study society is limited to bank employee in NCB 10 members of the employees, the tool used is a quantitative method, and the results indicate the weakness of the application of electronic management and weak planning in the NCB from the point of view of the employees. The propose of this research is to how improve and enhance the E management in NCE and how to develop the NCB employees. In this paper I have done an interview with the NCB bank employees in order to gain information related to my study. The study emphasizes the importance of implementing electronic management as it is in line with the current technological development. The result of this study is that participants pointed to several factors which had shaped the impact of the new system (electronic management). These included: 1) the increased monitoring capacity and accountability created by the new system, allowing member staff to monitor and better communicate with each other; 2) flexibility of the system that made it easier for member staff to enter and transfer information; and 3) preparedness and collaboration between and within departments that played a key part in how staff perceived the system. Member bank staff welcoming the chance to redesign some work processes.

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and Flavobacterium psychrophilum are major pathogens of farmed rainbow trout. Improved control strategies are desired but the influence of on-farm environmental factors that lead to disease outbreaks remain poorly understood. Water reuse is an important environmental factor affecting disease. Prior studies have established a replicated outdoor-tank system capable of varying the exposure to reuse water by controlling water flow from commercial trout production raceways. The goal of this research was to evaluate the effect of constant or pulsed reuse water exposure on survival, pathogen prevalence, and pathogen load. Herein, we compared two commercial lines of rainbow trout, Clear Springs Food (CSF) and Troutex (Tx) that were either vaccinated against IHNV with a DNA vaccine or sham vaccinated. Over a 27-day experimental period in constant reuse water, all fish from both lines and treatments, died while mortality in control fish in spring water was National Institutes of Health EEIDUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R01GM113233]; US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research ServiceUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)USDA Agricultural Research Service [1930-32000-006] Published version This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health EEID [grant number R01GM113233]; and the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service [Project number 1930-32000-006 Integrated Research to Improve On-Farm Animal health in Salmonid Aquaculture]. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

Purpose The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the role of strategic leadership under conditions of uncertainty and unpredictability. The authors argue that highly improbable, but high-impact events require the upper echelons of management, traditionally the custodians of strategy formulation to offer a new kind of strategic leadership focused on new mindsets, organizational capabilities, more in tune with high uncertainty and unpredictability. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on strategic leadership, and complexity leadership theory, the authors review the literature and present a conceptual framework for exploring the nature of strategic leadership under uncertainty. The authors conceptualize organizations as complex adaptive systems and discuss the imperatives for developing new mental models for emergent leadership. Findings Strategic leaders have a key role to play in preparing their organizations for episodic disruptions. These include developing their adaptive capabilities and building resilient organizations to ensure their organizations cannot only bounce back after a disruption but have the capacity for transformation to new fitness levels when necessary. Strategic leaders must engage with complexity leadership by seeing their organizations as complex adaptive systems, reconfigure their leadership approaches and organizations to build strategic adaptive capability. Research limitations/implications This is a conceptual paper and the authors cannot make any claims of causality. Practical implications Organizational leaders need to reconfigure their mental models and leadership approaches to reflect the new normal of uncertainty and unpredictability. Developing the strategic adaptive capability of organizations should prepare them for dealing with high impact events. To assure business continuity in the face of disruptions requires building flexible, adaptable business models. Originality/value The paper focuses on how managers can offer strategic leadership for a new normal that challenges some of our most cherished leadership and strategic management paradigms. The authors explore the new mental models and leadership models in an era of great uncertainty.

Apathy is a common and impairing sequela of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Yet, little is known about the neural mechanisms determining in which patients apathy does or does not develop post-TBI. We aimed to elucidate the impact of TBI on motivational neural circuits and how this shapes apathy over the course of TBI recovery. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected in patients with subacute mild TBI (n = 44), chronic mild-to-moderate TBI (n = 26), and nonbrain-injured control participants (CTRL; n = 28). We measured ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) functional connectivity (FC) as a function of apathy, using an a priori vmPFC seed adopted from a motivated decision-making study in an independent TBI study cohort. Patients reported apathy using a well-validated tool for assaying apathy in TBI. The vmPFC-to-wholebrain FC was contrasted between groups, and we fit regression models with apathy predicting vmPFC FC. Subacute and chronic TBI caused increased apathy relative to CTRL, replicating previous work suggesting that apathy has an enduring impact in TBI. The vmPFC was functionally connected to the canonical default network, and this architecture did not differ between subacute TBI, chronic TBI, and CTRL groups. Critically, in TBI, increased apathy scores predicted decreased vmPFC-dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) FC. Last, we subdivided the TBI group based on patients above versus below the threshold for “clinically significant apathy,” finding that TBI patients with clinically significant apathy demonstrated comparable vmPFC-dACC FC to CTRLs, whereas TBI patients with subthreshold apathy scores demonstrated vmPFC-dACC hyperconnectivity relative to both CTRLs and patients with clinically significant apathy. Post-TBI vmPFC-dACC hyperconnectivity may represent an adaptive compensatory response, helping to maintain motivation and enabling resilience to the development of apathy after neurotrauma. Given the role of vmPFC-dACC circuits in value-based decision making, rehabilitation strategies designed to improve this ability may help to reduce apathy and improve functional outcomes in TBI.

Background: Travelers to different countries have endemic/pandemic diseases can increase the risk of exposure to various infectious agents and can facilitate their spread across borders. Objectives: To determine the levels of travel health knowledge, attitudes and practices among travelers at international airports of KSA. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted starting from 30 September, 2019 at the departure halls of King Abdulaziz International airport (KAIA). Representative sample adult travelers who were waiting to board were recruited. Results and Discussion: Good level of knowledge regarding travel health was observed among 28.2%. The majority of the participants (84.7%) got information about their destination prior to the trip. The main reported source of information was family/friends (53.8%). Negative health seeking behavior was observed among 70.8% of the participants. Purpose of the trip and duration of destination were significantly associated with health seeking behavior. Knowledge, attitude towards health information seeking behavior and practice-related to travel health among international travelers at King Abdulaziz International airport are insufficient.

A design pattern is a successful solution to recurring problems. It is a powerful tool to improve design quality and to reduce the time and cost of design. One of the major challenges confronting developers while using of design pattern is finding a suitable selection for them, thus it is considered as a challenging task for developers with less experience in the area of the design pattern. Therefore, the developers need a pattern recommendation to assist them by suggesting suitable design patterns. This paper presents the architecture Design Pattern Selection based on a Multi-Agent System (DPSA). The DPSA aims to obtain the appropriate recommendation to reduce development efforts, facilitate and assist the developers in selecting suitable patterns for their problems. DPSA's agents operate to support four different types of recommendations: single pattern, implement the pattern, pattern sequences, and recommending practical.

Patient: Female, 39-year-old Final Diagnosis: Takayasu arteritis Symptoms: Fever • arthralgia • asthenia Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Infectious Diseases Objective: Rare disease Background: Takayasu disease is a rare disease affecting large vessels, particularly the aorta and its main branches. The affected arteries become partially occluded. The disease is more frequent in women under 40 years of age, with a ratio of women to men of 8: 1. Case Report: We report the case of a 39-year-old woman who was admitted to the medical ward at the Military Hospital in Gabon. She presented with multiple aneurysms, arterial stenosis, and a positive tuberculin skin test and was diagnosed with Takayasu disease associated with latent tuberculosis infection. This rare case is the first to be reported in Gabon, with a delay in diagnosis of approximately 7 months. Conclusions: This is the first case of Takayasu arteritis that has been described in Gabon and has generated medical interest beyond the country regarding the diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic approach.

This study aimed to summarize the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 from Western Mexico people during 2020. A retrospective analysis from an electronic database of people visiting a sentinel center for molecular SARS-CoV-2 confirmatory diagnosis by RT-PCR from April to December 2020 was carried out for epidemiological and clinical description of COVID-19. Out of 23,211 patients evaluated, 6918 (29.8%) were confirmed for SARS-CoV-2 infection (mean age 38.5 ± 13.99), mostly females (53.8%). Comorbidities, such as diabetes (34.7%), obesity (31.15%), and hypertension (31.8%), presented an increased odds OR = 1.27, CI = 1.14–1.41, OR = 1.08, CI = 1.01–1.16, and OR = 1.09, CI = 0.99–1.19, respectively, for viral-infection. Moreover, fever, headache, and dry cough were the most frequent symptoms. No infection difference among sex was found. Those patients &gt, 60 years old were prone to COVID-19 severity (OR = 3.59, CI = 2.10–6.14), evaluated by the number of manifested symptoms, increasing with age. In conclusion, a high SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was found in Western Mexico. Comorbidities were frequent in infected people, nevertheless, no association with disease outcomes was observed, in contrast with the highest disease severity risk found in older patients, however, continuous monitoring should be carried since comorbidities have been reported as aggravating factors. This study can help the health officials for the elaboration of planning efforts of the disease management and others in the future.

Background: Chronic Sinusitis results from the impairment of paranasal sinus ventilation. Symptoms of chronic sinusitis include facial pressure, fullness or pain, nasal obstruction, headache, clear or mucopurulent nasal discharge and hyposmia or anosmia. Risk factors of chronic sinusitis involve smoking, allergy, septal deviation, aspirin sensitivity and bronchial asthma. Objective: To determine the prevalence of chronic sinusitis and it’s related risk factor as well as correlation with demographics. Methods: The present study included 867 participants using Monkey survey for investigation which included 20 questions. Results: There were 25.3% of participants had chronic sinusitis, 26.4% of the males and 22.4% of females suffer from the disease. Chronic sinusitis was more prevailed among young, the younger aged participants in addition to those living in rural area. Chronic sinusitis was less prevalent in married persons and those working in a medical job. Presence of any type of allergy was a risk factor for chronic sinusitis. Conclusion: Chronic sinusitis and allergy consider as risk factors for chronic sinusitis.

O presente trabalho apresenta um balanço com as principais pesquisas realizadas no âmbito da Sociologia da Educação no Brasil com a temática das trajetórias escolares. As pesquisas com a temática das trajetórias escolares estão diretamente relacionadas ao referencial teórico desenvolvido pelo sociólogo francês Pierre Bourdieu. Os trabalhos pesquisados demarcam uma área de estudos dentro da Sociologia da Educação que busca compreender as diferentes trajetórias educacionais e sociais e sua relação com o destino escolar dos alunos. Trata-se de um conjunto de trabalhos empíricos baseados em entrevistas realizadas com estudantes (do ensino fundamental ao superior) e familiares provenientes de diferentes camadas sociais. Depreende-se do conjunto de trabalhos pesquisados que a origem social, o capital cultural dos familiares do aluno e a relação da família com a escola compõem fatores relevantes nas trajetórias de escolarização.

Background: Persistent post-traumatic symptoms (PPS) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to significant chronic functional impairment. Pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) has been used in multiple studies to explore changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) that may result in acute and chronic TBI, and is a promising neuroimaging modality for assessing response to therapies. Methods: Twenty-four subjects with chronic mild-moderate TBI (mmTBI) were enrolled in a pilot study of 10 days of computerized executive function training combined with active or sham anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for treatment of cognitive PPS. Behavioral surveys, neuropsychological testing, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with pCASL sequences to assess global and regional CBF were obtained before and after the training protocol. Results: Robust improvements in depression, anxiety, complex attention, and executive function were seen in both active and sham groups between the baseline and post-treatment visits. Global CBF decreased over time, with differences in regional CBF noted in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Active stimulation was associated with static or increased CBF in the right IFG, whereas sham was associated with reduced CBF. Neuropsychological performance and behavioral symptoms were not associated with changes in CBF. Discussion: The current study suggests a complex picture between mmTBI, cerebral perfusion, and recovery. Changes in CBF may result from physiologic effect of the intervention, compensatory neural mechanisms, or confounding factors. Limitations include a small sample size and heterogenous injury sample, but these findings suggest promising directions for future studies of cognitive training paradigms in mmTBI.

As voluntary biodiversity offsets are a relatively new phenomenon, most evidence and literature relate to offsets under regulatory schemes. These are rooted in numerous compensation approaches worldwide, ranging from long-standing schemes such as US Wetland Mitigation, German Impact Mitigation Regulation, and Australian offset schemes to the recent uptake of biodiversity offsets in several European countries, e.g., France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, as well as the discussion on the introduction of an offset policy at supranational (EU) level in the scope of the EU’s no net loss initiative. These schemes are, on the one hand, discussed as role models and sources of information. On the other hand, they have been criticized for the inclusion of market-based mechanisms and the use of habitat banking for the implementation of offsets.

The applied research methodology was fit for purpose under the given research premises, and it can provide a model for future research. Nevertheless, one major limitation of the typology is that in practice mostly a combination of influences and motivations occurs, i.e., the individual types are represented in their purest form only to a limited extent in reality. Thus, intersections of these types are commonly encountered, especially for large-scale projects. In fact, the different cases or approaches are not mutually exclusive; rather, they can even be of enhancing and reinforcing nature. For example, an existing regulatory frame will not prevent, but most likely foster, additional engagement of developers in offsets.

A typology of biodiversity offsets has been developed. Seven types (including four subtypes) were identified: (1) Regulatory biodiversity offsets: required by law and enforced; (2) Conditional biodiversity offsets: required by financial institutions; (3) Enabled biodiversity offsets: fostered by governments (case 3a: enabled biodiversity offsets—by government) and NGOs (case 3b: enabled biodiversity offsets—new global norms) through pilot schemes, guidance, etc.; (4) Sectoral biodiversity offsets: taking part in a voluntary self-commitment of a sector (e.g., mining); (5) Corporate biodiversity offsets: resulting from a voluntary self-commitment of a corporation; (6) Local biodiversity offsets: single offsets that are most likely developed at local level in a consensual process, including case 6a: local biodiversity offsets—reputational risk and case 6b: local biodiversity offsets—license to operate; and (7) Altruistic biodiversity offsets: truly voluntary offsets that are driven by the altruistic motivation to make a positive impact.

The results of this study are neither exhaustive nor representative. Nevertheless, global tendencies become visible, allowing for some generalized conclusions and recommendations for different locations and contexts, as well as for different stakeholders. For example, diversified roles and responsibilities of government bodies beyond the conventional understanding in terms of regulator and enforcing authority were observed under the different types. This also offers an enormous potential for new forms of private–public partnerships, etc.

Despite their increasing recognition in selected public discourses, biodiversity offsets remain a highly specific subject in expert circles in various locations worldwide. However, these circles are increasingly connected and exchanging, in particular using information and communication technologies online. Therefore, an expert and Internet based research approach was chosen for this study. It follows a netnographic approach in terms of an “offering strategy” to start an interaction and to engage others in a research process. For this purpose, the “Biodiversity Offsets Blog” was created. It served as a content management system to store, structure, and comment information, and it provided the base for a personal learning network, together with exploratory qualified Internet research using the Google search engine as well as chosen social network sites (LinkedIn, ResearchGate, and Twitter) and online curation services (Scoop.it).

The state of the scientific knowledge and the practical evidence explored encourage the analysis and investigation of the various forms of (voluntary) biodiversity offsets. However, there are a number of critical aspects associated with them. Several of these have been extensively researched, e.g., the formulation of standards and methods for loss-gain calculations. Building on these premises, the present study has focused on the different types of implementation (i.e., governance, responsibilities, and drivers) of biodiversity offsets. Notwithstanding, three major research gaps persist: (1) The overarching question of appropriateness of and limits to offsets requires research at the interface of natural science, planning, and policy design on the one hand and social sciences on the other hand. (2) So far, little or no evidence exists where offsets have been evaluated, not at the individual project level, let alone systematically. An outcome oriented critical analysis of biodiversity offsets is needed both from a nature conservation point of view and to underpin the discourse on the question of appropriateness of offsets. (3) There is clearly a need for a broader evidence base at the global level as a prerequisite for the evaluation of the outcomes and effectiveness of offsets and consequently to delineate factors for success and failure and to establish best practice. Together with previous compilations of case studies, e.g., by the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program, the evidence base compiled in this study could add to an international registry of biodiversity offsets and a global compilation of on-the-ground examples of biodiversity.

In light of ongoing global biodiversity loss, there is an increasing need for restoration-based activities to complement conventional nature conservation activities. Building on this premise, the paradigm of “no net loss” has risen to prominence in a worldwide context and particularly with respect to EU policy. In this scope, biodiversity offsets are increasingly explored and promoted to reach the no net loss goal.

A typology of biodiversity offsets was developed using four consecutive steps: (1) The starting point was an impressionistic classification of types (“intuitive types”) that was refined in several steps throughout the research process and over time. (2) Building on the theoretical analysis of the concept of voluntariness, attributes, or criteria were extracted from the literature that provided the theoretical frame of reference to analyze the degree or intensity of voluntariness of the types presented in this work. These criteria were grouped and rearranged into different categories (with distinctive functions), notably threshold criteria, descriptive criteria, performance criteria, and quality criteria. Thus, through a process of elimination two core criteria were identified: influence and initiators, and motivation and ultimate goal. (3) These core criteria, and the respective value categories assigned to them, were used to construct the underlying attribute space, i.e., a 3 × 7 matrix. (4) Finally, the impressionistic types that have been developed over time (building on the author’s own observation and experience) and the constructed attribute space (building on criteria derived from the literature) were integrated to obtain a more refined typology of seven types.

The European Union (EU) is committed to tackling the issue of climate change, which poses serious risks to the global environment and human well-being. Supporting renewable energy is a key policy direction for the EU to lower its contributions to climate change. However, renewable energy technologies have diverse effects on the environment and on society. These effects can be considered a complex system of interacting elements and are challenging to assess. Conceptual models are a way of synthesizing this information to obtain an overview of the system and essential insights. We present the results of an activity to assess the impacts of EU renewable energy policies on overseas biodiversity and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was carried out as part of the EKLIPSE (EKLIPSE (Establishing a European Knowledge and Learning Mechanism to Improve the Policy-Science-Society Interface on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) mechanism to synthesise environmental knowledge in response to specific requests by decision-makers at the European level. We carried out a participatory process to collate expert knowledge into a conceptual model using a Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping Approach (Özesmi and Özesmi 2004), with the Mental Modeler software for mapping (Gray et al. 2013). The participants were guided to connect significant EU policies associated with renewable energy, the technologies they support, and known impacts of these technologies on biodiversity and the SDGs, drawing on a preliminary review of the literature. The individual models obtained were integrated into a single model (see Suppl. material 1 for images). This was then subject to network analysis, which reveals the collective effects of different renewable energy technologies (RETs) on the wider socioecological system. Our findings highlight that RETs have complex and at times disparate effects on biodiversity and the SDGs, acting through a variety of mediating processes. They benefit the SDGs on balance, particularly climate-related SDGs. Mitigation of biodiversity impacts remains a concern, and processes such as habitat change were found to be influential here. Our results suggest that policymakers must focus on implementing appropriate environmental impact assessments, guided by these mediating processes. This would minimize any negative environmental impacts of RETs, while maximizing the benefits.

Despite its connotations of non-compliance, illegality, social exploitation and marginality, the informal sector is a substantial contributor to economic life in developing countries and, increasingly, in more technologically advanced activities. Its prevalence in developed economies has also become more widely recognized. In light of its significance, this paper reviews research on the informal sector from a management and organization scholarship perspective, rather than from an entrepreneurship view, as has been the focus until now. It sets out the atypical management practices that are inherent in the sector, explores the under-researched relationship between formal and informal firms, and highlights definitional, conceptual and other limitations in extant research. As a step in resolving these issues, the authors present a conceptual model of formality and informality in a three-dimensional framework that highlights an organizational infrastructure dimension, a view of firms operating along a continuum, and a multi-level analytical context. Building on this, the authors detail opportunities for enhanced appreciation of in situ management and organizational practices in the informal sector and outline tools for pursuing a management and organization scholarship agenda. Overall, the authors argue that management scholarship has great potential to improve understanding of the informal sector, and that the informal sector provides opportunities to advance management theory, research and practice.

This chapter examines the underlying motivations behind why institutions and organizations decide to apply particular policies and practices. By applying a lens of five diffusion models—learning, imitation, competition, normative, and coercion—to understand these motivations, decision makers and implementers will make better choices for internationalization based on their specific context.

Despite the increasing interest in strategy as situated practice, studies that examine strategising practices in the informal economy are lacking. This article draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice to understand strategic networking practices in an informal economy setting. Employing ethnographic techniques, it sets out to study how an informal business and its network partners do strategic networking. We found that their strategic networking practices pivot around co-opetition, and are characterised within four interconnected themes: open communication, mutual surrogacy, fraternal engagement and naturalisation. These themes are constitutive of an interrelated set of field-specific practices, capital, habitus and dispositions of the informal business and its network partners. The study contributes to strategy-as-practice and strategic networking literature by showing how actors adopt and internalise strategising practices, and how this predisposition may be traced to strategic networking practices, choices and outcomes.

The aim of EKLIPSE is to develop a mechanism to inform European-scale policy on biodiversity and related environmental challenges. This paper considers two fundamental aspects of the decision-support mechanism being developed by EKLIPSE: 1) the engagement of relevant actors from science, policy and society to jointly identify evidence for decision making; and 2) the networking of scientists and other holders of knowledge on biodiversity and other relevant evidence. The mechanism being developed has the potential not only to build communities of knowledge holders but to build informal networks among those with similar interests in evidence, be they those that seek to use evidence or those who are building evidence, or both. EKLIPSE has been successful in linking these people and in contributing to building informal networks of requesters of evidence, and experts of evidence and its synthesis. We have yet to see, however, significant engagement of formal networks of knowledge holders. Future success, however, relies on the continued involvement with and engagement of networks, a high degree of transparency within the processes and a high flexibility of structures to adapt to different requirements that arise with the broad range of requests to and activities of EKLIPSE.

The drive towards renewable energy become intense nowadays due to the increasing price of fossil fuels and depletion of their sources. Among promising resource of renewable energy is the biomass. In Malaysia, oil palm biomass are available in large quantity and suitable for conversion into value added bio-fuels. In this study, an-innovative small-scale downdraft gasifier was designed, development and tested for biomass gasification. The gasifier operates at flowrate less than 0.1 m/s 3 with a capacity of 5 KW. During testing and commissioning of the gasifier, the maximum efficiency of the gasifier was found to be about 71% when firing empty fruit bunch pellets. This gasifier has potentials to be up scaled for actual use either for domestic or industrial use.

Background. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing health problem. Care programs should involve the patients to upgrade their diabetes condition and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Objective. The present study aimed to assess the effects of a psychoeducational intervention program on an indicator of glycemic control and HRQoL among type 2 diabetic patients. Methods. In this quasi-experimental (pre- and postinterventional) study, 99 outpatients with type 2 diabetes were selected randomly from those attending primary health care centers in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, in 2016. Hemoglobin A1c levels (HbA1c) were measured by the colorimetric method, and HRQoL was assessed by the Arabic version of the RAND 36-Item Health Survey 1.0 (RAND-36). The psychoeducational program was conducted on the participants for 4 weeks, and preprogram findings were compared with the postprogram findings after a 5-month follow-up. Results. After the intervention, there was a statistically significant reduction in the mean value of HbA1c from 9.8 to 7.7 (P<0.001), and there was significant improvement in the mean scores of the following HRQoL scales: role limitations due to emotional problems, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, and general health (P<0.01). In addition, the impact of the program on HRQoL was better among males and among patients who were older than forty years than among women and patients who were forty years old or younger. Conclusion. The application of such psychoeducational intervention programs can be helpful in the improvement of HbA1c levels and HRQoL for patients with DM.

‘No net loss’ (NNL) conservation policies seek to address development impacts on biodiversity. There have been no peer-reviewed multinational assessments concerning the actual implementation of NNL policies to date. Such assessments would facilitate more informed debates on the validity of NNL for conservation, but assessing implementation requires data. Here, we explore data transparency concerning NNL implementation, with four European countries providing a case study.Biodiversity offsets (offsets) are the most tangible outcome of NNL policy. Using an expert network to locate all offset datasets available within the public domain, we collated information on offset projects implemented in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Implementation data for offsets were found to be non-transparent, but the degree of transparency varies widely by country. We discuss barriers preventing data transparency — including a perceived lack of necessity, lack of common protocols for collecting data, and a lack of resources to do so. For the data we collected we find that most offsets in Europe: are not within protected areas; involve active restoration; and, compensate for infrastructure development. The area occupied by European offsets is at least of the order ~ 102 km2.Transparent national NNL databases are essential for meeting good practice NNL principles, but are not currently available in Europe. We discuss what such databases might require to support evaluation of NNL policy effectiveness by researchers, the conservation community and policymakers.

It is clear that Europe is still far from its target to halt the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (EEA 2010a, b; European Commission 2015), and this is in large part due to biodiversity impacts in the wider environment, i.e. outside protected areas. Many such impacts are the result of multiple small, scattered developments that individually often do not justify refusal on environmental grounds, but nonetheless have substantial incremental and cumulative impacts; thereby leading to ‘death by 1000 cuts’. To tackle this problem and halt biodiversity losses, it is becoming increasingly evident that complementary measures to strict protection are required that have the realistic ambition of achieving no net loss, through the avoidance, minimisation and offsetting of residual impacts. Such no net loss/offset policies can form a key component of sustainable development in that they can help to regulate and manage necessary trade-offs between economic development and the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services (Quetier et al. 2014).

One of today’s great challenges is to safeguard biodiversity for future generations. An increasing number of countries and economic sectors are adopting strategies to slow and stop biodiversity loss. In this book, we examine existing approaches to achieve no net loss of biodiversity in selected EU countries. Adopting an explicitly European perspective, our focus is on various options to compensate negative impacts on nature, ecosystem services and biodiversity. Although Europe is crisscrossed by a network of protected areas such as Natura 2000 sites, and the EU has a strict legal framework for offsetting within Natura 2000, this is not enough to conserve the continent’s biodiversity and the continued flow of benefits from nature to people. Europe is a fine-grained patchwork of natural and modified habitats which form varied and highly valued cultural landscapes. These provide vital ecosystem services as well as habitats for animals and plants, resulting in a high level of biodiversity outside of dedicated nature reserves. This book emphasizes the values of nature and biodiversity in landscapes shaped by human activity.

With the adoption of the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, the EU has made a commitment to halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020. EU-wide actions include the development of an initiative to ensure that there is no net loss of biodiversity, ecosystems and their services e.g. through compensation or offsetting schemes by 2015 (Action 7b; initiated by the European Commission). In this chapter we intend to examine one relatively new and innovative instrument that can be applied to achieve no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services: biodiversity offsets. We focus on the German system as a kind of role model and example that shows challenges and advantages of a biodiversity offsetting system within the European context. However, a brief outlook on comparable offsetting systems in other countries will also be raised. Particularly, the urban stage is to be addressed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the long-run impact of telecommunications revenue and telecommunications investment on economic growth of Ghana for the time horizon 1976-2007. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the Augmented Dickey Fuller and Phillips Perron unit root test to explore the stationarity property of the variables and the Engle-Granger residual-based test of cointegration to model an appropriate restricted error correction model. Findings – The outcome of the analysis produced mixed results. Telecommunications revenue does not contribute significantly whilst telecommunications investment does. Practical implications – Policy makers will have to deal with a conundrum; while designing targeted policies that will attract more telecommunication investment in order to maximize the corresponding revenues and the economic growth it brings in its wake, they must at the same time find ways and resources to grow the economy to a point or threshold where revenue from telecommunications can have the much needed impact on their economies. Originality/value – The study is one of the first that has investigated the line of causality between telecommunication revenue and economic growth unlike previous research that mainly focused on the impact of telecommunication infrastructure on economic development.

Background Limited data exist on transmission dynamics and effectiveness of control measures for influenza in confined settings. Objectives To investigate the transmission dynamics of a 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A outbreak aboard a Peruvian Navy ship and quantify the effectiveness of the implemented control measures. Methods We used surveillance data and a simple stochastic epidemic model to characterize and evaluate the effectiveness of control interventions implemented during an outbreak of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A aboard a Peruvian Navy ship. Results The serological attack rate for the outbreak was 49·1%, with younger cadets and low-ranking officers at greater risk of infection than older, higher-ranking officers. Our transmission model yielded a good fit to the daily time series of new influenza cases by date of symptom onset. We estimated a reduction of 54·4% in the reproduction number during the period of intense control interventions. Conclusion Our results indicate that the patient isolation strategy and other control measures put in place during the outbreak reduced the infectiousness of isolated individuals by 86·7%. Our findings support that early implementation of control interventions can limit the spread of influenza epidemics in confined settings.

The incidence of lumbar fusion surgeries has risen exponentially over the last 2 decades. Although a very useful and necessary surgery for specific conditions, spinal fusions have undeservingly earned a negative reputation. With stringent patient selection, lumbar fusions are highly efficacious. This article is intended to inform the reader of the indications for lumbar spinal fusion and discuss conditions that potentiate successful outcomes.

A 19-year-old Caucasian male presented with complaints of headaches and syncope. Suspicion of hydrocephalus prompted computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which revealed pineal and suprasellar prominences with diffuse, thick, nodular subependymal enhancement of the lateral and third ventricles. Based on imaging, the differential diagnosis consisted primarily of malignancy, such as lymphoma, with inflammatory and infectious etiologies not excluded. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were non-specific, and neuroendoscopic tissue biopsy histologically confirmed the diagnosis of pure germinoma. The patient was treated with radiation, and follow-up MRIs at one, three, six, and 12 months demonstrated progressive resolution of tumor burden with marked clinical improvement. Germinomas are rare germ cell tumors that are more frequently diagnosed in Asian countries. They uncommonly seed into the lateral ventricles, and only two other cases have been described with diffuse subependymal involvement. Unlike other malignant germ cell tumors, germinomas have marker negative CSF samples that are important in the normal diagnostic workup of diffuse subependymal lesions. Histopathologic correlation is required for definitive diagnosis in the United States and can be achieved with endoscopic tissue sampling. Germinomas are highly radio- and chemotherapy sensitive and have a fair prognosis with modern therapeutic techniques. Germinoma should be considered with simultaneous midline and diffuse ventricular lesions.

PurposeHigh performing firms have been associated with “quality” mission statements defined by the choice of components. In an attempt to extend our knowledge in order to give more legitimacy to these claims and also provide more local and relevant reference for Ghana‐based firms, the purpose of this paper is to investigate, through a component analysis, how high‐performing Ghana‐based firms define their mission.Design/methodology/approachMission statements of 50 of the Ghana Club 100 firms, primarily extracted from the official web sites, Initial Public Offer prospectuses and annual reports of the firms, were subjected to content analysis which evaluated and scored the mission statements based on the occurrence of 20 specific components.FindingsThe paper found that high‐performing Ghana‐based firms define missions to include components that the literature uses to measure quality; and these are similar to those of the UK, Canada and Ireland. Based on the ranking of the components, three categories were identified: the imperatives, the highlights, and the adjuncts.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper lumped together all firms irrespective of industry or sector. There is, therefore, the need to conduct further research to identify possible industry or sectoral differences, for better insight and relevance.Practical implicationsIdeas generated in this paper provide a guide to practitioners and firms regarding how they can develop mission statements, drawing on experiences of high‐performing Ghana‐based firms.Originality/valueThis is the first attempt to study how high‐performing Ghana‐based firms define their mission and hence is a major contribution to the scarce if not non‐existent Africa‐specific studies. It also provides a more prescriptive approach to crafting mission statements by proposing hierarchies of the components of mission statements.

Echinococcosis is a zoonotic infection, affecting humans in a characteristic geographic distribution. The disease generally involves the liver, the lung and sometimes an axillary location. We reported a case of 43-year-old man, who was diagnosed with a cystic lesion of the left axilla, which was presumed to be a hydatid cyst or a vascular malformation by ultrasound and computed tomography. Surgical excision of the lesion was performed confirming the hydatid cyst diagnosis by histological studies.

Les auteurs rapportent trois cas de tabes reveles par des arthropathies chez des patients âges de moins de 45 ans. L'âge des patients etait respectivement de 42, 40, 42 ans. La symptomatologie clinique consistait en une deformation indolore du genou, isolee dans un cas, associee a un syndrome radiculocordonal posterieur dans deux cas. Le bilan radiologique montrait des lesions de destruction osseuse. Le bilan biologique etait en faveur d'une maladie syphilitique. L'evolution a ete decevante malgre un traitement bien conduit. L'observation de tels cas doit faire evoquer une origine syphilitique devant toute arthropathie evoluee indolore, meme chez des patients jeunes.

Resume La dysplasie cochleovestibulaire ou malformation de Mondini est exceptionnelle. Il s’agit d’une dysplasie cochleaire d’origine congenitale due a l’arret precoce du developpement de l’oreille interne in utero. Nous rapportons le cas d’un nourrisson presentant une surdite de perception associee a des meningites a repetition chez lequel l’examen tomodensitometrique (TDM) a permis d’etablir le diagnostic. Nous soulignons l’importance du scanner a haute resolution dans le diagnostic des dysplasies cochleovestibulaires.