The protective effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-induced preconditioning on myocardial injury due to adriamycin was studied in the isolated perfused rat heart. Adriamycin (100 and 200 (mol / L) caused a...The protective effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-induced preconditioning on myocardial injury due to adriamycin was studied in the isolated perfused rat heart. Adriamycin (100 and 200 (mol / L) caused a gradual decrease in coronary flow (CF) and cardiac function (LVP and LV dp/dtmax), and an increase in the level of MDA. Pretreatment with CGRP at the concentration of 5 nmol/L for 5 min markedly reduced the attenuation of CF and cardiac function and inhibited the elevation of MDA content induced by adriamycin. The findings suggest that the pretreatment with CGRP possesses a protection against myocardial injury elicited by adriamycin. The present results also suggest that the protection of CGRP may be related to a reduction in lipid peroxidation.展开更多
During the Cold War,China’s diplomacy failed to treat the Arab states as a whole.It was not until the end of the Cold War that China established diplomatic relations with all 22 Arab states.Since then,a multilateral ...During the Cold War,China’s diplomacy failed to treat the Arab states as a whole.It was not until the end of the Cold War that China established diplomatic relations with all 22 Arab states.Since then,a multilateral cooperation mechanism between China and Arab states has come into existence and become steadily developed.In 2004,the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was established.In 2010,China and the Arab states announced the establishment of a strategic cooperative relationship.After the Gulf War,the Arab world entered a period of fragmentation and division.The situation deteriorated after the drastic changes in the Middle East in 2011,to the point of entering an era of granulation.The ability of The League of Arab States to operate as a single international actor has been greatly impaired.In the era of the fragmentation of the Arab world,the mechanism of multilateral cooperation between China and the Arab States has developed in spite of these great difficulties.In future,the role and function of the multilateral mechanism of cooperation between China and the Arab states needs to be clarified,and efficiency needs to be improved based on the existing mechanisms.展开更多
Sensory evaluation was performed on 32 commercial Malbec wines (2008 and 2009 vintages) produced in five provinces of Argentina. Wines from different areas in Mendoza (the most important producer of Malbec) were a...Sensory evaluation was performed on 32 commercial Malbec wines (2008 and 2009 vintages) produced in five provinces of Argentina. Wines from different areas in Mendoza (the most important producer of Malbec) were also included to test possible differences within this province. Ten key attributes were first recognized by descriptive analyses and then carefully evaluated by a trained sensory panel composed of 10 judges. Among the aroma and flavour attributes the analyses focused on plum, red fruits, white pepper, bell pepper, and floral. Three attributes of taste (acidity, astringency, and bitterness) and two attributes of color (red and blue-purple hues) were also analyzed. Statistical differences and similarities in sensory data were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple means comparisons by least significant difference test (Fisher LSD), and principal component analysis (PCA). ANOVA and Fisher LSD tests of sensory data showed significant differences (P 〈 0.05) for 6 out of 10 wine attributes: plum, floral, red fruits, astringency, red and blue- purple hues.展开更多
This paper investigates the perceptions, values, and considerations of ethics among public relations practitioners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A questionnaire was distributed to 372 practitioners in various p...This paper investigates the perceptions, values, and considerations of ethics among public relations practitioners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A questionnaire was distributed to 372 practitioners in various private and government organizations. Practitioners were asked how influential and relevant public relations ethical factors were on the practitioner's perception of ethics. Findings suggest that the daily practice of public relations day-by-day professionally practice learning, senior practitioners, senior executives, and managers along with religion play a major role in shaping the meaning, philosophy, and conception of the practitioner's ethics. Respondents were asked to describe the level of support they would give to the controversial public relations practices that may generate some ethical problems. The majority of the respondents did not agree on the use of "spreading rumors", "providing false information to satisfy the public", "misinformation and manipulation", "giving false promises", and "would not approve favoring personal interest over public interest".展开更多
This paper attempts to investigate Free State (FS) in Hijazi Arabic. This structure is not used in Modem Standard Arabic. It was introduced into the Arabic dialects later on as a competing structure to the Construct...This paper attempts to investigate Free State (FS) in Hijazi Arabic. This structure is not used in Modem Standard Arabic. It was introduced into the Arabic dialects later on as a competing structure to the Construct State (CS). First, we discuss the characteristics of this structure in comparison to its counterpart: the CS. we show that semantically FS can express only three semantic relations out of the five semantic relations CS can convey. Furthermore, the paper shows that the FS genitive exponent in HA "hagg" agrees with the head noun of the matrix DP in phi-features. The discussion then shifts to the origin of the genitive exponent hagg. The paper argues that it is originally a noun that has acquired a new meaning: an anaphor that means something like "one of". Hence, we gloss hagg as ANAPH. Contrary to previous analyses for the FS genitive exponent, the paper proposes that hagg, the noun, heads its own CS and it is linked to the preceding DP by a binding relationship, which involves feature agreement in gender and number. Consequently, we propose that hagg-headed CS has the same structure of the nominal CS. Finally, we investigate the occurrence of both FS and CS structures in HA and show when one structure is preferred to the other.展开更多
Due to the pedo-climate conditions in the region of Korca, this area is considered to be one of the most favorable regions for cultivating various kinds of plants such as cereals, vegetables, wood-trees, vineyards, et...Due to the pedo-climate conditions in the region of Korca, this area is considered to be one of the most favorable regions for cultivating various kinds of plants such as cereals, vegetables, wood-trees, vineyards, etc. All the factors such as rain, temperature, the impact of sunlight, and the pathological structure of the land, make this region one of the most productive and qualitative among the others. Changing the political systems in Albania during the last decades in Albania had its own impact even in the agricultural aspect. Shifting from communism into a modem, capitalist economy built a huge barrier for farmers in their way to intensifying the agricultural production. Dividing the land according to the law number 7,501, was accompanied by a severe fragmentation of the plot, reducing the degree of mechanization and chemical process. In this paper, the authors will try to analyze the effect of law fragmentation in the regional farmers working process in the region of Korea, and other municipalities such as Bilisht and Maliq, nearby Korea. There were randomly interviewed 150 farmers, from which 30 from the municipality of Bilisht, 22 from Korca municipality and 15 from Maliqi. From each farmer, these were the variables taken into consideration: Total land area, irrigated land, the number of plots, the area planted with wheat, corn, vegetables, fruit, vineyards, and forages. All the data that were gathered and translated into figures have indicated statistic elements such as the average value of each variable, deviation or standard deviation, coefficient of variation, correlation and regression. For instance in the municipality of Bilisht, it has been concluded that between the total variable area and number of plots, the related correlation value of the correlation coefficient is r = + 0.73 and the value of regression coefficient is R = 2.71. In this municipality, correlative links between the variable and the total area planted with wheat area, are of medium category, with a value of the correlation coefficient of r = + 0.52 and the regression coefficient is R = 0.89. Regarding the studies in the municipality of Maliq, it has been a correlation link between the weak variable category: in the surface of the irrigated area and the land planted with vegetables and corn, the value of the correlation coefficient is r = + 0.24 and the regression coefficient R = 2.11. In the municipality of Korea, among the variable of irrigated area and the surface of the land planted with vegetables, there is a weak correlative link with a value of the correlation coefficient r = + 0.17 and the regression coefficient R = 0.58.展开更多
The main objective of this work is to examine statistical causality relationships between low-frequency modes of climate variability and winter (December to February) anomaly of net heat flux at the Mediterranean ai...The main objective of this work is to examine statistical causality relationships between low-frequency modes of climate variability and winter (December to February) anomaly of net heat flux at the Mediterranean air-sea interface. The introduction of the concept of Granger causality allowed us to examine the influence of these climates indices on the net heat flux anomaly and to select Mediterranean surface regions that really influenced by each index. Results show that the winter anomaly of the net heat flux in the Algerian basin south and the gulf of Lion is mainly caused by the Arctic Oscillation. El Nifio-Southern Oscillation influences much more the Algerian basin north and the northern lonian Sea. The Quasi-Biennial Oscillation affects only the Alboran and the Tyrrhenian Seas. But the Adriatic and Levantine basin are impacted by any climate index. They also show that these climate indices can increase explained variance in winter variations of air-sea net heat flux by 10% to 15%, with a lag of three seasons. These relationships are less persistent and spatially limited.展开更多
Smart cities initiatives are developing all over the world, due to their support in favouring a better provision of services, in connection with the aim of achieving efficiency in cities management. More and more big ...Smart cities initiatives are developing all over the world, due to their support in favouring a better provision of services, in connection with the aim of achieving efficiency in cities management. More and more big corporations are interested in this topic to develop their businesses, as several issues are linked to these projects, like environment, water management, energy policies, education, culture, and so on. In literature these issues, known as drivers, were also related to sustainability aims which could be reached through the accomplishment of better performances within environment, economy, and society. This study synthesizes all the different drivers identified by scholars and industry players in a model, in order to use it as a framework to depict the linkages among the various smart cities projects. Since transport resulted as one of the most considered drivers in the analyzed contributions, the research questions were delineated to describe its role in the different phases of smart initiatives, and to understand if it could encourage and enable the other drivers' development. The multiple case study was chosen as the fittest methodological approach and it was conducted with the selection of three smart cities, one for each of the most cited platform models developed by industry players, which had started transport initiatives at least three years ago: Singapore (IBM), Amsterdam (Accenture), and San Francisco (Microsoft). The analysis of the official documents set up by city departments and by the industry players showed transport as a driving force in smart cities projects which conveys a smart approach to different domains, especially energy savings, environment, and safety. The results also showed smart mobility as a pivot in stimulating investments and citizens' participation on different city drivers, especially as it concerns environment and services to both citizens and businesses. Smart transport initiatives, hardware and software infrastructures, technological devices, and people participation to smartization were closely interrelated in smart cities projects and they could be successfully used to achieve sustainability aims for different stakeholders.展开更多
Establishment of genetic databases has socio-cultural, ethical and legal implications particularly in developing countries. However, there are no available data in Oman about the community knowledge and understanding ...Establishment of genetic databases has socio-cultural, ethical and legal implications particularly in developing countries. However, there are no available data in Oman about the community knowledge and understanding of genetic database and gene banking. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating Omani public awareness on socio-cultural, ethical and legal aspects of gene studies (with consideration to regional variations) and to assess the public acceptance of initiating gene banking. This study was conducted using self-completed questionnaires by a sample of adult Omani population invited to participate in the study, from 14 health centers, a school and a university. For illiterate subjects, structured interviews were conducted. There were a total of 1,702 participants with nearly equal numbers of males and females. The mean age of respondents was 31 (+ 12) years for males and 28 (+ 10) years for females. In general, 9% of the studied population were illiterate and a total of 29% were preparatory school level and below, classified as the uneducated. While, 60% of the respondents were unemployed. The awareness on the genetic disposition of some common diseases was generally higher than 80% with the highest on sickle cell anemia. Only 17% of the participants had knowledge of genetic databases, 95% of whom were from the educated group. Public opinion on acceptance of gene banking, participation in genetic research and setting protection laws in those aware and non-aware, achieved good scores, indicating public acceptance of the above.展开更多
Over the last decade or so, private sector's financing through public-private partnerships (PPPs) has become increasingly popular as a way of procuring and maintaining public-sector infrastructure. Albania in the l...Over the last decade or so, private sector's financing through public-private partnerships (PPPs) has become increasingly popular as a way of procuring and maintaining public-sector infrastructure. Albania in the last few years had improved the legal frame so as to give the local authorities the right to initiate PPP projects. The local authorities have not built the expertise for such projects yet. The aim of this paper is to help the local authorities in Albania to support the building of the expertise for such projects. A financial model is used to make the required calculations for the bid at various phases of the project, although this paper is not intended to cover financial modeling in depth, the key inputs and outputs for the financial model are reviewed, including the financing costs. The model has to work within the constraints of: (I) the public authority's requirements for the PPP contract term and service fee profile; and (2) lenders' requirements for the term and payment profile of their debt.展开更多
The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the relation between inflation rate and unemployment rate in contemporary democratic states, using Spearman's correlation coefficient. We apply this method i...The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the relation between inflation rate and unemployment rate in contemporary democratic states, using Spearman's correlation coefficient. We apply this method in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014. Some results of the study include: (1) The Central Limit Theorem (CLT) is not applicable for the quarterly inflation rate as well as for quarterly unemployment rate in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 at the confidence level of 99.99%. The official data for inflation and unemployment contradict the CLT at a very high confidence level of 99.99%; (2) The inflation process in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 is an unfair game at the confidence level of 99.2%; (3) The unemployment process in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 is an unfair game at the confidence level of 99.99%; (4) The inflation and unemployment in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 are statistically dependent at the 96% confidence level; (5) Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.387 indicates a weak positive correlation between inflation and unemployment in Albania during the specified period; and (6) The official data for inflation and unemployment in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 are consistent with Friedman's hypothesis.展开更多
Altay Prefecture plays a vital role as an ecological barrier in Northwest China.Studying the ecosystem service value is of great significance for promoting regional green high-quality development and maintaining ecolo...Altay Prefecture plays a vital role as an ecological barrier in Northwest China.Studying the ecosystem service value is of great significance for promoting regional green high-quality development and maintaining ecological security.Based on Global ESA land cover data from 2000 to 2015,the trade-off and synergy relationships and driving force factors between ecosystem services in Altay Prefecture were analyzed in this study.The analysis produced four main results.(1)The ecosystem service value in Altay Prefecture continued to increase from 113.521×10^(9) yuan in 2000 to 115.777×10^(9) yuan in 2015,for an increase of about 1.98%.(2)The distribution of ecosystem service value had obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics,with hot spot areas mainly concentrated in the"two rivers and one lake"and the mountainous areas in the northwest,while the cold spot areas were mainly the forest and grass-covered areas in the northern mountainous areas and within Jimunai County.(3)The trade-off and synergy relationship among ecosystem services was mainly synergistic,with a total of 77.78% of ecosystem service relative relationships showing a significant positive correlation at the 0.01 level.(4)Economic factors and industrial structure are important factors affecting ecosystem service value in Altay Prefecture.Ecosystem service value is positively correlated with per capita GDP and the output value of the tertiary industry,but negatively correlated with the output value of the secondary industry.展开更多
To evaluate and provide an appropriate theoretical direction for research into climate-vegetation interactions using meteorological station data at different time scales,we examined differences between the Normalized ...To evaluate and provide an appropriate theoretical direction for research into climate-vegetation interactions using meteorological station data at different time scales,we examined differences between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)and their responses to climate factors. We looked for correlations between'data extracted from MOD13Q1 remote sensing images and meteorological station data for the two indexes.The results showed that even though NDVI and EVI are derived from the same remote sensing image,their response to climate factors was significantly different.In the same meteorological station,the correlation coefficients for NDVI,EVI and climate factors were different;correlation coefficients between NDVI,EVI and climate factors varied with meteorological station.In addition,there was a lag effect for responses of NDVI to average minimum temperature,average temperature,average vapor pressure,minimum relative humidity, extreme wind speed,maximum wind speed,average wind speed and average station air-pressure.EVI had a lag only for average minimum temperature,average vapor pressure,extreme wind speed,maximum wind speed and average station air-pressure.The lag period was variable,but most were in the -3 period.Different vegetation types had different sensitivities to climate.The correlation between meteorological stations and vegetation requires more attention in future research.展开更多
文摘The protective effect of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-induced preconditioning on myocardial injury due to adriamycin was studied in the isolated perfused rat heart. Adriamycin (100 and 200 (mol / L) caused a gradual decrease in coronary flow (CF) and cardiac function (LVP and LV dp/dtmax), and an increase in the level of MDA. Pretreatment with CGRP at the concentration of 5 nmol/L for 5 min markedly reduced the attenuation of CF and cardiac function and inhibited the elevation of MDA content induced by adriamycin. The findings suggest that the pretreatment with CGRP possesses a protection against myocardial injury elicited by adriamycin. The present results also suggest that the protection of CGRP may be related to a reduction in lipid peroxidation.
文摘During the Cold War,China’s diplomacy failed to treat the Arab states as a whole.It was not until the end of the Cold War that China established diplomatic relations with all 22 Arab states.Since then,a multilateral cooperation mechanism between China and Arab states has come into existence and become steadily developed.In 2004,the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was established.In 2010,China and the Arab states announced the establishment of a strategic cooperative relationship.After the Gulf War,the Arab world entered a period of fragmentation and division.The situation deteriorated after the drastic changes in the Middle East in 2011,to the point of entering an era of granulation.The ability of The League of Arab States to operate as a single international actor has been greatly impaired.In the era of the fragmentation of the Arab world,the mechanism of multilateral cooperation between China and the Arab States has developed in spite of these great difficulties.In future,the role and function of the multilateral mechanism of cooperation between China and the Arab states needs to be clarified,and efficiency needs to be improved based on the existing mechanisms.
文摘Sensory evaluation was performed on 32 commercial Malbec wines (2008 and 2009 vintages) produced in five provinces of Argentina. Wines from different areas in Mendoza (the most important producer of Malbec) were also included to test possible differences within this province. Ten key attributes were first recognized by descriptive analyses and then carefully evaluated by a trained sensory panel composed of 10 judges. Among the aroma and flavour attributes the analyses focused on plum, red fruits, white pepper, bell pepper, and floral. Three attributes of taste (acidity, astringency, and bitterness) and two attributes of color (red and blue-purple hues) were also analyzed. Statistical differences and similarities in sensory data were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple means comparisons by least significant difference test (Fisher LSD), and principal component analysis (PCA). ANOVA and Fisher LSD tests of sensory data showed significant differences (P 〈 0.05) for 6 out of 10 wine attributes: plum, floral, red fruits, astringency, red and blue- purple hues.
文摘This paper investigates the perceptions, values, and considerations of ethics among public relations practitioners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A questionnaire was distributed to 372 practitioners in various private and government organizations. Practitioners were asked how influential and relevant public relations ethical factors were on the practitioner's perception of ethics. Findings suggest that the daily practice of public relations day-by-day professionally practice learning, senior practitioners, senior executives, and managers along with religion play a major role in shaping the meaning, philosophy, and conception of the practitioner's ethics. Respondents were asked to describe the level of support they would give to the controversial public relations practices that may generate some ethical problems. The majority of the respondents did not agree on the use of "spreading rumors", "providing false information to satisfy the public", "misinformation and manipulation", "giving false promises", and "would not approve favoring personal interest over public interest".
文摘This paper attempts to investigate Free State (FS) in Hijazi Arabic. This structure is not used in Modem Standard Arabic. It was introduced into the Arabic dialects later on as a competing structure to the Construct State (CS). First, we discuss the characteristics of this structure in comparison to its counterpart: the CS. we show that semantically FS can express only three semantic relations out of the five semantic relations CS can convey. Furthermore, the paper shows that the FS genitive exponent in HA "hagg" agrees with the head noun of the matrix DP in phi-features. The discussion then shifts to the origin of the genitive exponent hagg. The paper argues that it is originally a noun that has acquired a new meaning: an anaphor that means something like "one of". Hence, we gloss hagg as ANAPH. Contrary to previous analyses for the FS genitive exponent, the paper proposes that hagg, the noun, heads its own CS and it is linked to the preceding DP by a binding relationship, which involves feature agreement in gender and number. Consequently, we propose that hagg-headed CS has the same structure of the nominal CS. Finally, we investigate the occurrence of both FS and CS structures in HA and show when one structure is preferred to the other.
文摘Due to the pedo-climate conditions in the region of Korca, this area is considered to be one of the most favorable regions for cultivating various kinds of plants such as cereals, vegetables, wood-trees, vineyards, etc. All the factors such as rain, temperature, the impact of sunlight, and the pathological structure of the land, make this region one of the most productive and qualitative among the others. Changing the political systems in Albania during the last decades in Albania had its own impact even in the agricultural aspect. Shifting from communism into a modem, capitalist economy built a huge barrier for farmers in their way to intensifying the agricultural production. Dividing the land according to the law number 7,501, was accompanied by a severe fragmentation of the plot, reducing the degree of mechanization and chemical process. In this paper, the authors will try to analyze the effect of law fragmentation in the regional farmers working process in the region of Korea, and other municipalities such as Bilisht and Maliq, nearby Korea. There were randomly interviewed 150 farmers, from which 30 from the municipality of Bilisht, 22 from Korca municipality and 15 from Maliqi. From each farmer, these were the variables taken into consideration: Total land area, irrigated land, the number of plots, the area planted with wheat, corn, vegetables, fruit, vineyards, and forages. All the data that were gathered and translated into figures have indicated statistic elements such as the average value of each variable, deviation or standard deviation, coefficient of variation, correlation and regression. For instance in the municipality of Bilisht, it has been concluded that between the total variable area and number of plots, the related correlation value of the correlation coefficient is r = + 0.73 and the value of regression coefficient is R = 2.71. In this municipality, correlative links between the variable and the total area planted with wheat area, are of medium category, with a value of the correlation coefficient of r = + 0.52 and the regression coefficient is R = 0.89. Regarding the studies in the municipality of Maliq, it has been a correlation link between the weak variable category: in the surface of the irrigated area and the land planted with vegetables and corn, the value of the correlation coefficient is r = + 0.24 and the regression coefficient R = 2.11. In the municipality of Korea, among the variable of irrigated area and the surface of the land planted with vegetables, there is a weak correlative link with a value of the correlation coefficient r = + 0.17 and the regression coefficient R = 0.58.
文摘The main objective of this work is to examine statistical causality relationships between low-frequency modes of climate variability and winter (December to February) anomaly of net heat flux at the Mediterranean air-sea interface. The introduction of the concept of Granger causality allowed us to examine the influence of these climates indices on the net heat flux anomaly and to select Mediterranean surface regions that really influenced by each index. Results show that the winter anomaly of the net heat flux in the Algerian basin south and the gulf of Lion is mainly caused by the Arctic Oscillation. El Nifio-Southern Oscillation influences much more the Algerian basin north and the northern lonian Sea. The Quasi-Biennial Oscillation affects only the Alboran and the Tyrrhenian Seas. But the Adriatic and Levantine basin are impacted by any climate index. They also show that these climate indices can increase explained variance in winter variations of air-sea net heat flux by 10% to 15%, with a lag of three seasons. These relationships are less persistent and spatially limited.
文摘Smart cities initiatives are developing all over the world, due to their support in favouring a better provision of services, in connection with the aim of achieving efficiency in cities management. More and more big corporations are interested in this topic to develop their businesses, as several issues are linked to these projects, like environment, water management, energy policies, education, culture, and so on. In literature these issues, known as drivers, were also related to sustainability aims which could be reached through the accomplishment of better performances within environment, economy, and society. This study synthesizes all the different drivers identified by scholars and industry players in a model, in order to use it as a framework to depict the linkages among the various smart cities projects. Since transport resulted as one of the most considered drivers in the analyzed contributions, the research questions were delineated to describe its role in the different phases of smart initiatives, and to understand if it could encourage and enable the other drivers' development. The multiple case study was chosen as the fittest methodological approach and it was conducted with the selection of three smart cities, one for each of the most cited platform models developed by industry players, which had started transport initiatives at least three years ago: Singapore (IBM), Amsterdam (Accenture), and San Francisco (Microsoft). The analysis of the official documents set up by city departments and by the industry players showed transport as a driving force in smart cities projects which conveys a smart approach to different domains, especially energy savings, environment, and safety. The results also showed smart mobility as a pivot in stimulating investments and citizens' participation on different city drivers, especially as it concerns environment and services to both citizens and businesses. Smart transport initiatives, hardware and software infrastructures, technological devices, and people participation to smartization were closely interrelated in smart cities projects and they could be successfully used to achieve sustainability aims for different stakeholders.
文摘Establishment of genetic databases has socio-cultural, ethical and legal implications particularly in developing countries. However, there are no available data in Oman about the community knowledge and understanding of genetic database and gene banking. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating Omani public awareness on socio-cultural, ethical and legal aspects of gene studies (with consideration to regional variations) and to assess the public acceptance of initiating gene banking. This study was conducted using self-completed questionnaires by a sample of adult Omani population invited to participate in the study, from 14 health centers, a school and a university. For illiterate subjects, structured interviews were conducted. There were a total of 1,702 participants with nearly equal numbers of males and females. The mean age of respondents was 31 (+ 12) years for males and 28 (+ 10) years for females. In general, 9% of the studied population were illiterate and a total of 29% were preparatory school level and below, classified as the uneducated. While, 60% of the respondents were unemployed. The awareness on the genetic disposition of some common diseases was generally higher than 80% with the highest on sickle cell anemia. Only 17% of the participants had knowledge of genetic databases, 95% of whom were from the educated group. Public opinion on acceptance of gene banking, participation in genetic research and setting protection laws in those aware and non-aware, achieved good scores, indicating public acceptance of the above.
文摘Over the last decade or so, private sector's financing through public-private partnerships (PPPs) has become increasingly popular as a way of procuring and maintaining public-sector infrastructure. Albania in the last few years had improved the legal frame so as to give the local authorities the right to initiate PPP projects. The local authorities have not built the expertise for such projects yet. The aim of this paper is to help the local authorities in Albania to support the building of the expertise for such projects. A financial model is used to make the required calculations for the bid at various phases of the project, although this paper is not intended to cover financial modeling in depth, the key inputs and outputs for the financial model are reviewed, including the financing costs. The model has to work within the constraints of: (I) the public authority's requirements for the PPP contract term and service fee profile; and (2) lenders' requirements for the term and payment profile of their debt.
文摘The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the relation between inflation rate and unemployment rate in contemporary democratic states, using Spearman's correlation coefficient. We apply this method in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014. Some results of the study include: (1) The Central Limit Theorem (CLT) is not applicable for the quarterly inflation rate as well as for quarterly unemployment rate in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 at the confidence level of 99.99%. The official data for inflation and unemployment contradict the CLT at a very high confidence level of 99.99%; (2) The inflation process in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 is an unfair game at the confidence level of 99.2%; (3) The unemployment process in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 is an unfair game at the confidence level of 99.99%; (4) The inflation and unemployment in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 are statistically dependent at the 96% confidence level; (5) Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.387 indicates a weak positive correlation between inflation and unemployment in Albania during the specified period; and (6) The official data for inflation and unemployment in Albania during the period from January 2005 to December 2014 are consistent with Friedman's hypothesis.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China(41871196)The Scientific Research Project in Altay Prefecture,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China(2019-529)。
文摘Altay Prefecture plays a vital role as an ecological barrier in Northwest China.Studying the ecosystem service value is of great significance for promoting regional green high-quality development and maintaining ecological security.Based on Global ESA land cover data from 2000 to 2015,the trade-off and synergy relationships and driving force factors between ecosystem services in Altay Prefecture were analyzed in this study.The analysis produced four main results.(1)The ecosystem service value in Altay Prefecture continued to increase from 113.521×10^(9) yuan in 2000 to 115.777×10^(9) yuan in 2015,for an increase of about 1.98%.(2)The distribution of ecosystem service value had obvious spatial agglomeration characteristics,with hot spot areas mainly concentrated in the"two rivers and one lake"and the mountainous areas in the northwest,while the cold spot areas were mainly the forest and grass-covered areas in the northern mountainous areas and within Jimunai County.(3)The trade-off and synergy relationship among ecosystem services was mainly synergistic,with a total of 77.78% of ecosystem service relative relationships showing a significant positive correlation at the 0.01 level.(4)Economic factors and industrial structure are important factors affecting ecosystem service value in Altay Prefecture.Ecosystem service value is positively correlated with per capita GDP and the output value of the tertiary industry,but negatively correlated with the output value of the secondary industry.
基金National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0501003)
文摘To evaluate and provide an appropriate theoretical direction for research into climate-vegetation interactions using meteorological station data at different time scales,we examined differences between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)and their responses to climate factors. We looked for correlations between'data extracted from MOD13Q1 remote sensing images and meteorological station data for the two indexes.The results showed that even though NDVI and EVI are derived from the same remote sensing image,their response to climate factors was significantly different.In the same meteorological station,the correlation coefficients for NDVI,EVI and climate factors were different;correlation coefficients between NDVI,EVI and climate factors varied with meteorological station.In addition,there was a lag effect for responses of NDVI to average minimum temperature,average temperature,average vapor pressure,minimum relative humidity, extreme wind speed,maximum wind speed,average wind speed and average station air-pressure.EVI had a lag only for average minimum temperature,average vapor pressure,extreme wind speed,maximum wind speed and average station air-pressure.The lag period was variable,but most were in the -3 period.Different vegetation types had different sensitivities to climate.The correlation between meteorological stations and vegetation requires more attention in future research.