Do you look after someone? And are you from a black or minority ethnic background? (English and translations)

This leaflet is for BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) Carers. Carers can be people of all ages including children, young people, parents, older people. There is a cut off slip for BME Carers to fill in with their details. This information can then be sent to the Carer Worker in their local Trust. Details are on the leaflet.

Simulium (Inaequalium) marins, a new species of black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) from inselbergs in Brazil

A new species of black fly, Simulium (Inaequalium) marins (Diptera: Simuliidae), is described based on the male, female, pupa and larva. This new species was collected from two localities: a small stream on the Pico dos Marins, a high mountain with granite outcrops in Piquete County, state of São Paulo, and in a small stream in the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Beyond the Transatlantic Divide: The Multiple Authorities of Standards in the Global Political Economy of Services

This paper explores the plurality of institutional environments in which standards for the service sector are expected to support the rise of a global knowledge-based economy. Despite the careful wording of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a whole range of international bodies still have the capacity to define technical specifications affecting how services are expected to be traded on worldwide basis. The analysis relies on global political economy approaches to extend to the area of service standards the assumption that the process of globalization is not opposing states and markets, but a joint expression of both of them including new patterns and agents of structural change through formal and informal power and regulatory practices. It analyses on a cross-institutional basis patterns of authority in the institutional setting of service standards in the context of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the European Union, and the United States. In contrast to conventional views opposing the American system to the ISO/European framework, the paper questions the robustness of this opposition by showing that institutional developments of service standards are likely to face trade-offs and compromises across those systems and between two opposing models of standardisation.

Towards a knowledge economy

This paper provides a preliminary formulation of a new currency based on knowledge. Through a literature review of alternative currencies, various properties and benefits are selected that we hope will enable such a currency to be created. Nowadays not only money but also knowledge is necessary to do business. For instance, knowledge about markets and consumers is highly valuable but difficult to achieve, and even more difficult to store, transport or trade. The basic premise of this proposal is a knowledge measurement pattern that is formulated as a new alternative social currency. Therefore, it is an additional means of contributing to the worldwide evolution of a knowledge society. It is intended as a currency to facilitate the conservation and storage of knowledge, and its organization and categorization, but mainly its exploitation and transference

Simulium (Psilopelmia) virescens, a new black-fly species (Diptera: Simuliidae) from the southwestern region of the state of Bahia, Brazil

The last-instar larva, pupa, male and female of Simulium virescens sp. nov. are described and illustrated. This species has a peculiar larva, which has an elongated head capsule and light-green colour. The first thoracic segment has tubercle on its dorsal region and the third thoracic segment has one pair of tubercles; the first to the fourth abdominal segments have one pair of tubercles on each segment. Until now this new species had only been collected at the type locality, which is on the middle stretch of the Correntina River in the southwestern portion of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Females were voraciously biting humans during the field work. This new species represents the second species of Simulium(Psilopelmia) in Brazil and the first registered outside of the Brazilian Amazon Region.

Diversity and microdistribution of black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) assemblages in the tropical savanna streams of the Brazilian cerrado

We describe the abiotic factors affecting the distribution of black flies at a microhabitat scale, rather than at the regional scale usually present in the literature on the Neotropics. Black fly larvae were sampled from the Tocantins River and three tributaries, located in the Brazilian savanna (state of Tocantins, Brazil) during six bi-monthly sampling periods from October 2004-August 2005. At each sampling site, 15 random quadrats (30 x 30 cm) were sampled each period and for each quadrat were determined mean water velocity, predominant substrate type (rocks, riffle litter or riparian vegetation) and depth detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to determine associations with current velocity, whereas correspondence analysis (CA) was used to estimate site specific current velocity associations. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to identify general microhabitat associations. The CCA showed that most species had a trend towards riffle litter, except for Simulium nigrimanum associated with rocky substrate and Simulium cuasiexiguum associated with riparian vegetation. The DCA showed a well defined pattern of water velocity associations. The CA revealed that the species showed different speed associations from one site to another, suggesting different competitive pressures resulting in the occurrence of different realized niches.

Evolution of insecticide resistance in non-target black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Argentina

Black flies, a non-target species of the insecticides used in fruit production, represent a severe medical and veterinary problem. Large increases in the level of resistance to the pyrethroids fenvalerate (more than 355-fold) and deltamethrin (162-fold) and a small increase in resistance to the organophosphate azinphos methyl (2-fold) were observed between 1996-2008 in black fly larvae under insecticide pressure. Eventually, no change or a slight variation in insecticide resistance was followed by a subsequent increase in resistance. The evolution of pesticide resistance in a field population is a complex and stepwise process that is influenced by several factors, the most significant of which is the insecticide selection pressure, such as the dose and frequency of application. The variation in insecticide susceptibility within a black fly population in the productive area may be related to changes in fruit-pest control. The frequency of individuals with esterase activities higher than the maximum value determined in the susceptible population increased consistently over the sampling period. However, the insecticide resistance was not attributed to glutathione S-transferase activity. In conclusion, esterase activity in black flies from the productive area is one mechanism underlying the high levels of resistance to pyrethroids, which have been recently used infrequently. These enzymes may be reselected by currently used pesticides and enhance the resistance to these insecticides.

Hybrids and Regulation in the Global Political Economy

While regulation theory literature has made important contributions to the much-debated domain of globalisation by focusing on various aspects of post-Fordism, it has not yet fully engaged with the implications that can be drawn from critical approaches in international political economy. Recent studies have explored the transnational bases of new patterns and agents of change beyond states, firms and institutions traditionally involved in regulatory practices. Hybrid is often used as a default attribute reflecting lack of clear understanding of the breadth of this new type of influence and the opacity of the means involved. Drawing on the insights of philology and mythology, the paper argues that the notion of hybrid is relevant in elucidating the ontological ambiguity between imaginary and real aspects of globalisation. Furthermore, it specifies the categories involved in the analysis of emerging forms of hybrid regulation. Recent scholarship on globalisation tends to focus on the private-public nexus of the subjects involved in new forms of institutional arrangements and authority. Here, subjects, objects and space are analysed as joint issues. By focusing particularly on transformations affecting the role of the state, forms of competition, and their rescaling on a transnational basis, the concept of global hybrid is seen as complementary to the emancipation of regulation approaches from early emphasis on national levels of compromises.

Fiscal foresight, forecast revisions and the effects of government spending in the open economy

This paper investigates the effects of government spending on the real exchange rate and the trade balance in the US using a new VAR identification procedure based on spending forecast revisions. I find that the real exchange rate appreciates and the trade balance deteriorates after a government spending shock, although the effects are quantitatively small. The findings broadly match the theoretical predictions of the standard Mundell-Fleming model and differ substantially from those existing in literature. Differences are attributable to the fact that, because of fiscal foresight, the government spending is non-fundamental for the variables typically used in open economy VARs. Here, on the contrary, the estimated shock is fundamental.

Apreçamento de opções sobre taxa de câmbio R$/US$ negociadas no Brasil: uma comparação entre os modelos Black e redes neurais artificiais

No estudo aqui apresentado, aplicou-se um modelo de rede neural multicamadas para o apreçamento de calls sobre taxa de câmbio R$/US$, negociadas na Bolsa de Valores, Mercadorias & Futuros de São Paulo (BM&FBovespa), para o período de janeiro de 2004 a dezembro de 2007. A partir dos preços efetivamente praticados no mercado, comparou-se o desempenho entre essa técnica e o modelo de Black, utilizando-se métricas usuais de erro e testes estatísticos. Os resultados obtidos revelaram, em geral, a melhor adequação do modelo de inteligência artificial, em comparação ao modelo de Black, nos diferentes graus de moneyness.

Implementing statistical learning methods through Bayesian networks (Part 2): bayesian evaluations for results of black toner analyses in forensic document examination

This paper presents and discusses the use of Bayesian procedures - introduced through the use of Bayesian networks in Part I of this series of papers - for 'learning' probabilities from data. The discussion will relate to a set of real data on characteristics of black toners commonly used in printing and copying devices. Particular attention is drawn to the incorporation of the proposed procedures as an integral part in probabilistic inference schemes (notably in the form of Bayesian networks) that are intended to address uncertainties related to particular propositions of interest (e.g., whether or not a sample originates from a particular source). The conceptual tenets of the proposed methodologies are presented along with aspects of their practical implementation using currently available Bayesian network software.

Phase-sensitive black-blood coronary vessel wall imaging.

Black-blood MR coronary vessel wall imaging may become a powerful tool for the quantitative and noninvasive assessment of atherosclerosis and positive arterial remodeling. Although dual-inversion recovery is currently the gold standard, optimal lumen-to-vessel wall contrast is sometimes difficult to obtain, and the time window available for imaging is limited due to competing requirements between blood signal nulling time and period of minimal myocardial motion. Further, atherosclerosis is a spatially heterogeneous disease, and imaging at multiple anatomic levels of the coronary circulation is mandatory. However, this requirement of enhanced volumetric coverage comes at the expense of scanning time. Phase-sensitive inversion recovery has shown to be very valuable for enhancing tissue-tissue contrast and for making inversion recovery imaging less sensitive to tissue signal nulling time. This work enables multislice black-blood coronary vessel wall imaging in a single breath hold by extending phase-sensitive inversion recovery to phase-sensitive dual-inversion recovery, by combining it with spiral imaging and yet relaxing constraints related to blood signal nulling time and period of minimal myocardial motion.

Black Hawk County, June 30, 2002

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Black Hawk County Criminal Justice Information System, June 30, 2002

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