In the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of California, Northern Division, before Hon. Benjamin F. Bledsoe, United States District Judge : United States of America, plaintiff, vs. Southern Pacific Company, et al., Defendants. In Equity No.46 Civil, A-16, A-24, A-25, A-26, A-28.

Cover title.

Illustrated catalogue of the furniture and embellishments from the Imperial Palace, Pekin : ... newly acquired by the firm of Messrs. Yamanaka & Company ...

Cover title: Oriental art treasures from the Chinese Imperial Palace.

Central auditory processing and central auditory processing disorder: Fundamental questions and considerations

Despite several decades of research, neither clinicians nor academics can agree on a single definition of central auditory processing (CAP) or central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). This article considers why this is the case, and comments on the resulting implications for CAP assessment and CAPD rehabilitation in the clinic.

One-year outcome of bevacizumab therapy for chronic macular edema in central and branch retinal vein occlusions in real-world clinical practice in the UK

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the 12-month outcome of macular edema secondary to both chronic and new central and branch retinal vein occlusions treated with intravitreal bevacizumab in the real-life clinical setting in the UK. Methods: Retrospective case notes analysis of consecutive patients with retinal vein occlusions treated with bevacizumab in 2010 to 2012. Outcome measures were visual acuity (measured with Snellen, converted into logMAR [logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution] for statistical calculation) and central retinal thickness at baseline, 4 weeks post-loading phase, and at 1 year. Results: There were 56 and 100 patients with central and branch retinal vein occlusions, respectively, of whom 62% had chronic edema and received prior therapies and another 32% required additional laser treatments post-baseline bevacizumab. Baseline median visual acuity was 0.78 (interquartile range [IQR] 0.48–1.22) in the central group and 0.6 (IQR 0.3–0.78) in the branch group. In both groups, visual improvement was statistically significant from baseline compared to post-loading (P,0.001 and P=0.03, respectively), but was not significant by month 12 (P=0.058 and P=0.166, respectively); 30% improved by at least three lines and 44% improved by at least one line by month 12. Baseline median central retinal thickness was 449 μm (IQR 388–553) in the central group and 441 µm (IQR 357–501) in the branch group. However, the mean reduction in thickness was statistically significant at post-loading (P,0.001) and at the 12-month time point (P,0.001) for both groups. The average number of injections in 1 year was 4.2 in the central group and 3.3 in the branch group. Conclusion: Our large real-world cohort results indicate that bevacizumab introduced to patients with either new or chronic edema due to retinal vein occlusion can result in resolution of edema and stabilization of vision in the first year.

A magyar átalakulás és fejlődés néhány általánosítható elméleti tanulsága = Some generalizable theoretical lessons of the Hungarian transformation and development

A világgazdasági válság óta eltelt nyolc évtizedben Magyarországon számos rendszerváltozás ment végbe a gazdaságban és a politikában. Sokak szerint a szabadpiactól a szabadpiacig vezető kör bezárult, és ismét rendszerválság előtt állunk. Míg a jövő természetesen bizonytalanságokkal terhes, és így értelemszerűen nem kiszámítható, a múlt egyértelmű tanulsága az, hogy a közéletet végig formáló felzárkózási törekvés egészében sikertelennek bizonyult. Ennek alapja elemzésünk központi rejtélye egy régi fejlődéselméleti feladvány: miért van az, hogy Argentínához vagy újabban Olaszországhoz és Portugáliához hasonlóan a jó politika rossz eredményekkel jár(t), és fordítva? Miért szakadt el végletesen és történetileg is a gazdasági és a politikai ésszerűség egymástól? __________________ Hungary has undergone several changes of economic and political system in the eighty years since the Great Depression. According to many, the circle from market economy to market economy has closed and we face another systemic crisis. Although the future is naturally full of uncertainties and is not by its very nature predictable, the clear lesson from the past is that the effort to catch up, which shaped public life throughout, has been unsuccessful on the whole. The basis for this and the central riddle in this analysis is an old puzzle in development theory: how is it that good policies had bad results and vice versa, as was the case in Argentina, and recently in Italy and Portugal? Why did economic and political rationality part company for good, even in historical terms?

Global and local perceptual style, field-independence, and central coherence: an attempt at concept validation

Historically, the concepts of field-independence, closure flexibility, and weak central coherence have been used to denote a locally, rather globally, dominated perceptual style. To date, there has been little attempt to clarify the relationship between these constructs, or to examine the convergent validity of the various tasks purported to measure them. To address this, we administered 14 tasks that have been used to study visual perceptual styles to a group of 90 neuro-typical adults. The data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. We found evidence for the existence of a narrowly defined weak central coherence (field-independence) factor that received loadings from only a few of the tasks used to operationalise this concept. This factor can most aptly be described as representing the ability to dis-embed a simple stimulus from a more complex array. The results suggest that future studies of perceptual styles should include tasks whose theoretical validity is empirically verified, as such validity cannot be established merely on the basis of a priori task analysis. Moreover, the use of multiple indices is required to capture the latent dimensions of perceptual styles reliably.

Market reforms and privatisation in the English National Health Service

The article examines developments in the marketisation and privatisation of the English National Health Service, primarily since 1997. It explores the use of competition and contracting out in ancillary services and the levering into public services of private finance for capital developments through the Private Finance Initiative. A substantial part of the article examines the repeated restructuring of the health service as a market in clinical services, initially as an internal market but subsequently as a market increasing opened up to private sector involvement. Some of the implications of market processes for NHS staff and for increased privatisation are discussed. The article examines one episode of popular resistance to these developments, namely the movement of opposition to the 2011 health and social care legislative proposals. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these system reforms for the founding principles of the NHS and the sustainability of the service.

SEMINAR ON CENTRAL CONCLUSIONS MANIFESTS IFLA-UNESCO FOR PUBLIC LIBRARY, SCHOOL AND INTERNET

Central America is a region with accumulated experiences of collaborative work in developing the Central Library, among them are: The CSUCA (Council of Central American Universities) globally recognized organization founded in 1948 has strengthened the development of University Libraries, with the creation of the Central American University Libraries. Another significant contribution is made by the Public Libraries and supported by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) has substantially expanded the concept of National Public Library. Today is forming the Confederation of Associations and Colleges Central Library, a product of the Workshop held in El Salvador, with the support of IFLA / ALP.

Exchange rate dynamics, structural breaks, and central bank interventions in Colombia

We evaluate the effectiveness of the Colombian Central Bank´s interventions in the foreign exchange market during the period 2000 to 2014 -- We examine the stochastic process that describes the exchange rate, with a focus on the detection of structural breaks or unit roots in the data to determine whether the Central Bank´s interventions were effective -- We find that the exchange rate can be described either by a random walk or by a trend-stationary model with multiple breaks -- In neither cases do we find any evidence that the exchange rate was affected by the Central Bank interventions

Economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin: sharing reputation indicators in the experience goods of wine and cheese

The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin (PDO). For the first time we analyse the value of PDO labels from the point of view of economic efficiency. The central hypothesis is that a PDO has a positive impact on the economic efficiency of its member companies and that this is because a PDO label is a collective reputation indicator that foments efficient investment in quality in terms of member returns. The methodology applied to test this hypothesis is based on data envelopment analysis to estimate economic efficiency, and econometric models to explain company efficiency through both the PDO label, as an indicator of collective reputation, and the characteristics of the company. The results obtained in the experience goods of wine and cheese in Spain show that PDO labels have a positive impact on economic efficiency. Additionally, the age and size of the company have a positive effect while the wage level of the company has a different influence on efficiency depending on the sector considered. Overall, the results reveal the importance of PDOs in industries in which the signal of reputation is not only reliant on the individual brands.

Routines in a European aquaculture company and the development of a Flavobacterium psychrophilum dose response pre-model in adult Rainbow Trout

An internship in a European company dealing with aquaculture and biotechnology - AquaBioTech Group, Malta - was undertaken to complete the Master Degree of Science in Aquaculture of the School of Tourism and Maritime Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. Biotechnology and aquaculture are two areas that have been synergistically used to contribute for the progress and improvement of fish production. The AquaBioTech Group is an example of a company able to integrate these areas to maximizing their services. Located in Mosta (Malta) the company operates in a sustainable way using Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS) to maintain aquaculture species. In collaboration with several companies and institutions, the AquaBioTech Group is involved and supports the development of important international research projects. The present report focuses on two important parts of the internship performed during 6 months. Initially, it will cover the operation and constitution of the company, describing the routines and techniques acquired. Then, it will describe a pathology trial that forms the practical and scientific component of this report. Despite the limitation to describe some confidential assays, this trial consisted in the infection of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with the bacterium Flavobacterium psychrophilum in order to evaluate the mortality rates over time. The internship served to solidify theoretical knowledge acquired during the academic training, develop professional skills and provide an understanding of jobs available on the market.

Theory and its role in mathematics education

The increased recognition of the theory in mathematics education is evident in numerous handbooks, journal articles, and other publications. For example, Silver and Herbst (2007) examined ―Theory in Mathematics Education Scholarship‖ in the Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (Lester, 2007) while Cobb (2007) addressed ―Putting Philosophy to Work: Coping with Multiple Theoretical Perspectives‖ in the same handbook. And a central component of both the first and second editions of the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education (English, 2002; 2008) was ―advances in theory development.‖ Needless to say, the comprehensive second edition of the Handbook of Educational Psychology (Alexander & Winne, 2006) abounds with analyses of theoretical developments across a variety of disciplines and contexts. Numerous definitions of ―theory‖ appear in the literature (e.g., see Silver & Herbst, in Lester, 2007). It is not our intention to provide a ―one-size-fits-all‖ definition of theory per se as applied to our discipline; rather we consider multiple perspectives on theory and its many roles in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in varied contexts.