Professionalisation of sport federations - a multi-level framework for analysing forms, causes and consequences

Research question: International and national sport federations as well as their member organisations are key actors within the sport system and have a wide range of relationships outside the sport system (e.g. with the state, sponsors, and the media). They are currently facing major challenges such as growing competition in top-level sports, democratisation of sports with 'sports for all' and sports as the answer to social problems. In this context, professionalising sport organisations seems to be an appropriate strategy to face these challenges and current problems. We define the professionalisation of sport organisations as an organisational process of transformation leading towards organisational rationalisation, efficiency and business-like management. This has led to a profound organisational change, particularly within sport federations, characterised by the strengthening of institutional management (managerialism) and the implementation of efficiency-based management instruments and paid staff. Research methods: The goal of this article is to review the current international literature and establish a global understanding of and theoretical framework for analysing why and how sport organisations professionalise and what consequences this may have. Results and findings: Our multi-level approach based on the social theory of action integrates the current concepts for analysing professionalisation in sport federations. We specify the framework for the following research perspectives: (1) forms, (2) causes and (3) consequences, and discuss the reciprocal relations between sport federations and their member organisations in this context. Implications: Finally, we work out a research agenda and derive general methodological consequences for the investigation of professionalisation processes in sport organisations.

Reuse of information for selection of methods and operating conditions for drying of pharmaceutical materials

Drying is a major step in the manufacturing process in pharmaceutical industries, and the selection of dryer and operating conditions are sometimes a bottleneck. In spite of difficulties, the bottlenecks are taken care of with utmost care due to good manufacturing practices (GMP) and industries' image in the global market. The purpose of this work is to research the use of existing knowledge for the selection of dryer and its operating conditions for drying of pharmaceutical materials with the help of methods like case-based reasoning and decision trees to reduce time and expenditure for research. The work consisted of two major parts as follows: Literature survey on the theories of spray dying, case-based reasoning and decision trees; working part includes data acquisition and testing of the models based on existing and upgraded data. Testing resulted in a combination of two models, case-based reasoning and decision trees, leading to more specific results when compared to conventional methods.

Phylogeography of competing sexual and parthenogenetic forms of a freshwater flatworm: patterns and explanations

Background: Models of the maintenance of sex predict that one reproductive strategy, sexual or parthenogenetic, should outcompete the other. Distribution patterns may reflect the outcome of this competition as well as the effect of chance and historical events. We review the distribution data of sexual and parthenogenetic biotypes of the planarian Schmidtea polychroa. Results: S. polychroa lives in allopatry or sympatry across Europe except for Central and North-Western Europe, where sexual individuals have never been reported. A phylogenetic relationship between 36 populations based on a 385 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene revealed that haplotypes were often similar over large geographic distances. In North Italian lakes, however, diversity was extreme, with sequence differences of up to 5% within the same lake in both sexuals and parthenogens. Mixed populations showed "endemic" parthenogenetic lineages that presumably originated from coexisting sexuals, and distantly related ones that probably result from colonization by parthenogens independent from sexuals. Conclusions: Parthenogens originated repeatedly from sexuals, mainly in Italy, but the same may apply to other Mediterranean regions (Spain, Greece). The degree of divergence between populations suggests that S. polychroa survived the ice ages in separate ice-free areas in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe and re-colonised Europe after the retreat of the major glaciers. Combining these results with those based on nuclear markers, the data suggest that repeated hybridisation between sexuals and parthenogenetic lineages in mixed populations maintains high levels of genetic diversity in parthenogens. This can explain why parthenogens persist in populations that were originally sexual. Exclusive parthenogenesis in central and western populations suggests better colonisation capacity, possibly because of inbreeding costs as well

A crise europeia: excepcionalidade econômica, gestão autoritária e emergência de formas ativas de resistência civil = The European crisis: economic exceptionality, authoritarian rulings and the emergence of active forms of civil resistance

Thirty years after neo-liberalism hegemony, the states shows its incapacity for driving democratically exceptional situations like global economical crisis. In this context, it seems a particularly interesting issue to exam the popular alternatives that are growing to reject the institutional paralysis. This work take these problems since European perspective, especially this one of Spain, and its scope is justify the new forms of civil disobedience that are growing. They are analyzed not like"paradoxes" of democracy, but like necessary instruments of participative democracy into a really exceptional scenario

Spectrophotometric determination of cefaclor in pharmaceutical preparations

A simple spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of cefaclor. The method involves alkaline hydrolysis of the drug in ammonia buffer solution at pH 10 to yield diketopiperazine-2,5-dione derivative and subsequent measurement at 340 nm. Beer's law is obeyed in the concentration range 1.8 - 55 mg/mL. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of cefaclor in pharmaceutical formulations.

“That you too were the I”: Forms of polyphonic communication in John Ashbery’s poetry

Tarkastelen tutkimuksessani amerikkalaisen John Ashberyn (1927–) runoudessa lmenevää moniäänisyyttä. Runoutta pidetään yleensä yksiäänisenä puheena, kun taas omaanin ajatellaan erityisesti Mihail Bahtinin vaikutuksesta olevan luonnostaan oniääninen kirjallisuudenlaji. Ashberyn postmoderni runous haastaa tämän äsityksen. Ashbery tunnetaan vakiintuneita runouskäsityksiä vastaan kirjoittavana avantgarde-runoilijana. Pääasiallisina tutkimuskohteinani ovat Ashberyn pitkä runoelma nimeltä ”Litany” (1979) sekä lyhyiden runojen valikoima Your Name Here (2000). Vertailukohtana tarkastelen Ashberyn yhdessä James Schuylerin kanssa kirjoittamaa romaania A Nest of Ninnies (1969). Teoreettisena pohjana on käytetty Ashberyä käsittelevän muun tutkimuksen lisäksi muun muassa jälkistrukturalistisiin teorioihin liittyviä ajatuksia pronominien vaikutuksesta siihen miten lukija muodostaa käsityksen subjektiivisesta läsnäolosta runossa. Ashbery käyttää persoonapronomineja ilman selkeitä viittaussuhteita. Viittaussuhteiden hämärtymisen ja fragmentaarisuuden vuoksi Ashberyn runoja pidetään usein vaikeina, eikä niistä ole helppo löytää yhtä selkeää aihetta. Hajanaisuus on kuitenkin motivoitua, koska juuri se mahdollistaa moniäänisyyden ja avoimen tekstin, joka voi sisältää monia merkityksiä. Kun runossa ei ole yhden puhujan hallitsevaa ääntä, lukijan rooli merkitysten muodostajana nousee keskeiseksi. ”Litany” on selkeästi metatekstuaalinen runo, jossa fiktiivinen taso sekoittuu runouden, taiteen ja kritiikin mahdollisuuksien pohdintaan. Runo hahmottelee uudenlaista, moniäänistä teorian ja runouden rajoja purkavaa kommunikaation muotoa. Toisen persoonan pronominien voidaan runossa usein ajatella puhuttelevan lukijaa. Your Name Here -kokoelmassa puolestaan toisen persoonan pronominipositiot määrittyvät usein tietyiksi henkilöhahmoiksi runojen maailmassa, ja pronominipositioiden kautta runoissa rakentuu moniäänisiä dialogeja määrittymättömien henkilöhahmojen välille. Näin lukijan huomio suunnataan ensisijaisesti kommunikaation ja arkipäivän kielenkäytön kliseiden sävyihin ja asiayhteyksiin pikemminkin kuin yksittäisten lausumien sisältöön. A Nest of Ninnies -romaani toimii näennäisestä dialogisuudestaan huolimatta ennen kaikkea yksiäänisesti, sillä romaanin yksiulotteisten henkilöhahmojen esittämiä ajatuksia hallitsee parodioimaan pyrkivä kertojanääni. Ashberyn runojen ja romaanin tarkasteleminen osoittaa, että käsitys runoudesta väistämättä yksiäänisenä ja romaanista moniäänisenä ei ole kaikilta osin ongelmaton. Moniääninen, monimerkityksinen runo voi tarjota toiselle itsenäisen aseman.

Kansallisten immateriaalioikeuksien vaikutus lääkekeksintöihin Suomessa ja Ruotsissa 1980-90-luvulla

Pro gradu- tutkielman tarkoituksena oli tutkia lääkkeiden immateriaalioikeudellisia suojamuotoja Suomen ja Ruotsin osalta. Tutkimuksessa pyrittiin selvittämään lääkkeiden kansallisen patenttisuojan, lisäsuojatodistuksen ja dokumentaatiosuojan vaikutusta lääkekeksintöihin 1980–90-luvun Suomessa ja Ruotsissa. Lääkkeiden lisäsuojatodistuksella tarkoitetaan ainoastaan lääkeaineille tarkoitettua erillistä immateriaalioikeudellista lisäsuojamuotoa, joka pidentää suoja-aikaa enimmillään viidellä vuodella. Dokumentaatiosuojalla tarkoitetaan suojamuotoa, joka suojaa lääkkeiden kehittämisessä aikaan saatuja tutkimus- ja turvallisuustuloksia rinnakkaisvalmistajilta tietyn määritellyn ajan. Suomen ja Ruotsin kansallisessa lainsäädännössä oli tarkasteluajanjaksolla olennaisia eroja. Rinnakkaisongelmana tutkittiin innovaatio- ja patenttipolitiikan merkitystä lääkekeksintöjen määrään ja laatuun. Tutkimuskysymyksiä lähestyttiin virallislähteiden ja kirjallisuuden lisäksi myös teemahaastatteluin. Haastateltavat olivat alan asiantuntijoita. Tutkimus oli haasteellinen. Oli palkitsevaa saada asiaa koskeva ”hiljainen tieto” kansiin. Suomen ja Ruotsin poliittinen ja lainsäädännöllinen ilmapiiri poikkesivat toisistaan. Suomessa vallitsi protektionistinen ilmapiiri ja se näkyi politiikassa ja vaikutti lainsäädäntöön. Menetelmäpatentista ei haluttu luopua. Menetelmäpatentti on patentti, joka käsittää ainoastaan lääkeaineen valmistusmenetelmän, eikä lopputuotetta. Suomessa sallittiin lääkeaineiden tuotepatentti vasta 1995. Toisin oli Ruotsissa; siellä poliittinen ilmapiiri ja valtion sekä lääketeollisuuden näkemykset johtivat kehitystä niin, että tuotepatenttikielto poistettiin huomattavasti aiemmin kuin Suomessa. Ruotsi oli kaukonäköisempi myös muiden suojamuotojen kohdalla. Lopputuloksena tästä seurasi se, että Ruotsin lääketeollisuus on menestynyt huomattavasti paremmin kuin Suomen. Lääkekeksintöjä tehtiin enemmän. Ruotsin lääkekeksinnöistä suuri osa oli uusia molekyylejä; Suomen vastaava osuus oli selvästi pienempi. Myös Ruotsin lääkevienti oli ja on huomattavasti suurempaa kuin Suomen.

Degree of hermeticity of a multicompartment compliance aid: Implications for the quality of professional pharmaceutical services

A multicompartment compliance aid (MCA) is a blister-type repackaging system that aims to facilitate drug administration and thereby increase patient adherence. One of the characteristics of the MCA that should be taken into account is the moisture permeability, since this atmospheric condition is one of the most important factors that can modify the stability of medicines. In the current paper we report the moisture permeability tests performed on a MCA according to the US Pharmacopeia. This information on the suitability of the device will help pharmacists implement a high-quality professional service.

Supply Risk Management in Pharmaceutical

Fast development in the operating environment and fierce competition have driven companies to pursue efficiency and success through lean and global supply chains. At the same time overall uncertainty has increased in the business environment and supply chains have become a priority in risk management since their vulnerability may endanger business continuity. Although risk management should start at procurement strategy development phase, proactive contingency planning is also essential because it enables correct reaction and fast changes in process execution in the case of risk realization. This thesis is a case study conducted in the pharmaceutical industry where purchasing and materials management organizations face a number of challenges and limitations that have to be considered in supply risk management. The goal of the study was to discuss the operating environment, and identify and analyze supply risks and potential risk management practices. The study was concluded with suggestions for purchasing strategy development that take risk management considerations into account. This copy is the public version of the thesis.

Morphological priming in Spanish verb forms: an ERP repetition priming study

The ERP repetition priming paradigm has been shown to be sensitive to the processing differences between regular and irregular verb forms in English and German. The purpose of the present study is to extend this research to a language with a different inflectional system, Spanish. The design (delayed visual repetition priming) was adopted from our previous study on English, and the specific linguistic phenomena we examined are priming relations between different kinds of stem (or root) forms. There were two experimental conditions: In the first condition, the prime and the target shared the same stem form, e.g., "ando-andar" [I walk-to walk], whereas in the second condition, the prime contained a marked (alternated) stem, e.g., "duermo-dormir" [I sleep-to sleep]. A reduced N400 was found for unmarked (nonalternated) stems in the primed condition, whereas marked stems showed no such effect. Moreover, control conditions demonstrated that the surface form properties (i.e., the different degree of phonetic and orthographic overlap between primes and targets) do not explain the observed priming difference. The ERP priming effect for verb forms with unmarked stems in Spanish is parallel to that found for regularly inflected verb forms in English and German. We argue that effective priming is possible because prime target pairs such as "ando-andar" access the same lexical entry for their stems. By contrast, verb forms with alternated stems (e.g., "duermo") constitute separate lexical entries, and are therefore less powerful primes for their corresponding base forms.

Purificação e caracterização da beta-lapachona e estudo de estabilidade dos cristais em diferentes condições de armazenamento

The beta-lapachone is a product obtained from the Ipê Roxo tree [Tabebuia avellandae], which has proved its excellent antineoplasic potential acting through a particular mechanism of apoptosis against various cancer types. This study aims at determining the identity card of beta-lapachone by means of physico-chemical and pharmaco-technical characterization. A purifying process has been performed, as well as the isolation of a contaminant, its isomer alpha-lapachone. A stability study was also performed, determining the ideal storing conditions for beta-lapachone, essential for the ongoing pre-formulation studies for obtaining the different classic pharmaceutical forms and modified release systems.