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Innovative
Terms modified by Innovative Selected AbstractsINTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 6: Design of a Measurement System to Integrate STEM MaterialEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 4 2008Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] INTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 5: Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) Assist in Solidifying Analytical MaterialsEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 3 2008Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] INTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 4: Alternate Approaches for Teaching Fourier Series ApplicationsEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 2 2008Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] INTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 3: Dynamic Systems,Analytical and Experimental System CharacterizationEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 1 2008Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] INTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 2: Numerical Difficulties Processing Measured DataEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 6 2007Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] INTEGRATING DYNAMIC SYSTEMS MATERIALS INTO A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM THROUGH INNOVATIVE USE OF WEB-BASED ACQUISITION AND HANDS-ON APPLICATION AND USE OF VIRTUAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES Part 1: Background of Problem and Generic Methodology EmployedEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 5 2007Pete Avitabile First page of article [source] Developing Countries' Position in WTO Agricultural Trade NegotiationsDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2002Alan Matthews Four themes in the developing countries' position are highlighted. (i) They are seeking meaningful improvements in market access for their agricultural exports. (ii) They have highlighted the asymmetry of current WTO obligations under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, and are seeking greater equality of outcomes in the new round. (iii) Meaningful concessions on special and differential treatment will be necessary to satisfy the interests of both exporters and importers, especially on the scope to be allowed for tariff protection to domestic food production. (iv) Innovative and reliable guarantees will need to be provided to the least developed food importers to protect them against the risk of world price volatility. [source] Innovative in Care, Teaching and Research , Evening Seminar Series 2008 of the Department of Dermatology MaastrichtINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2008Jorge Frank MD No abstract is available for this article. [source] Influence of standard treatment on ileal and colonic antimicrobial defensin expression in active Crohn's diseaseALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 6 2009I. KÜBLER Summary Background, Crohn's Disease (CD), a chronic intestinal inflammation, is currently treated primarily by therapeutics which are directed against inflammatory responses. Recent findings though suggest a central role of the innate immune barrier in the pathophysiology. Important factors providing this barrier are antimicrobial peptides like the ,- and ,-defensins. Little is known about in vivo effects of common drugs on their expression. Aim, To analyse the influence of corticosteroids, azathioprine and aminosalicylate treatment on ileal and colonic antimicrobial peptides in active CD and also assess the role of inflammation. Methods, We measured the expression of antimicrobial peptides and pro-inflammatory cytokines in 75 patients with active CD. Results, Ileal and colonic ,- and ,-defensins as well as LL37 remained unaffected by corticosteroids, azathioprine or aminosalicylate treatment. Additionally, we did not observe a negative coherency between Paneth cell ,-defensins and any measured cytokines. HBD2 and LL37 unlike HBD1 levels were linked to inflammatory cytokines and increased in highly inflamed samples. Conclusions, Current oral drug treatment seems to have no major effect on the expression of antimicrobial peptides. In contrast to HBD2 and LL37, ileal levels of HD5 and HD6 and colonic HBD1 level are independent of current inflammation. Innovative drugs should aim to strengthen protective innate immunity. [source] Helicobacter pylori and dyspepsia: physicians' attitudes, clinical practice, and prescribing habitsALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 3 2002H. J. O'Connor Background: Consensus guidelines have been published on the management of Helicobacter pylori infection and it is assumed that these guidelines are adhered to in clinical practice. Aim: To assess the changing attitudes of medical practitioners to H. pylori, and the impact of H. pylori infection on everyday clinical practice and prescribing patterns. Methods: Data for this review were gathered up to December 2000 from detailed review of medical journals, the biomedical database MEDLINE, and relevant abstracts. Results: Physician surveys show widespread acceptance of H. pylori as a causal agent in peptic ulcer disease. Gastroenterologists adopted H. pylori therapy for peptic ulcer earlier and more comprehensively than primary care physicians. Despite a low level of belief in H. pylori as a causal agent in nonulcer dyspepsia and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), H. pylori therapy is widely prescribed for these conditions. Proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy is the eradication regimen of choice by all physician groups. In routine clinical practice, there appears to be significant under-treatment of peptic ulcer disease with H. pylori therapy, but extensive use for nonulcer indications. Prescription of H. pylori treatment regimens of doubtful efficacy appears commonplace, and are more likely in primary care. Despite the advent of H. pylori therapy, the prescription of antisecretory therapy, particularly of proton pump inhibitors, continues to rise. Conclusions: Publication of consensus guidelines per se is not enough to ensure optimal management of H. pylori infection. Innovative and ongoing educational measures are needed to encourage best practice in relation to H. pylori infection. These measures might be best directed at primary care, where the majority of dyspepsia is managed. [source] Keynes's Principles of Writing (Innovative) Economics,THE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 259 2006ROD O'DONNELL In recent years, discourse and rhetoric in economics have received increasing discussion among economists. This paper contributes to the general debate by investigating the hitherto neglected topic of Keynes's views on the writing of economics, especially the writing of innovative or ground-breaking works. Five underlying principles are distilled from the ideas he presented in the 1920s and 1930s in essays on other economists and in reflections on his own experiences. These principles are replete with implications for all writing, reading and conversation in economics, regardless of time, place, type or participant. [source] Innovative versus incremental new business services: Different keys for achieving successTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2001Ulrike de Brentani In companies where new product development plays an important strategic role, managers necessarily contend with a portfolio of projects that range from high technology, new-to-the-world, innovations to relatively simple improvements, adaptations, line extensions, or imitations of competitive offerings. Recent studies indicate that achieving successful outcomes for projects that differ radically in terms of innovativeness requires that firms adjust their NPD practices in line with the type of new product project they are developing. Based on a large-scale survey of managers knowledgeable about new product development in their firm, this study focuses on new business-to-business service projects in an attempt to gain insights about the influence of product innovativeness on the factors that are linked to new service success and failure. The research results indicate that there are a small number of "global" success factors which appear to govern the outcome of new service ventures, regardless of their degree of newness. These include: ensuring an excellent customer/need fit, involving expert front line personnel in creating the new service and in helping customers appreciate its distinctiveness and benefits, and implementing a formal and planned launch program for the new service offering. Several other factors, however, were found to play a more distinctive role in the outcome of new service ventures, depending on how really new or innovative the new service was. For low innovativeness new business services, the results suggest that managers can enhance performance by: leveraging the firm's unique competencies, experiences and reputation through the introduction of new services that have a strong corporate fit; installing a formal "stage-gate" new service development system, particularly at the front-end and during the design stage of the development process; and ensuring that efforts to differentiate services from competitive or past offerings do not lead to high cost or unnecessarily complex service offerings. For new-to-the-world business services, the primary distinguishing feature impacting performance is the corporate culture of the firm: one that encourages entrepreneurship and creativity, and that actively involves senior managers in the role of visionary and mentor for new service development. In addition, good market potential and marketing tactics that offset the intangibility of "really new" service concepts appear to have a positive performance effect. [source] How Innovative are UK Firms?BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2010Evidence from the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey on Synergies between Technological, Organizational Innovations Using data from the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey this paper explores the diffusion of a range of innovative activities (encompassing process, product, machinery, marketing, organization, management and strategic innovations) across 16,383 British companies in 2004. Building upon a simple theoretical model it is shown that the use of each innovation is correlated with the use of all other innovations. It is shown that the range of innovations can be summarized by two multi-innovation factors, labelled here ,organizational' and ,technological', that are complements but not substitutes for each other. Three clusters of firms are identified where intensity of use of the two sets of innovations is below average (56.9% of the sample); intermediate but above average (23.7%); and highly above average (19.4%). Distinctive characteristics are found to be common to the companies in each cluster. Finally, it is shown that innovativeness tends to persist over time. [source] Competence Models and the Maintenance ProblemCOMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Issue 2 2001Barry Smyth Case-based reasoning (CBR) systems solve problems by retrieving and adapting the solutions to similar problems that have been stored previously as a case base of individual problem solving episodes or cases. The maintenance problem refers to the problem of how to optimize the performance of a CBR system during its operational lifetime. It can have a significant impact on all the knowledge sources associated with a system (the case base, the similarity knowledge, the adaptation knowledge, etc.), and over time, any one, or more, of these knowledge sources may need to be adapted to better fit the current problem-solving environment. For example, many maintenance solutions focus on the maintenance of case knowledge by adding, deleting, or editing cases. This has lead to a renewed interest in the issue of case competence, since many maintenance solutions must ensure that system competence is not adversely affected by the maintenance process. In fact, we argue that ultimately any generic maintenance solution must explicitly incorporate competence factors into its maintenance policies. For this reason, in our work we have focused on developing explanatory and predictive models of case competence that can provide a sound foundation for future maintenance solutions. In this article we provide a comprehensive survey of this research, and we show how these models have been used to develop a number of innovative and successful maintenance solutions to a variety of different maintenance problems. [source] Performance analysis and improvement for BitTorrent-like file sharing systemsCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 13 2007Ye Tian Abstract In this paper, we present a simple mathematical model for studying the performance of the BitTorrent (http://www.bittorrent.com) file sharing system. We are especially interested in the distribution of peers in different states of the download job progress. With the model we find that the distribution of the download peers follows an asymmetric U-shaped curve under the stable state, due to BitTorrent's unchoking strategies. In addition, we find that the seeds' departure rate and the download peers' abort rate will influence the peer distribution in different ways notably. We also analyze the content availability under the dying process of the BitTorrent file sharing system. We find that the system's stability deteriorates with decreasing and unevenly distributed online peers, and BitTorrent's built-in ,tit-for-tat' unchoking strategy could not help to preserve the integrity of the file among the download peers. We propose an innovative ,tit-for-tat' unchoking strategy which enables more peers to finish the download job and prolongs the system's lifetime. By playing our innovative strategy, download peers could cooperate to improve the stability of the system by making a trade-off between the current downloading rate and the future service availability. Finally, experimental results are presented to validate our analytical results and support our proposals. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Women and Money: Lessons from SenegalDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2006Isabelle Guérin This article examines the complexity and diversity of women's informal financial practices using data from surveys conducted in Senegal. It suggests that these practices are at the centre of a constant dialectic between short-term and long-term horizons, between the requirements of daily survival and the demands of community solidarity, and between personal aspirations and collective constraints. These practices also clearly illustrate a desire among the women in Senegal to impose a form of financial self-discipline, and to create situations that will oblige them to earn income. The socio-economic diversity among these entrepreneurs is also underscored. Informal financial arrangements are both a product and producer of gender inequalities and inequalities among women, as reflected in the research. This has direct policy implications, especially for microfinance products. If they are to be effective, microfinance services must develop beyond a standard, one-size fits all model and become more innovative and adaptable to the diverse demands of women. They must be combined with complementary measures that challenge the systemic causes of inequality. Microfinance programmes should draw on informal financial arrangements while challenging their tendency to perpetuate inequality. [source] Clinical practice recommendations for depressionACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2009G. S. Malhi Objective:, To provide clinically relevant evidence-based recommendations for the management of depression in adults that are informative, easy to assimilate and facilitate clinical decision making. Method:, A comprehensive literature review of over 500 articles was undertaken using electronic database search engines (e.g. MEDLINE, PsychINFO and Cochrane reviews). In addition articles, book chapters and other literature known to the authors were reviewed. The findings were then formulated into a set of recommendations that were developed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians who routinely deal with mood disorders. The recommendations then underwent consultative review by a broader advisory panel that included experts in the field, clinical staff and patient representatives. Results:, The clinical practice recommendations for depression (Depression CPR) summarize evidence-based treatments and provide a synopsis of recommendations relating to each phase of the illness. They are designed for clinical use and have therefore been presented succinctly in an innovative and engaging manner that is clear and informative. Conclusion:, These up-to-date recommendations provide an evidence-based framework that incorporates clinical wisdom and consideration of individual factors in the management of depression. Further, the novel style and practical approach should promote uptake and implementation. [source] Clinical practice recommendations for bipolar disorderACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2009G. S. Malhi Objective:, To provide clinically relevant evidence-based recommendations for the management of bipolar disorder in adults that are informative, easy to assimilate and facilitate clinical decision-making. Method:, A comprehensive literature review of over 500 articles was undertaken using electronic database search engines (e.g. MEDLINE, PsychINFO and Cochrane reviews). In addition articles, book chapters and other literature known to the authors were reviewed. The findings were then formulated into a set of recommendations that were developed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians who routinely deal with mood disorders. These preliminary recommendations underwent extensive consultative review by a broader advisory panel that included experts in the field, clinical staff and patient representatives. Results:, The clinical practice recommendations for bipolar disorder (bipolar CPR) summarise evidence-based treatments and provide a synopsis of recommendations relating to each phase of the illness. They are designed for clinical use and have therefore been presented succinctly in an innovative and engaging manner that is clear and informative. Conclusion:, These up-to-date recommendations provide an evidence-based framework that incorporates clinical wisdom and consideration of individual factors in the management of bipolar disorder. Further, the novel style and practical approach should promote their uptake and implementation. [source] An overview of insulin glargineDIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue S3 2002Philip D. Home Abstract Insulin glargine is an innovative, long-acting human insulin analogue, whose prolonged mean activity profile has no pronounced peak. Accordingly, it mimics more closely the natural physiological profile of basal endogenous insulin secretion than do traditional extended-acting insulins such as NPH insulin. As would be expected for a more satisfactory basal insulin, clinical trials comparing insulin glargine with NPH insulin show less nocturnal hypoglycaemia, improved pre-breakfast blood glucose levels, or both. Furthermore, no substantive safety concerns have emerged for insulin glargine. Thus, insulin glargine represents the first major advance in the provision of basal insulin injection therapy for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes for over 50 years. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Development of a structured generic drug intervention model for public health purposes: a brief application of motivational interviewing with young peopleDRUG AND ALCOHOL REVIEW, Issue 4 2003JIM MCCAMBRIDGE Abstract Brief applications of Motivational Interviewing (MI) emerged around 15 years ago to target problematic alcohol and other drug use. Interventions which specifically target illicit drug use, young people, or which are delivered in settings other than health-care services have, however, been relatively slow to develop. The needs of young people for interventions distinct from those offered to adults are considered, as a precursor to an outline of the structure of a newly adapted intervention targeting drug use in general among young people. Based upon earlier topic-based approaches developed by Rollnick et al. this intervention is innovative in simultaneously targeting a range of drugs in pursuit of secondary prevention objectives, while also seeking to manifest the spirit of MI. The intervention consists of a single-session face-to-face conversation of up to 60 minutes duration. Data are presented which describe the development and conduct of this intervention during the course of an efficacy trial, with promising efficacy data themselves reported elsewhere. Observations are made on intervention delivery and consideration is given to implications for further novel targeting of young people and within the field of addiction interventions more generally. [source] Extraregional Linkages and the Territorial Embeddedness of Multinational Branch Plants: Evidence from the South Tyrol Region in Northeast ItalyECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2006Markus Perkmann Abstract: This article reevaluates the regional embeddedness of multinational manufacturing branch plants in view of recent work on global production networks and extraregional links. It argues that the predominance of extraregional production linkages is not necessarily detrimental to regional economies and that such linkages can even compensate for weak territorial innovations systems in noncore regions. The arguments are supported by a case study of the South Tyrol region of Italy, using firm-level data from surveys and interviews, complemented by evidence on institutional conditions. The findings suggest that neither the branch plants nor the locally owned manufacturing firms are strongly embedded in the region in terms of material linkages and interorganizational relationships, indicating that the ownership status of firms is not a good predictor of embeddedness. Second, compared to local firms, branch plants are more innovative and hence contribute to a larger degree to regional upgrading processes. Third, South Tyrol's core institutional structures, such as those governing the labor force, play a decisive role in the competitiveness of branch plants and therefore create codependencies that bind these producers to the territory. The results suggest a more differentiated assessment of the role of branch plants within noncore regions. [source] The global alcohol industry: an overviewADDICTION, Issue 2009David H. Jernigan ABSTRACT Aims To describe the globalized sector of the alcoholic beverage industry, including its size, principal actors and activities. Methods Market research firms and business journalism are the primary sources for information about the global alcohol industry, and are used to profile the size and membership of the three main industry sectors of beer, distilled spirits and wine. Findings Branded alcoholic beverages are approximately 38% of recorded alcohol consumption world-wide. Producers of these beverages tend to be large multi-national corporations reliant on marketing for their survival. Marketing activities include traditional advertising as well as numerous other activities, such as new product development, product placement and the creation and promotion of social responsibility programs, messages and organizations. Conclusions The global alcohol industry is highly concentrated and innovative. There is relatively little public health research evaluating the impact of its many marketing activities. [source] Using innovative group-work activities to enhance the problem-based learning experience for dental studentsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2009R. Grady Abstract Problem-based learning (PBL) in medical and dental curricula is now well established, as such courses are seen to equip students with valuable transferable skills (e.g. problem-solving or team-working abilities), in addition to knowledge acquisition. However, it is often assumed that students improve in such skills without actually providing direct opportunity for practice, and without giving students feedback on their performance. ,The Manchester Dental Programme' (TMDP) was developed at The University of Manchester, UK as a 5-year, integrated enquiry-led curriculum. The existing PBL course was redesigned to include a unique, additional PBL session (,Session 4') that incorporated an activity for the group to complete, based on the subject material covered during student self-study. A summative mark was awarded for each activity that reflected the teamwork, organisational and overall capabilities of the groups. This paper describes the different types of activities developed for the Session 4 and presents an analysis of the perceptions of the students and staff involved. The student response to the Session 4 activities, obtained via questionnaires, was extremely positive, with the majority finding them fun, yet challenging, and ,worthwhile'. The activities were perceived to enhance subject understanding; develop students' problem-solving skills; allow the application of knowledge to new situations, and helped to identify gaps in knowledge to direct further study. Staff found the activities innovative and exciting learning tools for the students. The Session 4 activities described here are useful educational resources that could be adapted for other PBL courses in a wide variety of subject areas. [source] An Approach to Fulfilling the Systems-based Practice Competency RequirementACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2002David Doezema MD The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-identified core competency of systems-based practice requires the demonstration of an awareness of the larger context and system of health care, and the ability to call on system resources to provide optimum care. This article describes an approach to teaching and fulfilling the requirement of this core competency in an emergency medicine residency. Beginning residents are oriented to community resources that are important to the larger context of care outside the emergency department. Each resident completes a community project during his or her residency. Readings and discussions concerning community-oriented medical care and the literature of research and injury prevention in emergency medicine precede the project development. Several projects are described in detail. Such projects help to teach not only awareness of the community resources of the greater context of medical practice outside the emergency department, but also how to use those resources. Projects could be a main component of a resident portfolio. This approach to teaching the core competency of systems-based practice is proposed as an innovative and substantial contribution toward satisfying the requirement of the core competency. [source] Governing Without Law or Governing Without Government?EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009New-ish Governance, the Legitimacy of the EU The way the EU is governed and the way such governance is perceived contributes centrally to the legitimacy of the European enterprise. This legitimacy underpins both the acceptance and the effects of EU activity. Legitimacy is a product of the way in which decisions are taken, and the nature and quality of such decisions. Pressures created by concerns about both forms of legitimacy affecting EU decision making partially explain the turn in legal scholarship away from the more traditional preoccupation with the analysis of legislative instruments and case-law, towards a more broadly based conception of governance which involves the examination of a more diverse range of processes and instruments. This article offers an analysis of the parameters of newness in governance. The overall argument is that some of the more innovative governance modes are not so new, whilst more recent and celebrated modes, although displaying elements of newness, are, perhaps, not that innovative. The focus of the new governance in the EU is largely on governing without law, rather than the more radical governing without government; hence the suggestion that we are experiencing only ,new-ish governance'. The article asks whether a limited conception of new governance is inevitable given the legitimacy constraints within which the EU operates, or whether the potential for developing a broader conception of governance, through wider participation and involvement of non-governmental governing capacities, might bolster legitimacy through both better processes and better outcomes. [source] The use of ITS DNA sequence analysis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in diagnosing an infection with Fusarium proliferatumEXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2008Florian Seyfarth Abstract:, Although mycoses are among the most common diseases worldwide, infections with Fusarium spp. occur only rarely. Mostly patients suffering from underlying immune deficiency are infected with this mould, resulting in a considerably decreasing prognosis. In immunocompromised patients, cutaneous manifestations are more often associated with Fusarium sp. than with Candida sp. or Aspergillus sp. We describe one patient with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, who was first treated with chemotherapy after GMALL protocol 07/03. After relapse, the patient was successfully transplanted in second remission with a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched unrelated peripheral blood stem cell graft. Ten months later, the patient died from respiratory insufficiency and recurrence of leukaemia. Previously, Aspergillus antigen was detected in blood. In the latter course, disseminated papules appeared. One of these was examined histologically and mycologically. Conventional cultural diagnostics led to the diagnosis of a fusariosis, further supported by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation,time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, both determining the isolated strain as Fusarium proliferatum, which is a very infrequent pathogen within this genus. Our investigations underline the potential of MALDI-TOF MS based identification of Fusarium species as an innovative, time and cost efficient alternative to ITS sequencing. [source] A Comparative Literature Survey of Islamic Finance and BankingFINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 4 2001Tarek S. Zaher There has been large-scale growth in Islamic finance and banking in Muslim countries and around the world during the last twenty years. This growth is influenced by factors including the introduction of broad macroeconomic and structural reforms in financial systems, the liberalization of capital movements, privatization, the global integration of financial markets, and the introduction of innovative and new Islamic products. Islamic finance is now reaching new levels of sophistication. However, a complete Islamic financial system with its identifiable instruments and markets is still very much at an early stage of evolution. Many problems and challenges relating to Islamic instruments, financial markets, and regulations must be addressed and resolved. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive comparative review of the literature on the Islamic financial system. Specifically, we discuss the basic features of the Islamic finance and banking. We also introduce Islamic financial instruments in order to compare them to existing Western financial instruments and discuss the legal problems that investors in these instruments may encounter. The paper also gives a preliminary empirical assessment of the performance of Islamic banking and finance, and highlights the regulations, challenges and problems in the Islamic banking market. [source] Is biofuel policy harming biodiversity in Europe?GCB BIOENERGY, Issue 1 2009JEANNETTE EGGERS Abstract We assessed the potential impacts of land-use changes resulting from a change in the current biofuel policy on biodiversity in Europe. We evaluated the possible impact of both arable and woody biofuel crops on changes in distribution of 313 species pertaining to different taxonomic groups. Using species-specific information on habitat suitability as well as land use simulations for three different biofuel policy options, we downscaled available species distribution data from the original resolution of 50 to 1 km. The downscaled maps were then applied to analyse potential changes in habitat size and species composition at different spatial levels. Our results indicate that more species might suffer from habitat losses rather than benefit from a doubled biofuel target, while abolishing the biofuel target would mainly have positive effects. However, the possible impacts vary spatially and depend on the biofuel crop choice, with woody crops being less detrimental than arable crops. Our results give an indication for policy and decision makers of what might happen to biodiversity under a changed biofuel policy in the European Union. The presented approach is considered to be innovative as to date no comparable policy impact assessment has been applied to such a large set of key species at the European scale. [source] CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN THE NETHERLANDS: STRUCTURE, DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATIVENESS AND EFFECTS ON URBAN GROWTHGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2008Erik Stam ABSTRACT. Creativity is central in stimulating economic growth in cities, regions and advanced capitalist economies in general. There is, of course, no one-to-one relation of the number of firms in creative industries to economic growth. Innovation is a key mechanism explaining the relationship of creative industries with economic performance. Based on an empirical study in the Netherlands we explore the effect of creative industries on innovation, and ultimately on employment growth in cities. In the Netherlands the three specific domains of creative industries - arts, media and publishing, and creative business services - make up 9 per cent of the business population. Drawing on survey data we find that firms in creative industries are indeed relatively innovative. Yet substantial differences are found across the three domains: firms in the arts domain are clearly less innovative, most likely due to a different (less market-oriented) dominant ideology. In addition, firms in creative industries located in urban areas are more innovative than their rural counterparts. We go on to analyse how the concentration of creative industries across cities is connected with employment growth. With the exception of the metropolitan city of Amsterdam, we find no measurable spill-over effect from creative industries. The presence of the creative class (in all kinds of industries other than creative ones) appears to be a much stronger driver of employment growth than creative industries. [source] A past and a future for diversification on farms?GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2003Some evidence from large-scale, commercial farms in South East England Abstract Diversification has been identified as a common response to the agricultural crisis of the 1980s and to the changing ethos of agricultural policy in the closing decade of the twentieth century. In particular, farmers operating large-scale farms have been prominent in adopting this approach, just as they were innovative across a range of farming practices in the expansion and modernisation of their agricultural production in earlier decades. Can we identify serial diversifiers within this sector of the farming community, who are disposed to react in an entrepreneurial fashion to the changing fortunes of agriculture? The paper draws on results from a survey of large-scale commercial farmers in South East England and, by examining the sequence in which various forms of diversification were adopted, identifies a temporal pattern as farmers responded to the fluctuating fortunes of the agricultural industry over the past thirty years. But has the potential for diversification been exhausted? The paper also considers future prospects for diversification within the large-scale, commercially oriented sector of the agricultural industry. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||