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Certain Issues (certain + issues)
Selected AbstractsA Model for Evaluating Organizational Competencies: An Application in the Context of a Quality Management Initiative,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 2 2005Ana Belén Escrig-Tena ABSTRACT Despite the important contributions made by the Competency-Based Perspective (CBP) to strategic thought, certain issues on the operational definition of the theoretical concepts that characterize this approach remain unresolved, thus limiting its empirical application. In addressing this issue, the present study puts forward a procedure for measuring the competencies that can be developed in association with a Quality Management (QM) initiative and analyzes the reliability and validity of the resulting scale. This procedure could be transferred to studies that aim to carry out an empirical analysis based on the theoretical position of the CBP. [source] An Appreciation of Loves LaborHYPATIA, Issue 3 2002SARA RUDDICK This is a selective reading of Love's Labor: Essays on Women, Equality, and Dependency. My aim is twofold: to continue Love Labor's focus on dependency work and relations, adding certain distinctions and questions of my own; and to recognize the conjunction of three perspectives,theoretical, social/political, and personal,that strengthen this focus. I scant particulars of argument and ignore certain issues in the hope of providing a vivid outline of the rewards and demands of dependency as Eva Kittay envisions them. [source] Brush-Like Amphoteric Poly[isobutylene- alt -(maleic acid)- graft -oligoethyleneamine)]/DNA Complexes for Efficient Gene TransfectionMACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS, Issue 13 2010Majad Khan Abstract Synthetic gene delivery vectors, especially cationic polymers have attracted enormous attention in recent decades because of their ease of manufacture, targettability, and scaling up. However, certain issues such as high cytotoxicity and low transfection efficiency problems have hampered the advance of nonviral gene delivery. In this study, we designed and synthesized brush-like amphoteric poly[isobutylene- alt -(maleic acid)- graft -oligoethyleneamine] capable of mediating highly efficient gene transfection. The polymers are composed of multiple pendant oligoethyleneimine molecules with alternating carboxylic acid moiety grafted onto poly[isobutylene- alt -(maleic anhydride)]. The polymer formed from pentaethylenehexamine {i.e., poly[isobutylene- alt -(maleic acid)- graft -pentaethylenehexamine)]} was able to condense DNA efficiently into nanoparticles of size around 200,nm with positive zeta potential of about 28,30,mV despite its amphoteric nature. Luciferase expression level and percentage of GFP expressing cells induced by this polymer was higher than those mediated with polyethyleneimine (branched, 25,kDa) by at least one order of magnitude at their optimal N/P ratios on HEK293, HepG2, and 4T1 cells. In vitro cytotoxicity testing revealed that the polymer/DNA complexes were less cytotoxic than those of PEI, and the viability of the cells after being incubated with the polymer/DNA complexes at the optimal N/P ratios was higher than 85%. This polymer can be a promising gene delivery carrier for gene therapy. [source] Solving generalized transportation problems via pure transportation problemsNAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 7 2002Elsie Sterbin Gottlieb Abstract This paper investigates certain issues of coefficient sensitivity in generalized network problems when such problems have small gains or losses. In these instances, it might be computationally advantageous to temporarily ignore these gains or losses and solve the resultant "pure" network problem. Subsequently, the optimal solution to the pure problem could be used to derive the optimal solution to the original generalized network problem. In this paper we focus on generalized transportation problems and consider the following question: Given an optimal solution to the pure transportation problem, under what conditions will the optimal solution to the original generalized transportation problem have the same basic variables? We study special cases of the generalized transportation problem in terms of convexity with respect to a basis. For the special case when all gains or losses are identical, we show that convexity holds. We use this result to determine conditions on the magnitude of the gains or losses such that the optimal solutions to both the generalized transportation problem and the associated pure transportation problem have the same basic variables. For more general cases, we establish sufficient conditions for convexity and feasibility. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 666,685, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10034 [source] Intellectual Property Protection for Plant Varieties in JordanTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2008Bashar H. Malkawi The protection of plant varieties is an aspect of intellectual property rights. In Jordan, while some attention has been paid to traditional rights such as copyright, trademark and patent, until recently, virtually no attention has been paid to intellectual property rights with respect to plant varieties. This article reviews the development of intellectual property rights in Jordan for new plant varieties. This article then examines the Law on Protecting New Varieties of Plants. Particularly, the examination is based on comparison with the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to determine the extent to which the Jordanian law meets the rules of these international treaties. To conclude, the article finds that while the Law on Protecting New Varieties of Plants is a landmark in the development of intellectual protection in Jordan, there are certain issues that need to be addressed. To help improve the existing protection for new plant varieties, the article suggests certain actions that can be taken. [source] Front and Back Covers, Volume 21, Number 6.ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 6 2005December 200 Front and back cover caption, volume 21 issue 6 Front and back cover POLITICS OF DRESS The front and back covers illustrate Emma Tarlo's narrative in this issue on the politics of Muslim dress in Britain. On the front cover, Muslim women in London protest against the proposed French law banning the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols in state schools. The march was organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic political party which responded to the French proposal by promoting various forms of Islamic dress (hijab and jilbab) as a means of combating secularism, resisting integration and submitting to the commands of Allah. The back cover shows press coverage of the story of Shabina Begum, the British Muslim girl from Luton who challenged her school's uniform policy in 2002 by requesting to wear the long-sleeved neck-to-toe jilbab in school, and won her case in the Court of Appeal in 2005. Barely visible, but present in the background, is her brother and legal guardian - a link between the two images through his involvement with Hizb ut-Tahrir, the organizers of the demonstration and Shabina Begum's advisors on issues of religious dress. A further link was made through the trainee journalist whom the Guardian entrusted to write its front-page article on the outcome of the case. When this journalist wrote a piece on the inevitability of Muslim anger one week after the London bombings, it emerged that, unknown to the newspaper, he was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. At a time when images of Islamic dress are increasingly used in the media as a visual shorthand for dangerous extremism, and when Muslims all over Europe are suffering from the consequences of such associations, how might anthropologists approach the issue of fundamentalist sartorial activism? Is it possible to expose the complexities of the jilbab case without contributing to the popular and false assumption that all forms of Islamic dress for women are necessarily linked to radical and oppressive ideas or suspect political agendas? The jilbab controversy raises important issues about ethnographic responsibility - a theme discussed in relation to David Mosse's book Cultivating development, and in relation to attempts to rethink guidelines on ethics in anthropology. Do anthropologists have a duty to report on politically and morally uncomfortable issues they encounter in the field or should they remain silent? If so, on what criteria should such judgements be made, and how might we assess the potential distortion generated by our silence on certain issues? [source] | ||||||||||