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Near Term (near + term)
Selected AbstractsGlobalization: An Ascendant Paradigm?INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 1 2002James H. Mittelman International Studies is on the cusp of a debate between para-keepers, observers who are steadfast about maintaining the prevailing paradigms and deny that globalization offers a fresh way of thinking about the world, and para-makers, who bring into question what they regard as outmoded categories and claim to have shifted to an innovatory paradigm. This distinction is a heuristic that allows for various gradations and dynamic interactions between the keepers and the makers. It helps to identify anomalies in and discomfort with International Studies. Partly as a response to these problems, globalization studies has evolved and may be tentatively delimited by a distinct set of characteristics. But, in the near term, there is no looming Kuhnian crisis in the sense of an impending overthrow that would quickly sweep away reigning paradigms. Given that systematic research on globalization is only slightly more than a decade in the making, it is most likely that International Studies has entered an interregnum between the old and the new. At this time, as a paradigm, globalization is more of a potential than a worked-out framework. It may be best understood as a proto-paradigm. [source] Effects of fetal growth restriction on lung development before and after birth: A morphometric analysisPEDIATRIC PULMONOLOGY, Issue 3 2001G.S. Maritz PhD Abstract Our aim was to determine the effects of fetal growth restriction (FGR) during late gestation on the structure of the lungs in the fetus near term and at 8 weeks after birth. The studies were performed using two groups of pregnant sheep and their offspring. In both groups, FGR was induced by umbilico-placental embolisation (UPE); for fetal studies, UPE was performed from 120 days of gestation until 140 days (term, ,146 days), when fetuses were killed for tissue analysis. For postnatal studies, UPE continued from 120 days until delivery at term; postnatal lambs were killed at 8 weeks after birth for tissue analysis. UPE led to a thicker pulmonary blood-air barrier at 140 days of gestation and this difference, which was due to a thickened basement membrane, was still present at 8 weeks after birth. At 8 weeks, we also observed a smaller number of alveoli per respiratory unit, thicker interalveolar septa, and a greater volume density of lung tissue in FGR lambs compared to controls. These changes would be expected to impair gas exchange and alter the mechanical properties of the lungs. Our data show that structural alterations in the lungs induced by placental insufficiency were more evident at 8 weeks of postnatal age than near term, indicating that the effects of FGR on the lung may become more serious with age and may affect respiratory health later in life. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2001; 32:201,210. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Business Management Reform in the Department of Defense in Anticipation of Declining BudgetsPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 3 2007DOUGLAS A. BROOK Business management reform efforts have been part of the U.S. Defense Department agenda for decades. Current reform efforts have explicitly established the goal of generating, harvesting, and reinvesting savings from business management reform to buy more capital items; that is, they have focused on a measurable reallocation from operating and support costs to investment within a given budget top line. Recent increases in the defense top line, largely related to the war on terrorism, are not likely to persist; in addition, an examination of the factors affecting the top line suggests that a decline in the near term is likely. An examination of current and past defense management reforms suggests that efficiency-seeking business management reforms are not likely to generate sufficient resources to cover a budget decline. Instead, management reform should be sustained for reasons of stewardship and accountability. [source] Reconciling Economic Growth and Carbon Mitigation: Challenges and Policy Options in ChinaASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Jing CAO C68; D58; H23; Q54 As the biggest carbon emitter in the world, China is facing tremendous pressure domestically and internationally. To promote the international efforts to tackle climate change, the Chinese government announced its 2020 carbon intensity target and is actively taking part in the international climate negotiations. In this paper, we review some of the climate burden-sharing proposals raised by Chinese scholars to shed some light on China's perspective on the post-Kyoto climate architecture. Then we summarize China's current pollution abatement policies and measures, and analyze some potential policy instruments for China to reconcile its future economic growth and carbon mitigation, as well as some practical design and enforcement issues to be considered for the near term. [source] Political Economy of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area: A Dilemma for ChinaCHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 5 2007Bin Sheng F53; F59; O53 Abstract The Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area (FTAAP) has become a topic of focus since the proposal was first raised in 2004. The present paper considers China's policy towards the FTAAP from a political economy perspective by probing the gains, impediments and concerns for China, and makes judgments based on several possible scenarios. The author argues that from an economic perspective, China would benefit from joining the FTAAP both in a static and a dynamic manner because both its main trade partners and trade barriers in export markets are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. However, whether the Chinese Government is likely to support the initiative is largely dependent on certain crucial political and diplomatic elements, including the APEC approach, US-Chinese relations, quality of treaty, sensitive sectors, competitive proposal of alternative and membership of Chinese Taipei. Therefore, if the Chinese Government cannot ratify the ideology and terms of the initiative, or issues that are central to China's interests are not addressed, the FTAAP will only remain a proposal possessing economic possibility in the long run, without political feasibility in the near term. [source] Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus in newborn infants of opioid dependent mothersACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 1 2009Katrin Held-Egli Abstract Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence, duration and risk factors for benign neonatal sleep myoclonus (BNSM) in infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) treated with opioids or sedatives, compared with control infants. Methods: This is a single centre observational case control study. Seventy-eight near term and term infants with neonatal opiate abstinence syndrome confirmed by meconium analysis were included. Exclusion criteria were cerebral malformation, intracranial haemorrhage and perinatal asphyxia. The babies were assessed eight hourly with a modified Finnegan score that included sleep myoclonus. Seventy-eight infants not exposed to opiates during pregnancy, hospitalized for at least 14 days and matched for gestational age were used as controls. Results: The median gestational age was 38 1/7 (95% CI: 35 3/7,41 2/7) weeks, birth weight 2730 (95% CI: 1890,3600) g, umbilical artery pH 7.25 (CI 7.10,7.37) and Apgar score at 5 minutes 9 (95% CI: 7,10). The control infants did not differ in these characteristics. Sleep myoclonus was diagnosed in 52 (67%) of the infants with NAS and 2 (2.6%) of the controls (OR 26 [95% CI: 7,223], p < 0.001). Myoclonus appeared as early as day 2 and as late as day 56 of life (median day 6) and lasted for 1 to 93 days (median 13 days). All infants had serum glucose > 2.5 mmol/L at first occurrence. The neurological examinations as well as cerebral ultrasound scans were normal. An electroencephalogram (EEG) carried out in 18 infants showed no signs of epileptic activity. Conclusion: BNSM has a high incidence in infants with NAS. The diagnosis can be made clinically. In the absence of other neurological symptoms further investigations such as EEG are not necessary and anticonvulsive treatment is not indicated. [source] | |||||||||||||