Creation Of Bank Research Articles

The role of international and regional organisations in the regulation of veterinary biologicals

The authors discuss the role played by international and regional organisations in the registration and testing of veterinary biological products. International organisations which contribute significantly to this field include the Office International des Epizooties (OIE)--through the work of the Standards Commission and the publication of the Manual of standards for diagnostic tests and vaccines--, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO)--through the work of the Joint FAO/International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture in standardising enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques, as well as through WHO Expert Committees. In Europe, the most important regional organisations are the European Commission and the European Pharmacopoeia. In the Americas, the most significant contribution is made by the two specialised institutes of the Pan American Health Organisation (namely INPPAZ [Pan American Institute for Food Protection and Zoonoses] and PANAFTOSA [Pan American Foot and Mouth Disease Centre]), and by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture. In Africa, PANVAC (the Pan-African Veterinary Vaccine Centre) continues to perform valuable work in testing veterinary vaccines. For the industrialised countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is involved in the regulation of biotechnology products and in standardising "good laboratory practice' for vaccine manufacture. A table is presented which summarises and compares the respective roles of these organisations in the harmonization of licensing and testing procedures, the distribution of reference reagents, vaccine testing and the creation of vaccine banks.

State of the dam at the Zeya hydroelectric station with consideration of the geodynamic effect

1. The Zeya dam is in a satisfactory state, but is operating under conditions different from the design assumptions, under the effect of geodynamic forces — natural and induced seismicity with mainly a transverse direction of the earthquake and, probably, creep pressure from the right bank. 2. The design model of a plane stress state adopted in the design does not correspond to the real conditions of the static behavior of the structure which is in a volume stress state. The presence of dynamic loads requires determination of the dynamic characteristics of the structure and corresponding check calculations. 3. The geodynamic effect on the SSS of the dam requires improvement of the system of on-site observations and the organization of a geodynamic test area at the Zeya hydrostation in accordance with the decisions of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation. Before the creation of this test area the geodynamic effects should be monitored by the available measuring instruments according to the method of OIFZ and VNIIG. 4. The existing structural members of the deck of the cavities between buttresses require improvement with consideration of their new, antiseismic function, their incorporation into the calculation scheme, and equipping with measuring instruments. 5. The state of the dam and conditions of its operation require the creation of a mathematical model of the structure with consideration of the results of on-site observations and creation of a data bank for predictive purposes.

Vers un réseau de banques de graines dans la Méditerranée

The creation of a net of seed banks allowing plant species conservation "ex situ", slowly becomes a reality in the Mediterranean basin. After the presentation of the different existing seed banks and the comparaison of different conservation techniques today in use, the author views the creation of such banks in North Africa, permitting the realisation of a circummediterranean network. Copies of the existing samples should be done to permit their conservation in 2 or 3 banks of the network.

Efficient use of biological banks for biochemical epidemiology: exploratory hypothesis testing by means of a sequential t-test.

In view of recent advances in molecular and biochemical epidemiology, there is growing interest in the creation of biological banks of blood, urine, tissue, or other biological specimens collected from participants in prospective cohort studies. The existence of biological banks may make it possible to study a multitude of etiologic hypotheses, by comparing biochemical parameters measured in the biological specimens of subjects who will eventually develop the disease of interest ("cases") and of control subjects, using a nested case-control or a case-cohort design. In practice, however, the amount of biological material available per subject (in particular, that of cases) will limit the number of hypotheses that can be tested. The present paper discusses the use of a sequential t-test which, compared with an analogous fixed sample procedure, will on average require fewer biological specimens before a given study hypothesis can be accepted or rejected. The sequential test should thus facilitate an early decision on whether a new hypothesis is worth further investigation, while avoiding wasting too much biological material on testing hypotheses that may eventually prove unfruitful. If the test reveals an exposure difference of interest, the study may be extended so that relevant epidemiologic effect measures can be estimated more accurately.

Capitalisme sans pouvoir de classe

Financial institutions play a crucial role in capitalism by wielding the « structural power » of capital in three ways : by refusing to lend (particularly to cooperatives) ; by refusing to invest (the so-called « capital strike ») ; and by illegally transferring funds abroad. Thus, they hold govemments bent on conflict with the affluent classes hostage. It would therefore be necessary to weaken their power by 1) controlling the movement of capital through authorisation and tax ; 2) instauring in such institutions a three-way management, shared between shareholders, representatives of the staff, and representatives of consumers, local councils and lenders ; 3) by increasing the competitive pressure throught the creation of quasi-public banks, which would be compelled by law to lend, even to non-traditional institutions. Such a model is less dependent on the State than the social-democratic model ; it maximizes economic efficiency, social justice and individual freedom.

Computing in musicology, 1966?91

While there are many parallels between computing activities in musicology and those in other humanities disciplines, the particular nature of musical material and the ways in which this must be accommodated set many activities apart from those in text-based disciplines. As in other disciplines, early applications were beset by hardware constraints, which placed a premium on expertise and promoted design-intensive projects. Massive musical encoding and bibliographical projects were initiated. Diversification of hardware platforms and languages in the Seventies led to task-specific undertakings, including preliminary work on many of today's programs for music printing and analysis. The rise of personal computers and associated general-purpose software in the Eighties has enabled many scholars to pursue projects individually, particularly with the assistance of database, word processing, and notation software. Current issues facing the field include the need for standards for data interchange, the creation of banks of reusable data, the establishment of qualitative standards for encoded data, and the encouragement of realistic appraisals of what computers can do. The musicologist Eleanor Selfridge-Field, who is the author of three books on Italian music and numerous articles, editions, and reviews, has worked at CCARH since its founding in 1984. Her most recent book, The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), which contains 1300 musical examples, was produced from camera-ready copy supplied by CCARH. Drs. Hewlett and Selfridge-Field jointly edit the series Computing in Musicology, which is published by CCARH, and co-chair the International Musicological Society's Study Group on Musical Data and Computer Applications.

A brief review of modern toxicologic pathology in regulatory and explanatory toxicity studies of chemicals

Macroscopic and histologic evaluation of animal studies for general toxicity and carcinogenicity are cornerstones of the risk assessment of new chemical entities. Standard toxicopathologic evaluation is mainly based on the study of paraffin sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin. There are, however, a number of new approaches and techniques which have improved the objectivity of evaluation and the accuracy of cell identification, and provided deeper insight into the molecular biological mechanisms of toxicity and carcinogenicity. Such approaches include the standardization of the nomenclature, the creation of data banks for morphological alterations, the use of computers to register pathological findings in toxicity studies and to statistically evaluate incidences, and the use of morphometry. Other modern techniques are immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and the assessment of cell kinetics.

The Language Bowl: Theory and Practice

ABSTRACT The popularity and frequency of academic competitions in the foreign languages (language bowls) is increasing, but literature on its organization and implementation is sparse. This article discusses the theory behind language bowl competition and demonstrates its value for students and instructors alike. The creation of question banks is described via sample questions. Various methods of question presentation are shown and their relative merits discussed, fairness to the competitors being the underlying standard. Suggestions are made for the efficient administration and conduct of all aspects of the language bowl, such as guidelines for organizers, participants, and moderators.

Editors Introduction

In "Perestroika: Social Capital and the Market," L. Evstigneeva and V. Perlamutrov elaborate their conception of perestroika as a process of transition to a "postmonopolistic market economy." Only the first step in this process has been taken, i.e., the creation of opportunities for a "pluralism of forms of property ownership" and the beginnings of a market mechanism. But the institutions of a "politicized economy" continue to dominate the picture. The authors make this point by noting that means of production are still leased by "administrative organs," and new enterprises are still created mainly by Gosplan rather than by "economic organs," i.e., financial corporations or banks performing the functions of financial corporations. The transition to a market system must encompass the institutionalization of a genuine capital market with the creation of investment banks engaged in the buying and selling of capital. The final stage of perestroika, for Evstigneeva and Perlamutrov, should be directed toward the creation of a system analogous to a "mixed capitalist economy," a state of affairs they identify with "postmonopoly capitalism."

How to examine construct validity of item banks

In this study data is brought to support an approach for assuring the content validity of item banks and for examining their construct validity. The method is an application of Guttman's concept of using mapping sentences for theory construction in the domain of “simple fraction’. The construct validity of the theory used for the creation of the item bank was tested by selecting two samples of items which are referenced in the same structuple (criterion). The Yule weak monotonicity coefficients of the items' connections were calculated and represented in two different matrices and in two different space diagrams. The results show clearly a similarity in both the structure of the space diagrams of any two parallel samples and in the partition of the points into regions, i.e., regions according to the classification of the items represented by them on the basis of the facets defined by the mapping sentences. Consequently, it may be concluded that the results support the construct validity of the theory on the basis of which the bank has been created.

Study of the interaction between ionic salts and water by high resolution calorimetry

The process of dilution of aqueous concentrated solutions of the series XSO4 (X=Cu, Na2, Fe, Ni, Mn, Mg) was studied calorimetrically by considering the peak height and area as eigenvalues and the initial concentration as governing potential. The experiments were carried out under standard conditions imposed by topoenergetic principles. The results obtained with the universal procedure recently established define the individual (ontogeny) and the group (phytogeny) behaviour of all the considered solutions with respect to the overall measuring system. These data agree with many other experimental facts showing the following increasing sequence of their power: Mg< Mn < Ni < Fe< Na < Cu. The initial concentration of hydrogen-bonds can be determined by means of standard experiments with the universal topoenergetic procedure proposed for the creation of Data Banks.

Monnaies et finance canadiennes au début du XIXe siècle : un système en mutation

Le Bas-Canada au tournant du XIXe siècle, c'est un fragment ouvert à l'intérieur du système atlantique, une socio-économie en pleine mutation dont la trame institutionnelle se transforme de façon importante : restructuration et modernisation de l'économie et de la société bas-canadiennes qui constituent la seconde grande discontinuité dans l'expérience de la socio-économie canadienne. Les réseaux financiers bas-canadiens enregistrent cette discontinuité au début du XIXe siècle de sorte qu'émergent alors les fondements d'un système financier moderne qui dure encore. C'est cette mutation du système financier bas-canadien que notre article veut examiner.

Banking in the theory of finance

Banks are financial intermediaries that issue deposits and use the proceeds to purchase securities. This paper argues that when banking is competitive, these portfolio management activities in principle fall under the Modigliani-Miller theorem on the irrelevance of pure financing decisions. It follows that there is no need to control the deposit creation or security purchasing activities of banks to obtain a stable general equilibrium with respect to prices and real activity. In practice, however, banks are forcibly involved in the process by which a pure nominal commodity or unit of account is made to play the role of numeraire in a monetary system. The paper examines the nature of such a nominal commodity and how, through reserve requirements, banks get involved in making it a real economic good.

Extracellular Changes in Stored Blood

The introduction at the turn of this century of sodium citrate as an anticoagulant was a major advance in the storage of human blood, and it later made possible the creation of blood banks. Subsequent investigations established mixtures of citric acid, trisodium citrate, and dextrose (ACD solutions) as most suitable for minimal deterioration of erythrocytes during a 3-week period of refrigerated storage. Intensive studies in immunology have resulted in cross-matching and typing tests which, in turn, make possible the careful administration of homologous blood without adverse reactions. Blood, however, is a solution as well as a suspension, and the metabolic alterations which occur during storage are manifest mainly in its extraerythrocytic moiety. The influence of these chemical changes on the recipient of the blood usually becomes appreciable only when large volumes are administered; but in massive transfusions, or for procedures assisted by extracorporeal devices, the use of even the freshest