The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Policy Innovations and Impacts. Bertelsmann GED Focus Paper

Why did the member states in what eventually became the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) agree to create the most transformational free trade agreement (FTA) in decades? Equally puzzling, why did all the member states—from the most to the least developed economies in the group—agree to the same, high level of ambition? The answer is simple: CPTPP members wanted to craft an agreement better suited to the global economy of today and tomorrow and were willing to take on board high quality, high ambition commitments to get there

Stress and support in the New Zealand construction industry : a study of project supervisors and managers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Business Studies (MBS) at Massey University, Distance, New Zealand

The impact that stress has in the lives of individuals is considerable. Although it is a common concept, it is often misunderstood by many individuals. Stress is the way in which an individual responds to a range of environmental stressors. Thus, interventions for stress have received an increasing amount of attention in management literature. A portion of this field that has received a considerably less amount of attention is the role of support as an intervention for stress in the construction industry. This study seeks to explore the impacts of support on stress in construction managers. The first phase of the study utilised a social cross-sectional questionnaire approach and the second half used a semi-structured interview. Participants were sought from the four different sectors within the industry, the quantitative study had 47 respondents and the qualitative study had 11 participants. It is important to note that although a quantitative approach was the original intention of this study, it is the qualitative findings that have contributed the most to the overall findings. The findings of this study, developed using thematic analysis methodology, are conveyed through a matrix which explores the different types of support at different levels during stressful events. The study has concluded that support at a team level is made up of all four types of support: emotional, tangible, informational and companionship. However, as the provider of the support becomes further removed from the individual, the type of support experienced moved towards an informational support focus

Potential oxidative stress due to Pb exposure

Digitized from print original stored in HDR. Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: leaves 15-18.Program year: 1997/1998The hazards of Pb exposure has been a topic of concern for many years. This research was developed to investigate the possibility of Pb induced oxidative stress. The research objectives were to observe Pb induced lipid peroxidation and Pb induced increases in oxidation of glutathione in K562 myelogenous leukemia cells at low Pb levels. The approach consisted of incubating K562 cells in solutions of 0, 300, and 700 ppb Pb dissolved in RPMI cell medium for a total of 96 hours. After this period of incubation, aliquots of cells were taken, placed in clean medium, and incubated for 96 hours. Samples were taken at 24 and 96 hours of Pb exposure, and at 96 hours after cessation of Pb exposure, then subsequently assayed for lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels. Lipid peroxidation was determined by the detection of malondialdehyde (MDA) spectrophotometrically at 535nm by the Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assay, while oxidized and reduced glutathione levels were determined spectrophotometrically at 412 nm. Results showed no change in MDA levels in treated cells as compared to the control. The GSH: GSSG ratios were significantly greater for treated cells at 96 hours of exposure as compared to the controls, indicating a possible compensatory response

Variability and uncertainty in empirical ground-motion prediction for probabilistic hazard and risk analyses

© The Author(s) 2015.The terms aleatory variability and epistemic uncertainty mean different things to people who routinely use them within the fields of seismic hazard and risk analysis. This state is not helped by the repetition of loosely framed generic definitions that actually inaccurate. The present paper takes a closer look at the components of total uncertainty that contribute to ground-motion modelling in hazard and risk applications. The sources and nature of uncertainty are discussed and it is shown that the common approach to deciding what should be included within hazard and risk integrals and what should be pushed into logic tree formulations warrants reconsideration. In addition, it is shown that current approaches to the generation of random fields of ground motions for spatial risk analyses are incorrect and a more appropriate framework is presented

A population-based case-control study on social factors and risk of testicular germ cell tumours

Objectives Incidence rates for testicular cancer have risen over the last few decades. Findings of an association between the risk of testicular cancer and social factors are controversial. The association of testicular cancer and different indicators of social factors were examined in this study.<p></p> Design Case–control study.<p></p> Setting Population-based multicentre study in four German regions (city states Bremen and Hamburg, the Saarland region and the city of Essen).<p></p> Participants The study included 797 control participants and 266 participants newly diagnosed with testicular cancer of which 167 cases were classified as seminoma and 99 as non-seminoma. The age of study participants ranged from 15 to 69 years.<p></p> Methods Social position was classified by educational attainment level, posteducational training, occupational sectors according to Erikson-Goldthorpe-Portocarrero (EGP) and the socioeconomic status (SES) on the basis of the International SocioEconomic Index of occupational status (ISEI). ORs and corresponding 95% CIs (95% CIs) were calculated for the whole study sample and for seminoma and non-seminoma separately.<p></p> Results Testicular cancer risk was modestly increased among participants with an apprenticeship (OR=1.7 (95% CI 1.0 to 2.8)) or a university degree (OR=1.6 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.8)) relative to those whose education was limited to school. Analysis of occupational sectors revealed an excess risk for farmers and farm-related occupations. No clear trend was observed for the analyses according to the ISEI-scale.<p></p> Conclusions Social factors based on occupational measures were not a risk factor for testicular cancer in this study. The elevated risk in farmers and farm-related occupations warrants further research including analysis of occupational exposures.<p></p&gt

Technology requirements for post-1985 communications satellites

The technical and functional requirements for commercial communication satellites are discussed. The need for providing quality service at an acceptable cost is emphasized. Specialized services are postulated in a needs model which forecasts future demands. This needs model is based upon 322 separately identified needs for long distance communication. It is shown that the 1985 demand for satellite communication service for a domestic region such as the United States, and surrounding sea and air lanes, may require on the order of 100,000 MHz of bandwith. This level of demand can be met by means of the presently allocated bandwidths and developing some key technologies. Suggested improvements include: (1) improving antennas so that high speed switching will be possible; (2) development of solid state transponders for 12 GHz and possibly higher frequencies; (3) development of switched or steered beam antennas with 10 db or higher gain for aircraft; and (4) continued development of improved video channel compression techniques and hardware