世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Building Leadership Effectiveness This program encourages leaders to develop practices that transform values into action, vision into realities, obstacles into innovations, and risks into rewards. Participants will be introduced to the five practices of exemplary leadership: modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart Coaching & Communicating for Performance Coaching & Communicating for Performance is a highly interactive program that will give supervisors and managers the opportunity to build skills that will enable them to share expectations and set objectives for employees, provide constructive feedback, more effectively engage in learning conversations, and coaching opportunities. Skillful Conflict Management for Leaders As a leader, it is important to understand conflict and be effective at conflict management because the way conflict is resolved becomes an integral component of our university’s culture. This series of conflict management sessions help leaders learn and put into practice effective strategies for managing conflict.

기독교 사역과 Leadership

The End of History and the Last Man

This paper presents systematic empirical evidence for the financialization of the US economy in the post-1970s period. While numerous researchers have noted the increasing salience of finance, there have been few systematic attempts to consider what this shift means for the nature of the economy, considered broadly. In large part, this omission reflects the considerable methodological difficulties associated with using national economic data to assess the rise of finance as a macro-level phenomenon shaping patterns of accumulation in the US economy. The paper develops two discrete measures of financialization and applies these measures to postwar US economic data in order to determine if, and to what extent, the US economy is becoming financialized. The paper concludes by considering some of the implications of financialization for two areas of ongoing debate in the social sciences: (1) the question of who controls the modern corporation; and (2) the controversy surrounding the extent to which globalization has eroded the autonomy of the state.

The financialization of the American economy

Polymers play a vital role in material science; they have been utilised for more than a century. Cosmetics, geotextiles, aircraft, and automobiles are just a few of the sectors that employ polypropylene. The addition of appropriate clay, can improve the mechanical and barrier characteristics of the material. This chapter deals with various types of fabrication as extrusion process by using twin screw extruder, solution blending method, melt-blending method, in-situ polymerization method, direct melt compounding, ultra sound-aided extrusion and master batch dilution. To characterize the polypropylene/clay nano composites by different property such as mechanical, thermal, tribological, optical, viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity, creep failure, hygrothermal, rheological and morphological. 

Polypropylene/Clay Nanocomposites

The current investigation's objective was to assess the air jet erosion tester's ability to measure the erosive behaviour of plasma sprayed coatings on titanium-15 alloy. 65% NiCrAlY, 30% Cr2O3, and 5% YSZ make up the coating's chemical composition. A study of microstructure and phases was carried out. Microhardness and adhesive strength have both been measured in this work. With impact angles of 30° and 90° at 300°C, 500°C, and 700°C, Al2O3 erodent was utilised in a solid particle erosion test. An optical profilometer was used to calculate the erosion volume loss. The coating erosion resistance was found to be higher than the substrate sample for the test temperature that was employed, and this was more obvious at higher impact angles and higher temperatures The ductile character of the coating is seen in the contour of the deteriorated coating surface. 

High temperature erosion performance of NiCrAlY/Cr2O3/YSZ plasma spray coatings

Octocrylene (OC), an UV-filter (OUVF) is used in many cosmetic products to protect the skin against the harmful effects of UV radiation. Octocrylene has been detected in the environment and become an emerging contaminant of concern. However, the eco-toxicological data on octocrylene and their molecular effects and mechanism of action on freshwater fish are very limited. In this research work, the potential toxicity of octocrylene and its mechanisms on morphology, antioxidant and AChE activity, apoptosis, and histopathological changes were investigated in embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) at different concentrations (5, 50 and 500 μg/L). Embryos/larvae (96 hpf) treated with 50 and 500 μg/L of OC caused developmental abnormalities, and decreased hatching rate and heartbeat rate. The oxidative damage (LPO) and antioxidant enzyme (SOD, CAT and GST) activities were apparently elevated (P < 0.05) at the highest test concentration (500 μg/L). However, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was significantly inhibited at the highest test concentration. Also, CP induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The zebrafish exposed to 50 and 500 μg/L showed histopathological changes including elongated yolk sac, swim bladder inflammation, muscle cell degeneration, retinal damage and pyknotic cells. In conclusion, octocrylene has induced oxidative stress at environmentally relevant concentrations leading to developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and histopathological damage in zebrafish embryos/larvae. 

Ecotoxicological evaluation of the UV-filter octocrylene (OC) in embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio): Developmental, biochemical and cellular biomarkers.

Influence of friction stir processing on microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behaviour of Mg-Zn-Dy alloy

Cyclophosphamide (CP) is widely used for treating various kinds of cancer. Because of its high intake, metabolism and excretion, these anticancer medications have been detected in the aquatic environment. There is very limited data on the toxicity and effects of CP on aquatic organisms. The present study aims to assess the toxic effect of CP on certain oxidative stress biomarkers (superoxide dismutase-SOD, catalase-CAT, glutathione peroxidase-GPx, glutathione-GSH, glutathione S-transferases-GST and lipid peroxidation-LPO), protein, glucose, metabolising enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase-AST, alanine aminotransferase-ALT), and ion-regulatory markers (sodium ions-Na+, potassium ions-K+, and chloride ions-Cl-), and histology in the gills and liver of Danio rerio at environmentally relevant concentrations (10, 100 and 1000 ng L-1). Exposure to CP for 42 days led to a significant decrease in SOD, CAT, GST, GPx and GSH levels in the gills and liver tissues of zebrafish. The level of lipid peroxidation in the gills and liver tissues of zebrafish was significantly increased compared to the control group. Chronic exposure significantly changes protein, glucose, AST, ALT, Na+, K+ and Cl- biomarkers. Fish exposed to different levels of CP showed necrosis, inflammation, degeneration and hemorrhage in the gills and hepatic tissues. The observed changes in the studied tissue biomarkers were proportional to both dose and time. In conclusion, CP at environmentally relevant concentrations causes oxidative stress, energy demand, homeostasis disturbances, and enzyme and histological alterations in the vital tissues of zebrafish. These alterations were similar to the toxic effects reported in mammalian models.

M. Ramesh

Papers

Polypropylene/Clay Nanocomposites

High temperature erosion performance of NiCrAlY/Cr2O3/YSZ plasma spray coatings

Ecotoxicological evaluation of the UV-filter octocrylene (OC) in embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio): Developmental, biochemical and cellular biomarkers.

Influence of friction stir processing on microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behaviour of Mg-Zn-Dy alloy

A study to assess the health effects of an anticancer drug (cyclophosphamide) in zebrafish (Danio rerio): eco-toxicity of emerging contaminants.