Protein/polysaccharide conjugates were used to stabilize oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions and oil-in-water-in-oil (O/W/O) double emulsions. By properly selecting the type of protein (WPI) and the polysaccharide (xanthan gum, fenugreek gum), and by using specific ratios of the two biopolymers and their soln. concns., amphiphilic biopolymer adducts were formed. A synergism in the emulsification properties was obsd. in WPI/polysaccharide conjugates compared to each of the biopolymers alone. Submicron droplets of oil-in-water were obtained by applying a high-pressure homogenization process during the first step of the double emulsion prepn. It was also demonstrated that double-emulsion globules could be formed with a very high yield of addendum entrapment (above 95%) during the second step of the emulsification process. The differentiation between the two types of oils, O1 (the inner) and O2 (the outer), in the double emulsions enabled high entrapment capacity of the addendum in the inner oil phase. In addn., when the inner oil phase (O1) was a 1:1 (wt./wt.) mixt. of MCT/triacetin and the external oil phase (O2) was a silicone oil, it was possible to slow the release of the entrapped matter while the soly. of the inner phase in the external oil phase remained const. The addendum soly. in the external oil phase was not a limiting factor in the release process. The presence of hydrophobic additives (i.e., 1% glycerol monooleate) in the inner oil phase helped to better control the transport to the external oil phase. In the best case, the addendum leakage to the external oil phase was only ∼0.2% during a period of 28 days at 25°. WPI/xanthan gum adducts served as thick and efficient barriers against release of flumethrin (a veterinary drug model) entrapped in the core of the O/W/O multiple globules. [on SciFinder(R)]
We define the riskiness of a gamble g as that unique number R(g) such that no-bankruptcy is guaranteed if and only if one never accepts gambles whose riskiness exceeds the current wealth.
When information on longevity (survival functions) is unknown early in life, individuals have an interest in insuring themselves against moving into different ’risk-classes’ as their life expectancy is revealed. The "First-Best" allocation involves transfers across states of nature. With symmetric information, competitive equilibrium separates different risk classes and cannot provide such transfers because insurance firms are unable to "precommit". When utility is invariant to risk-class realisation, the optimum entails uniform consumption and optimum retirement age independent of risk-class and an optimum social security scheme is superior to competitive equilibrium. When preferences depend on risk-class, welfare ranking of systems becomes indeterminate. Copyright 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation Royal Economic Society 2007.
When information on longevity (survival functions) is unknown early in life, individuals have an interest in insuring themselves against moving into different ’risk-classes’ as their life expectancy is revealed. The First-Best allocation involves transfers across states of nature. With symmetric information, competitive equilibrium separates different risk classes and cannot provide such transfers because insurance firms are unable to precommit. When utility is invariant to risk-class realisation, the optimum entails uniform consumption and optimum retirement age independent of risk-class and an optimum social security scheme is superior to competitive equilibrium. When preferences depend on risk-class, welfare ranking of systems becomes indeterminate.
This paper extends the standard model of optimum commodity taxation (Ramsey, F., 1927. A Contribution to the Theory of Taxation. Economic Journal 37, 47–61; Diamond, P., Mirrlees, J., 1971. Optimal Taxation and Public Production, II: "Tax Rules". American Economic Review 61, 261–278) to a competitive economy in which markets are inefficient due to asymmetric information. Insurance markets are prime examples: consumers impose varying costs on suppliers but firms cannot associate costs with individual customers and consequently all are charged equal prices. In such a competitive pooling equilibrium, the price of each good is equal to the average of individual marginal costs weighted by equilibrium quantities. We derive modified Ramsey–Boiteux Conditions for optimum taxes in such an economy and show that, in addition to the standard formula, they include first-order effects which reflect the deviations of prices from marginal costs and the response of equilibrium quantities to the taxes
In a preliminary pilot study, 82 university students were administered an extensive battery of musical and phonological memory tasks; their scores were examined for an association with promoter repeats in the arginine vasopressin 1a receptor and serotonin transporter genes. We previously showed that these genes were associated with another music-related phenotype, creative dance. Highly significant Gene×Gene epistatic interactions were observed between promoter region polymorphisms and musical as well as phonological memory using family-based and population-based tests. Given the prominent role of vasopressin in social behavior, the preliminary association found in our study between musical memory and vasopressin could serve to support evolutionary accounts postulating a social adaptive role in music, such as mother–infant communication, sexual selection, group cohesion, and even early protolanguage.
The process of recognizing printed words has been studied for many years, yielding several important models of word recognition in reading. These models provide a variety of descriptions of the [...]
An obituary for Gershon Shaked (1929—2006), a major authority in Israeli Literary studies and the author of the master-narrative of secular Hebrew literature. The article points to a disparity between Shaked’s recognized status in the country and his view of himself as a subversive, balloon-puncturing eiron, critical of the exalted Apollonian stance in literature as well as in criticism.
June 2007: Professor Yigal Schwarz is Director of Heksherim Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev and a senior editor of the publishing house Kenneret Zmora Bitan and Dvir. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Modern Hebrew Literature. His latest book, Vantage Point (2005), deals with the historiography of Hebrew Literature.
In this publication Nasrallah sets out to explore whether or not a democratic Palestinian State is possible. To answer the question he analyses the events and processes within the PA since Arafat's death, and pays special attention to the rise to power of Hamas and its impact on the political and social system. Following this analysis he presents three scenarios: Total Collapse, National Consensus and Building a Viable State, and The Impasse. Relying on the three scenarios, Rami Nasrallah explores the barriers and opportunities strewn along the way to a viable Palestinian State.
The volume brings together an outstanding group of international scholars from the field of peace/co-existence education and education for social cohesion to build understanding of the impact of sustained educational efforts towards peace, co-existence and reconciliation in countries emerging from protracted conflict. It explores the impact of innovative long term methods of pursuing peace and reconciliation such as the creation of integrated schools and/or policy whose central aim is the celebration of diversity and rejection of prejudice in countries where prolonged interracial or interethnic conflict has scarred society.
