206 research outputs found
The entrepreneurial finance markets of the future: a comparison of crowdfunding and initial coin offerings
No full textEntrepreneurial finance markets are in a dynamic state. New market niches and players have developed and continue to emerge. The rules of the game and the methods for receiving financial backing have changed in many ways. This editorial and the special issue of Small Business Economics focus on crowdfunding (CF) and initial coin offerings (ICOs), which are two distinct but important entrepreneurial finance market segments of the future. Although the two market segments initially appear to be similar, we identify differences between them. Our comparison focuses on the stakeholders, microstructures, regulatory environments, and development of the markets. We conclude with suggestions for future ICO and CF research
Erosion regulation as a function of human disturbances to vegetation cover: A conceptual model
No full textHuman-induced land cover changes are causing important effects on the ecological services rendered by mountain ecosystems, and the number of case-studies of the impact of humans on soil erosion and sediment yield has mounted rapidly. In this paper, we present a conceptual model that allows evaluating overall changes in erosion regulation after human disturbances. The basic idea behind this model is that soil erosion mechanisms are independent of human impact, but that the frequency-magnitude distributions of erosion rates change as a response to human disturbances. Pre-disturbance (or natural) erosion rates are derived from in situ produced 10Be concentrations in river sediment, while post-disturbance (or modern) erosion rates are derived from sedimentation rates in small catchments. In its simplicity, the model uses vegetation cover change as a proxy of human disturbance. The erosion regulation model is here applied in two mountainous regions with different vegetation dynamics, climatic and geological settings: the Austro Ecuatoriano, and the Spanish Betic Cordillera. Natural erosion benchmarks are necessary to assess human-induced changes in erosion rates. While the Spanish Betic Cordillera is commonly characterized as a degraded landscape, there is no significant difference between modern catchment-wide erosion and long-term denudation rates. The opposite is true for the Austro Ecuatoriano where the share of natural erosion in the total modern erosion rate is minimal for most disturbed sites. When pooling pre- and post-disturbance erosion data from both regions, the data suggest that the human acceleration of erosion is related to vegetation disturbances. The empirical regression model predicts human acceleration of erosion, here defined as the ratio of post-disturbance to pre-disturbance (or natural benchmark) erosion rate, as an exponential function of vegetation disturbance. This suggests that the sensitivity to human-accelerated erosion would be ecosystem dependent, and related to the potential vegetation cover disturbances as a result of human impact. It may therefore be expected that the potential for erosion regulation is larger in well-vegetated ecosystem where strong differences may exist in vegetation cover between human disturbed and undisturbed or restored sites. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Multicentric validation of a reduced features case-mix set for predicting functional outcome after ischemic stroke in Belgium
No full textINTRODUCTION: Ischemic stroke is the second cause of death and leading cause of severe disability worldwide. A reduced features set of CT-DRAGON (age, NIHSS on admission and pre-stroke mRS) predicts 90-day functional outcome after stroke in a single center. The current study was designed to validate this adapted CT-DRAGON score in three major Belgian hospitals, in the framework of future case-mix adjustment. METHODS: This retrospective study included stroke patients, treated by thrombolysis, thrombectomy, a combination of both or neither thrombolysis or thrombectomy (conservative treatment) in 2019. Patient characteristics and 90-day mRS were collected. Multivariable logistic regression analysis of 90-day mRS 0-2 vs. 3-6 and 0-5 vs. 6 with the reduced features set was performed. Discriminative performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). RESULTS: Thirty-three percent of patients (413/1243) underwent treatment. Majority of strokes was treated conservatively (n = 830, 67%), 18% (n = 225) was treated by thrombolysis, 7% (n = 88) by thrombectomy and 8% (n = 100) by thrombolysis and thrombectomy. Age, NIHSS and pre-stroke mRS were independently associated with 90-day mRS 0-2 (all p ≤ 0.0001, AUROC 0.88). When treatment modality was added in the model, age, NIHSS, pre-stroke mRS and treatment modality were independently associated with 90-day mRS 0-2 (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0001) AUROC 0.89). Age, NIHSS, pre-stroke mRS and treatment modality were independently associated with 90-day survival (p = 0.0001, p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p = 0.008, AUROC 0.86). DISCUSSION: The reduced features set (age, NIHSS and pre-mRS) was independently associated with long-term functional outcome in a Belgian multicentric cohort, making it useful for case-mix adjustments in Belgian stroke centers. Treatment modality was associated with long-term outcome.sponsorship: This work was supported by Interreg/SafePAT: project number Euregio Maas-Rijn EMR90, Province of Limburg Belgium, Limburg Clinical Research Center (LCRC)-Anesthesiology/Neurology Programme. (Interreg/SafePAT, Province of Limburg Belgium, Limburg Clinical Research Center (LCRC)-Anesthesiology/Neurology Programme|EMR90)status: Publishe
Bereichsrezension: New Media Ethics
No full textAmber L. Davisson, Paul Booth (Hg.): Controversies in Digital EthicsLondon: Bloomsbury Academic 2016, 380 S., ISBN 9781501310560, USD 130,– Bastiaan Vanacker, Don Heider (Hg.): Ethics for a Digital AgeFrankfurt am Main: Peter Lang 2016 (Digital Formations, Bd.104), 239 S., ISBN 9781433129582, EUR 33,70 Mark Ledbetter: Seeing Whole: Toward an Ethics and Ecology of SightCambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2016, 291 S.,ISBN 9781443887076, GBP 24,9
Depicting imaginary authorship On authority and unreliability in 18th century French pseudo translations
No full textMimicking translational practice, pseudotranslations— original texts that present themselves as translations— hold the potential of laying bare some literary conventions that shaped the literary context in which they appear. This is also illustrated by the ambivalent nature of pseudotranslations—seen as translation by some, and as original by others—which challenges the idea of authorship in relation to modes of textual transfer. This article proposes to investigate the depiction of authorship in eighteenthcentury French pseudotranslations. The analysis will illustrate how their paratextual staging of both imaginary author and (pseudo-)translator conveys a (meta)fictional commentary, based on a playful oscillation between construction and dismantlement. This hypothesis will be addressed through close-readings of Mylord Stanley, ou le criminel vertueux (1747), Histoire de Miss Honora (1766) and Le philosophe anglois, ou histoire de Mr. Cleveland (1731). These novels, all part of the ‘Anglomania’ movement, critically engage with images of authorship and translatorship. A comparative reading of their paratexts will bring out the interplay between the imaginary author as an embodiment of the cultural authority of the source text and the creative impetus drawn from his alleged unreliability as an author (and narrator), as well as that of the translatorstatus: Publishe
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