42 research outputs found
Evaluation of the osteoconductive potential of bone substitutes embedded with schneiderian membrane- or maxillary bone marrow-derived osteoprogenitor cells
No full textAim: Sinus augmentation procedures commonly employ osteoconductive scaffolding materials to stimulate and support bone formation. The aim of this study was to develop a simple screening methodology for the evaluation of the osteoconductive potential of various bone graft materials prior to clinical use. Materials and methods: Materials tested were Bio-Oss, Bi-Ostetic, OraGraft, and ProOsteon. These Simple and composite bone substitutes were embedded with osteoprogenitor cells derived from either the human maxillary sinus schneiderian membrane (hMSSM) or from maxillary tuberosity bone marrow and then monitored both in vitro and in vivo. Results: Cell adherence and proliferation was most pronounced in OraGraft, followed by ProOsteon. In vivo bone formation, within the bone graft, was also observed, with most marked results in OraGraft and ProOsteon grafts. Conclusions: The proposed osteoconductivity testing method proved simple, informative, and reliable for the purpose of screening candidate biomaterials for sinus lifting or sinus augmentation. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S
The myth of the cashless economy
No full textAnalyzing the challenges related to achieving a cashless economy in countries with high levels of socio-economic inequalit
Digital Payments, the Cashless Economy, and Financial Inclusion in the United Arab Emirates
No full textSince the oil price downturn of 2015, the United Arab Emirates and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council countries have worked hard to expand digital payments in the interest of improved tax and revenue collection, transparency, and security. Yet despite a deep transformation and diversification of their payment eco-systems and the formalization of plans to become “cashless economies” modelled on South Korea and Sweden, cash continues to dominate payments in both countries. This paper finds that plans to expand digital payments at the expense of cash may not be well-adapted to countries with high levels of socio-economic inequality.
It proposes a link between socio-economic inequality and use of cash in emerging economies, and concludes that it may be better to not view the relationship between cash and digital payments in binary zero-sum terms, until there is a better understanding of the socio-economic, technological, and policy context in which countries like South Korea and Sweden have managed to reduce their
reliance on cash in favor of a diversified digital payments eco-system
Big money reigns, small money gains - but who will fix the International Monetary System?
No full textThe evolution of the international monetary system towards a more multipolar configuration is not only reflective of fundamentals but of increasing fragilities and uncertainty. In this paper, we map the trajectories of the Big Four (EUR, GBP, JPY, USD) and secondary currencies (AUD, CAD,CHF, CNY) in the past decade and argue that the system is increasingly ill-adapted to the reconfiguration of the global economy, bringing to the forefront the need for a reliable alternative international reserve asset
The myth of the cashless economy
No full textAnalyzing the challenges related to achieving a cashless economy in countries with high levels of socio-economic inequalit
Time for Gulf economies to rethink the dollar peg
No full textA critical look at whether the peg to the dollar continues to be an optimal exchange rate choice for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states
Capturing the state: A political economy of Lebanon's public debt crisis 1992-2004
No full textIn 1993, the year the government of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, launched its post-war reconstruction program financed by domestic borrowing, Lebanon's public debt stood at LL 6,650
billion (34.8 billion), equivalent to
185 percent of GOP, one of the highest public debt-to-GDP ratios in the world. The foreign currency component of this debt now represented 52.7 percent of the total, making Lebanon more
vulnerable to a debt crisis as those witnessed in Latin American in the 1980s, which had forced these countries into structural adjustment. The same year World Bank Vice President Fran~ois
Bourguignon warned that Lebanon's situation was "totally unsustainable," and pressed the government to make progress on structural reforms and privatization. 1 For the first time in its
modem history, Lebanon - one of the economic success stories of the Middle East before the 1975 - 1990 civil war - was on the verge of a full blown debt crisis and increasingly at the mercy of its foreign creditors and the Bretton Woods institutions
Big money reigns, small money gains - but who will fix the International Monetary System?
No full textThe evolution of the international monetary system towards a more multipolar configuration is not only reflective of fundamentals but of increasing fragilities and uncertainty. In this paper, we map the trajectories of the Big Four (EUR, GBP, JPY, USD) and secondary currencies (AUD, CAD,CHF, CNY) in the past decade and argue that the system is increasingly ill-adapted to the reconfiguration of the global economy, bringing to the forefront the need for a reliable alternative international reserve asset
Time for Gulf economies to rethink the dollar peg
No full textA critical look at whether the peg to the dollar continues to be an optimal exchange rate choice for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states
The myth of the cashless economy
No full textAnalyzing the challenges related to achieving a cashless economy in countries with high levels of socio-economic inequalit
