Academic literature on the topic 'P.M'

In questa tesi non si vuole imputare al P.M. la colpa dell’elevato numero di fallimenti, ma piuttosto capire come potrebbero essere gestite meglio le innumerevoli situazioni concorsuali che non è raro trovare in situazioni limite, alle soglie dello stato di decozione, piuttosto che con imprese in procinto di trasferirsi all’estero. Sarà necessario iniziare dalla base del diritto tributario, per capire in quali fattispecie il P.M. può inserirsi e cosa realmente può fare nell’ambito fallimentare, sia nel contesto del fallimento vero e proprio sia nelle altre procedure concorsuali, in particolare il concordato preventivo e l’accordo di ristrutturazione debiti.

Neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease affect millions of people around the world. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of neurodegenerative disorders, cancer and ischemia. The brain is particularly vulnerable to oxidative damage because of its high utilisation of oxygen, high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, relatively high levels of redox transition metal ions and low levels of antioxidants. Oxidative stress occurs due to an imbalance in the pro–oxidant and antioxidant levels. Reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) is a collective term used for free radicals and related molecules, promoting oxidative stress within cells and ultimately leading to neurodegeneration. Antioxidants counteract the excess in ROS/RNS, and is therefore of interest in the treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative disorders. Monoamine oxidases, especially monoamine oxidase B (MAO–B), also play an important role in neurodegenerative disorders. MAO–B is the main enzyme responsible for the oxidative deamination of dopamine in the substantia nigra of the brain. By inhibiting MAO–B, dopamine is increased in the brain providing symptomatic relief in Parkinson’s disease. The focus of the current study was to synthesise multifunctional compounds that could be used in the treatment and/or prevention of neurodegenerative diseases. In this study flavonoids were selected because of their wide spectrum of biological activities, including antioxidant activity and its monoamine oxidase inhibition. Flavones and chalcones are both classified under flavonoids and both structures were included. The amantadine moiety was included because of its known ability to inhibit calcium flux through the N–methyl–D–aspartate (NMDA) receptor channel. Six amantadine–flavonoid derivatives were synthesised using standard laboratory procedures and structures were determined with standard methods such as NMR, IR and mass spectrometry. The synthesised compounds were tested in a selection of biological assays, to establish the relative antioxidant properties and MAO inhibitory activity. The biological assays employed to test antioxidant properties were the thiobarbituric acid (TBA) and nitro–blue tetrazolium (NBT) assays. The TBA assay relies on the assessment of lipid peroxidation, induced via hydroxyl anions (OH), generating a pink colour with the complex formation between malondialdehyde (MDA) and TBA, which is measured spectrophotometrically at 532 nm. The principal of the NBT assay is the reduction of NBT to nitro–blue diformazan (NBD), producing a purple colour in the presence of superoxide anions (O2 –). The synthesised compounds were also evaluated for their MAO inhibitory activity toward recombinant human MAO–A and -B and inhibition values were expressed as IC50 values. The experimental data obtained in the NBT and TBA assay indicated a weak but a significant ability to scavenge O2 – and OH. In the NBT assay N–(adamantan–1–yl)–2–{3–hydroxy–4–[(2E)– 3–(3–methoxyphenyl)pro–2–enoyl]phenoxy}acetamide (6) had the best results with a 50.47 ± 1.31 uM/mg protein reduction in NBD formation, indicating that the hydroxyl group contributed to activity. The synthesised compounds were compared to the toxin (KCN) with a reduction in NDB formation of 69.88 ± 1.59 uM/mg protein. Results obtained from the TBA assay indicated that the flavone moiety had better OH scavenging ability than that of the chalcone moiety with N–(adamantan–1–yl)–2–[(5–hydroxy–4–oxo–2–phenyl–4H–chromen–7– yl)oxy]acetamide (3) showing the best activity at 0.967 ± 0.063 nmol MDA/mg tissue. The synthesised compounds were compared to the toxin (H2O2) 1.316 ± 0.028 nmol MDA/mg tissue. None of the test compounds could be compared to the results obtained with Trolox®. The IC50 values obtained for inhibition of recombinant human MAO indicated that the chalcone moiety (N–(adamantan–1–yl)–4–[(1E)–3–oxo–3–phenylpro–1–en–1–yl]benzamide (5)) showed the best inhibition of MAO–B with an IC50 of 0.717 ± 0.009 M and of MAO–A with an IC50 of 24.987 ± 5.988 M. It was further confirmed that N–(adamantan–1–yl)–4–[(1E)–3–oxo–3– phenylpro–1–en–1–yl]benzamide (5) binds reversible to MAO–B and that the mode of inhibition is competitive. Docking studies revealed that N–(adamantan–1–yl)–4–[(1E)–3–oxo–3–phenylpro– 1–en–1–yl]benzamide (5) traverses both cavities of MAO–B with the chalcone moiety orientated towards the FAD co–factor while the amantadine moiety protrudes into the entrance cavity.<br>Thesis (M.Sc. (Pharmaceutical Chemistry))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

This thesis examines the impact of the Howard government’s media management strategies on the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery (FPPG) and its capacity to fulfil the quasi-institutional fourth estate role of independent over-sight of the parliament and the executive government. Although the relationship between politician and journalist in any parliamentary democracy is neither easy nor harmonious, tenets of open governance demand that, at the very least, this relationship is functional. The evidence in this thesis shows that this functionality was tested to its limits under the Howard government. Chapter 1 begins with the development of questions about the Howard government’s media strategies, their impact on the Canberra fourth estate and the role of more intense government media management, new technologies and the co-location of executive government and press gallery in Parliament House. Answers are sought with multi-method research including historical research, documentary analysis, case studies and elite interview techniques*. Twenty-five journalists from the FPPG’s thirty-three mainstream bureaus participated in interviews and their willingness to answer open-ended questions ‘on the record’ added valuable empirical data. Chapter 1 concludes with a comprehensive review of relevant literature and a brief survey of the further chapters. Chapter 2 is an historical analysis that explores key continuities and changes in executive-media relations across a number of Australian federal governments located in Canberra since parliament opened there in 1927 in order to identify the drivers or levers on hand when the Howard government took office in 1996. Particular attention is paid to strategies used under the Curtin, Menzies, Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke and Keating governments. Chapters 3-5 examine issues raised by government-FPPG relations during the Howard years. ‘The Interface’ (Chapter 3) deals with the effect of increasing numbers of ministerial media staff and closer control of face-to-face fora such as interviews, press conferences and background briefings. ‘Spinning along the Information Highway’ (Chapter 4) explores the reduction in access to political news by gallery journalists because new digital media technologies increase government control of the flow of political information, particularly by the deployment of sophisticated modern surveillance techniques. ‘News values in the New Parliament House’ (Chapter 5) examines changes in conventions arising from the new building’s architecture that facilitated the implementation of policies designed to maximise executive control of political news. Chapter 6 provides case studies of key moments in the interaction between the government and the gallery that demonstrate the executive’s powerful capacity to manipulate a relationship based only on convention and goodwill. The first study concerns the 2003 visit of US President Bush and the unprecedented way the Australian executive overrode longstanding conventions in relation to the FPPG and the parliament. The second concerns former Treasurer Peter Costello and the ‘Dinnergate’ episode that kept public information off the record for years. This thesis adds a fresh Australian perspective to international political communication scholarship by filling a gap in this literature where the self-reflexive views and experiences of political journalists working at the interface between the public and government have been overlooked. This study reveals the extent to which the Howard government used the executive’s latent power over media relations to maximise control over flows of information, and how its misuse can work to the detriment of parliament as well as political journalism. This thesis concludes that the Howard years bound and constrained Australian political communication because an increasingly dominant government executive successfully exploited the Canberra fourth estate’s poorly defined role and status. Whilst this study also confirms the need for reform in government-media relations, it is equally clear that it would be politically naïve to expect any government (or opposition) to develop the political will to tamper with conventions demonstrably weighted in the executive’s favour. However, the unpalatable media management regime of the Howard years also triggered an historic coalition of commercial and public media which conducted an independent audit of free speech in Australia (Moss 2007), and called for more explicit, legislative recognition of ‘Australia’s Right to Know’. This study argues that this presents a significant opportunity as any change for the better would not only need the pro-active goodwill of parliamentarians outside the citadels of party-executives, but also the media’s reassessment of the manner in which they resource Canberra political journalism. This thesis concludes that apart from issues relating to an imbalance of coverage in favour of the executive and away from the parliament, there are other weighty matters relating to the status of the FPPG worthy of the media’s further consideration—such as the status of media bureaus within parliament house (now that of ‘licensees’), and the fact not only is there no constitutional basis for the ‘right to know’ in Australia but there are few if any, applicable conventions in ‘either British constitutional precepts or Australian news media practice’ (Lloyd 2001, p.1).<br>Thesis (PhD Doctorate)<br>Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)<br>Griffith Business School<br>Griffith Business School<br>Full Text

A proposta deste trabalho concentra-se na exploração estética de caráter ilustrativo, do livro de poesia A Bela Acordada da poetisa Adília Lopes. Parte-se, assim, de uma reflexão interpretativa sobre a autora e a sua obra, passando pela análise de alguns modelos simbólicos presentes na sua expressão poética, ponderando ainda nos novos paradigmas a que o novo milénio e a sua sociedade de imagem/consumo, conduzem. Nesse sentido, são exploradas e representadas possibilidades pictóricas que, num registo ilustrativo, se adequam ao mundo alegórico para o qual a autora nos remete em A Bela Acordada. Representações, que renascem dos contos de fadas e histórias de natureza fabular ou mítica, projetadas agora para uma sociedade contemporânea; ABSTRACT: The purpose of this work focus on the aesthetics exploration of the illustrative character of the poetry book The awaken Beauty, from the poetess Adília Lopes. It begins with an interpretative reflection about the author and its work, by analyzing some of its symbolic patterns, of hers poetic expression, considering also the new patterns, which the new millennium and its consumption society leads us to. In that kind of sense the pictorials possibilities are represented and explored, in an illustrative way, that adjusts to the allegoric world, for which the author sends us in The Awaken Beauty. Representations that are born again from the fairy tales and the mythical or fable stories, projected now for Contemporary Society.

What is the correct way to interpret the relationship between the message of Jesus and the kerygma, a hermeneutic of discontinuity and evolution or a hermeneutic of continuity and development? The Eschatological Jesus will argue for continuity and development. In their portraits of a non-eschatological and non-messianic Jesus J.D. Crossan and Marcus Borg raise questions about the relationship between Jesus and the kerygma but do not answer them. Reginald H. Fuller and Martin Hengel demonstrate that high Christology can be traced directly to the eschatological ministry of Jesus, especially his authority. Fuller describes Jesus' authority in terms of an inaugurated eschatology and a distinctive sonship which he extends to others. Martin Hengel describes Jesus' eschatological authority as one who acted in God's place when he called his disciples the way God called his prophets and imposed on them a divine discipline and in Lk. 13:34 which has parallels in Sir. 1:15 and Deut. 32:11. This is a messianic authority since it was the Messiah who stood in God's place at the end of time. This Jesus who is in control of the end gave rise to a belief in his pre-existence and the claims of the Fourth Gospel. P.M. Casey, on the other hand, rejects such authority as being apparent in Jesus' ministry. Unlike Fuller and Hengel who see the Fourth Gospel as the logical outgrowth of Jesus' use of 'Abbā, Casey sees the Fourth Gospel as a betrayal of Jesus and the synoptic tradition. However, Casey overlooks the synoptic gospels' portrait of Jesus' acting in God's place and Matthew's use of προσκγνεῖν and προσέρχεσθαι. The Eschatological Jesus concludes with the belief that Jesus' ministry was messianic and eschatological and that the authority he exhibits provides the basis for not only his being Christ, but divine Lord and Son of God.

Television viewing is one of the most easily modifiable causes of obesity among children. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between body composition and TV viewing among adolescents attending high schools in the Tlokwe municipality area of the North West province of South Africa. A cross-sectional study design which is part of the Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHLS) was followed on 154 learners (58 boys and 96 girls) who were aged 14 years in the Tlokwe municipality area. All the learners underwent anthropometric measurements of height, weight, and two skinfolds (triceps and subscapular skinfolds). Percentage body fat (%BF) was calculated from the two skinfolds according to Slaughter‟s et al. (1988) equation. Children were classified into three groups (viz. normal, overweight and obese) according to BMI cut-off point suggested by Cole et al. (2000). Pearson correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between television viewing and body composition. The results show respectively high prevalence of overweight and obesity in girls (10.4%; 6.3%) as compared to the prevalence of 5% overweight in boys. With regard to TV viewing, the results show that 54% of the total group watch TV more than two hours a day, while only 11% watched TV less than one hour a day. The results show that the group that watches TV for more than 3 hours had high BMI (21.27kg/m²) and body mass (51.54kg). The group that watches TV for 1-2 hours had low BMI (18.36kg/m²) and body mass (44.79kg). There was a statisitcal significant relationship between BMI and body mass (p=0.001). A significant positive relationship between body mass and TV viewing (r=0.56; p=0.05) in overweight group was found, whilst in the obese group strong significant positive relationship was observed between percentage body fat and TV viewieng (r=0.94; p=0.01). It can be concluded that girls were more overweight and obese respectively as compared to the boys. Furthermore, both boys and girls had high percentages of TV viewing for more than two hours a day. In addition, the results indicated that adolescents who watched TV more than 3 hours are heavier and fatter. Therefore, it is recommended that parents and educational heads should encourage periods of daily physical activity. In addition, it is also important that parents play a more positive role in limiting the amount of hours their children spent watching television.<br>Thesis (MA (Biokinetics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The Batho-Pele programme is a prescribed national government initiative which must be implemented by all government departments. The objective of this prescribed programme is across the board improved service delivery. It is the objective of this research to describe and analyse the progress made by the North West Department of Social Services, Arts, Culture and Sport in the implementation of the Batho-Pele programme since 1998. The basis assumption is that the Department has thus far been unsuccessful in terms of effectively establishing this programme within its functional activities. This severely hampered the Department's ability to render effective services to the public and identified beneficiaries. The inefficiencies in the departmental implementation process can be narrowed down to the following aspects: A lack of integrated planning The absence of effective communication links The failure to improve the quality of live of beneficiaries A lack of standard departmental implementation procedures Inefficient evaluation and monitoring mechanisms Research will be structured by measuring the departmental implementation procedure against the prescribed national government implementation steps to realise the objectives of the Batho-Pele programme. In this regard the departmental Service Delivery Improvement Plan, as introduced in 1998, will be analysed. Such an approach will firstly enable the researcher to establish what the shortcomings within the implementation procedure are. However this approach will secondly also highlight the positive aspects of the programme. In other words a balanced perspective of the implementation procedure will be provided. Through identifying the shortcomings and linking it to the positive outcomes of the programme it would be possible to come to specific conclusions regarding the shortcomings of the programme. On the basis of these conclusions it would be possible to make specific recommendations on how to refine and improve the service delivery process to the benefit of the public.<br>Thesis (M. Ontwikkeling en Bestuur)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2003.<br>Thesis research directed by: Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.