This paper seeks to investigate operating efficiency of the South Eastern European banking sector, an emerging region that has rarely been investigated, over the period 1998-2003 and to examine the relationship between operating costs and various banks’ characteristics. We compile the variables of our model using accounting data. Subsequently, we investigate banking production costs across seve...

On the base of advantages in gene geography and anthropophenetics the phenogeographical method for anthropological research is initiated and experienced using dental data. Statistical and cartographical analyses are provided for 498 living Eurasian populations. Mapping principal components supplied evidence for the phene pool structure in Eurasian populations and for reconstructions of our spec...

Contamination of drainage channels and creeks with pesticides used in agriculture is of major concern in south eastern Australia. In this study the stream pesticide model RIVWQ version 2.02 was assessed for its applicability to simulate pesticide fate in drainage channels. The model was successfully calibrated against field data collected on flows and pesticide concentrations for a drainage cha...

Four species of Leptobatopsis Ashmead are recorded for the first time from South Korea. Among them, L. koreana sp. nov. and L. daedeokensis sp. nov. are newly described. We also report two newly recorded species, L. nigricapitis Chandra & Gupta and L. appendiculata Momoi, from South Korea. In addition, we describe a case of gynandromorphy of L. nigricapitis in a single specimen from South Korea...

We predict the sectoral trade and real wage impact of free skilled migration in the enlarged EU, whose members we group as North (wealthiest EU), South (Greece, Portugal and Spain) and East (acceding Central and Eastern European countries). The North consolidates its current hub position by attracting more firms and skilled workers. Thus its net exports of high scale economy, skill-intensive go...

STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE The harbor seal is found in the western North Atlantic, from the eastern Canadian Arctic and Greenland south to southern New England and New York, and occasionally to the Carolinas (Boulva and McLaren 1979; Katona et al. 1993; Gilbert and Guldager 1998). Although the stock structure of the western North Atlantic population is unknown, it is thought that har...

BACKGROUND Estimates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence are essential for efforts to prevent and control STIs. Few large STI prevalence studies exist, especially for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our primary objective was to estimate the prevalence of chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), and bacterial vaginosis (BV) amo...

A study was carried out to determine the prevalence of parasitic infections among the nomadic Fulanis of south-eastern Nigeria between September 2003-March 2004. Urine, stool and blood specimens were collected from each of 231 subjects. Of these, 98 (42.4%) were infected with one or more of 14 parasitic species, of which Plasmodium malariae had the highest prevalence (15.3%). Others included 6 ...

To understand sources of variability in the eastern equatorial Pacific, a region integral to modulating global temperatures, the waters upwelling from the Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) are characterized. Past work is updated using temperature and salinity measurements from the Argo array and current measurements from Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) buoys. A larger hemispheric asymmetry is found...

The incidence of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis has not only been recognized but is, in fact, increasing in territories of northern continental Italy previously regarded as non-endemic. Recent findings of sporadic autochthonous canine infections and the presence of phlebotomine vectors in some provinces of north-eastern Italy have stimulated risk assessment for the spreading of leishmaniasis i...