E‐government and public service quality in Ghana

This article contributes to the growing discourse on the potential of e‐government to transform the operations of public sector institutions, thereby improving public services. It does so by conceptualizing public service quality into efficiency, economy (cost reduction), customer satisfaction, and service accessibility and draws on qualitative data from the Ghanaian narrative for illustration. As previous studies have demonstrated, this study also affirms the potential of e‐government in improving public services delivery by increasing efficiency, reducing the cost of operations, expanding access to services, and achieving customer satisfaction. Yet, there remains a repertoire of challenges such as weak ICT infrastructure especially in towns and villages, incessant power outages and illiteracy, which are drawbacks to fully harnessing the benefits of e‐government in Ghana. The study recommends that these challenges should feature prominently in e‐government policies to increase the chances of solving them.     

Preparing NATO for the Future – Operating in an Increasingly Contested Environment

The global proliferation of precision-strike systems may be challenging the foundations of Western military-technological supremacy. Relatedly, the development of so-called Anti-Access and Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities across the globe threatens to complicate Western freedom of military movement and access, and could give way to a more contested military-strategic environment. The twin challenges of precision-strike proliferation and A2/AD strongly impact NATO’s agenda, which revolves around strengthening deterrence and defence in Eastern Europe, and addressing the different threats emanating from the so-called Southern European neighbourhood. In order to address or mitigate such challenges, the Alliance needs to produce operational concepts and capabilities able to deliver deterrence and expeditionary warfare in a maturing precision-strike environment, one characterised by the emergence of A2/AD capabilities.     

Spain: from the indignados rebellion to regime crisis (2011-2016)

Since 15 May 2011 Spain has progressively entered a political and regime crisis in which the main institutional pillars of the political system constructed in 1977-1978 during the transition from the Franco dictatorship to parliamentary democracy suffered from serious wear. This can be analysed following Gramsci's notion of hegemony crisis whose main features fit well with the current situation in Spain. The regime crisis has passed through different stages – the last being the emergence and rise in the polls of Podemos, which emerged in a context marked by the deepening of the crisis and the difficulty of securing significant social victories. To understand the meaning of this current regime crises it is useful to read history, following Walter Benjamin as an open process full of bifurcations with no linear trajectory. Spanish regime crisis opens for the first time since the seventies the possibility of a social and political change whose final sense is still uncertain.     

Social history, (Neo-)revisionism and mapping the 1930s Spanish left*

Revisionist historians and their Neo-Revisionist/conservative fellow travellers identify the Spanish left as the main cause of the civil war (1936–1939) that culminated in the establishment of the Franco dictatorship. Such claims are possible because these historians distort both the history of the left and the nature of social protest and mass mobilisation during these years. In part, the reliance of Neo-Revisionist/conservative historians on the methods of traditional political history – combined with their stubborn aversion to social history – makes it impossible for them to understand the left. This article argues that only through social history is it possible to comprehend the complex and shifting nature of protest dynamics in the 1930s. Indeed, many of the conflicts that played out in the political arena during these years were conditioned by structural economic problems and social tensions that resulted in diverse forms of radical contestation among the grassroots of leftist movements. Social, and indeed cultural history, are, therefore, central to any analysis of the myriad forms of these protest energies that flowed from the bottom up to shape the orientation of the leftist organisations.     

马立克病病毒致瘤相关基因的研究进展

从meq基因、pp38复合体、HSV ICP4的同源体、L开放阅读框(L ORF)、位于BamHⅠ-H片段的基因和病毒类白细胞介素-8(vIL-8)等几个方面论述了马立克病病毒感染期间参与肿瘤形成的相关基因的生物学活性。     

鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链的转录分析与表达

以脾单个核细胞总RNA为模板,对鸡白细胞介素-2受体基因γ链(chIL-2Rγ)进行了RT-PCR,获得了一1 047 bp的开放阅读框,编码由348个氨基酸残基组成的分子质量为37.8 ku的蛋白多肽。预测的鸡IL-2Rγ多肽链中包含4个保守半胱氨酸残基、1个WSXWS基序和7个N连接的糖基化位点。鸡IL-2Rγ与其他动物IL-2Rγ在氨基酸水平上的同源性仅为21.4%~38.2%。RT-PCR检测发现,鸡IL-2RγmRNA分布于大脑、小脑、脊髓、腔上囊、脾、胸腺、骨髓、盲肠扁桃体、腺胃、肌胃、空肠、卵黄囊憩室、回肠、盲肠、直肠、心脏、肾、肺、肝、骨骼肌和皮肤,而在十二指肠和睾丸中没有检测到其转录。构建了鸡IL-2Rγ胞外区的原核重组表达载体,进行了表达和鉴定。     

细粒棘球绦虫六钩蚴EG95抗原基因的克隆及原核表达

利用RT PCR从激活的细粒棘球绦虫六钩蚴中扩增了EG95 cDNA,并亚克隆至原核表达载体pGEX 4T 1上,转化至大肠埃希氏菌BL21,用IPTG诱导重组菌株表达了融合蛋白质。结果表明,从六钩蚴中克隆到了EG95 cDNA,序列长度为481 bp,包括471 bp的开放阅读框,与新西兰株EG95抗原基因序列完全一致;SDS PAGE电泳结果显示,重组表达质粒产生了约42 ku的目的带,其中EG95蛋白质的分子质量约为15.2 ku,与预期结果一致;Western blotting试验检测表明,融合表达产物可与囊性包虫病人血清发生反应。试验结果提示,EG95 基因高度保守,所表达的EG95蛋白作为抗原疫苗具有广泛的适用性。     

901例社区2型糖尿病血瘀证的影响因素研究

目的 了解血瘀证在社区2型糖尿病患者中的分布及其相关影响因素。 方法 以社区901例2型糖尿病患者为研究对象,采集其相关临床信息并进行中医辨证分析,采用单因素分析和Logistic回归分析考察血瘀证的影响因素。 结果 901例2型糖尿病患者中,单纯血瘀脉络证165例,阴虚热盛证、湿热困脾证、气阴两虚证、阴阳两虚证分别为137、135、334、130例,分别兼夹血瘀证55、57、200、101例,各证型兼夹血瘀证的比例明显不同（P<0.05）。单因素分析结果显示,年龄、病程、高血压并发症、收缩压、体质量、体型是血瘀证的影响因素,舒张压、血脂水平不是血瘀证的影响因素;二项分类Logistic回归分析结果显示,年龄、高血压并发症、收缩压是血瘀证的影响因素。 结论 血瘀证是社区2型糖尿病患者的主要证型,年龄越大,具有高血压并发症,收缩压较高者易于出现血瘀证,尚不能认为病程、体质量和体型是2型糖尿病血瘀证的影响因素。