Barely 15 years after the 2008 financial crisis and in a context of rising nationalism, regional organizations are facing multiple challenges. This article introduces an analytical framework that systematizes stressors identifies characteristics might help to cope with stress. It draws on psychological models how individuals stress explore grapple sequence situations. Stress factors can aggrava...

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze ...

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze ...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of Leprosy in Azerbaijan, Iran. METHODS A total of 195 new leprosy cases referred to and registered in Bababaghi Center, Azerbaijan, Northwest of Iran from 1994-2009 were studied. RESULTS Of the 195 new cases, 131 (67/2%) were males and 64 (32/8%) females. They were born in Azerbaijan with the peak age of the disease at their fourth decade. The most com...

BACKGROUND Main treatable Chronic Respiratory Diseases (CRDs) like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Bronchial Asthma (BA) and Allergic Rhinitis (AR) are underdiagnosed and undertreated worldwide. CORE study was aimed to assess the point prevalence of COPD, BA and AR in the adult population of major cities of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries - Azerbaijan, Kazakhsta...

Oleg Lupan,*,†,‡ Lee Chow,†,§ Luis K. Ono,† Beatriz Roldan Cuenya,†,| Guangyu Chai,⊥ Hani Khallaf,† Sanghoon Park,† and Alfons Schulte† Department of Physics, UniVersity of Central Florida, P.O. Box 162385, Orlando, Florida 32816, Department of Microelectronics and Semiconductor DeVices, Technical UniVersity of MoldoVa, 168 Stefan Cel Mare BouleVard, MD-2004 Chisinau, Republic of MoldoVa, AdVan...

BACKGROUND The prospects for global tuberculosis control in the near future will be determined by the effectiveness of the response of countries to their burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR; resistance to, at least, isoniazid and rifampicin) tuberculosis. During the 2009 World Health Assembly, countries committed to achieve universal access to MDR-tuberculosis care by 2015. We assessed the progr...

Alexandr I. Cocemasov,1 Denis L. Nika,1,2,* and Alexander A. Balandin2,3,† 1E. Pokatilov Laboratory of Physics and Engineering of Nanomaterials, Department of Theoretical Physics, Moldova State University, Chisinau, MD-2009, Republic of Moldova 2Nano-Device Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, Bourns College of Engineering, University of California–Riverside, Riverside, California ...

Public policy decisions are increasingly made by regional governance efforts that involve diverse decision makers from multiple government units within a geographic region. These decision-making bodies face competing pressures to represent regional and local interests. We study how decision makers balance preferences for regionalism and localism within metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)...

Background: When disasters strike, hospitals are among the first units whose efficient and timely services can be crucial and decisive in reducing mortality and rescuing the injured. Non-structural components are among domains that need to be considered in any assessment of hospitals’ readiness tools. Objectives: Given that Azerbaijan, and especially the metropolis of Tabriz, is located in the ...