Checkpoints in the progression of autoimmune disease: lessons from diabetes models.

In the last few years, data from experiments employing transgenic models of autoimmune disease have strengthened a particular concept of autoimmunity: disease results not so much from cracks in tolerance induction systems, leading to the generation of anti-self repertoire, as from the breakdown of secondary systems that keep these cells in check. T cells with anti-self specificities are readily found in disease-free individuals but ignore target tissues. This is also the case in some transgenic models, in spite of overwhelming numbers of autoreactive cells. In other instances, local infiltration and inflammation result, but they are well tolerated for long periods of time and do not terminally destroy target tissue. We review the possible molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these situations, with a particular emphasis on the destruction of pancreatic beta cells in transgenic models of insulin-dependent disease.

Continental regionalism: Brazil's prominent role in the Americas. CEPS Working Document No. 374, February 2013

Brazil has a dual identity as a Latin American country and one of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The regional and global dimensions of Brasilia’s foreign policy have been closely intertwined. Inspired by the idea of development and autonomy in the last ten years, Brazil has assumed a stronger regional leadership role. The result has been the emergence of a South American space, with Mercosur and Unasur as the main integration schemes. For Brazil, regionalism is not only a goal in itself but also an instrument for exerting global influence and for ‘soft-balancing’ the United States. Washington’s lower profile in the region has facilitated Brazil’s rise as a regional and even continental player, with a strong influence on the Latin American puzzle composed of many different pieces or concentric circles.

Saving the Monopsony: Exclusivity, Innovation and Market Power in the Media Sector. Research Papers in Law, 7/2006

From the Introduction. The Media Sector has experienced a technological revolution in the last 15 years. Digital encoding of television signals made possible a more efficient use of the radiospectrum. Digital terrestrial television (hereinafter, “DTT”) allows now for the reception of a significant number of free-to-air channels.1 Moreover, the use of new transmission platforms (hereinafter,“platforms”), namely cable and direct-to-home satellite (hereinafter, “DTH”) paved the way for the arrival in Europe of pay-TV operators, which finance their activities mainly via subscription fees. This changing technological landscape is subject to further evolution in the near future, as incumbent telecommunications operators become increasingly interested in making available broadcasting content2 as part of their broadband offer and 3G mobile handsets can be used for the reception of TV signals....The present paper seeks to ascertain whether the Commission “regulatory approach” towards the exclusive sale of premium content is a sound one, in particular in view of the constant technological evolution outlined above. The assumptions underlying landmark Commission decisions will be compared with recent developments of the media sector in Italy. In the NewsCorp./Telepiù case, decided in 2003, the Commission imposed very strict conditions to allow the merger giving birth to Sky Italia, on the assumption that the operation created a lasting near-monopsony in the different upstream markets for the acquisition of premium intervened against the media conglomerate Mediaset (which controls, inter alia, the main three private free-to-air channels in Italy) for an alleged abuse of dominant position.17 In fact, and contrary to the forecasts made by the Commission, Mediaset was in a position to acquire the broadcasting rights of the main Italian football teams, thereby excluding the incumbent (and near-monopolist) pay-TV operator, Sky Italia. This may go to show that the reality of the sector is more complex and evolves faster than one may infer from the Commission practice, thus putting into question its stance regarding exclusivity. The experience of the evolution of the Italian media sector will be used as the starting point for the evaluation of alternative regulatory options.

Point clouds of measurements in the Dechen Cave near Iserlohn, Germany

Modeling natural phenomena from 3D information enhances our understanding of the environment. Dense 3D point clouds are increasingly used as highly detailed input datasets. In addition to the capturing techniques of point clouds with LiDAR, low-cost sensors have been released in the last few years providing access to new research fields and facilitating 3D data acquisition for a broader range of applications. This letter presents an analysis of different speleothem features using 3D point clouds acquired with the gaming device Microsoft® Kinect. We compare the Kinect sensor with terrestrial LiDAR reference measurements using the KinFu pipeline for capturing complete 3D objects (< 4m**3). The results demonstrate the suitability of the Kinect to capture flowstone walls and to derive morphometric parameters of cave features. Although the chosen capturing strategy (KinFu) reveals a high correlation (R2=0.92) of stalagmite morphometry along the vertical object axis, a systematic overestimation (22% for radii and 44% for volume) is found. The comparison of flowstone wall datasets predominantly shows low differences (mean of 1 mm with 7 mm standard deviation) of the order of the Kinect depth precision. For both objects the major differences occur at strongly varying and curved surface structures (e.g. with fine concave parts).

History of Frederick the Second, emperor of the Romans. From chronicles and documents published within the last ten years.

Mode of access: Internet.

Life and times of His late Majesty George the Fourth : with anecdotes of distinguished persons of the last 50 years /

Mode of access: Internet.

The climate of Great Britain; or, Remarks on the change it has undergone, particularly within the last fifty years, accounting for the increasing humidity and consequent cloudiness and coldness of our springs and summers, with the effects such ungenial seasons have produced upon the vegetable and animal economy, including various experiments to ascertain the causes of such change ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Memoires of the last ten years of the reign of George the Second. /

Vol. 6 and vol. 7 of The works of Horatio Walpole ... originally under call no. 2601.3.

Regulation of the petrol industry in the UK: issues and evidence

The petrol industry has been investigated twice by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission in the last 20 years. On both occasions the MMC found that the conduct of the companies was not against the public interest. These findings were based on the perceived stable relationship between oil and petrol prices. This paper develops a model of petrol price using a co-integration approach, concluding that one must question the findings of the MMC.

State intervention in technology in the post war years: case studies in technology policy

This thesis is concerned with the means by which the state in Britain has attempted to influence the technological development of private industry in the period 1945-1979. Particular emphasis is laid on assessing the abilities of technology policy measures to promote innovation. With that objective, the innovation literature is selectively reviewed to draw up an analytical framework to evaluate the innovation content of policy (Chapter 2). Technology policy is taken to consist of the specific measures utilised by government and its agents that affect the technological behaviour of firms. The broad sweep of policy during the period under consideration is described in Chapter 3 which concentrates on elucidating its institutional structure and the activities of the bodies involved. The empirical core of the thesis consists of three parallel case studies of policy toward the computer, machine tool and textile machinery industries (Chapters 4-6). The studies provide detailed historical accounts of the development and composition of policy, relating it to its specific institutional and industrial contexts. Each reveals a different pattern and level of state intervention. The thesis concludes with a comparative review of the findings of the case studies within a discussion centred on the arguments presented in Chapter 2. Topics arising include the state's differential support for the range of activities involved in innovation, the location of state-funded R&D, the encouragement of supplier-user contact, and the difficulties raised in adoption and diffusion.

Whole life performance bid evaluation in the Korean public sector

Korea has increasingly adopted design-build for public construction projects in the last few years. There is a much greater awareness of the need to change a system based on ‘Value for Money’ which is high on the government's agenda. A whole life performance bid evaluation model is proposed to aid decision makers in the selection of a design-builder. This is based on the integration of a framework using an analytic hierarchy process as the bid awarding system is being changed from one based on lowest price, to one based on best value over the life-cycle. Key criteria like whole life cost, service life planning and design quality are important through the key stages of evaluation process. The model uses a systematic and holistic approach which enables a public sector to make better decisions in design-builder selection, which will deliver whole life benefits, based on long term cost-effectiveness and whole life.

Digital Collections in Regional Public Library “P. R. Slaveikov” – Veliko Tarnovo in the Context of the National Program for Preservation and Promotion of Literary Heritage

Nowadays the great public libraries in Bulgaria are gaining the appearance of digital centers which provide new informational resources and services in the digital space. The digital conversion as a way of preservation is one of the important priorities of Regional Public Library in Veliko Tarnovo. In the last few years we persistently search for possible ways of financing by national and foreign programs in this direction. In the beginning the strategy was oriented to digitalization of the funds with most urgent conversion – these of the local studies periodicals from 1878 till 1944 year. The digitalization of funds will create conditions of laying the basement of full text database of Bulgarian periodical publications. The technology that is offered gives opportunities for including other libraries in the Unified index, which can develop it into a National Unified index of periodical publications. The integrated informational environment that is created is an attractive, comfortable and useful place for work in home or at work for researchers, historians, art experts, bibliographers. The library readers use very actively all informational services of the library internet page and work competently with the on-line indexes provided there, they find the necessary title, which can be demanded later for usage in home or in the library, using electronic means again.

Intercultural musical learning in the era of technology

Foreign students abroad need to feel integrated in the new community, which includes complex learning processes in multicultural environments. The fact that we have experienced these processes ourselves was certainly a motivation for this research, especially knowing that we could contribute to help our fellow Portuguese brass players undergoing the same experience. From the singularity of music performance in the style of playing and communication emerge many cultural aspects, which have been developed through centuries of orchestral practice. As the new students are confronted with the aesthetic musical concepts and both professional and social practices of the country they arrive in, they strive to understand these concepts and adapt themselves to the values promoted by the new music practice. The aim of this on-going research is the study of the integration of brass music students in German universities and in the German society. Notably, through the understanding of intercultural processes experienced by the students, professors can become more aware of the challenges that concern music education. In this research all ten Portuguese brass students enrolled in any German music university in the last five years were interviewed in order to deeply understand this process. With a growing importance of the technological facilities, students are able to gather more information, to prepare themselves for the new concepts they try to embrace and to better deal with a different culture.

How ecotourism works at the community-level : the case of whale-watching in the Azores

Whale-watching is one of the fastest growing tourism industries worldwide, often viewed as a sustainable, non-consumptive strategy for the benefits of cetacean conservation and the coastal communities, alternative to and incompatible with whaling. Yet, there is paucity of research on how things actually work out at the community-level. Drawing on the research literature and my own ethnographic fieldwork, this article bridges a knowledge gap in this field while examining an Azorean context where tourism has brought a re-commodification of the whale for the community (observing wildlife as opposed to harpooning it) in the last 20 years. The analysis is focused on four main community-level implications: governance of common maritime resources, and tourism's contribution to economic sustainability, cultural identity and social relations. It is shown that whale-watching, as any other form of community-based ecotourism, is not a panacea that always promotes biodiversity conservation and economic and sociocultural sustainability for the host communities. Moreover, expanding on the theorisation of emerging institutional fields by Lawrence and Phillips, the political, historical, economic and sociocultural context of the community involved is a key factor for understanding local agency and the local specific features of new fields.

The European Educational Research Association: people, practices and policy over the last 20 years

From a pragmatic point of view, it is the people who make an organisation, but organisations are both people and structures, and not least organisations develop culture. One of the significant features of the European Educational Research Association (EERA) as an organisation is that many of its activities are run by people on a voluntary basis. Apart from a small office, now in Berlin, which oversees and handles the everyday management, participation on Council, reviewing and programming for ECER (European Conference on Educational Research), managing networks, etc. are all undertaken as voluntary work by academics from across Europe (and beyond). From the large group of people who are currently sustaining these activities, many have participated from the beginning, but many others, after having been once at the conference, returned and got engaged in the work, for instance within one of the networks. Among the many who participate in EERA activities, there is a diversity of reasons for doing so, but there seems to be something which is recurring in what people say about why they do it. One of these recurring ideas is that the discursive norms of the organisation are enforced in the context of welcoming people and ideas, and second, there exists an intellectual generosity and egalitarianism which encourages newcomers to participate rather than protect themselves. We believe that this tells something about what EERA and ECER are about.