On the whole, the euro has, thus far, gone much better than many U.S. economists had predicted. We survey how U.S. economists viewed European monetary unification from the publication of the Delors Report in 1989 to the introduction of euro notes and coins in January 2002. U.S. academic economists concentrated on whether a single currency was a good or bad thing, usually using the theory of optimu

Context. With the aid of stellar abundance analysis, it is possible to study the galactic formation and evolution. Magnesium is an important element to trace the α-element evolution in our Galaxy. For chemical abundance analysis, such as magnesium abundance, accurate and complete atomic data are essential. Inaccurate atomic data lead to uncertain abundances and prevent discrimination between diffe

Background: The decline of child mortality during the late 19th century is one of the most significant demographic changes in human history. However, there is evidence suggesting that the substantial reductions in mortality during the era did little to reduce mortality inequality between socioeconomic groups.Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the development of socioeconomic inequaliti

Humanitarian visas can be highly effective and useful tools to ensure access to asylum for select groups of asylum-seekers with a need for international protection. In the context of the current refugee protection crisis, humanitarian visas could complement and alleviate the pressure on ordinary asylum procedures on the territory of Member States in the EU.A system of humanitarian visas may be imp

Many animals are known to preferentially mate with partners that are dissimilar at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in order to maximize the antigen binding repertoire (or disease resistance) in their offspring. Although several mammals, fish or lizards use odour cues to assessMHCsimilarity with potential partners, the ability of birds to assessMHC similarity using olfactory cues has not

The blood's major gas exchange is carried out by haemoglobin, a haeme protein that binds iron and oxygen and can have potentially dangerous side-effects due to redox reactions. Haemoglobin is a very abundant molecule with a concentration of 150 g/l in whole blood, resulting in almost one kg haemoglobin in an adult human body. Normal turnover of red blood cells results in significant haemoglobin re

The behavioral response of the larval parasitoid Spintherus dubius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to volatile compounds derived from its Apion weevil hosts was investigated in two-choice bioassays. Odor source candidates were the larval and adult stages of weevils, clover flowers, and feces from adult weevils. Despite S. dubius being a larval parasitoid, the odor of weevil larvae isolated from the cl

Neutral particle oscillations have proven to be extremely valuable probes of fundamental physics. For instance, kaon oscillations provided us with our first insight into CP-violation, B oscillations form the most fertile ground for the continued study of CP-violation, and neutrino oscillations suggest the existence of a new, important energy scale well below the GUT scale. Neutrons oscillating int

The Haemophilus surface fibril (Hsf) is an unusually large trimeric autotransporter adhesin (TAA) expressed by the most virulent strains of H. influenzae. Hsf is known to mediate adhesion between pathogen and host, allowing the establishment of potentially deadly diseases such as epiglottitis, meningitis and pneumonia. While recent research has suggested that this TAA might adopt a novel 'hairpin

The Parties to the Montreal Protocol are informed by three Panels of experts. One of these is the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP), which deals with two focal issues. The first focus is the effects of UV radiation on human health, animals, plants, biogeochemistry, air quality, and materials. The second focus is on interactions between UV radiation and global climate change and how the

Internet Metaphors and Norms To what extent is digital “openness” also creating a modern “Panopticon”? I.e. to what extent is the conceptual imaginary of relevance for the legitimacy of modern data practices in terms of privacy? This paper argues that conceptual battles around what the Internet is and the digital development means are significant battles. The metaphorical descriptions of the inteInternet Metaphors and Norms. To what extent is digital “openness” also creating a modern “Panopticon”? I.e. to what extent is the conceptual imaginary of relevance for the legitimacy of modern data practices in terms of privacy? This paper argues that conceptual battles around what the Internet is and the digital development means are significant battles. The metaphorical descriptions of the inte

In robotics research with language-based interaction, simplifications are made, such that a given event can be described in a unique manner, where there is a direct mapping between event representations and sentences that can describe these events. However, common experience tells us that the same physical event can be described in multiple ways, depending on the perspective of the speaker. The cu

Quantum chemical calculations for two TiO2 nanoparticle cluster models (rutile–(TiO2)n with n = 20, and anatase–(TiO2)n with n = 92), selected to represent different nanoparticle size regimes, are used to elucidate structural influences on the electronic properties. Structural and electronic properties were obtained using a variety of computational methods and structure optimisation schemes, inclu

A Fourier analysis of the magnitudes and timing of the Phanerozoic mass extinctions (MEs) demonstrates that many of the periodicities claimed in other analyses are not statistically significant. Moreover we show that the periodicities associated with oscillations of the Solar System about the galactic plane are too irregular to give narrow peaks in the Fourier periodograms. This leads us to conclu

We investigate the effects of organizational culture and personal values on performance under individual and team contest incentives. We develop a model of regard for others and in-group favoritism that predicts interaction effects between organizational values and personal values in contest games. These predictions are tested in a computerized lab experiment with exogenous control of both organiz