Will the new stability and growth pact succeed? An economic and political perspective

While the Maastricht Treaty establishes the entry conditions for Member States to join the single currency, the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) aims to make budgetary discipline a permanent feature of EMU. Consequently, the Pact is commonly interpreted as a major building block of EMU's architecture: the SGP ‘must rank as one of the most remarkable pieces of policy coordination in world history. The purpose of this paper is to offer an initial evaluation of the SGP reform. Section Two reviews the main fiscal policy developments in the early years of EMU which were at the basis of the crisis of the SGP ‘mark I'. Section Three describes the reformed SGP and an assessment of its main features. Section Four presents some reflections on the political economy of the EU rules, comparing the new SGP with the Maastricht Treaty and the SGP ‘mark I'. The final section concludes.Stability and Growth Pact, Economic Monetary Union (EMU), Maastricht Treaty, Buti

The Sec1/Munc18 protein Vps45 regulates cellular levels of its SNARE binding partners Tlg2 and Snc2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Intracellular membrane trafficking pathways must be tightly regulated to ensure proper functioning of all eukaryotic cells. Central to membrane trafficking is the formation of specific SNARE (soluble N-ethylmeleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complexes between proteins on opposing lipid bilayers. The Sec1/Munc18 (SM) family of proteins play an essential role in SNARE-mediated membrane fusion, and like the SNAREs are conserved through evolution from yeast to humans. The SM protein Vps45 is required for the formation of yeast endosomal SNARE complexes and is thus essential for traffic through the endosomal system. Here we report that, in addition to its role in regulating SNARE complex assembly, Vps45 regulates cellular levels of its SNARE binding partners: the syntaxin Tlg2 and the v-SNARE Snc2: Cells lacking Vps45 have reduced cellular levels of Tlg2 and Snc2; and elevation of Vps45 levels results in concomitant increases in the levels of both Tlg2 and Snc2. As well as regulating traffic through the endosomal system, the Snc v-SNAREs are also required for exocytosis. Unlike most vps mutants, cells lacking Vps45 display multiple growth phenotypes. Here we report that these can be reversed by selectively restoring Snc2 levels in vps45 mutant cells. Our data indicate that as well as functioning as part of the machinery that controls SNARE complex assembly, Vps45 also plays a key role in determining the levels of its cognate SNARE proteins; another key factor in regulation of membrane traffic

A Field Study on Concurrent Spare Parts Recommendation in an Airborne Weapon System

As the complexity of weapon systems has grown exponentially during the past few years, initial operation capability has been a crucial factor for military forces. Concurrent spare parts (CSPs) is the quantity of spare parts ensuring initial operating period specified by demanding forces acquiring newly deployed weapon systems. Because of the growth of system complexity, recommending precise CSP is not trivial. The Republic of Korea developed an improved CSP recommendation system and deployed the system for naval weapon systems. In this paper, we increase the prediction accuracy of CSP up to 23.1 per cent and 7.16 per cent higher in terms of budget constraint and operational availability (Ao) constraint. The main improvement is achieved by facilitating simulations using the real field data from Korean air force. Also, we propose two validation approaches and show the possibility of extension to the general weapon systems. From the experimental study, we show that the CSP recommendation system can be deployed for navy and air forces

A Survey of Financial Responsibility Laws and Compensation of Traffic Victims: A Proposal for Reform

One of the most acute socio-economic and legal problems confronting society today concerns the compensation of traffic victims. In 1966, there were 52,500 persons killed as a result of traffic accidents,\u27which constituted nearly one-half of all accident fatalities. In addition, 868,000 persons were injured, and the total cost of motor vehicle accidents was estimated at ten billion dollars. As a result of the steadily rising accident toll, there has been increased concern over means of insuring that victims of automobile accidents will be compensated. This concern has been aggravated by the continued presence of the financially irresponsible motorist. The problem becomes even more acute when one considers that in 1966 there was a total of 94,177,000 motor vehicles registered in the United States and 98,496,000 licensed drivers, whereas by 1983 it is estimated that there will be 115,000,000 vehicles. The states first attempted to solve this problem by means of the financial responsibility law. At present, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of financial responsibility statute, including North Carolina, New York and Massachusetts, which also have compulsory insurance laws. Although vigorously defended by the insurance industry, these financial responsibility statutes have come under strong criticism for failure to achieve their intended purpose. Although a variety of plans for compensation without respect to fault have been proposed--such as, the Columbia Plan, Saskatchewan Plan, Full Aid Insurance, and Basic Protection Insurance-American jurisdictions have retained the fault principle and have concentrated on plans designed to assure that motorists will be capable of responding with damages should the need arise. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to summarize the operation and effect of financial responsibility laws with a consideration of existing problem areas, and to submit suggested proposals for reform

miR-20b and miR-451a Are Involved in Gastric Carcinogenesis through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR Signaling Pathway: Data from Gastric Cancer Patients, Cell Lines and Ins-Gas Mouse Model

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common and lethal gastrointestinal malignancies worldwide. Many studies have shown that development of GC and other malignancies is mainly driven by alterations of cellular signaling pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding molecules that function as tumor-suppressors or oncogenes, playing an essential role in a variety of fundamental biological processes. In order to understand the functional relevance of miRNA dysregulation, studies analyzing their target genes are of major importance. Here, we chose to analyze two miRNAs, miR-20b and miR-451a, shown to be deregulated in many different malignancies, including GC. Deregulated expression of miR-20b and miR-451a was determined in GC cell lines and the INS-GAS mouse model. Using Western Blot and luciferase reporter assay we determined that miR-20b directly regulates expression of PTEN and TXNIP, and miR-451a: CAV1 and TSC1. Loss-of-function experiments revealed that down-regulation of miR-20b and up-regulation of miR-451a expression exhibits an anti-tumor effect in vitro (miR-20b: reduced viability, colony formation, increased apoptosis rate, and miR-451a: reduced colony forming ability). To summarize, the present study identified that expression of miR-20b and miR-451a are deregulated in vitro and in vivo and have a tumor suppressive role in GC through regulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway