E-governmental services in the Baltic Sea Region

This paper will present results of the surveys and new trends which were related to e-governmental issues. A common understanding of e-government is usage of ICT means in the public sector for delivering information and services to its customers and enterprises. The objective is improvement of public services and strengthening democratic processes. E-government is a popular topic in the political agenda throughout the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) with all countries having ICT development strategies, policies or agendas. However, often are missing goals for thematic developments which would take into account the needs of potential users. The structure of the paper is ordered to present firstly, the overall objectives of e-governance and e-services. Secondly, the data about the satisfaction level of enterprises for e-services is given. As there are not many comparable results available about the needs of the enterprises, the paper is based on two main sources. One of the important outcomes of the LogOn Baltic project was to provide empirical data about satisfaction level of enterprises with existing eservices and about the needs for new services. The aim of the INTERREG III B project LogOn Baltic was to present solutions for improving the interplay between Logistics and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) competence and spatial planning, strengthening the small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) competitiveness in the BSR. The ICT-related results of the LogOn Baltic project provide an overview of the existing ICT structures and services in the BSR, mainly based on a web-based scientific survey with nearly 1,100 responses. A second source is the survey on the satisfaction level with public services among enterprises in Estonia in the City of Tallinn, which shows similar trends with the LogOn Baltic project. The third part of the paper introduces some case studies on innovative e-services in Estonia and Germany together with the European initiative for the BSR to improve e-services for companies. --

Automatically combining static malware detection techniques

Malware detection techniques come in many different flavors, and cover different effectiveness and efficiency trade-offs. This paper evaluates a number of machine learning techniques to combine multiple static Android malware detection techniques using automatically constructed decision trees. We identify the best methods to construct the trees. We demonstrate that those trees classify sample apps better and faster than individual techniques alone

Parkinsoni tõbi kui multisüsteemne haigus: Parkinsoni tõve patsientide naha ja vere kogu transkriptoomi uuring

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneAlzheimeri tõve järel on Parkinsoni tõbi (PT) teine kõige levinum neurodegeneratiivne haigus, mille puhul esineb arvestatavalt palju kliinilist valediagnoosi. PT on liigutushäire, millele on iseloomulik tahtlike liigutuste aeglus (mida tuntakse bradükineesiana), rigiidsus ja rahutreemor, mida kokku nimetatakse parkinsoni triaadiks. PT patofüsioloogiale on iseloomulik dopaminergiliste närvirakkude hävimine kesknärvisüsteemi mustaines ja närvirakkudes patoloogilise valgu α-sünukleiini kuhjumine Lewy kehakesteks. Kindla diagnoosi saab anda alles peale surma, sest hetkel pole PT jaoks olemas usaldusväärseid biomarkereid. Enamik PT juhtumitest on sporaadilised ja suured genoomiülesed uuringud näitavad, et ainuüksi geenide varieeruvus ei ole PT peamine esinemise põhjus. Seetõttu uurib käesolev teadustöö PT geeniekspressiooni (transkriptoomikat), et leida kasutavaid diagnostilisi ja prognostilisi biomarkerid. Geeniekspressiooni koespetsiifilisuse tõttu on transkriptoomika puhul oluline, millisest koest proov võtta. PT on kanooniliselt keskaju dopaminergiliste närvirakkude haigus, kuid sellest koest ei saa eluspuhuselt proovi võtta. Arvestades, et transkriptoomikat saab keskajust teha ainult peale surma, on teiste ligipääsetavate kudede leidmine eluspuhuseks diagnostikaks oluline. Potentsiaalsete huvipakkuvate kudede alla võib lugeda naha, sest PT patsientidel esineb üldpopulatsioonist rohkem melanoomi ning teisi spetsiifilisi nahaprobleeme. Naha kõrval on teine huvipakkuv kude veri, sest see on kõige lihtsamini kogutav kude ja ringeldes kogu organismis, sisaldab ta endas palju süsteemset informatsiooni. Selgitamaks, kas PT on multisüsteemne haigus, kus on haigusspetsiifiliselt muutunud ka mitteneuronaalsed perifeersed koed, on käesoleva töö eesmärgiks kaardistada PT geeniekspressiooni RNA sekveneerimise abil nahas ja veres. PT naha tulemused näitavad, et valdava osa geenide ekspressioon on alla reguleeritud ja leitud muutused peegeldavad PT ajukoes leitud mustrit. Samuti selgitavad need muutused naha kõrgemat haavatavust mutageensete ohtude suhtes, mis võib põhjendada kõrgenenud melanoomi esinemist PT põdevate inimeste nahas. Teadustöö viitab sellele, et PT võib muuta naha kui perifeerse koe geeniekspressiooni haigusspetsiifiliselt. Tulemused PT põdevate inimeste vereproovidest näitavad oluliselt vähem muutusi, mida samas on varasemate PT uuringutes juba kirjeldatud. Muutuste vähesuse tõttu on verd raske kasutada biomarkerite avastamiseks, sest tegemist on heterogeense koega ja tulemused ei pruugi seega olla reprodutseeritavad. Kahe koe võrdluses ei leitud kattuvaid oluliselt muutunud geeniekspressioone. See asjaolu rõhutab koespetsiifiliste erinevuste tähtsust geeniekspressiooni uuringutes. Käesolev uuring toob välja geeniekspressioonid, mis näitasid kõige reprodutseeritavamaid muutusi ja vajavad täiendavaid funktsionaalseid uuringuid nende biomarkeripotentsiaali hindamiseks.Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease with a considerable rate of clinical misdiagnosis. PD is a movement disorder characterized by slowness of voluntary movement (known as bradykinesia), rigidity and resting tremor, together known as the parkinsonian triad. The pathophysiology of PD converges into pathognomonic loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra of the central nervous system and the accumulation of pathologic protein α-synuclein into Lewy bodies in neurons. The definite diagnosis can only be established post mortem, as there are currently no reliable biomarkers for PD. Most PD cases are sporadic and large genome wide association studies show that gene variance alone is not the main cause of PD occurrence. This work, therefore, investigates gene expression (transcriptomics) of PD in search of feasible diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. The tissue which the sample is taken from is relevant in transcriptomics, because gene expression is tissue specific. PD has canonically seen as a disease of the dopaminergic neurons in the central nervous tissue, but this tissue cannot be sampled from living patients. It is, therefore, necessary to find other tissues that allow sampling in vivo for biomarker research. A potential tissue of interest is the skin because PD patients have more melanoma and other specific skin conditions compared to the general population. Another promising tissue next to skin is the blood, because it is the easiest to sample and circulating the whole organism carries a lot of systemic information. The current work profiles gene expression from skin and blood using RNA sequencing in order to explore the disease specific involvement of nonneuronal peripheral tissues in PD. The results from PD skin show a pattern of global downregulation of differentially expressed genes that mirrors the pathophysiology of PD in the brain. Changes that lead to vulnerability in PD skin to mutagenic hazards are also mapped that might explain the epidemiologically observed elevated prevalence of melanoma in PD patients. This suggests that gene expression in the skin, a peripheral nonneuronal tissue, is PD-specifically changed. The results from PD blood show notably fewer changes, however, most are previously described in PD. This highlights the difficulty in using blood for biomarker discovery as the tissue is heterogeneous and the results are not easily reproducible. No overlapping differentially changed gene expressions are found in comparison of the two tissues in PD, which underlines the importance of tissue specific differences in gene expression. The study highlights notable differential gene expressions that show most robust changes and warrant further functional studies to evaluate their biomarker potential.https://www.ester.ee/record=b542987

Securitization of immigration under the Trump administration: reconceptualizing the functional actor through the judiciary and the media

The act of “speaking security” has grave implications for political debate. By evoking a threat, political resources are mobilized in a way that lifts the issue at hand “beyond” politics and calls for an immediate response by adopting extraordinary measures that may result in the restriction of civil liberties. This approach was developed by the so-called Copenhagen School. The efforts of subsequent researchers to develop the several concepts left under-theorized in the original framework remain incomplete. The aims of this thesis are twofold. First, to develop a model for analyzing securitization processes in a more comprehensive manner, accounting for the bureaucratic policy-making procedures that undergird securitizing moves, for the reiterative deliberations between securitizing actors and audiences in the construction of threats, for the multiplicity of audiences involved in the process, and the influence wielded by functional actors on the success of securitization. To this effect, this thesis expounds on the theoretical aspects of securitization and media studies, the judicial precedents regarding immigration policy in the US, and adopts John Kingdon’s three streams model of policy-making. Second, this thesis presents a novel definition of the functional actor. Functional actors are entities that (1) affect decisions in a field of security in general and the success of a securitizing move in particular, (2) cannot independently produce security meanings, (3) stand to gain or lose, in material, ideational, social, or other terms, as a result, and (4) can, in their particular function, operate as a secondary securitizing actor or as a secondary audience but is not the direct target of a securitizing move. Specifically, this thesis argues that the media and the judiciary should be treated as functional actors in the securitization process. The latter point is tested by applying an enhanced model of securitization to the presidency of Donald Trump whose signature policy has been immigration. This thesis analyzes four categories of immigration policy through which the Trump administration has sought to securitize immigration. Each category is presented through the Kingdon model, followed by an overview of securitizing and desecuritizing moves, of media frames, and of judicial proceedings. The results confirm the utility of treating the media and the judiciary as functional actors. However, it also reveals a shortcoming of the Kingdon model because its presumption of temporal linearity is found to be unjustified.http://www.ester.ee/record=b5147609*es

Physical and molecular characteristics of day 75 nuclear transfer cloned bovine conceptuses

2012 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This study was designed to measure fetal and placental characteristics in bovine day 75 nuclear transfer and control pregnancies. Responses included mRNA concentration of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system [IGF-1, IGF-2, IGF1R, IGF2R, IGFBBP-1, -2, -3] and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) system [VEGF, PlGF, VEGF1R, and VEGF2R]. Fetal attrition of the cloned pregnancies up to day 75 was high (89%, 63 out of 71 frozen embryos transferred; 8 of 16 cloned conceptuses present on day 30 survived to day 75, as did 5 of 5 controls). No significant differences in mean weights of large and medium placentomes were observed between 8 clones and 5 controls. However, the variance of mean weight of large placentomes was greater in clones than in controls; one gestation had placentomes six standard deviations larger than controls. Interestingly, the mean umbilical cord weight/length ratio was significantly greater for clones (P 0.1) between clones and controls. However, unequal variances were common, and data points with statistical outlier behavior were observed for clones, which highlights the heterogeneity of the cloned population. This variation in gene expression may exacerbate abnormal placentation later in gestation, and might explain some of the increased morbidity and mortality seen in calves resulting from cloning by nuclear transfer

Métropolisation et habitat dans les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale

Texte publié en anglais sous le titre " Metropolization and Settlement in the Central and Eastern European Countries " dans FALTAN L. & GAJDOŠ P., 2008, Regional disparities in Central Europe, Bratislava, UNESCO NK-MOST, pp.180-195Metropolization is a geographical process that affects also the territories of Central and Eastern Europe. Population and incomes are more and more concentrated in the biggest agglomerations. The consequences are evident on the economical functioning of cities; they affect also structures and dynamics of housing. The paper shows first how, at the national scale, the situation of housing was transformed: the stagnation, inherited from a structural shortage, has been lasting unto the 2000s. The return of house building is going on with a new framework, but did not manage to resolve the lacking of dwellings. Ar the local scale, capital cities are very specific local real estate markets, because they are very engaged in metropolization. They polarize the major part of construction, and offer more expansive but often smaller dwellings than in average in the state. The intra-urban spatial configurations show that metropolization in Central and Eastern Europe produce original mechanisms of socio-spatial differenciation.La métropolisation est un processus géographique qui affecte aussi les territoires d'Europe centrale et orientale. La population et les revenus sont de plus en plus concentrés dans les plus grandes agglomérations. Les conséquences sont évidentes sur le fonctionnement économique des villes ; elles affectent également les structures et les dynamiques de l'habitat. L'article montre tout d'abord comment à l'échelle nationale la situation du logement s'est transformée : le marasme de la construction, hérité d'une pénurie structurelle a duré jusque dans les années 2000. La reprise de la construction de logements se fait dans de nouveaux cadres, mais n'a pas résorbé le manque de logements. A l'échelle locale, les capitales d'Etat constituent des marchés locaux très spécifiques car très engagé dans la métropolisation. Elles polarisent une part importante de l'effort de construction, et offrent des logements plus chers mais souvent plus petits que dans la moyenne de l'Etat. Les configurations spatiales intra-urbaines montrent que la métropolisation en Europe centrale et orientale produit des mécanismes originaux de différenciation socio-spatiale

L'habitat urbain pré et post socialiste en Pologne

The paper analyses in a typological and historical way the evolution of housing in polish cities, beyond the breaks of the implementation and then of the fall of socialist regime. The first part of the paper presents on a long term the reasons why urban housing stock is generally in bad conditions, especially in old ancient districts. At the beginning of the XXIst Century, the housing stock is binary : on the one hand the majority of it was built during the socialist period, on the other hand, old districts are more heterogeneous, as far as their residential forms and quality are concerned, going from the best to the worst. The conditions of exploitation of the housing stock from 1945 to 1989 produced everywhere a bad qualitative situation, but also a way of living characterized by a low residential mobility and a status of "quasi-owner". The post-socialist city is emphasized by the coming back of ownership, a slow quantitative growth of the housing stock, but also a better quality for new dwellings. But this better quality is socially and spatially selective. The fragments of pre-socialist city are involved in the reform of ownership and complex social issues.L'histoire mouvementée de la Pologne ne prédispose pas ses villes ni ses habitants à placer la protection du patrimoine au centre des priorités. Grands ensembles bâtis à la hâte, quartiers anciens et immeubles du réalisme socialiste, ces trois formes principales d'habitat, subissent diversement l'érosion du temps. Les faibles ressources des candidats à l'accession freinent les flux et la construction post-socialiste se borne à satisfaire les plus hauts revenus