Industrial cluster formation in European regions. U.S. cluster templates and Austrian evidence.

The paper will be organized in the following manner. We first provide a concise review of how industrial trade clusters were developed from available I/O coefficients (see box), including how regional industrial data may be embedded within their "templates". Second, we will review the steps taken, using available industrial concordances, that permit regional data from other advanced national industrial systems to be embedded within these templates. Third, we will illustrate the results of applying the U.S. template for the motor vehicle industrial trade cluster to regions in both Austria and North Carolina over 5-10 year time periods. Finally, we will offer some speculative observations about what the results may indicate about regional cluster development in these two regions. (authors' abstract, ed. M.Putz)Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

Local Economic Development Planning in an Era of Capital Mobility

Capital mobility is the technical term used by policy analysts to describe the movement of industry from one place to another, often between declining and growing local economies. This subject has recently become a topic of considerable research and policy interest at two levels. First, researchers have been concerned with a tendency of corporate forces and national policies to foster a polarization of local economic conditions: disinvestment and plant shutdowns in declining areas simultaneous with reinvestment and plant relocation in growing areas. Second, the accelerated pace of disinvestment-reinvestment since the mid-seventies has begun to be identified as a serious problem for both declining and growing areas

The Triangle Has Responsibilities as a World Class Region

What is one to make of recent news accounts that reveal major difficulties in the Triangle region? We have all seen articles lately that trouble many observers. Research Triangle Park growth has stalled, and senior officials are leaving their posts. The Research Triangle Foundation's directors are considering numerous options for the Park's future development

A Policy Research Method Case-Study: Generating and Extracting Evidence-based Policy Inferences from a large EC Framework Programme Project

In 2004 the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was instituted following the greatest single enlargement of the European Union (EU), to support security and peaceful relations between the EU and neighbouring countries with a unified governance approach to economic, social and political aspects of international cooperation. This paper reports on an effort to develop and test a methodology for bridging social science research and policy communities on an important policy question that concerns comity between the EU and its Eurasian, Middle Eastern and North African neighbouring countries1, although the approach applies to any broad policy issue for which multiple sources and types of research evidence are present. Five evaluative elements are developed and implemented whose complementary application result in a large set of policy inferences, a strategy of implementation, and researcher insights concerning the method. This case study suggests that the recommended evidence synthesis methodology has good potential for informing policy that is comprised of multiple elements, studied by large research teams, and enacted by diverse agents. The suggested methodology requires engagement by active researchers and policy experts in the formulation of policy options. It is put forward that improving the quality of evidence-informed policy will depend upon institutions and practices in the research and policy making communities. (authors' abstract)Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

Histone/Protein Deacetylase 11 Targeting Promotes Foxp3+ Treg Function.

Current interest in Foxp3+ T-regulatory (Treg) cells as therapeutic targets in transplantation is largely focused on their harvesting pre-transplant, expansion and infusion post-transplantation. An alternate strategy of pharmacologic modulation of Treg function using histone/protein deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) may allow more titratable and longer-term dosing. However, the effects of broadly acting HDACi vary, such that HDAC isoform-selective targeting is likely required. We report data from mice with constitutive or conditional deletion of HDAC11 within Foxp3+ Treg cells, and their use, along with small molecule HDAC11 inhibitors, in allograft models. Global HDAC11 deletion had no effect on health or development, and compared to WT controls, Foxp3+ Tregs lacking HDAC11 showed increased suppressive function, and increased expression of Foxp3 and TGF-β. Likewise, compared to WT recipients, conditional deletion of HDAC11 within Tregs led to long-term survival of fully MHC-mismatched cardiac allografts, and prevented development of transplant arteriosclerosis in an MHC class II-mismatched allograft model. The translational significance of HDAC11 targeting was shown by the ability of an HDAC11i to promote long-term allograft allografts in fully MHC-disparate strains. These data are powerful stimuli for the further development and testing of HDAC11-selective pharmacologic inhibitors, and may ultimately provide new therapies for transplantation and autoimmune diseases

Population genomics of domestic and wild yeasts

The natural genetics of an organism is determined by the distribution of sequences of its genome. Here we present one- to four-fold, with some deeper, coverage of the genome sequences of over seventy isolates of the domesticated baker's yeast, _Saccharomyces cerevisiae_, and its closest relative, the wild _S. paradoxus_, which has never been associated with human activity. These were collected from numerous geographic locations and sources (including wild, clinical, baking, wine, laboratory and food spoilage). These sequences provide an unprecedented view of the population structure, natural (and artificial) selection and genome evolution in these species. Variation in gene content, SNPs, indels, copy numbers and transposable elements provide insights into the evolution of different lineages. Phenotypic variation broadly correlates with global genome-wide phylogenetic relationships however there is no correlation with source. _S. paradoxus_ populations are well delineated along geographic boundaries while the variation among worldwide _S. cerevisiae_ isolates show less differentiation and is comparable to a single _S. paradoxus_ population. Rather than one or two domestication events leading to the extant baker's yeasts, the population structure of _S. cerevisiae_ shows a few well defined geographically isolated lineages and many different mosaics of these lineages, supporting the notion that human influence provided the opportunity for outbreeding and production of new combinations of pre-existing variation

Design of 280 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES arrays for the balloon-borne polarimeter SPIDER

We describe 280 GHz bolometric detector arrays that instrument the balloon-borne polarimeter SPIDER. A primary science goal of SPIDER is to measure the large-scale B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background in search of the cosmic-inflation, gravitational-wave signature. 280 GHz channels aid this science goal by constraining the level of B-mode contamination from galactic dust emission. We present the focal plane unit design, which consists of a 16$\times$16 array of conical, corrugated feedhorns coupled to a monolithic detector array fabricated on a 150 mm diameter silicon wafer. Detector arrays are capable of polarimetric sensing via waveguide probe-coupling to a multiplexed array of transition-edge-sensor (TES) bolometers. The SPIDER receiver has three focal plane units at 280 GHz, which in total contains 765 spatial pixels and 1,530 polarization sensitive bolometers. By fabrication and measurement of single feedhorns, we demonstrate 14.7$^{\circ}$ FHWM Gaussian-shaped beams with $<$1% ellipticity in a 30% fractional bandwidth centered at 280 GHz. We present electromagnetic simulations of the detection circuit, which show 94% band-averaged, single-polarization coupling efficiency, 3% reflection and 3% radiative loss. Lastly, we demonstrate a low thermal conductance bolometer, which is well-described by a simple TES model and exhibits an electrical noise equivalent power (NEP) = 2.6 $\times$ 10$^{-17}$ W/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, consistent with the phonon noise prediction.Comment: Proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201

Evaluation of Microwave Steam Bags for the Decontamination of Filtering Facepiece Respirators

Reusing filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) has been suggested as a strategy to conserve available supplies for home and healthcare environments during an influenza pandemic. For reuse to be possible, used FFRs must be decontaminated before redonning to reduce the risk of virus transmission; however, there are no approved methods for FFR decontamination. An effective method must reduce the microbial threat, maintain the function of the FFR, and present no residual chemical hazard. The method should be readily available, inexpensive and easily implemented by healthcare workers and the general public. Many of the general decontamination protocols used in healthcare and home settings are unable to address all of the desired qualities of an efficient FFR decontamination protocol. The goal of this study is to evaluate the use of two commercially available steam bags, marketed to the public for disinfecting infant feeding equipment, for FFR decontamination. The FFRs were decontaminated with microwave generated steam following the manufacturers' instructions then evaluated for water absorption and filtration efficiency for up to three steam exposures. Water absorption of the FFR was found to be model specific as FFRs constructed with hydrophilic materials absorbed more water. The steam had little effect on FFR performance as filtration efficiency of the treated FFRs remained above 95%. The decontamination efficacy of the steam bag was assessed using bacteriophage MS2 as a surrogate for a pathogenic virus. The tested steam bags were found to be 99.9% effective for inactivating MS2 on FFRs; however, more research is required to determine the effectiveness against respiratory pathogens

Collective animal navigation and migratory culture: From theoretical models to empirical evidence

Animals often travel in groups, and their navigational decisions can be influenced by social interactions. Both theory and empirical observations suggest that such collective navigation can result in individuals improving their ability to find their way and could be one of the key benefits of sociality for these species. Here, we provide an overview of the potential mechanisms underlying collective navigation, review the known, and supposed, empirical evidence for such behaviour and highlight interesting directions for future research. We further explore how both social and collective learning during group navigation could lead to the accumulation of knowledge at the population level, resulting in the emergence of migratory culture