The Impact of Social Capital on the Implicit Price Paid by the Italian Consumer for Fair Trade Coffee

Consumers in developed countries are increasingly interested in the consumption of food products incorporating ethical aspects, particularly fair trade products. These products are usually distributed in a network of World Shops and, more recently, in supermarkets and shopping centres. The fair trade product with the highest market share is coffee. This study aims to ascertain the implicit price paid by Italian consumers for the fair trade content of coffee and how this implicit price is influenced by the level of social capital of the territory where consumers live. The data utilised are scanner data, based on the purchase at supermarkets and shopping centres observed from 2005 to 2007, referred to a territorial unit that is the province. Since scanner data are used, the analysis can allow for the coffee attributes described by the labels: branded, organic, decaffeinated, fair trade, espresso, and so on. The approach followed is the application of an hedonic regression where the dependant variable is the coffee price while the regressors are coffee characteristics (fair trade content and coffee other attributes) and several indicators of provincial social capital, alternatively included.hedonic price, coffee, fair trade, scanner data, Italian consumers, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, C50, D12, L66, Z13,

One Action System or Two? Evidence for Common Central Preparatory Mechanisms in Voluntary and Stimulus-Driven Actions

Human behavior is comprised of an interaction between intentionally driven actions and reactions to changes in the environment. Existing data are equivocal concerning the question of whether these two action systems are independent, involve different brain regions, or overlap. To address this question we investigated whether the degree to which the voluntary action system is activated at the time of stimulus onset predicts reaction times to external stimuli.Werecorded event-related potentials while participants prepared and executed left- or right-hand voluntary actions, which were occasionally interrupted by a stimulus requiring either a left- or right-hand response. In trials where participants successfully performed the stimulus-driven response, increased voluntary motor preparation was associated with faster responses on congruent trials (where participants were preparing a voluntary action with the same hand that was then required by the target stimulus), and slower responses on incongruent trials. This suggests that early hand-specific activity in medial frontal cortex for voluntary action trials can be used by the stimulus-driven system to speed responding. This finding questions the clear distinction between voluntary and stimulus-driven action systems. © 2011 the authors

Finite element modelling of bone growth stimulation and its suitability for therapeutic, biomedical applications

This is the final version of the article.ER

Detection of inflammation- and neoplasia-associated alterations in human large intestine using plant/invertebrate lectins, galectin-1 and neoglycoproteins

Commonly, plant and invertebrate lectins are accepted glycohistochemical tools for the analysis of normal and altered structures of glycans in histology and pathology. Mammalian lectins and neoglycoproteins are recent additions to this panel for the detection of lectin-reactive carbohydrate epitopes and glycoligand-binding sites. The binding profiles of these three types of probes were comparatively analyzed in normal, inflamed and neoplastic large intestine. In normal colonic mucosa the intracellular distribution of glycoconjugates and carbohydrate ligand-binding sites in enterocytes reveals a differential binding of lectins with different specificity and of neoglycoproteins to the Golgi apparatus, the rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum and the apical cell surface. The accessible glycoligand-binding sites and the lectin-reactive carbohydrate epitopes detected by galectin-1 show the same pattern of intracellular location excluding the apical cell surface. Lectin-reactive carbohydrate epitopes detected by plant lectins of identical monosaccharide specificity as the endogenous lectin {[}Ricinus communis agglutinin-I (RCA-I), Viscum album agglutinin (VAA)], however, clearly differ with respect to their intracellular distribution. Maturation-associated differences and heterogeneity in glycohistochemical properties of epithelial cells and non-epithelial cells (macrophages, dendritic cells, lymphocytes) are found. Dissimilarities in the fine structural Ligand recognition of lectins with nominal specificity to the same monosaccharide have been demonstrated for the galactoside-specific lectins RCA-I, VAA and galectin-1 as well as the N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc)-specific lectins Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA), soybean agglutinin (SBA) and Helix pomatia agglutinin in normal mucosa and in acute appendicitis. Acute inflammation of the intestinal mucosa found in acute phlegmonous appendicitis is associated with selective changes of glycosylation of mucin in goblet cells mainly of lower and middle crypt segments resulting in an increase of DBA- and SEA-binding sites in the goblet cell population. Appendicitis causes no detectable alteration of neoglycoprotein binding. In contrast, tumorigenesis of colonic adenoma is characterized by increases in lectin-reactive galactose (Gal; Gal-beta 1,3-GalNAc), fucose and N-acetylglucosamine moieties and by enhanced presentation of respective carbohydrate ligand-binding capacity. This work reveals that endogenous lectins and neoglycoproteins are valuable glycohistochemical tools supplementing the well-known analytic capacities of plant lectins in the fields of gastrointestinal anatomy and gastroenteropathology

The Elastic Behaviour of Sintered Metallic Fibre Networks: A Finite Element Study by Beam Theory.

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLOS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143011BACKGROUND: The finite element method has complimented research in the field of network mechanics in the past years in numerous studies about various materials. Numerical predictions and the planning efficiency of experimental procedures are two of the motivational aspects for these numerical studies. The widespread availability of high performance computing facilities has been the enabler for the simulation of sufficiently large systems. OBJECTIVES AND MOTIVATION: In the present study, finite element models were built for sintered, metallic fibre networks and validated by previously published experimental stiffness measurements. The validated models were the basis for predictions about so far unknown properties. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The finite element models were built by transferring previously published skeletons of fibre networks into finite element models. Beam theory was applied as simplification method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The obtained material stiffness isn't a constant but rather a function of variables such as sample size and boundary conditions. Beam theory offers an efficient finite element method for the simulated fibre networks. The experimental results can be approximated by the simulated systems. Two worthwhile aspects for future work will be the influence of size and shape and the mechanical interaction with matrix materials.This research was supported by the European Research Council Grant No 240446 (http://erc.europa.eu/)

Mehr direkte Demokratie auf Bundesebene? Mit der Staatsform spielt man nicht; gegen eine plebiszitäre Umgestaltung unserer Demokratie

Am 7. Juni dieses Jahres scheiterte der rot-grüne Gesetzentwurf zur Einführung von Volksinitiative, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid auf Bundesebene an der notwendigen Zweidrittelmehrheit. Können mit mehr direkter Demokratie auf Bundesebene die Probleme der repräsentativen Demokratie überwunden werden? --

Product of random projections, Jacobi ensembles and universality problems arising from free probability

We consider the product of two independent randomly rotated projectors. The square of its radial part turns out to be distributed as a Jacobi ensemble. We study its global and local properties in the large dimension scaling relevant to free probability theory. We establish asymptotics for one point and two point correlation functions, as well as properties of largest and smallest eigenvalues.Comment: 28 pages, no figure, pdfLaTe

Ability of ChatGPT to generate competent radiology reports for distal radius fracture by use of RSNA template items and integrated AO classifier

The amount of acquired radiology imaging studies grows worldwide at a rapid pace. Novel information technology tools for radiologists promise an increase of reporting quality and as well quantity at the same time. Automated text report drafting is one branch of this development. We defined for the present study in total 9 cases of distal radius fracture. Command files structured according to a template of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and to Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osteosynthese (AO) classifiers were given as input to the natural language processing tool ChatGPT. ChatGPT was tasked with drafting an appropriate radiology report. A parameter study (n = 5 iterations) was performed. An overall high appraisal of ChatGPT radiology report quality was obtained in a score card based assessment. ChatGPT demonstrates the capability to adjust output files in response to minor changes in input command files. Existing shortcomings were found in technical terminology and medical interpretation of findings. Text drafting tools might well support work of radiologists in the future. They would allow a radiologist to focus time on the observation of image details and patient pathology. ChatGPT can be considered a substantial step forward towards that aim