Towards Effective and Accountable Leadership of the Union: Options and Guidelines for Reform. EPIN Working Paper No. 3, January 2003

[From the Executive Summary]. The success of the Convention on the future of the EU will to a great extent depend upon on its answers to the institutional questions. Among these questions, the issue of EU leadership plays a crucial role. In this paper, we identify three challenges for the re-organisation of leadership in the Union: 1. Union leadership has to be more effective. The Union’s growing responsibility for truly governmental tasks (e.g. EMU, CFSP, JHA) makes this an imperative. Enlargement will further add to this necessity. 2. Leadership in the Union should contribute to the democratic character of the Union. Indeed, leadership reform may offer an opportunity to increase the engagement of the people and the visibility of the Union. 3. Leadership reform should not fundamentally distort the Unions institutional balance. The Union is no longer a normal international organisation but neither is it a sovereign political system. Leadership reform must maintain the precarious balance between on the one hand the European general interest and on the other the diversity of national interests. In view of these three challenges, we consider the two main strands of debate that touch upon the issue of leadership in the EU: first, the debate on the election of the Commission President and, secondly, the different proposals for reforming the Council Presidency

Tricks to translating TB transcriptomics.

Transcriptomics and other high-throughput methods are increasingly applied to questions relating to tuberculosis (TB) pathogenesis. Whole blood transcriptomics has repeatedly been applied to define correlates of TB risk and has produced new insight into the late stage of disease pathogenesis. In a novel approach, authors of a recently published study in Science Translational Medicine applied complex data analysis of existing TB transcriptomic datasets, and in vitro models, in an attempt to identify correlates of protection in TB, which are crucially required for the development of novel TB diagnostics and therapeutics to halt this global epidemic. Utilizing latent TB infection (LTBI) as a surrogate of protection, they identified IL-32 as a mediator of interferon gamma (IFNγ)-vitamin D dependent antimicrobial immunity and a marker of LTBI. Here, we provide a review of all TB whole-blood transcriptomic studies to date in the context of identifying correlates of protection, discuss potential pitfalls of combining complex analyses originating from such studies, the importance of detailed metadata to interpret differential patient classification algorithms, the effect of differing circulating cell populations between patient groups on the interpretation of resulting biomarkers and we decipher weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), a recently developed systems biology tool which holds promise of identifying novel pathway interactions in disease pathogenesis. In conclusion, we propose the development of an integrated OMICS platform and open access to detailed metadata, in order for the TB research community to leverage the vast array of OMICS data being generated with the aim of unraveling the holy grail of TB research: correlates of protection

Insurance and wealth building among lower-income households

In the summer of 2007, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago convened four focus groups to explore the connections between insurance, the process of wealth building and preservation, and financial access for low- and moderate-income consumers. This article examines the findings from those focus groups.Income ; Insurance ; Wealth

Application of advanced technologies to small, short-haul transport aircraft

The performance and economic benefits available by incorporation of advanced technologies into the small, short haul air transport were assessed. Low cost structure and advanced composite material, advanced turboprop engines and new propellers, advanced high lift systems and active controls; and alternate aircraft configurations with aft mounted engines were investigated. Improvements in fuel consumed and aircraft economics (acquisition cost and direct operating cost) are available by incorporating selected advanced technologies into the small, short haul aircraft

Getting Out

Released from prison Arlene returns to a rundown apartment in Louisville, intent on starting her life over. Rebellious and disruptive as a young girl, she has found strength in religion and wants to put her youth (as Arlie ) behind her. But her struggle to find her way in the present (as Arlene ) is counterpointed by flashbacks of her past (as Arlie ), her two personalities being represented by two performers, who sometimes appear on stage simultaneously. We meet the guards and prison officials with whom Arlie waged a running battle; and the unfeeling, slatternly mother, the lecherous former prison guard, the pimp ex-boyfriend, and the touchingly friendly neighbor with whom Arlene is confronted in the present. Ultimately the play, like life, offers no simple answers—but it conveys, with heartrending honesty and compassion, the struggle of someone fighting for her life against incredible oddshttps://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/allshows2010s/1004/thumbnail.jp

Preliminary, Research and Final Reports on Multi-dimensional Tic Tac Toe Game Production Kit

Purpose of the project: 1. To assign a new name and re-design the components of the game so that the parts can be manufactured in production line process without infringement on the original copyright by ODU students and Instructors; 2. Provide the Industrial Arts Department of ODU with a production kit that may be used to provide students with learning experiences involving industrial production line methods as well as individual parts production procedures

Benchmarking the Lisbon Strategy

This paper reviews the governance framework of the Lisbon Strategy and discusses the specific option of increasing the role of benchmarking as a means of improving the implementation record of structural reforms in the European Union. Against this background, the paper puts forward a possible avenue for developing a strong form of quantitative benchmarking, namely ranking. The ranking methodology relies on the construction of a synthetic indicator using the “benefit of the doubt” approach, which acknowledges differences in emphasis among Member States with regard to structural reform priorities. The methodology is applied by using the structural indicators that have been commonly agreed by the governments of the Member States, but could also be used for ranking exercises on the basis of other indicators. JEL Classification: D02, P11, P16, C43, C61.Lisbon Strategy, economic governance, benchmarking, benefit of the doubt weighting.

Addressing Campus Sexual Assault Awareness Through Service Learning

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on a Service Learning project which a group of students from my Advanced Composition class at Old Dominion University participated in regarding sexual assault awareness on college campuses. Throughout our class, we learned what Service Learning projects consist of and used what we learned to form our own proposals for projects that would reach from the classroom to the surrounding area to address community issues. We have written about our experiences with this Service Learning project in a reflective essay which acts as our final exam. In doing this, we also have attained our course goals in selecting our audience and purpose, using critical thinking skills to apply to the subject of sexual assault awareness and evaluating our own text for effectiveness and credibility. Key words: sexual assault awareness, Service Learning, interacting, students, critical thinking, feminist, patriarchal, framewor

Modulation of energy homeostasis in maize and Arabidopsis to develop lines tolerant to drought, genotoxic and oxidative stresses

Abiotic stresses cause crop losses worldwide that reduce the average yield by more than 50%. Due to the high energy consumed to enhance the respiration rates, the excessive reactive oxygen species release provokes cell death and, ultimately, whole plant decay. A metabolic engineering approach in maize (Zea mays) altered the expression of two poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation metabolic pathway proteins, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and ADP-ribose-specifIc Nudix hydrolase (NUDX) genes that play a role in the maintenance of the energy homeostasis during stresses. By means of RNAi hairpin silencing and CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing strategies, the PARP expression in maize was downregulated or knocked down. The Arabidopsis NUDX7 gene and its two maize homologs, ZmNUDX2 and ZmNUDX8, were overexpressed in maize and Arabidopsis. Novel phenotypes were observed, such as significant tolerance to oxidative stress and improved yield in Arabidopsis and a trend of tolerance to mild drought stress in maize and in Arabidopsis. Key words: poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, Nudix hydrolase, CRISPR/Cas9, maize, oxidative stress, drought stress