Exports, Services and Value Added - A National, International and Regional Analysis for Austria

Austrian business cycles are strongly dependent on the development of foreign exports. The paper deals with two important issues in this context: What is the impact of foreign exports on total growth in the Austrian economy? A more and more globalized economy implies that the share of foreign imports in the production of export commodities increases. This suggests that the contribution of foreign exports to domestic growth will diminish over time ? this hypothesis will be tested in the paper. In addition, the results for Austria will be compared with those for other countries in the EU as well as the OECD. Export activities are not evenly distributed over space: While some regions are more specialized in the production of commodities for the domestic market, other regions are much more dependent on foreign exports. In the paper, the regional economic consequences of the value-added impacts of foreign exports will be analysed. The paper will make use of national input-output tables for the years 1995, 2000 and 2003 as well as input-output tables for OECD countries to examine the national economic impacts of foreign exports and an international comparison. Furthermore, a multiregional model for Austria ("MultiREG") will be applied for estimating the corresponding regional impacts.Competitiveness, Export of Services

Trade Effects of Service Liberalization in the EU - Simulation of Regional Macroeconomic Effects for Austria

Based on simulations with a computable general equilibrium model the impacts of service liberalization policies on trade flows were estimated by wiiw. Given these trade effects resulting changes in value added and employment on a regional level were simulated using a multiregional multisectoral model for Austria (MultiREG). Because net exports changed very little, the impact of trade liberalization policies on the Austrian value added turned out to be rather small: While in the short run value added declines somewhat, the impact is positive in the long run; value added, however, increases only by 0.3 percent.Export of Services

Bose-Einstein condensation of alkaline earth atoms: 40^{40}{Ca}

We have achieved Bose-Einstein condensation of $^{40}$Ca, the first for an alkaline earth element. The influence of elastic and inelastic collisions associated with the large ground state s-wave scattering length of $^{40}$Ca was measured. From these findings, an optimized loading and cooling scheme was developed that allowed us to condense about $2 \cdot 10^4$ atoms after laser cooling in a two-stage magneto-optical trap and subsequent forced evaporation in a crossed dipole trap within less than 3 s. The condensation of an alkaline earth element opens novel opportunities for precision measurements on the narrow intercombination lines as well as investigations of molecular states at the $^1$S--$^3$P asymptotes

Ion-exchange separation of metals by a single-pass method

A single-pass method for the ion-exchange separations of binary mixtures of metals is described, and experimental applications are presented. The method consists of complexing each of the components in the mixture with a separate complexing agent at a pH sufficient to ensure maximum coordination of the metals. The complexing agents are chosen such that the metal complexes formed are of opposite charge. The mixture is then passed through an ion-exchange resin which absorbs one species completely, allowing the other to be collected in the effluent. An anion-or cation-exchange resin is used

Current state of ASoC design methodology

This paper gives an overview of the current state of ASoC design methodology and presents preliminary results on evaluating the learning classifier system XCS for the control of a QuadCore. The ASoC design methodology can determine system reliability based on activity, power and temperature analysis, together with reliability block diagrams. The evaluation of the XCS shows that in the evaluated setup, XCS can find optimal operating points, even in changed environments or with changed reward functions. This even works, though limited, without the genetic algorithm the XCS uses internally. The results motivate us to continue the evaluation for more complex setups

Pericenter passage of the gas cloud G2 in the Galactic Center

We have further followed the evolution of the orbital and physical properties of G2, the object currently falling toward the massive black hole in the Galactic Center on a near-radial orbit. New, very sensitive data were taken in April 2013 with NACO and SINFONI at the ESO VLT . The 'head' of G2 continues to be stretched ever further along the orbit in position-velocity space. A fraction of its emission appears to be already emerging on the blue-shifted side of the orbit, past pericenter approach. Ionized gas in the head is now stretched over more than 15,000 Schwarzschild radii RS around the pericenter of the orbit, at ~ 2000 RS ~ 20 light hours from the black hole. The pericenter passage of G2 will be a process stretching over a period of at least one year. The Brackett-{\gamma} luminosity of the head has been constant over the past 9 years, to within +- 25%, as have the line ratios Brackett-{\gamma} / Paschen-{\alpha} and Brackett-{\gamma} / Helium-I. We do not see any significant evidence for deviations of G2's dynamical evolution, due to hydrodynamical interactions with the hot gas around the black hole, from a ballistic orbit of an initially compact cloud with moderate velocity dispersion. The constant luminosity and the increasingly stretched appearance of the head of G2 in the position-velocity plane, without a central peak, is not consistent with several proposed models with continuous gas release from an initially bound zone around a faint star on the same orbit as G2.Comment: 10 figures, submitted to Ap

Perceived risks in cross-border transactions in agri-food chains

Nowadays, agri-food chains are more global than ever and are characterized by increased imports and exports and global sourcing of products, resulting in increased cross-border transaction risks. The objective of this paper is to identify the typical risks regarding agri-food supply chains involved in cross-border transactions and to assess their importance as perceived by agri-food managers. The analysis takes into consideration four different agrifood value chains (meat, grain, olive oil, fresh vegetables and fruits). Following an explorative approach and a qualitative technique, a series of face to face in-depth interviews was conducted. Results indicate that risk perception may be quite different across countries, value chains, tiers of the supply chain, as well as across respondents. The prevalence of Market dynamics risks was pointed out in most of the interviews, yielding the impression that many operators identify the market as the most difficult environment. Differences in risk perception between fresh produce (fruit/vegetables and meat) and processed food chains (grain and olive oil) are probably interrelated to the different degree of integration within these supply chains, the different level of standardization achieved and the different causes of risks that are inherent to the nature of the product.Perceived Risks, Cross-Border Transactions, Agri-Food Chains, Risk and Uncertainty,

β-TrCP is dispensable for Vpu's ability to overcome the CD317/Tetherin-imposed restriction to HIV-1 release

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cellular transmembrane protein CD317/BST-2/HM1.24/Tetherin restricts HIV-1 infection by physically tethering mature virions to the surface of infected cells. HIV-1 counteracts this restriction by expressing the accessory protein Vpu, yet the mechanism of this antagonism is incompletely understood. β-TrCP is the substrate recognition domain of an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex that interacts with the di-serine motif S52/S56 in the cytoplasmic tail of Vpu to target the CD4 receptor for proteasomal degradation. Recently, it has been suggested that β-TrCP is also critically involved in Vpu's ability to overcome the CD317-mediated virion release block.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To test this model, we analyzed the consequences of several experimental strategies to interfere with the Vpu-β-TrCP protein-protein interaction. Under these conditions, we studied effects of Vpu on expression and localization of CD317 and CD4, as well as on its ability to promote HIV-1 release. Our results demonstrate a strict requirement for Vpu's di-serine motif for degradation of CD4 and also CD317, reduction of cell surface exposure of CD317, and HIV-1 release enhancement. We further show a critical role of β-TrCP2, but not of the structurally related β-TrCP1 isoform, for Vpu-mediated degradation of both receptors. Most importantly, Vpu remained active in downregulating CD317 from the cell surface and in overcoming the HIV-1 release restriction in β-TrCP-depleted cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results demonstrate that β-TrCP is not strictly required for Vpu's ability to counteract the CD317-imposed virion release block and support the relevance of cell surface down-modulation of the restriction factor as a central mechanism of Vpu antagonism. Moreover, we propose the existence of a critical, yet to be identified cellular factor that interacts with Vpu via its di-serine motif to alter the trafficking of the restriction factor.</p