The European Commission and the future of Europe

This article examines the Commission's preferences and preference formation in relation to the Convention and the negotiation of the Constitutional Treaty. Opposing rational choice accounts, which explain Commission action in terms of the tendency of bureaucratic actors to seek to maximize power, status and opportunities, it argues that the Commission is best seen as an internally differentiated arena, from which preferences emerge as a result of complex interactions that entail the use of power, institutionalized myths and routines. It contends that the Commission was an ineffective performer in the debate on the future of Europe. As well as committing tactical and strategic mistakes, the Commission was disadvantaged by the explicitly political nature of the exercise and the opportunity structure of the Convention compared to previous IGCs. A third argument is that the ratification and post-ratification process reveal the current limitations on the Commission's ability to influence debates about the future of the Union. Its historic vocation as the engine of integration implies one course of action, while being cast as part of the problem suggests another

Molecular characteristic of phosphoric acid treated soils

The expansive nature of soils containing high amounts of clay minerals can be altered through chemical stabilization, resulting in a material suitable for construction purposes. The primary objective of this investigation was to study the changes induced in the molecular structure of phosphoric acid stabilized bentonite and lateritic soil using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Based on the obtained data, it was found that a surface alteration mechanism was the main reason responsible for the improvement of treated soils. Furthermore, the results indicated that the Al present in the octahedral layer of clay minerals were more amenable to chemical attacks and also partly responsible for the formation of new products

Foreign Portfolio Investment and Economic Growth in Malaysia

This study examines the relationship between foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and Malaysia’s economic performance. In particular, the study analyses the relationship between FPI and real gross domestic product (GDP) using the widely adopted Granger causality test and the more recent Toda and Yamamoto’s (1995) non-causality test to establish the direction of causation between the two variables. Similar method is also applied on the relationship between volatility of FPI and real GDP. Additionally, the study uses an innovation accounting by simulating variance decompositions and impulse response functions for further inferences. Using quarterly data covering the period from 1991 to 2006, the study finds evidence that economic growth causes changes in the FPI and its volatility and not vice versa.. The findings suggest that economic performance is the major pull factor in attracting FPI into the country. Thus, it must be ensured that the Malaysian economy remains on a healthy and sustainable growth path so as to maintain investor confidence in the economy.Foreign Portfolio Investment, Economic Growth, Granger Causality, Toda-Yamamoto Non-causality, Variance Decomposition

A Systems Approach For Car T Cell Therapy Product Characterization

In general, there are three principle parameters by which investigators assess CAR-Ts in the clinical setting: clinical outcome, CAR-T cell persistence, and patient safety. CAR-Ts are “living drugs”; short of clinical trials, it is currently not possible to assess CAR-T safety and efficacy based on in vitro taxonomies of cell phenotype and function. This talk will discuss systems wide analytical strategies that may enable for the more comprehensive and precise characterization of CAR-T products with an overall objective of developing safer and more effective therapies for patients

The influence of copper of the total sulphur amino acids requirement of broilers during two growing periods

A study was conducted to assess the influence of copper on the total sulphur amino acid requirements of broiler chickens reared under two growing periods. The TSAA levels used were 0.73, 0.83, 0.93% with copper levels of 0, 125, 250 and 375 mg/kg for the starter period and the TSAA levels of 0.72, 0.79 and 0.86% with copper levels of 0, 125, 250 and 375 mg/kg for the grower period. Total feed consumption, body weight gain and feed L gain ratio were used as the parameters for the assessment. The results showed that adding copper at 250 mg/kg to the diets improved feed : gain ratio of the starter broilers and resulted in small improvement of body weight gain and feed : gain ratio of the grower broilers. Growth was depressed in relation to the reduction of feed intake on the chicks fed diet containing 375 mg/kg copper. There was a significant interaction between dietary TSAA and copper levels for feed intake, hence, indicating that the supplementation of copper at the level of 375 mg/kg increased the TSAA requirement of the starter broilers, although no interference with the requirement of grower broilers

The effects of dietary energy levels on the carcass composition of the broilers

A study was conducted to determine the arcass composition of broilers when fed with three varying levels of dietary energy(3,000, 3,200 and 3,400 kcal/kg ME) at 20% crude protein and 0.79% Total Sulphur Amino Acid. The results showed that there was a significant(p<0.05) increase in the ME intake of the chickens when the ME of the diet increased. Other factors like the protein intake, dressing percentage, weight gain and feed intake were not significantly affected. On the carcass, the increasing dietary ME levels resulted in a significant(p<0.05) decrease in the carcass protein percentage. Similarly, the dietary ME produced a significant(0.05) increase in the amount of and fat percentages of breast meat, thigh meat, and drumstick meat with a significant reduction in the protein percentage. There seemed to be an inverse relationship between the perentages of protein and fat. An increase in fat percentages always resulted in similar reduction in the protein content of the meat. These results also showed major differences between the white and red meat of the chicken

Grazing Behaviour of the Swamp Buffalo {Bubalus bubalis}

Studies on the grazing behaviour of the swamp buffaloes were carried out ill the Universiti Pertaniall Malaysia farm at Puchong. The results have shown that grazing took place throughout the whole 24-hour period with the greater part during the da;y. As a means of thermoregulation the animals wallowed in a pool of water during the day and night,. this was important in controlling body temperature and for the animals' well-being and hence their productivity. During the night the animals were either lying down or standing,.there was with very little walking. Rumination took place while the animals were wallowing or lying down

Foreign Portfolio Investment and Economic Growth in Malaysia

This study examines the relationship between foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and Malaysia’s economic performance. In particular, the study analyses the relationship between FPI and real gross domestic product (GDP) using the widely adopted Granger causality test and the more recent Toda and Yamamoto’s (1995) non-causality test to establish the direction of causation between the two variables. Similar method is also applied on the relationship between volatility of FPI and real GDP. Additionally, the study uses an innovation accounting by simulating variance decompositions and impulse response functions for further inferences. Using quarterly data covering the period from 1991 to 2006, the study finds evidence that economic growth causes changes in the FPI and its volatility and not vice versa.. The findings suggest that economic performance is the major pull factor in attracting FPI into the country. Thus, it must be ensured that the Malaysian economy remains on a healthy and sustainable growth path so as to maintain investor confidence in the economy. JEL classification: G15, C32, C12 Keywords: Foreign Portfolio Investment, Economic Growth, Granger Causality, Toda-Yamamoto Non-causality, Variance Decompositio

Thermal and Non-thermal Plasmas in the Galaxy Cluster 3C 129

We describe new Chandra spectroscopy data of the cluster which harbors the prototypical "head tail" radio galaxy 3C 129 and the weaker radio galaxy 3C 129.1. We combined the Chandra data with Very Large Array (VLA) radio data taken at 0.33, 5, and 8 GHz (archival data) and 1.4 GHz (new data). We also obtained new HI observations at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) to measure the neutral Hydrogen column density in the direction of the cluster with arcminute angular resolution. The Chandra observation reveals extended X-ray emission from the radio galaxy 3C 129.1 with a total luminosity of 1.5E+41 erg/s. The X-ray excess is resolved into an extended central source of ~2 arcsec (1 kpc) diameter and several point sources with an individual luminosity up to 2.1E+40 erg/s. In the case of the radio galaxy 3C 129, the Chandra observation shows, in addition to core and jet X-ray emission reported in an earlier paper, some evidence for extended, diffuse X-ray emission from a region east of the radio core. The 12 arcsec x 36 arcsec (6 kpc x 17 kpc) region lies "in front" of the radio core, in the same direction into which the radio galaxy is moving. We use the radio and X-ray data to study in detail the pressure balance between the non-thermal radio plasma and the thermal Intra Cluster Medium (ICM) along the tail of 3C 129 which extends over 15 arcmin (427 kpc). Depending on the assumed lower energy cutoff of the electron energy spectrum, the minimum pressure of the radio plasma lies a factor of between 10 and 40 below the ICM pressure for a large part of the tail. We discuss several possibilities to explain the apparent pressure mismatch.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Refereed manuscript. 14 pages, 8 figures, additional panel of Fig. 3 shows asymmetric ICM distributio