Building Global Labour Networks: The Case of the Global Labour University

The article discusses the experience of the Global Labour University project. Summarizing major challenges labour is facing in adapting to the structural changes of globalisation, the paper puts the idea of a Global Labour University in the broader context of labour's needs to respond to a dominantly pro-business, pro-market globalisation discourse. The second part of the article introduces and critically discusses the Global Labour University project as an initiative to contribute to the need for global research, teaching and networking for a fairer globalisation

Reform der sowjetischen Gewerkschaften in Rußland: ein schwerer, aber nicht hoffnungsloser Fall

'Der Aufbau eigenständiger und durchsetzungsfähiger Gewerkschaften ist für den Aufbau einer effektiven, sozial gerechten und demokratischen Gesellschaft unerläßlich. ob die russischen Gewerkschaften diese Herausforderung bewältigen, ist angesichts der sowjetischen Erblast trotz erheblicher Veränderungen in den letzten Jahren eine offene Frage. Ausgehend von der Gewerkschaftssituation in der Endphase der Sowjetunion werden in diesem Papier folgende Fragen behandelt: 1. Wie haben die politischen, wirtschaftlichen, sozialen und kulturellen Umbrüche die Entwicklung der Gewerkschaften in Rußland beeinflußt? 2. In welchem Maße konnten die Gewerkschaften selbst den Umbruchprozeß mitgestalten? 3. Welche Aussichten haben die Gewerkschaften in der näheren Zukunft?' (Autorenreferat)'Establishing independent and assertive trade unions is imperative for organizing an effective, socially just and democratic society. Despite considerable changes in recent years, the question is still open as to whether Russian trade unions will meet this challenge in view of the burden of the Soviet legacy. The following questions will be treated in this paper, starting with the trade unions' situation in the final phase of the Soviet Union: 1. How have political, economic, social and cultural upheavals influenced the development of trade unions in Russia? 2. To what extent were trade unions themselves able to participate in shaping the process of upheaval? 3. What kinds of prospects do the trade unions have in the near future?' (author's abstract

Spectral light absorption by ambient aerosols influenced by biomass burning in the Amazon Basin. I: Comparison and field calibration of absorption measurement techniques

International audienceSpectral aerosol light absorption is an important parameter for the assessment of the radiation budget of the atmosphere. Although on-line measurement techniques for aerosol light absorption, such as the Aethalometer and the Particle Soot Absorption Photometer (PSAP), have been available for two decades, they are limited in accuracy and spectral resolution because of the need to deposit the aerosol on a filter substrate before measurement. Recently, a 7-wavelength (?) Aethalometer became commercially available, which covers the visible (VIS) to near-infrared (NIR) spectral range (?=450?950 nm), and laboratory calibration studies improved the degree of confidence in these measurement techniques. However, the applicability of the laboratory calibration factors to ambient conditions has not been investigated thoroughly yet. As part of the LBA-SMOCC (Large scale Biosphere atmosphere experiment in Amazonia ? SMOke aerosols, Clouds, rainfall and Climate) campaign from September to November 2002 in the Amazon basin we performed an extensive field calibration of a 1-? PSAP and a 7-? Aethalometer utilizing a photoacoustic spectrometer (PAS, 532 nm) as reference device. Especially during the dry period of the campaign, the aerosol population was dominated by pyrogenic emissions. The most pronounced artifact of integrating-plate type attenuation techniques (e.g. Aethalometer, PSAP) is due to multiple scattering effects within the filter matrix. For the PSAP, we essentially confirmed the laboratory calibration factor by Bond et al. (1999). On the other hand, for the Aethalometer we found a multiple scattering enhancement of 5.23 (or 4.55, if corrected for aerosol scattering), which is significantly larger than the factors previously reported (~2) for laboratory calibrations. While the exact reason for this discrepancy is unknown, the available data from the present and previous studies suggest aerosol mixing (internal versus external) as a likely cause. For Amazonian aerosol, we found no absorption enhancement due to hygroscopic particle growth in the relative humidity (RH) range between 40% and 80%. However, a substantial bias in PSAP sensitivity that correlated with both RH and temperature (T) was observed for 20%RH<30% and 24°

Discovery of a parsec-scale bipolar nebula around MWC 349A

We report the discovery of a bipolar nebula around the peculiar emission-line star MWC 349A using archival Spitzer Space Telescope 24 um data. The nebula extends over several arcminutes (up to 5 pc) and has the same orientation and geometry as the well-known subarcsecond-scale (~400 times smaller) bipolar radio nebula associated with this star. We discuss the physical relationship between MWC 349A and the nearby B0 III star MWC 349B and propose that both stars were members of a hierarchical triple system, which was ejected from the core of the Cyg OB2 association several Myr ago and recently was dissolved into a binary system (now MWC 349A) and a single unbound star (MWC 349B). Our proposal implies that MWC 349A is an evolved massive star (likely a luminous blue variable) in a binary system with a low-mass star. A possible origin of the bipolar nebula around MWC 349A is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

pH-Dependent mismatch discrimination of oligonucleotide duplexes containing 2′-deoxytubercidin and 2- or 7-substituted derivatives: protonated base pairs formed between 7-deazapurines and cytosine

Oligonucleotides incorporating 2′-deoxytubercidin (1a), its 2-amino derivative 2a and related 2-, or 7-substituted analogs (1d, 2b–d, 3 and 4) are synthesized. For this purpose, a series of novel phosphoramidites are prepared and employed in solid-phase synthesis. Hybridization experiments performed with 12mer duplexes indicate that 7-halogenated nucleosides enhance the duplex stability both in antiparallel and parallel DNA, whereas 2-fluorinated 7-deaza-2′-deoxyadenosine residues destabilize the duplex structure. The 7-deazaadenine nucleosides 1a, 1d and their 2-amino derivatives 2a–d form stable base pairs with dT but also with dC and dG. The mispairing with dC is pH-dependent. Ambiguous base pairing is observed at pH 7 or under acid conditions, whereas base discrimination occurs in alkaline medium (pH 8.0). This results from protonated base pairs formed between 1a or 2a and dC under neutral or acid condition, which are destroyed in alkaline medium. It is underlined by the increased basicity of the pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine nucleosides over that of the parent purine compounds (pK(a) values: 1a = 5.30; 2a = 5.71; dA = 3.50)

Heterozygous ANKRD17 loss-of-function variants cause a syndrome with intellectual disability, speech delay, and dysmorphism

ANKRD17 is an ankyrin repeat-containing protein thought to play a role in cell cycle progression, whose ortholog in Drosophila functions in the Hippo pathway as a co-factor of Yorkie. Here, we delineate a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by de novo heterozygous ANKRD17 variants. The mutational spectrum of this cohort of 34 individuals from 32 families is highly suggestive of haploinsufficiency as the underlying mechanism of disease, with 21 truncating or essential splice site variants, 9 missense variants, 1 in-frame insertion-deletion, and 1 microdeletion (1.16 Mb). Consequently, our data indicate that loss of ANKRD17 is likely the main cause of phenotypes previously associated with large multi-gene chromosomal aberrations of the 4q13.3 region. Protein modeling suggests that most of the missense variants disrupt the stability of the ankyrin repeats through alteration of core structural residues. The major phenotypic characteristic of our cohort is a variable degree of developmental delay/intellectual disability, particularly affecting speech, while additional features include growth failure, feeding difficulties, non-specific MRI abnormalities, epilepsy and/or abnormal EEG, predisposition to recurrent infections (mostly bacterial), ophthalmological abnormalities, gait/balance disturbance, and joint hypermobility. Moreover, many individuals shared similar dysmorphic facial features. Analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data from the developing human telencephalon indicated ANKRD17 expression at multiple stages of neurogenesis, adding further evidence to the assertion that damaging ANKRD17 variants cause a neurodevelopmental disorder

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

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