The Northern Ireland political process: a viable approach to conflict resolution?

This article explores the possibility of achieving a stable settlement as the result of the current negotiations in Northern Ireland. It looks at the decisions behind the 1994 ceasefires, the perceptions of the parties to the 'talks', and the obstacles in the political process. The main focus is on the applicability and limits of conflict resolution 'theories' in explaining the shift from conflict to negotiation and the possibility of concluding a lasting negotiated settlement. It suggests that while conflict resolution is unlikely, conflict regulation is within the realms of the current negotiations, if combined with a different approach to nationalism and 'Alternative Dispute Resolution'

A blood-based biomarker panel (NIS4) for non-invasive diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis : a prospective derivation and global validation study

International audienc

Affinity enhancement of an in vivo matured therapeutic antibody using structure-based computational design

Improving the affinity of a high-affinity protein–protein interaction is a challenging problem that has practical applications in the development of therapeutic biomolecules. We used a combination of structure-based computational methods to optimize the binding affinity of an antibody fragment to the I-domain of the integrin VLA1. Despite the already high affinity of the antibody (Kd ∼7 nM) and the moderate resolution (2.8 Å) of the starting crystal structure, the affinity was increased by an order of magnitude primarily through a decrease in the dissociation rate. We determined the crystal structure of a high-affinity quadruple mutant complex at 2.2 Å. The structure shows that the design makes the predicted contacts. Structural evidence and mutagenesis experiments that probe a hydrogen bond network illustrate the importance of satisfying hydrogen bonding requirements while seeking higher-affinity mutations. The large and diverse set of interface mutations allowed refinement of the mutant binding affinity prediction protocol and improvement of the single-mutant success rate. Our results indicate that structure-based computational design can be successfully applied to further improve the binding of high-affinity antibodies

Cooperatives’ Organizational Restructuring, Strategic Attributes and Performance: The Case of Agribusiness Cooperatives in Greece

We develop a classification of traditional vs. restructured cooperative organizational attributes based on an inductive approach. Using this classification and integrating concepts from the business literature (i.e., market and brand orientation), we hypothesize three types of relationships: a) the influence of organizational attributes, i.e., ownership, control and cost/benefit allocation, on organizational performance; b) the influence of strategic, i.e., market and brand orientation, attributes on organizational performance and c) the influence of organizational attributes on market orientation. We examine these relationships empirically in two studies. In study 1, using data from 114 agribusiness cooperatives, we demonstrate that strategic attributes have a greater influence on organizational performance than organizational attributes. In study 2, we replicate the design from study 1, i.e., tracking attribute scores over time, with a sub-sample of 25 cooperatives 4 years later. This second study generally confirms the findings of study 1. Taken together, the results suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on strategic attributes both in the literature and in practice