Gender-sensitive Economic Policies in the UNECE Region in the Context of the Economic and Financial Crisis

Gender equality is a basic human right and is as such a part of the social policy framework. At the same time, it is a multi-faceted concept with its cultural, social, legal, political and economic dimensions and interrelations. The prevalent practice in most countries illustrates that traditionally, macroeconomics and gender equality have been considered as two distinct policy areas that are independently shaped and carried out by different authorities. However, this approach fails to acknowledge the numerous interlinkages between both areas. Indeed, it is in the interest of both gender equality advocates and economic policymakers to closely cooperate. On the one hand, economic policies have an effect on gender equality through their potential to rebalance economic opportunities for both men and women and by influencing the incentive structure of economic agents; on the other hand, gender equality has an impact on the economy, for example through changes in labour force participation and the full use of human capital. This paper presents the interplay between these two policy areas highlighting mechanisms through which they influence each other, both under a structural - or long-term - perspective and in the context of the current economic crisis. The concluding recommendations are primarily directed to national decision-makers but also to international organizations, particularly financial institutions which influence national decision-making in the economic field.gender, economic crisis, transition economies, CIS, Russia

Branch and Bound algorithms in greenhouse climate control

The horticultural sector has become an increasingly important sector of food production, for which greenhouse climate control plays a vital role in improving its sustainability. One of the methods to control the greenhouse climate is Model Predictive Control, which can be optimized through a branch and bound algorithm. The application of the algorithm in literature is examined and analyzed through small examples, and later extended to greenhouse climate simulation. A comparison is made of various alternative objective functions available in literature. Subsequently, a modidified version of the B&B algorithm is presented, which reduces the number of node evaluations required for optimization. Finally, three alternative algorithms are developed and compared to consider the optimization problem from a discrete to a continuous control space.Grant TIN2015-66680-c2-2-R from the Spanish state in part financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF

NMR Relaxometry of Syngas-to-Methanol Conversion

Methanol is an important raw material for many industrial and laboratory processes. It is synthesized by converting natural gas to a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas. This mixture, called syngas, is then converted with help of a Cu-ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst to produce methanol. Only about 7% of methanol is yielded in a one-turn conversion. NMR relaxometry will be conducted in a specialized toroid-cavity probe to better understand the reactivity of the active sites of the catalyst. The toroid-cavity probe can record NMR relaxation times under industrial reaction conditions. A computational algorithm will be used to analyze multiexponential decay data and extract their correlated relaxation times. The relaxation times are associated with chemical environments for different reactive components of the methanol synthesis, such as freely moving molecules versus locally fixed molecules. The relaxometry results are used to identify yield-inhibiting processes such as water deposition on the catalytically active sites

The long-term course of anxiety disorders:An epidemiological perspective

Ans Hovenkamp-Hermelink: ‘The long-term course of anxiety disorders. An epidemiological perspective’Anxiety disorders are very common and impose a considerable burden for patients, relatives, and society. There are several anxiety disorders, all of which are known for their often persistent course. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about its longitudinal course trajectories, which hampers prevention strategies and adjustment of treatments according to prognosis. The aim of this thesis was to get more insight into the longitudinal multi-year naturalistic course of anxiety disorders and to identify the factors that are associated with this course. The research of this thesis has shown that diagnoses of anxiety disorders can change over the years and are not very consistent. In addition, it was found that certain psychological characteristics, in particular anxiety sensitivity (tendency to view anxiety symptoms as harmful) and locus of control (degree to which people believe they can control the events that influence their lives), are related to course trajectories of anxiety. Another factor studied, namely personal preference for time of sleep and activity (also called chronotype), was not related to the course. It was further found that psychological and clinical characteristics (e.g. panic attacks, comorbid personality disorders, and avoidance) predict persistent anxiety disorders, whereas sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. level of education and socioeconomic status), although predictive of anxiety disorder onset, did not predict anxiety disorder persistence. These predictors could potentially identify patients at risk of an unfavorable course and could offer them more targeted or more intensive treatment at an early stage

Psychosocial/survivorship issues in breast cancer: are we doing better?

Modern breast cancer treatment offers many women greater prospects of cure or lengthier, good quality survival than was possible in the past. Advances include improved diagnostic and staging procedures, sophisticated onco-plastic surgery, enhanced radiotherapy techniques, and targeted systemic therapies. Much more attention has also been paid to cancer care delivery and access to specialist nurses, counsellors, support groups, and services provided by breast cancer charities. However, there are some concerns that these considerable improvements in treatment delivery and clinical outcomes have not led to similar benefits in the psychosocial, functional, and sexual well-being of women. The impact that non-life threatening, long-term iatrogenic harms of otherwise efficacious anticancer treatments has on patients is often overlooked; this is in part because of the emphasis given to physician-reported safety data in trials and the general exclusion of patient-reported outcomes (PROs). A failure to utilise reliable PRO measures has meant that some problems are underreported, which consequently has hampered much-needed research into ameliorative interventions. Systematic monitoring of quality of life-threatening side effects would permit early implementation of effective interventions and enhance long-term survivorship. Some examples of the pervasive difficulties that continue to affect survivors and evidence that certain interventions might help are provided in this commentary

Raamwerk voor het inzichtelijk maken van verkeershinder bij wegonderhoud

Door een toenemende verkeersintensiteit op de Nederlandse wegen neemt de slijtage van de weg en daarmee de noodzaak tot het plegen van wegonderhoud toe. Tegelijkertijd wordt om dezelfde reden de tijd en ruimte om zonder verkeershinder werkzaamheden uit te voeren steeds minder. Dit is de reden dat het beperken van verkeershinder op dit moment een belangrijke rol speelt in de \ud uitvoering van wegwerkzaamheden. In deze paper wordt een raamwerk gepresenteerd waarmee het proces van wegonderhoud tot verkeershinder inzichtelijk wordt gemaakt. Aandacht wordt besteed aan wegbouwkundige aspecten zoals de kwaliteit van de verharding en de te nemen onderhoudsmaatregelen, de verkeerskundige effecten als gevolg van de genomen (verkeers)maatregelen en de resulterende \ud verkeershinder. Beslisvariabelen in het raamwerk komen overeen met de middelen en maatregelen die op dit moment ten dienste staan van wegbeheerders en opdrachtnemers. Tenslotte wordt kort ingegaan op de afweging van de gewenste kwaliteit van de verharding, de kosten van de te nemen maatregelen en de hoeveelheid verkeershinder.\u