Between Rome and Sibiu: A Trajectory for the New European Narrative. Egmont European Policy Brief No. 50 May 2018

Many observers may easily reach the conclusion that the European Union (EU) has been in crisis for the last decade. Against this background, and especially since the outcome of the Brexit referendum, the EU has begun much soul searching to carve out a new path to its future. This Policy Brief addresses the current Future of Europe debate with the Bratislava Roadmap, the Rome Declaration, the Leaders’ Agenda, and other valuable contributions. It raises the question what kind of narrative the European project will need to survive into the future. What kind of Europeans do we wish to be and what sort of Europe do we want to create? Despite growing mistrust of citizens in their own institutions and rising populism, this Policy Brief pleads for enduring support for the values on which the European project is built. These values should remain beacons for the way in which we legitimise, organise and communicate the work of the EU. Even if we cannot always agree on a common destination, Europeans should be able to agree at least on a shared trajectory based on common values. This is a narrative that should inspire Europe again

Revising European Safeguards and Antidumping Provisions in Light of the Chinese WTO Accession

PhDIn November 2001, the WTO members allowed the People's Republic of China, a formerly planned economy that is going through different stages of domestic economic and related legal restructuring, to accede to the WTO. This accession is believed to be necessary for the WTO to become a truly international organisation in the post-Cold War era, along side of the IMF and the World Bank, and for China to become an integrated member of the international economic community. Although the end of the Cold War has changed European trade policy profoundly, the European Community (EC)" has maintained a traditionally bifurcated trade policy, in which planned economies, also referred to as "non-market economies", are given treatment different from market economies in trade policy instruments, such as the EC emergency safeguards provisions and EC anti-dumping regulation. The EC perceives the Chinese domestic legal and economic reforms as unfinished; and, although the treatment of Chinese products under the EC import and anti-dumping regulations has been liberalised in recent years, China is still generally considered to be a non-market economy. It is questionable whether in light of China's WTO accession such a non-market approach vis-ä-vis China, as approved in the Chinese Protocol of Accession, is justified. This thesis argues that the non-market approach for China, as it stands today, should be adjusted for two basic reasons. First, this approach does not allow China to benefit fully from its WTO accession for a number of years to come. Second, as long as the period allowing non-market economy treatment continues, the danger exists that the non-market economy trade policy, especially as far as anti-dumping is concerned, may tend to be abused for protectionist purposes by the EC. Protectionist abuse would be harmful for China because its export-oriented growth is necessary to advance the country's domestic legal and economic reforms. Protectionism, equally, would be harmful for the EC because it prevents the Community industry from adjusting itself to face the challenge of increased Chinese competition. Because there is no satisfactory methodological solution to deal with the new variant of non-market economies, and because it is impossible for China - despite all good intentions - to implement fully the WTO accession requirements by the time they must phase in, the suggested approach is for the EC to show restraint in employing these trade policy instruments against China. As far as emergency safeguards are concerned, this restraint is already a fact. Nonetheless, some holdovers from the Cold War should be put up for change. Such adjustments will also be required for the EC anti-dumping regulation

Liquid Chromatographic Separation of Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide and Rifampicin on a Reversed-Phase Silica Column

A gradient liquid chromatographic method which can separate isoniazid, pyrazinamide and rifampicin is described. A Hypersil C18, 5 mm, 250 mm x 4.6 mm internal diameter column was maintained at 40°C. The method was developed by systematic evaluation of the influence of the buffer concentration, column temperature and the mobile phase pH. The method proposed uses isocratic elution with potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0; 0.05 M) for 10 min, followed by linear gradient to potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0; 0.05 M)-methanol (40:60, v/v) in 5 min, isocratic elution at the same composition for a further 15 min and then linear gradient back to potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0; 0.05 M) in 5 min. The flow-rate was 1 ml/min and UV detection was at 254 nm. The method was validated and it has been used for routine analysis of tablets containing isoniazid, pyrazinamide and rifampicin. Analysis time is 35 minutes. (E & C Afr Jnl Pharm Sci: 2002 5(1): 8-14

Energy and Comfort Performance Analysis of Monitored Thermally Activated Building Systems Combined with Geothermal Heat Pumps

The combination of geothermal heat pumps (GEO HPs) and thermally activated building systems (TABS), that allow both low temperature heating and high temperature cooling, could yield primary energy savings of around 20-71% in comparison with conventional heating/cooling systems. However, the potential energy savings are rarely reached in practice due to bad integration of the different subsystems and inefficient control. The present paper presents the analysis of two monitoring campaigns by stressing the influence of relevant parameters such as the performance of components (heat pump, ground heat exchangers, TABS, etc.), building characteristics and the implemented control strategies. The buildings have been monitored and analyzed in the frame of the WKSP-project realized by Institute of Building Services and Energy Design (IGS) at Technical University of Braunschweig. The results show good performance of ground coupled heat pump with seasonal COP up to around 5. Moreover, the use of ground heat exchangers to perform free chilling allows seasonal EER up to 20. Furthermore, the control strategies implemented in the different buildings are quite different. It is also shown that this system can lead to a running cost reduction up to 50% compared to conventional systems and that CO2 emissions can be reduced by 40%

Towards a framework for sustainable development planning in the Indonesian natural rubber industry supply network

Supply networks for natural resources such as rubber present significant opportunities to deliver global sustainability goals by reducing environmental, social and economic impacts of industrial activities. This research is using the Indonesian natural rubber industry as a case study. Early discussions with stakeholders highlighted a need for decision support tools to facilitate sustainability-related trade-offs in industry-wide and firm-level planning processes. The example used in this paper relates to rubber plantation replanting programmes and a three-way trade-off between customers’ needs for a steady flow of rubber, an industry need to improve its environmental sustainability and rubber plantation owners’ needs to maintain their financial sustainability which, in turn, influences social sustainability. An initial framework for sustainable development planning based on the case study and literature is proposed, and its use in the design of a computational simulation experiment using hybrid simulation models to predict the sustainability impacts of alternative replanting scenarios is reported

Analysis of purity in 19 drug product tablets containing clopidogrel: 18 copies versus the original brand

Abstract In this study, 18 copies of PLAVIX ® tablets containing clopidogrel hydrogensulfate were compared to the innovator drug product for uniformity of mass, impurity profile, content, dissolution properties and stability. In order to be able to separate the R-enantiomer of clopidogrel, an enantiospecific liquid chromatographic method was used to determine the impurities and to perform the assay. The paddle method was used for dissolution testing. Most of the copies were not similar compared to the original drug product: their amount of impurities was higher, the content of clopidogrel lower, the dissolution profiles different and after 3 months under stress conditions in the original packaging, the results for the samples and the reference were significantly different in most of the cases

Analysis of purity in 19 drug product tablets containing clopidogrel: 18 copies versus the original brand

Abstract In this study, 18 copies of PLAVIX ® tablets containing clopidogrel hydrogensulfate were compared to the innovator drug product for uniformity of mass, impurity profile, content, dissolution properties and stability. In order to be able to separate the R-enantiomer of clopidogrel, an enantiospecific liquid chromatographic method was used to determine the impurities and to perform the assay. The paddle method was used for dissolution testing. Most of the copies were not similar compared to the original drug product: their amount of impurities was higher, the content of clopidogrel lower, the dissolution profiles different and after 3 months under stress conditions in the original packaging, the results for the samples and the reference were significantly different in most of the cases

Estrogenic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of a Steroidal Indoxyl

The estrogenic and anti-inflammatory activities of 3-methoxy-16, 17-seco-16-norestra-1,3,5-trien-15-(2'-indoxyliden)-17-oic acid is reported. After intraperitoneal administration, the dose of this compound required to reduce swelling of the rat paw by 50% (ED50) was 14.1 mg/kg using the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema anti-inflammatory assay method. Indomethacin had an ED50 of 3.2 mg/kg in this assay while dexamethasone had an ED50 of 1.7 mg/kg. The estrogenic activity of the compound after intramuscular administration in rats was 0.72 relative to diethylstilbestrol, when the two compounds were assayed at three dose levels of 1.0, 0.3 and 0.1 mg/kg. Key Words: Steroidal indoxyl, synthesis, estrogenic, anti-inflammatory East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.5(3) 2002: 44-4

Quantification of three macrolide antibiotics in pharmaceutical lots by HPLC: Development, validation and application to a simultaneous separation

A new validated high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with rapid analysis time and high efficiency, for the analysis of erythromycin, azithromycin and spiramycin, under isocratic conditions with ODB RP18 as a stationary phase is described. Using an eluent composed of acetonitrile –2-methyl-2-propanol –hydrogenphosphate buffer, pH 6.5, with 1.5% triethylamine (33:7: up to 100, v/v/v), delivered at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL min-1. Ultra Violet (UV) detection is performed at 210 nm. The selectivity is satisfactory enough and no problematic interfering peaks are observed. The procedure is quantitatively characterized and repeatability, linearity, detection and quantification limits are very satisfactory. The method is applied successfully for the assay of the studied drugs in pharmaceutical dosage forms as tablets and powder for oral suspension. Recovery experiments revealed recovery of 97.13–100.28%