Trust, Distrust and Economic Integration. Setting the Stage

© Cambridge University Press 2012. Introduction The concept of integration, the dependent variable of this study, has received different interpretations by lawyers, political scientists and economists. Lawyers generally understand the concept as referring to ‘legal integration’, which is defined as ‘the gradual penetration’ of EU law ‘into the domestic law of its member states’. Economists prefer the concept of ‘economic integration’, defined as ‘the elimination of economic frontiers between two or more economies’. The removal of trade impediments between participating nations and ‘the establishment of certain elements of cooperation and coordination between them’ characterize the process of economic integration, as opposed to other forms of international cooperation. Political scientists have been more reluctant to provide a ready-made definition of ‘integration’ and have focused their analysis on the ‘political context in which integration occurs’, the dependent variable being generally conceived in broad and descriptive terms as the transfer of authority to a supranational level. The relatively recent emergence of the concept of ‘integration’ owes a lot to functionalist theories, which were the first to break away from ‘the traditional link between authority and a definite territory by ascribing authority to activities based in areas of agreement’. States exercise several functions (activities), some of which require action at the international level. This transfer initiates the process of integration, which is driven by the continuous pursuit of these functions, in the context of an international institution created for that purpose. According to functionalism, ‘(e)very function is left to generate others gradually; in every case the appropriate authority is left to grow and develop out of actual performance.’ Based on this approach, neo-functionalism was able to construct a theory of regional integration employing the model of European integration as the archetypical paradigm of the concept. The functionalist approach and the concept of integration are profoundly interlinked: without the functionalist emphasis on the existence of separate functions, where authority can be transferred, there can be no integration, in the sense political scientists give to this term

Female labor supply and child care

We use household income tax data to estimate a structural model of female labor supply and utilization of paid child care outside the home. We find that child care costs have little impact on the participation decision of mothers of young children. However, they influence hours of work, as well as the decision to utilize paid child care. We use our results to simulate various policy reforms. Suppressing the APE (Parental Education Aid) would cause the participation rate in our sample to rise by 4 points and the proportion of mothers using outside paid care to rise by 2 points. Examining the effects on aggregate female labor supply of other policies that affect child care costs, we generally find that intensive effects caused by changes in working time are of the same order of magnitude as extensive effects due to changes in female participation.Child Care, female labor supply, fiscal policies

Second-generation antihistamines: a study of poisoning in children

The toxicity of second-generation antihistamines after an overdose by a child is still unknown. The objective of this study is to use data from Poisons Centres in France to describe the toxicity profile of second-generation antihistamines for children and to compare the severity of poisoning observed from these with a first-generation antihistamine. This was a retrospective, multi-centre and observational study focusing on human cases of single-substance exposure to a second-generation antihistamine and to mequitazine, reported between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2016 in Poisons Centres in France. From a total of 9403 children included, 5980 were exposed to a second-generation antihistamine and 3423 were exposed to mequitazine. The severity of exposure to second-generation antihistamines in children is low: among the children followed until a known outcome, 9% of children were symptomatic and in 97% of cases, the symptoms shown were of a minor-level severity (primarily drowsiness or restlessness). Depending on the substance, children who ingested doses 16 to 69 times the maximum recommended therapeutic dose remained asymptomatic. No deaths or severe symptoms were observed. No cases of lengthening of the QT interval or arrhythmias were identified. Mequitazine led to more symptoms than other substances (14.8% symptomatic children vs. 7.5%, Odd ratio (OR): 2.3 (2.0-2.6), p < 0.0001), more symptoms of moderate intensity (1.4 vs. 0.2%, OR: 8.3 (4.1-18.5), p < 0.0001) and more hospitalisation (19.1 vs. 8.7%, OR: 2.5, 95% CI: (2.2-2.8), p < 0.0001). The severity of poisoning from second-generation antihistamines appears to be low among children and considerably lower than poisoning caused by mequitazine

Human reliability analysis for computerized procedures

This paper provides a characterization of human reliability analysis (HRA) issues for computerized procedures in nuclear power plant control rooms. It is beyond the scope of this paper to propose a new HRA approach or to recommend specific methods or refinements to those methods. Rather, this paper provides a review of HRA as applied to traditional paper-based procedures, followed by a discussion of what specific factors should additionally be considered in HRAs for computerized procedures. Performance shaping factors and failure modes unique to computerized procedures are highlighted. Since there is no definitive guide to HRA for paper-based procedures, this paper also serves to clarify the existing guidance on paper-based procedures before delving into the unique aspects of computerized procedures

STM Imaging of Flux Line Arrangements in the Peak Effect Regime

We present the results of a study of vortex arrangements in the peak-effect regime of 2H-NbSe_2 by scanning tunneling microscopy. By slowly increasing the temperature in a constant magnetic field, we observed a sharp transition from collective vortex motion to positional fluctuations of individual vortices at the temperature which coincides with the onset of the peak effect in ac-susceptibility. We conclude that the peak effect is a disorder driven transition, with the pinning energy winning from the elastic energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures included Manuscript has been submitte

Variation de la composition de nanoparticules de 1-10 nm obtenues par séparation de phase dans un verre de silice

National audienceLes verres contenant des nanoparticules ont de nombreuses applications industrielles, notamment grâce à leurs excellentes propriétés thermo-mécaniques [1]. Ils présentent aussi un intérêt pour les propriétés optiques. En effet, l'encapsulation d'ions luminescents (ions de terre rare par exemple) dans des nanoparticules entraînent de nouvelles propriétés de luminescence qui n'existeraient pas dans le verre hôte (bande d'émission élargie, efficacité quantique augmentée, etc) [2]. La préparation de tels verres repose sur des mécanismes de nucléation, croissance et de démixtion dont les premières étapes sont encore assez mal connues. Mais l'avènement de nouvelles techniques de caractérisation à l'échelle nanométrique permet d'améliorer notre compréhension de ces phénomènes. Par exemple, une évolution structurelle des nanoparticules à travers des phases cristallines métastables [3] ou une transformation d'un nucléus amorphe vers une nanoparticule cristalline [4] ont été observées. Des changements de composition ont aussi été rapportés pour des particules de taille 1-10 nm dans des alliages [5] et dans des métaux [6]. Dans cette présentation, nous nous intéressons à la composition de nanoparticules amorphes obtenues par séparation de phase dans un verre de silice. De telles études ont été rendues possibles grâce au développement récent de l'APT (Atom Probe Tomography) pour l'analyse des verres [7]. Nous étudions une fibre optique à base de silice préparée par le procédé MCVD (Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition). Les nanoparticules sont obtenues en incorporant du magnésium qui déclenche une séparation de phase grâce aux traitements thermiques inhérents au procédé MCVD [8]. La composition des nanoparticules dans le verre de silice dopée avec Mg, P, Ge et Er est étudiée dans la gamme 1-10 nm. Nous montrons la partition de Mg, P et Er dans ces nanoparticules ainsi qu'une modification de la composition en fonction de la taille des particules

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Engage Complement and Complement Receptor Bearing Innate Effector Cells to Modulate Immune Responses

Infusion of human third-party mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) appears to be a promising therapy for acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD). To date, little is known about how MSCs interact with the body's innate immune system after clinical infusion. This study shows, that exposure of MSCs to blood type ABO-matched human blood activates the complement system, which triggers complement-mediated lymphoid and myeloid effector cell activation in blood. We found deposition of complement component C3-derived fragments iC3b and C3dg on MSCs and fluid-phase generation of the chemotactic anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a. MSCs bound low amounts of immunoglobulins and lacked expression of complement regulatory proteins MCP (CD46) and DAF (CD55), but were protected from complement lysis via expression of protectin (CD59). Cell-surface-opsonization and anaphylatoxin-formation triggered complement receptor 3 (CD11b/CD18)-mediated effector cell activation in blood. The complement-activating properties of individual MSCs were furthermore correlated with their potency to inhibit PBMC-proliferation in vitro, and both effector cell activation and the immunosuppressive effect could be blocked either by using complement inhibitor Compstatin or by depletion of CD14/CD11b-high myeloid effector cells from mixed lymphocyte reactions. Our study demonstrates for the first time a major role of the complement system in governing the immunomodulatory activity of MSCs and elucidates how complement activation mediates the interaction with other immune cells