The SPD’s reforms of the early 2000s show why liberalising labour markets can be electorally beneficial for centre-left parties.

Why do centre-left parties liberalise labour markets against the interests of their traditional worker constituencies? Using the case of the SPD in Germany, Patrick Lunz puts forward an explanation focused on a party’s electoral position. He notes that the alignment of the German party system ensured the SPD would face only weak competition from parties to their left, while long-term trends indicated that citizens were becoming more accepting of a reduction in the generosity of the German welfare state. While it might have appeared counter-intuitive, the social democratic government therefore liberalised labour markets to protect their long-term electoral interests

Task adapted reconstruction for inverse problems

The paper considers the problem of performing a task defined on a model parameter that is only observed indirectly through noisy data in an ill-posed inverse problem. A key aspect is to formalize the steps of reconstruction and task as appropriate estimators (non-randomized decision rules) in statistical estimation problems. The implementation makes use of (deep) neural networks to provide a differentiable parametrization of the family of estimators for both steps. These networks are combined and jointly trained against suitable supervised training data in order to minimize a joint differentiable loss function, resulting in an end-to-end task adapted reconstruction method. The suggested framework is generic, yet adaptable, with a plug-and-play structure for adjusting both the inverse problem and the task at hand. More precisely, the data model (forward operator and statistical model of the noise) associated with the inverse problem is exchangeable, e.g., by using neural network architecture given by a learned iterative method. Furthermore, any task that is encodable as a trainable neural network can be used. The approach is demonstrated on joint tomographic image reconstruction, classification and joint tomographic image reconstruction segmentation

Inhibition of liver and bone marrow derived dendritic cell maturation and function by Interleukin-6 activation of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-3

Dendritic cells(DC) are professional antigen presenting cells bridging the innate and adaptive immune systems by detecting pathogen- and- damage associated molecular pattern(PAMP, DAMP) molecules. This triggers maturation and migration to regional lymph nodes where they stimulate T lymphocytes. In tissues normally exposed to relatively high level of PAMP molecules, such as the liver, DC have a higher threshold to stimulation and therefore maintain an immature phenotype under conditions that would stimulate DC at other sites. In these studies we tested the hypothesis that interleukin-6(IL-6)/Signal Transducer and Activation of Transcription-3(STAT3) activity increases the activation/maturation threshold of hepatic and bone marrow(BM) DC towards innate immune signals. Results show that liver nuclear STAT3 activity is significantly higher than other organs and is IL-6-dependent. Hepatic DC in normal wild-type(IL-6+/+) mice are phenotypically and functionally less mature than DC from IL-6-deficient(IL-6-/-) or STAT3 inhibited IL-6+/+ mice, as determined by surface marker expression, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, and allogenic T-cell stimulation. IL-6+/+ liver DC produce IL-6 in response to exposure to PAMPs, but resist maturation compared to IL-6-/- liver DC. Conversely, exogenous IL-6 inhibits LPS-induced IL-6-/- liver DC maturation. Oral antibiotic depletion of commensal gut bacteria in IL-6+/+ mice decreased portal blood endotoxin levels, lowered IL-6/STAT3 activity and significantly increased liver DC maturation. BM derived IL-6+/+DC with elevated STAT3 activity are also significantly less mature than IL-6-/- BMDC. The reduced maturation was especially pronounced when IL-6+/+ BMDC when cultured in elevated IL-6 conditions. IL-6 neutralization increased BMDC maturation. Blocking STAT3 activity increases maturation in IL-6+/+ BMDC but not in IL-6-/- BMDC, which have low basal STAT3 activity. Compared to IL-6-/- BMDC, IL-6+/+ BMDC significantly resisted maturation in response to low concentrations of the PAMP molecules. At higher concentrations of these same ligands stimulation of both IL-6+/+ and IL-6-/- BMDC induced maturation.In Conclusion, gut-derived bacterial products, by stimulating hepatic IL-6/STAT3 signaling, inhibit hepatic DC activation/maturation. Elevated IL-6/STAT3 activity raises the threshold needed for DC to translate triggers of innate immunity into adaptive immune responses. Manipulating gut bacteria or IL-6/STAT3 activity may therefore be an effective strategy to alter intra-hepatic immune responses

Volume 5. Article 5. Stomatopoda of the Bingham Oceanographic Collection.

https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/bulletin_yale_bingham_oceanographic_collection/1115/thumbnail.jp

James River Sediment Study: Operation Agnes Final Report

Bottom sediment samples were collected from the James River in Virginia and analyzed to evaluate the effects of tropical storm Agnes (summer, 1972) upon the sediment chemistry . The results of these analyses, frcm hereon called post Agnes data, were compared with data from a similar study carried out during the summer of 1971 ( pre-Agnes data ), reported under contract no. DACW-65-71-C-00~7 . The post Agnes samples encompass three distinct shoaling areas involving a total of 34. 75 nautical miles of the James River . The first area extending from mile 24. 75 to 33. 50 can be considered os the · Oligohaline James River estuary; the second and third areas extending from nautical mile 36.50 to 4o .75 and 57.00 to 59 . 50 respectively are considered part of the lower tidal fresh water James

Prospecção de insetos-praga em plantios experimentais com cinco essências florestais em Dom Eliseu, PA.

Resumo 1838-2

Efeito do sombreamento no crescimento de mudas de copaíba (Copaifera sp.).

A copaíba é uma árvore com grande potencial medicinal, pela produção de seu óleo-resina indicado para o controle de inflamações em geral, como antisséptico e cicatrizante. Estudos sobre a produção de mudas dessa espécie são escassos. O presente estudo objetivou avaliar a influência de diferentes níveis de sombreamento no desenvolvimento inicial de mudas de copaíba (Copaífera sp). O experimento foi conduzido no viveiro do Campo experimental da Embrapa Acre. Os tratamentos foram compostos por cinco níveis de sombreamento (pleno sol, 20%, 30%, 50% e 75%), obtidos com telas sombrite com as referidas capacidades de retenção da radiação solar. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi de blocos ao acaso, com seis repetições e oito plantas por unidade amostral. Aos 10 meses após a semeadura, foram avaliadas as seguintes variáveis: diâmetro do coleto, diâmetro da copa, altura e matéria seca total das plantas. Observou-se diferença significativa para todas as variáveis analisadas. O crescimento das mudas de copaíba foi modificado pela intensidade de sombreamento. Todas as variáveis avaliadas foram afetadas significativamente (p<0,05) pelo nível de sombreamento incidente nas plantas. Tanto o excesso de sombreamento como o de radiação solar foram prejudiciais ao crescimento das plantas. Sombreamentos em torno de 43 a 53% proporcionaram os melhores resultados paras as variáveis estudadas (diâmetro do coleto, massa seca da parte aérea e massa seca total. Pelos resultados obtidos, conclui-se que mudas de copaíba (Copaifera sp.) necessitam de sombra, sendo um sombreamento de 50% o recomendado para a produção de mudas desta espécie, em função da disponibilidade no mercado de tela sombrite com essa retenção de luminosidade