KIBS for public needs

Knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) are special in that they rely on knowledge exchange between service providers and consumers and thus intensive cooperation between the two parties is essential at all stages. This implies approaches to find the “right” provider may have to differ from those used in the sector of more homogeneous services and goods. Public procurement regulation aims to improve competitiveness, yet does this help achieving the best value for money in the procurement of KIBS? Legislative constraints on the types of admissible public procurement mechanisms may have an undesirable effect on the provider selection, meaning that services may not be purchased from the most efficient or the most suitable provider. As a benchmark, private consumers are unconstrained in their choice of KIBS providers. We exploit this difference to study the efficiency of KIBS purchases by the public sector, as compared to that in the private sector. Using the 2007 and 2011 waves of a unique survey of KIBS consumers in Russia, we find, inter alia, that the public sector reports lower satisfaction from KIBS and admits a lower level of co-production than the private sector. Our main recommendations refer to the optimal choice of public procurement methods

Assessment of the capacity for flood monitoring and early warning in Enlargement and Eastern/ Southern Neighbourhood countries of the European Union

Flooding is a natural disaster that can damage large areas in the vicinity of rivers, and in the case of flash floods, also in the vicinity of smaller streams. The Global Risks Report 2017 lists extreme weather events, of which flooding is the main risk in most countries, as the risk with the second highest potential impact and the highest likelihood of occurrence. It furthermore seems likely that climate change will aggravate flood impacts in many regions. This report presents an assessment of the capacity for flood monitoring and early flood warning in 17 of the 22 countries which belong to the Eastern and Southern neighbourhood policy of the European Union and the enlargement candidate countries. Many of these receive external funding to improve their systems, but this is often on an ad hoc basis and through individual projects.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Development of Professional Competence of Teachers as A Factor of The Education Quality Management in Preschool Institutions

The main purpose of the article is to disclose the content of the concept of “quality of education”, including preschool education, as a priority in the field of Russian education. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the professional competence and pedagogical competence of preschool teachers was carried out on the basis of a self-assessment sheet of the teacher’s pedagogical activity and an assessment sheet of key competences by T.A. Svatalova. The results of the self-assessment of pedagogical activity of teachers determined the main competencies in which the teachers showed acceptable levels of professional competence (in the field of personal qualities, in the field of providing an informational basis for activity, and in the field of developing a program of activity and making pedagogical decisions). It creates guidelines for organizing in institutions the conditions necessary for the professional development of teachers, raising their qualifications, helping them not only understand the reasons for their professional difficulties, but also identify the essence of professional expectations of each employee

Melanoma arising in a Giant congenital melanocytic nevus: two case reports

Abstract Background A giant congenital melanocytic nevus (GCMN) is found in 0.1% of live-born infants. If present, the lesion has a chance of about 6% to develop into malignant melanoma. Both children and adults can be affected by malignant melanoma arising in a giant congenital nevus. Up to 95% of GCMNs harbor NRAS mutations, and mutations in the BRAF, MC1R, TP53, and GNAQ genes have also been described. The individualization of therapy is required, but diagnostic and prognostic criteria remain controversial. Case presentations We report two cases: 1) melanoma arising in a giant congenital nevus during the first month of life complicated with neurocutaneous melanosis (NCM), and 2) melanoma arising in a giant congenital nevus during the first 6 months of life. Pathology, immunohistochemistry, and genetic analyses of tumor tissue were performed. The first case revealed only a non-pathogenic P72R polymorphism of the TP53 gene in the homozygote condition. For the second case, a Q61K mutation was detected in the NRAS gene. Conclusion Malignant melanoma associated with GCMN is rare and therefore poorly understood. Outcomes have been linked to the stage at diagnosis, but no additional pathological prognostic factors have been identified. The most frequent genetic event in giant CMNs is NRAS mutations, which was discovered in one of our cases. To accumulate evidence to improve disease prognosis and outcomes, children with congenital melanocytic nevus should be included in a systemic follow-up study from birth

Imaging-Guided Delivery of a Hydrophilic Drug to Eukaryotic Cells Based on Its Hydrophobic Ion Pairing with Poly(hexamethylene guanidine) in a Maleated Chitosan Carrier

Imaging-guided delivery is developed for hydrophobic drugs, and to a much lesser extent, hydrophilic ones. In this work we have designed a novel strategy for real-time monitoring of hydrophilic drug delivery. Traditionally, the drug and the dye are covalently attached to a nanocarrier or are electrostatically adsorbed. Recently, we found an efficient way to bind the drug by ion-paring with an appropriate counter-ion to form the aggregate that embeds a hydrophobic dye with a considerable fluorescence enhancement. We synthesized a series of carbocyanine dyes of hydrophobicity sufficient for solubilization in hydrophobic ion pairs, which restores their emission in the near-infrared (NIR) region upon the formation of the ternary aggregates. To avoid using toxic surfactants, we applied an amphiphilic polymer-oligomer poly(hexamethylene guanidine) (PHMG) as a counter-ion. Сeftriaxone was used as a model hydrophilic drug ensuring the highest fluorescent signal. The so-formed drug–counter-ion–dye aggregates were encapsulated into a cross-linked maleated chitosan carrier. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) studies have demonstrated internalization of the encapsulated model drug by breast adenocarcinoma cells at 40 min after treatment. These results suggest the potential application of hydrophobic ion pairs containing an NIR dye in imaging-guided delivery of hydrophilic compounds