Interaction between the transport of dangerous goods and soft law

The article presents the interaction between soft law and hard law in the regulations governing the transport of dangerous goods. The regulations on the transport of dangerous goods are presented as a model of complex integrative normative assembly of rigorous scientific thinking and action, of reaction and continuous adaptation to technical-scientific progress, concomitant with the process of progressive harmonisation and simplification of their dispositions which triggers the need to broadly use soft law. The authors identified three sets of functions with regard to the use of soft law in the transport of dangerous goods regulations: 1. development and harmonization, 2. completion and substitution, 3. interpretation and explanation of the application legal norms

Modelling EU agriculture’s regional disparities under the national accounting system’s approach. The impact of the new economic and environmental challenges

The performance farming is a new bet for the EU in the context of the present’s major climate and economic challenges. This paper aims at defining a model of agricultural competitiveness for the EU and its application for the evaluation of regional agricultural performance, in relation to the global competitiveness index, using the theory of catastrophes. The objectives of the analysis are: to evaluate the current growth theories in agriculture, to conceptualize a new model of agricultural performance improvement (RAP), to test the model and to obtain the relevant working tools after its application. The used methods are: the study of the general models of growth in agriculture; the dynamic analysis of the Eurostat data on agricultural performance and Member States’ data published in the National Accounts System; the conceptualization of the RAP (Regional Agricultural Performance) growth model; the statistical testing of the model, its connectivity with global competitiveness indexes and climate change; the hypotheses’ building in order to eliminate the climate transformations influences according to the catastrophe theorem’s results; and providing a viable and sustainable tool for the national strategy for agriculture’s forecasting changes to the Member States. The novelty element brought by the present proposed model is that of quantification in a broader and special way of the impact of environmental changes on the performing agricultural output in terms of National Accounting System

Supporting the tourism management decisions under the pandemic’s impact. A new working instrument

Since the onset of the pandemic, the tourism has undergone a significant compression that could destabilize both the tourist flows and the economic agents in the industry. This analysis is based on real working assumptions that bring together elements of an economic, social and health nature with a significant impact on tourism activity in the EU. The main objective of the research is to develop a decision support model to identify and implement immediate measures for tourism recovery in Europe. The used research methods consisted of literature review, observational study and data collection, data analysis and modelling, model testing and hypothesis validation. The research results consist in conceptualizing and implementing a smart SMMT model regarding the evaluation of causal relations between endogenous and exogenous factors that determined the economic destabilization of European tourism and the fruition of these results in a working tool based on SWOT analysis. This analysis is able to support the tourism management decision for the industry recovery in the immediate future

Approaches regarding the Management of Food Policies in the Context of the African Swine Fever Crisis based on a Food Sustainability Statistical Model

Food policies are focused on ensuring the consumption needs of the existing population in a given territory. In general, food policies are built on food continuity and production based on a pool of natural resources available at a given time. Critical food security incidents, particularly the epidemiological crises in livestock farming from a geographical area can significantly affect the population’s food resources and disrupt applicable local and national food policies. Thus in some cases it is necessary to adopt food security plans and biosecurity procedures in order to isolate outbreaks, and limit the spread of the epidemic, protect the unaffected food and mitigate the negative impact of the crisis on the local sources of agro food production. The main objective of the study was the analysis of food policies in Romania in the context of the recent outbreak of African swine fever epidemic. Based on bibliographic documentation and processing of official information on the effects of the epidemic on swine farms, the authors have proposed a food sustainability statistical model with practical applicability in assessing and quantifying the effects of African swine fever crisis in Romania. The results of the study showed the possibility of statistical modelling of the national food security indicators in the event of critical incidents in the agro-food chain. The model implementation simulation highlighted potential beneficial economic effects by modifying Romania's food policies. The research results are new at national level, with a potential positive impact on scientific research in the field of economic and agro-food production. The designed statistical model may be useful to economic operators and, in particular, to national authorities in order to adjust food policies in critical food security situations, to limit the phenomena of destabilizing the consumer market and to avoid possible economic disruptions due to crisis situations in the livestock production sector

Eating habits and nutritional status of women with musculo-skeletal diseases

Different theories link chronic musculoskeletal pain with lifestyle components, including diet. However, nutritional assesment and optimization is not routinely included into the medical management of patients with muskuloskeletal diseases (MSKD). In this study we aimed to evaluate the diet and nutritional status of a group of women with MSKD and to assess the extent to which they comply with the general recommendations for a healthy diet. The results showed that 97% of the subjects included were overweight or obese, and the compliance to different general nutritional recommandations ranged between 3% to 57%. Furthermore, the quality of life of this patients measured through SF-36 question-naire was severly affected and the reported pain intensity on numeric pain scale had a mean of 8 (±1.3) in our study group. Although there are currently no specific guidelines for the nutrition of patients with chronic pain, an important first step would be to guide these patients towards an increase in diet quality and a healthy lifestyle by adhering to general nutritional recommendations regarding healthy eating

Impact of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations on sustained virologic response in HCV-infected patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort

BACKGROUND: Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice. METHODS: A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the impact of sr-RD on SVR24 (HCV RNA <50 IU/mL) were conducted in 951 Caucasian, noncirrhotic genotype (G)1 patients assigned to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin for 48 weeks. The probability of SVR24 was identified by a baseline scoring system (range: 0-9 points) on which scores of 5 to 9 and <5 represent high and low probability of SVR24, respectively. RESULTS: SVR24 rates were 46.1% (754/1634), 77.1% (279/362), 68.0% (514/756), and 51.3% (203/396), respectively, in G1, 2, 3, and 4 patients. Overall, 16.9% and 21.8% patients experienced 651 sr-RD for peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, respectively. Among Caucasian noncirrhotic G1 patients: female sex, lower body mass index, pre-existing cardiovascular/pulmonary disease, and low hematological indices were prognostic factors of sr-RD; SVR24 was lower in patients with 651 vs. no sr-RD by Week 4 (37.9% vs. 54.4%; P = 0.0046) and Week 12 (41.7% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.0016); sr-RD by Week 4/12 significantly reduced SVR24 in patients with scores <5 but not 655. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, sr-RD to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin significantly impacts on SVR24 rates in treatment-naive G1 noncirrhotic Caucasian patients. Baseline characteristics can help select patients with a high probability of SVR24 and a low probability of sr-RD with peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin

Optimization and Entropy Production: Application to Carnot-Like Refrigeration Machines

Several optimization models of irreversible reverse cycle machines have been developed based on different optimization criteria in the literature, most of them using linear heat transfer laws at the source and sink. This raises the issue how close to actual operation conditions they are, since the heat transfer law on the phase-change processes is dependent on &#916;T3. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a general model for study and optimization of thermal machines with two heat reservoirs applied to a Carnot-like refrigerator, with non-linear heat transfer laws and internal and external irreversibility. The optimization was performed using First and Second Law of Thermodynamics and the Lagrange multipliers method. Thus, several constraints were imposed to the system, also different objective functions were considered, allowing finding the optimum operating conditions, as well as the limited variation ranges of the system parameters. Results show that the nature of the heat transfer laws affects the optimum values of system parameters for obtaining maximum performances and also their magnitude. Sensitivity studies with respect to system several parameters are presented. The results contribute to the understanding of the system limits in operation under different constraints and allow choosing the most convenient variables in given circumstances

Myc targeted CDK18 promotes ATR and homologous recombination to mediate PARP inhibitor resistance in glioblastoma

PARP inhibitors (PARPis) have clinical efficacy in BRCA-deficient cancers, but not BRCA-intact tumors, including glioblastoma (GBM). We show that MYC or MYCN amplification in patient-derived glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) generates sensitivity to PARPi via Myc-mediated transcriptional repression of CDK18, while most tumors without amplification are not sensitive. In response to PARPi, CDK18 facilitates ATR activation by interacting with ATR and regulating ATR-Rad9/ATR-ETAA1 interactions; thereby promoting homologous recombination (HR) and PARPi resistance. CDK18 knockdown or ATR inhibition in GSCs suppressed HR and conferred PARPi sensitivity, with ATR inhibitors synergizing with PARPis or sensitizing GSCs. ATR inhibitor VE822 combined with PARPi extended survival of mice bearing GSC-derived orthotopic tumors, irrespective of PARPi-sensitivity. These studies identify a role of CDK18 in ATR-regulated HR. We propose that combined blockade of ATR and PARP is an effective strategy for GBM, even for low-Myc GSCs that do not respond to PARPi alone, and potentially other PARPi-refractory tumors

RULINGS OF THE NATIONAL COURTS FOLLOWING THE CURIA DECISION IN CASE C-186/16, ANDRICIUC AND OTHERS VS BANCA ROMANEASCA

The CJEU's judgment in Andriciuc and Others vs Banca Românească Case C-186/16 that came in September 2017 is an addition to a growing body of case law on procedural obstacles to consumer protection under Directive 93/13/EEC. According to the Court, a contractual term must be drafted in plain intelligible language, the information obligations should be performed by the bank in a manner to make the well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect consumer aware of both possibility of a rise or fall in the value of the foreign currency and also enabling estimation of the significant economic consequences of repayment of the loan in the same currency as the currency in which the loan was taken out. Following a succession of consumer-friendly preliminary rulings from European Court of Justice (Case C-26/13, Árpád Kásler, Hajnalka Káslerné Rábai v OTP Jelzálogbank Zrt and Case C-186/16 Andriciuc and Others v Banca Românească, bank customers across the European Union are increasingly taking their banks to court. However, there are still a lot provisions in the national legislations which made the judicial review of unfair contract terms difficult and reveals the limits of consumer protection under Directive 93/13. Also, we focus on the powers of the national court when dealing with a term considered to be unfair (civil) courts and the availability of legal remedies in ensuring the effectiveness of the Directive. Although the CJEU provides interpretation of EU law, the national court alone has jurisdiction to find and assess the facts in the case before it and to interpret and apply national law. The ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJUE) in the Andriciuc versus Banca Românească case represents a great advantage for some of the European debtors. In this paper, we intend to examine, starting from the theory of abusive clauses and referring to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in the matter, to what extent it is possible that under Council Directive 93/13 / EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts and the national laws of the various Member States to order "freeze of the exchange rate" or conversion of the currency of the credit into domestic currenc

Refinement operators can be (weakly) perfect

Our aim is to construct a perfect (i.e. minimal and optimal) ILP renement operator for hypotheses spaces bounded below by a most specific clause and subject to syntactical restrictions in the form of input /output variable declarations (like in Progol). Since unfortunately no such optimal refinement operators exist, we settle for a weaker form of optimality and introduce an associated weaker form of subsumption which exactly captures a first incompleteness of Progol&apos;s renement operator. We argue that this sort of incompleteness is not a drawback, as it is justified by the examples and the MDL heuristic. A second type of incompleteness of Progol (due to subtle interactions between the requirements of non-redundancy, completeness and the variable dependencies) is more problematic, since it may sometimes lead to unpredictable results. We remove this incompleteness by constructing a sequence of increasingly more complex refinement operators which eventually produces the first (weakly) perfect refinement operator for a Progol-like ILP system