Why Reform Europe's Universities?

Based on a survey of European universities, this policy brief states that despite the good performance of some countries, Europe as a whole trails the US by a wide margin. The reason is two-fold. First, Europe invests too little in higher education. Second, European universities suffer from poor governance, insufficient autonomy and often perverse incentives. If Europe is to be a leader in the global knowledge economy, comprehensive reform of higher education is the order of the day. Most countries should invest an extra one percent in higher education each year, and universities should be given more autonomy in budgets, hiring and remuneration.

Higher aspirations: an agenda for reforming European universities

Since the introduction of the Shanghai ranking of the worldâ??s universities it has been clear that European universities are underperforming. This blueprint discusses the potential explanations and points at different reform priorities for higher education in Europe.

Advances on nonparametric regression for functional variables

We consider the problem of predicting a real random variable from a functional explanatory variable. The problem is attacked by mean of nonparametric kernel approach which has been recently adapted to this functional context. We derive theoretical results by giving a deep asymptotic study of the behaviour of the estimate, including mean squared convergence (with rates and precise evaluation of the constant terms) as well as asymptotic distribution. Practical use of these results are relying on the ability to estimate these constants. Some perspectives in this direction are discussed including the presentation of a functional version of bootstrapping ideas

CoESPRIT: A Library-Based Construct Screening Method for Identification and Expression of Soluble Protein Complexes

Structural and biophysical studies of protein complexes require multi-milligram quantities of soluble material. Subunits are often unstable when expressed separately so co-expression strategies are commonly employed since in vivo complex formation can provide stabilising effects. Defining constructs for subunit co-expression experiments is difficult if the proteins are poorly understood. Even more problematic is when subunit polypeptide chains co-fold since individually they do not have predictable domains. We have developed CoESPRIT, a modified version of the ESPRIT random library construct screen used previously on single proteins, to express soluble protein complexes. A random library of target constructs is screened against a fixed bait protein to identify stable complexes. In a proof-of-principle study, C-terminal fragments of the influenza polymerase PB2 subunit containing folded domains were isolated using importin alpha as bait. Separately, a C-terminal fragment of the PB1 subunit was used as bait to trap N-terminal fragments of PB2 resulting in co-folded complexes. Subsequent expression of the target protein without the bait indicates whether the target is independently stable, or co-folds with its partner. This highly automated method provides an efficient strategy for obtaining recombinant protein complexes at yields compatible with structural, biophysical and functional studies

The Governance and Performance of Research Universities: Evidence from Europe and the U.S.

We investigate how university governance affects research output, measured by patenting and international university research rankings. For both European and U.S. universities, we generate several measures of autonomy, governance, and competition for research funding. We show that university autonomy and competition are positively correlated with university output, both among European countries and among U.S. public universities. We then identity a (political) source of exogenous shocks to funding of U.S. universities. We demonstrate that, when a state's universities receive a positive funding shock, they produce more patents if they are more autonomous and face more competition from private research universities. Finally, we show that during periods when merit-based competitions for federal research funding have been most prominent, universities produce more patents when they receive an exogenous funding shock, suggesting that routine participation in such competitions hones research skill.

Age and metallicity gradients in early-type galaxies: A dwarf to giant sequence

We studied the stellar populations of 40 early-type galaxies using medium resolution long-slit spectroscopy along their major axes (and along the minor axis for two of them), from 10^7 Msol to 10^12 Msol (-9.2 > M_B > -22.4 mag). All the studied galaxies lie on the mass-metallicity and age-mass relations. The transition type dwarfs deviate from the latter relation having younger mean age, and the low-mass dwarf spheroidals have older ages, marking a discontinuity in the relation, possibly due to selection effects. In all mass regimes, the mean metallicity gradients are approximately -0.2 and the mean age gradients +0.1 dex per decade of radius. The individual gradients are widely spread: $-0.1 < \nabla_{\rm Age} < 0.4$ and $-0.54 < \nabla_{[{\rm Fe/H}]} < +0.2$. We do not find evidence for a correlation between the metallicity gradient and luminosity, velocity dispersion, central age or age gradient. Likewise, we do not find a correlation between the age gradient and any other parameter in bright early-type galaxies. In faint early-types with $M_B \gtrsim -17$ mag, on the other hand, we find a correlation between the age gradient and luminosity: the age gradient becomes more positive for fainter galaxies. We conclude that various physical mechanisms can lead to similar gradients and that these gradients are robust against the environmental effects. In particular, the gradients observed in dwarfs galaxies certainly survived the transformation of the progenitors through tidal harassment or/and ram-pressure stripping. The diversity of metallicity gradients amongst dwarf elliptical galaxies may reflect a plurality of progenitors' morphologies. The dwarfs with steep metallicity gradients could have originated from blue compact dwarfs and those with flat profiles from dwarf irregulars and late type spirals. (Abridged)Comment: 31 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publications in MNRA

Commodity risk assessment of Ficus carica plants from Israel

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as ‘High risk plants, plant products and other objects’. This Scientific Opinion covers the plant health risks posed by the following commodities: (i) dormant and free of leaves 1-year-old bare rooted plants and (ii) free of leaves 1-year-old liners of Ficus carica imported from Israel, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by Israel. The relevance of any pest for this opinion was based on evidence following defined criteria. Four EU quarantine pests, Euwallacea fornicatus, Hypothenemus leprieuri, Scirtothrips dorsalis and Spodoptera frugiperda, and 11 EU nonregulated pests fulfilled all relevant criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Israel were evaluated separately for bare rooted plants and for liners, taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, an expert judgement was given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varied among the pests evaluated. Aonidiella orientalis and Russellaspis pustulans were the most frequently expected pests on the imported bare rooted plants, and Scirtothrips dorsalis on liners. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9,585 and 10,000 bare rooted plants per 10,000 would be free of Aonidiella orientalis and Russellaspis pustulans and between 9,456 and 10,000 liners per 10,000 would be free of Scirtothrips dorsalis

Workforce preparation: the Biohealth computing model for Master and PhD students

Abstract The article addresses the strategic role of workforce preparation in the process of adoption of Systems Medicine as a driver of biomedical research in the new health paradigm. It reports on relevant initiatives, like CASyM, fostering Systems Medicine at EU level. The chapter focuses on the BioHealth Computing Program as a reference for multidisciplinary training of future systems-oriented researchers describing the productive interactions with the Synergy-COPD project