Falling through the social safety net? Analysing non‐take‐up of minimum income benefit and monetary social assistance in Austria

Non‐take‐up of means tested benefits is a widespread phenomenon in European welfare states. The paper assesses whether the reform that replaced the monetary social assistance benefit by the minimum income benefit in Austria in 2010/11 has succeeded in increasing take up rates. We use EU‐SILC register data together with the tax‐benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD/SORESI. The results show that the reform led to a significant decrease of non‐take‐up from 53 to 30% in terms of the number of households and from 51 to 30% in terms of expenditure. Following the three‐t's (threshold, trigger, and trade‐off) introduced by Van Oorschot, estimates of a two‐stage Heckman selection model as well as expert interviews indicate that the taken measures include both threshold and trade‐off characteristics. Elements such as the higher degree of anonymity within the claiming process, the provision of health insurance, binding minimum standards, the limitation of the maintenance obligations, new regulations related to the liquidation of wealth, as well as the general coverage of the benefit reform in the media and in public discussions led to an improved access to the benefit

An Equine Model for Vaccination against a Hepacivirus: Insights into Host Responses to E2 Recombinant Protein Vaccination and Subsequent Equine Hepacivirus Inoculation

Equine hepacivirus (EqHV) is the closest known genetic homologue of hepatitis C virus. An effective prophylactic vaccine is currently not available for either of these hepaciviruses. The equine as potential surrogate model for hepacivirus vaccine studies was investigated, while equine host responses following vaccination with EqHV E2 recombinant protein and subsequent EqHV inoculation were elucidated. Four ponies received prime and booster vaccinations (recombinant protein, adjuvant) four weeks apart (day −55 and −27). Two control ponies received adjuvant only. Ponies were inoculated with EqHV RNA-positive plasma on day 0. Blood samples and liver biopsies were collected over 26 weeks (day −70 to +112). Serum analyses included detection of EqHV RNA, isotypes of E2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), nonstructural protein 3-specific IgG, haematology, serum biochemistry, and metabolomics. Liver tissue analyses included EqHV RNA detection, RNA sequencing, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent in situ hybridization. Al-though vaccination did not result in complete protective immunity against experimental EqHV inoculation, the majority of vaccinated ponies cleared the serum EqHV RNA earlier than the control ponies. The majority of vaccinated ponies appeared to recover from the EqHV-associated liver insult earlier than the control ponies. The equine model shows promise as a surrogate model for future hepacivirus vaccine research

Methanethiol-dependent dimethylsulfide production in soil environments

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is an environmentally important trace gas with roles in sulfur cycling, signalling to higher organisms and in atmospheric chemistry. DMS is believed to be predominantly produced in marine environments via microbial degradation of the osmolyte dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). However, significant amounts of DMS are also generated from terrestrial environments, for example, peat bogs can emit ~6 μmol DMS m−2 per day, likely via the methylation of methanethiol (MeSH). A methyltransferase enzyme termed ‘MddA’, which catalyses the methylation of MeSH, generating DMS, in a wide range of bacteria and some cyanobacteria, may mediate this process, as the mddA gene is abundant in terrestrial metagenomes. This is the first study investigating the functionality of MeSH-dependent DMS production (Mdd) in a wide range of aerobic environments. All soils and marine sediment samples tested produced DMS when incubated with MeSH. Cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent methods were used to assess microbial community changes in response to MeSH addition in a grassland soil where 35.9% of the bacteria were predicted to contain mddA. Bacteria of the genus Methylotenera were enriched in the presence of MeSH. Furthermore, many novel Mdd+ bacterial strains were isolated. Despite the abundance of mddA in the grassland soil, the Mdd pathway may not be a significant source of DMS in this environment as MeSH addition was required to detect DMS at only very low conversion rates

An Equine Model for Vaccination against a Hepacivirus: Insights into Host Responses to E2 Recombinant Protein Vaccination and Subsequent Equine Hepacivirus Inoculation

Equine hepacivirus (EqHV) is the closest known genetic homologue of hepatitis C virus. An effective prophylactic vaccine is currently not available for either of these hepaciviruses. The equine as potential surrogate model for hepacivirus vaccine studies was investigated, while equine host responses following vaccination with EqHV E2 recombinant protein and subsequent EqHV inoculation were elucidated. Four ponies received prime and booster vaccinations (recombinant protein, adjuvant) four weeks apart (day −55 and −27). Two control ponies received adjuvant only. Ponies were inoculated with EqHV RNA-positive plasma on day 0. Blood samples and liver biopsies were collected over 26 weeks (day −70 to +112). Serum analyses included detection of EqHV RNA, isotypes of E2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), nonstructural protein 3-specific IgG, haematology, serum biochemistry, and metabolomics. Liver tissue analyses included EqHV RNA detection, RNA sequencing, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent in situ hybridization. Al-though vaccination did not result in complete protective immunity against experimental EqHV inoculation, the majority of vaccinated ponies cleared the serum EqHV RNA earlier than the control ponies. The majority of vaccinated ponies appeared to recover from the EqHV-associated liver insult earlier than the control ponies. The equine model shows promise as a surrogate model for future hepacivirus vaccine research

Abstract Outside-In Anatomy Based Character Rigging

For believable character animation, skin deformation should communicate important deformation effects due to underlying muscle movement. Anatomical models that capture these effects are typically constructed from the inside out. Internal tissue is modeled by hand and a surface skin is attached to, or generated from, the internal structure. This paper presents an outside–in approach to anatomical modeling, in which we generate musculature from a predefined structure, which we conform to an artist–sculpted skin surface. Motivated by interactive applications, we attach the musculature to an existing control skeleton and apply a novel geometric deformation model to deform the skin surface to capture important muscle motion effects. Musculoskeletal structure can be stored as a template and applied to new character models. We illustrate the methodology, as integrated into a commercial character animation system, with examples driven by both keyframe animation and recorded motion data. Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.3 [Computer Graphics]: Character modeling, Geometric deformatio

Potential of a BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine to prevent BPV1- or BPV2-induced pseudo-sarcoid formation and safety and immunogenicity of EcPV2 L1 VLPs in the horse

We have previously shown that immunization of horses with BPV1 L1 virus-like particles (VLP) is safe and highly immunogenic, and that bovine papillomavirus types 1 and 2 (BPV1, BPV2) are closely related serotypes. Here we evaluated the protective potential of a BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine against experimental BPV1 and BPV2 challenge, and studied the safety and immunogenicity of a bivalent EcPV2/BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine. Fourteen healthy horses were immunized with BPV1 L1 VLPs (100 µg/injection) plus adjuvant on days 0 and 28, whilst seven remained unvaccinated. On day 42, all 21 horses were challenged intradermally at ten sites of the neck with 107 BPV1 virions per injection. In analogy, 14 horses immunized twice with EcPV2 plus BPV1 L1 VLPs (50 µg each) and seven control animals were challenged with 107 BPV2 virions/injection. Immunization with BPV1 L1 VLPs alone induced a robust antibody response (day-42 median titre: 12,800) and BPV1-inoculated skin remained unchanged in 13/14 vaccinated horses. Immunization with the bivalent vaccine was safe, resulted in lower median day-42 antibody titres of 400 for BPV1, and 1600 for EcPV2, and conferred significant yet incomplete cross-protection from BPV2-induced tumour formation, with 11/14 horses developing small, short-lived papules. Control horses developed pseudo-sarcoids at all inoculation sites. The monovalent BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine proved highly effective in protecting horses from BPV1-induced pseudo-sarcoid formation. Incomplete protection from BPV2-induced tumour development conferred by the bivalent vaccine is due to the poorer immune response by immune interference or lower cross-neutralization titres to heterologous BPV2 virions