The coherence of EU trade, competition, and industry policies in the high tech sector : the case of the telecommunications services sector

We analyze the coherence existing among European Union competition, industry, and trade policies in the high tech sector in general terms focusing on its specific features (externalities, fast progress) and their effects on the emergence and treatment of policy consistency and conflicts. Second, this analysis is applied to the European telecommunications services sector. The examination of this sector and the relevant EU policies reveals a consensus on giving priority to competition. However structural factors prevent policy implementation to reflect much liberalization and harmonization and business responses to trade globalization challenge effective competition. The potential, important role of standardization is shown.economics of technology ;

Digital PCR as a tool to measure HIV persistence

Although antiretroviral therapy is able to suppress HIV replication in infected patients, the virus persists and rebounds when treatment is stopped. In order to find a cure that can eradicate the latent reservoir, one must be able to quantify the persisting virus. Traditionally, HIV persistence studies have used real-time PCR (qPCR) to measure the viral reservoir represented by HIV DNA and RNA. Most recently, digital PCR is gaining popularity as a novel approach to nucleic acid quantification as it allows for absolute target quantification. Various commercial digital PCR platforms are nowadays available that implement the principle of digital PCR, of which Bio-Rad's QX200 ddPCR is currently the most used platform in HIV research. Quantification of HIV by digital PCR is proving to be a valuable improvement over qPCR as it is argued to have a higher robustness to mismatches between the primers-probe set and heterogeneous HIV, and forfeits the need for a standard curve, both of which are known to complicate reliable quantification. However, currently available digital PCR platforms occasionally struggle with unexplained false-positive partitions, and reliable segregation between positive and negative droplets remains disputed. Future developments and advancements of the digital PCR technology are promising to aid in the accurate quantification and characterization of the persistent HIV reservoir

Emerging PCR-based techniques to study HIV-1 reservoir persistence

While current antiretroviral therapies are able to halt HIV-1 progression, they are not curative, as an interruption of treatment usually leads to viral rebound. The persistence of this stable HIV-1 latent reservoir forms the major barrier in HIV-1 cure research. The need for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind reservoir persistence resulted in the development of several novel assays allowing to perform an extensive in-depth characterization. The objective of this review is to present an overview of the current state-of-the-art PCR-based technologies to study the replication-competent HIV-1 reservoir. Here, we outline the advantages, limitations, and clinical relevance of different approaches. Future HIV-1 eradication studies would benefit from information-rich, high-throughput assays as they provide a more efficient and standardized way of characterizing the persisting HIV-1 reservoir

Experimental auctions, collective induction and choice shift: willingness-to-pay for rice quality in Senegal

We propose a collective induction treatment as an aggregator of information and preferences, which enables testing whether consumer preferences for food quality elicited through experimental auctions are robust to aggregation. We develop a two-stage estimation method based on social judgement scheme theory to identify the determinants of social influence in collective induction. Our method is tested in a market experiment aiming to assess consumers willingness-to-pay for rice quality in Senegal. No significant choice shift was observed after collective induction, which suggests that consumer preferences for rice quality are robust to aggregation. Almost three quarters of social influence captured by the model and the variables was explained by social status, market expertise and information

Social media in food risk and benefit communication

The overall objective of this doctoral thesis was to contribute to a better understanding of the role social media can fulfil for the communication of food-related risks and benefits. Social media is the collective name for a number of online applications, including social networks, video- and picture-sharing websites, blogs, and microblogs, that allow users to generate and share information online. As a consequence users now control how information is found and used instead of the producers. New levels of public engagement have emerged ranging from passive information acquisition through one’s social network to active deliberation with communicators. The research is based on data which were collected through four consecutive studies with qualitative, quantitative and experimental research designs. The outcome indicated that particularly a younger audience appreciates social media to acquire and seek information about food risks and benefits. Social media can act as a complementary information channel, but is not seen as a substitute for traditional or online media. Additionally, actively engaging consumers in discussion about food risks and benefits can lead to better informed consumers. Although the use of social media will not be the answer for all communication difficulties, its advantages such as the accessibility, speed and interaction cannot be ignored to improve food risk and benefit communication

Een onderzoek over de ijzerstofwisseling van de rat met behulp van Desferrioxamine

Hoewel het verwijderen van ijzer uit het lichaam met behulp van regelmatige aderlatingen, in gevallen van ijzerstapeling, een doeltreffende methode genoemd kan worden, is het gebruik van chelaatvormers die de ijzerexcretie in de urine doen toenemen toch een therapeutische aanwinst. Voor dit doel zijn verschillende stoffen beproefd, o.a. EDTA. Het meest succesvol bleek Desferrioxamine B, verder aan te duiden als DF. De chelaatvormer Desferrioxamine B wordt parenteraal toegediend en bindt in het lichaam Fe(III)-ionen. Het complex Ferrioxamine B wordt via de urine en de gal uitgescheiden. Over de oorsprong van het ijzer dat uitgescheiden wordt, onder invloed van DF, is weinig bekend. Het feit dat de ijzerexcretie onder invloed van DF verhoogd is bij patienten met ijzeroverlading ten opzichte van normale personen, zou erop wijzen dat het reserve- ijzer een belangrijke bron is voor DF. Het is echter ook mogelijk dat een zekere vorm van transportijzer gemakkelijk toegankelijk is voor DF. DF wordt ook gebruikt als middel om bepaalde facetten van de ijzerstofwisseling te bestuderen. Zo bestaat er een techniek, waarmede door middel van DF de ijzervoorraad van het organisme bepaald wordt. Tegen deze werkwijze is het bezwaar aan te voeren, dat onze kennis betreffende de aangrijpingsplaatsen van DF op de ijzerstofwisseling te klein is om zonder meer een zó vergaande toepassing te rechtvaardigen. Gezien dit bezwaar en het feit dat het meten van de ijzervoorraad klinisch van groot belang is, is genoemde toepassing van DF een techniek die nauwkeurige aandacht verdient. Wij besloten daarom over dit onderwerp een experimenteel onderzoek in te stellen. In hoofdzaak werden de volgende problemen aan de orde gesteld: a. In welke mate en aan welke organen wordt bij de rat na toediening van DF ijzer onttrokken? b. Hoe is de invloed van DF op het ferritine-ijzer? Teneinde een diepgaand onderzoek naar het werkingsmechanisme van DF te kunnen beginnen, is een grondige kennis van de in de literatuur beschreven modelsystemen betreffende ijzerkinetiek en ijzerstofwisseling noodzakelijk. In het literatuuroverzicht zal dus naast - een algemene inleiding over DF en FO, eigenschappen en toepassing, - een overzicht van de modelsystemen waarin onze kennis van de ijzerkinetiek is samengevat, moeten worden gegeven

Analogies, metaphors, and wondering about the future: Lay sense-making around synthetic meat

Drawing on social representations theory, we explore how the public make sense of the unfamiliar, taking as the example a novel technology: synthetic meat. Data from an online deliberation study and eighteen focus groups in Belgium, Portugal and the UK indicated that the various strategies of sense-making afforded different levels of critical thinking about synthetic meat. Anchoring to genetic modification, metaphors like ‘Frankenfoods’ and commonplaces like ‘playing God’ closed off debates around potential applications of synthetic meat, whereas asking factual and rhetorical questions about it, weighing up pragmatically its risks and benefits, and envisaging changing current mentalities or behaviours in order to adapt to scientific developments enabled a consideration of synthetic meat’s possible implications for agriculture, environment, and society. We suggest that research on public understanding of technology should cultivate a climate of active thinking and should encourage questioning during the process of sense-making to try to reduce unhelpful anchoring