Academic freedom in Europe: time for a Magna Charta?

This paper is a preliminary attempt to establish a working definition of academic freedom for the European Union states. The paper details why such a definition is required for the European Union and then examines some of the difficulties of defining academic freedom. By drawing upon experience of the legal difficulties beset by the concept in the USA and building on previous analyses of constitutional and legislative protection for academic freedom, and of legal regulations concerning institutional governance and academic tenure, a working definition of academic freedom is then derived. The resultant definition which, it is suggested, could form the basis for a European Magna Charta Libertatis Academicae, goes beyond traditional discussions of academic freedom by specifying not only the rights inherent in the concept but also its accompanying duties, necessary limitations and safeguards. The paper concludes with proposals for how the definition might be tested and carried forward

Infrared Behaviour of the Gluon Propagator: Confining or Confined?

The possible infrared behaviour of the gluon propagator is studied analytically, using the Schwinger-Dyson equations, in both the axial and the Landau gauge. The possibility of a gluon propagator less singular than $1/k^{2}$ when $k^{2} \rightarrow 0$ is investigated and found to be inconsistent, despite claims to the contrary, whereas an infrared enhanced one is consistent. The implications for confinement are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 2 figure

Academic freedom in Europe: a preliminary comparative analysis

Using comparative data from 23 states within the European Union, this paper is a preliminary assessment of the protection for, and (by extension) the health of, academic freedom in the universities of the nations of the European Union. The paper examines constitutional and legislative protection for academic freedom, along with legal regulations concerning institutional governance, the appointment of the Rector and the existence of academic tenure, in order to create a composite picture of the health of academic freedom in the universities within the European Union nations. Additionally the paper considers how this preliminary analysis could be extended through possible further research to aid refinement of the results, and what policy steps could usefully be adopted at European level to protect and strengthen academic freedom

Algorithms for rewriting aggregate queries using views

Queries involving aggregation are typical in database applications. One of the main ideas to optimize the execution of an aggregate query is to reuse results of previously answered queries. This leads to the problem of rewriting aggregate queries using views. Due to a lack of theory, algorithms for this problem were rather ad-hoc. They were sound, but were not proven to be complete. Recently we have given syntactic characterizations for the equivalence of aggregate queries and applied them to decide when there exist rewritings. However, these decision procedures do not lend themselves immediately to an implementation. In this paper, we present practical algorithms for rewriting queries with count and sum. Our algorithms are sound. They are also complete for important cases. Our techniques can be used to improve well-known procedures for rewriting non-aggregate queries. These procedures can then be adapted to obtain algorithms for rewriting queries with min and max. The algorithms presented are a basis for realizing optimizers that rewrite queries using views

Multifunctional CD4 Cells Expressing Gamma Interferon and Perforin Mediate Protection against Lethal Influenza Virus Infection

CD4 effectors generated in vitro can promote survival against a highly pathogenic influenza virus via an antibody-independent mechanism involving class II-restricted, perforin-mediated cytotoxicity. However, it is not known whether CD4 cells activated during influenza virus infection can acquire cytolytic activity that contributes to protection against lethal challenge. CD4 cells isolated from the lungs of infected mice were able to confer protection against a lethal dose of H1N1 influenza virus A/Puerto Rico 8/34 (PR8). Infection of BALB/c mice with PR8 induced a multifunctional CD4 population with proliferative capacity and ability to secrete interleukin-2 (IL-2) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the draining lymph node (DLN) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and IL-10 in the lung. IFN- γ-deficient CD4 cells produced larger amounts of IL-17 and similar levels of TNF- α , IL-10, and IL-2 compared to wild-type (WT) CD4 cells. Both WT and IFN- γ –/– CD4 cells exhibit influenza virus-specific cytotoxicity; however, IFN- γ-deficient CD4 cells did not promote recovery after lethal infection as effectively as WT CD4 cells. PR8 infection induced a population of cytolytic CD4 effectors that resided in the lung but not the DLN. These cells expressed granzyme B (GrB) and required perforin to lyse peptide-pulsed targets. Lethally infected mice given influenza virus-specific CD4 cells deficient in perforin showed greater weight loss and a slower time to recovery than mice given WT influenza virus-specific CD4 cells. Taken together, these data strengthen the concept that CD4 T cell effectors are broadly multifunctional with direct roles in promoting protection against lethal influenza virus infection

Matching points with rectangles and squares

In this paper we deal with the following natural family of geometric matching problems. Given a class C of geometric objects and a point set P, a C-matching is a set M ⊆C such that every C ∈ M contains exactly two elements of P. The matching is perfect if it covers every point, and strong if the objects do not intersect. We concentrate on matching points using axis-aligned squares and rectangles. We give algorithms for these classes and show that it is NP-hard to decide whether a point set has a perfect strong square matching. We show that one of our matching algorithms solves a family of map-labeling problems