314 research outputs found
Vocational education and training and employment services in Malta
This country monograph is the result of a
request from the European Commission
(Directorate-General for Employment and
Social Affairs) in the context of the
Employment Policy Reviews launched by
the latter in the future member states in
1999. According to this request, the key
aim of the country monographs is to
provide up-to-date, detailed information
and analysis on the vocational education
and training systems and structures as well
as on the public and private employment
services in order to support the monitoring
of the Joint Assessment Papers of
Employment Priorities (JAP). This analysis
is considered to provide a useful input
enabling the future member states and the
European Commission to identify the most
important needs and gaps.
In particular, the analysis aims at providing:
(1) an instrument to assess the progress
made by the countries to increase the
responsiveness of their education and
training systems to labour market
needs; this assessment is addresses
particularly the challenges and
priorities related to the development of
lifelong learning;
(2) a tool to assess the effectiveness of the
public and private employment services
to assist both young and adult
unemployed people and those
threatened by unemployment to enter
the labour market; and
(3) a basis for positioning the development
trends of these systems in relation to
those in EU member states.
The work has been conducted by a team of
national, EU and ETF experts, under the
responsibility of the European Training
Foundation (ETF) and with the support of
the Employment Training Corporation
(ETC). The method of work combined the
use of desk research and field visits in the
capital and also in some selected regions.
The final document has been prepared by
the European Training Foundation and
therefore, reflects primarily an ETF
viewpoint.
The preparation of the monographs has
also benefited from a close consultation
process with representatives of the national
authorities. The latter were informed about
this work right from the beginning of the
process and they were invited to provide
their opinion on the final draft. In addition, a
seminar was organised on 27 September
2002 in Brussels with the aim of presenting
and discussing the documents with the
national authorities of the future member
states as well as with the European
Commission. This monograph also reflects
the outcomes of this seminar and further
discussions and comments from the
country.
The document makes use of quantitative
indicators from international institutions as
well as national sources. As discussed
during the 27 September meeting, it should
be acknowledged that in relation to
indicators used in the EU, some data are
still missing, while others might refer to
different realities. Therefore, figures must
be interpreted with caution, taking into
account that statistics should be
complemented by more qualitative
assessments. Further analytical work will
be needed to improve the picture and in
particular the positioning of developments
in the country towards developments in the
EU.peer-reviewe
The rank reversal problem in multi-criteria decision making : a literature review
Despite the importance of multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques for constructing effective decision models, there are many criticisms due to the occurrence of a problem called rank reversal. Nevertheless, there is a lack of a systematic literature review on this important subject which involves different methods. This study reviews the pertinent literature on rank reversal, based on 130 related articles published from 1980 to 2015 in international journals, which were gathered and analyzed according to the following perspectives: multicriteria technique, year and journal in which the papers were published, co-authorship network, rank reversal types, and research goal. Thus our survey provides recommendations for future research, besides useful information and knowledge regarding rank reversal in the MCDM field
Layered control architectures in robots and vertebrates
We revieiv recent research in robotics, neuroscience, evolutionary neurobiology, and ethology with the aim of highlighting some points of agreement and convergence. Specifically, we com pare Brooks' (1986) subsumption architecture for robot control with research in neuroscience demonstrating layered control systems in vertebrate brains, and with research in ethology that emphasizes the decomposition of control into multiple, intertwined behavior systems. From this perspective we then describe interesting parallels between the subsumption architecture and the natural layered behavior system that determines defense reactions in the rat. We then consider the action selection problem for robots and vertebrates and argue that, in addition to subsumption- like conflict resolution mechanisms, the vertebrate nervous system employs specialized selection mechanisms located in a group of central brain structures termed the basal ganglia. We suggest that similar specialized switching mechanisms might be employed in layered robot control archi tectures to provide effective and flexible action selection
Convenient method for resolving degeneracies due to symmetry of the magnetic susceptibility tensor and its application to pseudo contact shift-based protein–protein complex structure determination
Pseudo contact shifts (PCSs) induced by paramagnetic lanthanide ions fixed in a protein frame provide long-range distance and angular information, and are valuable for the structure determination of protein–protein and protein–ligand complexes. We have been developing a lanthanide-binding peptide tag (hereafter LBT) anchored at two points via a peptide bond and a disulfide bond to the target proteins. However, the magnetic susceptibility tensor displays symmetry, which can cause multiple degenerated solutions in a structure calculation based solely on PCSs. Here we show a convenient method for resolving this degeneracy by changing the spacer length between the LBT and target protein. We applied this approach to PCS-based rigid body docking between the FKBP12-rapamycin complex and the mTOR FRB domain, and demonstrated that degeneracy could be resolved using the PCS restraints obtained from two-point anchored LBT with two different spacer lengths. The present strategy will markedly increase the usefulness of two-point anchored LBT for protein complex structure determination
Ubiquitous [Na+]i/[K+]i-Sensitive Transcriptome in Mammalian Cells: Evidence for Ca2+i-Independent Excitation-Transcription Coupling
Stimulus-dependent elevation of intracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) affects the expression of numerous genes – a phenomenon known as excitation-transcription coupling. Recently, we found that increases in [Na+]i trigger c-Fos expression via a novel Ca2+i-independent pathway. In the present study, we identified ubiquitous and tissue-specific [Na+]i/[K+]i-sensitive transcriptomes by comparative analysis of differentially expressed genes in vascular smooth muscle cells from rat aorta (RVSMC), the human adenocarcinoma cell line HeLa, and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). To augment [Na+]i and reduce [K+]i, cells were treated for 3 hrs with the Na+,K+-ATPase inhibitor ouabain or placed for the same time in the K+-free medium. Employing Affymetrix-based technology, we detected changes in expression levels of 684, 737 and 1839 transcripts in HeLa, HUVEC and RVSMC, respectively, that were highly correlated between two treatments (p<0.0001; R2>0.62). Among these Na+i/K+i-sensitive genes, 80 transcripts were common for all three types of cells. To establish if changes in gene expression are dependent on increases in [Ca2+]i, we performed identical experiments in Ca2+-free media supplemented with extracellular and intracellular Ca2+ chelators. Surprisingly, this procedure elevated rather than decreased the number of ubiquitous and cell-type specific Na+i/K+i-sensitive genes. Among the ubiquitous Na+i/K+i-sensitive genes whose expression was regulated independently of the presence of Ca2+ chelators by more than 3-fold, we discovered several transcription factors (Fos, Jun, Hes1, Nfkbia), interleukin-6, protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit, dual specificity phosphatase (Dusp8), prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2, cyclin L1, whereas expression of metallopeptidase Adamts1, adrenomedulin, Dups1, Dusp10 and Dusp16 was detected exclusively in Ca2+-depleted cells. Overall, our findings indicate that Ca2+i-independent mechanisms of excitation-transcription coupling are involved in transcriptomic alterations triggered by elevation of the [Na+]i/[K+]i ratio. There results likely have profound implications for normal and pathological regulation of mammalian cells, including sustained excitation of neuronal cells, intensive exercise and ischemia-triggered disorders
Hypomorphic mutations of TRIP11 cause odontochondrodysplasia
Odontochondrodysplasia (ODCD) is an unresolved genetic disorder of skeletal and dental development. Here, we show that ODCD is caused by hypomorphic TRIP11 mutations, and we identify ODCD as the nonlethal counterpart to achondrogenesis 1A (ACG1A), the known null phenotype in humans. TRIP11 encodes Golgi-associated microtubule-binding protein 210 (GMAP-210), an essential tether protein of the Golgi apparatus that physically interacts with intraflagellar transport 20 (IFT20), a component of the ciliary intraflagellar transport complex B. This association and extraskeletal disease manifestations in ODCD point to a cilium-dependent pathogenesis. However, our functional studies in patient-derived primary cells clearly support a Golgi-based disease mechanism. In spite of reduced abundance, residual GMAP variants maintain partial Golgi integrity, normal global protein secretion, and subcellular distribution of IFT20 in ODCD. These functions are lost when GMAP-210 is completely abrogated in ACG1A. However, a similar defect in chondrocyte maturation is observed in both disorders, which produces a cellular achondrogenesis phenotype of different severity, ensuing from aberrant glycan processing and impaired extracellular matrix proteoglycan secretion by the Golgi apparatus
Subsampling effects in neuronal avalanche distributions recorded in vivo
Background Many systems in nature are characterized by complex behaviour where large cascades of events, or avalanches, unpredictably alternate with periods of little activity. Snow avalanches are an example. Often the size distribution f(s) of a system's avalanches follows a power law, and the branching parameter sigma, the average number of events triggered by a single preceding event, is unity. A power law for f(s), and sigma=1, are hallmark features of self-organized critical (SOC) systems, and both have been found for neuronal activity in vitro. Therefore, and since SOC systems and neuronal activity both show large variability, long-term stability and memory capabilities, SOC has been proposed to govern neuronal dynamics in vivo. Testing this hypothesis is difficult because neuronal activity is spatially or temporally subsampled, while theories of SOC systems assume full sampling. To close this gap, we investigated how subsampling affects f(s) and sigma by imposing subsampling on three different SOC models. We then compared f(s) and sigma of the subsampled models with those of multielectrode local field potential (LFP) activity recorded in three macaque monkeys performing a short term memory task. Results Neither the LFP nor the subsampled SOC models showed a power law for f(s). Both, f(s) and sigma, depended sensitively on the subsampling geometry and the dynamics of the model. Only one of the SOC models, the Abelian Sandpile Model, exhibited f(s) and sigma similar to those calculated from LFP activity. Conclusions Since subsampling can prevent the observation of the characteristic power law and sigma in SOC systems, misclassifications of critical systems as sub- or supercritical are possible. Nevertheless, the system specific scaling of f(s) and sigma under subsampling conditions may prove useful to select physiologically motivated models of brain function. Models that better reproduce f(s) and sigma calculated from the physiological recordings may be selected over alternatives
Ouabain protects against adverse developmental programming of the kidney
The kidney is extraordinarily sensitive to adverse fetal programming. Malnutrition, the most common form of developmental challenge, retards the formation of functional units, the nephrons. The resulting low nephron endowment increases susceptibility to renal injury and disease. Using explanted rat embryonic kidneys, we found that ouabain, the Na,K-ATPase ligand, triggers a calcium–nuclear factor-κB signal, which protects kidney development from adverse effects of malnutrition. To mimic malnutrition, kidneys were serum deprived for 24 h. This resulted in severe retardation of nephron formation and a robust increase in apoptosis. In ouabain-exposed kidneys, no adverse effects of serum deprivation were observed. Proof of principle that ouabain rescues development of embryonic kidneys exposed to malnutrition was obtained from studies on pregnant rats given a low-protein diet and treated with ouabain or vehicle throughout pregnancy. Thus, we have identified a survival signal and a feasible therapeutic tool to prevent adverse programming of kidney development
Rape (Brassica chinensis L.) seed germination, seedling growth, and physiology in soil polluted with di-n-butyl phthalate and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
Salt restriction in kidney disease—a missed therapeutic opportunity?
The importance of salt restriction in the treatment of patients with renal disease has remained highly controversial. In the following we marshal the current evidence that salt plays a definite role in the genesis of hypertension and target organ damage, point to practical problems of salt restriction, and report on novel pathomechanisms of how salt affects blood pressure and causes target organ damage
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