Subnational Government Bailouts in OECD Countries: Four Case Studies

We present four case studies of bailouts of subnational governments in Australia, Germany, Italy and Sweden. The case studies show that bailouts can occur in a diverse set of institutions shaping the relations between central and subnational governments. Surpisingly, there is little evidence in favor of the `too big to fail` argument explaining bailouts. In contrast, elements of political favoritism play some role in most cases. The cases also indicate the importance of properly designing principal-agent relationships in the decentralization of public finances. Constitutional mandates for uniform provision of public services and attempts by the central government to dominate subnational governments in matters of fiscal policy seem to be conducive to bailouts.

Station coordinates from LLR analysis as contribution to the next ITRF

Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) wird seit mehr als 43 Jahren durchgeführt. Der vorhandene Datensatz wird in einer kleinsten-Quadrate-Ausgleichung analysiert, um verschiedene Parameter des Erde-Mond-Systems zu bestimmen, z.B. den Mondorbit, die Erdorientierungsparameter, die Koordinaten der Retro-Reflektoren auf der Mondoberfläche und die Stationskoordinaten auf der Erde. Nun wurde die Analyse der LLR-Daten so modifiziert, dass die ermittelten Stationskoordinaten in einer Kombination für das nächste ITRF verwendet werden können. Hier werden erste Ergebnisse vorgestellt, wie gut die aus LLR bestimmten Koordinaten zur Lösung des DTRF2008 passen

ECIS 2014 E-HEALTH PANEL: CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF E-HEALTH SOLUTIONS

Healthcare delivery, irrespective of the region in the world, is facing the key challenges of escalating costs, an aging population, an increase in a myriad of diagnostic technologies and the rise of chronic diseases which in turn is leading to a more and more preventative focus. In short, the current state of healthcare delivery is not sustainable (OECD, 2012a;2012b; Porter and Guth, 2012; Porter and Teisberg,2006; Pearce and Haikerwal, 2010; Wickramasinghe and Schaffer, 2010). Most countries are responding with various types of healthcare reform and turning to e-health solutions. But e-health is not a panacea for the maladies faced by healthcare delivery. Moreover, it is important to understand the key macro and micro issues as well as vital people, process and technology aspects if superior and sustainable healthcare delivery is to ensue

Überschuldete Bundesländer: Ist die Einführung eindeutiger Verschuldungsgrenzen sinnvoll?

Eine zunehmende Zahl von Bundesländern legte in den letzten Jahren verfassungswidrige Haushalte vor, drei Länder klagten gleichzeitig beim Bundesverfassungsgericht Solidargemeinschaftshilfe bei der Bewältigung der Haushaltskrisen ein. Kann die Festlegung von eindeutigen Verschuldungsgrenzen eine Überschuldung verhindern? Nach Ansicht von Jürgen Rüttgers, Ministerpräsident von Nordrhein-Westfalen, sollten die Gebietskörperschaften grundsätzlich einen Haushaltsausgleich ohne Neuverschuldung anstreben. Das sollte sogar als Ziel in die Verfassung aufgenommen werden. Allerdings müsste den Haushalten Möglichkeit zur flexibeln Reaktion auf Veränderungen der Rahmenbedingungen eingeräumt werden, z.B. könnten die Investitionsausgaben - wie bisher - eine Haushaltskenngröße sein. Allerdings sollten Bund und Länder den Begriff "Investition" eng eingrenzen. Georg Milbradt, Ministerpräsident des Freistaates Sachsen, sieht in einem generellen Verschuldungsverbot, das sowohl im Grundgesetz als auch in den Landesverfassungen zu verankern sei, den wirksamsten Schutz. Von einem solchen Verschuldungsverbot dürfte nur in ganz eng definierten Ausnahmefällen - bspw. Naturkatastrophen - abgewichen werden. Helmut Seitz, TU Dresden, hält ebenfalls grundsätzliche Null-Defizit-Vorschriften, wobei diese so auszugestalten wären, dass entstehende Haushaltsfehlbeträge in einem Zeitraum von fünf bis sieben Jahren ausgeglichen werden müssten, für das am besten geeignete Instrument. Max Groneck und Wolfgang Kitterer, Universität zu Köln, ziehen die Abschaffung der "goldenen Regel" als Kreditgrenze in Betracht. Vorzuziehen wären, ihrer Meinung nach, klare quantitative Grenzen der Staatsverschuldung wie im Europäischen Stabilitätspakt, ihre ebenso quantitativ bestimmte Umsetzung auf der Ebene der Bundesländer und eine Sanktionsregelung im Falle von Überschreitungen der Grenzen. Markus C. Kerber, TU Berlin, schlägt dagegen bei einer Überschuldung der Bundesländer die zeitweise Übertragung der ZuständigkeSchulden, Öffentliche Schulden, Haushaltsdefizit, Öffentlicher Haushalt, Deutschland

The influence of hydrogen peroxide and histamine on lung permeability and translocation of iridium nanoparticles in the isolated perfused rat lung

BACKGROUND: Translocation of ultrafine particles (UFP) into the blood that returns from the lungs to the heart has been forwarded as a mechanism for particle-induced cardiovascular effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of the endothelial barrier in the translocation of inhaled UFP from the lung into circulation. METHODS: The isolated perfused rat lung (IPRL) was used under negative pressure ventilation, and radioactive iridium particles (18 nm, CMD, (192)Ir-UFP) were inhaled during 60 minutes to achieve a lung burden of 100 – 200 μg. Particle inhalation was done under following treatments: i) control perfusion, ii) histamine (1 μM in perfusate, iii) luminal histamine instillation (1 mM), and iv) luminal instillation of H(2)O(2). Particle translocation to the perfusate was assessed by the radioactivity of (192)Ir isotope. Lung permeability by the use of Tc(99m)-labeled diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA). In addition to light microscopic morphological evaluation of fixed lungs, alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in perfusate were measured to assess epithelial and endothelial integrity. RESULTS: Particle distribution in the lung was homogenous and similar to in vivo conditions. No translocation of Ir particles at negative pressure inhalation was detected in control IPL, but lungs pretreated with histamine (1 μM) in the perfusate or with luminal H(2)O(2 )(0.5 mM) showed small amounts of radioactivity (2–3 % dose) in the single pass perfusate starting at 60 min of perfusion. Although the kinetics of particle translocation were different from permeability for (99m)Tc-DTPA, the pretreatments (H(2)O(2), vascular histamine) caused similar changes in the translocation of particles and soluble mediator. Increased translocation through epithelium and endothelium with a lag time of one hour occurred in the absence of epithelial and endothelial damage. CONCLUSION: Permeability of the lung barrier to UFP or nanoparticles is controlled both at the epithelial and endothelial level. Conditions that affect this barrier function such as inflammation may affect translocation of NP

Genetic polymorphisms of manganese-superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase in chronic alcoholic pancreatitis

Chronic alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for the development of chronic pancreatitis. However, chronic pancreatitis occurs only in a minority of heavy drinkers. This variability may be due to yet unidentified genetic factors. Several enzymes involved in the degradation of reactive oxidants and xenobiotics, such as glutathione-S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) and manganese-superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) reveal functional polymorphisms that affect the antioxidative capacity and may therefore modulate the development of chronic pancreatitis and long-term complications like endocrine and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Two functional polymorphisms of the MnSOD and the GSTP1 gene were assessed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism in 165 patients with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis, 140 alcoholics without evidence of pancreatic disease and 160 healthy control subjects. The distribution of GSTP1 and MnSOD genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the total cohort. Genotype and allele frequencies for both genes were not statistically different between the three groups. Although genotype MnSOD Ala/Val was seemingly associated with the presence of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, this subgroup was too small and the association statistically underpowered. None of the tested genotypes affected the development of endocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Polymorphisms of MnSOD and GSTP1 are not associated with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis. The present data emphasize the need for stringently designed candidate gene association studies with well-characterized cases and controls and sufficient statistical power to exclude chance observation

Reliable multicast in heterogeneous mobile ad-hoc networks

In disaster scenarios, communication infrastructure could be damaged or completely failed. Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) can be used to substitute failed communication devices and thus to enable communication. As group communication is an important part in disaster scenarios, multicast will be used to address several nodes. In this paper, we propose our new reliable multicast protocol RMDA (Reliable Multicast over Delay Tolerant Mobile Ad hoc Networks). We introduce an efficient group management approach and a new method for reliable multicast delivery over Delay Tolerant Networks. We show, that our protocol is adaptive to different kinds of MANETs, e.g. with or without clusterheads, respectively. For those without, we use our name resolution over adaptive routing approach

Efficient Elimination of Inhaled Nanoparticles from the Alveolar Region: Evidence for Interstitial Uptake and Subsequent Reentrainment onto Airways Epithelium

BACKGROUND: There is ongoing discussion that inhaled nanoparticles (NPs, < 100 nm) may translocate from epithelial deposition sites of the lungs to systemic circulation. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: We studied the disappearance of NPs from the epithelium by sequential lung retention and clearance and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) measurements in healthy adult Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats at various times over 6 months after administration of a single 60- to 100-min intratracheal inhalation of iridium-192 ((192)Ir)–radiolabeled NPs. A complete (192)Ir balance of all organs, tissues, excretion, remaining carcass, and BAL was performed at each time point. RESULTS: Directly after inhalation we found free NPs in the BAL; later, NPs were predominantly associated with alveolar macropages (AMs). After 3 weeks, lavageable NP fractions decreased to 0.06 of the actual NP lung burden. This is in stark contrast to the AM-associated fraction of micron-sized particles reported in the literature. These particles remained constant at about 0.8 throughout a 6-month period. Three weeks after inhalation, 80% of the retained Ir NPs was translocated into epithelium and interstitium. CONCLUSION: There is a strong size-selective difference in particle immobilization. Furthermore, AM-mediated NP transport to the larynx originates not only from the NP fraction retained on the epithelium but also from NPs being reentrained from the interstitium to the luminal side of epithelium. We conclude that NPs are much less phagocytized by AMs than large particles but are effectively removed from the lung surface into the interstitium. Even from these interstitial sites, they undergo AM-mediated long-term NP clearance to the larynx

Electrically Conductive and 3D-Printable Oxidized Alginate-Gelatin Polypyrrole:PSS Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering

Electroactive hydrogels can be used to influence cell response and maturation by electrical stimulation. However, hydrogel formulations which are 3D printable, electroactive, cytocompatible, and allow cell adhesion, remain a challenge in the design of such stimuli-responsive biomaterials for tissue engineering. Here, a combination of pyrrole with a high gelatin-content oxidized alginate-gelatin (ADA-GEL) hydrogel is reported, offering 3D-printability of hydrogel precursors to prepare cytocompatible and electrically conductive hydrogel scaffolds. By oxidation of pyrrole, electroactive polypyrrole:polystyrenesulfonate (PPy:PSS) is synthesized inside the ADA-GEL matrix. The hydrogels are assessed regarding their electrical/mechanical properties, 3D-printability, and cytocompatibility. It is possible to prepare open-porous scaffolds via bioplotting which are electrically conductive and have a higher cell seeding efficiency in scaffold depth in comparison to flat 2D hydrogels, which is confirmed via multiphoton fluorescence microscopy. The formation of an interpenetrating polypyrrole matrix in the hydrogel matrix increases the conductivity and stiffness of the hydrogels, maintaining the capacity of the gels to promote cell adhesion and proliferation. The results demonstrate that a 3D-printable ADA-GEL can be rendered conductive (ADA-GEL-PPy:PSS), and that such hydrogel formulations have promise for cell therapies, in vitro cell culture, and electrical-stimulation assisted tissue engineering