Beschäftigungspolitik in Österreich

Standard international trade lectures normally comprises three central theories: the Ricardian Model, the Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson Modell and New Trade Theory a la Krugman 1979 and 1980. Nowadays this trilogy needs to be enhanced with the basic concepts of a new class of trade models: the New New Trade Theory which accounts for firm heterogeneity and market entry costs. The basic objective of this paper is to present the contribution of Marc J. Melitz in Econometrica 2003 which is central to this new class of trade theory. I show how it is embedded in antecedent theory and highlight the new insights for trade patterns stemming from it. --

Humoral and cellular characterization of minor allergens in birch pollen

Allergische Erkrankungen haben in urbanen Regionen epidemische Ausmaße angenommen und beeinträchtigen die Lebensqualität der betroffenen Personen. Pollen von windbestäubenden Pflanzen wie der Europäischen Weiss-Birke (Betula verrucosa) gehören in Mittel- und Nordeuropa zu den potentesten Allergenquellen. Birkenpollen enthält das gut charakterisierte Hauptallergen Bet v 1 sowie mehrere Nebenallergene, die von weniger als 50% der Birkenpollen-Allergiker erkannt werden. Diagnose und Therapie von Typ I Allergien hängen von der Qualität der verwendeten Allergenextrakte ab. Dabei können Defizite wie Chargenvariabilität oder unterschiedliche Konzentrationen verschiedener Komponenten auftreten. Diese können durch die Verwendung rekombinanter Allergene überwunden werden. Die wichtigsten Ziele dieser Arbeit waren i) die Expression, Aufreinigung und Charakterisierung der Birkenpollen-Nebenallergene Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6, Bet v 7 und ii) die Isolierung und Charakterisierung von T-Zell-Klonen (TCC) spezifisch für Birkenpollen Proteine. Alle Nebenallergene wurden in E.coli mit einem His-Tag exprimiert und mittels Ni- Affinitätschromatographie aufgereinigt. Der LPS-Gehalt wurde auf vernachlässigbare Mengen reduziert. Die korrekte Faltung und Allergenizität wurde durch IgE ELISA-Experimente mit Seren von Birkenpollen-Allergikern getestet. Die Fähigkeit Birkenpollen-spezifische T-Zellen zu aktivieren wurde durch Proliferationsassays mit mononukleären Zellen des peripheren Blutes (PBMC), allergen-spezifischen T-Zell-Linien (TCL) und T-Zell-Klonen von Birkenpollen-Allergikern ermittelt. Alle rekombinanten Allergene konnten IgE-Antikörper binden und Proliferation in PBMC induzieren. Allergen-spezifische TCC wurden aus Birkenpollen-spezifischen TCL isoliert und anhand von Proliferationsassays charakterisiert. Marker für T-Zellen und spezifische T-Zell Subtypen wurden mittels Durchflusszytometrie analysiert. Zusätzlich wurden Zytokinkonzentrationen in Überständen von aktivierten Allergen-spezifischen TCC durch Bead-Arrays bestimmt. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Mehrzahl der mit Birkenpollenextrakt expandierten TCC und TCL spezifisch für Bet v 1 waren und diese mehrheitlich zum TH2 Subtyp gehörten. TCC die nicht mit Bet v 1 reagierten gehörten großteils zum TH0 Subtyp. Ein TCC war spezifisch für das Nebenallergen Bet v 2. Kein Klon reagierte mit den rekombinanten Allergenen Bet v 3-7. Im Rahmen dieser Diplomarbeit wurden endotoxinfreie Chargen von Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6 und Bet v 7 hergestellt und deren IgE-Reaktivität bestätigt. Zum ersten Mal konnte die T-Zell-aktivierende Fähigkeit dieser Nebenallergene gezeigt werden. 89 In Zukunft könnten die produzierten und charakterisierten Allergene helfen, die immonologischen Unterschiede zwischen Bet v 1 und den identifizierten Nebenallergenen im Birkenpollen aufzuklären. Darüber hinaus könnten die eingefrorenen TCC hilfreich bei der Suche nach neuen Proteinen von immunologischen Wert im Birkenpollen sein.Allergic diseases have reached epidemic dimensions in urban areas and reduce the patients´ quality of life. Pollen from wind pollinated plants is among the most potent allergen sources. Pollen from the European white birch Betula verrucosa contain the well characterized major allergen Bet v 1 and several minor allergens which are recognized by less than 50% of birch pollen-allergic patients. Diagnosis and therapy of Type I allergy depends on the quality of the employed allergen extracts. Disadvantages such as batch to batch variability or standardization of the concentration of different components in allergen extracts may be overcome by the use of recombinant allergens. The major aims of this thesis were i) the expression, purification and characterization of the minor birch pollen allergens Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6, Bet v 7 and ii) the isolation and characterization of T-cell clones (TCC) specific for proteins in birch pollen. All minor allergens were expressed in E.coli with a His-tag and purified by Ni- affinity chromatography. The LPS content was reduced to negligible levels. Correct folding and allergenicity of the allergens was tested by IgE ELISA experiments conducted with sera from birch pollen-allergic patients. The ability of the allergens to activate birch pollen-specific T-cells was assessed in proliferation assays using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), allergen-specific T-cell lines (TCL) and TCC derived from birch pollen-allergic patients. All recombinant minor allergens were able to bind IgE antibodies and induced proliferation in PBMC from birch pollen-allergic patients. Allergen specific TCC were expanded from birch pollen-specific TCL and characterized in proliferation assays. Various subset-specific markers as well as molecules up regulated by specific activation were analyzed by flow cytometry. Cytokine levels in the supernatants of allergen-activated TCC were determined by cytokine bead arrays. Our results demonstrate that the majority of the TCC isolated from TCL expanded with birch pollen extract were specific for Bet v 1 and belonged to the TH2-like subset. TCC non-reactive with Bet v 1 belonged to the TH0-subset. None of the clones reacted with the recombinant minor allergens Bet v 3-7. One TCC was found to be Bet v 2-specific. In summary, endotoxin free batches of recombinant Bet v 3, Bet v 4, Bet v 6 and Bet v 7 were produced and their IgE reactivity was confirmed. For the first time, the T-cell activating capacity of these minor allergens was shown. In the future, the produced and characterized allergens may help to examine the differences between Bet v 1 and minor allergens. Furthermore, the stored TCC are valuable in the search for new proteins with immunological value in birch pollen

Introducing an Interpretable Deep Learning Approach to Domain-Specific Dictionary Creation: A Use Case for Conflict Prediction

Recent advancements in natural language processing (NLP) methods have significantly improved their performance. However, more complex NLP models are more difficult to interpret and computationally expensive. Therefore, we propose an approach to dictionary creation that carefully balances the trade-off between complexity and interpretability. This approach combines a deep neural network architecture with techniques to improve model explainability to automatically build a domain-specific dictionary. As an illustrative use case of our approach, we create an objective dictionary that can infer conflict intensity from text data. We train the neural networks on a corpus of conflict reports and match them with conflict event data. This corpus consists of over 14,000 expert-written International Crisis Group (ICG) CrisisWatch reports between 2003 and 2021. Sensitivity analysis is used to extract the weighted words from the neural network to build the dictionary. In order to evaluate our approach, we compare our results to state-of-the-art deep learning language models, text-scaling methods, as well as standard, nonspecialized, and conflict event dictionary approaches. We are able to show that our approach outperforms other approaches while retaining interpretability

Pacifism in Fin-de-Siècle Austria: The Politics and Limits of Peace Activism

The late Habsburg Monarchy produced two of the most renowned peace activists of their day: Bertha von Suttner and Alfred Fried. In comparison to these two Nobel Peace laureates, the main association of Austro-pacifism – the Österreichische Friedensgesellschaft (ÖFG) – is less well known. The article concentrates on this organization, which had been founded in 1891, and it draws attention to the political and intellectual environment in which it operated. The ÖFG originated in the milieu of Austro-German liberalism, but had an ambivalent rapport with liberal politics. The Austro-pacifists' focus on supranational principles and dynastic loyalty sat uneasily with the national dimensions of Cisleithanian politics. The obstacles encountered by the ÖFG illustrate wider aspects of the political culture of fin-de-siècle Austria, ranging from the question of militarism in Austrian society to the challenges created by socialist and nationalist movements. As a whole, the article highlights the inherent limitations of Austro-pacifism, as reflected in its quest for respectability and its acceptance of the social and political order

Stromal fibroblasts shape the myeloid phenotype in normal colon and colorectal cancer and induce CD163 and CCL2 expression in macrophages

Colorectal cancer (CRC) accounts for about 10% of cancer deaths worldwide. Colon carcinogenesis is critically influenced by the tumor microenvironment. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) represent the major components of the tumor microenvironment. TAMs promote tumor progression, angiogenesis and tissue remodeling. However, the impact of the molecular crosstalk of tumor cells (TCs) with CAFs and macrophages on monocyte recruitment and their phenotypic conversion is not known in detail so far. In a 3D human organotypic CRC model, we show that CAFs and normal colonic fibroblasts are critically involved in monocyte recruitment and for the establishment of a macrophage phenotype, characterized by high CD163 expression. This is in line with the steady recruitment and differentiation of monocytes to immunosuppressive macrophages in the normal colon. Cytokine profiling revealed that CAFs produce M-CSF, and IL6, IL8, HGF and CCL2 secretion was specifically induced by CAFs in co-cultures with macrophages. Moreover, macrophage/CAF/TCs co-cultures increased TC invasion. We demonstrate that CAFs and macrophages are the major producers of CCL2 and, upon co-culture, increase their CCL2 production twofold and 40-fold, respectively. CAFs and macrophages expressing high CCL2 were also found in vivo in CRC, strongly supporting our findings. CCL2, CCR2, CSF1R and CD163 expression in macrophages was dependent on active MCSFR signaling as shown by M-CSFR inhibition. These results indicate that colon fibroblasts and not TCs are the major cellular component, recruiting and dictating the fate of infiltrated monocytes towards a specific macrophage population, characterized by high CD163 expression and CCL2 production

Cyclical Recovery Losing Momentum

In the last couple of months, business surveys in the euro area point to a slowdown of the recovery in the manufacturing sector. The boom in exports has not, or only hesitantly been transmitted to domestic demand. In Austria, exports and manufacturing output were still relatively lively early this year, while retail sales in the first two months of 2005 disappointed, given the positive income effects from the tax reform. The marked upward drift of inflation is squeezing private purchasing power.Business Cycle Report

Erdölverteuerung und Budgetkonsolidierung dämpfen Wirtschaftswachstum. Prognose für 2000 und 2001

Der deutliche Anstieg der Erdölpreise und die rasche Budgetkonsolidierung werden das Wirtschaftswachstum im kommenden Jahr dämpfen. Nach einem kräftigen Konjunkturaufschwung 2000 (+3,5%) wird das BIP 2001 um nur noch 2,8% zunehmen. Der Preisauftrieb schwächt sich 2001 mit dem Abklingen der Erdölpreishausse ab, und die Arbeitslosenquote geht weiter deutlich zurück. Das angestrebte Budgetziel eines Nettodefizits der öffentlichen Haushalte von ¾% des BIP kann dank der forcierten Konsolidierungsmaßnahmen erreicht werden, allerdings wird die Abgabenquote spürbar steigen.Erdölverteuerung und Budgetkonsolidierung dämpfen Wirtschaftswachstum. Prognose für 2000 und 2001

Die Wirtschaftslage in Österreich

Die Wirtschaftslage in Österreich