Moments of ϕ\phi meson spectral functions in vacuum and nuclear matter

Moments of the $\phi$ meson spectral function in vacuum and in nuclear matter are analyzed, combining a model based on chiral SU(3) effective field theory (with kaonic degrees of freedom) and finite-energy QCD sum rules. For the vacuum we show that the spectral density is strongly constrained by a recent accurate measurement of the $e^+ e^- \to K^+ K^-$ cross section. In nuclear matter the $\phi$ spectrum is modified by interactions of the decay kaons with the surrounding nuclear medium, leading to a significant broadening and an asymmetric deformation of the $\phi$ meson peak. We demonstrate that both in vacuum and nuclear matter, the first two moments of the spectral function are compatible with finite-energy QCD sum rules. A brief discussion of the next-higher spectral moment involving strange four-quark condensates is also presented.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; published versio

Can EU Conditionality Remedy Soft Budget Constraints in Transition Countries?

Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality theoretically and empirically. First, modelling the SBC problem as a war of attrition between the applicant countries' governments and firms we find that outside conditionality can foster SBC hardening. Yet, toughening the EU stance or reducing the number of enlargement rounds may have ambiguous effects. Second, estimating SBC hardening in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes we find that EU conditionality did indeed help candidates to fight SBCs.soft budget constraint, EU enlargement, war of attrition

Doorkeepers and Gatecrashers: EU Enlargement and Negotiation Strategies

This paper discusses the eastward enlargement process of the EU in the framework of a simple war of attrition bargaining game. Both players - the existing EU members and the applicants - benefit from enlargement, yet for the applicants reform to the acquis is costly, while the EU prefers substantially reformed candidates. A waiting game unfolds. Within this framework the present enlargement round is analyzed and policy results are deduced. For example, it is shown that delegating the evaluation of applicants to a third party, compensating applicants for their reform efforts or increasing the benefits for new members are all effective negotiation strategies for the EU that have been applied in the process.EU enlargement, eastern enlargement, bargaining, reform, war of attrition.

Doorkeepers and Gatecrashers: EU Enlargement and Negotiation Strategies

This paper discusses the eastward enlargement process of the EU in the framework of a simple war of attrition bargaining game. Both players – the existing EU members and the applicants – benefit from enlargement, yet for the applicants reform to the acquis is costly, while the EU prefers substantially reformed candidates. A waiting game unfolds. Within this framework the present enlargement round is analyzed and policy results are deduced. For example, it is shown that delegating the evaluation of applicants to a third party, compensating applicants for their reform efforts or increasing the benefits for new members are all effective negotiation strategies for the EU that have been applied in the process

Can EU Conditionality Remedy Soft Budget Constraints in Transition Countries?

Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality theoretically and empirically. First, modelling the SBC problem as a war of attrition between the applicant countries? governments and firms we find that outside conditionality can foster SBC hardening. Yet, toughening the EU stance or reducing the number of enlargement rounds may have ambiguous effects. Second, estimating SBC hardening in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes we find that EU conditionality did indeed help candidates to fight SBCs

Special issue editorial: Key results of the european human biomonitoring initiative - HBM4EU

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Disentangled Latent Speech Representation for Automatic Pathological Intelligibility Assessment

Speech intelligibility assessment plays an important role in the therapy of patients suffering from pathological speech disorders. Automatic and objective measures are desirable to assist therapists in their traditionally subjective and labor-intensive assessments. In this work, we investigate a novel approach for obtaining such a measure using the divergence in disentangled latent speech representations of a parallel utterance pair, obtained from a healthy reference and a pathological speaker. Experiments on an English database of Cerebral Palsy patients, using all available utterances per speaker, show high and significant correlation values (R = -0.9) with subjective intelligibility measures, while having only minimal deviation (+-0.01) across four different reference speaker pairs. We also demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method (R = -0.89 deviating +-0.02 over 1000 iterations) by considering a significantly smaller amount of utterances per speaker. Our results are among the first to show that disentangled speech representations can be used for automatic pathological speech intelligibility assessment, resulting in a reference speaker pair invariant method, applicable in scenarios with only few utterances available.Comment: Submitted to INTERSPEECH202

Involuntary shifts of spatial attention contribute to distraction—Evidence from oscillatory alpha power and reaction time data

Imagine you are focusing on the traffic on a busy street to ride your bike safely when suddenly you hear the siren of an ambulance. This unexpected sound involuntarily captures your attention and interferes with ongoing performance. We tested whether this type of distraction involves a spatial shift of attention. We measured behavioral data and magnetoencephalographic alpha power during a cross‐modal paradigm that combined an exogenous cueing task and a distraction task. In each trial, a task‐irrelevant sound preceded a visual target (left or right). The sound was usually the same animal sound (i.e., standard sound). Rarely, it was replaced by an unexpected environmental sound (i.e., deviant sound). Fifty percent of the deviants occurred on the same side as the target, and 50% occurred on the opposite side. Participants responded to the location of the target. As expected, responses were slower to targets that followed a deviant compared to a standard. Crucially, this distraction effect was mitigated by the spatial relationship between the targets and the deviants: responses were faster when targets followed deviants on the same versus different side, indexing a spatial shift of attention. This was further corroborated by a posterior alpha power modulation that was higher in the hemisphere ipsilateral (vs. contralateral) to the location of the attention‐capturing deviant. We suggest that this alpha power lateralization reflects a spatial attention bias. Overall, our data support the contention that spatial shifts of attention contribute to deviant distraction

Molecular characterization of hematopoietic stem cells after in vitro amplification on biomimetic 3D PDMS cell culture scaffolds

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is successfully applied since the late 1950s. However, its efficacy can be impaired by insufficient numbers of donor HSCs. A promising strategy to overcome this hurdle is the use of an advanced ex vivo culture system that supports the proliferation and, at the same time, maintains the pluripotency of HSCs. Therefore, we have developed artificial 3D bone marrow-like scaffolds made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that model the natural HSC niche in vitro. These 3D PDMS scaffolds in combination with an optimized HSC culture medium allow the amplification of high numbers of undifferentiated HSCs. After 14 days in vitro cell culture, we performed transcriptome and proteome analysis. Ingenuity pathway analysis indicated that the 3D PDMS cell culture scaffolds altered PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways and activated SREBP, HIF1α and FOXO signaling, leading to metabolic adaptations, as judged by ELISA, Western blot and metabolic flux analysis. These molecular signaling pathways can promote the expansion of HSCs and are involved in the maintenance of their pluripotency. Thus, we have shown that the 3D PDMS scaffolds activate key molecular signaling pathways to amplify the numbers of undifferentiated HSCs ex vivo effectively

“Be Sustainable”: EOSC-Life Recommendations for Implementation of FAIR Principles in Life Science Data Handling

The main goals and challenges for the life science communities in the Open Science framework are to increase reuse and sustainability of data resources, software tools, and workflows, especially in large-scale data-driven research and computational analyses. Here, we present key findings, procedures, effective measures and recommendations for generating and establishing sustainable life science resources based on the collaborative, cross-disciplinary work done within the EOSC-Life (European Open Science Cloud for Life Sciences) consortium. Bringing together 13 European life science research infrastructures, it has laid the foundation for an open, digital space to support biological and medical research. Using lessons learned from 27 selected projects, we describe the organisational, technical, financial and legal/ethical challenges that represent the main barriers to sustainability in the life sciences. We show how EOSC-Life provides a model for sustainable data management according to FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) principles, including solutions for sensitive- and industry-related resources, by means of cross-disciplinary training and best practices sharing. Finally, we illustrate how data harmonisation and collaborative work facilitate interoperability of tools, data, solutions and lead to a better understanding of concepts, semantics and functionalities in the life sciences