Emerging structural pressures in European labour markets

In recent years, a series of European labour market forecasts have been produced on behalf of, and have been published by, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). These forecasts were generated using a modular modelling approach containing two major components, a multi-sector macroeconomic model (E3ME) for 29 European countries, and a labour market extension (WLME). The countries are treated as an integrated system in E3ME but the extension is applied to each country separately. Forecasts of employment by industry are determined by E3ME; forecasts of employment by occupation and qualification are determined by the extension. Both components rely mainly on time series econometric techniques to generate their forecasts. Meagher et al. (2014) describe how the WLME can be replaced with an alternative extension (MLME) which uses computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling techniques. Compared to the WLME, the MLME relies less on time series analysis and more on explicitly modelled economic behaviour, based on theoretical considerations. In this paper, the design of the hybrid E3ME-MLME model is advanced in two ways. Firstly, MLME is configured such that, in the absence of any shocks and assuming that the occupational labour markets clear, it reproduces the forecasts derived using WLME. In that case, the MLME forecasts can be regarded as providing enhanced information about the WLME forecasts. In particular, MLME provides forecasts of changes in relative wage rates which can be used to identify structural pressures in the markets for labour, pressures which remain only implicit in the WLME employment forecasts produced for Cedefop. Secondly, when suitably configured, MLME can be used to determine the deviations to the WLME employment forecasts which would result if some of the conditions (either explicit or implicit) under which they were derived are relaxed. In particular, MLME is used to determine how the forecasts would be different if wage rates are not sufficiently flexible to clear the occupational labour markets. The attendant surpluses and shortages revealed by MLME provide corroborative evidence on the underlying structural pressures in the Cedefop forecasts. Results are reported for the United Kingdom, Greece and the Netherlands

Water-assisted growth of nano-floret hybrid nanostructures and their application in sensing platforms

Self-processing (SP) is typically recognized in the context of biological systems. For example, proteins and RNA molecules undergo SP, which includes chemical and structural modifications. Recently, we developed a new strategy for the synthesis of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures relying on self-processing mechanism which yield complex hybrid nanostructures in one step by triggering a programmable cascade of events that is autonomously executed. The semiconductor-metal hybrid nanostructures obtained resemble the morphology of grass flowers, termed here Nano-floret. Interestingly, water are used during the ‘growth’ process of Nano-florets as a mild etchant for synthesis intiation and progression. The synthesis mechanism was directly followed by in situ and ex situ scanning transmission electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analyses. Our results indicate that distinct processing steps including localized oxide etch and metal deposition and process termination can be identified similarly to conventional top-down processing sequences. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Using Water Allocation in Israel as a Proxy for Imputing the Value of Agricultural Amenities

This paper uses the water allocation economy in Israel as a proxy for imputing the value of agricultural amenities. A general equilibrium model is developed, and incorporates agricultural amenities as byproducts of agricultural production, water trade channels, and multiple water types. The premise is that until a decade ago, water policy in Israel was interlinked with agricultural land-use policy. Integrating a Monte-Carlo analysis, the model searches for a baseline minimum value of agricultural amenity that makes household, in the counterfactual scenario, indifferent between the administrative and market mechanisms. The minimum imputed value is around 109% agricultural output. The intuition is that the gains in economic welfare, from improved water use efficiency, are offset by the losses in social welfare due to a reduction in available agricultural amenities

Describing the Ionoregulatory Changes that Underlie Cold Acclimation in Drosophila Melanogaster

At low temperatures Drosophila lose the ability to regulate ion and water balance across the gut leading to a lethal accumulation of K+ in the haemolymph (hyperkalemia). Cold-acclimation can mitigate these ion imbalances, but the physiological mechanisms that facilitate this process are still not understood. Upon adult emergence, D. melanogaster females were subjected to seven days at 25C (warm-acclimation) or 10C (cold-acclimation). Cold-acclimation reduced the critical thermal minimum (CTmin), sped up recovery from chill coma, improved survival following cold stress, and mitigated cold-induced hyperkalemia. In parallel, cold-acclimated flies experienced increased Malpighian tubule fluid and K+ secretion and reduced rectal K+ reabsorption. These changes were independent of Na+/K+- or V-type H+-ATPases. These results suggest that modification of Malpighian tubule and gut mitigate cold-induced hyperkalemia. Additionally, I present preliminary findings on the effects of acclimation, sex, and blood-feeding on the cold tolerance of the arboviral disease vector mosquito, A. aegypti

Combined treatment of a solid tumour by local hyperthermia and actionomycin D.

(BALB/c X C57BL/6)F1 mice bearing an SV-40 fibrosarcoma in the limb were injected with 0.045, 0.09 and 0.18 microgram/g body wt actinomycin D into the tumour. Similar animals were also treated with local hyperthermia (39.7 degrees, 42.3 degrees and 43.6 degrees C intratumour temperature for 30 min). The marked increase in median survival time following the combination of drug and local hyperthermia indicates that the combined treatment has a synergistic effect in the control of solid tumours. The median survival time of animals receiving the two treatments in immediate succession was higher than in animals with 30 min between treatments. This has important implications for the therapy of human cancer