Protein digestibility and relevance to allergenicity.

In January 2001 a Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization Expert Consultation Committee on Allergenicity of Foods Derived from Biotechnology published a report outlining in detail an approach for assessing the allergenic potential of novel proteins. One component of this decision tree is a determination of whether the protein of interest is resistant to proteolytic digestion. Although these (Italic)in vitro(/Italic) methodologies have been useful, the correlation between resistance to proteolysis and allergenic activity is not absolute. Two views and highlights of supporting research regarding the relationship of resistance to digestion and allergenicity are presented in this article

Falling through the social safety net? Analysing non‐take‐up of minimum income benefit and monetary social assistance in Austria

Non‐take‐up of means tested benefits is a widespread phenomenon in European welfare states. The paper assesses whether the reform that replaced the monetary social assistance benefit by the minimum income benefit in Austria in 2010/11 has succeeded in increasing take up rates. We use EU‐SILC register data together with the tax‐benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD/SORESI. The results show that the reform led to a significant decrease of non‐take‐up from 53 to 30% in terms of the number of households and from 51 to 30% in terms of expenditure. Following the three‐t's (threshold, trigger, and trade‐off) introduced by Van Oorschot, estimates of a two‐stage Heckman selection model as well as expert interviews indicate that the taken measures include both threshold and trade‐off characteristics. Elements such as the higher degree of anonymity within the claiming process, the provision of health insurance, binding minimum standards, the limitation of the maintenance obligations, new regulations related to the liquidation of wealth, as well as the general coverage of the benefit reform in the media and in public discussions led to an improved access to the benefit

Efficiency in Health Care: a Market Model for Developed Economies

SUMMARY Public and private health care markets exhibit the same defects: the ‘third party’ (the state or the insurer) pays, and neither the consumer nor the producer has much incentive to economise in the use of scarce resources. Unless these defects are remedied by managerial innovations and essential basic research, the inefficiency and cost inflation will continue. RESUMEN Eficiencia en la atención de salud: un modelo de Mercado par alas economías desarrolladas Los mercados público y privado de atención de salud, denotan los mismos defectos. La ‘tercera parte’ (el estado o el asegurador) paga y tanto el consumidor como el productor, carecen de incentivos suficientes para economizaren el uso de recursos escasos. La ineficiencia y la inflación de costos continuarán, a menos que estos defectos sean subsanados mediante innovaciones administrativas e investigaciones básicas esenciales. RESUMES Efficacité de l'assistance médicale: un marché modèle pour le développement économique Les marchés publics et privés d'assistance médicale montrent les mêmes défauts. Le tiers parti (l'état ou l'assureur) paye, et ni le consommateur, ni le producteur n'ont beaucoup d'encouragement pour économiser l'utilisation des matières rares. A moins que ces défauts soient remédiés par des innovations directoriales et d'essentielles recherches de base, l'inefficacité et la hausse des coûts inflationniste continueront

Eastern partnership migrants in Germany: outcomes, potentials and challenges

Despite the ongoing dialogue on facilitating mobility between the European Union and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, very little is known about the magnitude and characteristics of migration from these countries. We find that EaP migrants experience worse labor market outcomes than other migrant groups, but current and potential migrants hold qualifications in those areas were skill shortages are expected. Therefore, the monitoring and supervision of EaP integration will be consequential in order to understand how much of the current brain waste is driven by poor assessment of foreign qualifications, and to unleash the potential of migration for the German economy

The puzzle of Muslim advantage in child survival in India.

The socio-economic status of Indian Muslims is, on average, considerably lower than that of upper caste Hindus. Muslims have higher fertility and shorter birth spacing and are a minority group that, it has been argued, have poorer access to public goods. They nevertheless exhibit substantially higher child survival rates, and have done for decades. This paper documents and analyses this seeming puzzle. The religion gap in survival is much larger than the gender gap but, in contrast to the gender gap, it has not received much political or academic attention. A decomposition of the survival differential reveals that some compositional effects favour Muslims but that, overall, differences in characteristics between the communities and especially the Muslim deficit in parental education predict a Hindu advantage. Alternative outcomes and specifications support our finding of a Muslim fixed effect that favours survival. The results of this study contribute to a recent literature that debates the importance of socioeconomic status (SES) in determining health and survival. They augment a growing literature on the role of religion or culture as encapsulating important unobservable behaviours or endowments that influence health, indeed, enough to reverse the SES gradient that is commonly observed

From the open road to the high seas? Piracy, damnation and resistance in academic consumption of publishing

Armin Beverungen conducts research on how universities retain their charitable status in a market environment, and on the teaching of ethics in business schools. Steffen Böhm has a particular interest in the economics and management of sustainability. He has also founded an open access journal and an open access press, MayFlyBooks. Christopher Land works on artists and the management of their creativity

Case Studies and the Teaching of Development

SUMMARY Case studies come in several forms and can be used for different pedagogic and academic purposes. The authors examine the role of case study in development studies teaching, reviewing definitions and actual usages. The experience of Harvard in the 1920s and 1930s is considered since there are parallels between business studies then and development studies today. Three dimensions of case study (not always clarified in the literature) relevant for development studies are considered: case study as a teaching method, particularly for small groups; case study as research activity; and case study and the process of generalisation in an interdisciplinary study area. The general argument is that there are good reasons for using case study, but for successful transcultural teaching, more attention needs to be given to educational issues where case study is used with students from a variety of different economic and cultural backgrounds. RESUME Les études de cas et l'enseignement du développement Les études de cas se présentent sous diverses formes et peuvent être utilisées à des fins pédagogiques et académiques différentes. Les auteurs examinent le rôle de l'étude de cas dans l'enseignement des études sur le développement, en passant en revue les définitions et les utilisations actuelles. Ils s'intéressent à l'expérience de Harvard dans les années 20 et 30 car il y a des parallèles entre les études de gestion d'alors et les études sur le développement d'aujourd'hui. Trois dimensions de l'étude de cas (pas toujours expliquées dans les textes) s'appliquant aux études sur le développement sont examinées ici: l'étude de cas en tant que méthode d'enseignement, en particulier pour les petits groupes; l'étude de cas en tant qu'activité de recherche; et l'étude de cas et le processus de généralisation dans un domaine d'étude interdisciplinaire. L'argument général est qu'il y a de bonnes raisons pour utiliser l'étude de cas, mais pour un bon enseignement transculturel, il faut prêter davantage d'attention aux problèmes d'éducation lorsque l'étude de cas est utilisée avec des étudiants venant de milieux culturels et économiques divers. RESUMEN Estudios de casos típicos y la enseñanza del desarrollo Los estudios de casos típicos se presentan de varias formas y se pueden utilizar para diversos fines pedagógicos y académicos. Los autores examinan la función del estudio de casos en la enseñanza de estudios sobre el desarrollo, reseñando las definiciones y las aplicaciones efectivas. Se considera la experiencia de Harvard en los decenios de 1920 y 1930, ya que existen similitudes entre los estudios sobre negocios en aquella época y los estudios sobre el desarrollo en la actualidad. Se consideran tres dimensiones del estudio de casos (no siempre puestas en claro en nivel informativo) que están relacionados con los estudios sobre el desarrollo: el estudio de casos típicos como método de enseñanza, especialmente para grupos pequeños; el estudio de casos típicos como actividad de investigación; y el estudio de casos típicos y el proceso de generalización en una esfera de estudios entre disciplines. El argumento general es que hay buenos motivos para utilizar el estudio de casos típicos, pero para que la enseñanza de las relaciones culturales recíprocas tenga éxito se tiene que prestar mayor atención a los aspectos docentes cuando el estudio de casos típicos se utilice con estudiantes de diversas procedencias culturales y económicas