The Greek crisis shows that what we need is more Europe, not less

What would a Greek exit from the euro mean for the future of European integration? Michiel van Hulten writes that although the notion that a Grexit could spell the beginning of the end for the integration process is far-fetched, the EU is nevertheless in serious need of reform. He argues however that the solution is unlikely to be found in reducing the powers delegated to Brussels, noting that the Greek crisis could have been avoided if more stock had been put in the views of the European Commission when Greece initially joined the EEC

Why debt relief could save Greece but would destroy the Eurozone

Should Greece now be granted more favourable terms by its creditors following the ‘no’ vote in the country’s referendum? Michiel van Hulten writes that while most economists view some form of debt restructuring as necessary for Greece to recover, it would be exceptionally difficult politically to sell the principle of debt relief in other Eurozone countries. He argues that by voting ‘no’ Greece has effectively closed the door on the rest of Europe and that although the Eurozone may be able to cope with a Grexit, it could never survive an electoral revolt among its citizens

Increased tolerance of Litopenaeus vannamei to white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection after oral application of the viral envelope protein VP28

It has been generally accepted that invertebrates such as shrimp do not have an adaptive immune response system comparable to that of vertebrates. However, in the last few years, several studies have suggested the existence of such a response in invertebrates. In one of these studies, the shrimp Penaeus monodon showed increased protection against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) using a recombinant VP28 envelope protein of WSSV. In an effort to further investigate whether this increased protection is limited to P. monodon or can be extended to other penaeid shrimp, experiments were performed using the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. As found with P. monodon, a significantly lower cumulative mortality for VP28-fed shrimp was found compared to the controls. These experiments demonstrate that there is potential to use oral application of specific proteins to protect the 2 most important cultured shrimp species, P. monodon and L. vannamei, against WSSV. Most likely, this increased protection is based on a shared and, therefore, general defence mechanism present in all shrimp species. This makes the design of intervention strategies against pathogens based on defined proteins a viable option for shrimp cultur

Measuring intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth in Europe

This study describes the state of the art in the measurement of intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth, with a focus on an international comparison of intangible capital deepening among eleven advanced economies. By employing a broad measure of intangibles, including computerized information, innovative property and economic competencies, we find a relatively large impact on growth. Intangible capital explains about a quarter of labour-productivity in the US and larger countries of the EU. The continental West-European countries show a distinction between countries with significant contributions from intangible capital deepening and a group of laggards. Catching-up countries such as the Czech Republic, Greece and Slovakia show much larger contributions from tangible capital deepening than from intangibles, and also larger multi-factor productivity (MFP) growth rates related to the restructuring of those countries.Economic growth; productivity; capital; innovation

Aluminium and manganese in the West Atlantic Ocean:A model study

Het doel van deze studie is om tot een beter begrip te komen van het gedrag van de spoormetalen aluminium (Al) en mangaan (Mn) in de oceaan, door middel van het simuleren van de distributies van opgelost Al en opgelost Mn met biogeochemische modellen die ingebed zijn in driedimensionale oceaanmodellen. Recent zijn vele monsters van zeewater geanalyseerd binnen het GEOTRACES-programma dat tot doel heeft de biogeochemische kringlopen beter te begrijpen, met als focus de metingen van spoormetalen in monsters zeewater. Die monsters zijn geverifieerd aan de hand van internationale referentiemonsters en de consensuswaarden van het GEOTRACES-programma. In dit proefschrift zijn deze gemeten concentraties van opgelost Al en Mn vergeleken met gesimuleerde opgeloste Al- en Mn-concentraties in een computermodel. Op hun beurt kunnen de resultaten van deze simulaties worden gebruikt voor het verder ontwikkelen van deze modellen om de verdelingen van opgelost Al en Mn preciezer te simuleren, en/of ons begrip van de processen te verbeteren. Er zijn twee redenen waarom het gedrag van Al in de oceaan wordt onderzocht. Op de eerste plaats wordt Al opgenomen door diatomeeën, een type fytoplankton met een extern skelet van kiezel (SiO₂), als plaatsvervangend spoormetaal voor silicium (Si). De verhouding van opname is in de orde van circa één atoom Al per 500–1000 atomen Si. Naarmate kiezel een hogere concentratie Al bevat, wordt de oplosbaarheid ervan lager, wat een effect heeft op de beschikbaarheid van Si in de fotische zone waar diatomeeën kunnen groeien. Op de tweede plaats kan de concentratie van opgelost Al in het oppervlak van de oceaan worden gebruikt als indicator voor beschikbare nutriënten van stofdeeltjes die vanaf het land via de lucht in het oppervlaktewater van de oceanen terecht komen. Deze stofdeeltjes bevatten zowel Al als diverse spoornutriënten, met name ijzer (Fe) en mangaan (Mn). Het biogeochemische Al-model in dit proefschrift heeft twee bronnen: de atmosfeer (stof) en het sediment in de oceaan. Interne processen zijn adsorptie van Al aan kiezel, sedimentatie en circulatie. De belangrijkste kenmerken van de wereldwijde distributie van opgelost Al in de oceaan zijn gesimuleerd in overeenstemming met de beschikbare observaties. In het bijzonder hebben we de GEOTRACES-observaties in de West-Atlantische Oceaan en de Atlantische sector van de Zuidelijke Oceaan redelijk goed kunnen reproduceren met het model. Mangaan wordt gebruikt voor fotosynthese. Wegens deze belangrijke functie willen we graag weten hoe Mn verdeeld is in de oceaan. Mangaan komt binnen in de oceaan via atmosferisch stof, rivieren, onderwatervulkanen en diffusie uit het sediment. Mangaan wordt verwijderd door oxidatie en zinken van geoxideerd Mn, en het zinken van door plankton opgenomen Mn. Dit proefschrift bevat het eerste onderzoek waarin de driedimensionale distributies van opgelost Mn en mangaanoxides zijn gemodelleerd. Veel kenmerken van de distributie van opgelost Mn zijn gereproduceerd door het model. Deze kenmerken bevatten de over het algemeen hogere concentraties van opgelost Mn onder en stroomopwaarts van locaties van stofdepositie, en de verhoogde concentraties nabij vulkanische bronnen

Long-term climate simulation in NorESM: burst-coupling the sediment in the BLOM/iHAMOCC ocean module

In this report we set forth a simulation method for long-term simulations of NorESM, the Norwegian Earth System Model. In this the sediment is repeatedly decoupled and coupled to the ocean model (BLOM/iHAMOCC), a process called burst coupling. Through this, the ocean (seawater and sediment) is brought into an approximate steady state. We show that just the model has to run at least 50000 yr to get in an approximate steady state. With burst coupling this can be done in a computationally reasonable time (wall time in the order of one week). The method can be used to generate the sediment over hundreds of thousands of years, so it is useful not only for present-day simulations but also for paleo-climatological studies

Prevalence of obstructive coronary artery disease and prognosis in patients with stable symptoms and a zero-coronary calcium score

© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.Aims: CT calcium scoring (CTCS) and CT cardiac angiography (CTCA) are widely used in patients with stable chest pain to exclude significant coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to resolve uncertainty about the prevalence of obstructive coronary artery disease and long-term outcomes in patients with a zero-calcium score (ZCS). Methods and results: Consecutive patients with stable cardiac symptoms referred for CTCS or CTCS and CTCA from chest pain clinics to a tertiary cardiothoracic centre were prospectively enrolled. In those with a ZCS, the prevalence of obstructive CAD on CTCA was determined. A follow-up for all-cause mortality was obtained from the NHS tracer service. A total of 3914 patients underwent CTCS of whom 2730 (69.7%) also had a CTCA. Half of the patients were men (50.3%) with a mean age of 56.9 years. Among patients who had both procedures, a ZCS was present in 52.2%, with a negative predictive value of 99.5% for excluding ≥70% stenosis on CTCA. During a mean follow-up of 5.2 years, the annual event rate was 0.3% for those with ZCS compared with 1.2% for CS ≥1. The presence of non-calcified atheroma on CTCA in patients with ZCS did not affect the prognostic value (P = 0.98). Conclusion: In patients with stable symptoms and a ZCS, obstructive CAD is rare, and prognosis over the long-term is excellent, regardless of whether non-calcified atheroma is identified. A ZCS could reliably be used as a 'gatekeeper' in this patient cohort, obviating the need for further more expensive tests.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio