Worldscan; a model for international economic policy analysis

WorldScan is a recursively dynamic general equilibrium model for the world economy, developed for the analysis of long-term issues in international economics. The model is used both as a tool to construct long-term scenarios and as an instrument for policy impact assessments, e.g. in the fields of climate change, economic integration and trade. In general, with each application WorldScan is also adapted. This publication brings the model changes together, explains the model's current structure and illustrates the model's usage with some applications.

The liability of notified bodies under the EU's New Approach: the implications of the PIP breast implants case

In this article, we analyse the consequences of the CJEU’s judgment in Schmitt , a preliminary reference concerning the potential liability of the notified body TÜV Rheinland vis-à-vis women who had received breast implants produced by the French manufacturer Poly Implant Prothèse SA (PIP). Our discussion focuses on (1) the impact of the judgment on the damages actions that women have brought against TÜV Rheinland before national courts; (2) the future regulation of medical devices in the EU; and (3) the regulation of private standardisation and certification in EU law. We argue that Schmitt can be seen as part of a broader trend in the case law of the CJEU, in which private regulatory activities are gradually submitted to fundamental principles of EU law. While this "constitutionalisation" of private regulation strengthens the public accountability of these alternative forms of regulation, it also poses fundamental challenges to their current design and internal governance

The relationship between local scalp skin temperature and cutaneous perfusion during scalp cooling

Cooling the scalp during administration of chemotherapy can prevent hair loss. It reduces both skin blood flow and hair follicle temperature, thus affecting drug supply and drug effect in the hair follicle. The extent to which these mechanisms contribute to the hair preservative effect of scalp cooling remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to establish a relationship between local scalp skin temperature and cutaneous blood flow during scalp cooling. We measured skin temperature and cutaneous perfusion during a cooling and re-warming experiment. Experiments on a single subject showed that the measurements were reproducible and that the response was identical for the two positions that were measured. Inter-subject variability was investigated on nine subjects. We found that for the first 10 °C of cooling, perfusion of the scalp skin decreases to below 40%. Perfusion can be further reduced to below 30% by a few degrees more cooling, but a plateau is reached after that. We found that a generally accepted relation in thermal physiology between temperature and perfusion (i.e. Q10 relation) does not describe the data well, but we found an alternative relation that describes the average behavior significantly better

First optical images of circumstellar dust surrounding the debris disk candidate HD 32297

Near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope recently revealed a circumstellar dust disk around the A star HD 32297. Dust scattered light is detected as far as 400 AU radius and the linear morphology is consistent with a disk ~10 degrees away from an edge-on orientation. Here we present the first optical images that show the dust scattered light morphology from 560 to 1680 AU radius. The position angle of the putative disk midplane diverges by 31 degrees and the color of dust scattering is most likely blue. We associate HD 32297 with a wall of interstellar gas and the enigmatic region south of the Taurus molecular cloud. We propose that the extreme asymmetries and blue disk color originate from a collision with a clump of interstellar material as HD 32297 moves southward, and discuss evidence consistent with an age of 30 Myr or younger.Comment: 5 pages; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Violation of the `Zero-Force Theorem' in the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation

We demonstrate that the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation in combination with the exchange-only functional violates the `Zero-Force Theorem'. By analyzing the time-dependent dipole moment of Na5 and Na9+, we furthermore show that this can lead to an unphysical self-excitation of the system depending on the system properties and the excitation strength. Analytical aspects, especially the connection between the `Zero-Force Theorem' and the `Generalized-Translation Invariance' of the potential, are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

The Leiden Ranking 2011/2012: Data collection, indicators, and interpretation

The Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 is a ranking of universities based on bibliometric indicators of publication output, citation impact, and scientific collaboration. The ranking includes 500 major universities from 41 different countries. This paper provides an extensive discussion of the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012. The ranking is compared with other global university rankings, in particular the Academic Ranking of World Universities (commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Also, a detailed description is offered of the data collection methodology of the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 and of the indicators used in the ranking. Various innovations in the Leiden Ranking 2011/2012 are presented. These innovations include (1) an indicator based on counting a university's highly cited publications, (2) indicators based on fractional rather than full counting of collaborative publications, (3) the possibility of excluding non-English language publications, and (4) the use of stability intervals. Finally, some comments are made on the interpretation of the ranking, and a number of limitations of the ranking are pointed out