1,462 research outputs found

    Euroscepticism in Austria

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    Sowohl in der Öffentlichkeit als auch in der Literatur wurde viel über Euroskeptizismus gesprochen, jedoch hat man sich nie auf eine klare Definition des Terminus einigen können. Daher ist es Gegenstand dieser Diplomarbeit eine klare Definition von Euroskeptizismus herauszuarbeiten, sowie ein umfassendes Konzept von Euroskeptizismus zu entwickeln. Vorhergehende Studien zu diesem Phänomen haben gezeigt, dass es nicht nur eine Art von Euroskeptizismus gibt. Um herauszufinden, warum in verschiedenen Ländern der EU euroskeptische Haltungen aufkommen, muss unabdingbar zwischen den verschiedenen Arten von Euroskeptizismus unterschieden werden. Bis vor kurzem wurde Forschung zu Euroskeptizismus vornehmlich in den Bereichen der Parteien- und Meinungsforschung betrieben. Es ist noch wenig über die Art und Weise bekannt, wie Medien über die EU berichten. Für die Bevölkerung der EU sind Massenmedien die Hauptquelle um Informationen über das politische Geschehen zu erhalten und stellen damit das Medium dar, das maßgeblich für die Meinungsbildung bezüglich politischer Themen verantwortlich ist. In den drei Wochen vor den Europaparlamentswahlen 2009 von PIREDEU (Providing an Infrastructure for Research on Electoral Democracy in the European Union) eine europaweite Medienstudie durchgeführt. Die daraus gewonnenen Daten dienen dieser Diplomarbeit als Grundlage für die empirische Analyse von Euroskeptizismus in den österreichischen Medien. Im empirischen Teil der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit wird die Frage behandelt, welche Art von Kritik an der EU in den österreichischen Medien am häufigsten geäußert wurde. Dabei untersuche ich, welche Objekte und Prozesse der EU am häufigsten kritisiert wurden und welche Abwägungen dabei im Vordergrund standen.Much has been discussed in the literature and in public about Euroscepticism. Often without the existence of a clear notion of what Euroscepticism actually is and which characteristics define the phenomenon. The present thesis, for one thing, is concerned with choosing an adequate definition of the term, as well as with developing a comprehensive concept of Euroscepticism. Previous research has shown that there is no such thing as ‘one kind’ of Euroscepticism. It is crucial to distinguish between the various types of Euroscepticism when research in the field of Euroscepticism is conducted. Without this, it will not be possible to learn what drives eurosceptic stances in the different Member States of the EU. Up until now, citizens’ opinions and the stances of political parties have been in the focus of research on Euroscepticism. Little is known by now on the attitudes mass media conveys concerning the EU. Mass media is the mean through which citizens register political events and with which they build their opinions concerning politics. A European-wide media study has been conducted in the three weeks preceding the European Parliament Elections 2009 within PIREDEU (Providing an Infrastructure for Research on Electoral Democracy in the European Union). The data collected in this study for Austria constitutes the basis for the empirical analysis of the present thesis. The present thesis tries to give an insight on which critical voices were most frequent in the Austrian media concerning the EU. Which entities and processes were in the focus of critique in the Austrian media and which concerns and evaluations were the most dominant

    Comparative and Functional Genomics of Legionella Identified Eukaryotic Like Proteins as Key Players in Host–Pathogen Interactions

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    Although best known for its ability to cause severe pneumonia in people whose immune defenses are weakened, Legionella pneumophila and Legionella longbeachae are two species of a large genus of bacteria that are ubiquitous in nature, where they parasitize protozoa. Adaptation to the host environment and exploitation of host cell functions are critical for the success of these intracellular pathogens. The establishment and publication of the complete genome sequences of L. pneumophila and L. longbeachae isolates paved the way for major breakthroughs in understanding the biology of these organisms. In this review we present the knowledge gained from the analyses and comparison of the complete genome sequences of different L. pneumophila and L. longbeachae strains. Emphasis is given on putative virulence and Legionella life cycle related functions, such as the identification of an extended array of eukaryotic like proteins, many of which have been shown to modulate host cell functions to the pathogen’s advantage. Surprisingly, many of the eukaryotic domain proteins identified in L. pneumophila as well as many substrates of the Dot/Icm type IV secretion system essential for intracellular replication are different between these two species, although they cause the same disease. Finally, evolutionary aspects regarding the eukaryotic like proteins in Legionella are discussed

    Molecular Diagnosis of Endemic Mycoses

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    Endemic mycoses; Molecular diagnosisMicosis endémicas; Diagnóstico molecularMicosis endèmiques; Diagnòstic molecularDiagnosis of endemic mycoses is still challenging. The moderated availability of reliable diagnostic methods, the lack of clinical suspicion out of endemic areas and the limitations of conventional techniques result in a late diagnosis that, in turn, delays the implementation of the correct antifungal therapy. In recent years, molecular methods have emerged as promising tools for the rapid diagnosis of endemic mycoses. However, the absence of a consensus among laboratories and the reduced availability of commercial tests compromises the diagnostic effectiveness of these methods. In this review, we summarize the advantages and limitations of molecular methods for the diagnosis of endemic mycoses.This research was funded by research project PI21CIII/00007 from Spanish Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III

    Gestión por competencia y satisfacción de los estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional de Moquegua, 2020

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    La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar la relación entre la gestión por competencia y la satisfacción de los estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional de Moquegua. Su ejecución se realizó dentro de los rigores del método científico. La investigación es de tipo Básico de enfoque cuantitativo, No Experimental de corte transeccional y de diseño correlacional. La población fue de 1882, después de realizar el muestreo probabilístico dio como resulta una muestra de 319 estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional de Moquegua. Se empleó la encuesta virtual y anónima, siendo el cuestionario el instrumento más adecuado, un cuestionario se tomó para la variable de gestión por competencia y otra para la variable satisfacción. Los instrumentos fueron debidamente validados por expertos y con una confiabilidad alta medido a través de la consistencia de Alpha de Cronbach de 0.949 y 0.973 para cada variable. Los datos se encuentran alojados en la nube de donde se tomó para el procesamiento y presentación estadísticamente de los resultados a través del programa SPSS versión 25. Los resultados demuestran que los estudiantes mayoritariamente están de acuerdo con la gestión por competencia que la Universidad Nacional de Moquegua ha logrado; y gran parte de los encuestados manifiestan que su nivel de satisfacción como estudiante es el adecuado. Además, el contraste de hipótesis a través de la prueba de Rho de Spearman nos da un p-valor de 0.000, donde se rechaza la hipótesis nula y se acepta la hipótesis alterna, con la premisa que si existe una relación entre la gestión por competencia y la satisfacción de los estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional de Moquegua; y con un valor de correlación de 0.806 que indica que es una correlación positiva alta o fuert

    Numerical Investigation of Galloping Instabilities in Z-Shaped Profiles

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    Aeroelastic effects are relatively common in the design of modern civil constructions such as office blocks, airport terminal buildings, and factories. Typical flexible structures exposed to the action of wind are shading devices, normally slats or louvers. A typical cross-section for such elements is a Z-shaped profile, made out of a central web and two-side wings. Galloping instabilities are often determined in practice using the Glauert-Den Hartog criterion. This criterion relies on accurate predictions of the dependence of the aerodynamic force coefficients with the angle of attack. The results of a parametric analysis based on a numerical analysis and performed on different Z-shaped louvers to determine translational galloping instability regions are presented in this paper. These numerical analysis results have been validated with a parametric analysis of Z-shaped profiles based on static wind tunnel tests. In order to perform this validation, the DLR TAU Code, which is a standard code within the European aeronautical industry, has been used. This study highlights the focus on the numerical prediction of the effect of galloping, which is shown in a visible way, through stability maps. Comparisons between numerical and experimental data are presented with respect to various meshes and turbulence models

    Sensitisation to Act 2d in patientsallergic to Alternaria alternanta: an epiphenomenom without clinical significance?

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    In the last few years, the introduction of microarrays in the diagnosis of type I allergy is allowing the clinicians to have a much more accurate picture of their allergenic profile. However, the simultaneous measurement of specific IgE to multiple molecules can show unexpected sensitisations, without knowing their clinical relevance. For instance, we have been observing a high prevalence (74%) of sensitisation to Act d 2 (the thaumatin of kiwifruit) in patients sensitised to Alt a 1 (major allergen of Alternaria alternata) with a confirmed allergy to this mould. The aim of the present study was to clarify if there was any clinical relevance in this finding

    Late Pleistocene to Holocene palaeoenvironmental variability in the north-west Spanish mountains: insights from a source-to-sink environmental magnetic study of Lake Sanabria

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    International audienceWe present a source-to-sink environmental magnetic study of a sediment core from Lake Sanabria (north-west Iberian Peninsula) and rocks of its catchment. The results indicate the occurrence of magnetite, and probably also pyrrhotite, in sediments accumulated between ca. 26 and 13 cal ka BP in a proglacial lake environment. These minerals also appear to dominate the magnetic assemblage of Palaeozoic rocks from the lake catchment. This indicates that sedimentation was then driven by the erosion of glacial flour, which suffered minimal chemical transformation due to a rapid and short routing to the lake. A sharp change in magnetic properties observed in the lake sediments between 13 and 12.6 cal ka BP reflects the rapid retreat of glaciers from the lake catchment. Sediments from the upper half of the studied sequence, accumulated after 12.6 cal ka BP in a lacustrine environment with strong fluvial influence, contain magnetite and smaller amounts of maghemite and greigite. We suggest that greigite grew authigenically under anoxic conditions caused by enhanced accumulation of organic matter into the lake. The occurrence of maghemite in these sediments suggests pedogenic activity in the then deglaciated lake catchment before the erosion and transportation of detrital material into the lake

    An interpolation tool for aeroelastic data transfer problems

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    In the loosely-coupled aeroelastic methodology, the aerodynamic and structural models are computed on different meshes. CFD tools are applied over the aerodynamic grid whereas CSM tools over the structural one. Depending on the model, the meshes can or not share an interface. In stick models, for example, there is no real interface. A common problem consists on transfering structural deformations to the aerodynamic mesh and aerodynamic loads to the structural one. In this work we have developed an interpolation tool based on Radial Basis Functions (RBF) to transfer information between loosely-coupled meshes, independent of their topologies. The problem arises when we have to deal with large meshes. In these cases, a domain decomposition is necessary to create more simplyfied fields that can be more easily handle by the interpolator. As the interpolation process is driven separately between each pair of associated blocks, the displacements at the junction nodes could be different. This fact could cause the ripping of the mesh along the junctions. A solution for this situation is also provided. The general methodology has been tested successfully in a whole aircraft configuration

    Influence of Polyol/Crosslinker Blend Composition on Phase Separation and Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Thin Films

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    [EN] Polyurethanes (PUs) from Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polycaprolactone diol (PCL) and a crosslinker, Pentaerythritol (PE), were synthetized with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). In this study, we investigated the effect of polyol and crosslinker composition on phase separation and thermo-mechanical properties. The properties were studied through dynamic mechanical analysis, X-ray scattering, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed changes in PUs properties, microphase structure, and separation due to the composition of polyol/crosslinker blend. So, the largest concentration of PE produced multimodal loss factor patterns, indicating segment segregation while PUs with a PEG/PCL = 1 displayed a monomodal loss factor pattern, indicating a homogeneously distributed microphase separation. Additionally, the increase of the PEG concentration enhanced the damping capacity. On the other hand, agglomeration and thread-like structures of hard segments (HS) were observed through AFM. Finally, the thermal behavior of PUs was affected by chemical composition. Lower concentration of PE reduced the crosslinking; hence, the temperature with the maximum degradation rate.This work was supported by: Universidad de La Sabana (Grant number ING-176-2016); COLCIENCIAS, today Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of the republic of Colombia, (Grant number 808-2018); Fondo Francisco Jose de Caldas (Contract number CT22-2017). CIBER-BBN is an initiative funded by the VI National R&D & I Plan 2008-2011, "IniciativaIngenio 2010", Consolider Program. CIBER actions are financed by the "Instituto de Salud Carlos III" with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. DocumentArevalo-Alquichire, S.; Morales-Gonzalez, M.; Navas-Gomez, K.; Diaz, LE.; Gómez-Tejedor, J.; Serrano, M.; Valero, MF. (2020). 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