Decisions on Seasonal Unit Roots

Decisions on the presence of seasonal unit roots in economic time series are commonly taken on the basis of statistical hypothesis tests. Some of these tests have absence of unit roots as the null hypothesis, while others use unit roots as their null. Following a suggestion by Hylleberg (1995) to combine such tests in order to reach a clearer conclusion, we evaluate the merits of such test combinations on the basis of a Bayesian decision setup. We find that the potential gains over a pure application of the most common test due to Hylleberg et al. (1990) are small.

Reproduction-Related Sound Production of Grasshoppers Regulated by Internal State and Actual Sensory Environment

The interplay of neural and hormonal mechanisms activated by entero- and extero-receptors biases the selection of actions by decision making neuronal circuits. The reproductive behavior of acoustically communicating grasshoppers, which is regulated by short-term neural and longer-term hormonal mechanisms, has frequently been used to study the cellular and physiological processes that select particular actions from the species-specific repertoire of behaviors. Various grasshoppers communicate with species- and situation-specific songs in order to attract and court mating partners, to signal reproductive readiness, or to fend off competitors. Selection and coordination of type, intensity, and timing of sound signals is mediated by the central complex, a highly structured brain neuropil known to integrate multimodal pre-processed sensory information by a large number of chemical messengers. In addition, reproductive activity including sound production critically depends on maturation, previous mating experience, and oviposition cycles. In this regard, juvenile hormone released from the corpora allata has been identified as a decisive hormonal signal necessary to establish reproductive motivation in grasshopper females. Both regulatory systems, the central complex mediating short-term regulation and the corpora allata mediating longer-term regulation of reproduction-related sound production mutually influence each other’s activity in order to generate a coherent state of excitation that promotes or suppresses reproductive behavior in respective appropriate or inappropriate situations. This review summarizes our current knowledge about extrinsic and intrinsic factors that influence grasshopper reproductive motivation, their representation in the nervous system and their integrative processing that mediates the initiation or suppression of reproductive behaviors

Key Resources and Sociocultural Developments in the Iberian Chalcolithic

The Iberian Peninsula displays extreme geographic and climatic differences, resulting in very different local preconditions. To what extent are these responsible for the heterogeneous social and cultural development in different regions observable during the 3rd mill. BC? To answer this question it is necessary to identify what was considered to be a resource and to determine how these resources were valuated. This book aims at investigating and reconstructing the dynamics and the diversity of the sociocultural manifestations on the Iberian Peninsula in relation to the use of resources in a comprehensive way during the Chalcolithic. In general regional overviews and detailed studies of the use of infrastructure, raw materials or social relations the possibilities to identify key resources as factors in these processes are explored

Facilitating conditions for staff’s confidence to enforce school tobacco policies:qualitative analysis from seven European cities

Background: School staff members’ consistent enforcement of school tobacco policies (STPs) is needed to decrease adolescent smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. Staff’s confidence, indicating their perceived ability to cope with students’ negative responses, explains variations in staff’s STPs enforcement, yet understanding of the determinants for confidence is lacking. We analyzed the conditions in which the staff feel confident in addressing students who violate STPs to support staff’s enforcement. Methods: Data consists of 81 semi-structured interviews with the staff members from 26 secondary schools in seven European cities in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and Portugal. In every city, 3–4 staff members (senior management, teachers, supportive staff) in 3–4 schools (academic–vocational, high–low SES area) were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results: When staff felt confident in their ability to prevent, diminish, or handle students’ negative responses, they were more likely to address students on STP violations. The staff was more confident (1) when consistent policy enforcement within school and regarding the wider society ensured staff legitimacy for STPs enforcement, (2) when dialog and mutual familiarity with students allowed the staff to facilitate constructive interaction with STP violators, and (3) when organizational backup structures provided staff collegial support to overcome challenges in the enforcement. These conditions would support consistent enforcement, especially with persistent misbehavers and among the more uncertain staff members.Conclusions: Our study stresses the need to implement strategies at multiple levels to strengthen staff’s confidence for STP enforcement. To support staff’s legitimacy for enforcement, we suggest reinforcing structures and practices that facilitate consistency in STP enforcement; to support staff’s ability for constructive interaction with STP violators, we suggest strengthening staff’s social and emotional learning; and to support staff’s experience of collegial support, we suggest reinforcing staff’s collective ability to cope with students’ negative responses.</p

The effects of narratives and popularity cues on signing online petitions in two advanced democracies

Online petitions have become a widespread vehicle for contemporary political participation. While research tends to focus on individual factors for potential petitioners that influence signing, less attention has been paid to the influence of the actual text of petitions. This paper uses data from an original web-based survey experiment in Australia and Germany to test the influence of content factors: narratives (i.e., stories based on individual experiences and emotions) and popularity cues (i.e., high numbers of signatures) across two issues: climate change and welfare policy. We find that narratives within petition texts involve readers through the mechanism of transportation and motivate them to sign petitions, as do popularity cues. The effects of narratives were found across both countries but tended to be stronger in Germany than in Australia. We argue that our novel framework can be used for future research on how the presentation of issues shape contemporary political participation

Antimicrobial activity of an iron triple helicate

The prevalence of antibiotic resistance has resulted in the need for new approaches to be developed to combat previously easily treatable infections. Here we investigated the potential of the synthetic metallomolecules [Fe2L3]4+ and [Cu2(L’)2]2+ as antibacterial agents. Both molecules have been shown to bind DNA; [Fe2L3]4+ binds in the major groove and causes DNA coiling, whilst [Cu2(L’)2]2+ can act as an artificial nuclease. The work described here shows that only [Fe2L3]4+ is bactericidal for Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. We demonstrate that [Fe2L3]4+ binds bacterial DNA in vivo and, strikingly, that it kills B. subtilis cells very rapidly

O Arquivo Leisner (Instituto Arqueológico Alemão): o acervo epistolar (1936-1974): os dados e as perspetivas de um projeto em curso

O presente artigo apresenta os resultados preliminares do projeto de inventário, conservação, digitalização e divulgação do acervo epistolar do Arquivo Leisner, subsidiado pela Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (2012–2013). Georg Leisner (1870–1957) e Vera Leisner (1885–1972) constituem o objeto central deste arquivo, em estreita ligação com um número alargado de instituições e arqueológos portugueses e estrangeiros. Face à enorme dimensão do arquivo (49 500 documentos) e ao seu carácter inédito, optou-se por centrar o projeto no acervo epistolar, constituído por cerca de 4000 cartas. Apresenta-se a metodologia desenvolvida, avançando com leituras preliminares quanto a idiomas, países emissores / recetores, personalidades, instituições, sítios arqueológicos e cronologias. Valoriza-se a preservação das fontes primárias e secundários na construção do conhecimento em Arqueologia e na preservação do património da História desta disciplina.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fuente Álamo: excavaciones de 1996 en el asentamiento de la Edad del Bronce

Se presentan los resultados estratigráficos que durante la campaña de 1996 permitieron en la ladera sur de Fuente Álamo (Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería) confirmar las características urbanísticas y arquitectónicas de un nuevo sector del poblado de la Edad del Bronce, y la continuidad de este patrón de asentamiento sin ninguna ruptura de ocupación hasta los tiempos del Bronce Tardío.We report the stratigraphic results obtained from the excavation at the south-facing slope of the Fuente Alamo hill (Cuevas del Almanzora, in Almeria province) in 1996. The archaeological evidence have confirmed the urban and architectural features of a new sector of the Bronze Age side, as well as the continuity of this settlement pattern into Late Bronze Age times without any interruption of occupation