How well does Learning-by-doing Explain Cost Reductions in a Carbon-free Energy Technology?

The incorporation of experience curves has enhanced the treatment of technological change in models used to evaluate the cost of climate and energy policies. However, the set of activities that experience curves are assumed to capture is much broader than the set that can be characterized by learning-by-doing, the primary connection between experience curves and economic theory. How accurately do experience curves describe observed technological change? This study examines the case of photovoltaics (PV), a potentially important climate stabilization technology with robust technology dynamics. Empirical data are assembled to populate a simple engineering-based model identifying the most important factors affecting the cost of PV over the past three decades. The results indicate that learning from experience only weakly explains change in the most important cost-reducing factors— plant size, module efficiency, and the cost of silicon. They point to other explanatory variables to include in future models. Future work might also evaluate the potential for efficiency gains from policies that rely less on ‘riding down the learning curve’ and more on creating incentives for firms to make investments in the types of cost-reducing activities quantified in this study.Learning-by-doing, Experience Curves, Learning Curves, Climate Policy

Agro-Ecological Zones and their Impact on Farm Production and Farm Organization after Privatization in Azerbaijan.

The privatization of agriculture in Azerbaijan started in the mid 1990s, while the pace of privatization in the country differs. Some Rayons have privatized almost all of the former state-owned agricultural land while others hold a wait and see strategy. The agricultural administration observes the recent agricultural development with suspicion. Specifically, there are concerns about the decrease in wheat production in the area and about a possible collapse of agriculture production in general. In addition to the perceived changes in agriculture production there are obvious problems on the management of natural resources, which may have an impact on farm production. In this paper we present the results of a combined natural resources and farm household survey conducted during the first six month of the year 2000 in Sagatalla Rayon. The results show the Rayon can be divided into five agro-ecological zones. Agriculture is concentrated in two zones. Average farm income was higher among the households farming in the less favorable agricultural zone, while on a hectare basis the average gross margin for major crops was higher in the more favorable agro-ecological zone. Households without off-farm income opportunities were the losers of privatization. The results further show that wheat production cannot compete with other annual crops like tobacco, maize and vegetables. Further results on net- benefits of improved natural resource management and implications for regional agriculture policies will be discussed.agriculture production, agro-ecological zones, Azerbaijan, household income, privatization,

Distribution of metals in the femoral bone of the brown bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758)

Ovim radom istražile su se razine olova, stroncija, kalcija i cinka u 41 bedrenoj kosti smeđeg medvjeda (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) s područja Like i Gorskog kotara prikupljenih tijekom 2014 i 2015. godine. Metali su izmjereni tehnikom masene spektrometrije induktivno spregnute plazme. Ispitan je utjecaj spola i dobi na razine metala u kosti te nisu pronađene razlike u sadržaju metala između mužjaka i ženki, no uočen je proporcionalan rast dobi i razine elemenata. Istraživanjem razlika u sadržaju metala morfološki različite kompaktne i spužvaste kosti uočena je značajno veća razina u kompaktnom tipu kosti u odnosu na spužvasti tip bedrene kosti. Važan faktor koji utječe na razinu metala je i pozicija na kosti. Spužvasta kost, gdje su oba istraživana metala (olovo i stroncij) pokazala povezanost s esencijalnim elementima kosti (kalcij i cink), pokazala se relevantnijom za istraživanje interakcija između elemenata u bedrenoj kosti za razliku od kompaktne kosti. Izmjerena razina olova bila je istog reda veličine kao i kod divljih životinja u drugim zemljama te u rasponu normalnih razina za domaće životinje.This study investigated the levels of lead, strontium, calcium and zinc in the femoral bone of 41 brown bears (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) from the area of Lika and Gorski kotar, collected during 2014 and 2015. Metal levels were measured by the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry technique. Influence of gender and age was studied and no differences in metal content between males and females were found, while age was associated with levels of all elements. Differences in metal content in morphologically different compact and spongy bone have shown significantly higher levels of the elements in the compact type of the bone, compared to the spongy bone. Location of bone sampling was also proven to be an important factor for metal levels. It was observed that spongy bone type, where both investigated metals (lead and strontium) were associated with the essential bone elements (calcium and zinc), is more relevant for investigation of interactions between the elements. The measured levels of lead were of the same order of magnitude as in wild animals from other countries and in the range of normal levels for domestic animals

A Review of Innovations in Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment Surgical Techniques.

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) requires surgical intervention for its repair. There are variable techniques used for this purpose, and they are all being continuously refined. In this review, we detail the recent innovations in surgical management of RRD and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR)

Turkish Voices

Turkish Voices, written during 1989/90, is initially based on the Second New Turkish poet Cemal Süreya’s first book of poetry, Üvercinka (Pigeon English), which he wrote during the 1950s, in his twenties. In this book, absolutely stunning erotic passages of uncanny psychological insight, where a nexus between pleasure and power is revealed through the lyric persona of a male seducer, are mixed with cute refrains or half-digested surrealist lines which blur the text, sentimentalizing that insight by turning the poems into general appeals for freedom, completely overlooking the victimization of the female persona, who never speaks. A work of deconstructive translation, this book offers a reworking of Uvercinka, containing fragments from different poems in the book, sometimes ending in mid-sentence, isolated, spliced together, and sometimes alterated. Fragments from other Turkish poets have been added, splitting the lyric persona, opening up its unity; finally, poems written by the author himself earlier joined the text. The result is a series of eighty-four fragments where any idea of ownership or originality or source — what poem, that is, comes from whom or where — disappears, is completely blurred. In other words, what starts with the ego and power-centered persona of the male seducer is dissolved, splintered, through a dialectic or critical confrontation with Süreya’s resistant text, into multiple points of view, often of a sufferer, a victim. What one ends up with is a multiplicity of voices, an erotic poem which becomes its own critique of power

Celtic Origins of “Celtic” Fantasy

This is a book review of Dimitra Fimi\u27s book "Celtic Myth in Contemporary Children’s Fantasy: Idealization, Identity, Ideology"

Fibronectin concentrations in catheter sepsis

ObjectiveTo investigate the role of fibronectin in the pathogenesis of biomaterial-related infections and the influence of catheter sepsis on the concentration of plasma fibronectin during various stages of bacteremia.MethodsPlasma fibronectin concentrations were determined by the simple radial immunodiffusion method. Four groups of subjects were used: one group comprised patients with catheter sepsis, the second patients with local inflammation of the catheter insertion site caused by slime-positive, coagulase-negative staphylococci, the third patients with slime-negative, coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from the catheter, and the fourth demonstrably healthy persons.ResultsIn patients with catheter sepsis, fibronectin concentrations were found after the disappearance of catheter sepsis and 3-5 days after the removal of the catheter. A statistically significant decrease in fibronectin concentration was detected in the plasma of patients with catheter sepsis compared with other groups of patients and control subjects.ConclusionsThe above results indicate a pathogenic role for fibronectin in biomaterial-related infections

Transplantacija autolognih matičnih stanica u liječenju ne-Hodgkinovog limfoma

Substantial number of patients who present with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cannot be cured of their disease by conventional dose therapy. New data on treatment results in the past decade elucidate the role of high-dose therapy (HDT) and autologous bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells in the treatment of malignant lymphomas. There is evidence from randomized studies that high-dose therapy followed by autografting for relapsed chemosensitive patients is superior to conventional chemotherapy in terms of disease-free and overall survival. For this group of patients autografting became a standard approach to therapy. Also the increasing evidences indicate that high-dose therapy and autotransplantation in first remission improves survival in high-risk patients. The toxicity of the procedure is substantially reduced in recent years. Several new methods are under investigation, like various forms of immunotherapy and radioimmunotherapy, with the aim to reduce the incidence of relapse following transplantation.Brojne bolesnike s ne-Hodgkinovim limfomom nije moguće izliječiti terapijom konvencionalnih doza. Novi podaci o rezultatima liječenja u posljednjem desetljeću rasvjetljavaju ulogu terapije velikim dozama i matičnih stanica autlogne koštane srži ili periferne krvi u liječenju zloćudnih limfoma. U randomiziranim je ispitivanjima dokazano da je terapija velikim dozama nakon koje slijedi autotransplantacija primijenjena u kemosenzitivnih bolesnika s relapsom uspješnija od konvencionalne kemoterapije s obzirom na sveukupno preživljenje bez znakova bolesti. Za tu je skuppinu bolesnika autotransplantacija postala standardna terapijska metoda. Sve je više dokaza koji pokazuju da se terapijom velikim dozama i autotransplantacijom kod prve remisije bolesti postiže bolje preživljenje u bolesnika izloženim velikom riziku. Toksičnost postupka posljednjih je godina znatno smanjena. Ispituje se nekoliko novih metoda, poput raznih oblika imunoterapije i radioimunoterapije, s ciljem da se pojavnost relapsa nakon transplantacije smanji