Mid-term Evaluation of the Cultural Heritage Sector Under the EEA Grants 2009-2014

The EEA Grants in the current period have been allocated to programmes defined at national level, instead of to individual projects. These programmes have been implemented according to the Regulation and after a process of negotiation between the donors and the European Commission and then between the donors and the beneficiary countries. This negotiation has concerned, first, the Memorandum of Understanding and, second, the specific Programme Agreements. The process of negotiation and of preparing open calls for proposals has taken significantly longer than expected. This has led to severe delays in the allocation of funds and significantly reduced the time available to implement projects. However, there is broad support for the programme-based approach, as it could further improve the strategic focus and simplify the management arrangements. Given the time and effort that has been expended in setting up the programme-based approach, consideration should be given as to whether this approach should be retained for the next period. Stakeholders from the donor and beneficiary countries should consider whether negotiations can be concluded much more easily the second time round and whether programme management capacity can be retained. Where this is the case, the programme-based approach should be continued. There would be potential benefits from extending the end-date for completing expenditure and/or extending the programme period from 5 to 7 years. Monitoring indicators are appropriate, although many outcomes do not easily lend themselves to measurement and quantification. Qualitative reporting therefore remains important alongside monitoring of quantitative outputs

The Influence of Corporate Front-Group Stealth Campaigns

This research examined corporate front-group stealth campaigns. An experiment was conducted to examine the influence of front-group stealth campaigns on a variety of measures. It was anticipated that corporate front-group stealth campaigns, which feature names that mask the true interests of sponsors, positively affect public opinion, unless they are exposed as intentionally misleading, in which case they boomerang against sponsors. The experiment examined the potential of the inoculation strategy to preempt the influence of corporate front-group stealth campaigns. The pattern of results supported all of these expectations. Front-group stealth campaigns proved to be effective, at least in the short term. Front-group stealth campaigns eroded public attitudes toward the issue in question and boosted perceptions of the front group, but not the corporate sponsor. However, when front-group stealth campaigns were subsequently exposed, positive effects dissipated and perceptions of corporate sponsors boomeranged. Results revealed that inoculation can protect against the influence of front-group stealth campaigns.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Integrating neuroimaging biomarkers into the multicentre, high-dose erythropoietin for asphyxia and encephalopathy (HEAL) trial: rationale, protocol and harmonisation

Introduction: MRI and MR spectroscopy (MRS) provide early biomarkers of brain injury and treatment response in neonates with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy). Still, there are challenges to incorporating neuroimaging biomarkers into multisite randomised controlled trials. In this paper, we provide the rationale for incorporating MRI and MRS biomarkers into the multisite, phase III high-dose erythropoietin for asphyxia and encephalopathy (HEAL) Trial, the MRI/S protocol and describe the strategies used for harmonisation across multiple MRI platforms. Methods and analysis: Neonates with moderate or severe encephalopathy enrolled in the multisite HEAL trial undergo MRI and MRS between 96 and 144 hours of age using standardised neuroimaging protocols. MRI and MRS data are processed centrally and used to determine a brain injury score and quantitative measures of lactate and n-acetylaspartate. Harmonisation is achieved through standardisation-thereby reducing intrasite and intersite variance, real-time quality assurance monitoring and phantom scans. Ethics and dissemination: IRB approval was obtained at each participating site and written consent obtained from parents prior to participation in HEAL. Additional oversight is provided by an National Institutes of Health-appointed data safety monitoring board and medical monitor

Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

Seeding Science, Courting Conclusions: Reexamining the Intersection of Science, Corporate Cash, and the Law

Social scientists have expressed strong views on corporate influences over science, but most attention has been devoted to broad, Black/White arguments, rather than to actual mechanisms of influence. This paper summarizes an experience where involvement in a lawsuit led to the discovery of an unexpected mechanism: A large corporation facing a multibillion-dollar court judgment quietly provided generous funding to well-known scientists (including at least one Nobel prize winner) who would submit articles to "open," peer-reviewed journals, so that their "unbiased science" could be cited in an appeal to the Supreme Court. On balance, the corporation's most effective techniques of influence may have been provided not by overt pressure, but by encouraging scientists to continue thinking of themselves as independent and impartial

Fractionation of bovine sarcoplasmic proteins by DEAE-cellulose chromatography

Ion exchange chromatography methods which have been developed in recent years appear to offer a sensitive technique that can be utilized very advantageously in studies on various proteins and their properties. The application of such a procedure for the successful fractionation of bovine sarcoplasmic proteins should stimulate interest and research in characterizing the changes occurring in beef muscle during the post-mortem aging period. The research described herein pertains to the development and application of a DEAE-cellulose ion exchange chromatography procedure for the fractionation of bovine sarcoplasmic proteins. Results of preliminary experiments indicated that columns packed under pressure possessed superior fractionational qualities than did columns packed without pressure. Also in the preliminary experiments, a Tris buffer system (a starting buffer of 0.04 M Tris phosphate, pH 9.0, and a limiting buffer of 0.5 M Tris H₂PO₄, pH 3.6) and a concave gradient elution procedure were developed which were found to separate the sarcoplasmic proteins satisfactorily. At least 16 components were recognized to be fractionated in the chromatography of beef sarcoplasmic proteins extracted two hours post-mortem. Duplication of the chromatographic results was found to be quite good. Some changes that had occurred in the sarcoplasmic proteins during a post-mortem aging period of 10 days were detected by the chromatographic technique. The changes observed were the appearance of new components, and disappearance of some fractions while others diminished. Data obtained from experiments on the pre-chromatographic treatment of the samples showed that any deviation in procedure always resulted in chromatographic differences. Hence, strict uniformity must be maintained throughout the chromatographic procedure in order to obtain reproducible results. Although the experimental evidence obtained in this study indicates that further research must be completed on the chromatographic procedure, the method does offer a sensitive technique for gaining new information on the properties of the sarcoplasmic proteins