Regional Unemployment in the EU before and after the Global Crisis

In this paper, we have empirically assessed the evolution of European regions in terms of both employment and unemployment during the recent financial crisis and Global Recession. Our specific research questions were as follows: (i) has there been a reversal in employment and unemployment dynamics at a regional level, during the crisis (2007–10) compared to the previous period (2004–07)? (ii) have the western regions in ‘old’ EU states behaved differently in response to the crisis compared with the eastern regions of the NMS? Finally, (iii) are the differences between the two groups of regions related to structural or institutional variables? After a review of the literature on the key determinants of regional unemployment, we have summarized our main findings concerning the Global Crisis’ impact on the labour market. Our econometric investigation aimed to answer the questions we have posed. Structural characteristics have been considered in terms of sector specialization of regional economies. In addition, we have considered certain institutional characteristics, by including indicators of the share of temporary workers and of long-term unemployed. Our analysis has then been targeted at the sub-samples of western- and eastern-European regions: we show that the critical factors for labour market performance during the crisis in these two groups differs greatly. From a methodological viewpoint, we have exploited a spatial filtering technique which allowed us to greatly reduce any unobserved variable bias – a significant problem in cross-sectional models – by accounting for latent unobserved spatial patterns.crisis, employment, unemployment, European Union, NUTS-2, spatial filtering, sectoral composition, spatially heterogeneous parameters

Photoelectrochemical behavior of electrophoretically deposited hematite thin films modified with ti(IV)

: Doping hematite with different elements is a common strategy to improve the electrocatalytic activity towards the water oxidation reaction, although the exact effect of these external agents is not yet clearly understood. Using a feasible electrophoretic procedure, we prepared modified hematite films by introducing in the deposition solution Ti(IV) butoxide. Photoelectrochemical performances of all the modified electrodes were superior to the unmodified one, with a 4-fold increase in the photocurrent at 0.65 V vs. SCE in 0.1 M NaOH (pH 13.3) for the 5% Ti-modified electrode, which was the best performing electrode. Subsequent functionalization with an iron-based catalyst led, at the same potential, to a photocurrent of ca. 1.5 mA?cm-2 , one of the highest achieved with materials based on solution processing in the absence of precious elements. AFM, XPS, TEM and XANES analyses revealed the formation of different Ti(IV) oxide phases on the hematite surface, that can reduce surface state recombination and enhance hole injection through local surface field effects, as confirmed by electrochemical impedance analysis

New Proposal to Define the Fascial System.

At the beginning of the third millennium, we still do not have a definition of 'fascia' recognized as valid by every researcher. This article attempts to give a new definition of the fascial system, including the epidermis, by comparing the mechanical-metabolic characteristics of the connective tissue and the skin. In fact, according to the latest classification deriving from the Fascia Nomenclature Committee, the outer skin layer is not considered as part of the fascial continuum. This article highlights the reasons for taking the functional characteristics of the tissue into consideration, rather than its mere structure. A brief discussion will address the questions as to what is considered as fascial tissue and from which embryonic germ layer the epidermis is formed. The notion that all the layers intersect will be highlighted, demonstrating that quoting precise definitions of tissue stratification in the living organism probably does not correspond to what happens in vivo. What we propose as a definition is not to be regarded as a point of arrival but as another departure

The two tails of PSR J2055+2539 as seen by Chandra: analysis of the nebular morphology and pulsar proper motion

We analyzed two Chandra observations of PSR J2055+2539 (for a total integration time of $\sim$130 ks) in order to measure its proper motion and study its two elongated nebular features. We did not detect the proper motion, setting an upper limit of 240 mas yr$^{-1}$ (3$\sigma$ level), that translates into an upper limit on the transverse velocity of $\sim$700 km s$^{-1}$, for an assumed distance of 600 pc. A deep H$\alpha$ observation did not reveal the bow-shock associated with a classical pulsar wind nebula, thus precluding an indirect measurement of the proper motion direction. We determined the main axes of the two nebulae, which are separated by an angle of 160.8$^{\circ} \pm 0.7^{\circ}$, using a new approach based on the Rolling Hough Transformation (RHT). We analyzed the shape of the first 8' (out of the 12' seen by XMM-Newton) of the brighter, extremely collimated one. Based on a combination of our results from a standard analysis and a nebular modeling obtained from the RHT, we find that the brightest nebula is curved on an arcmin-scale, with a thickness ranging from $\sim9$" to $\sim31$" and a possible (single or multiple) helicoidal pattern. We could not constrain the shape of the fainter nebula. We discuss our results in the context of other known similar features, with particular emphasis on the Lighthouse nebula (associated with PSR J1101$-$6101). We speculate that a peculiar geometry of the powering pulsar may play an important role in the formation of such features.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic

Registro de endocarditis infecciosa 1989-2014: resultados de 25 años de experiencia en un centro de referencia de la provincia de Buenos Aires

Objetivo: realizar una descripción epidemiológica de los pacientes (p) con endocarditis infecciosa (EI) ingresados al Servicio de Cardiología del Hospital San Juan de Dios de La Plata en el período 1989-2014.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Registro de endocarditis infecciosa 1989-2014: resultados de 25 años de experiencia en un centro de referencia de la provincia de Buenos Aires

Objetivo: realizar una descripción epidemiológica de los pacientes (p) con endocarditis infecciosa (EI) ingresados al Servicio de Cardiología del Hospital San Juan de Dios de La Plata en el período 1989-2014.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Validation of an Automated System for the Extraction of a Wide Dataset for Clinical Studies Aimed at Improving the Early Diagnosis of Candidemia

: There is increasing interest in assessing whether machine learning (ML) techniques could further improve the early diagnosis of candidemia among patients with a consistent clinical picture. The objective of the present study is to validate the accuracy of a system for the automated extraction from a hospital laboratory software of a large number of features from candidemia and/or bacteremia episodes as the first phase of the AUTO-CAND project. The manual validation was performed on a representative and randomly extracted subset of episodes of candidemia and/or bacteremia. The manual validation of the random extraction of 381 episodes of candidemia and/or bacteremia, with automated organization in structured features of laboratory and microbiological data resulted in ≥99% correct extractions (with confidence interval < ±1%) for all variables. The final automatically extracted dataset consisted of 1338 episodes of candidemia (8%), 14,112 episodes of bacteremia (90%), and 302 episodes of mixed candidemia/bacteremia (2%). The final dataset will serve to assess the performance of different ML models for the early diagnosis of candidemia in the second phase of the AUTO-CAND project

Registro de endocarditis infecciosa 1989-2014: resultados de 25 años de experiencia en un centro de referencia de la provincia de Buenos Aires

Objetivo: realizar una descripción epidemiológica de los pacientes (p) con endocarditis infecciosa (EI) ingresados al Servicio de Cardiología del Hospital San Juan de Dios de La Plata en el período 1989-2014.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Características de una cohorte de pacientes portadores de enfermedad mitral en un hospital público de la provincia de Buenos Aires

Este trabajo se propuso evaluar una cohorte de pacientes portadores de enfermedad mitral reumática a predominio de estenosis intervenidos quirúrgicamente en el Hospital San Juan de Dios de La Plata entre el 23/05/2007 al 31/10/2013.Facultad de Ciencias Médica