Post-crisis economic policy coordination in the EU: The European Semester as trigger for the Europeanization of national policies? An analysis of the European Semester's impact on French environmental taxation and VAT policy between 2011 and 2015

The economic and financial crisis 2007/08 revealed profound weaknesses of the economic and financial governance framework of the European Union (EU), amongst them the insufficient coordination of EU policies in the field of economic policy. In 2011, EU member states created the European Semester which aimed at better coordinating member states’ economic and fiscal policies. Focussing on French value-added tax (VAT) and environmental taxation policy between June 2011 and February 2015, I analyse under which conditions the European Semester process leads to changes in national taxation policies. I develop a theoretical framework that draws on rationalist Europeanization theory to argue that usage of European Semester impulses by domestic pro-reform actors is the central mediating variable to explain whether European Semester impulses lead to changes in national policies. The analysis reveals that despite similar European Semester impulses the degree of subsequent changes in French taxation policies varied significantly. Whereas environmental taxation policy was transformed substantially, VAT policy was only slightly modified. The different strength of domestic usage by French pro-reform actors provides an explanation for this variance: While in environmental taxation policy, a group of pro-reform actors actively used the European Semester impulses to push for substantial reforms, pro-reform actors did not make use of the European Semester impulses in the field of VAT policy

A Phase Field Modeling Approach of Crack Growth in Materials with Anisotropic Fracture Toughness

Within this contribution, we present a diffuse interface approach for the simulation of crack nucleation and growth in materials, which incorporates an orientation dependency of the fracture toughness. After outlining the basic motivation for the model from an engineering standpoint, the phase field paradigm for fracture is introduced. Further, a specific phase field model for brittle fracture is reviewed, where we focus on the meaning of the auxiliary parameter differentiating between material phases and the coupling of such a parameter to continuum equations in order to obtain the characteristic self organizing model properties. This specific model, as will be explained, provides the phenomenological and methodical basis for the presented enhancement. The formulation of an appropriate evolution equation in terms of a Ginzburg-Landau type equation will be highlighted and several comments on sharp interface models will be made to present a brief comparison. Following up on the basics we then introduce the formulation of a modified version of the model, which additionally to the handling of cracks in linear elastic materials under quasi static loading is also capable of taking into account the effect of resistance variation with respect to the potential crack extension direction. The strong and also the weak forms of the respective governing equations corresponding to the developed anisotropic phase field model are presented. Utilizing the weak formulation as starting point for the discretization of the two fields (displacement field and the phase field), the computational framework in terms of finite elements is introduced. We finally explain several test cases investigated within simulations and discuss the corresponding numerical results. Besides examples, which are set up to illustrate the general model properties, a comparison with crack paths obtained by experimental investigations will be presented in order to show the potential of the developed phase field model

Can Zipf's law be adapted to normalize microarrays?

BACKGROUND: Normalization is the process of removing non-biological sources of variation between array experiments. Recent investigations of data in gene expression databases for varying organisms and tissues have shown that the majority of expressed genes exhibit a power-law distribution with an exponent close to -1 (i.e. obey Zipf's law). Based on the observation that our single channel and two channel microarray data sets also followed a power-law distribution, we were motivated to develop a normalization method based on this law, and examine how it compares with existing published techniques. A computationally simple and intuitively appealing technique based on this observation is presented. RESULTS: Using pairwise comparisons using MA plots (log ratio vs. log intensity), we compared this novel method to previously published normalization techniques, namely global normalization to the mean, the quantile method, and a variation on the loess normalization method designed specifically for boutique microarrays. Results indicated that, for single channel microarrays, the quantile method was superior with regard to eliminating intensity-dependent effects (banana curves), but Zipf's law normalization does minimize this effect by rotating the data distribution such that the maximal number of data points lie on the zero of the log ratio axis. For two channel boutique microarrays, the Zipf's law normalizations performed as well as, or better than existing techniques. CONCLUSION: Zipf's law normalization is a useful tool where the Quantile method cannot be applied, as is the case with microarrays containing functionally specific gene sets (boutique arrays)

Risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from on-field player contacts in amateur, youth and professional football (soccer)

Objective To investigate the risk of transmission among potentially infectious SARS-CoV-2-positive football players while participating in training or matches at amateur, youth and professional levels. Methods Between August 2020 and March 2021, football players who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and participated in matches or training during the period of potential contagiousness were identified through media search (professional level) and a nationwide registry in Germany (amateur and youth level) to determine symptoms, source of infection and hygiene measures adopted. The definition of potentially infectious players was based on the time of a positive PCR testing and symptom onset. Transmission-relevant contacts on the pitch were evaluated through doubly reviewed video analysis. Results Out of 1247 identified football matches and training sessions (1071 amateur and youth level, 176 professional level), 104 cases (38 training sessions, 66 matches) with 165 potentially infectious players were detected. Follow-up PCR testing at the professional level (44 cases) revealed no transmission. At the amateur and youth level, the combination of partial PCR testing (31 of 60 cases) and symptom monitoring within 14 days post-exposure (46 of 60 cases) identified 2 of 60 matches in which follow-up infections occurred that were attributed to non-football activities. This is consistent with the video analysis of 21 matches demonstrating frontal contacts were <1 per player-hour (88%, 30 of 34 players), each lasting no longer than 3 s. Conclusion On-field transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 in football is very low. Sources of infections in football players are most likely not related to activities on the pitch

Phosphodiesterase Type 4 Inhibition in CNS Diseases

Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) have been an interesting drug target for many diseases. Although a vast number of mainly preclinical studies demonstrates beneficial effects of PDE inhibitors for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, no drugs are currently available for CNS indications. In this review, we discuss the rationale of PDE4 inhibitors for different CNS diseases, including memory impairments, striatal disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS), and acquired brain injury (ABU). However, clinical development has been problematic due to mechanism-based adverse effects of these drugs in humans. Our increased understanding of factors influencing the conformational state of the PDE4 enzyme and of how to influence the binding affinity of PDE4 subtype inhibitors, holds promise for the successful development of novel selective PDE4 inhibitors with higher efficacy and fewer adverse effects

Towards Visual Analytics Dashboards for Provenance-driven Static Application Security Testing

The use of static code analysis tools for security audits can be time consuming, as the many existing tools focus on different aspects and therefore development teams often use several of these tools to keep code quality high and prevent security issues. Displaying the results of multiple tools, such as code smells and security warnings, in a unified interface can help developers get a better overview and prioritize upcoming work. We present visualizations and a dashboard that interactively display results from static code analysis for “interesting” commits during development. With this, we aim to provide an effective visual analytics tool for code security analysis results

DNA-based Self-Assembly of Chiral Plasmonic Nanostructures with Tailored Optical Response

Surface plasmon resonances generated in metallic nanostructures can be utilized to tailor electromagnetic fields. The precise spatial arrangement of such structures can result in surprising optical properties that are not found in any naturally occurring material. Here, the designed activity emerges from collective effects of singular components equipped with limited individual functionality. Top-down fabrication of plasmonic materials with a predesigned optical response in the visible range by conventional lithographic methods has remained challenging due to their limited resolution, the complexity of scaling, and the difficulty to extend these techniques to three-dimensional architectures. Molecular self-assembly provides an alternative route to create such materials which is not bound by the above limitations. We demonstrate how the DNA origami method can be used to produce plasmonic materials with a tailored optical response at visible wavelengths. Harnessing the assembly power of 3D DNA origami, we arranged metal nanoparticles with a spatial accuracy of 2 nm into nanoscale helices. The helical structures assemble in solution in a massively parallel fashion and with near quantitative yields. As a designed optical response, we generated giant circular dichroism and optical rotary dispersion in the visible range that originates from the collective plasmon-plasmon interactions within the nanohelices. We also show that the optical response can be tuned through the visible spectrum by changing the composition of the metal nanoparticles. The observed effects are independent of the direction of the incident light and can be switched by design between left- and right-handed orientation. Our work demonstrates the production of complex bulk materials from precisely designed nanoscopic assemblies and highlights the potential of DNA self-assembly for the fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure