197,289 research outputs found
Le politiche istituzionali comunitarie intraprese a seguito dell’ultimo allargamento. Il ruolo ed il peso dei piccoli stati nell’Unione Europea
No full textThe Big Leap to the West: The Impact of EU on the Finnish Political System. ZEI Discussion Papers: 2001, C 89
No full textIntroduction. When analysing Finland’s integration policy, one is struck by the speed with which the political leadership turned its gaze from the East to the West. Within less than a decade Finland changed his status from a nonaligned country with close political relations with the Soviet Union to a full member of both the European Union (EU) and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It was not enough that Finland just joined the EU: the last three Finnish governments, starting from the centre-right coalition cabinet which took office in 1991, have decided that Finland’s place is in the inner core of the union. While rhetorically claiming to be interested in developing the EU as an intergovernmental project, the practical steps taken have shown that the recent governments have been willing to support and also put forward initiatives that strengthen the supranational nature of the Union. Finland has not at any instance seriously questioned the general development of integration: in this sense it has become a harmless participant in the inner core of the Union. Several observers have praised Finland’s commitment to integration. Finns have received credit from their European colleagues for their pragmatic and co-operative approach. For example, according to The Economist: Since joining the EU in 1995, and despite coming from its most distant edge, they [the Finns] have displayed an almost uncanny mastery of its workings. Many point to them as the very model of how a "small country" (vast in land mass, but with only 5.2 m people) should operate within the EU’s institutions: not preachy like the Swedes, not difficult like the Danes, not over-ambitious like the Austrians, merely modest and purposeful, matching a sense of principle with a sense of proportion. Another example was given by the European Voice, which in its leader, titled "Finnish presidency ends on triumphant note", argued among other things that ‘the Finnish presidency has proved once again that small countries are often the most adept at managing the EU’s business’ and that ‘the Finns have shown that a presidency which begins on an unauspicious note can end with plaudits from all sides’. The Finnish determined approach stands in contrast to the hesitant EU policies of both Denmark and Sweden. What explains this pragmatism and commitment to integration? Does the public share the commitment shown by the political elite? We argue that Finnish integration policy is very much driven by the need to secure her place among the Western European countries and to influence EU decisions in order to protect national interests. Support for the deepening of integration or for federalism is weak among the public and the parties, with integration primarily seen as an efficient way of furthering national economic and security objectives. The chapter is divided into six sections. In the next part we present the reasons that led Finland to apply for European Community (EC) membership. The third part focuses on the 1994 referendum and explores its main issues and cleavages. In the fourth section we analyse the impact of membership on party politics and administration. Europeanisation of the Finnish polity and public opinion are examined in section five. In the concluding section we discuss briefly the main aspects of Finnish integration policy, with emphasis on the future development of the Union
Dissertationis academicae de professoribus, Reg. Acad. Aboënsis, intra saeculum ab hujus natalibus primum designatis, pars secunda, quam cons. ampl. facult. philos. Reg. Acad. Aboënsis, moderante mag. Henrico Gabriele Porthan, eloqv. professore reg. [et] ord. equ. Ord. R. de Stella Polari, R. Acad. litt. human. hist. [et] antiqvitt. R. Societ. Scient. Upsal. [et]c. socio, pro gradu publicae bonorum censurae subjicit Jonas Björkdahl, stip. reg. Smolandus. In auditorio majori die 6 Maji 1801. horis a. m. solitis.
No full textAineiston koonnut Johannes Bilmark.Dedikaatio: Margareta Helena Lybecker född Hising, Gustaf Wiberg, Brigitta Marg. Wiberg född Hagelqvist.Arkit: 2 arkintunnuksetonta lehteä, C-D4 E2. - S. [2] tyhjä.Painovuosi nimekkeestä.Ensimmäinen dedikaatio on ruotsinkielinen. Toinen dedikaatio on ruotsinkielinen
Designing IoT Systems that Support Reflective Thinking : A Relational Approach
No full textSystems are, to a large extent, about relationships between people, activities, objects, technologies, and places. A systems approach focuses on how things are interrelated, and what the different parts can accomplish together. In similar terms, reflective thinking is also relational. We think often with each other when we talk about and share our experiences and memories. We are also increasingly using smart objects for our everyday activities. However, designing IoT (Internet of Things) devices typically relies on artifacts rather than relationships. In this paper, we present a modeling technique for the design and analysis of IoT artifacts and systems that is fundamentally relational in its approach. Having outlined the need for relational approaches to designing IoT systems, we first present three examples, where we demonstrate how our relational approach allows for the analysis of existing smart objects designed to function in different relationships with the user, user activity and the situation. Accordingly, we present these IoT systems from the perspectives of the augment me, the comply with me, and the engage me relational models. Having presented these three examples that illustrate how IoT systems can be analyzed as systems of relationships, we then present the prototype of an IoT artifact intended to support reflection in the user. With this fourth example, we introduce the make me think relationship, and also show how our modeling technique can be useful for design of new IoT systems. Accordingly, we suggest a modeling technique that can be used as a tool for designing and analyzing IoT systems. We believe this modeling technique can contribute to a relational approach toward IoT. We conclude this paper suggesting that our proposed modeling technique cannot only help to model relationships between a user and a smart object, but can also be scaled, allowing for the modeling of more complex IoT systems, where there are an increased number of users using many smart objects in different places, but still integrated as a complex system
Gas phase protonation of diazirines: A route to N-protonated diazomethanes
No full textN-Protonated diazomethanes have been generated successfully via gas phase protonation of the corresponding diazirines.PT: J; CR: ABBOUD JLM, 1994, J AM CHEM SOC, V116, P2486 COOK F, 1966, J AM CHEM SOC, V88, P3870 FRISCH MJ, 1995, GAUSSIAN 94 LIU MTH, 1987, CHEM DIAZIRINES MISHIMA M, 1989, NIPPON KAGAKU KAISHI, P1262 MISHIMA M, 1996, B CHEM SOC JPN, V69, P445 TAFT RW, 1983, PROG PHYS ORG CHEM, V14, P247 WIBERG KB, 1966, J AM CHEM SOC, V88, P365 WIBERG KB, 1966, J AM CHEM SOC, V88, P5272 ZOLLINGER H, 1994, DIAZO CHEM 1 2; NR: 10; TC: 1; J9: CHEM COMMUN; PG: 2; GA: 113PCSource type: Electronic(1
Evaluating Equating Transformations in IRT Observed-Score and Kernel Equating Methods
No full textTest equating is a statistical procedure to ensure that scores from different test forms can be used interchangeably. There are several methodologies available to perform equating, some of which are based on the Classical Test Theory (CTT) framework and others are based on the Item Response Theory (IRT) framework. This article compares equating transformations originated from three different frameworks, namely IRT Observed-Score Equating (IRTOSE), Kernel Equating (KE), and IRT Kernel Equating (IRTKE). The comparisons were made under different data-generating scenarios, which include the development of a novel data-generation procedure that allows the simulation of test data without relying on IRT parameters while still providing control over some test score properties such as distribution skewness and item difficulty. Our results suggest that IRT methods tend to provide better results than KE even when the data are not generated from IRT processes. KE might be able to provide satisfactory results if a proper pre-smoothing solution can be found, while also being much faster than IRT methods. For daily applications, we recommend observing the sensibility of the results to the equating method, minding the importance of good model fit and meeting the assumptions of the framework
CAVITY RING-DOWN POLARIMETRY (CRDP): RECENT ADVANCES AND NEW MEASUREMENTS
No full textT. M\""{u}ller, K. B. Wiberg, and P. H. Vaccaro J. Phys. Chem. A 104, 5959 (2000). T. M\""{u}ller, K. B. Wiberg, P. H. Vaccaro, J. R. Cheeseman, and M. J. Frisch J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19, 125 (2002).Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Yale UniversityThe recent development of Cavity Ring-Down Polarimetery (CRDP) has provided a new scheme for investigating the chiro-optical behavior exhibited by isolated (solvent-free) Building upon the long-pathlength sensitivity afforded by canonical (pulsed) ring-down techniques, CRDP has the unique ability to probe both circular birefringence (nonresonant polarization rotation) and circular dichroism (resonant differential absorption) in rarefied (gas-phase) environments. Initial efforts have focused on the measurement of nonresonant optical activity parameters for a series of prototypical chiral compounds, with comparison of analogous gas-phase and solution-phase results highlighting the pronounced effects incurred by solvation Ongoing extensions of these studies will be discussed, including attempts to interrogate resonant circular dichroism phenomena as manifest in the differential absorption of circular polarization components. Aside from elucidating the important roles that solvent interactions play in mediating the optical response evoked from chiral solute molecules, information derived from these studies provides a critical assessment for the fundamental validity and practical applicability of burgeoning quantum chemistry calculations designed to predict chiro-optical properties ab initio
IRT Observed-Score Equating with the Nonequivalent Groups with Covariates Design
No full textNonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) design is typically preferred in test score equating, but there are tests which do not administer an anchor test. If the groups are nonequivalent, an equivalent groups (EG) design cannot be
recommended. Instead, one can use a nonequivalent groups with covariates (NEC) design. The overall aim of this work was to propose the use of item response theory (IRT) with a NEC design by incorporating the mixed-measurement IRT with covariates model within IRT observed-score equating in order to model both test scores and covariates. Both simulations and a real test example are used to examine the proposed test equating method in comparison with traditional IRT observed-score equating methods with an EG design and a NEAT design. The results show that the proposed method can be used in practice, and the simulations show that the standard errors of the equating are lower with the proposed method as compared with traditional methods
Rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells express glial markers and stimulate nerve regeneration
No full textBone marrow mesenchymal stem cells can trans-differentiate into neuronal phenotypes. We examined the differentiation of marrow stromal cells (MSCs) in culture and during nerve regeneration. MSCs from adult rats were exposed to glial growth factor (GGF) to stimulate glial differentiation. Subsequently differentiated MSCs were retrovirally labelled with green fluorescent protein and transplanted into 1 cm nerve conduits in the rat sciatic nerve. Fifteen days post-operatively the conduits were examined for axonal and Schwann cell regeneration and MSC integration. In vitro, MSCs exposed to GGF expressed S100 and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Following transplantation, MSCs maintained S100 expression and enhanced nerve regeneration, with significant Schwann cell regeneration compared to control (2.7±0.21 vs. 2.05±.21 mm; P<0.05). MSCs not exposed to GGF prior to transplantation expressed S100 in vivo indicating glial differentiation in response to local cytokines and growth factors
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