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Two decades after emerging from war and after many years of delay, Bosnia and Herzegovina at last submitted an EU membership application in 2016. There is little doubt, however, that candidate status and accession are still a long way off. Reform process is slow, and the country’s state of democracy is undermined by a variety of factors. To evaluate perspectives for the future, this paper investig
The VAT system has been operating since 1967 across the European Union and is currently still in need to be adopted as definitive. Some issues should be confronted in 2018 before the implementation towards a fairer and simpler system. The proposal from the Commission set up in 2016 details the changes taken into account. As a cornerstone of the mentioned VAT system, this thesis will analyse the
Facing the climate change and the energy crisis, the governments are taking steps to reduce the energy use and enhance the integration of renewable energy installations. Built environment is attributed to 40% of the global energy use, and the literature indicates that integrating the local renewable energy sources to the grid and meanwhile renovating the buildings can significantly improve the ene
Based on fieldwork interviews from two different trade unions in Luanda, this study aims to reflect on the role of civil society for the consolidation of democracy in Angola, and in particular, the challenges of trade unionism and its effects on democracy. Using the meth-od of inductive reasoning to process data, it first addresses themes derived from the inter-views such as Financial struggles, T
This paper examines the dynamics of a technological innovator network (TIN) of a state-owned textile company in underdeveloped southwest China. It addresses two research questions: how the structure of the TIN evolved in the past 10 years; and what impact it had on the technological performance of the firm. The case study reveals that the general structure of the TIN and the positioning of the act
This contribution concerns the development of generic methods and tools for robust optimal control of high-pressure liquid chromatographic separation processes. The proposed methodology exploits a deterministic robust formulation, that employs a linearization of the uncertainty set, based on Lyapunov differential equations to generate optimal elution trajectories in the presence of uncertainty. Co
To investigate the feasibility of multiecho balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP)-based fast chemical shift mapping hyperpolarized C-13 metabolites. The overall goal was to reduce total imaging time and to increase spatial resolution compared to common chemical shift imaging (CSI). A multiecho bSSFP sequence in combination with an iterative reconstruction algorithm was implemented. H-1 exp
Objectives To describe clinical history and ultrasound findings in patients with tubal carcinoma. Methods Patients with a histological diagnosis of tubal cancer who had undergone preoperative ultrasound examination were identified from the databases of 13 ultrasound centers. The tumors were described by the principal investigator at each contributing center on the basis of ultrasound images, ultra
Traditional gold mining, using metallic mercury (Hg-0) to form gold amalgam, followed by burning to remove the Hg-0, is widely used in South America, Africa and Asia. The gold is sold to merchants who burn it again to eliminate remaining Hg-0. In Ecuador, 200 gold miners, 37 gold merchants and 72 referents were studied. The median Hg concentrations in urine (U-Hg) were 3.3 (range 0.23-170), 37 (3.
We have synthesized hematite cube-shaped nanoparticles using different synthesis paths to examine the effect of the intermediate product akaganeite (beta-FeOOH) on the size and shape of the final hematite particles. Akaganeite spindles and hematite nanocubes are prepared using forced hydrolysis of iron chloride (FeCI3) salt. We use a combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high reso
Migration, proliferation and stem cell-like activity are all key cellular characteristics which aid the formation and progression of breast cancer, in addition to involvement in treatment resistance. Many current therapies aim to target tumour proliferation, and although successful, mortality rates in breast cancer remain significant. Our main objectives were to investigate the relationship betwee
The reaction of 1,3-C6H4(CH2PCy2)(2) with anhydrous nickel(II) chloride in dry THF produces the non-cyclometallated dinuclear complex trans-[Ni2Cl4{cis-(Cy2PCH2)(2)C6H4}(2)]. The compound was characterised by H-1, P-31 and C-13 NMR spectroscopy and its solid state structure was determined by X-ray diffraction. An improved synthetic procedure of the aromatic pincer ligand 1,3-C6H4(CH2PCy2)(2) is re
Background: Standardized techniques to detect HIV-neutralizing antibody responses are of great importance in the search for an HIV vaccine. Methods: Here, we present a high-throughput, high-content automated plaque reduction (APR) assay based on automated microscopy and image analysis that allows evaluation of neutralization and inhibition of cell-cell fusion within the same assay. Neutralization
The phenotype of smooth muscle cells is regulated by multiple environmental factors including mechanical forces. Mechanical stretch of mouse portal veins ex vivo has been shown to promote contractile differentiation by activation of the Rho-pathway, an effect that is dependent on the influx of calcium via L-type calcium channels. MicroRNAs have recently been demonstrated to play a significant role
We theoretically investigate the transport properties of cold bosonic atoms in a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) triple-well potential that consists of two large outer wells, which act as microscopic source and drain reservoirs, and a small inner well, which represents a quantum-dot-like scattering region. Bias and gate 'voltages' introduce a time-dependent tilt of the triple-well configuration, and ar
Aims. We attempt to derive accurate transition probabilities for astrophysically interesting spectral lines of Nb II and Nb III and determine the niobium abundance in the Sun and metal-poor stars rich in neutron-capture elements. Methods. We used the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique to measure radiative lifetimes in Nb II. Branching fractions were measured from spectra recorded u
The magnitude squared coherence (MSC) spectrum is an often used frequency-dependent measure for the linear dependency between two stationary processes, and the recent literature contain several contributions on how to form high-resolution data-dependent and adaptive MSC estimators, and on the efficient implementation of such estimators. In this work, we further this development with the presentati
Background: Hybridization and polyploidy are potent forces that have regularly stimulated plant evolution and adaptation. Dactylorhiza majalis s.s., D. traunsteineri s.l. and D. ebudensis are three allopolyploid species of a polyploid complex formed through unidirectional (and, in the first two cases, recurrent) hybridization between the widespread diploids D. fuchsii and D. incarnata. Differing c
This paper examines the use of gradient based methods for extremum seeking control of possibly infinite-dimensional dynamic nonlinear systems with general attractors within a periodic sampled-data framework. First, discrete-time gradient descent method is considered and semi-global practical asymptotic stability with respect to an ultimate bound is shown. Next, under the more complicated setting w
