bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Risks of Emergencies in Public Procurement
Authors: Racca Gabriella M.
Published: December 2019

Natural disasters, catastrophes or other exceptional events normally require a prompt response. Unpredictable urgency permits derogations of competitive procedures for the award of public contracts according to the European Directives. Such possibility has often been interpreted extensively and has led to a wide discretion and the risk of abuses and corruption. The Italian experience in the emergency public procurement sector highlighted that the recourse to derogations involved several infringements of national and European principles. The most efficient way to react to emergency is to provide in advance the organisational and contractual instruments to define the response to emergencies situations, avoiding undue derogations. Moreover new technologies permit an effective monitoring of the quality of the interventions avoiding waste and assuring the best quality for users, taxpayers and citizens.
On Federalism and Government Size The Leviathan Hypothesis After Three Decades
Authors: da Empoli Domenico
Published: December 2019

The impact of fiscal federalism on the size of governments has been the subject of an intense (and extended) debate for more than three decades, mainly under the influence of The Power To Tax by Geoffrey Brennan -James Buchanan [1980] where federalism was proposed as a component of a fiscal constitution. According to the Brennan-Buchanan hypothesis, intergovernmental competition (if made effective through a number of conditions, such as free mobility of goods and persons, decentralization of taxes and expenditures) should indirectly ‘constrain’ the power to tax of the government (i.e., in Hobbesian terms, the Leviathan) just as the direct limits of a fiscal constitution.

However, more than thirty years later, the numerous empirical investigations, though quite sophisticated, have been unable, at least apparently, to prove (or to disprove) irrefutably Brennan-Buchanan's hypothesis about the effects of federalism, so that quite often the authors of these inquiries recognized that their results are ‘mixed’.

This paper will show that those empirical investigations did not take into consideration the basic conditions on which die approach of Brennan and Buchanan was based and, in particular, die new model of federalism proposed by Brennan and Buchanan, compared with the orthodox (‘conventional’, according to B-B) model of federalism. In fact, all these investigations made use of data on existing (orthodox) models of fiscal federalism, without taking account of the innovative conditions required by Brennan and Buchanan for establishing a new model of federalism capable to contract the public sector.
Taxation as a Quasi–Market Process: Explanation, Exhortation, and the Choice of Analytical Windows
Authors: Hebert David , Wagner Richard E.
Published: December 2019

This paper identifies two broad strands of fiscal theorizing that date back to the late 19th century in the persons of Knut Wicksell (1896) and Francis Edgeworth (1897). From Edgeworth descends the treatment of public finance as a branch of applied statecraft, as conveyed these days largely through notions of optimal taxation. From Wicksell descends the treatment of public finance as offering explanations for observed patterns of collective activity. These two branches are not so much antagonistic as they are non-commensurable. The explanatory branch, moreover, is underdeveloped in comparison with the hortatory branch, and this paper seeks to sketch some contours for an explanatory theory of collective activity, paying particular attention to the American fiscal context.
Stackelberg on the Danube: Games in the Anticommons
Authors: Yoon Yong J. , Shughart William F.
Published: December 2019

We model the tragedy of the anticommons - the underutilization of a resource in the presence of multiple rights to exclude - as a Stackelberg price-leader game. We show that the equilibrium outcomes when the players move sequentially are more inefficient than when they move simultaneously in a ‘static’ version of the game. The results have important implications for the design of modern regulatory institutions, including the appointment of ‘super-bureaucrats’ or regulatory ‘czars’, the emergence of so-called patent trolls, tribal toll-collectors on the road from Pakistan to Afghanistan, climbing Mt. Everest, rent seeking contests, and antitrust law enforcement.
Primary Voting Systems and Economic Freedom: An Analysis of U.S. States
Authors: Calcagno Peter T. , Heller Lauren
Published: December 2019

Economists argue that institutions matter. One political institution of interest is a state's primary electoral system. There currently exist five different primary voting systems in the United States. The literature on primary types examines candidate positioning and voter turnout. We use U.S. state panel data with four-year averages from 1981-2009 to examine whether die type of primary system in a state is an institution affected by the state's level of economic freedom. The results suggest that economic freedom does indeed matter, having a moderating effect on die determination of primary type.
Are Voters Rational on the Margin? A Spatial Analysis of Voter Turnout in U.S. Presidential Elections
Authors: Hoffer Adam
Published: December 2019

This study examines voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections from 1960-2008. Specifically, this study contributes to the literature by using a panel spatial econometric model to investigate whether, on the margin, voters behave rationally (increased voter turnout) when the probability of their vote being decisive is greater. The empirical results are mixed regarding whether probability matters to voters. Neither the margin of victory in an election, nor voter weight in the election (ratio of electoral votes to number of voters within a state) played a significant role in determining voter turnout. However, when states switch away from a winner-take-all system to a congressional district system of allocating their electoral votes, voter turnout increased.
The Welfare Costs of National Standards: The Case of Health Care in Italian Regions 2001–2010
Authors: Brosio Giorgio , Marchese Carla , Zanola Roberto
Published: December 2019

This paper studies the welfare effects deriving from uniform public provision of a good dictated by a standard set by the central government. The good is delivered by local governments but financed centrally through a proportional income tax. A hypothesis about the inefficiencies deriving from national standards is formulated on the basis of the median voter model and tested using data about the degree of satisfaction with public health care provision in Italian regions. Satisfaction is used as a proxy for the local utility level. The empirical analysis supports the prediction that standards entail inefficiency in terms of over/undersupply in poor/rich regions.
Strategic Delegation under the Subsidiarity Principle
Authors: Di Liddo Giuseppe , Giuranno Michele G.
Published: December 2019

This paper presents a model of centralisation, where the decision to centralise policy is based on the subsidiarity principle. It shows how and when strategic delegation incentives facilitate the misallocation of public goods. We argue that less subsidiarity is desirable when decentralised governments use the subsidiarity principle to force distorted policies.
The Impact of Budget Deficits on the Ex Ante Real Interest Rate Yield on Long–Term Treasury Notes in the USA
Authors: Cebula Richard J.
Published: December 2019

Using four decades of data, this exploratory empirical study adopts a loanable funds model to investigate the impact of the federal budget deficit in the U.S. on the ex ante real interest rate yield on ten-year Treasury notes. For the 40- year period 1973-2012, empirical estimation using quarterly data reveals that the ex ante real interest rate yield on ten-year U.S. Treasury notes was an increasing function of the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody's Aaa-rated corporate bonds, the ex ante real interest rate yield on three-month Treasury bills, and the increase in per capita real GDP, while being a decreasing function of net capital inflows (as a percent of GDP) and the monetary base (as a percent of GDP). In addition, it is found that the federal budget deficit (as a percent of GDP) exercised a positive and statistically significant impact on the ex ante real interest rate yield on ten-year Treasury notes, a finding consistent in principle with a number of prior studies of various interest rate measures during shorter and earlier time periods. A robustness test using the ex ante real seven-year Treasury note yield and annual data supports these findings.
Public Governance and Productive Efficiency in Sub–Saharan Africa
Authors: Garzarelli Giampaolo , Limam Yasmina Rim , Rossi Stefania P.S.
Published: December 2019

Do economic variables operate through the channel of public governance to impact technical (or productive) efficiency in Sub Saharan Africa? We present different stochastic frontier models where technical efficiency is a relation between three economic variables, education, government spending, and trade openness, and three public governance variables, government effectiveness, political stability, and regulatory quality. In all cases, education operates through public governance to improve efficiency while government spending does not.
The Introduction of Federalism in Unitary States: The Case of Italy
Authors: da Empoli Domenico
Published: December 2019

Among the great variety of fiscal institutions, a current tendency, probably favored by the globalization process, is that to increase the power of minor levels of government. This tendency was particularly emphasized in Europe in consequence of the transfer of powers from national governments to the European Union.

A typical case of this decentralization process is that of Italy, a country that since its origin, in 1861, was based on the Napoleonic administrative centralization. In 2001, however, a constitutional reform decided that «The Republic is constituted by municipalities, provinces, metropolitan cities, regions and the State” (art. 114).

Since that time, Italian regions, and more than 8000 local governments, started acting almost independently from the central government (from which they continued, however, to draw a great part of their financial resources).

This situation appears to be proper of a kind of ‘anarchic polycentrism’ rather than fiscal federalism, with a lot of contradictions between decisions taken by the central government and those of the subcentral and local powers.

This paper focuses on the bureaucratic and political shortcomings of the devolution of powers in a centralized and unitary state.
Individualism and Political Disorder
Authors: Yoon Yong J.
Published: December 2019

This article is the introductory chapter of the book Individualism and Political Disorder by Buchanan and Yoon and describes the main idea of die book.
Family Allowances and Family Policy: the Italian Case
Authors: Fausto Domenicantonio
Published: December 2019

In 1936 Italy adopted a family allowance system which was employment-based and financed by a payroll tax. On time, the system moved in the direction of providing allowances for all families. However, since the early 1980's, a particularly significant trend has been to target family allowances towards low-income families. In more recent times, a fundamental change has been suggested towards a system closely resembling public assistance, giving more room to the income tax treatment of the family. The paper tries to advance arguments in favour of a family policy based on the combination of lump-sum child allowances (not income-tested) with progressive taxation.
Taxes and the Structure of Production
Authors: Block Walter
Published: December 2019

In Austrian theory, the business cycle is caused by expansive monetary policy, which artificially lowers the interest rate below equilibrium rates, necessarily lengthening the structure of production. Can tax alterations also cause an Austrian business cycle? Only if they affect time preference rates, the determinant of the shape of the Hayekian triangle. It is the contention of this paper that changes in taxes possibly can (but need not) impact time preference rates. Thus there may be a causal relation between fiscal policy and the business cycle, but this is not a necessary connection, as there is between monetary policy and the business cycle. This is contentious, since some Austrians argue that there is a praxeological link between tax policy and time preference rates.
Public Efficiency and Constitutional Constraints: a Contribution Towards an Extended Leviathan Model
Authors: Fontini Fulvio
Published: December 2019

The paper analyses the relationship among public efficiency, exploitation of private individuals by the government and the role of constitutional constraints. First, it contains an extensive review of the Leviathan model based on Inman's formalisation of Brennan and Buchanan theory. Secondly, an extension of such a model is proposed, in which public agents are separated into politicians and bureaucrats. In so doing a ‘new’ efficiency-equity trade-off arises, namely, the achievement of Pareto-efficiency through constitutional constraints is obtained at a cost of a possible exploitation of private individuals, while the non-exploitation allocation is coupled with a possible Pareto-inefficiency.
A Property Rights Analysis of the American Welfare State
Authors: Pejovich Svetozar
Published: December 2019

The paper uses the property rights approach for the analysis of the development, costs, and consequences of the welfare system in the United States before and after the 1996 reform. The welfare system in the United States grew from less than one percent of GDP in 1929 to about 4 percent in 1997. In addition to its total costs, the welfare system before 1996 created property rights, which, in turn, generated negative incentives and positive transaction costs. The purpose of 1996 reform was to make the welfare system more efficient by redefining property rights in welfare resources and creating incentives to reduce the transaction costs of providing welfare benefits.
The Opportunity Costs of Rent Seeking
Authors: Cowen Tyler , Tabarrok Alexander
Published: December 2019

The costs of rent seeking exceed traditional measures when opportunity cost is considered. When die quantity of resources consumed by rent seeking is large, rent seeking draws consumer surplus out of alternative resource employments. The costs of rent seeking differ in partial and general equilibrium frameworks; Tullock (1989) recognizes this but incorrectly argues that rent seeking costs are twice as large in general than in partial equilibrium. Other authors suggest that rent seeking costs are lower once the opportunity costs of resources used in rent seeking are considered. We clear up the confusion in the current literature.
Fiscal Federalism and the Stability and Growth Pact: a Difficult Union
Authors: Balassone Fabrizio , Franco Daniele
Published: December 2019

The budget rules that frame the European Monetary Union apply to the national States. Several EMU member nations are already organised on a federal basis; others, pressed by political and economic needs, have started to enact reforms aimed at increasing the degree of decentralisation. This paper examines the financial relations among different levels of government relative to the need to respect the budgetary rules established by the European Union. The analysis points out several critical areas in the interaction of fiscal decentralisation and the Stability and Growth Pact: a trade-off between the allocative benefits of decentralisation and exploiting the margins for counter-cyclical policy offered by compliance with the Pact is identified. The issue has been addressed in Italy through the introduction of the Domestic Stability Pact; this analysis stresses the need for further significant refinements.
Enlarging the European Union and Co-ordinating Corporate Taxes
Authors: Trupiano Gaetana
Published: December 2019

This paper analyzes the new tax structure and tax incentives of the most advanced countries of Eastern Europe which have been considered, initially, as suitable candidates to join the European Union (Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic). Preferential tax treatment for foreign investors has gradually been modified in the prospect of full EU membership. These Eastern countries have also carried out important tax reforms in relation with the policy of co-ordinating corporate taxes in EU.
Taxpayer Apathy, Institutional Inertia, and Economic Growth
Authors: Buchanan James M.
Published: December 2019

This paper analyzes the difference in taxpayers’s attitudes toward fiscal politics during the 1970s - early 1980s, a period dominated by «taxpayer revolt», and those observed in the late 1990s, when taxpayers show an apparent state of apathy. The answer is that taxpayers where unhappy in the late 1970s and early 1980s because their effective real incomes were being reduced in a period of stagnant growth with inflation. They remained quiescent in the last years because taxes are extracted from them during a period of real income growth and low inflation. Paradoxically, the economic reforms that the earlier tax revolt set off may have generated the real growth that has made die ultimate failure of the movement emerge.
Incentives for Efficiency: User Charges and Municipal Spending
Authors: Bierhanzl Edward J.
Published: December 2019

User charges have been an increasingly important source of revenue tor local governments. Furthermore, it has been suggested in the public finance literature that user charge finance can increase the efficiency of local government service provision, with the evidence being a reduction of expenditures, ceteris paribus. This paper goes one step further, using an empirical test to distinguishing die quantity effect from the cost effect. An analysis of local sewer service demonstrates that greater reliance on user charge finance does not have a significant impact on the quantity of service provided, but does lead to reduced cost of service. The argument for user charges as an efficiency-enhancing mechanism is thereby strengthened.
Economic Notes on Prohibition
Authors: Boccaccio Marco , de Bonis Valeria
Published: December 2019

The article analyzes the problem of the justification of public intervention with regard to drug consumption. It assumes, following Arrow, the impossibility of deriving a social choice in this field on pure individualistic assumptions and considers the merit good concept as a tentative to cope with this gap in the reasoning. From this starting point, the work is especially focused on the problems that arise from the regulation of the market for drugs.
Blur resolved OCT: full-range interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy through dispersion encoding
Authors: Mason Jonathan H. , Davies Mike E. , Bagnaninchi Pierre O.
Published: December 2019

We present a computational method for full-range interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy (ISAM) under dispersion encoding. With this, one can effectively double the depth range of optical coherence tomography (OCT), whilst dramatically enhancing the spatial resolution away from the focal plane. To this end, we propose a model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) method, where ISAM is directly considered in an optimization approach, and we make the discovery that sparsity promoting regularization effectively recovers the full-range signal. Within this work, we adopt an optimal nonuniform discrete fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) implementation of ISAM, which is both fast and numerically stable throughout iterations. We validate our method with several complex samples, scanned with a commercial SD-OCT system with no hardware modification. With this, we both demonstrate full-range ISAM imaging and significantly outperform combinations of existing methods.
Optimization of Seebeck nanoantenna-based infrared harvesters
Authors: Briones Edgar , Ruiz-Cruz Riemann , Briones Joel , Simon Jorge
Published: December 2019

In this letter, the authors develop an optimized Seebeck nanoantenna design suitable for IR harvesting applications. The design is optimized via the so-called particle-swarm-optimization algorithm (PSO), an evolutionary algorithm able to drive the morphology of a nano-object towards an optimum. Along with the so-called nanoloading technique, efforts are subsequently addressed to understand the physical mechanisms behind the wave energy to voltage conversion, from both numerical and theoretical perspectives. In particular, the thermal and intrinsic impedance are considered to be the key issues beneath the device’s response.
Femtosecond filament emergence between π-shifted beamlets in air
Authors: Chu Chunyue , Shipilo Daniil E. , Lu Dan , Zhang Zhi , Chuchupal Sergey V. , Panov Nikolay A. , Kosareva Olga G. , Liu Weiwei
Published: December 2019

By rotating the four-section π-shifted phase plate in the transverse plane relatively to the axes of the elliptical beam of 800-nm, 1.1-mJ, 35-fs pulse propagating in air, we switch between the regime of four parallel plasma channels and the regime of spatial symmetry breakup followed by on-axis plasma channel formation identified on the burnt paper images of the beam. Relaxation of the π-phase shift for 45° phase plate rotation is demonstrated explicitly in 3D+time carrier wave resolved numerical simulations yielding the initial step-like phase distribution degradation along the plasma region. This degradation becomes negligible as the angle between the ellipse major axis and the π-phase break line decreases to 15°.
Tunable perfect magnetic mirrors and retroreflectors in terahertz band
Authors: Song Hao , Sun Lei , Wang Guo Ping
Published: December 2019

A magnetic mirror operating in the terahertz band is designed based on the functional reflective metasurface, which is simply constructed by a one-dimensional periodic lithium tantalate micro cylindrical rod array on a Teflon substrate coated with a metal layer at the bottom and reflects the incoming electric field with a zero-phase change. Magnetic dipole resonance of the micro cylindrical rods excited in the metasurface is attributed to the perfect magnetic mirror at the frequency of 0.286 THz with the reflectivity of R = 0.98 for a normal incident electromagnetic wave. By real-time varying the direction from normal (0) to 28.45 degrees and the frequency from 0.286 to 0.382 THz of the incident wave, the metasurface can still behave as a perfect magnetic mirror with the reflectivity as high as 0.99. Most interestingly, in this case, the metasurface possesses the property of a retroreflector that the reflected wave returns along the direction of the incident wave, which is consistent with the grating equation. The tunable perfect magnetic mirror effect and the retroreflector property may provide ways in novel photonic devices and sensing applications.
Tunable terahertz phase shifter based on dielectric artificial birefringence grating filled with polymer dispersed liquid crystal
Authors: Zhang Xin , Fan Fei , Zhang Chun-Yue , Ji Yun-Yun , Wang Xiang-Hui , Chang Sheng-Jiang
Published: December 2019

An active terahertz (THz) anisotropic manipulation is based on a structure combined polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) with sub-wavelength dielectric gradient grating. In this structure, the PDLC works as an adjustable anisotropic material due to the change of the optical axis direction induced by applying a biased electric field, while the dielectric grating serves as an artificial high birefringence material. By using an appropriate design, the THz birefringence of this structure can be enhanced or offset under different biased voltages, and the phase shift curve of this structure becomes flatter than that of the pure PDLC cell due to the dispersion manipulation of the grating. Moreover, the experimental results fit with the simulative designing, demonstrating that the phase shift of the structure can vary from π to 0 near 0.8 THz when the electric field increases from 0 to 80V, and this device realizes the function of polarization conversion as a tunable THz half-wave plate. This work exhibits potential applications in THz functional devices, such as actively controlled phase shifters and polarization convertors combined LC with artificial microstructure.
808  nm laser triggered self-monitored photo-thermal therapeutic nano-system Y2O3: Nd3+/Yb3+/Er3+@SiO2@Cu2S
Authors: Zhang Zhiyu , Suo Hao , Zhao Xiaoqi , Guo Chongfeng
Published: December 2019

A multifunctional photo-thermal therapeutic nano-platform

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, and its higher accuracy for real-time temperature measurement in the bio-tissue than that of an infrared thermal camera was also proved by sub-tissue experiments. Furthermore, the photo-thermal effect of the present nano-system

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Relationship Between the Immunodetection of Alpha-Smooth Muscle Actin and the Aggressiveness of Mammary Papillar Tumors in Female Dog
Authors: Rosolem Mayara Caroline , Moreira Pamela Rodrigues Reina , Gava Fábio Nelson , Batista Diego Felipe Alves , Bertolo Paulo Henrique Leal , Ferreira Maricy Apparício , Vasconcelos Rosemeri de Oliveira
Published: December 2019

Papillary carcinoma is a mammary neoplasia of women and female dogs characterized by papillary fibrovascular projections lined by epithelial cells. Evaluation on the biology of these tumors can be done by immunohistochemistry through detection of alpha-smooth muscle actin protein in the papillary myoepithelium, which lacks such a molecule during malignant proliferations. Thus, this study aimed at determining the malignancy degree of papillary mammary tumors of female dogs by immunohistochemistry. Twenty samples of mammary neoplastic tissues collected from female dogs treated in the Veterinary Hospital at FCAV were evaluated by Hematoxylin and Eosin staining (H&E) and tumor cells were immunolabelled with monoclonal antibody to alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). Five out of 20 cases showed positive immunolabeling greater than 10% of the total immunolabeling. The remaining fourteen cases presented immunostaining lesser than 10% showing decrease or absence of α-SMA labeling in the myoepithelium of the papilla tumors. All those cases in which immunostained cell was over 10% of the neoplasm (5 immunostains of 20 total cases) were classified as benign whereas those below 10% of immunostained in the slid were considered as malignant. Therefore, immunohistochemistry played an essential role in differentiating benign and malignant papillary tumors of bitches as already described for female. Tumor classification by conventional methods, such as H&E staining, can lead to erroneous interpretations on the real biological behavior of the papillary mammary tumor.
Using computational approaches to study dengue virus capsid assembly
Authors: Salas Gicela G Saucedo , Hernandez Alan E Lopez , He Jiadi , Karki Chitra , Xie Yixin , Sun Shengjie , Xian Yuejiao , Li Lin
Published: December 2019

Dengue viral capsid plays a significant role in viral life cycle of dengue, especially in vial genome protection and virus-cell fusion. Revealing mechanisms of the viral capsid protein assembly may lead to the discovery of anti-viral drugs that inhibit the assembly of the viral capsid. The E and M-proteins are arranged into heterotetramers, which consists of two copies of E and M-protein. The heterotetramers are assembled into a highly ordered capsid. While many investigations of the interactions between E and M-proteins have been performed, there are very few studies on the interactions between the heterotetramers and their roles in capsid assembly. Utilizing a series of computational approaches, this study focuses on the assembly mechanism of the heterotetramers. Our electrostatic analyses lead to the identification of four binding modes between each two dengue heterotetramers that repeat periodically throughout the virus capsid. Among these four binding modes, heterotetramers in binding modes I, II and IV are attractive. But in the binding mode III the heterotetramers repel each other, making mode III a suitable target for drug design. Furthermore, MD simulations were performed following by salt bridges analysis. This study demonstrates that using computational approaches is a promising direction to study the dengue virus.
A treecode based on barycentric Hermite interpolation for electrostatic particle interactions
Authors: Krasny Robert , Wang Lei
Published: December 2019

A particle-cluster treecode based on barycentric Hermite interpolation is presented for fast summation of electrostatic particle interactions in 3D. The interpolation nodes are Chebyshev points of the 2nd kind in each cluster. It is noted that barycentric Hermite interpolation is scale-invariant in a certain sense that promotes the treecode’s efficiency. Numerical results for the Coulomb and screened Coulomb potentials show that the treecode run time scales like O(N log N), where N is the number of particles in the system. The advantage of the barycentric Hermite treecode is demonstrated in comparison with treecodes based on Taylor approximation and barycentric Lagrange interpolation.
Students’ Concepts of the Trapezoid at the End of Lower Secondary Level Education
Authors: Halas Zdeněk , Robová Jarmila , Moravcová Vlasta , Hromadová Jana
Published: December 2019

Understanding basic geometric concepts is important for the development of students’ thinking and geometric imagination, both of which facilitate their progress in mathematics. Factors that may affect students’ understanding include the teacher of mathematics (in particular his/her teaching style) and the textbooks used in mathematics lessons. In our research, we focused on the conceptual understanding of trapezoids among Czech students at the end of the 2nd level of education (ISCED 2). As part of the framework for testing the understanding of geometrical concepts, we assigned a task in which students had to choose trapezoids from six figures (four trapezoids and two other quadrilaterals). In total, 437 students from the 9th grade of lower secondary schools and corresponding years of grammar schools participated in the test. The gathered data were subjected to a qualitative analysis. We found that less than half of the students commanded an adequate conceptual understanding of trapezoids. It turned out that some students did not recognise the non-model of a trapezoid, or vice versa, considering a trapezoid in an untypical position to be a non-model. Our research was supplemented by analysis of geometry textbooks usually used in the Czech Republic which revealed that the trapezoid is predominantly presented in a prototypical position. Moreover, we investigated how pre-service teachers define a trapezoid. Finally, we present some recommendations for mathematics teaching and pre-service teacher training that could help.
Durch die Blume gesagt. Erotische Blumenmetaphorik in romantischer Lyrik: Stagnelius, Wergeland und Aarestrup
Authors: Fürstenberg Henrike
Published: December 2019

Likening females to flowers is not a groundbreaking poetical strategy. However, romantic poetry seems to deal with this well-known metaphor in a particularly expressive way. In this paper, three poems by three different romantic authors — Erik Johan Stagnelius, Henrik Wergeland, and Emil Aarestrup — are analyzed with regard to their use of metaphors merging floral and erotic subjects, particularly in viewing women as flowers. The three chosen poems highlight the effectiveness of metaphorical operations in the context of romantic conceptions of unity. They are marked by a strong metalinguistic awareness in that they are reflective of their uses of metaphorical language in an ironic and playful manner that reveals different shifts of meaning. More precisely, the metaphors serve to illuminate alternative layers of meaning related to the romantic language: In the end, it is language that brings about the erotic relationship, language that does not merely describe but actually shapes the beloved one.
Ternary solid dispersion to improve solubility and dissolution of meloxicam
Authors: Setyawan Dwi , Dewi Meivita Yusmala , Isadiartuti Dewi
Published: December 2019

Background

Meloxicam (MLX) is a potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with poor solubility. Solid dispersion (SD) is an effective formulation strategy to improve the dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble compounds. Hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as an inert polymer carrier and nicotinic acid (NA) as disturbance can be used as a matrix of SD. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of MLX-HPMC-NA SD on the solubility and dissolution of MLX.

Methods

SD was prepared by the solvent evaporation technique with methanol being used as a solvent. Methanol was evaporated at room temperature. SD of MLX was prepared involving various matrix compositions at MLX:HPMC:NA ratios of 1:1:1 (SD1), 1:1:2 (SD2), 1:2:1 (SD3), and 1:2:2 (SD4).

Results

The solubility profile of MLX in SD3 (64.34 ppm) showed a higher improvement than the physical mixture (15.99 ppm) and pure MLX (6.89 ppm). This increase might be due to the formation of molecular dispersion of MLX in the polymer as hydrophilic matrix and NA have both donor-acceptor sites for hydrogen bonding interactions. The dissolution profile of SD3 also showed the highest improvement. The melting endotherm of SD3 was detected at 219.5 °C, in which case it originated from NA rather than from MLX, showing that MLX was molecularly dispersed and amorphous.

Conclusions

MLX solubility and dissolution profile could be improved by the SD technique with a matrix of HPMC and NA. The best result was given by SD3 with an MLX:HPMC:NA ratio of 1:2:1. Based on the characterization study, it is predicted that hydrophilic polymer and hydrogen bonding interactions play important roles in MLX solubility or dissolution rate improvement.
Synergistic anti-hepatitis C virus activity of Ruta angustifolia extract with NS3 protein inhibitor
Authors: Wahyuni Tutik Sri , Mahfud Humairoh , Permatasari Adita Ayu , Widyawaruyanti Aty , Fuad Achmad
Published: December 2019

Background

Medicinal plants are known to perform many pharmacological actions due to their chemical metabolites, which include antiviral effects. Previously, the extract of Ruta angustifolia was shown to have potential anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) activity without any cytotoxicity, with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 3.0 μg/mL and a 50% cytotoxicity concentration of >100 μg/mL. Furthermore, the combination of medicinal plants and current anti-HCV agents, such as a direct-acting antiviral agent, was shown to potentiate their overall effectiveness. In the course of this study, the ethanolic extract of R. angustifolia was evaluated for its anti-HCV effects; specifically, the mechanism of action on HCV NS3 and NS5A protease was investigated.

Methods

Analysis of the use of this extract in conjunction with current NS3 inhibitor drugs, simeprevir (SMV) and telaprevir (TVR), was performed. Anti-HCV activity was performed by in vitro culture of hepatocyte cells. The cells were infected and treated with various concentrations of the sample. HCV inhibition was calculated and CompuSyn software analysis was used to determine the synergistic effect of the combination.

Results

Results demonstrated that R. angustifolia extract inhibited the post-entry step and decreased the protein levels of HCV NS3 and NS5A. The combination of extract and SMV and TVR mediated a synergistic effect.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that combining R. angustifolia extract with current anti-HCV drugs should be considered when developing alternative and complementary anti-HCV medicines.
Public Values, Private Regulators: Between Regulation and Reputation in the Sharing Economy
Authors: Ranchordás Sofia
Published: December 2019

In traditional sectors, the intervention of private parties in the regulatory system tends to be justified by their enhanced expertise, government cuts or efficiency gains. In the sharing economy (e.g., home-sharing services offered by Airbnb), quality control and regulatory tasks (e.g., inspections) are to, a great extent, informally delegated to online platforms and peer-to-peer communities that rate and review performance. These communities consist of users that do not have more than their personal experience and the guidance of online platforms to underpin their assessments. Existing literature has extensively criticized the reliability of these online reputational mechanisms, but it has overlooked other far-reaching effects of outsourcing regulatory tasks to private parties. This Article offers a more complete analysis of the regulatory value of online reputation. I argue that reputational mechanisms have the potential of creating democratic spaces where users can provide unique, regular, and first-hand insights that would otherwise be disregarded in a traditional regulatory system. Nevertheless, in their current form, these mechanisms still offer inadequate protection to the public values that typically underlie the regulation of certain services. This Article explains this problem by comparing the protection of public values in the sharing economy to that of traditional regulated sectors.

This Article contributes to the literature by reflecting on whether the sharing economy is inviting us to rethink the broader involvement of citizens in the protection of public values and the challenges thereof. It suggests a framework to improve online reputational mechanisms and a better dialogue between traditional regulation and online reputation.
The Technologies of Discrimination: How Platforms Cultivate Gender Inequality
Authors: Renan Barzilay Arianne
Published: December 2019

The changes created by platform-facilitated labor are considered fundamental challenges to the future of work. As more data accumulates on gender discrimination in online platforms, this Article explores how inequality is cultivated by platforms in the gig economy. Looking at technological architecture as organizational structure, this essay bridges a gap between three bodies of scholarship that have not yet been in conversation but considering them together is necessary if we are to think about gender equality in platform-facilitated labor. The first concerns data driven discrimination, the second concerns the role of platform affordances and the third concerns organizational policies. These point to the gender inequality regime that platforms may enact. Thus, the Article theoretically contributes to unpacking platforms’ role in perpetuating and institutionalizing gender inequality. Finally, it offers some suggestions on the ways in which law, policy and technology can disrupt the institutionalization of gender inequality in platform-facilitated labor.
If Uber were a Cooperative: A Democratically Biased Analysis of Platform Economy
Authors: Solel Yifat
Published: December 2019

Online, or platform economy, is no different than offline economy. Platforms are in this day and age what land was in agrarian times and the means of production for the industrial revolution period — i.e., basic resources. As such, the prime questions to be addressed are the same as ever: who owns the resources, who controls them, who profits from them, and who makes the decisions regarding all of the above.

Analyzing online economy by these parameters elicits three major categories: Online Capitalism — economic activities designed to maximize profits; Sharing Economy, using a substance-based definition — allowing underused resources to be used by others and adding social value: connecting people, contributing to the environment, and creating communities; and Platform Cooperativism — using online technology to promote economic and social goals and interests, as in the sharing notion, adding power-building components: ownership, control – democracy.

This classification is both an identifying tool that allows for an objective evaluation of enterprises and a basis for future legislation and public policy that favors democratic and community-based enterprises.

Platform Economy poses great threats: It allows for concentration of power, wealth and control, but it also holds great opportunities as it constructs mechanisms that enable mass participation in decision-making, and thus allows to develop a new and exciting future in which democracy re-claims its front seat, and people regain the power to make a difference.
The Internet of Humans (IoH): Human Rights and Co-Governance to Achieve Tech Justice in the City
Authors: Iaione Christian , De Nictolis Elena , Suman Anna Berti
Published: December 2019

Internet of Things, Internet of Everything and Internet of People are concepts suggesting that objects, devices, and people will be increasingly interconnected through digital infrastructure that will generate a growing gathering of data. Parallel to this development is the celebration of the smart city and sharing city as urban policy visions that by relying heavily on new technologies bear the promise of efficient and thriving cities. Law and policy scholarship have either focused on questions related to privacy, discrimination, security, or issues related to the production and use of big data, digital public services. Little or no attention has been paid to the disruptive impact of technological development on urban governance and city inhabitants’ rights of equal access, participation, management and even ownership, in order to understand whether and how technology can also enhance the protection of human rights and social justice in the city.

This Article proposes complementing the technological and digital infrastructure with a legal and governance infrastructure, the Internet of Humans, by construing and injecting in the policy framework of the city the principle of Tech Justice. Building on a literature review and from an analysis of selected case studies, this Article stresses the dichotomy existing between the market-based and the society-based applications of technology, the first likely to increase the digital divide and the challenges to human rights in the city, the latter bearing the promise to promote equal access to technology in the city. The main argument advanced by this Article is that the principle of Tech Justice if embedded as an empirical dimension of smart city and sharing city policies can steer their developments in the direction of a more just and democratic city.
Use of local resources as co-substrates in a farm-scale biogas plant
Authors: Ervasti Satu , Vainio Markku , Tampio Elina
Published: December 2019

Biogas production is an established technology that is suitable for small-scale decentralized solutions, for example, on dairy cattle farms where manure is formed all year round. Cattle slurry can be co-digested with other organic biomasses to boost the production of renewable energy. The aim of this study was to outline the suitability of locally available co-substrates that are characteristic to the northern rural area in Lapland, Finland. Twelve different co-substrates originating from agriculture, reindeer meat production, fisheries and food processing were studied for their chemical characteristics and biochemical methane potential (BMP) in laboratory tests. As a result, all the tested co-substrates had a higher BMP than the cattle slurry, which could be a useful boost for farm-scale energy production. The BMP was the highest for used vegetable oil (851 l/kg VS) followed by the rainbow trout by-products (728 l/kg VS). BMP was the lowest for spoiled grass silage (265 l/kg VS) and the rumen contents of reindeer (289 l/kg VS). All substrates had high concentrations of the main nutrients, and small fish especially were rich in phosphorus (7.4 g/kg) and nitrogen (24.2 g/kg). Nutrient rich co-substrates increase the fertilizer value of digestate and the nutrient self-sufficiency of the farm.
The Wettins and the Issue of Inheritance of the Polish-Lithuanian State Throne in the Context of the Constitution of May 3, 1791: Position of the Lithuanian Nobility
Authors: Šmigelskytė-Stukienė Ramunė
Published: December 2019

The article analyses attitudes of the Lithuanian nobility towards the inheritance of the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the Commonwealth) in the period of the Four-Year Sejm (1788-1792). Thorough analysis of historiography and research of narrative sources amplifies the position of the Lithuanian nobility towards the issue of inheritance of the throne of the Commonwealth as it was reflected in the political literature of 1787-1789 period. Analysis of the documents produced by the February and November dietines (Pol. sejmiks), 1790 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the GDL) reveals changes in the position of nobility towards selection of the successor to the throne with the king still alive. It was established, that in supporting the idea of a hereditary throne, Lithuanian political writers suggested different strategies in realizing this idea and proposed as candidates for the throne representatives of ruling dynasties of several states: Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Great Britain.

Changes in the position of nobility were significantly influenced by the activism of patriotic-reformist faction, which proposed the very idea of a hereditary throne and a candidate from the dynasty of Wettins: the GDL districts (Pol. powiats), having ignored the question of throne inheritance in the February dietines of 1790, in November of the same year agreed to the selection of Elector of Saxony as the successor to the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanislaw August. However, even if agreeing to the Wettin candidacy, the GDL nobility did not support establishing of the principle of such inheritance. Most of the GDL dietines supported limited monarchy, politically and financially dependent on the political will of the nation. The Elector of Saxony was given certain conditions, the departure from which was to bring back an elective monarchy.
The Linguistic and Cultural Atlas of Immigration: Multidisciplinary Research for Spanish Classrooms
Authors: del Carmen Fernández López María
Published: December 2019

This study presents a model for researching the integration of the immigrant population in educational contexts based on a multidisciplinary approach.The Linguistic and Cultural Atlas of Immigration(ALCI) is a working tool designed for teachers who must serve students in their classrooms from languages and cultures other than that of instruction. The information the Atlas contains is the product of various research and documentation projects on the demographic variables of the foreign population located in central Spain, the habits and customs of their culture of origin and important aspects of their native, family or heritage language. The ALCI raises awareness of the results of linguistic and cultural research carried out with the collaboration of the immigrant population (students, their families and other participating adults) and teachers, so that they can be leveraged and employed in the classroom.