Humanitarian visas can be highly effective and useful tools to ensure access to asylum for select groups of asylum-seekers with a need for international protection. In the context of the current refugee protection crisis, humanitarian visas could complement and alleviate the pressure on ordinary asylum procedures on the territory of Member States in the EU.A system of humanitarian visas may be imp

In England saltmarshes account for less than 0.5% of the land area; however they have a very high biodiversity value and provide significant economic and social services. Climate change, continuous coastal urbanisation and port development are serious concerns for coastal protection planners, city councils and state government agencies interested in balancing the social, economic and environmental

Many animals are known to preferentially mate with partners that are dissimilar at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in order to maximize the antigen binding repertoire (or disease resistance) in their offspring. Although several mammals, fish or lizards use odour cues to assessMHCsimilarity with potential partners, the ability of birds to assessMHC similarity using olfactory cues has not

The aggregation of the 42-residue form of the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ42) is a pivotal event in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The use of chemical kinetics has recently enabled highly accurate quantifications of the effects of small molecules on specific microscopic steps in Aβ42 aggregation. Here, we exploit this approach to develop a rational drug discovery strategy against Aβ42 aggregation that uses as

This thesis employs an international comparative perspective to empirically analyse the Czech energy transition between 1830 and 2010. It addresses the utilization of energy in shaping modern economic growth through structural and technological change and the implications of those changes on specialization and foreign trade. New historical data is collected and utilized to investigate the impact o

This dissertation examines appropriations of five of Shakespeare’s tragedies (King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet), written for the stage between 1979 and 2010 and set in Shakespeare’s playworlds. The aim of the study is to investigate how these appropriations are used as a strategy for discussing issues that are central both to Shakespeare’s plays and to the present gender-po

The blood's major gas exchange is carried out by haemoglobin, a haeme protein that binds iron and oxygen and can have potentially dangerous side-effects due to redox reactions. Haemoglobin is a very abundant molecule with a concentration of 150 g/l in whole blood, resulting in almost one kg haemoglobin in an adult human body. Normal turnover of red blood cells results in significant haemoglobin re

The behavioral response of the larval parasitoid Spintherus dubius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to volatile compounds derived from its Apion weevil hosts was investigated in two-choice bioassays. Odor source candidates were the larval and adult stages of weevils, clover flowers, and feces from adult weevils. Despite S. dubius being a larval parasitoid, the odor of weevil larvae isolated from the cl

Neutral particle oscillations have proven to be extremely valuable probes of fundamental physics. For instance, kaon oscillations provided us with our first insight into CP-violation, B oscillations form the most fertile ground for the continued study of CP-violation, and neutrino oscillations suggest the existence of a new, important energy scale well below the GUT scale. Neutrons oscillating int

Previously genome-wide association methods in patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE) found association with ISL1, a master control gene expressed in pericloacal mesenchyme. This study sought to further explore the genetics in a larger set of patients following-up on the most promising genomic regions previously reported. Genotypes of 12 markers obtained from 268 CBE patients of Australian,

Corporate wellness programs can help employees improve their health and well-being. There are many advantages to a healthy workforce including increased productivity and lower health insurance premiums. A growing trend in corporate wellness programs is to offer wearable fitness trackers to employees to help them monitor their activity so that they can make better choices about their health. It is

Context. The Galactic bulge is an intriguing and significant part of our Galaxy, but it is hard to observe because it is both distant and covered by dust in the disk. Therefore, there are not many high-resolution optical spectra of bulge stars with large wavelength coverage, whose determined abundances can be compared with nearby, similarly analyzed stellar samples. Aims. We aim to determine the d

The Haemophilus surface fibril (Hsf) is an unusually large trimeric autotransporter adhesin (TAA) expressed by the most virulent strains of H. influenzae. Hsf is known to mediate adhesion between pathogen and host, allowing the establishment of potentially deadly diseases such as epiglottitis, meningitis and pneumonia. While recent research has suggested that this TAA might adopt a novel 'hairpin

We study common features in the income velocity of money, income, and interest rates for Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Sweden and Norway using annual data from 1870. The recently developed and refined techniques of testing for cointegration are employed.The evidence suggests there is a unique long-run relationship in velocity but not in income and interest rates. Moreover, we find that only a model