EU competition rules for cloud firms will hit US ties

Headline EU: Competition rules for cloud firms will hit US ties

Subject Structural challenges to EU foreign policy. Significance The EU lacks a consolidated foreign policy: member states play a predominant role in external affairs. However, given such domestic challenges as political fragmentation, adverse demographic change and rising populism, national foreign policy faces a future of more volatility and uncertainty. This could increase the need to bolster the EU’s foreign policy powers. Impacts Positions on Russian sanctions and the Iran nuclear deal show the Council able to form a consensus on some important external issues. Germany and France will push for changed EU competition rules to allow ‘national champions’ to emerge against Chinese and US competitors. Regional neighbours in Northern and Southern Europe may deepen inter-governmentalism and cooperation, respectively. The EU could become a global trendsetter in climate change, especially if Germany and Poland agree to carbon neutrality by 2050.


Subject EU competition policy. Significance The European Commission will decide next month whether to allow a merger between the railway engineering businesses of Siemens (Germany) and Alstom (France), two of the largest European industrial companies. The proposed merger and the Commission’s oversight of it have reopened a debate about the relationship between competition policy and the strategic competitiveness of European firms in the global economy, with the rise of China a particular concern. Impacts The United Kingdoms' exit from the EU will be a blow to the Nordic countries and Ireland, all sceptical of EU competition rules. The transport market for new rolling stock and infrastructure may be hit by a global slowdown. Siemens could seek a merger with Canadian transport company Bombardier if the proposed Siemens-Alstom merger is prohibited.


Subject Anti-trust action against technology firms in Europe and the United States. Significance The European Commission fined Google 4.34 billion euros (5.1 billion dollars) in mid-July, for abusing its market power in the mobile internet sector. The move has prompted criticism in the United States and underlines the different approaches adopted towards the technology sector by their respective anti-trust regulators. Impacts The relative lack of large European technology firms will help enable tough moves on US tech firms by the Commission. Emerging markets, such as India, will also soon begin to crack down on the near-monopolies of 'big tech'. Rising inequality and wage stagnation will increase the public pressure for regulatory tightening.


Subject EU state aid rules. Significance The European Commission relaxed its state aid and competition rules on March 13 and 19 amid the extraordinary pressure on European economic performance resulting from COVID-19. This will give member states more tools to implement substantial fiscal packages to save economic sectors struggling as a result of COVID-19. However, in order to prevent richer countries gaining a competitive advantage, it has imposed strict measures on government-sponsored credit guarantees or interest rate subsidies. Impacts Even a lifting of restrictions within a few weeks will not undo the damage caused already by disruptions to supply chains and labour. If social restrictions persist until mid-2020, further substantial state aid packages will be required for the second half of the year. Firms that were already struggling before COVID-19 will be restricted in terms of the amount of state aid they receive.


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-54
Author(s):  
Wanyenda Leonard Chilimo

 There is scant research-based evidence on the development and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories (IRs) in Africa, and in Kenya in particular. This article reports on a study that attempted to fill that gap and provide feedback on the various OA projects and advocacy work currently underway in universities and research institutions in Kenya and in other developing countries. The article presents the findings of a descriptive study that set out to evaluate the current state of IRs in Kenya. Webometric approaches and interviews with IR managers were used to collect the data for the study. The findings showed that Kenya has made some progress in adopting OA with a total of 12 IRs currently listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and five mandatory self-archiving policies listed in the Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies (ROARMAP). Most of the IRs are owned by universities where theses and dissertations constitute the majority of the content type followed by journal articles. The results on the usage and impact of materials deposited in Kenyan IRs indicated that the most viewed publications in the repositories also received citations in Google Scholar, thereby signifying their impact and importance. The results also showed that there was a considerable interest in Swahili language publications among users of the repositories in Kenya.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlyn Johnston ◽  
William E. Davis

In the present study, we examined how the influence of exercise-related social media content on exercise motivation might differ across content type (with images vs. without images) and account type (individual vs. corporate). Using a 2 × 2 within-subjects experimental design, 229 participants viewed a series of 40 actual social media posts across the four conditions (individual posts with images, corporate posts with images, individual posts without images, and corporate posts without images) in a randomized order. Participants rated the extent to which they felt each social media post motivated them to exercise, would motivate others to exercise, and was posted for extrinsic reasons. Participants also completed other measures of individual differences including their own exercise motivation. Posts with images from individuals were more motivating than posts with images from corporations; however, corporate posts without images were more motivating than posts without images from individuals. Participants expected others to be similarly motivated by the stimuli, and perceived corporate posts as having been posted for more extrinsic reasons than individuals’ posts. These findings enhance our understanding of how social media may be used to promote positive health behaviors.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 120-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chihiro Ohye ◽  
Tohru Shibazaki ◽  
Junji Ishihara ◽  
Jie Zhang

Object. The effects of gamma thalamotomy for parkinsonian and other kinds of tremor were evaluated. Methods. Thirty-six thalamotomies were performed in 31 patients by using a 4-mm collimator. The maximum dose was 150 Gy in the initial six cases, which was reduced to 130 Gy thereafter. The longest follow-up period was 6 years. The target was determined on T2-weighted and proton magnetic resonance (MR) images. The point chosen was in the lateral-most part of the thalamic ventralis intermedius nucleus. This is in keeping with open thalamotomy as practiced at the authors' institution. In 15 cases, gamma thalamotomy was the first surgical procedure. In other cases, previous therapeutic or vascular lesions were visible to facilitate targeting. Two types of tissue reaction were onserved on MR imaging: a simple oval shape and a complex irregular shape. Neither of these changes affected the clinical course. In the majority of cases, the tremor subsided after a latent interval of approximately 1 year after irradiation. The earliest response was demonstrated at 3 months. In five cases the tremor remained. In four of these cases, a second radiation session was administered. One of these four patients as well as another patient with an unsatisfactory result underwent open thalamotomy with microrecording. In both cases, depth recording adjacent to the necrotic area revealed normal neuronal activity, including the rhythmic discharge of tremor. Minor coagulation was performed and resulted in immediate and complete arrest of the remaining tremor. Conclusions. Gamma thalamotomy for Parkinson's disease seems to be an alternative useful method in selected cases.


2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hung-Chi Pan ◽  
Wan-Yuo Guo ◽  
Wen-Yuh Chung ◽  
Cheng-Ying Shiau ◽  
Yue-Cune Chang ◽  
...  

Object. A consecutive series of 240 patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) treated by gamma knife radiosurgery (GKS) between March 1993 and March 1999 was evaluated to assess the efficacy and safety of radiosurgery for cerebral AVMs larger than 10 cm3 in volume. Methods. Seventy-six patients (32%) had AVM nidus volumes of more than 10 cm3. During radiosurgery, targeting and delineation of AVM nidi were based on integrated stereotactic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and x-ray angiography. The radiation treatment was performed using multiple small isocenters to improve conformity of the treatment volume. The mean dose inside the nidus was kept between 20 Gy and 24 Gy. The margin dose ranged between 15 to 18 Gy placed at the 55 to 60% isodose centers. Follow up ranged from 12 to 73 months. There was complete obliteration in 24 patients with an AVM volume of more than 10 cm3 and in 91 patients with an AVM volume of less than 10 cm3. The latency for complete obliteration in larger-volume AVMs was significantly longer. In Kaplan—Meier analysis, the complete obliteration rate in 40 months was 77% in AVMs with volumes between 10 to 15 cm3, as compared with 25% for AVMs with a volume of more than 15 cm3. In the latter, the obliteration rate had increased to 58% at 50 months. The follow-up MR images revealed that large-volume AVMs had higher incidences of postradiosurgical edema, petechiae, and hemorrhage. The bleeding rate before cure was 9.2% (seven of 76) for AVMs with a volume exceeding 10 cm3, and 1.8% (three of 164) for AVMs with a volume less than 10 cm3. Although focal edema was more frequently found in large AVMs, most of the cases were reversible. Permanent neurological complications were found in 3.9% (three of 76) of the patients with an AVM volume of more than 10 cm3, 3.8% (three of 80) of those with AVM volume of 3 to 10 cm3, and 2.4% (two of 84) of those with an AVM volume less than 3 cm3. These differences in complications rate were not significant. Conclusions. Recent improvement of radiosurgery in conjunction with stereotactic MR targeting and multiplanar dose planning has permitted the treatment of larger AVMs. It is suggested that gamma knife radiosurgery is effective for treating AVMs as large as 30 cm3 in volume with an acceptable risk.


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