The Georgian Church

The Georgian Orthodox Church is guided by the striving to embody the unity of the nation, but it constantly comes up against the diversity of society.     

Haftung des Arztes für seinen Urlaubsvertreter

Abgesehen davon, dass ein Arzt – anders als ein Rechtsanwalt – keine allgemeine Substitutionsbefugnis hat, wird die Haftung eines Schuldners nach § 1313a ABGB nicht dadurch ausgeschlossen, dass der Schuldner gar nicht in der Lage ist, n?here Anweisungen zu geben; entscheidend ist nur, dass sich der Schuldner zur Erfüllung seiner vertraglichen Pflichten eines Dritten bedient. Erfüllungsgehilfe kann nach mittlerweile ganz gesicherter Rsp neben einem unselbst?ndig T?tigen auch ein selbst?ndiger Unternehmer sein. Wenn der Urlaubsvertreter eines Arztes nicht nur die Patienten, sondern auch die Praxisr?ume und das Personal seines Kollegen für eine bestimmte Zeit übernimmt, ist von der Erfüllungsgehilfeneigenschaft des Vertreters auszugehen. Der Nichtarzt, der eine ?rztliche Behandlung vornimmt, hat jedenfalls über das Fehlen seiner ?rztlichen Qualifikation aufzukl?ren. Fehlende Offenlegung gegenüber einem insoweit unkundigen Patienten führt zur Unwirksamkeit einer allf?lligen Einwilligung in die Behandlung.     

Cost-benefit Analysis of Infrastructure Projects in an Enlarged European Union: Returns and Incentives

We consider results of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in a large sample of ISPA (Structural Instrument for Pre-Accession countries) projects co-financed by the European Union to support investment in transport and environment. The research focus is on the empirical analysis of the variability of financial and economic rates of return and how to integrate this information in the EU co-financing mechanism. We investigate to what extent the variability of expected returns and of EU co-financing rates is due to structural project characteristics (sectors, countries) or to other unexplained factors, including errors in the appraisal. We find that while the absolute level of grants is related to sectors, the EU co-financing rate depends on countries. There is no justification in economic analysis of such a country bias, because the variability of economic rate of returns is unrelated either to sector or country factors. These findings points to the need of a more consistent approach to evaluation and EU co-financing of infrastructure supported by the EU funds. We suggest possible improvements, based on the idea to offer an incentive to projects with high-expected economic␣rates of return relative to a benchmark and showing ex-post the realism of the initial analysis.      

How Reliable are Parenchymal Tissues for the Evaluation of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning? A Pilot Study

Dealing with burnt bodies, the forensic pathologist must first of all answer the question whether the victim was alive at the moment of the fire. This study aims at clarifying whether some human solid tissues may be reliably used for the forensic diagnosis of Co poisoning on burnt bodies providing no collectable blood during the autopsy. From 34 selected cases, both cardiac blood and parenchymal samples were collected to perform CO‐oxymeter, spectrophotometry, and gas chromatography tests: blood CO estimations (blood COHb% and blood[CO]) and parenchymal[CO] values have been compared with special focus on R values. The solid tissues having the best correlations with blood CO amount turned out to be the lung (R 0.84), the liver (R 0.83), the kidney (R 0.79), and the spleen (R 0.92).     

The cost efficiency of water utilities: when does public ownership matter?

This study explores the impact of different ownership types on the efficiency of water utilities. Theories and evidence have shown a puzzling relationship between ownership and performance. Moreover, relatively recent contributions (Andrews et al. 2011) have argued that this relationship can be further convoluted by the effect of organisational and environmental variables. The current study aims to contribute to this literature by providing some empirical evidence for Italy, by proposing a methodology that combines non-parametric efficiency estimation and cluster analysis. Our main findings indicate that privately owned utilities indirectly controlled by a public organisation reach the highest level of efficiency but, when size and geographical location enter the analysis, ownership has a stronger significant effect on efficiency, and mixed utilities gain higher cost efficiency. Therefore, we may conclude that administrative reforms about privatisation and the institutional setting should consider a set of variables that characterise each individual organisation.     

Genetic analysis of the skeletal remains attributed to Francesco Petrarca

We report on the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis of the supposed remains of Francesco Petrarca exhumed in November 2003, from the S. Maria Assunta church, in Arquà Padua (Italy) where he died in 1374. The optimal preservation of the remains allowed the retrieval of sufficient mtDNA for genetic analysis. DNA was extracted from a rib and a tooth and mtDNA sequences were determined in multiple clones using the strictest criteria currently available for validation of ancient DNA sequences, including independent replication. MtDNA sequences from the tooth and rib were not identical, suggesting that they belonged to different individuals. Indeed, molecular gender determination showed that the postcranial remains belonged to a male while the skull belonged to a female. Historical records indicated that the remains were violated in 1630, possibly by thieves. These results are consistent with morphological investigations and confirm the importance of integrating molecular and morphological approaches in investigating historical remains.