Cultuurberichtgeving in een tijdperk van globalisering

This article aims at charting and elucidating key developments and cross-national variations in the coverage given to foreign and indigenous cultural products (classical and popular music, dance, film, literature, theater, television fiction, and visual arts) in American, Dutch, French, and German newspapers between 1955 and 2005. Using content analysis, it is first explored to what extent the explosive growth of international cultural traffic in the second half of the twentieth century has been accompanied by increased newspaper coverage of foreign arts and culture in the four countries under study. Second, the article examines the assumption that the degree and direction of international orientation differs among countries according to their size, the centrality of their cultural production or their production in particular cultural fields, and their cultural policy framework. Third, the article qualifies the evolving patterns of dominance in the international orientation of arts journalism in each country, in terms of countries and regions represented in arts and culture coverage

The economics of the greenhouse effect

The recognition that economic activity is contributing to climatic change, with attendant costs that may be of large magnitudes, has set in motion a substantial research effort. This paper seeks to review the contribution of economics to analysis of the greenhouse effect and to the policies and instruments suggested as means of mitigating its damage. A brief overview of the causes and consequences of global warming is given, and a number of energy-economy forecasting models are examined. As the costs of global warming depend upon the extent to which preventative and adaptive measures are undertaken, the techniques available to evaluate these costs are surveyed. We examine extant targets for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and explore the frameworks within which optimal policy targets can be designed. The paper also considers the narrower question of (minimized) abatement costs, and surveys the types of models used to estimate them. The merits of alternative policy instruments are examined, paying particular attention to the role that risk and uncertainty, and the costs of monitoring and implementation of policy under conditions of imperfect information, may play in the choice of instruments. Problems of international co-operation in the development of abatement policy are examined, and we consider the compensations (across both nations and generations) that are likely to be necessary conditions for effective action

Meta-analysis of individual-patient data from EVAR-1, DREAM, OVER and ACE trials comparing outcomes of endovascular or open repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm over 5 years

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: The erosion of the early mortality advantage of elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) compared with open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm remains without a satisfactory explanation. METHODS: An individual-patient data meta-analysis of four multicentre randomized trials of EVAR versus open repair was conducted to a prespecified analysis plan, reporting on mortality, aneurysm-related mortality and reintervention. RESULTS: The analysis included 2783 patients, with 14 245 person-years of follow-up (median 5.5 years). Early (0-6 months after randomization) mortality was lower in the EVAR groups (46 of 1393 versus 73 of 1390 deaths; pooled hazard ratio 0.61, 95 per cent c.i. 0.42 to 0.89; P = 0.010), primarily because 30-day operative mortality was lower in the EVAR groups (16 deaths versus 40 for open repair; pooled odds ratio 0.40, 95 per cent c.i. 0.22 to 0.74). Later (within 3 years) the survival curves converged, remaining converged to 8 years. Beyond 3 years, aneurysm-related mortality was significantly higher in the EVAR groups (19 deaths versus 3 for open repair; pooled hazard ratio 5.16, 1.49 to 17.89; P = 0.010). Patients with moderate renal dysfunction or previous coronary artery disease had no early survival advantage under EVAR. Those with peripheral artery disease had lower mortality under open repair (39 deaths versus 62 for EVAR; P = 0.022) in the period from 6 months to 4 years after randomization. CONCLUSION: The early survival advantage in the EVAR group, and its subsequent erosion, were confirmed. Over 5 years, patients of marginal fitness had no early survival advantage from EVAR compared with open repair. Aneurysm-related mortality and patients with low ankle : brachial pressure index contributed to the erosion of the early survival advantage for the EVAR group. Trial registration numbers: EVAR-1, ISRCTN55703451; DREAM (Dutch Randomized Endovascular Aneurysm Management), NCT00421330; ACE (Anevrysme de l'aorte abdominale, Chirurgie versus Endoprothese), NCT00224718; OVER (Open Versus Endovascular Repair Trial for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms), NCT00094575