Public Professionals and Policy implementation

Nowadays, public policies often focus on economic values, such as efficiency and financial transparency. Public professionals often resist implementing such policies. We analyse this using the concept of ‘role conflicts’. We use a novel approach by conceptualizing and measuring role conflicts on the policy level, thereby linking policy implementation and social psychology research. We construct and test scales for policy-client, policy-professional and organizational- professional role conflicts. Using survey data, we show that policy-professional and policy-client role conflicts negatively influence the willingness of public professionals to implement policies. In concluding, we conceptualized and measured three role conflic

Why Do Employers (Fail to) Hire People with Disabilities? : A Systematic Review of Capabilities, Opportunities and Motivations.

Purpose To increase the number of people with disabilities in employment, we need to understand what influences employers’ hiring decisions. In this systematic review, we map out factors affecting employers’ hiring decisions about people with disabilities. Methods This study is a systematic review that applies the COM-B model to identify factors that contribute to employers (not) hiring people with disabilities. The COM-B model proposes that employers will perform hiring behavior (B) if they have the capability (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (M) to do so. We also investigate if factors have a negative, positive or no effect. We report in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Results In a review of 47 studies, we find 32 factors. Most of these factors are barriers. The most frequently mentioned barriers are employers’ (1) expectations that people with disabilities are unproductive, (2) expectations that people with disabilities cost a lot of money, and employers’ (3) lack of knowledge about disabilities. The most researched facilitators for employers to hire people with disabilities include (1) the motivation to help others, (2) working in a large organization, and (3) expecting a competitive advantage. The effect of factors can differ depending on contextual circumstances, including the type of organization, the type of disability and different policies. Conclusions We conclude that hiring decisions are influenced by an array of different barriers and facilitators. The effect of these factors can differ across organizations and disability types. Our study of factors affecting hiring can be used by scholars, policy makers, and organizations to create interventions to increase the hiring of people with disabilities

The Superorganism: Problems and Perspectives

This article aims to contribute to recent debates on research methods in public administration by examining the use of quantitative methods in public administration research. We analyzed 1,605 articles published between 2001–2010 in four leading journals: Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory (JPART), Public Administration Review, Governance, and Public Administration (PA). Results show that whereas qualitative methods are still predominant compared to quantitative methods (56% versus 44%), the field is becoming increasingly quantitative. Of quantitative methods used, surveys are most dominant, while a combination of methods is used far less often. In general, very few studies use a mixed methods design. As to the areas of research, we found that the use of quantitative methods is unequally distributed; some subfields (public management) use quantitative methods more often than others (policy and politics), and some journals (JPART, PA) publish articles on quantitative research more than others (Governance). Implications for public administration research are discussed

Consistent alleviation of abiotic stress with silicon addition: a meta-analysis

1. Hundreds of single species studies have demonstrated the facility of silicon (Si) to alleviate diverse abiotic stresses in plants. Understanding of the mechanisms of Si-mediated stress alleviation is progressing, and several reviews have brought information together. A quantitative assessment of the alleviative capacity of Si, however, which could elucidate plant Si function more broadly, was lacking. 2. We combined the results of 145 experiments, predominantly on agricultural species, in a meta-analysis to statistically assess the responses of stressed plants to Si supply across multiple plant families and abiotic stresses. We interrogated our database to determine whether stressed plants increased in dry mass and net assimilation rate, oxidative stress markers were reduced, antioxidant responses were increased and whether element uptake showed consistent changes when supplied with Si. 3. We demonstrated that across plant families and stress types, Si increases dry weight, assimilation rate and chlorophyll biosynthesis and alleviates oxidative damage in stressed plants. In general, results indicated that plant family (as a proxy for accumulator type) and stress type had significant explanatory power for variation in responses. The consistent reduction in oxidative damage was not mirrored by consistent increases in antioxidant production, indicative of the several different stress alleviation mechanisms in which Si is involved. Silicon addition increased K in shoots, decreased As and Cd in roots and Na and Cd in shoots. Silicon addition did not affect Al, Ca or Mn concentration in shoots and roots of stressed plants. Plants had significantly lower concentrations of Si accumulated in shoots but not in roots when stressed. 4. Meta-analyses showed consistent alleviation by Si of oxidative damage caused by a range of abiotic stresses across diverse species. Our findings indicate that Si is likely to be a useful fertilizer for many crops facing a spectrum of abiotic stresses. Similarities in responses across families provide strong support for a role of Si in the alleviation of abiotic stress in natural systems, where it has barely been explored. We suggest this role may become more important under a changing climate and more experiments using non-agricultural species are now needed

The Effects of Leadership and Job Autonomy on Vitality: Survey and Experimental Evidence

Vitality refers to the experience of having energy available to one’s self. Vital employees are full of positive energy when they work, and feel mentally and physically strong. Such employees often show higher job performance and lower stress than their less vital colleagues. Despite the importance of vitality, few public administration studies have studied vitality. More generally, by focusing on vitality, we aim to bring a “positive psychology” perspective into the domain of public administration. We analyze whether two important job characteristics (leader’s task communication and job autonomy) affect vitality. We use a multi-method design. A large-scale survey (N= 1,502) shows tha

Context and implementation: A concept analysis towards conceptual maturity.

Context and implementation of health interventions have received increasing attention over the past decade, in particular with respect to their influence on the effectiveness and reach of complex interventions. The underlying concepts are both considered partially mature, limiting their operationalization in research and practice. We conducted systematic literature searches and pragmatic utility (PU) concept analyses to provide a state-of-the-art assessment of the concepts of "context" and "implementation" in the health sciences to create a common understanding for their use within systematic reviews and HTA. We performed two separate searches, one for context (EMBASE, MEDLINE) and the other for implementation (Google Scholar) to identify relevant models, theories and frameworks. 17 publications on context and 35 articles on implementation met our inclusion criteria. PU concept analysis comprises three guiding principles: selection of the literature, organization and structuring of the literature, and asking analytic questions of the literature. Both concepts were analyzed according to four features of conceptual maturity, i.e., consensual definitions, clear characteristics, fully described preconditions and outcomes, and delineated boundaries. Context and implementation are highly intertwined, with both concepts influencing and interacting with each other. Context is defined as a set of characteristics and circumstances that surround the implementation effort. Implementation is conceptualized as a planned and deliberately initiated effort with the intention to put an intervention into practice. The concept of implementation presents largely consensual definitions and relatively well-defined boundaries, while distinguishing features, preconditions and outcomes are not yet fully articulated. In contrast, definitions of context vary widely, and boundaries with neighbouring concepts, such as setting and environment, are blurred; characteristics, preconditions and outcomes are ill-defined. Therefore, the maturity of both concepts should be further improved to facilitate operationalization in systematic reviews and HTAs

Skin dendritic cells in melanoma are key for successful checkpoint blockade therapy.

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors has shown impressive results in patients with melanoma, but still many do not benefit from this line of treatment. A lack of tumor-infiltrating T cells is a common reason for therapy failure but also a loss of intratumoral dendritic cells (DCs) has been described. METHODS: We used the transgenic tg(Grm1)EPv melanoma mouse strain that develops spontaneous, slow-growing tumors to perform immunological analysis during tumor progression. With flow cytometry, the frequencies of DCs and T cells at different tumor stages and the expression of the inhibitory molecules programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing-3 (TIM-3) on T cells were analyzed. This was complemented with RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis to investigate the immune status of the tumors. To boost DC numbers and function, we administered Fms-related tyrosine 3 ligand (Flt3L) plus an adjuvant mix of polyI:C and anti-CD40. To enhance T cell function, we tested several checkpoint blockade antibodies. Immunological alterations were characterized in tumor and tumor-draining lymph nodes (LNs) by flow cytometry, CyTOF, microarray and RT-qPCR to understand how immune cells can control tumor growth. The specific role of migratory skin DCs was investigated by coculture of sorted DC subsets with melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells. RESULTS: Our study revealed that tumor progression is characterized by upregulation of checkpoint molecules and a gradual loss of the dermal conventional DC (cDC) 2 subset. Monotherapy with checkpoint blockade could not restore antitumor immunity, whereas boosting DC numbers and activation increased tumor immunogenicity. This was reflected by higher numbers of activated cDC1 and cDC2 as well as CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in treated tumors. At the same time, the DC boost approach reinforced migratory dermal DC subsets to prime gp100-specific CD8+ T cells in tumor-draining LNs that expressed PD-1/TIM-3 and produced interferon γ (IFNγ)/tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα). As a consequence, the combination of the DC boost with antibodies against PD-1 and TIM-3 released the brake from T cells, leading to improved function within the tumors and delayed tumor growth. CONCLUSIONS: Our results set forth the importance of skin DC in cancer immunotherapy, and demonstrates that restoring DC function is key to enhancing tumor immunogenicity and subsequently responsiveness to checkpoint blockade therapy

ESUR/ESUI consensus statements on multi-parametric MRI for the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer: quality requirements for image acquisition, interpretation and radiologists’ training

Objectives: This study aims to define consensus-based criteria for acquiring and reporting prostate MRI and establishing prerequisites for image quality. Methods: A total of 44 leading urologists and urogenital radiologists who are experts in prostate cancer imaging from the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) and EAU Section of Urologic Imaging (ESUI) participated in a Delphi consensus process. Panellists completed two rounds of questionnaires with 55 items under three headings: image quality assessment, interpretation and reporting, and radiologists’ experience plus training centres. Of 55 questions, 31 were rated for agreement on a 9-point scale, and 24 were multiple-choice or open. For agreement items, there was consensus agreement with an agreement ≥ 70% (score 7–9) and disa