School Vouchers in Practice: Competition Won't Hurt You!

An important issue in the debate on voucher systems and school choice is what effects competition from independent schools will have on public schools. Sweden has made a radical reform of its system for financing schools. Independent and public schools operate on close to equal terms under a voucher system covering all children. Sample selection models are estimated, using a data set of about 28 000 individuals. In addition, panel data models are estimated on 288 Swedish municipalities. The findings support the hypothesis that school results in public schools improve due to competition.Public Education; Independent Schools; Student Achievement; School Vouchers; School Choice; Sample Selection Model; Panel Data Model; Instrumental Variable Estimation

Legislate or Delegate? Bargaining over Implementation and Legislative Authority in the European Union

In this article we explain how actors' ability to bargain successfully in order to advance their institutional preferences has changed over time as a function of the particular institutional context. We show how actors use their bargaining power under given institutional rules in order to shift the existing balance between legislation and delegation, and shift the rules governing delegation in their favor, between formal treaty changes. We argue that a collective actor's preferences over delegation is a function of whether the actor has more ability to influence policy through delegation or through legislation. We go on to argue that the degree to which a specific actor's preferences can prevail (in a setting in which different actors have different preferences) will depend upon its bargaining power under existing institutional rules, i.e. its ability to impede or veto policy in order to change the division between legislation and delegation and the rules of delegation. Our primary focus in this article is on choice over procedure; i.e. the battles over whether or not delegation or legislation should be employed. We maintain a secondary focus on change in procedure, examining how different procedures of comitology have come into being and been removed from the table. We examine the evolution of the debate over comitology and implementation, over five key periods. We scrutinize how actors within these periods seek to shift the balance of legislation and delegation and the rules of delegation according to their preferences. Our conclusions assess our empirical findings on the basis of our model.accountability; European Commission; Council of Ministers; European Parliament; European Parliament

Entry into Swedish Retail- and Wholesale Trade Markets

In this paper, a Poisson regression model is used to study the determinants of entry of new firms into the Swedish retail- and wholesale trade markets. The results suggest that incumbent firms engage in strategic behavior to prevent the entry of newcomers. Regional factors are also found to be important determinants of entry.Wholesale trade; retail trade; entry; number of firms; panel data

Finanskrisens effekt på strategier och intern styrning- en fallstudie av Swedbank, Karlskrona

Titel: Finanskrisens effekt på strategier och intern styrning- en fallstudie av Swedbank Karlskrona. Seminariedatum: 4 juni 2009. Ämne/Kurs: FEKK01, examensarbete kandidatnivå, 15hp. Författare: Johanna Bergström, Jasmina Bisanovic, Fredrik Bäcklund. Handledare: Ola Mattisson, Ulf Ramberg. Nyckelord: Finanskrisen, intern styrning, strategi, osäker omvärld, begränsande faktor. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur den lokala ledningen på Swedbank, Karlskrona uppfattar finanskrisens effekt på det lokala bankkontoret, för att analysera vilken påverkan den har haft på de implementerade strategierna och den interna styrningen. Metod: Vi använder oss av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med abduktiv ansats och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Teoretiska perspektiv: De teorier vi använder oss av är ramverk för strategiimplementering och situationellt synsätt, vilka vi har kombinerat i en utvidgad modell. Empiri: Empirin bygger på en personlig intervju, en telefonintervju samt kompletterande företagsintern information från Swedbank. Slutsats: Swedbanks interna styrning har varken blivit påverkad av eller anpassad till den rådande finanskrisen. Däremot har en av fyra strategier blivit påverkad vilket resulterade i att detta strategiarbete tillfälligt stannade upp

Beståndsstatus för torsk i Ålands hav 2022

Jämförelser mellan torsk i Ålands hav och i södra Östersjön för 2021 och 2022 visar att torsken i Ålands hav växer snabbare, har bättre kondition och blir större och äldre än torsken i södra Östersjön. Journalföringen visar att fångst per ansträngning för 2022 under april–juni är den näst högsta under hela tidsserien 2000–2022. Trots förekomst av parasiter i levern, påverkas inte torskens konditionsindex (Fulton K) i Ålands hav, men antalet levermaskar ökar med ålder, längd, vikt och levervikt. Endast ett fåtal torskar var angripna av muskelparasiter. Analys av maginnehållet visade att torsken i Ålands hav främst äter ishavsgråsugga men även sillartade fiskar och pungräkor

Multicellular Tumour Spheroid as a model for evaluation of [(18)F]FDG as biomarker for breast cancer treatment monitoring

BACKGROUND: In order to explore a pre-clinical method to evaluate if [(18)F]FDG is valid for monitoring early response, we investigated the uptake of FDG in Multicellular tumour spheroids (MTS) without and with treatment with five routinely used chemotherapy agents in breast cancer. METHODS: The response to each anticancer treatment was evaluated by measurement of the [(18)F]FDG uptake and viable volume of the MTSs after 2 and 3 days of treatment. RESULTS: The effect of Paclitaxel and Docetaxel on [(18)F]FDG uptake per viable volume was more evident in BT474 (up to 55% decrease) than in MCF-7 (up to 25% decrease). Doxorubicin reduced the [(18)F]FDG uptake per viable volume more noticeable in MCF-7 (25%) than in BT474 MTSs. Tamoxifen reduced the [(18)F]FDG uptake per viable volume only in MCF-7 at the highest dose of 1 μM. No effect of Imatinib was observed. CONCLUSION: MTS was shown to be appropriate to investigate the potential of FDG-PET for early breast cancer treatment monitoring; the treatment effect can be observed before any tumour size changes occur. The combination of PET radiotracers and image analysis in MTS provides a good model to evaluate the relationship between tumour volume and the uptake of metabolic tracer before and after chemotherapy. This feature could be used for screening and selecting PET-tracers for early assessment of treatment response. In addition, this new method gives a possibility to assess quickly, and in vitro, a good preclinical profile of existing and newly developed anti-cancer drugs

A 2-pyridone-amide inhibitor targets the glucose metabolism pathway of Chlamydia trachomatis.

UnlabelledIn a screen for compounds that inhibit infectivity of the obligate intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis, we identified the 2-pyridone amide KSK120. A fluorescent KSK120 analogue was synthesized and observed to be associated with the C. trachomatis surface, suggesting that its target is bacterial. We isolated KSK120-resistant strains and determined that several resistance mutations are in genes that affect the uptake and use of glucose-6-phosphate (G-6P). Consistent with an effect on G-6P metabolism, treatment with KSK120 blocked glycogen accumulation. Interestingly, KSK120 did not affect Escherichia coli or the host cell. Thus, 2-pyridone amides may represent a class of drugs that can specifically inhibit C. trachomatis infection.ImportanceChlamydia trachomatis is a bacterial pathogen of humans that causes a common sexually transmitted disease as well as eye infections. It grows only inside cells of its host organism, within a parasitophorous vacuole termed the inclusion. Little is known, however, about what bacterial components and processes are important for C. trachomatis cellular infectivity. Here, by using a visual screen for compounds that affect bacterial distribution within the chlamydial inclusion, we identified the inhibitor KSK120. As hypothesized, the altered bacterial distribution induced by KSK120 correlated with a block in C. trachomatis infectivity. Our data suggest that the compound targets the glucose-6-phosphate (G-6P) metabolism pathway of C. trachomatis, supporting previous indications that G-6P metabolism is critical for C. trachomatis infectivity. Thus, KSK120 may be a useful tool to study chlamydial glucose metabolism and has the potential to be used in the treatment of C. trachomatis infections