Mehr direkte Demokratie auf Bundesebene? Das Politikmonopol der Parteien durchbrechen; direkte Demokratie stärken

Am 7. Juni dieses Jahres scheiterte der rot-grüne Gesetzentwurf zur Einführung von Volksinitiative, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid auf Bundesebene an der notwendigen Zweidrittelmehrheit. Können mit mehr direkter Demokratie auf Bundesebene die Probleme der repräsentativen Demokratie überwunden werden? --

Instantaneous control of interacting particle systems in the mean-field limit

Controlling large particle systems in collective dynamics by a few agents is a subject of high practical importance, e.g., in evacuation dynamics. In this paper we study an instantaneous control approach to steer an interacting particle system into a certain spatial region by repulsive forces from a few external agents, which might be interpreted as shepherd dogs leading sheep to their home. We introduce an appropriate mathematical model and the corresponding optimization problem. In particular, we are interested in the interaction of numerous particles, which can be approximated by a mean-field equation. Due to the high-dimensional phase space this will require a tailored optimization strategy. The arising control problems are solved using adjoint information to compute the descent directions. Numerical results on the microscopic and the macroscopic level indicate the convergence of optimal controls and optimal states in the mean-field limit,i.e., for an increasing number of particles.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1610.0132

« Tu ne peux pas rejeter ton enfant ! »

Selon la conception des personnes âgées et des jeunes, le contrat entre les générations représente une assurance pour la vieillesse. Dans la pratique, la recherche menée à Bobo-Dioulasso au Burkina Faso, révèle un nouveau rapport de sécurité sociale, « Le contrat entre les générations à l’envers ». Beaucoup de parents sont devenus l’assurance chômage de leurs enfants et le soutien de leurs petits-enfants orphelins. Néanmoins, l’idée que le contrat entre les générations tend à se disloquer, n’a pas été confirmée par notre étude. Bien au contraire : différencié sous quatre formes, on s’aperçoit qu’il est encore très vivace. Suite à la crise économique, la majorité des personnes de la couche des pauvres vivent dans la précarité ou sont socialement marginalisées. Les femmes et les hommes élaborent des stratégies différentes pour parvenir à vivre en conformité avec le code d’honneur et éviter la marginalisation sociale. Les uns et les autres misent sur leurs enfants – les femmes le font de manière directe, les hommes indirectement, par la médiation de leurs épouses.“You Cannot Reject your Child!” Contract between Generations, Social Security and Old Age in Burkina Faso’s Urban Areas. – According to the concept, the contract between generations represents for elderly and young people an old age insurance. In practice however, the study carried out in Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso reveals a new social security relation, “the reversed intergenerational contract”. Many parents have become the unemployment insurance for their children and the insurance for orphan grandchildren. But the assumption that the contract between generations is collapsing has not been confirmed. On the contrary, differentiating this social security relation into four types, we can see that it is still important. The effects of economic degradation cannot be corrected by the intergenerational contract. The majority of the lower class lives in precarious conditions or is socially marginalized. Men and women develop different strategies to manage their lives according to the code of honour and avoid social marginalization. Both count on their children–women directly and men indirectly through their wives

Homeostatic regulation of long-term potentiation

Homeostasis is a key concept in biology. It enables ecosystems, organisms, organs and cells to adjust their operating range to values that ensure optimal performance. Homeostatic regulation of synaptic activity has been shown to play an important role during development. Here I investigated whether also mature neurons possess mechanisms to prevent the strengthening of input synapses once the limit of their ‘operating range’ has been reached. Using electrophysiological recordings in hippocampal slices, I showed that such a mechanism indeed exists but only comes into play after a considerable number of synapses has been potentiated. Thus, adult neurons can sustain a substantial amount of synaptic strengthening but, once a certain threshold of potentiation is exceeded, homeostatic regulation ensures that no further strengthening occurs

Diagnostic errors in paediatric cardiac intensive care

AbstractIntroductionDiagnostic errors cause significant patient harm and increase costs. Data characterising such errors in the paediatric cardiac intensive care population are limited. We sought to understand the perceived frequency and types of diagnostic errors in the paediatric cardiac ICU.MethodsPaediatric cardiac ICU practitioners including attending and trainee physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and registered nurses at three North American tertiary cardiac centres were surveyed between October 2014 and January 2015.ResultsThe response rate was 46% (N=200). Most respondents (81%) perceived that diagnostic errors harm patients more than five times per year. More than half (65%) reported that errors permanently harm patients, and up to 18% perceived that diagnostic errors contributed to death or severe permanent harm more than five times per year. Medication side effects and psychiatric conditions were thought to be most commonly misdiagnosed. Physician groups also ranked pulmonary overcirculation and viral illness to be commonly misdiagnosed as bacterial illness. Inadequate care coordination, data assessment, and high clinician workload were cited as contributory factors. Delayed diagnostic studies and interventions related to the severity of the patient’s condition were thought to be the most commonly reported process breakdowns. All surveyed groups ranked improving teamwork and feedback pathways as strategies to explore for preventing future diagnostic errors.ConclusionsPaediatric cardiac intensive care practitioners perceive that diagnostic errors causing permanent harm are common and associated more with systematic and process breakdowns than with cognitive limitations.</jats:sec