Mobilizing European law

The literature on European legal mobilization asks why individuals, groups and companies go to court and explores the impact of litigation on policy, institutions and the balance of power among actors. Surveying the literature we find that legal mobilization efforts vary across policy areas and jurisdictions. This article introduces a three-level theoretical framework that organizes research on the causes of these variations: macro-level systemic factors that originate in Europe; meso-level factors that vary nationally; and micro-level factors that characterize the actors engaged in (or disengaged from) litigation. We argue that until we understand more about how and why different parties mobilize law, it is difficult to respond to normative questions about whether European legal mobilization is a positive or negative development for democracy and rights.This work was supported by the University College London Global Engagement Strategy Leadership Fund; the UK Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/K008153/1]

UKIP’s Use of Valence Issues to Impact Attitudes Towards EU Membership

In the book Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union, Clarke, Goodwin, and Whiteley suggest that certain valence issues, or issues “on which there is a broad agreement among the people and parties about what the policy should be,” are the determining factors that drove and continue to drive attitudes towards EU membership within the United Kingdom (Clark 2017, 68). These two main valence issues, public perceptions on economic conditions and immigration, are the central factors that determined whether or not UK citizens wanted to remain or leave the EU. Understanding these two main issues, the United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP, capitalized on these popular concerns of UK citizens and perpetuated the negative perceptions surrounding these policy matters. As a result, UKIP was able to successfully sway the public opinion of EU membership and eventually secure the Brexit vote by focusing their message on the two main valence issues. The first valence issue, the economy or the perception of the economy, is able to indicate the level EU support since “successful economic performance is likely to increase support for continued membership of the EU while mismanagement of the economy is likely to reduce support” (Clarke 2017, 70). Therefore, perceptions of the economy, evaluated through perceptions of the overall economic situation and unemployment at the state level, will indicate support of or opposition of EU membership. As people increasingly perceive a decline in the overall economy or a rise in unemployment rates, then support for EU membership will decrease accordingly. The more individuals that perceive a declining economy, whether or not the economy is actually declining, the more people that will vote to leave the EU. The second valence issue, the perception of immigration, similarly demonstrates attitudes towards EU membership since “an overwhelming majority of voters think that the British government should be able to control immigration and there is a consensus that successive British Governments have failed to do so” (Clarke 2017, 70). Since valence issues essentially evaluate whether or not EU membership ultimately benefits the UK and successfully delivers on issues that have widespread support, this negative public perception on immigration will lead to more negative attitudes towards EU membership. As the negative perception of immigration increases, measured through the percentage of the UK population that thought immigration was one of the two most important issues rather than whether or not immigration rates are actually increasing, then more UK citizens will want to leave the EU due to their increasingly negative attitudes towards EU membership

Psychological Variables Associated with Pain Perceptions Among Individuals with Chronic Spinal Cord Injury Pain

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between selected psychological variables and pain perceptions in 103 individuals experiencing chronic pain following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Previous studies have suggested strong relationships between psychological variables and chronic SCI pain, but further delineation of such relationships is needed in order ultimately to develop more effective pain management strategies for individuals afflicted with such pain. Anger was found to be significantly related to perceptions of pain ( p < .05), but neither guilt nor anger suppression was significantly associated with perceived pain. Internal health locus of control was associated with decreased pain perceptions ( p < .05), but there was no significant relationship between internal health locus of control and anger. Punishing responses from significant others to pain complaints were related to feelings of guilt ( p < .05) and perceived pain ( p < .05), but this relationship was not mediated by guilt.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44861/1/10880_2004_Article_425308.pd

The neural career of sensory-motor metaphors

Abstract The role of sensory-motor systems in conceptual understanding has been controversial. It has been proposed than many abstract concepts are understood metaphorically through concrete sensorymotor domains such as actions. Using fMRI, we compared neural responses to literal action (Lit; The daughter grasped the flowers), metaphoric action (Met; The public grasped the idea), and abstract (Abs; The public understood the idea) sentences of varying familiarity. Both Lit and Met sentences activated the left anterior inferior partial lobule (aIPL), an area involved in action planning, with Met sentences also activating a homologous area in the right hemisphere, relative to Abs sentences. Both Met and Abs sentences activated left superior temporal regions associated with abstract language. Importantly, activation in primary motor and biological motion perception regions was inversely correlated with Lit and Met familiarity. These results support the view that the understanding of metaphoric action retains a link to sensory-motor systems involved in action performance. However, the involvement of sensory-motor systems in metaphor understanding changes through a gradual abstraction process whereby relatively detailed simulations are used for understanding unfamiliar metaphors, and these simulations become less detailed and involve only secondary motor regions as familiarity increases. Consistent with these data, we propose that aIPL serves as an interface between sensory-motor and conceptual systems and plays an important role in both domains. The similarity of abstract and metaphoric sentences in the activation of left superior temporal regions suggests that action metaphor understanding is not completely based on sensory-motor simulations, but relies also on abstract lexical-semantic codes

"Women's rights, the European Court and Supranational Constitutionalism"

This analysis examines supranational constitutionalism in the European Union. In particular, the study focuses on the role of the European Court of Justice in the creation of women’s rights. I examine the interaction between the Court and member state governments in legal integration, and also the integral role that women’s advocates – both individual activists and groups – have played in the development of EU social provisions. The findings suggest that this litigation dynamic can have the effect of fueling the integration process by creating new rights that may empower social actors and EU organizations, with the ultimate effect of diminishing member state government control over the scope and direction of EU law. This study focuses specifically on gender equality law, yet provides a general framework for examining the case law in subsequent legal domains, with the purpose of providing a more nuanced understanding of supranational governance and constitutionalism

Poor power quality is a major barrier to providing optimal care in special neonatal care units (SNCU) in Central India [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Approximately 25% of all neonatal deaths worldwide occur in India. The Indian Government has established Special Neonatal Care Units (SNCUs) in district and sub-district level hospitals to reduce neonatal mortality, but mortality rates have stagnated. Reasons include lack of personnel and training and sub-optimal quality of care. The role of medical equipment is critical for the care of babies, but its role in improving neonatal outcomes has not been well studied.  Methods: In a qualitative study, we conducted seven focus group discussions with SNCU nurses and pediatric residents and thirty-five key informant interviews and with pediatricians, residents, nurses, annual equipment maintenance contractors, equipment manufacturers, and Ministry of Health personnel in Maharashtra between December 2019 and November 2020. The goal of the study was to understand challenges to SNCU care. In this paper, we focus on current gaps and future needs for SNCU equipment, quality of the power supply, and use of SNCU equipment. Results: Respondents described a range of issues but highlighted poor power quality as an important cause of equipment malfunction. Other concerns were lack of timely repair that resulted in needed equipment being unavailable for neonatal care. Participants recommended procuring uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to protect equipment, improving quality/durability of equipment to withstand constant use, ensuring regular proactive maintenance for SNCU equipment, and conducting local power audits to discern and address the causes of power fluctuations. Conclusions: Poor power quality and its negative impact on equipment function are major unaddressed concerns of those responsible for the care and safety of babies in SNCUs in Central India. Further research on the power supply and protection of neonatal equipment is needed to determine a cost-effective way to improve access to supportive care in SNCUs and desired improvements in neonatal mortality rates

Synaptic scaffold evolution generated components of vertebrate cognitive complexity

The origins and evolution of higher cognitive functions, including complex forms of learning, attention and executive functions, are unknown. A potential mechanism driving the evolution of vertebrate cognition early in the vertebrate lineage (550 million years ago) was genome duplication and subsequent diversification of postsynaptic genes. Here we report, to our knowledge, the first genetic analysis of a vertebrate gene family in cognitive functions measured using computerized touchscreens. Comparison of mice carrying mutations in each of the four Dlg paralogs showed that simple associative learning required Dlg4, whereas Dlg2 and Dlg3 diversified to have opposing functions in complex cognitive processes. Exploiting the translational utility of touchscreens in humans and mice, testing Dlg2 mutations in both species showed that Dlg2\u27s role in complex learning, cognitive flexibility and attention has been highly conserved over 100 million years. Dlg-family mutations underlie psychiatric disorders, suggesting that genome evolution expanded the complexity of vertebrate cognition at the cost of susceptibility to mental illness

Contested Boundaries - Citizens, States, and Supranational Belonging in the European Union

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020