Flexible Employment, Risk and the Welfare State

__Abstract__ In most developed countries, the welfare state provides some form of protection for its citizens. The provision of social arrangements differs substantially between countries but, on the basis of institutional characteristics such as the level of spending on welfare programmes, entitlements and labour market participation, countries can be clustered into several ideal-typical welfare state regimes (Esping-Andersen, 1990; 1999); social democratic, corporatist and liberal. This typology is based on differences in how responsibilities are distributed between the state, market and the family. The social security system is central to public welfare, covering social risks such as unemployment, sickness, disability or old age. The social security system depends on public support in society. Public support is important for the legitimacy of social security systems and, in this way, is an important factor in the expansion or decline of the welfare state (Brooks and Manza, 2007; 2006; Hobolt and Klemmemsen, 2005; Burstein, 1998; Page and Shapiro, 1983). Of course, one must not overlook the relevance of all kinds of macro level factors, such as the globalization of financial markets, the costs associated with welfare reform (such as the ‘sunk costs’ in existing public arrangements), sudden shocks from outside the political system and the influence of the media, all of which may also affect the development of the welfare state (see, for example, John, 2006; Pierson, 1998; Pierson, 1994; Pfau-Effinger, 2005), but electoral pressure means that how people perceive social security practices is a very significant factor for social policy. In accordance with democratic theory (cf. Manza and Cook, 2002), it is commonly accepted that social policy preferences impact on levels of social protection, while power relations between social actors (such as the strength of left-wing political parties) may moderate social policy preferences in shaping actual policy outputs (see, for example, Korpi, 2006; Korpi and Palme, 2003)

Personnel strategies:Explaining differences in the use of labour flexibility and career opportunities at the workplace

In the past years, the number of Dutch people who work on flexible labour contracts (e.g. fixed-term contracts and self-employment) has increased substantially. The consequences of flexible employment on macro-economic outcomes and career opportunities for individuals have been broadly analysed. Studies at the organisational level are largely missing. Therefore, this article analyses different personnel strategies at the workplace. Two different strategies attract attention in particular: 'high road' organisations are characterised by the use of permanent contracts and career enhancing activities, while 'low road' organisations combine the use of flexible employment without opportunities for career enhancement. Based on data on approximately 500 employers in the Netherlands, we observe that a high road strategy depends on the knowledge-intensity of work. Contrary to our expectations, the level of competitive pressure does not influence organisational choice processes.</p

Searches for sterile neutrinos and axionlike particles from the Galactic halo with eROSITA

Dark matter might be made of "warm" particles, such as sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range, which can decay into photons through mixing and are consequently detectable by X-ray telescopes. Axionlike particles (ALPs) are detectable by X-ray telescopes too when coupled to standard model particles and decay into photons in the keV range. Both particles could explain the unidentified 3.5 keV line and, interestingly, XENON1T observed an excess of electron recoil events most prominent at 2-3 keV. One explanation could be an ALPs origin, which is not yet excluded by X-ray constraints in an anomaly-free symmetry model in which the photon production is suppressed. We study the diffuse emission coming from the Galactic halo, and calculate the sensitivity of all-sky X-ray survey performed by eROSITA to identify a sterile neutrino or ALP dark matter. We estimate bounds on the mixing angle of the sterile neutrinos and coupling strength of the ALPs. After four years of data-taking by eROSITA, we expect to set stringent constraints, and in particular, we expect to firmly probe mixing angle $\sin^2(2\theta)$ up to nearly two orders magnitude below the best-fit value for explaining the unidentified 3.5 keV line. Moreover, with eROSITA, we will be able to probe the ALP parameter space of couplings to photons and electrons, and potentially confirm an ALP origin of the XENON1T excess.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; Comments welcome; Matches version accepted for publication in PR

Quantifying agent impacts on contact sequences in social interactions

Human social behavior plays a crucial role in how pathogens like SARS-CoV-2 or fake news spread in a population. Social interactions determine the contact network among individuals, while spreading, requiring individual-to-individual transmission, takes place on top of the network. Studying the topological aspects of a contact network, therefore, not only has the potential of leading to valuable insights into how the behavior of individuals impacts spreading phenomena, but it may also open up possibilities for devising effective behavioral interventions. Because of the temporal nature of interactions - since the topology of the network, containing who is in contact with whom, when, for how long, and in which precise sequence, varies (rapidly) in time - analyzing them requires developing network methods and metrics that respect temporal variability, in contrast to those developed for static (i.e., time-invariant) networks. Here, by means of event mapping, we propose a method to quantify how quickly agents mingle by transforming temporal network data of agent contacts. We define a novel measure called 'contact sequence centrality', which quantifies the impact of an individual on the contact sequences, reflecting the individual's behavioral potential for spreading. Comparing contact sequence centrality across agents allows for ranking the impact of agents and identifying potential 'behavioral super-spreaders'. The method is applied to social interaction data collected at an art fair in Amsterdam. We relate the measure to the existing network metrics, both temporal and static, and find that (mostly at longer time scales) traditional metrics lose their resemblance to contact sequence centrality. Our work highlights the importance of accounting for the sequential nature of contacts when analyzing social interactions

Single-molecule observations of topotecan-mediated TopIB activity at a unique DNA sequence

The rate of DNA supercoil removal by human topoisomerase IB (TopIB) is slowed down by the presence of the camptothecin class of antitumor drugs. By preventing religation, these drugs also prolong the lifetime of the covalent TopIB–DNA complex. Here, we use magnetic tweezers to measure the rate of supercoil removal by drug-bound TopIB at a single DNA sequence in real time. This is accomplished by covalently linking camptothecins to a triple helix-forming oligonucleotide that binds at one location on the DNA molecule monitored. Surprisingly, we find that the DNA dynamics with the TopIB–drug interaction restricted to a single DNA sequence are indistinguishable from the dynamics observed when the TopIB–drug interaction takes place at multiple sites. Specifically, the DNA sequence does not affect the instantaneous supercoil removal rate or the degree to which camptothecins increase the lifetime of the covalent complex. Our data suggest that sequence-dependent dynamics need not to be taken into account in efforts to develop novel camptothecins

Herziening van sociale zekerheid: het perspectief van flexwerkers en zelfstandigen

De idee dat individualisering de sociale solidariteit ondermijnt, is wijd verbreid.Niet alleen in het maatschappelijke discours is het bijna een gemeenplaats, ook inde sociologie vindt de stelling brede steun. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn er legio.Robert Putnam (2000) ziet gemeenschapsbesef verminderen ten gevolge van hetverzwakken van het sociale vlechtwerk in zijn inmiddels befaamde Bowling Alone.Zygmunt Baumans notie van Liquid Modernity geeft aan dat sociale institutiesniet langer richtinggevend zijn voor individuele levens, waardoor het individumeer en meer zelf vorm moet geven aan zijn leven, een leven dat fragmenteert enwaarin loyaliteiten en bindingen verzwakken (Bauman, 2001). Ook in de sfeervan de arbeid worden vergelijkbare ideeën verkondigd. Richard Sennett stelt inThe Corrosion of Character (1998) dat de moderne flexibele arbeidsmarkt waarinarbeidsrelaties vluchtig en arbeidsloopbanen zeer divers zijn geworden, de socialebanden en het klassenbesef dat hij een generatie eerder in zijn The Hidden Injuriesof Class (1972) nog tegenkwam, volledig heeft doen verdwijnen. Het gevolg vandergelijke individualiseringsprocessen is volgens velen een vergelijkbare individu‐alisering van de sociale solidariteit, leidend tot afnemende steun voor de moderneverzorgingsstaat (Giddens, 1994; Inglehart, 1997)

4-Iodopyrimidine labeling reveals nuclear translocation and nuclease activity for both MIF and MIF2

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and its homolog MIF2 (also known as D-dopachrome tautomerase or DDT) play key roles in cell growth and immune responses. MIF and MIF2 expression is dysregulated in cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Accurate and convenient detection of MIF and MIF2 will facilitate research on their roles in cancer and other diseases. Herein, we report the development and application of a 4-iodopyrimidine based probe 8 for the selective labeling of MIF and MIF2. Probe 8 incorporates a fluorophore that allows in situ imaging of these two proteins. This enabled visualization of the translocation of MIF2 from the cytoplasm to the nucleus upon methylnitronitrosoguanidine stimulation of HeLa cells. This observation, combined with literature on nuclease activity for MIF, enabled the identification of nuclease activity for MIF2 on human genomic DNA

Aberrant expression of microRNA induced by high-fructose diet: Implications in the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia and hepatic insulin resistance

Fructose is a highly lipogenic sugar that can alter energy metabolism and trigger metabolic disorders. In the current study, microRNAs (miRNAs) altered by a high-fructose diet were comprehensively explored to elucidate their significance in the pathogenesis of chronic metabolic disorders. miRNA expression profiling using small noncoding RNA sequencing revealed that 19 miRNAs were significantly upregulated and 26 were downregulated in the livers of high-fructose-fed mice compared to chow-fed mice. Computational prediction and functional analysis identified 10 miRNAs, miR-19b-3p, miR-101a-3p, miR-30a-5p, miR-223-3p, miR-378a-3p, miR-33-5p, miR-145a-3p, miR-128-3p, miR-125b-5p and miR-582-3p, assembled as a regulatory network to potentially target key genes in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and insulin signaling at multiple levels. qRT-PCR analysis of their potential target genes [IRS-1, FOXO1, SREBP-1c/2, ChREBP, insulin-induced gene-2 (Insig-2), microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP) and apolipoprotein B (apoB)] demonstrated that fructose-induced alterations of miRNAs were also reflected in mRNA expression profiles of their target genes. Moreover, the miRNA profile induced by high-fructose diet differed from that induced by high-fat diet, indicating that miRNAs mediate distinct pathogenic mechanisms in dietary-induced metabolic disorders. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of a new set of hepatic miRNAs, which were altered by high-fructose diet and provides novel insights into the interaction between miRNAs and their target genes in the development of metabolic syndrome

Genome-wide association and HLA fine-mapping studies identify risk loci and genetic pathways underlying allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is the most common clinical presentation of allergy, affecting 400 million people worldwide, with increasing incidence in westernized countries1,2. To elucidate the genetic architecture and understand the underlying disease mechanisms, we carried out a meta-analysis of allergic rhinitis in 59,762 cases and 152,358 controls of European ancestry and identified a total of 41 risk loci for allergic rhinitis, including 20 loci not previously associated with allergic rhinitis, which were confirmed in a replication phase of 60,720 cases and 618,527 controls. Functional annotation implicated genes involved in various immune pathways, and fine mapping of the HLA region suggested amino acid variants important for antigen binding. We further performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses of allergic sensitization against inhalant allergens and nonallergic rhinitis, which suggested shared genetic mechanisms across rhinitis-related traits. Future studies of the identified loci and genes might identify novel targets for treatment and prevention of allergic rhinitis