36 research outputs found
Strategic Re-Framing as a Vote-Winner: Why Vote-Seeking Governments Pursue Unpopular Reforms Forthcoming in Scandinavian Political Studies
ABSTRACT Most political science accounts assume that governments in Western democracies avoid unpopular reforms to protect their re-election chances. Nevertheless, governments sometimes embark on electorally risky reforms -even in times when they have no slack in the polls. We argue that pursuing unpopular reforms can be a perfectly rational strategy for vote-seeking governments. Based on a simple game theoretical model that compares strategic framing with the classic blame avoidance strategy, we demonstrate that unpopular policy reforms allow governments to pursue gains of both policy and votes by opting for a highly visible strategy of reframing the substantive reform issue in question. We illustrate this general argument with the substantial 2011 retrenchment of Danish early retirement benefits. This particular welfare state programme was highly popular. Nevertheless, the incumbent liberal prime minister proposed to abolish it only few months prior to a national election while his government was trailing significantly in the polls
Awareness of headache and of National Headache Society activities among primary care physicians - a qualitative study
BACKGROUND
Headache is one of the most common symptoms in primary care. To improve the quality of headache diagnosis and management with the largest possible benefit for the general population, headache and pain societies around the world have recently been devoting more attention to headache in primary care.The aim of the study was to investigate the potential contribution that national societies can make toward raising the awareness of primary headaches in general practice.
FINDINGS
In a qualitative telephone survey, targeting primary care practices (PCP), we asked about the frequency of headache patients in their practices and inquired about their treatment and referral strategies.A total of 1000 telephone interviews with PCP have been conducted. Three-hundred and fifty physicians have been directly interviewed, 95% of them see headache patients every week, 23% daily. Direct MRI referral is done by 84%. Sixty-two per cent of the physicians knew the Swiss headache society, 73% were interested in further education about headaches.
CONCLUSION
The survey yielded information about the physicians' awareness of the Swiss Headache Society and its activities, and about their desire for continuing education in the area of headache. National headache societies should work to improve the cooperation between headache specialists and PCP, aiming for a better care for our patients with headache
The fingerprint of the summer 2018 drought in Europe on ground-based atmospheric CO2 measurements
During the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing the investigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO2 gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO2 cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018.The UK sites were funded by the UK Department of Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (formerly the Department of Energy
and Climate Change) through contracts TRN1028/06/2015 and
TRN1537/06/2018. The stations at the ClimaDat Network in
Spain have received funding from the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, under
agreement 2010-002624
Challenging Varieties of Capitalism's Account of Business Interests: The New Social Market Initiative and German Employers' Quest for Liberalization, 2000-2014
Do employers in coordinated market economies (CME's) actively defend the non-liberal, market- constraining institutions upon which their strategic coordination and competitive success depends? This paper revisits the debate over firms' employer preferences with an in-depth examination of employers in Germany - a paradigmatic CME and crucial "test case" for Varieties of Capitalism. It is based on interviews with key officials and an in-depth examination of a large-scale campaign - the New Social Market Initiative or INMS - founded and funded by German metalworking employers to shape public opinion. The paper argues that German employers have a strong preference for liberalization: they have pushed hard for the liberalization of labor markets, the reduction of government expenditures, the expansion of market-oriented freedoms, and cuts to social protection, employment protection and benefit entitlements. I find no empirical support for the claim that the INSM is an attempt to appease discontented firms within employers' associations. On the contrary: for many employers, the Agenda 2010 reforms did not go far enough. Following the discrediting of the Anglo-American model in the financial crisis, far-reaching concessions by employees, and the unexpected revitalization of the German economy, employers have moderated their demands - but liberalization remains their default preference. This paper also addresses the role of ideas and the conditions under which employer campaigns can influence policy.Verteidigen Arbeitgeber in koordinierten Marktwirtschaften aktiv die nichtliberalen, marktbeschränkenden Institutionen, von denen ihre Möglichkeiten zur strategischen Koordination und ihr Erfolg im Wettbewerb abhängen? Mit einer umfassenden Untersuchung der Präferenzen von Arbeitgebern in Deutschland, das als typisches Beispiel einer koordinierten Marktwirtschaft und wegweisender "Testfall" für die Theorie über Spielarten des Kapitalismus gilt, greift dieses Discussion Paper die Debatte über die Präferenzen von Unternehmen in ihrer Eigenschaft als Arbeitgeber auf. Es basiert auf Interviews mit führenden Arbeitgeberfunktionären sowie einer detaillierten Untersuchung der Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft (INSM): einer groß angelegten, von deutschen Metallarbeitgebern initiierten und finanzierten Kampagne zur öffentlichen Meinungsbildung. Der Beitrag belegt eine deutliche Präferenz deutscher Arbeitgeber für die Liberalisierung. Mit Nachdruck haben sie sich für eine Liberalisierung der Arbeitsmärkte, eine Senkung der Staatsausgaben und eine Ausweitung marktorientierter Gestaltungsfreiheiten ebenso eingesetzt wie für Einschnitte bei der sozialen Sicherung, dem Kündigungsschutz und den Versorgungsansprüchen. Die Behauptung, die INSM sei ein Versuch, unzufriedene Unternehmen innerhalb der Arbeitgeberverbände zu beschwichtigen, lässt sich durch die empirischen Befunde nicht stützen. Im Gegenteil: Vielen Arbeitgebern gingen die Reformen im Zuge der Agenda 2010 nicht weit genug. Zwar haben die deutschen Arbeitgeber nach der Diskreditierung des angloamerikanischen Modells während der Finanzkrise, weitreichenden Zugeständnissen seitens der Arbeitnehmer sowie der unerwarteten Wiederbelebung der deutschen Wirtschaft ihre Forderungen gemäßigt - doch bleibt ihre grundlegende Präferenz für die Liberalisierung bestehen. Dieser Beitrag befasst sich außerdem mit der Rolle von Ideen sowie den Bedingungen, unter denen Arbeitgeberkampagnen politische Maßnahmen beeinflussen können
Seasonal and diurnal characteristics of water soluble inorganic compounds in the gas and aerosol phase in the Zurich area
Gas and aerosol samples were taken using a wet effluent diffusion denuder/aerosol collector (WEDD/AC) coupled to ion chromatography (IC) in the city of Zurich, Switzerland from August to September 2002 and in March 2003. Major water soluble inorganic ions; nitrate, sulfate, and nitrite were analyzed online with a time resolution of two hours for the gas and aerosol phase. The fraction of water soluble inorganic anions in PM10 varied from 15% in August to about 38% in March. Seasonal and diurnal variations of nitrate in the gas and aerosol phase were observed with more than 50% of the total nitrate in the gas phase during August and more than 80% of nitrate in the aerosol phase during March exceeding the concentration of sulfate by a factor of 2. Aerosol sulfate, on the other hand, did not show significant variability with season. However, in the gas phase, the SO2 concentration was 6.5 times higher in winter than in summer. Nitrous acid (HONO) also showed a diurnal variation in both the gas and aerosol phase with the lowest concentration (0.2–0.6 µg/m3) in the afternoon. The primary pollutants, NO, CO and SO2 mixing ratios were often at their highest between 04:00–10:00 local time due to the build up of fresh vehicle emission under a nocturnal inversion.ISSN:1680-7375ISSN:1680-736
Salt- and Osmo-Responsive Sensor Histidine Kinases Activate the Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens General Stress Response to Initiate Functional Symbiosis
The general stress response (GSR) enables bacteria to sense and overcome a variety of environmental stresses. In alphaproteobacteria, stress-perceiving histidine kinases of the HWE and HisKA_2 families trigger a signaling cascade that leads to phosphorylation of the response regulator PhyR and, consequently, to activation of the GSR σ factor σEcfG. In the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens, PhyR and σEcfG are crucial for tolerance against a variety of stresses under free-living conditions and also for efficient infection of its symbiotic host soybean. However, the molecular players involved in stress perception and activation of the GSR remained largely unknown. In this work, we first showed that a mutant variant of PhyR where the conserved phosphorylatable aspartate residue D194 was replaced by alanine (PhyRD194A) failed to complement the ΔphyR mutant in symbiosis, confirming that PhyR acts as a response regulator. To identify the PhyR-activating kinases in the nitrogen-fixing symbiont, we constructed in-frame deletion mutants lacking single, distinct combinations, or all of the 11 predicted HWE and HisKA_2 kinases, which we named HRXXN histidine kinases HhkA through HhkK. Phenotypic analysis of the mutants and complemented derivatives identified two functionally redundant kinases, HhkA and HhkE, that are required for nodulation competitiveness and during initiation of symbiosis. Using σEcfG-activity reporter strains, we further showed that both HhkA and HhkE activate the GSR in free-living cells exposed to salt and hyperosmotic stress. In conclusion, our data suggest that HhkA and HhkE trigger GSR activation in response to osmotically stressful conditions which B. diazoefficiens encounters during soybean host infection.ISSN:0894-028
Modeling the Speciation and Biogeochemistry of Iron at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study Site
By means of numerical modeling we analyze the cycling of iron between itsvarious physical (dissolved, colloidal, particulate) and chemical(redox state and organic complexation) forms in the upper mixed layer.With our proposed model it is possible to obtain a first quantitativeassessment of how this cycling influences iron uptake byphytoplankton and its loss via particle export. Themodel is forced with observed dust deposition rates, mixed layer depths, andsolar radiation at the site of the Bermuda Atlantic Timeseries Study(BATS). It contains an objectively optimized ecosystem model whichyields results close to the observational data from BATS that has beenused for the data-assimilation procedure.It is shown that the mixed layer cycle strongly influences the cyclingof iron between its various forms. This is mainly due to the lightdependency of photoreductive processes, and to the seasonality ofprimary production. The daily photochemical cycle is driven mainly bythe production of superoxide and its amplitude depends on theconcentration and speciation of dissolved copper.Model results are almost insensitive to the dominant form of dissolvediron within dust deposition, and also to the form of iron that istaken up directly during algal growth.In our model solutions, the role of the colloidal pumping mechanismdepends strongly on assumptions on the colloid aggregation andphotoreduction rate
¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Review of the Evidence and Implications for Canadian Clinical Practice
Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is highly expressed in prostate cancer and a therapeutic target. Lutetium-177 (¹⁷⁷Lu)-PSMA-617 is the first radioligand therapy to be approved in Canada for use in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). As this treatment represents a new therapeutic class, guidance regarding how to integrate it into clinical practice is needed. This article aims to review the evidence from prospective phase 2 and 3 clinical trials and meta-analyses of observational studies on the use of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 in prostate cancer and discuss how Canadian clinicians might best apply these data in practice. The selection of appropriate patients, the practicalities of treatment administration, including necessary facilities for treatment procedures, the assessment of treatment response, and the management of adverse events are considered. Survival benefits were observed in clinical trials of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 in patients with progressive, PSMA-positive mCRPC who were pretreated with androgen receptor pathway inhibitors and taxanes, as well as in taxane-naïve patients. However, the results of ongoing trials are awaited to clarify questions regarding the optimal sequencing of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 with other therapies, as well as the implications of predictive biomarkers, personalized dosimetry, and combinations with other therapies.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCReviewedFacultyResearche