Women's Opportunities under Different Constellations of Family Policies in Western Countries: Inequality Tradeoffs Re-examined

Women’s rising labor force participation since the 1960’s was long seen as heralding decreasing gender inequalities. According to influential social science writings this view has now to be revised; “women friendly” policies bringing women into the workforce are held to create major inequality tradeoffs between quantity and quality in women’s jobs. Unintendedly, such policies increase employer statistical discrimination and create glass ceilings impeding women’s access to influential positions and high wages. This paper re-examines theoretical and empirical bases in analysis of family policy effects on gender inequalities. Including capabilities as well as earnings in definitions of gender inequality, we improve possibilities for causal analyses by mapping institutional constellations of separate dimensions of family policies in Western countries. Reflecting conflicting political forces as well as religion, contrary to accepted assumptions of uni-dimensionality, family policies are multi-dimensional, with main distinctions favoring traditional families, mother’s employment, or market reliance. Using multilevel analyses and broad sets of outcome variables, we show that methodological mistakes largely invalidate earlier causal interpretations of major tradeoffs between quantity and quality in women’s labor force participation. Positive policy effects facilitate work-family reconciliation and combine women’s increased labor force participation with relatively high fertility. While major negative policy effects for women with tertiary education are difficult to find, family policies clearly differ in the extent to which they improve opportunities for women without university degrees.-

Skuldsaneringslagen ur ett gäldenärsperspektiv

--

Similar group mean scores, but large individual variations, in patient-relevant outcomes over 2 years in meniscectomized subjects with and without radiographic knee osteoarthritis.

Background Epidemiological studies have, so far, identified factors associated with increased risk for incident or progressive OA, such as age, sex, heredity, obesity, and joint injury. There is, however, a paucity of long-term data that provide information on the nature of disease progression on either group or individual levels. Such information is needed for identification of study cohorts and planning of clinical trials. The aim of the study was, thus, to assess the variation in pain and function on group and individual level over 2 years in previously meniscectomized individuals with and without radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods 143 individuals (16% women, mean age at first assessment 50 years [range 27–83]) were assessed twice; approximately 14 and 16 years after isolated meniscectomy, with a median interval of 2.3 years (range 2.3–3.0). Radiographic OA (as assessed at the time of second evaluation) was present in the operated knee in 40%, and an additional 19% had a single osteophyte grade 1 in one or both of the tibiofemoral compartments. Subjects completed the self-administered and disease-specific Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS). Results There were no significant changes in the group mean KOOS subscale scores over the 2-year period. However, a great variability over time was seen within individual subjects. Out of 143 subjects, 16% improved and 12% deteriorated in the subscale Pain, and 13% improved and 14% deteriorated in the subscale ADL ≥ 10 points (the suggested threshold for minimal perceptible clinical change). Similar results were seen for remaining subscales. Conclusion Group mean scores for this study cohort enriched in incipient and early-stage knee OA were similar over 2 years, but pain, function and quality of life changed considerably in individuals. These results may be valid also for other at risk groups with knee OA, and motivate further careful examination of the natural history of OA, as well as properties of the OA outcome instruments used. Longitudinal outcome data in OA studies need to be analyzed both on an individual and a group level

Quantum theory of single-photon nonlinearities generated by ensembles of emitters

The achievement of sufficiently fast interactions between two optical fields at the few-photon level would provide a key enabler for a broad range of quantum technologies. One critical hurdle in this endeavor is the lack of a comprehensive quantum theory of the generation of nonlinearities by ensembles of emitters. Distinct approaches applicable to different regimes have yielded important insights: i) a semiclassical approach reveals that, for many-photon coherent fields, the contributions of independent emitters add independently allowing ensembles to produce strong optical nonlinearities via EIT; ii) a quantum analysis has shown that in the few-photon regime collective coupling effects prevent ensembles from inducing these strong nonlinearities. Rather surprisingly, experimental results with around twenty photons are in line with the semi-classical predictions. Theoretical analysis has been fragmented due to the difficulty of treating nonlinear many-body quantum systems. Here we are able to solve this problem by constructing a powerful theory of the generation of optical nonlinearities by single emitters and ensembles. The key to this construction is the application of perturbation theory to perturbations generated by subsystems. This theory reveals critical properties of ensembles that have long been obscure. The most remarkable of these is the discovery that quantum effects prevent ensembles generating single-photon nonlinearities only within the rotating-wave regime; outside this regime single-photon nonlinearities scale as the number of emitters. The theory we present here also provides an efficient way to calculate nonlinearities for arbitrary multi-level driving schemes, and we expect that it will prove a powerful foundation for further advances in this area.Comment: 21 pages, Revtex4-2, 4 png figures, 1 supplement fil

Association between synovial fluid levels of aggrecan ARGS fragments and radiographic progression in knee osteoarthritis

INTRODUCTION: Aggrecanase cleavage at the (392)Glu-(393)Ala bond in the interglobular domain (IGD) of aggrecan, releasing N-terminal (393)ARGS fragments, is an early key event in arthritis and joint injuries. We determined whether synovial fluid (SF) levels of ARGS-aggrecan distinguish subjects with progressive radiographic knee osteoarthritis (ROA) from those with stable or no ROA. METHODS: We studied 141 subjects who, at examination A, had been given meniscectomies an average of 18 years earlier (range, 15 to 22 years). Seventeen individuals without surgery, and without known injury to the menisci or cruciate ligaments, were used as references. At examinations A and B, with a mean follow-up time of 7.5 years, we obtained SF and standing tibiofemoral and skyline patellofemoral radiographs. SF ARGS-aggrecan was measured with an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, and we graded radiographs according to the OARSI atlas. The association between SF ARGS levels at examination A and progression of radiographic features of knee OA between examinations A and B was assessed by using logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, and time between examinations, and stratified by ROA status at examination A. RESULTS: We found a weak negative association between SF ARGS concentrations and loss of joint space: the likelihood of progression of radiographic joint space narrowing decreased 0.9 times per picomole per milliliter increase in ARGS (odds ratio (OR) 0.89; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.79 to 0.996). In subjects with and without preexisting ROA at examination A, the association was OR, 0.96; 0.81 to 1.13; and 0.77; 0.62 to 0.95, respectively. Average levels of SF ARGS 18 years after meniscectomy were no different from those of reference subjects and were not correlated to radiographic status at examination A. CONCLUSIONS: In subjects with previous knee meniscectomy but without ROA, levels of SF ARGS-aggrecan were weakly and inversely associated with increased loss of joint space over a period of 7.5 years

Current and future impact of osteoarthritis on health care: a population-based study with projections to year 2032.

To estimate the current and future (to year 2032) impact of osteoarthritis (OA) health care seeking

Prevalence of knee pain and knee OA in southern Sweden and the proportion that seeks medical care.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of frequent knee pain in radiographic, symptomatic and clinically defined knee OA in middle-aged and elderly patients and the proportion that seeks medical care

Optically-Heralded Entanglement of Superconducting Systems in Quantum Networks

Networking superconducting quantum computers is a longstanding challenge in quantum science. The typical approach has been to cascade transducers: converting to optical frequencies at the transmitter and to microwave frequencies at the receiver. However, the small microwave-optical coupling and added noise have proven formidable obstacles. Instead, we propose optical networking via heralding end-to-end entanglement with one detected photon and teleportation. In contrast to cascaded direct transduction, our scheme absorbs the low optical-microwave coupling efficiency into the heralding step, thus breaking the rate-fidelity trade-off. Moreover, this technique unifies and simplifies entanglement generation between superconducting devices and other physical modalities in quantum networks