When Nudges Are Forever: Inertia in the Swedish Premium Pension Plan

To inform economists and policy makers about whether the effects of nudges are persistent in one specific context, we study the choice architecture of the Swedish Premium Pension Plan. The data we study consist of all initial choices and subsequent rebalancing activities by the entire population of 7.3 million retirement savers in Sweden during the period 2000 to 2016. Based on our analysis of these data, we conclude that the effects of nudging in this case were surprisingly persistent and seem to last nearly two decades, if not forever

Inattentive Consumers in Markets for Services

In an experiment on markets for services, we find that consumers are likely to stick to default tariffs and achieve suboptimal outcomes. We find that inattention to the task of choosing a better tariff is likely to be a substantial problem in addition to any task and tariff complexity effect. The institutional setup on which we primarily model our experiment is the UK electricity and gas markets, and our conclusion is that the new measures by the UK regulator Ofgem to improve consumer outcomes are likely to be of limited impact

Quantum-Statistical Correlations and Single Particle Distributions for Slowly Expanding Systems with Temperature Profile

Competition among particle evaporation, temperature gradient and flow is investigated in a phenomenological manner, based on a simultaneous analysis of quantum statistical correlations and momentum distributions for a non-relativistic, spherically symmetric, three-dimensionally expanding, finite source. The parameters of the model emission function are constrained by fits to neutron and proton momentum distributions and correlation functions in intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions. The temperature gradient is related to the momentum dependence of the radius parameters of the two-particle correlation function, as well as to the momentum-dependent temperature parameter of the single particle spectrum, while a long duration of particle evaporation is found to be responsible for the low relative momentum behavior of the two-particle correlations.Comment: 20 pages + 5 ps figures, ReVTeX, uses psfig.sty, the description is extended to include final state interactions, phenomenological evaporation and to fit intermediate energy heavy ion proton and neutron spectrum and correlation dat

Success Factors of European Syndromic Surveillance Systems: A Worked Example of Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Introduction: Syndromic surveillance aims at augmenting traditional public health surveillance with timely information. To gain a head start, it mainly analyses existing data such as from web searches or patient records. Despite the setup of many syndromic surveillance systems, there is still much doubt about the benefit of the approach. There are diverse interactions between performance indicators such as timeliness and various system characteristics. This makes the performance assessment of syndromic surveillance systems a complex endeavour. We assessed if the comparison of several syndromic surveillance systems through Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps to evaluate performance and identify key success factors. Materials and Methods: We compiled case-based, mixed data on performance and characteristics of 19 syndromic surveillance systems in Europe from scientific and grey literature and from site visits. We identified success factors by applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. We focused on two main areas of syndromic surveillance application: seasonal influenza surveillance and situational awareness during different types of potentially health threatening events. Results: We found that syndromic surveillance systems might detect the onset or peak of seasonal influenza earlier if they analyse non-clinical data sources. Timely situational awareness during different types of events is supported by an automated syndromic surveillance system capable of analysing multiple syndromes. To our surprise, the analysis of multiple data sources was no key success factor for situational awareness. Conclusions: We suggest to consider these key success factors when designing or further developing syndromic surveillance systems. Qualitative Comparative Analysis helped interpreting complex, mixed data on small-N cases and resulted in concrete and practically relevant findings

Taming the snake in paradise: combining institutional design and leadership to enhance collaborative innovation

The growing expectations to public services and the pervasiveness of wicked problems in times characterized by growing fiscal constraints call for the enhancement of public innovation, and new research suggests that multi-actor collaboration in networks and partnerships is superior to hierarchical and market-based strategies when it comes to spurring such innovation. Collaborative innovation seems ideal as it builds on diversity to generate innovative public value outcomes, but there is a catch since diversity may clash with the need for constructing a common ground that allows participating actors to agree on a joint and innovative solution. The challenge for collaborative innovation – taming the snake in paradise – is to nurture the diversity of views, ideas and forms of knowledge while still establishing a common ground for joint learning. While we know a great deal about the dynamics of the mutually supportive processes of collaboration, learning and innovation, we have yet to understand the role of institutional design and leadership in spurring collaborative innovation and dealing with this tension. Building on extant research, the article draws suitable cases from the Collaborative Governance Data Bank and uses Qualitative Comparative Analysis to explore how multiple constellations of institutional design and leadership spur collaborative innovation. The main finding is that, even though certain institutional design features reduce the need for certain leadership roles, the exercise of hands-on leadership is more important for securing collaborative innovation outcomes than hands-off institutional design

Corroborating indicates nurses’ ethical values in a geriatric ward

The aim of the study was to identify nurses’ ethical values, which become apparent through their behaviour in the interactions with older patients in caring encounters at a geriatric clinic

The impact of circulating preeclampsia-associated extracellular vesicles on the migratory activity and phenotype of THP-1 monocytic cells

Intercellular communication via extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their target cells, especially immune cells, results in functional and phenotype changes that consequently may play a significant role in various physiological states and the pathogenesis of immune-mediated disorders. Monocytes are the most prominent environment-sensing immune cells in circulation, skilled to shape their microenvironments via cytokine secretion and further differentiation. Both the circulating monocyte subset distribution and the blood plasma EV pattern are characteristic for preeclampsia, a pregnancy induced immune-mediated hypertensive disorder. We hypothesized that preeclampsia-associated EVs (PE-EVs) induced functional and phenotypic alterations of monocytes. First, we proved EV binding and uptake by THP-1 cells. Cellular origin and protein cargo of circulating PE-EVs were characterized by flow cytometry and mass spectrometry. An altered phagocytosis-associated molecular pattern was found on 12.5 K fraction of PE-EVs: an elevated CD47 "don't eat me" signal (p < 0.01) and decreased exofacial phosphatidylserine "eat-me" signal (p < 0.001) were found along with decreased uptake of these PE-EVs (p < 0.05). The 12.5 K fraction of PE-EVs induced significantly lower chemotaxis (p < 0.01) and cell motility but accelerated cell adhesion of THP-1 cells (p < 0.05). The 12.5 K fraction of PE-EVs induced altered monocyte functions suggest that circulating EVs may have a role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia

Syncytiotrophoblast derived extracellular vesicles transfer functional placental miRNAs to primary human endothelial cells

During the pregnancy associated syndrome preeclampsia (PE), there is increased release of placental syncytiotrophoblast extracellular vesicles (STBEVs) and free foetal haemoglobin (HbF) into the maternal circulation. In the present study we investigated the uptake of normal and PE STBEVs by primary human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAEC) and the effects of free HbF on this uptake. Our results show internalization of STBEVs into primary HCAEC, and transfer of placenta specific miRNAs from STBEVs into the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of these recipient cells. Further, the transferred miRNAs were functional, causing a down regulation of specific target genes, including the PE associated gene fms related tyrosine kinase 1 (FLT1). When co-treating normal STBEVs with HbF, the miRNA deposition is altered from the mitochondria to the ER and the cell membrane becomes ruffled, as was also seen with PE STBEVs. These findings suggest that STBEVs may cause endothelial damage and contribute to the endothelial dysfunction typical for PE. The miRNA mediated effects on gene expression may contribute to the oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress described in PE, as well as endothelial reprogramming that may underlay the increased risk of cardiovascular disease reported for women with PE later in life