How political are national identities? A comparison of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in the 2010s

This is the final version of the article. Available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.Original data supporting this research are available from the UK Data Archive (Study Number 851142): http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-851142/Research demonstrates the multi-dimensional nature of American identity arguing that the normative content of American identity relates to political ideologies in the United States, but the sense of belonging to the nation does not. This paper replicates that analysis and extends it to the German and British cases. Exploratory structural equation modeling attests to cross-cultural validity of measures of the sense of belonging and norms of uncritical loyalty and engagement for positive change. In the 2010s, we find partisanship and ideology in all three nations explains levels of belonging and the two content dimensions. Interestingly, those identifying with major parties of the left and right in all three countries have a higher sense of belonging and uncritical loyalty than their moderate counterparts. The relationship between partisanship, ideology, and national identity seems to wax and wane over time, presumably because elite political discourse linking party or ideology to identity varies from one political moment to the next.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Data collection was funded by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom (RES-061-25-0405)

NATO and CSDP: party and public positioning in Germany and France

This is the final version. Available on open access from the NATO Defense College via the link in this recordVolkswagen Foundatio

Murine Fig4 is dispensable for muscle development but required for muscle function

Abstract Background Phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs) are low-abundance phospholipids that participate in a range of cellular processes, including cell migration and membrane traffic. PIP levels and subcellular distribution are regulated by a series of lipid kinases and phosphatases. In skeletal muscle, PIPs and their enzymatic regulators serve critically important functions exemplified by mutations of the PIP phosphatase MTM1 in myotubular myopathy (MTM), a severe muscle disease characterized by impaired muscle structure and abnormal excitation–contraction coupling. FIG4 functions as a PIP phosphatase that participates in both the synthesis and breakdown of phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate (PI(3,5)P2). Mutation of FIG4 results in a severe neurodegenerative disorder in mice and a progressive peripheral polyneuropathy in humans. The effect of FIG4 mutation on skeletal muscle has yet to be examined. Methods Herein we characterize the impact of FIG4 on skeletal muscle development and function using the spontaneously occurring mouse mutant pale tremor (plt), a mouse line with a loss of function mutation in Fig4. Results In plt mice, we characterized abnormalities in skeletal muscle, including reduced muscle size and specific force generation. We also uncovered ultrastructural abnormalities and increased programmed cell death. Conversely, we detected no structural or functional abnormalities to suggest impairment of excitation–contraction coupling, a process previously shown to be influenced by PI(3,5)P2 levels. Conditional rescue of Fig4 mutation in neurons prevented overt muscle weakness and the development of obvious muscle abnormalities, suggesting that the changes observed in the plt mice were primarily related to denervation of skeletal muscle. On the basis of the ability of reduced FIG4 levels to rescue aspects of Mtmr2-dependent neuropathy, we evaluated the effect of Fig4 haploinsufficiency on the myopathy of Mtm1-knockout mice. Male mice with a compound Fig4 +/−/Mtm1 –/Y genotype displayed no improvements in muscle histology, muscle size or overall survival, indicating that FIG4 reduction does not ameliorate the Mtm1-knockout phenotype. Conclusions Overall, these data indicate that loss of Fig4 impairs skeletal muscle function but does not significantly affect its structural development.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112676/1/13395_2013_Article_83.pd

The influence of waiting times and sociopolitical variables on public trust in healthcare: A cross-sectional study of the NHS in England

Data availability: Replication code and data are available through the Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AQYYNK . The data are in the public domain, under the terms of the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal deed.Objectives: This study aims to assess factors influencing public trust in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, focusing on the impact of waiting times in Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments and for GP-to-specialist cancer referrals. Study design: A cross-sectional survey-based research design was employed, covering the period from July 2022 to July 2023. Methods: Data were collected through YouGov surveys, yielding 7415 responses. Our analysis is based on 6952 of these responses which we were able to aggregate to 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) for A&E waiting times and 106 ICB sub-units for cancer referral times. Multiple regression analysis was conducted, with the dependent variable being trust in the NHS. Results: Waiting times for A&E and cancer referrals did not significantly affect trust in the NHS. However, other sociopolitical factors displayed significant influence. Specifically, being a member of an ethnic minority group, or having voted Conservative in the 2019 general election were associated with lower trust scores. Other variables such as age and local unemployment rate were also significant predictors. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that waiting times for healthcare services have no effect on public trust in the NHS. Instead, trust appears to be largely shaped by sociopolitical factors. Policymakers should therefore look beyond operational efficiency when seeking to bolster trust in the healthcare system.UKRI/ESRC (Grant reference ES/W011913/1) and the JSPS (Grant reference JPJSJRP 20211704)

London, you have a problem with women: Trust towards the police in England

Following a series of high-profile incidents of violence against women by serving London Metropolitan Police Officers, questions of standards and the public’s confidence in policing are in the spotlight. Over a fifteen-month period between July 2022 and September 2023 using monthly surveys of representative English samples, this study confirms that women, in general, are more trusting in the police than men. This, however, does not hold true in London. Out of nine regions in England, London is the only region where women’s overall trust in the police is lower than men. Lower levels of trust in the police among women in London hold when controls for age, income, political environment and crime levels are considered. In line with existing literature that considers women being more sensitive to cues about trustworthiness, the concerning incidents of sexual violence by police officers against women are likely to further erode trust in police in the capital, which already ranks last among England’s nine regions in citizen trust of the police.Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JPJSJRP 20211704 ); UK Research and Innovation (ES/W011913/1)

The influence of waiting times and sociopolitical variables on public trust in healthcare: A cross-sectional study of the NHS in England

Objectives This study aims to assess factors influencing public trust in the National Health Service (NHS) in England, focusing on the impact of waiting times in Accident and Emergency (A and E) departments and for GP-to-specialist cancer referrals. Study design A cross-sectional survey-based research design was employed, covering the period from July 2022 to July 2023. Methods Data were collected through YouGov surveys, yielding 7415 responses. Our analysis is based on 6952 of these responses which we were able to aggregate to 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) for A and E waiting times and 106 ICB sub-units for cancer referral times. Multiple regression analysis was conducted, with the dependent variable being trust in the NHS. Results Waiting times for A and E and cancer referrals did not significantly affect trust in the NHS. However, other sociopolitical factors displayed significant influence. Specifically, being a member of an ethnic minority group, or having voted Conservative in the 2019 general election were associated with lower trust scores. Other variables such as age and local unemployment rate were also significant predictors. Conclusions Our findings suggest that waiting times for healthcare services have no effect on public trust in the NHS. Instead, trust appears to be largely shaped by sociopolitical factors. Policymakers should therefore look beyond operational efficiency when seeking to bolster trust in the healthcare system

Equivalent forms of Dirac equations in curved spacetimes and generalized de Broglie relations

One may ask whether the relations between energy and frequency and between momentum and wave vector, introduced for matter waves by de Broglie, are rigorously valid in the presence of gravity. In this paper, we show this to be true for Dirac equations in a background of gravitational and electromagnetic fields. We first transform any Dirac equation into an equivalent canonical form, sometimes used in particular cases to solve Dirac equations in a curved spacetime. This canonical form is needed to apply the Whitham Lagrangian method. The latter method, unlike the WKB method, places no restriction on the magnitude of Planck's constant to obtain wave packets, and furthermore preserves the symmetries of the Dirac Lagrangian. We show using canonical Dirac fields in a curved spacetime, that the probability current has a Gordon decomposition into a convection current and a spin current, and that the spin current vanishes in the Whitham approximation, which explains the negligible effect of spin on wave packet solutions, independent of the size of Planck's constant. We further discuss the classical-quantum correspondence in a curved spacetime based on both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of the Whitham equations. We show that the generalized de Broglie relations in a curved spacetime are a direct consequence of Whitham's Lagrangian method, and not just a physical hypothesis as introduced by Einstein and de Broglie, and by many quantum mechanics textbooks.Comment: PDF, 32 pages in referee format. Added significant material on canonical forms of Dirac equations. Simplified Theorem 1 for normal Dirac equations. Added section on Gordon decomposition of the probability current. Encapsulated main results in the statement of Theorem

Device Therapies Among Patients Receiving Primary Prevention Implantable Cardioverterâ Defibrillators in the Cardiovascular Research Network

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143721/1/jah33061_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143721/2/jah33061.pd