The labor market regimes of Denmark and Norway – one Nordic model?

The literature on the Danish and Norwegian labor market systems emphasizes the commonalities of the two systems. We challenge this perception by investigating how employers in multinational companies in Denmark and Norway communicate with employees on staffing changes. We argue that the development of ‘flexicurity’ in Denmark grants Danish employers considerably greater latitude in engaging in staffing changes than its Nordic counterpart, Norway. Institutional theory leads us to suppose that large firms located in the Danish setting will be less likely to engage in employer–employee communication on staffing plans than their Norwegian counterparts. In addition, we argue that in the Danish context indigenous firms will have a better insight into the normative and cognitive aspects to flexicurity than foreign-owned firms, meaning that they are more likely to engage in institutional entrepreneurialism than their foreign owned counterparts. We supplement institutional theory with an actor perspective in order to take into account the role of labor unions. Our analysis is based on a survey of 203 firms in Norway and Denmark which are either indigenous multinational companies or the subsidiaries of foreign multinational companies. The differences we observe cause us to conclude that the notion of a common Nordic model is problematic

Maverick dark matter at colliders

Assuming that dark matter is a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) species X produced in the early Universe as a cold thermal relic, we study the collider signal of pp or ppbar -> XXbar + jets and its distinguishability from standard-model background processes associated with jets and missing energy. We assume that the WIMP is the sole particle related to dark matter within reach of the LHC--a "maverick" particle--and that it couples to quarks through a higher dimensional contact interaction. We simulate the WIMP final-state signal XXbar + jet and dominant standard-model (SM) background processes and find that the dark-matter production process results in higher energies for the colored final state partons than do the standard-model background processes, resulting in more QCD radiation and a higher jet multiplicity. As a consequence, the detectable signature of maverick dark matter is an excess over standard-model expectations of events consisting of large missing transverse energy, together with large leading jet transverse momentum and scalar sum of the transverse momenta of the jets. Existing Tevatron data and forthcoming LHC data can constrain (or discover!) maverick dark matter.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Impact of shortened crop rotation of oilseed rape on soil and rhizosphere microbial diversity in relation to yield decline

Oilseed rape (OSR) grown in monoculture shows a decline in yield relative to virgin OSR of up to 25%, but the mechanisms responsible are unknown. A long term field experiment of OSR grown in a range of rotations with wheat was used to determine whether shifts in fungal and bacterial populations of the rhizosphere and bulk soil were associated with the development of OSR yield decline. The communities of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere and bulk soil from the field experiment were profiled using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and sequencing of cloned internal transcribed spacer regions and 16S rRNA genes, respectively. OSR cropping frequency had no effect on rhizosphere bacterial communities. However, the rhizosphere fungal communities from continuously grown OSR were significantly different to those from other rotations. This was due primarily to an increase in abundance of two fungi which showed 100% and 95% DNA identity to the plant pathogens Olpidium brassicae and Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, respectively. Real-time PCR confirmed that there was significantly more of these fungi in the continuously grown OSR than the other rotations. These two fungi were isolated from the field and used to inoculate OSR and Brassica oleracea grown under controlled conditions in a glasshouse to determine their effect on yield. At high doses, Olpidium brassicae reduced top growth and root biomass in seedlings and reduced branching and subsequent pod and seed production. Pyrenochaeta sp. formed lesions on the roots of seedlings, and at high doses delayed flowering and had a negative impact on seed quantity and quality

Relationship between FEV1 change and patient-reported outcomes in randomised trials of inhaled bronchodilators for stable COPD: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Interactions between spirometry and patient-reported outcomes in COPD are not well understood. This systematic review and study-level analysis investigated the relationship between changes in FEV1 and changes in health status with bronchodilator therapy. METHODS: Six databases (to October 2009) were searched to identify studies with long-acting bronchodilator therapy reporting FEV1 and health status, dyspnoea or exacerbations. Mean and standard deviations of treatment effects were extracted for each arm of each study. Relationships between changes in trough FEV1 and outcomes were assessed using correlations and random-effects regression modelling. The primary outcome was St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) total score. RESULTS: Thirty-six studies (≥ 3 months) were included. Twenty-two studies (23,654 patients) with 49 treatment arms each contributing one data point provided SGRQ data. Change in trough FEV1 and change in SGRQ total score were negatively correlated (r = -0.46, p < 0.001); greater increases in FEV1 were associated with greater reductions (improvements) in SGRQ. The correlation strengthened with increasing study duration from 3 to 12 months. Regression modelling indicated that 100 mL increase in FEV1 (change at which patients are more likely to report improvement) was associated with a statistically significant reduction in SGRQ of 2.5 (95% CI 1.9, 3.1), while a clinically relevant SGRQ change (4.0) was associated with 160.6 (95% CI 129.0, 211.6) mL increase in FEV1. The association between change in FEV1 and other patient-reported outcomes was generally weak. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses indicate, at a study level, that improvement in mean trough FEV1 is associated with proportional improvements in health status

Test–retest stability of patient experience items derived from the national GP patient survey

PURPOSE: The validity and reliability of various items on the GP Patient Survey (GPPS) survey have been reported, however stability of patient responses over time has not been tested. The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of the core items from the GPPS. METHODS: Patients who had recently consulted participating GPs in five general practices across the South West England were sent a postal questionnaire comprising of 54 items concerning their experience of their consultation and the care they received from the GP practice. Patients returning the questionnaire within 3 weeks of mail-out were sent a second identical (retest) questionnaire. Stability of responses was assessed by raw agreement rates and Cohen's kappa (for categorical response items) and intraclass correlation coefficients and means (for ordinal response items). RESULTS: 348 of 597 Patients returned a retest questionnaire (58.3 % response rate). In comparison to the test phase, patients responding to the retest phase were older and more likely to have white British ethnicity. Raw agreement rates for the 33 categorical items ranged from 66 to 100 % (mean 88 %) while the kappa coefficients ranged from 0.00 to 1.00 (mean 0.53). Intraclass correlation coefficients for the 21 ordinal items averaged 0.67 (range 0.44-0.77). CONCLUSIONS: Formal testing of items from the national GP patient survey examining patient experience in primary care highlighted their acceptable temporal stability several weeks following a GP consultation.Funding was provided by Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (Grant No. RP-PG-0608-10050)

A meta-analytic review of stand-alone interventions to improve body image

Objective Numerous stand-alone interventions to improve body image have been developed. The present review used meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of such interventions, and to identify the specific change techniques that lead to improvement in body image. Methods The inclusion criteria were that (a) the intervention was stand-alone (i.e., solely focused on improving body image), (b) a control group was used, (c) participants were randomly assigned to conditions, and (d) at least one pretest and one posttest measure of body image was taken. Effect sizes were meta-analysed and moderator analyses were conducted. A taxonomy of 48 change techniques used in interventions targeted at body image was developed; all interventions were coded using this taxonomy. Results The literature search identified 62 tests of interventions (N = 3,846). Interventions produced a small-to-medium improvement in body image (d+ = 0.38), a small-to-medium reduction in beauty ideal internalisation (d+ = -0.37), and a large reduction in social comparison tendencies (d+ = -0.72). However, the effect size for body image was inflated by bias both within and across studies, and was reliable but of small magnitude once corrections for bias were applied. Effect sizes for the other outcomes were no longer reliable once corrections for bias were applied. Several features of the sample, intervention, and methodology moderated intervention effects. Twelve change techniques were associated with improvements in body image, and three techniques were contra-indicated. Conclusions The findings show that interventions engender only small improvements in body image, and underline the need for large-scale, high-quality trials in this area. The review identifies effective techniques that could be deployed in future interventions

Experimental observation of flow fields around active Janus spheres

The phoretic mechanisms at stake in the propulsion of asymmetric colloids have been the subject of debates during the past years. In particular, the importance of electrokinetic effects on the motility of Pt-PS Janus sphere was recently discussed. Here, we probe the hydrodynamic flow field around a catalytically active colloid using particle tracking velocimetry both in the freely swimming state and when kept stationary with an external force. Our measurements provide information about the fluid velocity in the vicinity of the surface of the colloid, and confirm a mechanism for propulsion that was proposed recently. In addition to offering a unified understanding of the nonequilibrium interfacial transport processes at stake, our results open the way to a thorough description of the hydrodynamic interactions between such active particles and understanding their collective dynamics

Spatial and Temporal Variability of Macroinvertebrates in Spawning and Non-Spawning Habitats during a Salmon Run in Southeast Alaska

Spawning salmon create patches of disturbance through redd digging which can reduce macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass in spawning habitat. We asked whether displaced invertebrates use non-spawning habitats as refugia in streams. Our study explored how the spatial and temporal distribution of macroinvertebrates changed during a pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) spawning run and compared macroinvertebrates in spawning (riffle) and non-spawning (refugia) habitats in an Alaskan stream. Potential refugia included: pools, stream margins and the hyporheic zone, and we also sampled invertebrate drift. We predicted that macroinvertebrates would decline in riffles and increase in drift and refugia habitats during salmon spawning. We observed a reduction in the density, biomass and taxonomic richness of macroinvertebrates in riffles during spawning. There was no change in pool and margin invertebrate communities, except insect biomass declined in pools during the spawning period. Macroinvertebrate density was greater in the hyporheic zone and macroinvertebrate density and richness increased in the drift during spawning. We observed significant invertebrate declines within spawning habitat; however in non-spawning habitat, there were less pronounced changes in invertebrate density and richness. The results observed may be due to spawning-related disturbances, insect phenology, or other variables. We propose that certain in-stream habitats could be important for the persistence of macroinvertebrates during salmon spawning in a Southeast Alaskan stream

Length of Stay After Childbirth in 92 Countries and Associated Factors in 30 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Compilation of Reported Data and a Cross-sectional Analysis from Nationally Representative Surveys

Background: Following childbirth, women need to stay sufficiently long in health facilities to receive adequate care. Little is known about length of stay following childbirth in low- and middle-income countries or its determinants. Methods and Findings: We described length of stay after facility delivery in 92 countries. We then created a conceptual framework of the main drivers of length of stay, and explored factors associated with length of stay in 30 countries using multivariable linear regression. Finally, we used multivariable logistic regression to examine the factors associated with stays that were “too short” (<24 h for vaginal deliveries and <72 h for cesarean-section deliveries). Across countries, the mean length of stay ranged from 1.3 to 6.6 d: 0.5 to 6.2 d for singleton vaginal deliveries and 2.5 to 9.3 d for cesarean-section deliveries. The percentage of women staying too short ranged from 0.2% to 83% for vaginal deliveries and from 1% to 75% for cesarean-section deliveries. Our conceptual framework identified three broad categories of factors that influenced length of stay: need-related determinants that required an indicated extension of stay, and health-system and woman/family dimensions that were drivers of inappropriately short or long stays. The factors identified as independently important in our regression analyses included cesarean-section delivery, birthweight, multiple birth, and infant survival status. Older women and women whose infants were delivered by doctors had extended lengths of stay, as did poorer women. Reliance on factors captured in secondary data that were self-reported by women up to 5 y after a live birth was the main limitation. Conclusions: Length of stay after childbirth is very variable between countries. Substantial proportions of women stay too short to receive adequate postnatal care. We need to ensure that facilities have skilled birth attendants and effective elements of care, but also that women stay long enough to benefit from these. The challenge is to commit to achieving adequate lengths of stay in low- and middle-income countries, while ensuring any additional time is used to provide high-quality and respectful care

Patient characteristics associated with differences in patients' evaluation of their general practitioner

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Knowledge of the extent to which patient characteristics are systematically associated with variation in patient evaluations will enable us to adjust for differences between practice populations and thereby compare GPs. Whether this is appropriate depends on the purpose for which the patient evaluation was conducted. Associations between evaluations and patient characteristics may reflect gaps in the quality of care or may be due to inherent characteristics of the patients. This study aimed to determine such associations in a setting with a comprehensive list system and gate-keeping.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A nationwide Danish patient evaluation survey among voluntarily participating GPs using the EUROPEP questionnaire, which produced 28,260 patient evaluations (response rate 77.3%) of 365 GPs. In our analyses we compared the prevalence of positive evaluations in groups of patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found a positive GP assessment to be strongly associated with increasing patient age and increasing frequency of attendance. Patients reporting a chronic condition were more positive, whereas a low self-rated health was strongly associated with less positive scores also after adjustment. The association between patient gender and assessment was weak and inconsistent and depended on the focus. We found no association either with the patients' educational level or with the duration of listing with the GP even after adjusting for patient characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Adjustment for patient differences may produce a more fair comparison between GPs, but may also blur the assessment of GPs' ability to meet the needs of the populations actually served. On the other hand, adjusted results will enable us to describe the significance of specific patient characteristics to patients' experience of care.</p