The politics of playing along: radio and regulation in democratic Europe

The loss of localism has been a common trend in most radio markets in Europe and the United States. Deregulation of ownership led to a concentration phenomenon that has affected local radios in several western democracies. New forms of regulation have been considered as possible ways to stop the erosion of localism by applying rules to markets in the defense of diversity, pluralism, and the local dimension. This article analyses the local radio market in Portugal, by assessing the changes in the legislation and by examining the regulatory action that can, according to its remit, act preventively to avoid market forces to harm these principles.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Discretional policies and transparency of qualifications: changing Europe without money and without States?

The paper aims to contribute to the European education policy literature through an analysis of what I refer to as ‘discretional policies’, which are now instrumentally used by the EU but that have so far been largely overlooked by this literature, and to the literature on transparency of qualifications. The paper argues, first, that the education policy literature—as other policy literatures—has overlooked individual ‘discretional policies’, to which greater attention should now be paid as they are employed by EU institutions to bypass Member States in particularly difficult policy areas and to try to address their often alleged detachment from citizens. Second, the paper looks at the crucial aspect of the effectiveness of discretionary policies and their consequences for individuals and Member States, with reference to a case study of the Europass framework in education and training

Can age-related intervertebral disc changes be differentiated from degenerative disc disease

INTRODUCTION. It is known that intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration progresses with age, and not all subjects with IVD degeneration have symptoms. We hypothesize symptomatic patients have a more severe form of IVD degeneration (degenerative disc disease) than can be accounted for by their age (age-related changes). METHODOLOGY. Making use of a large MRI and symptom database of 1244 individuals recruited from the population between 18 to 55 years of age, individuals with IVD degeneration were scored by their severity using the DDD score. For each age band, a mean DDD score is calculated and serve as the definition of age-related changes, while degenerative disc disease is defined as individuals that have a score deviated from the mean (>2 SD). Further, an age-adjusted DDD score is calculated based on a logarithmic transformation of the mean. The validity of this age-adjustment was then correlated with symptoms and previous genetic pre-disposition findings. RESULTS. After age-adjustment, individuals with a more severe form of degeneration than can be expected for their age could be identified. The age-adjusted DDD score of these individuals highly correlated with low back pain (LBP) (p 0.0001), whereas without age adjustment, the DDD score only weakly correlated with LBP (p0.024). All previously identified genetic pre-disposing factors could be reproduced using the new score. DISCUSSION. This study is unique and made possible only by the large population database of MRI information. It supports the hypothesis that age-related changes in the IVD occurs, and that this can be differentiated from symptomatic degenerative disc disease. This is an important concept not only as a phenotype for genetic studies, but for clinicians and patients to accept age-related changes, which do not necessarily need treatment, whereas those with degenerative disc disease are much more likely to be symptomatic and early treatment should be contemplated.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Droplet entrainment prediction in horizontal flow by SYS-TH codes - Mantilla experiments - Recent analyses made with the FONESYS network

International audienceThe droplet entrainment in horizontal flow in water-cooled nuclear reactor plays an important role in many transients such as IB-LOCA and LB-LOCA. A benchmark of system thermal-hydraulic (SYS-TH) codes capabilities to predicting the onset of droplet entrainment and entrainment rate was conducted within FONESYS. FONESYS is a network among code developers who share the common objective to strengthen current technology, to highlight the capabilities and the robustness as well as the limitations of current SYS-TH codes to predict the main phenomena during transient scenarios in nuclear reactors for safety issues.Mantilla performed 49 air-water tests with the 2-inch test section and 19 tests with the 6-inch test section at low pressure and temperature. Tests were selected aiming to support and complement an on-going activity on the scalability of codes' closure laws, currently focusing on the horizontal stratification criteria and the onset of droplet entrainment and entrainment fraction criteria. Focus was put on the capability of ATHLET, CATHARE3, MARS-KS, RELAP5, RELAP5-3D, SPACE and TRACE in predicting the onset of droplet entrainment, the entrainment rate and pressure drops.Overall benchmark results show some spread in the results calculated by codes, highlighting the need for further research and development. Improving the capability in predicting dispersed flows might be beneficial for the analyses of different LOCA scenarios. The scalability of closure laws is discussed and possible ways for improving them are suggested

TPTF horizontal flow prediction by SYS-TH codes - Recent analyses made within the FONESYS network

International audienceThe horizontal stratification occurrence in WNCR plays an important role in many transients such as loss of coolant accidents and loss of residual heat removal by influencing the liquid mass repartition, the natural circulation and reflux condenser modes, and the break or leak flowrate. A benchmark activity on horizontal flow prediction was conducted in the framework of FONESYS. FONESYS is a network among code developers who share the common objective to strengthen current technology. The aim of the network is to highlight the capabilities and the robustness as well as the limitations of current SYS-TH codes to predict the main phenomena during transient scenarios in nuclear reactors for safety issues.One-hundred-twenty-six runs performed with the Two-Phase Test Facility (TPTF) were considered. Tests were selected aiming to support and complement an ongoing activity on the scalability of codes' closure laws, currently focusing on the horizontal stratification criteria and the onset of droplet entrainment and entrainment fraction criteria. Therefore, experiments performed with the 4-inch and 8-inch tests sections, at pressure ranging from 30 bar to 118 bar, in different flow regimes were considered. Focus was put on the capability of ATHLET, CATHARE 3, MARS-KS, RELAP5, RELAP5-3D, SPACE and TRACE in predicting void fractions, the transition to slug flow and the onset of droplet entrainment.Overall, the benchmark results show reasonably good capabilities of codes in predicting horizontal flow. However, some noticeable limitations emerged related to flow regime transition criteria, interfacial friction, and to the prediction of non-established flow. The scalability of closure laws and possible ways for improving them are discussed

Corticosteroids in peri-radicular infiltration for radicular pain: a randomised double blind controlled trial. One year results and subgroup analysis

The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of corticosteroids in patients with radicular pain due to lumbar disc herniation or lumbar spinal stenosis through a prospective randomised, double blind controlled trial, and whether there was an effect on subsequent interventions such as additional root blocks or surgery. Peri-radicular infiltration of corticosteroids has previously been shown to offer no additional benefit in patients with sciatica compared to local anaesthetic alone. It is not known if the response to peri-radicular infiltration is less marked in certain subgroups of patients such as those with radicular pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis. Previous studies have suggested that peri-radicular infiltration of corticosteroids may obviate the need for subsequent interventions and we therefore further investigated this in the current study. We randomised 150 patients to receive a single injection with either bupivacaine alone or bupivacaine and methylprednisolone. Patients were assessed at 6 weeks and 3 months after the injection using standard outcome measures including Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), visual analogue score for leg pain and patient’s subjective assessment of outcome. At 1-year follow-up, we looked at the outcome in terms of the need for subsequent interventions such as additional root blocks or surgery. At 3-month follow-up, there was no statistically significant difference in the standard outcome measures between the two injection groups. At a minimum 1-year post injection, there was no difference in the need for subsequent interventions in either group. Patients with lumbar spinal stenosis had a less marked reduction in the ODI at 3 months with a mean change of 3.3 points when compared with 15 points for patients with lumbar disc herniation. In conclusion, peri-radicular infiltration of corticosteroids for sciatica does not provide any additional benefit when compared to local anaesthetic injection alone. Corticosteroids do not obviate the need for subsequent interventions such as additional root blocks or surgery