An overview of economics and regulation

To very briefly conclude: We could summarise the contents of this essay with stating that economic theory and empirical research is a valuable tool in regulation. It might be difficult to apply or to comprehend the implications of economic research in a regulatory context, but it would at least be fruitful in the long run to develop coherent methods to do this

Women's perceptions of everyday occupations: outcomes of the Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) programme.

Abstract Aims: The aim was to (i) assess the outcomes of the 16-week Redesigning Daily Occupations (ReDO) programme for women on sick leave due to stress-related disorders, in terms of occupational value, satisfaction with everyday occupations, and participation level; (ii) investigate the relationships between those outcomes and return-to-work rate. Methods: A total of 42 women receiving ReDO and 42 receiving care as usual (CAU) were included in a matched-control study with measurements before and after the rehabilitation. Seventy-eight participated on both occasions. They completed self-report questionnaires regarding the aforementioned outcomes. Return-to-work data were obtained from the registers of the Social Insurance Offices. Results: Increases in concrete, symbolic, and self-reward values were found in both groups, but no statistically significant difference between the groups was demonstrated. The ReDO group improved more than the CAU group, however, on satisfaction with everyday occupations and participation level. Occupational value, but not satisfaction with everyday occupations, was related to return to work. Conclusions: Everyday occupations were shown to be relevant outcomes after work rehabilitation and could play an important role in future development of profession-specific evidence of occupational therapy. Further support was obtained for viewing occupational value and satisfaction with everyday occupations as theoretically distinct phenomena

Predator refuges for conservation biological control in an intermediately disturbed system: the rise and fall of a simple solution

1. Managed systems harvested at intermediate time-scales have advantages over annual short-cycled systems in maintaining top-down control of insect herbivores, and the flexible harvest regimes in these systems provide opportunities for habitat management that can stabilize predator-prey population dynamics across harvests - resulting in reduced risk of pest outbreaks. 2. In a large-scale field experiment, we explored whether retaining refuges, that is preserving parts of the stand to reduce predator mortality, could reduce the risk of pest insect outbreaks in willow short-rotation coppice. Population densities of three omnivorous predator species and three outbreaking herbivorous leaf beetle species were monitored over four years aftercoppice (stem harvest) in eight stands with refuges (treatment) and eight stands without refuges (control). Predation pressure was estimated in years three and four. 3. Contrary to our predictions, leaf beetle densities were higher in stands with refuges and predator densities were higher in stands without refuges. Leaf beetle egg mortality increased with total predator density, but did not differ between stands with and without refuges. 4. These unexpected results can be attributed to interactions between dispersal and patchage. The altered phenology of coppiced stems may have triggered leaf beetle aggregation in refuges and migration from stands without refuges. A behavioural response to resource concentration in retained old patches likely transformed the predator refuge from a ‘source' to a ‘sink'. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study shows that retaining refuges in willow short-rotation coppice to facilitate predator population recovery after harvest can come at the cost of more attractive herbivore habitats - and thus increased pest problems. We conclude that crop refuges in systems with intermediate disturbance regimes pose new challenges for conservation biological control, in particular the need to consider how patch age affects dispersal and recolonization of both pest and predators

Psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Pearlin Mastery Scale in people with mental illness and healthy people.

Background: Mastery refers to the degree to which people perceive that they can control factors that influence their life situation, and has been found important for people's quality of life and well-being. It is thus essential to be able to measure mastery in a valid and reliable way. Aim: This study aimed at using the Rasch measurement model to investigate the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Pearlin Mastery Scale (Mastery-S). Methods: A sample of 300 healthy individuals and 278 persons with mental illness responded to the Mastery-S. Item responses were Rasch analysed regarding model fit, response category functioning, differential item functioning (DIF) and targeting, using the partial credit model. Results: The Mastery-S items represented a logical continuum of the measured construct but one item displayed misfit. Reliability (Person Separation Index) was 0.7. The response categories did not work as expected in three items, which could be corrected for by collapsing categories. Three items displayed DIF between the two subsamples, which caused a bias when comparing mastery levels between subsamples, suggesting the Mastery-S is not truly generic. Conclusions: The Mastery-S may be used to obtain valid and reliable data, but some precautions should be made. If used to compare groups, new analyses of DIF should first be made. Users of the scale should also consider exempting item 6 from the scale and analyse it as a separate item. Finally, rewording of response categories should be considered in order to make them more distinct and thereby improve score reliability

Long-term stability of molecular doped epigraphene quantum Hall standards: single elements and large arrays (R K/236 ≈ 109 Ω)

In this work we investigate the long-term stability of epitaxial graphene (epigraphene) quantum Hall resistance standards, including single devices and an array device composed of 236 elements providing R K/236 ≈ 109 Ω, with R K the von Klitzing constant. All devices utilize the established technique of chemical doping via molecular dopants to achieve homogenous doping and control over carrier density. However, optimal storage conditions and the long-term stability of molecular dopants for metrological applications have not been widely studied. In this work we aim to identify simple storage techniques that use readily available and cost-effective materials which provide long-term stability for devices without the need for advanced laboratory equipment. The devices are stored in glass bottles with four different environments: ambient, oxygen absorber, silica gel desiccant, and oxygen absorber/desiccant mixture. We have tracked the carrier densities, mobilities, and quantization accuracies of eight different epigraphene quantum Hall chips for over two years. We observe the highest stability (i.e. lowest change in carrier density) for samples stored in oxygen absorber/desiccant mixture, with a relative change in carrier density below 0.01% per day and no discernable degradation of quantization accuracy at the part-per-billion level. This storage technique yields a comparable stability to the currently established best storage method of inert nitrogen atmosphere, but it is much easier to realize in practice. It is possible to further optimize the mixture of oxygen absorber/desiccant for even greater stability performance in the future. We foresee that this technique can allow for simple and stable long-term storage of polymer-encapsulated molecular doped epigraphene quantum Hall standards, removing another barrier for their wide-spread use in practical metrology

Activity of Daily Living Performance amongst Danish Asylum Seekers: A cross-sectional study

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) ability impairment in newly arrived Danish asylum seekers. It was hypothesized that exposure to trauma and torture would negatively influence ADL performance and that measures of ADL ability would be lower in individuals exposed to torture as compared to the non-tortured. Subjects: Forty-three newly arrived asylum seekers aged 20-50 years, from Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria, were consecutively included in the study. Method: ADL ability was assessed with the observation-based test Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS). Interviews were based on questionnaires about torture exposure, WHO-5 Wellbeing Index, Major Depression Inventory and Pain Detect Questionnaire. All participants were interviewed and tested using a linguistic interpreter. Results: Thirty-three (77%) participants reported exposure to torture. The tortured did not differ significantly from the non-tortured on measures of ADL ability (two-sample t-tests: Motor, p= 0.36; Process, p= 0.82). ADL performance impairment was observed in the overall study sample. Twelve had motor and 15 process ability measures below age norms and 2 below both AMPS motor and process cut-offs for effortless and efficient ADL performance. There were statistically significant - weak to moderate - correlations between self-reported psychological distress, VAS average pain, pain distribution, and the AMPS measures. Conclusion: The study results supported significant ADL ability impairment in tortured as well as non-tortured newly arrived asylum seekers. Implementation of performance-based evaluation of ADL ability as part of the initial medical screening of this particular population should be considered

Scenario simulations of future salinity and ecological consequences in the Baltic Sea and adjacent North Sea areas-implications for environmental monitoring

Substantial ecological changes occurred in the 1970s in the Northern Baltic during a temporary period of low salinity (S). This period was preceded by an episodic increase in the rainfall over the Baltic Sea Watershed area. Several climate models, both global and regional, project an increase in the runoff of the Northern latitudes due to proceeding climate change. The aim of this study is to model, firstly, the effects on Baltic Sea salinity of increased runoff due to projected global change and, secondly, the effects of salinity change on the distribution of marine species. The results suggest a critical shift in the S range 5-7, which is a threshold for both freshwater and marine species distributions and diversity. We discuss several topics emphasizing future monitoring, modelling, and fisheries research. Environmental monitoring and modelling are investigated because the developing alternative ecosystems do not necessarily show the same relations to environment quality factors as the retiring ones. An important corollary is that the observed and modelled S changes considered together with species' ranges indicate what may appear under a future climate. Consequences could include a shift in distribution areas of marine benthic foundation species and some 40-50 other species, affiliated to these. This change would extend over hundreds of kilometres, in the Baltic Sea and the adjacent North Sea areas. Potential cascading effects, in coastal ecology, fish ecology and fisheries would be extensive, and point out the necessity to develop further the "ecosystem approach in the environmental monitoring". (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Physcomitrium patens PpRIC, an ancestral CRIB-domain ROP effector, inhibits auxin-induced differentiation of apical initial cells

RHO guanosine triphosphatases are important eukaryotic regulators of cell differentiation and behavior. Plant ROP (RHO of plant) family members activate specific, incompletely characterized downstream signaling. The structurally simple land plant Physcomitrium patens is missing homologs of key animal and flowering plant RHO effectors but contains a single CRIB (CDC42/RAC interactive binding)-domain -contain-ing RIC (ROP-interacting CRIB-containing) protein (PpRIC). Protonemal P. patens filaments elongate based on regular division and PpROP-dependent tip growth of apical initial cells, which upon stimulation by the hor-mone auxin differentiate caulonemal characteristics. PpRIC interacts with active PpROP1, co-localizes with this protein at the plasma membrane at the tip of apical initial cells, and accumulates in the nucleus. Remark-ably, PpRIC is not required for tip growth but is targeted to the nucleus to block caulonema differentiation downstream of auxin-controlled gene expression. These observations establish functions of PpRIC in medi-ating crosstalk between ROP and auxin signaling, which contributes to the maintenance of apical initial cell identity