Transitional justice and the political 'work' of domestic tourism

The relationship between tourism and transitional justice is little-researched. This paper explores the importance of domestic tourism for enabling citizens to encounter and engage with wider transitional justice projects. This issue is explored with reference to a memorial museum in Romania which interprets political violence and state repression. Semi-structured interviews with 52 domestic tourists were undertaken (using purposive sampling to select participants) and the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Most visitors reported general sightseeing motives for visiting the museum and may not have anticipated engaging with transitional justice messages. However, their engagement went beyond sightseeing in a range of ways. Visitors participated in acts of memory-work, acknowledged the victims of repression, and recognized the core message of transitional justice – “never again”. They also reflected on the relationship between the recent past and the present, and recognized the role of the museum as a resource for future generations. These experiences were shared by those who had lived through state repression and those who had not. The findings indicate that domestic tourism is a meaningful but overlooked context through which citizens can engage with broader transitional justice projects

Consistency of Financial Interest Disclosures in the Biomedical Literature: The Case of Coronary Stents

Background Disclosure of authors' financial interests has been proposed as a strategy for protecting the integrity of the biomedical literature. We examined whether authors' financial interests were disclosed consistently in articles on coronary stents published in 2006. Methodology/Principal Findings We searched PubMed for English-language articles published in 2006 that provided evidence or guidance regarding the use of coronary artery stents. We recorded article characteristics, including information about authors' financial disclosures. The main outcome measures were the prevalence, nature, and consistency of financial disclosures. There were 746 articles, 2985 authors, and 135 journals in the database. Eighty-three percent of the articles did not contain disclosure statements for any author (including declarations of no interests). Only 6% of authors had an article with a disclosure statement. In comparisons between articles by the same author, the types of disagreement were as follows: no disclosure statements vs declarations of no interests (64%); specific disclosures vs no disclosure statements (34%); and specific disclosures vs declarations of no interests (2%). Among the 75 authors who disclosed at least 1 relationship with an organization, there were 2 cases (3%) in which the organization was disclosed in every article the author wrote. Conclusions/Significance In the rare instances when financial interests were disclosed, they were not disclosed consistently, suggesting that there are problems with transparency in an area of the literature that has important implications for patient care. Our findings suggest that the inconsistencies we observed are due to both the policies of journals and the behavior of some authors

Adjusting Badly: The German Welfare State, Structural Change, and the Open Economy

Germany was comparatively successful in weathering the macroeconomic crises of the 1970s and early 1980s, and its industrial sector remained highly competitive throughout. Nevertheless, unemployment has been high and is still rising. The impact of unification is only a part of the explanation. Instead, the very formula for Germany's past success is also the key to its current problems. Cooperative labour relations, on which German international competitiveness depends, were maintained by using the welfare state's generous exit options from the labour market for older and less productive workers. Given the prevailing mode of financing the “Bismarckian” welfare state, however, the resulting rise of social security contributions added to the costs of labour throughout the economy. As the government relied on the same solution in coping with the massive employment losses in East Germany after unification, non‐wage labour costs have risen to a level that can be sustained only by highly productive types of work. This constrains the growth of private services that have compensated industrial job losses in other countries

Tritium release from irradiated lithium aluminate, can it be improved?

Lithium aluminate is an attractive material (in terms of its chemical, mechanical and irradiation properties) for breeding tritium in fusion reactors; however, its tritium release characteristics are not as good as those of other candidate materials. To investigate whether tritium release from lithium aluminate can be improved, we have studied the tritium release from irradiated samples of pure lithium aluminate, lithium aluminate doped with Mg, and lithium aluminate with a surface deposit of platinum. The release was studied by the temperature programmed desorption (TPD) method. Both the platinum coating and magnesium doping were found to improve the tritium release characteristics, as determined by TPD. Tritium release shifted to states with lower activation energies for the altered materials

Tritium release from irradiated lithium aluminate, can it be improved

Lithium aluminate is an attractive material (in terms of its chemical, mechanical and irradiation properties) for breeding tritium in fusion reactors; however, its tritium release characteristics are not as good as those of other candidate materials. To investigate whether tritium release from lithium aluminate can be improved, we have studied the tritium release from irradiated samples of pure lithium aluminate, lithium aluminate doped with Mg, and lithium aluminate with a surface deposit of platinum. The release was studied by the temperature programmed desorption (TPD) method. Both the platinum coating and magnesium doping were found to improve the tritium release characteristics, as determined by TPD. Tritium release shifted to states with lower activation energies for the altered materials