A Professional Union: An Exploratory Study

One of the areas of white-collar unionization which is increasingly making itself felt in the United States is that of professional union-ization. The three professional occupational groups that have been most successful in this respect have been the engineers, nurses, and teachers (Cf. Taylor, 1968)

Recht als Kultur: ein blinder Fleck der politischen Kulturforschung

Obwohl dem Recht in vielen politologischen Diskursen der Gegenwart eine bedeutende Rolle zukommt, hat die politische Kulturforschung bisher die Analyse des Rechts weitgehend vernachlässigt. Dabei kommen gerade hier zentrale Wert- und Ordnungsvorstellungen einer politischen Gemeinschaft zum Ausdruck. Der konzeptuelle Vorschlag eines kulturwissenschaftlich und theoretisch aufgeklärten, mehrdimensional angelegten Rechtsbegriffs ermöglicht nicht nur den Blick auf die Differenz von Rechtskulturen, sondern auch ein besseres Verständnis aktueller politischer Konflikte, die sich im Kampf um das Recht herausbilden. Zudem stellt das entworfene Analysemodell ein Plädoyer für einen engeren Dialog von politischer Kulturforschung und Politischer Theorie dar.Even though law plays a key role in contemporary discourses in political science, research on political culture has largely neglected the analysis of law so far. This is striking, as the normative ideas and the representation of the order of a political community are often expressed in the institution of law. The means of the cultural sciences and of political theory permit the construction of a multidimensional concept of law that enables to grasp the difference of legal cultures as well as an understanding of current political conflicts consisting in struggles for law. Moreover, the analytic model of legal culture presented in this paper should be seen as an appeal for a closer dialogue of research on political culture and political theory

Die Körpersprache der Demokratie: Gedanken zu einer jüngeren Debatte

In den letzten Jahren ist in vielen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen ein gestiegenes Interesse am Konzept des Körpers zu beobachten, das auch die Politikwissenschaft erreicht hat. Einige neuere Publikationen beleuchten, wie Bilder des politischen Körpers auch in demokratischen Gesellschaften, die oft als ikonoklastisch angesehen werden, Bestand haben. Dieser Beitrag beabsichtigt zunächst, in Bezug auf neue Studien, aber auch auf Klassiker wie Ernst Kantorowicz und Claude Lefort die Bedeutung von Körperbildern für vormoderne Staats- und Herrschaftsordnungen nachzuvollziehen. Anschließend soll gezeigt werden, welche Konsequenzen der mehrdimensionale Fortbestand des Körperlichen für die politische Kultur und das politische Denken in modernen Demokratien hat. Während die zunehmende Inszenierung der Körper der Herrschenden zur Gefahr für die demokratische politische Kultur werden kann, bleibt die ständige Aufgabe der Politischen Theorie, den Abschied von der Metapher des politischen Körpers fortzuschreiben, um einen Rahmen für die gesellschaftliche Konfliktlösung setzen zu können

Transport Properties of III-N Hot Electron Transistors

Unipolar hot electron transistors (HETs) represent a tantalizing alternative to established bipolar transistor technologies. During device operation electrons are injected over a large emitter barrier into the base where they travel along the device axis with very high velocity. Upon arrival at the collector barrier, high-energy electrons pass over the barrier and contribute to collector current while low-energy electrons are quantum mechanically reflected back into the base. Designing the base with thickness equal to or less than the hot electron mean free path serves to minimize scattering events and thus enable quasi-ballistic operation. Large current gain is achieved by increasing the ratio of transmitted to reflected electrons. Although III-N HETs have undergone substantial development in recent years, there remain ample opportunities to improve key device metrics.In order to engineer improved device performance, a deeper understanding of theoperative transport physics is needed. Fortunately, the HET provides fertile groundfor studying several prominent electron transport phenomena. In this thesis we presentresults from several studies that use the III-N HET as both emitter and analyzer ofhot electron momentum states. The first provides a measurement of the hot electronmean free path and the momentum relaxation rate in GaN; the second relies on a newtechnique called electron injection spectroscopy to investigate the effects of barrier heightinhomogeneity in the emitter. To supplement our analysis we develop a comprehensivetheory of coherent electron transport that allows us to model the transfer characteristicsof complex heterojunctions. Such a model provides a theoretical touchstone with whichto compare our experimental results. While these studies are of potential interest in theirown right, we interpret the results with an eye toward improving next-generation deviceperformance

The PhINEST study - Pharyngeal ICU Novel Electrical Stimulation Therapy Study protocol of a prospective, multi-site, randomized, sham-controlled, single-blind (outcome assessor-blinded) study

Introduction: Post-extubation dysphagia is commonly observed in ICU patients and associated with increased aspiration rates, delayed resumption of oral intake/ malnutrition, prolonged ICU and hospital length of stay, decreased quality of life, and increased mortality. Conventional therapeutic approaches are limited. Pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES) was previously shown to improve swallowing function and airway safety in severely dysphagic tracheostomised stroke patients. Methods: In a multi-center, single-blind, 1:1 randomized controlled study, up to 400 (360 evaluable) mixed emergency adult ICU patients with recent extubation following mechanical ventilation and confirmed oropharyngeal dysphagia will be enrolled at investigational academic ICUs. Primary objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of PES in reducing the severity of unsafe swallows. Patients will be randomized to receive PES (or sham) treatment on 3 consecutive days in addition to best supportive care. Primary endpoint is a composite of 2 endpoints with hierarchy based on clinical priorities: 1) Swallowing safety based on worst penetration-aspiration-scale (PAS) score in series of up to 4 boli using thin stimuli approx. From 24 to 60 hours after treatment completion, converted to a trichotomized ordinal response of safe (PAS 1-3), penetration (PAS 4-5), or aspiration (PAS 6-8). 2) Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale scores determined by bedside assessment 7 +/- 1 days after treatment completion. Oropharyngeal dysphagia will be assessed by Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing by blinded study staff. Patients will be followed-up for a maximum of 90 days. Discussion: This study will evaluate the effects of PES on swallowing safety in critically ill ICU patients post mechanical ventilation with oropharyngeal dysphagia.Peer reviewe

Characterization of a high-resolution breath acetone meter for ketosis monitoring

Background: The ketone bodies beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and acetone are endogenous products of fatty acid metabolism. Although ketone levels can be monitored by measuring either blood BHB or breath acetone, determining the precise correlation between these two measurement methods has been challenging. The purpose of this study is to characterize the performance of a novel portable breath acetone meter (PBAM) developed by Readout, Inc., to compare single versus multiple daily ketone measurements, and to compare breath acetone (BrAce) and blood BHB measurements. Methods: We conducted a 14-day prospective observational cohort study of 21 subjects attempting to follow either a low-carbohydrate/ketogenic or a standard diet. Subjects were asked to concurrently measure both blood BHB and BrAce five times per day and report the results using an online data entry system. We evaluated the utility of multiple daily measurements by calculating the coefficient of variation (CV) for each daily group of measurements. We calculated the correlation between coincident BrAce and blood BHB measurements using linear ordinary least squares regression analysis. We assessed the ability of the BrAce measurement to accurately predict blood BHB states using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Finally, we calculated a daily ketone exposure (DKE) using the area under the curve (AUC) of a ketone concentration versus time graph and compared the DKE of BrAce and blood BHB using linear ordinary least squares regression. Results: BrAce and blood BHB varied throughout the day by an average of 44% and 46%, respectively. The BrAce measurement accurately predicted whether blood BHB was greater than or less than the following thresholds: 0.3 mM (AUC = 0.898), 0.5 mM (AUC = 0.854), 1.0 mM (AUC = 0.887), and 1.5 mM (AUC = 0.935). Coincident BrAce and blood BHB measurements were moderately correlated with Conclusions: The results validated the performance of the PBAM. The BrAce/BHB correlation was similar to literature values where BrAce was measured using highly accurate lab instruments. Additionally, BrAce measurements using the PBAM can be used to predict blood BHB states. The relatively high daily variability of ketone levels indicate that single blood or breath ketone measurements are often not sufficient to assess daily ketone exposure for most users. Finally, although single coincident blood and breath ketone measurements show only a moderate correlation, possibly due to the temporal lag between BrAce and blood BHB, daily ketone exposures for blood and breath are highly correlated

Expiratory Muscle Strength Training for Therapy of Pharyngeal Dysphagia in Parkinson's Disease

Background Pharyngeal dysphagia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common and clinically relevant symptom associated with poor nutrition intake, reduced quality of life, and aspiration pneumonia. Despite this, effective behavioral treatment approaches are rare. Objective The objective of this study was to verify if 4 week of expiratory muscle strength training can improve pharyngeal dysphagia in the short and long term and is able to induce neuroplastic changes in cortical swallowing processing. Methods In this double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, 50 patients with hypokinetic pharyngeal dysphagia, as confirmed by flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, performed a 4-week expiratory muscle strength training. Twenty-five participants used a calibrated (“active”) device, 25 used a sham handheld device. Swallowing function was evaluated directly before and after the training period, as well as after a period of 3 month using flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. Swallowing-related cortical activation was measured in 22 participants (active:sham; 11:11) using whole-head magnetencephalography. Results The active group showed significant improvement in the flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing–based dysphagia score after 4 weeks and after 3 months, whereas in the sham group no significant changes from baseline were observed. Especially, clear reduction in pharyngeal residues was found. Regarding the cortical swallowing network before and after training, no statistically significant differences were found by magnetencephalography examination. Conclusions Four-week expiratory muscle strength training significantly reduces overall dysphagia severity in PD patients, with a sustained effect after 3 months compared with sham training. This was mainly achieved by improving swallowing efficiency. The treatment effect is probably caused by peripheral mechanisms, as no changes in the cortical swallowing network were identified. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Societ