When Agency Triumphs Over Structure: Conceptualizing Bhutan’s Unique Transition to Democracy

There a few absolutes in political science, but the historical observation that democracy does not just evolve without any form of struggle or demand for it, and the theoretical assumption that countries do not simply embark on the path of transition to democracy without a crisis of legitimacy for the old regime, are closest to being universally accepted. However, this paper will demonstrate how historic precedence can prove theory wrong by analyzing Bhutan’s transition to democracy. Assembling the basic assumptions of the most popular approaches to regime transitions, it will be shown that none of them can fully or even partly account for democratization in Bhutan. It will be shown that a paramount centrality of agency rather than structure was the driving force behind a transition to democracy that can very well be characterized as being unique. At least for the case of Bhutan, the long ongoing structure-agency-debate has been clearly decided in favor of the latter

The History of Institutional Change in the Kingdom of Bhutan : A Tale of Vision, Resolve, and Power

The Kingdom of Bhutan is probably the most understudied country in South Asia, and yet its unique history holds plenty of intriguing and scientifically important facts and aspects. In this paper due attention will be given to the development of Bhutanese institutions from the establishment of a Buddhist theocracy in the 17th century, through the establishment of hereditary monarchy at the beginning of the 20th century to the transition to democracy at the turning of the millenniums. Contextualizing the more recent events within the broader continuity of political developments in the world’s last Buddhist kingdom is of crucial importance in understanding the underlying trajectories that account for change. These trajectories, it is argued, are primarily shaped by perceptions of threat to national security, unity, and sovereignty, which manifest themselves in critical junctures upon which Bhutan’s farsighted rulers have repeatedly and deliberately come up with innovative institutional changes while at the same time retaining a crucial link with the nation’s history and tradition

Antecedents of Trust: Status and Power in Virtual Teams

Few empirical efforts have been made to observe hierarchical elements of leadership, namely status and power distinctively. Virtual teams as a form of geographically dispersed work arrangement offer significant opportunities for companies and organizations around the globe, but also pose additional challenges to the leadership and the team itself. Due to communication challenges status and power have special characteristics in virtual teams compared to traditional teams. In this investigation we examine how status and power of a leader impact trust building in virtual teams and in turn the team’s performance. The results revealed that status of a leader has a positive influence on trust in the leader, while power of a leader had no unique effect on followers’ reactions. As members of diverse cultures have different perceptions of leaders, we found a moderating effect of culture but not for team size

Power Control to the People? Private Consumers’ Acceptance of Smart Meters

The increasing diffusion of renewable energies which underlie significant daily and seasonal fluctuations increases grid operations’ complexity. For the effective use of renewable energies, innovative information and communication technologies (ICT) and concepts are necessary to efficiently balance power generation and consumption. An ICT-based innovation in this context is the smart metering technology. High-end smart meters, like advanced meter management (AMM) solutions, comprise a broad range of new services which are vital to an ICT-based energy system (eenergy) by enabling the bidirectional transfer of timely and reliable information between components of an energy system. However, to date the acceptance of smart meters has not been investigated. Using a context-specific extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis (1989), our study investigates smart meters’ acceptance based on the attitude toward use and the salient beliefs perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective control. Results support the theorized relationships indicating that the attitude toward use fully mediates the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective control on intention to use. In the conclusion a detailed discussion of the study’s findings is provided and the implications for research, practice, and policy are highlighted

Exploring the Role of Control – Smart Meter Acceptance of Residential Consumers

The increasing diffusion of renewable energies which underlie significant daily and seasonal fluctuations increases grid operations’ complexity. For the effective use of renewable energies, innovative information and communication technologies (ICT) and concepts are necessary to efficiently balance power generation and consumption. An ICT-based innovation in this context is the smart metering technology allowing bidirectional transfer of information between energy systems’ components. Using a context-specific extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis (1989), our study investigates smart meters’ acceptance based on the attitude toward use and the salient beliefs perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective control. Results support the theorized relationships indicating that the attitude toward use fully mediates the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective control on intention to use. In the conclusion a detailed discussion of the study’s findings is provided and the implications for research, practice, and policy are highlighted

Die Untersuchung systemischer Komplementfaktoren im Serum von Patienten mit oralem Plattenepithelkarzinom mittels eines neuartigen Multiplex Detektionsarrays

Das orale Plattenepithelkarzinom (PEKA) ist einer der häufigsten Tumore der Mundhöhle. Eine frühe Diagnose und Indikatoren zur Verlaufsprognose sind essentiell. Diese Studie hat sich als Ziel gesetzt, die Komplementaktivierung bei PEKA als potentiellen Krankheitsmarker zu überprüfen. Hierzu wurde ein innovativer Komplement-Aktivierungs-Assay entwickelt. Zuvor genau charakterisierte Antikörper, die spezifische Epitope der Komplement- Aktivierungsprodukte C3a, C5a und sC5b–C9 detektieren, wurden zusammen mit Kontrollantikörpern an MagPlex®Microspheres unterschiedlicher Regionen gekoppelt und zu einem Assay zusammengefügt. Humanes Blutserum einer gesunden Kohorte (n=46) und von Patienten mit oralem PEKA (n=57) wurden hinsichtlich der Komplementaktivierung bei oraler Tumorausbreitung untersucht. Mittels des neuen Multiplexassays konnten C3a, C5a und sC5b– C9 unter anderem in humanem Blutserum aus minimalen Probenvolumina von Patienten mit oralem PEKA nachgewiesen und quantifiziert werden. Die Nachweisgrenze lag für C3a bei 0,04 ng/mL, für C5a bei 0,03 ng/mL und für sC5b–C9 bei 18,9 ng/mL. Biologische Cut-off-Levels stellten den ausschließlichen spezifischen Nachweis aus den Serumproben sicher. In der gesunden Kontrollkohorte betrug die durchschnittliche Serumkonzentration von C3a 680 ng/mL, von C5a 70 ng/mL und von sC5b–C9 2247 ng/mL. Der Assay zeigte eine Intra-Assayvarianz von 2,9–6,4 % und eine Inter-Assayvarianz von 9,2–18,2 %. Innerhalb der Patientenkohorte ergaben sich signifikant erhöhte C3a-Serumwerte bei PEKAPatienten mit größeren Metastasen in lokoregionären Lymphknoten (N2) im Vergleich zu solchen mit kleineren oder keinen Metastasen in lokoregionären Lymphknoten (N0 und N1). Unsere Analysen der PEKA-Patienten ergaben keine systemisch erhöhten C3a-Serumkonzentrationen im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe. Die C5a-Serumwerte waren unabhängig von der Tumorausdehnung oder dem Lymphknotenstatus bei Patienten mit PEKA signifikant erhöht. Signifikant gesteigerte sC5b–C9-Serumwerte beobachteten wir bei oralem PEKA mit infiltrierendem Wachstum

Stereoselective Synthesis of E,Z-Configured 1,3-Dienes by Ring-Closing Metathesis. Application to the Total Synthesis of Lactimidomycin

Strategic positioning of a silyl group on the diene unit of a diene-ene substrate allows rigorous regio- and stereocontrol to be exerted during metathesis-based macrocyclization reactions. The versatility of this concise approach to E,Z-configured 1,3-dienes of ring sizes of 12 or larger is demonstrated by an application to the total synthesis of lactimidomycin, a potent translation and cell-migration inhibitor

Quality of life and physical activity in long-term (≥5 years post-diagnosis) colorectal cancer survivors - systematic review

Background: Due to the increasing number of long-term (≥5 years post diagnosis) colorectal cancer survivors, long-term quality of life of these patients is highly relevant. Several studies have reported a positive association between physical activity and quality of life in colorectal cancer survivors, however, so far no systematic review has been published which focuses on long-term colorectal cancer survivors. Material and methods: A systematic review was conducted using the databases PubMed, Web of Science, PsychINFO, and CINAHL. Studies which investigated associations between physical activity and quality of life in long-term colorectal cancer survivors were included. Results and conclusion: Ten articles based on seven studies were identified. Long-term colorectal cancer survivors who were physically active reported better quality of life than long-term survivors who were not physically active. Both, moderate to vigorous physical activity and lower levels like light physical activity were associated with higher quality of life. Most studies assessed the association between physical activity and quality of life cross-sectionally but one prospective study which measured physical activity and quality of life at three different points in time also found associations between physical activity and quality of life. The association between physical activity and quality of life seemed to be stronger among women than among men. The findings of this systematic review support an association between physical activity and quality of life in long-term colorectal cancer survivors. However, the evidence is limited as most studies were based on cross-sectional and observational design

The Role of Culture and Personality in the Leadership Process in Virtual Teams

Leadership is a key challenge of virtual teams. A particular leadership style, namely inspirational leadership, which is a sub-category of transformational leadership, has been found to be especially suited for the study of highly diverse teams. Virtual team leaders increasingly have to manage global virtual teams that contain members from different cultural backgrounds and value orientations. This study answers a call of incorporating the role of individual-level attributes and dispositions as moderators of inspirational leadership effects, considering cultural and individual values of followers in a virtual setting. Results reveal the importance of inspirational leadership influencing attitudinal outcomes (trust in leadership and cohesion). Furthermore, the effect of leadership is shown to be dependent on cultural as well as personal values of followers indicating the need to consider individual factors in the process of managing virtual teams

Conflict, Value Diversity, and Performance in Virtual Teams

While most studies investigating culture in the context of conflict in teams have been using culture dimensions such as collectivism this study centers on another measurement of culture, namely individual values. In this investigation we examined how individual value diversity influences the relationship between team conflict and performance in virtual teams. Assessing two types of conflict, namely task and process conflict, the results revealed that task conflict had no unique effect beyond the impact of process conflict. Contrary to previous findings relating to group culture, this study found that value diversity has no influence on the relationship between conflict and performance in virtual teams. While individuals come to groups with their own values, they may be less powerful predictors of their behavior in groups where there are strong prevailing group values and norms to act a certain way