Framing the collaborative economy - Voices of contestation

Within the context of multiple crises and change, a range of practices discussed under the umbrella term of collaborative (or sharing) economy have been gaining considerable attention. Supporters build an idealistic vision of collaborative societies. Critics have been stripping the concept of its visionary potential, questioning its revolutionary nature. In the study, these debates are brought down to the local level in search for common perceptions among the co-creators of the concept in Vienna, Austria. Towards this aim a Q study is conducted, i.e. a mixed method enabling analyses of subjective perceptions on socially contested topics. Four framings are identified: Visionary Supporters, Market Optimists, Visionary Critics, and Skeptics, each bringing their values, visions, and practical goals characteristic of different understanding of the collaborative economy. The study questions the need for building a globally-applicable definition of the concept, calls for more context-sensitivity, exploratory studies, and city-level multi-stakeholder dialogues

Framing the Collaborative Economy

Within the context of multiple crises and change, a range of practices discussed under the umbrella term of collaborative (or sharing) economy have been gaining considerable attention. Supporters build an idealistic vision of collaborative societies. Critics have been stripping the concept of its visionary potential, questioning its revolutionary nature. In the study, these debates are brought down to the local level in search for common perceptions among the co-creators of the concept in Vienna, Austria. Towards this aim a Q study is conducted, i.e. a mixed method enabling analyses of subjective perceptions on socially contested topics. Four voices are identified: True Believers, Market Optimists, Dedicated Critics, and Healthy Sceptics, each bringing their values, visions, and practical goals characteristic of different understanding of the collaborative economy. The study questions the need for building a globally-applicable definition of the concept, calls for more context-sensitivity, and the need for further exploratory approaches. (author's abstract)Series: Ecological Economic Paper

Leaving the mainstream behind? Uncovering subjective understandings of economics instructors' roles

In the wake of the economic crisis, a number of student organizations and researchers highlighted the lack of pluralism and heterodox approaches in economics curricula. The relevance of pluralism becomes clear once set within the implications of a given scientific discourse on reality (e.g. economics and policy making). This study explores the role of instructors in co-constructing the pluralism discourse and debates, while recognizing the role of institutional obstacles to change within the discipline. An empirical field study is conducted with lecturers in introductory economics courses at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business where they place themselves within the pluralism discourse via a Q-study - a mixed method employed for studying subjectivity in socially contested topics. In Q, a set of statements undergo a sorting procedure on a relative ranking scale, followed by factor-rendering. Four voices are identified: Moderate Pluralist, Mainstreamers, Responsible Pluralists, and Applied Pluralists. The implications of their ideas are discussed from the viewpoint of discursive institutionalism, stressing the role of ideas and discourse in institutional change. Although a discursive readiness for changes towards more pluralism is claimed, strategies for overcoming the difficulties on the institutional level need to be developed

Sharing the liberal utopia. The case of Uber in France and the US

This article takes the case of Uber, a global platform specialized in transport technologies, to reappraise the claims of the sharing economy. The case presents a chronology of the struggles over the regulation of these digital markets in the US and France, using Uber's self-description and web discourse for additional illustrative purposes. It exposes Uber's business model, the key driving actors and their strategies as well as multi-scalar counter movements. The analysis is framed from a Hayekian and a Polanyian perspective, and the potential of the sharing economy to go beyond market fundamentalism. The Polanyian utopia of sharing as more than market relations based on self-interest is mobilized for legitimizing the platform. The Hayekian utopia of a market society which transforms social relations of friendship and community service into market activities is describing actual development. Finally, Polanyian "counter movements" are described and their potentials are discussed.Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

Działalność wywiadu wojskowego PRL podczas wojny wietnamskiej (1965-1975)

A lot of resarchers conceptualize that the Vietnam War was the longest military conflict after Second World War. The First Indochina War in 1946 – 1954 was a big humiliation for France soldier who fighted with Viet – Minh and losted in Dien Bien Phu in 1954. When the France soldier lost with troops general Vo Nguyen Giap they must a seat in table negotiation. European country losted Vietnam forever. Genewa was the city where in 1954 France and Vietnamese talked about peace in South Asian. The end of First Indochina was a biginning of the participated american soldier in Vietnam. The first was a Military Advisor Asistent Group. American soldier in Vietnam they felt that involvement in South Asia was a big mistake but they didin’t give up about ten years. President of the United States Richard Nixon had awared that involvement in Vietnam was a bad decision. President after war sayed „Never again Vietnam” what showed attitude president to this hard and difficut conflict. In this complex war in South Asia olso served polish troop, who was concentrated intrested information about the enemy – american troops. The aim of the dissertation is an attempt and show and characterize the intelligence activities of officers and none - commisioned officers belonging to the military division of the Polish People’s Republic in two international polish missions in Vietnam : the International Commission of Supervision and Control (ICSC) 1954-1973 and the International Commission for Control and Supervision (ICCS) 1973 – 1975. The affiliation of the Polish People’s Republic the bloc of the Comunist Conutries controlled by Moscow and global competition between the United Stated and USRR determined Warsaw’s Policy towards the Vietnamese conflict, included the military intelligence Vietnam. The dissertation consist of introduction, eight chapters divided into subsections, conclusions, a list of archive materials and source literature. In chapter I the author presented political and military situation of Vietnam from the late nineteeth and early twentieth century until the end of the First Inochina War, characterized situtation of Vietnam During World War II, showed France lost its political and military significance in Asia, analysed the causes of the First Indochina War, presented the strategy and tactics of the military operations led by French and Vietnamese armies – Viet Minh and the provisions of Geneva Conference in 1954. Chapter II showed the military involvement of American forces in the theatre of war and issues related of expansion of the Vietnamese People’s Army, Viet Cong. The autor analyses the most important offensives and military operations during the Second Indochina War (Rolling Thunder, Linebacker I, Linebacker II, Tet Offensive, Easter Offensive. The author concluded the chapter with a discussion of the provision of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. In Chapter III author presented the role and the significance of diplomatic relation between the Polish People’s Republic and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, described cooperations in the scientific, military, economic, and cultural environment as well as presented diplomatic activities of a Polish diplomat Janusz Lewandowski in the Operation Marigold. Chapter IV showed the organizational structure of the Second Unit of The General Staff of Polish Armed Forces in 1945 -1951, which – at this time – was transformer into the Second Directorate of the General Staff of Polish Armed Forces. The author charakterized particular organizational units included in the military inteligence of the Polish People’s Republic, in particulary the Military Unit 2000 dealing with selection and training of officers send to foreign missions. Chapter V describes the International Commission for Supervision and Control (both civil department and military department). The author presented official and unofficial activities of Polish delegation, characterized the entire process related to obtainig ant transfer ring informations towards Warsaw, depiced the role and the significance of the Military Attaches at the Embassy of the Polish People’s Republic in Hanoi and its intelligence actvities. Chapter VI presents the International Commission of Control and Supervision in Vietnam (both civil department and military department). The author presented official and unofficial activities of Polish delegation and brought up the issue of living conditions of the polish officers. Chapter VII charakterize the structure and the task of residency (station) of Palm created in 1973 in South Vietnam and its intelligences cooperation with the Hungarian residency and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Chapter VIII outlined the issue of cooperation between intelligence agencies of the Warsaw Pact countries, in particular between Polish People, USSR, and Hungarian People’s Republic. Author for created ths dissertation analyses a lot of documents about polish intelligency in Vietnam. Very usefull was a sources sourced in Polish Archives. The author hopes that this dissertation will be contribute to the interest of the other resarches in the subject of the activity of military intelligence cells

Changing the world one student at a time? Uncovering subjective understandings of economics instructors' roles

In the wake of the economic crisis, a number of student organisations and researchers came together to highlight the lack of pluralism and heterodox approaches in economics curricula. The high relevance of the pluralism debate becomes clear once set within the considerations of the implications of a given scientific discourse on reality. This is especially relevant for social sciences, where reality-creating is visible in e.g. the influence of economists on policy making. This study explores the role of instructors in co-constructing the dynamics of the pluralism discourse and debates. An empirical field study is conducted with lecturers in introductory economics courses at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business where they place themselves within the pluralism discourse via a Q-study. Q is a mixed method typically employed for studying subjectivity inherent to a given, socially contested topic. It begins with a set of statements that undergo a sorting procedure on a relative ranking scale, and finishes with factorrendering. Four voices are identified: Moderate Pluralist, Mainstreamers, Responsible Pluralists, and Applied Pluralists. The implications of the ideas brought by these voices are discussed from the point of view of discursive institutionalism, stressing in particular the role of ideas and discourse in institutional change. On top of what is here referred to as discursive readinesses for changes towards more pluralism, strategies for overcoming the difficulties on the institutional level need to be developed. (authors' abstract)Series: Ecological Economic Paper

Out of sight, out of mind? (In)visibility of/in platform-mediated work

With platforms accounting for 1–3% of paid work in advanced economies, discussions on their impact on labor are proliferating. Focusing on commercial platforms providing intermediation to a workforce available on-demand, we further systematize the field by approaching platform-mediated work through the lens of (in)visibility. We map four basic forms of platform-mediated work against three variations of (in)visibility: (1) perceptible, (2) institutional, and (3) individual, and discuss the implications through the stories of three protagonists of platform workers. The suggested meta-analysis tool for understanding the mechanism of rendering platform workers obscure exposes who is recognized as a worker, what is recognized as work, and how these questions are negotiated in a platform-mediated digital space. As such, the framework provides a joint space for the discussions of the core issues of the field—from regulation and uncertainties of platform employment, through exacerbating vulnerabilities of workers, to surveillance and self-governance

Analiza interwencji z przyczyn kardiologicznych podejmowanych przez zespoły ratownictwa medycznego w powiecie brzeskim w roku 2010 i 2011

Wstęp. Częstą przyczyną wezwań zespołów ratownictwa medycznego są choroby układu krążenia. Celem pracy była analiza interwencji z przyczyn kardiologicznych podejmowanych przez zespoły ratownictwa medycznego w powiecie brzeskim. Materiał i metody: Analizą objęto 10 208 kart wyjazdów zespołów ratownictwa medycznego i medycznych czynności ratunkowych z roku 2010 i 2011, w tym 1082 z przyczyn kardiologicznych. Kryterium wyboru było rozpoznanie na podstawie procedur ICD-10: I20-I25 choroba niedokrwienna serca, I30-I52 inne choroby serca. Do analizy zastosowano statystykę opisową oraz nieparametryczny test zgodności χ2. Wyniki: Przyczyny kardiologiczne stanowiły 10,6 % wszystkich wyjazdów. W roku 2011 zanotowano o 56 mniej wyjazdów z przyczyn kardiologicznych w porównaniu z rokiem 2010. Ponad dwukrotnie częściej do wezwań wysyłany był zespół specjalistyczny. Mediana czasu dojazdu mieściła się w wymogach określonych w ustawie. Przyczyny wezwania zespołu ratownictwa medycznego były zróżnicowane, przeważały: bóle w klatce piersiowej i duszność. Większość interwencji dotyczyła obszarów wiejskich i osób po 61 roku życia. Odnotowano wzrost zgonów o 24 % w przypadku nagłego zatrzymania krążenia w roku 2011. Zdecydowanie częściej niektóre procedury i leki były stosowane przez zespoły specjalistyczne. Wnioski: Interwencje z przyczyn kardiologicznych nadal są częstą przyczyną wezwania zespołu ratownictwa medycznego. Właściwe rozmieszczenie ambulansów umożliwia dostosowanie me-diany czasu dojazdu zespołów do wymogów określonych w ustawie. Rodzaj podejmowanych interwencji jest zależny od rodzaju zespołu, a kwalifikacje ich członków nie mają wpływu rezultat końcowy.Introduction. Frequent paramedical emergency dispatch calls are caused by cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the study was to analyse medical intervention for cardiological causes undertaken by medical rescue teams in the Brzesko area. Materials and methods. The analysis covered 10,208 medical emergencies by medical rescue teams in 2010 and 2011, includ-ing 1,082 undertaken for cardiological reasons. The choice of criterion was a diagnosis based on ICD-10 procedures: I20-I25 - ischemic heart disease and I30-I52 - other heart diseases. Descriptive statistics and the nonparametric compliance χ2 test were used for the analysis. Results. Cardiovascular causes accounted for 10.6% of all ambulance departures. In 2011, there were 56 fewer dispatches due to cardiological reasons than in 2010. There were more than twice as many specialist team dispatches sent on call. The average travel time was within the requirements set forth in the Act. The reasons for calling for a medical rescue team varied, but mostly in-cluded chest pain and dyspnoea. Most of the interventions concerned rural areas and people over 61 years of age. There was an increase in deaths by 24% in the case of sudden cardiac arrest in 2011. Specialist teams used more procedures and medications than the basic teams. Conclusions. Cardiac interventions are still a frequent cause for calling for an emergency medical team. Properly locating ambulances allows the mediating time of arrival of the units to meet the requirements specified by regulations. The type of intervention is dependent on the type of the team and the qualifications of their members do not affect the final outcome

The role of inflammation and potential pharmacological therapy in intracranial aneurysms

Intracranial aneurysms remain important clinical concern. There is relatively low risk of rupture of symptomless aneurysms incidentally found in MRA or CTA performed due to other indications. Not all of the intracranial aneurysms should or can be treated with neurosurgery intervention or endovascular embolization. Clinical strategy for small, symptomless, unruptured aneurysms is still questionable. Mechanisms underlying aneurysms formation, progression and rupture are poorly understood. Inflammation is one of the factors suspected to participate in these processes. Therefore the aim of this manuscript is to present current state of knowledge about the role of inflammation in the formation and progression of intracranial aneurysms and in their rupture process. Current knowledge about possible pharmacological treatment of intracranial aneurysms will also be presented. Macrophages infiltration seems to participate in the formation of intracranial aneurysms. Inhibition of signals sent by macrophages may prevent the aneurysms formation. Inflammation present in the wall of the aneurysm seems to be also related to the aneurysm's rupture risk. However it does not seem to be the only cause of the degeneration, but it can be a possible target of drug therapy. Some preliminary studies in humans indicate the potential role of aspirin as a factor that decrease the level of inflammation and lower the risk of rupture of intracranial aneurysms. However further research including a greater number of subjects and a prospective randomized design are necessary to assess the role of aspirin in preventing strategy for small, symptomless, unruptured intracranial aneurysms