FUPOL: an Integrated Approach to Participative Policies

The Future Policy Modelling Project (FUPOL) is a research project funded by the 7th framework program of the European Union. Its research focus are new technologies and methods for e-governance, e-participation and policy modelling. The FUPOL consortium consists of partners from European countries, China and Kenya. and comprises innovative multinational companies, leading research institutes, high-level political organizations as well as strong pilot partners. This paper describes the FUPOL new integrated approach to policy design and implementation including also specific examples from real life pilots in cities from different countries. FUPOL consists of an advanced policy lifecycle and an IT-solution with features supporting all phases of the proposed lifecycle. The FUPOL concept and functional modules as well as the technical architecture to achieve such a complete integration are described

An adaptable system to support provenance management for the public policy-making process in smart cities

© 2018 by the authors. Government policies aim to address public issues and problems and therefore play a pivotal role in people’s lives. The creation of public policies, however, is complex given the perspective of large and diverse stakeholders’ involvement, considerable human participation, lengthy processes, complex task specification and the non-deterministic nature of the process. The inherent complexities of the policy process impart challenges for designing a computing system that assists in supporting and automating the business process pertaining to policy setup, which also raises concerns for setting up a tracking service in the policy-making environment. A tracking service informs how decisions have been taken during policy creation and can provide useful and intrinsic information regarding the policy process. At present, there exists no computing system that assists in tracking the complete process that has been employed for policy creation. To design such a system, it is important to consider the policy environment challenges; for this a novel network and goal based approach has been framed and is covered in detail in this paper. Furthermore, smart governance objectives that include stakeholders’ participation and citizens’ involvement have been considered. Thus, the proposed approach has been devised by considering smart governance principles and the knowledge environment of policy making where tasks are largely dependent on policy makers’ decisions and on individual policy objectives. Our approach reckons the human dimension for deciding and defining autonomous process activities at run time. Furthermore, with the network-based approach, so-called provenance data tracking is employed which enables the capture of policy process

Circulating Tumor Biomarkers in Meningiomas Reveal a Signature of Equilibrium Between Tumor Growth and Immune Modulation

Meningiomas are primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors that originate from the arachnoid cells of the meninges. Recurrence occurs in higher grade meningiomas and a small subset of Grade I meningiomas with benign histology. Currently, there are no established circulating tumor markers which can be used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in a non-invasive way for meningiomas. Here, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers of meningioma in patient sera. For this purpose, we collected preoperative (n = 30) serum samples from the meningioma patients classified as Grade I (n = 23), Grade II (n = 4), or Grade III (n = 3). We used a high-throughput, multiplex immunoassay cancer panel comprising of 92 cancer-related protein biomarkers to explore the serum protein profiles of meningioma patients. We detected 14 differentially expressed proteins in the sera of the Grade I meningioma patients in comparison to the age- and gender-matched control subjects (n = 12). Compared to the control group, Grade I meningioma patients showed increased serum levels of amphiregulin (AREG), CCL24, CD69, prolactin, EGF, HB-EGF, caspase-3, and decreased levels of VEGFD, TGF-α, E-Selectin, BAFF, IL-12, CCL9, and GH. For validation studies, we utilized an independent set of meningioma tumor tissue samples (Grade I, n = 20; Grade II, n = 10; Grade III, n = 6), and found that the expressions of amphiregulin and Caspase3 are significantly increased in all grades of meningiomas either at the transcriptional or protein level, respectively. In contrast, the gene expression of VEGF-D was significantly lower in Grade I meningioma tissue samples. Taken together, our study identifies a meningioma-specific protein signature in blood circulation of meningioma patients and highlights the importance of equilibrium between tumor-promoting factors and anti-tumor immunity.Peer reviewe

ECMO for COVID-19 patients in Europe and Israel

Since March 15th, 2020, 177 centres from Europe and Israel have joined the study, routinely reporting on the ECMO support they provide to COVID-19 patients. The mean annual number of cases treated with ECMO in the participating centres before the pandemic (2019) was 55. The number of COVID-19 patients has increased rapidly each week reaching 1531 treated patients as of September 14th. The greatest number of cases has been reported from France (n = 385), UK (n = 193), Germany (n = 176), Spain (n = 166), and Italy (n = 136) .The mean age of treated patients was 52.6 years (range 16–80), 79% were male. The ECMO configuration used was VV in 91% of cases, VA in 5% and other in 4%. The mean PaO2 before ECMO implantation was 65 mmHg. The mean duration of ECMO support thus far has been 18 days and the mean ICU length of stay of these patients was 33 days. As of the 14th September, overall 841 patients have been weaned from ECMO support, 601 died during ECMO support, 71 died after withdrawal of ECMO, 79 are still receiving ECMO support and for 10 patients status n.a. . Our preliminary data suggest that patients placed on ECMO with severe refractory respiratory or cardiac failure secondary to COVID-19 have a reasonable (55%) chance of survival. Further extensive data analysis is expected to provide invaluable information on the demographics, severity of illness, indications and different ECMO management strategies in these patients

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Subversion im Horror

Die Arbeit entwickelt ein dynamisches Konzept der literarischen Phantastik, wobei die Interferenzen zwischen ästhetischen und soziokulturellen Entwicklungen im Zentrum stehen. Wo sich Wissensformationen, politischer Überbau und konkrete Lebensbedingungen ständig verändern, finden auch die Autoren der Phantastik immer wieder neue Mittel und Wege, deren negative Wahrheit zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Gerade in einer solchen Konzeption rücken auch psychoanalytische Ansätze in den Fokus der Betrachtung. Sie können klären, wie das Allgemeine zum Konkreten, das Soziale zum Drama, das Geschichtliche zur Geschichte wird. In den Einzelanalysen werden dementsprechend die Werke E.T.A. HOFFMANNs, H.P. LOVECRAFTs und GEORGE A. ROMEROs als Beiträge zu einer negativen Geschichte diskursiver Hegemonie, struktureller Gewalt und gesellschaftlicher Rationalisierungsprozesse betrachtet. Am Beispiel des Sandmanns sehen wir, wie HOFFMANN den aufklärerischen Rationalismus mit einem poetischen Subjekt konfrontiert, das in seiner inneren Widersprüchlichkeit den bürgerlichen Mechanismus transzendiert. LOVECRAFT stellt knapp hundert Jahre danach einer wissenschaftsgläubigen Moderne nicht mehr das Irrational-Poetische entgegen, sondern fordert sie auf eigenem Terrain heraus. In seinen großen Erzählungen bringt er die radikale Entmythisierung der Epoche selbst in eine mythologische Form. GEORGE A. ROMERO initiiert dann in den 1970er-Jahren eine soziologische Wende im Genre. Hier geht es nicht mehr um die Dialektik der Aufklärung, sondern unmittelbar um die problematische Praxis gesellschaftlicher Rationalisierung. Dabei beleuchtet die Arbeit immer wieder Zusammenhänge, Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Entwicklung der Phantastik – insbesondere des Horrors - und leistet so einen Beitrag zu einer internationalen, intermedialen und interdisziplinären Perspektivierung des Genres

Wie der Phönix aus der Asche

Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert und kritisiert Ratgeberliteratur zum Thema Burnout. Der von Michel Foucault inspirierten Forschungsrichtung der ‚Studies of Gouvernementality’ folgend untersucht sie die Ratgeber auf ihre produktiven Machtwirkungen hin und weist sie als Technologien neoliberaler Selbst- und Fremdführung aus. Im theoretischen Überbau der Arbeit werden zentrale Konzepte aus Foucaults Machtanalytik vorgestellt und das Subjekt innerhalb der heutigen Gesellschaft verortet. Dargestellt wird die Rationalität, an der sich Regierungshandeln in neoliberalen Gesellschaften ausrichtet sowie die Subjektivierungsregime, die sie hervorbringt. Zeitgenössischen Formen der Beratung und Therapie wird dabei eine herausragende Bedeutung zugestanden. Um Burnout nun in seiner gesellschaftlichen – individuellen, politischen und ökonomischen – Bedeutung sichtbar zu machen, wird er zunächst als diskursives Phänomen betrachtet und ein Überblick zu unterschiedlichen, wissenschaftlichen Spezialdiskursen gegeben. Die diskursanalytische Untersuchung beleuchtet dann die Wissensformationen, Strategien und Techniken der Selbstbeobachtung und -bearbeitung, mit denen Ratgeber auf individuelles Verhalten einwirken und es mit übergeordneten Regierungszielen in Einklang bringen. Der Burnout-Diskurs erweist sich als passgenaues Element neoliberaler Geouvernementalität. Er problematisiert dabei nicht nur Individuen, sondern auch Politik und Ökonomie über einen Mangel an Unternehmenshaftigkeit und schwört die Gesellschaft auf allen Ebenen auf dieselben Prinzipien unternehmerischer Rationalität ein