Multimodal viral communication: a social semiotic analysis of the popular Spanish "Ola ke ase" meme

Multimodality – the interdependence of semiotic resources in text – is an existential element of today’s media. The term multimodality attends systematically to the social interpretation of a wide range of communicational forms used in meaning making. A primary focus of social- semiotic multimodal analysis is on mapping how modal resources are used by people in a given social context. In November 2012 the “Ola ke ase” catchphrase, which is a play on “Hola ¿qué hace?”, appeared for the first time in Spain and immediately has been adopted as a Twitter hashtag and an image macro series. Its viral spread on social networks has been tremendous, being a trending topic in various Spanish-speaking countries. The objective of analysis is how language and image work together in the “Ola ke ase” meme. The interplay between text and image in one of the original memes and some of its variations is quantitatively analysed applying a social-semiotic approach. Results demonstrate how the “Ola ke ase” meme functions through its multimodal character and the non-standard orthography. The spread of uncountable variations of the meme shows the social process that goes on in the meaning making of the semiotic elements.

Low-Income Developing Countries and WTO Litigation: Why Wake Up the Sleeping Dog?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the most judicialized dispute settlement systems in international politics. While a general appreciation has developed that the system has worked quite well, research has not paid sufficient attention to the weakest actors in the system. This paper addresses the puzzle of missing cases of least-developed countries initiating WTO disputes settlement procedures. It challenges the existing literature on developing countries in WTO dispute settlement which predominantly focuses on legal capacity and economic interests. The paper provides an argument that the small universe of ‘actionable cases’, the option of free riding and the assessment of the perceived opportunity costs related to other foreign policy priorities better explain the absence of cases. In addition (and somewhat counterintuitively), we argue that the absence of cases is not necessarily bad news and shows how the weakest actors can use the dispute settlement system in a ‘lighter version’ or in indirect ways. The argument is empirically assessed by conducting a case study on four West African cotton-producing countries (C4) and their involvement in dispute settlement.

Hereditary angioedema (HAE) in children and adolescents--a consensus on therapeutic strategies

Hereditary angioedema due to C1 inhibitor (C1 esterase inhibitor) deficiency (types I and II HAE-C1-INH) is a rare disease that usually presents during childhood or adolescence with intermittent episodes of potentially life-threatening angioedema. Diagnosis as early as possible is important to avoid ineffective therapies and to properly treat swelling attacks. At a consensus meeting in June 2011, pediatricians and dermatologists from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland reviewed the currently available literature, including published international consensus recommendations for HAE therapy across all age groups. Published recommendations cannot be unconditionally adopted for pediatric patients in German-speaking countries given the current approval status of HAE drugs. This article provides an overview and discusses drugs available for HAE therapy, their approval status, and study results obtained in adult and pediatric patients. Recommendations for developing appropriate treatment strategies in the management of HAE in pediatric patients in German-speaking countries are provided.Conclusion Currently, plasma-derived C1 inhibitor concentrate is considered the best available option for the treatment of acute HAE-C1-INH attacks in pediatric patients in German-speaking countries, as well as for short-term and long-term prophylaxis.

Challenges for medical educators: results of a survey among members of the German Association for Medical Education

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing interest in medical education in the German-speaking countries, there is currently no information available on the challenges which medical educators face. To address this problem, we carried out a web-based survey among the members of the Association for Medical Education (Gesellschaft für medizinische Ausbildung, GMA). METHODS A comprehensive survey was carried out on the need for further qualifications, expertise and the general conditions of medical educators in Germany. As part of this study, the educators were asked to list the three main challenges which they faced and which required urgent improvement. The results were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. RESULTS The questionnaire was completed by 147 of the 373 members on the GMA mailing list (response rate: 39%). The educators named a total of 346 challenges and emphasised the following areas: limited academic recognition for engagement in teaching (53.5% of educators), insufficient institutional (31.5%) and financial support (28.4%), a curriculum in need of reform (22.8%), insufficient time for teaching assignments (18,9%), inadequate teacher competence in teaching methods (18.1%), restricted faculty development programmes (18.1%), limited networking within the institution (11.0%), lack of teaching staff (10.2%), varying preconditions of students (8.7%), insufficient recognition and promotion of medical educational research (5.5%), extensive assessment requirements (4.7%), and the lack of role models within medical education (3.2%). CONCLUSION The medical educators found the biggest challenges which they faced to be limited academic recognition and insufficient institutional and financial support. Consequently, improvements should be implemented to address these issues.

Subnational Patterns of Democracy in Austria, Germany and Switzerland

This article investigates the main political institutions in the sub-national democracies of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. It applies Lijphart’s approach to these German-speaking countries in Western Europe and expands it – following recent advances – by direct democracy. The main finding of the sub-national analysis is that, similar to Lijphart, two dimensions of democracy can be distinguished. While the first can be considered as the ‘consensual dimension’ of democracy, the second represents the ‘rules of the game’. Moreover, and in contrast to analyses at the national level, direct democracy does not constitute a dimension on its own, but forms an important element of consensus decision-making in the sub-national units at hand. Finally, based on cluster analysis three homogenous national clusters were found, but also one cluster with sub-national democracies from Germany and Austria that are more similar to one another than to other Länder within their respective federal states.

Reformverlierer an der Basler Universität des 15. Jahrhunderts oder: die verhinderte Definitionsmacht der Juristen

Shortly after the founding of the University of Basel (1460), there was a reform conflict that was sparked by the election of the Rector and the question oft he future leadership of the University. A group of mostly aristocratic and honorable lawyers (being verified prosopographically in the article), supported of influential people of the city of Basel, tried to introduce an Italian constitution modeled after the Law-University of Bologna contrary to the habits north of the Alps. The plan failed, and the group was made reform losers, because the universities of the German speaking countries had developed into ‚Four-Faculties-Universities‘ with regularly changing leadership, in which the faculty of arts frequentially and financially set the tone. To compensate the Basel University, the first in the Empire, created an ordo differencie in which the different social ranks of University attendees already noticed in practice were also laid down by statute.

Validierung einer deutschsprachigen Version des Career Futures Inventory (CFI): Berufliche Anpassungsfähigkeit, beruflicher Optimismus, Arbeitsmarktwissen und Berufserfolg

Das Career Futures Inventory (CFI; Rottingaus, Day & Borgen, 2005) erfasst die drei laufbahnbezogenen Zukunftsfaktoren career adaptability (Berufliche Anpassungsfähigkeit), career optimism (Beruflicher Optimismus) und knowledge of job market (Arbeitsmarktwissen). Die Ziele dieser Studie waren (a) eine deutschsprachige Version des CFIs zu konstruieren und (b) an zwei Stichproben mit Erwerbstätigen mittels (c) unterschiedlicher Indikatoren des Berufserfolgs und anhand von Persönlichkeitseigenschaften zu validieren. Es konnte in beiden Stichproben (N1 = 153; N2 = 110) die 3-faktorielle Struktur des CFIs nachgewiesen werden. Zudem konnten Annahmen zur konvergenten und diskriminanten Validität in beiden Stichproben bestätigt werden, da die CFI-Faktoren in erwarteter Richtung mit Berufserfolg (z. B. Beförderungen, Karrierezufriedenheit) bzw. Persönlichkeitseigenschaften (d. h. Big Five) korrelierten bzw. nicht korrelierten. Eine Analyse der inkrementellen Validität zeigte, dass Arbeitsmarktwissen zusätzliche Varianz beim Gehalt über Kontrollvariablen und Persönlichkeit hinaus erklärte. Hinsichtlich Karrierezufriedenheit war dies für beruflichen Optimismus der Fall. Diese Validierungsstudie ermöglicht den Einsatz des CFIs im deutschsprachigen Raum.