Populist Communication in the Context of European Parliament Elections 2014

Over the last decade European democracies have been facing a challenge by the rising force of new populist movements. The emergence of the financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe created new fertile soil for the strengthening of old-established – and the development of new – populist parties in several EU-member states. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, emphasized his increased unease concerning these developments when he was speaking at the annual Brussels Think Tank Forum on 22. April 2013: “I am deeply concerned about the divisions that we see emerging: political extremes and populism tearing apart the political support and the social fabric that we need to deal with the crisis; […]” (Barroso 2013). Indeed, European elites seem to be increasingly worried by these recent developments which are perceived as an impending stress test of the Union and the project of European integration as a whole (Hartleb 2013). Sure enough, the results of the recent European Parliament Elections 2014 revealed a great support for populist political parties in many societies of EU-member countries. To understand the success of populist parties in Europe it is crucial to first shed light on the nature of populist party communication itself. Significant communicative differences may explain the varying success of populist parties between and within countries, while a pure demand-side approach (i.e. a focus on the preferences of the electorate) often fails to do so (Mudde 2010). The aim of this study is therefore to analyse what different types of populist communication styles emerge during the EP election campaign 2014 and under which conditions populist communication styles are selected by political parties. So far, the empirical measurement of populism has received only scarce attention (Rooduijn & Pauwels 2011). Besides, most of the existing empirical investigations of populism are single case studies (Albertazzi & McDonnell 2008) and scholars have not yet developed systematic methods to measure populism in a comparative way (Rooduijn & Pauwels 2011). This is a consequence of a lack of conceptual clarity which goes along with populism (Taggart 2000; Barr 2009; Canovan 1999) due to its contextual sensitivity. Hence, populism in Europe should be analysed in a way that clarifies the concept of populism and moreover takes into account that the Europeanization of politics has an influence on the type of populist party communication, which is intended in the course of that study.

I think of my family, therefore I am: perceptions of daily occupations of some Albanians in Switzerland

The purpose of this qualitative study was to increase the understanding of the relationship between culture and occupation by exploring the perceptions of current daily occupations of some immigrants living in Switzerland. Semi-structured interviews with eight healthy Muslim Albanian men doing blue-collar work were analysed in a comparative manner followed by an interpretation. Three themes were identified: "Everything I do I do for my family"; "Where do I belong?"; and "Doing something for myself". These themes reflect the occupational perceptions of the participants. The findings are discussed in relation to the ongoing discourses on individualism and collectivism. To offer occupational therapy appropriately to a multicultural clientele the findings indicate the necessity to be conscious of the differences between one's own and the client's attitudes regarding individualism and collectivism.

Mastitis diagnostics: quantitative PCR for Staphylococcus aureus genotype B in bulk tank milk

A novel real-time quantitative PCR assay for detecting the pathogenic and contagious Staphylococcus aureus genotype B (GTB) in bulk tank milk was developed and evaluated. The detection of this pathogen in bulk tank milk would greatly facilitate its control, as it is responsible for great economic loss in Swiss dairy herds. The assay is based on the simultaneous detection of 3 GTB-typical target sequences, including 2 enterotoxin genes and a polymorphism within the leucotoxin E gene. A variety of mastitis-associated bacteria was used to validate the assays, resulting in an analytical specificity of 100% and high repeatability. The analytical sensitivity in milk was 40 cfu/mL. An exponential association between simulated cow prevalence and quantitative PCR result was observed. An initial field study revealed 1 GTB-positive herd among the 33 studied herds. This novel assay for bulk tank milk analysis is suitable for routine purposes and is expected to be an effective tool for minimizing Staph. aureus GTB in Swiss dairy herds.

Switzerland: Think Tanks and Vested Interests in Swiss Policy Making

This paper analyses the role of think tanks in Swiss policy making. Starting from the relationship between interest groups and the state, which has been shaping Swiss policy making for a long time, we hypothesize that these structures offer good possibilities for scientific arguments and ideas to influence the process of policy making. Our observations from a recent example indeed illustrates that think tanks can use the same channels as vested interests to bring in their know-how. Furthermore, we conclude that the characteristics of the political system, e.g. direct democracy and the consensual alignment particularly influence the chances of think tanks to intervene. In this exchange vested interests and think tanks do not really interfere with each other, but rather they complement each other both having.

Red cell survival in relation to changes in the hematocrit: more important than you think

The management of anemia in patients with chronic renal failure has greatly improved with the availability of recombinant human erythropoietin in the late 1980s, leading to a considerable reduction in mortality and morbidity and to an improvement in quality of life. The findings from recent controlled clinical outcome trials have resulted in a rather narrow, generally accepted therapeutic hematocrit target range. However, currently available dosing algorithms do not permit achievement and maintenance of target values within the therapeutic range in many patients. One possible explanation for this failure may be the ignorance of a finite erythrocyte lifespan not integrated into most algorithms. The purpose of this article is to underline the essential role played by the erythrocyte lifespan in the erythropoietic response to recombinant human erythropoietin and to encourage the integration of this concept in the future development of computer-assisted decision support systems.

The Think Manager-Think Male Stereotype - Malleable or Stable?

Purpose Stereotypes about leadership still represent a potent barrier to women’s advancement to leadership roles. Successful leaders are perceived to possess predominately agentic traits (e.g., assertive, dominant) that are more similar to those ascribed to men than women. This perceived incongruity of people’s beliefs about leaders and women underlies prejudice against women leaders (Eagly & Karau, 2002). Thus, an important question is whether such stereotypical beliefs about the traits of leaders, men, and women incorporate change or stability over time. Design/Methodology To examine this question, 235 Irish business students (113 men, 122 women) rated a target group’s characteristics (men, women, middle managers) as of a specific time (50 years ago, present, 50 years into the future) on gender‐stereotypical traits. Results Following Schein’s (1973) approach, intraclass correlation coefficients estimated the extent to which the stereotype of managers was similar to that of men or women. The results showed a large, significant correlation between the stereotypes about men and managers within each time condition and overall. In contrast, the women‐manager correlation was negative and nonsignificant overall. However, this negative correlation weakened from the past to the present and became positive and marginally significant for the future. Research/Practical Implications Altogether the results suggest that people perceive stereotypes about leaders to be more similar to men than to women. These perceptions may continue to function as impediments to women leaders’ advancement despite the trend over time toward femalemanager similarity. Originality/Value To our knowledge this is the first study to systematically test perceptions of change in the think manager‐think male stereotype overtime.