Are the Policy Preferences of Relatively Poor Citizens Under-represented in the Swiss Parliament?

The principle of equal political representation can be undermined by differences in economic resources among citizens. Poor citizens are likely to hold policy preferences that differ from those of richer citizens. At the same time, their lack of resources can have as a consequence that these preferences are not taken into consideration by their representatives. Focusing on the case of the Swiss Parliament and using survey data on the opinions of citizens and MPs in the 2007-2011 legislature, this study investigates whether the income of citizens systematically affects the proximity of their policy preferences with stances of their representatives. It demonstrates that on economic issues MPs hold preferences that are generally less in favour of the state's intervention in the economy than the median citizen and that relatively poor citizens are less well represented as compared to citizens with high incomes. This remains true when taking into account only the opinions of the most knowledgeable citizens among these groups as well as when the focus is only on those who turned out to vote.

Political representation in Switzerland : democratic or plutocratic ?

Les inégalités économiques se traduisent-elles dans des inégalités politiques à travers le processus de représentation électorale? Telle est la question centrale de cette thèse qui s'attache, par ailleurs, à investiguer les mécanismes qui tendent à produire une représentation biaisée des préférences politiques des citoyens en fonction de leur statut économique. Focalisé sur le cas de la Suisse et faisant usage des données de l'enquête postélectorale Selects de 2007, ce travail démontre que sur les rares sujets qui divisent les citoyens selon des clivages économiques - la redistribution des richesses et la sécurité sociale en particulier - les élus à l'Assemblée fédérale ont des préférences qui reflètent mieux les opinions des citoyens les plus riches. Cette sous-représentation des opinions des citoyens modestes et de ceux faisant partie du centre de la distribution des revenus peut en partie être attribuée à des différences dans les taux de participation et de connaissance politiques entre ces groupes de citoyens. La thèse met également en évidence le rôle joué par la représentation descriptive - autrement dit, la similitude en termes de statut économique entre les représentants et les représentés - dans la représentation des opinions et intérêts des citoyens. Par ailleurs, la structure du système partisan en Suisse ne reflétant pas la multidimensionnalité des préférences politiques des citoyens, les électeurs ne parviennent pas à traduire la complexité de leurs préférences politiques dans un choix de vote, ce qui, dans la configuration actuelle des forces politiques, tend à favoriser l'élection de représentants aux opinions proches de la droite sur les questions économiques. Enfin, une analyse de la représentation politique au niveau cantonal tend à soutenir la thèse selon laquelle le manque de régulation en matière de financement des partis en Suisse pourrait partiellement expliquer les inégalités dans la représentation des opinions politiques des citoyens aux revenus distincts. - Do economic inequalities translate into political inequalities through electoral representation? This is the central research question of this thesis, which also investigates the mechanisms that lead to potential economically based inequalities in the representation of citizens' policy preferences. Focusing on the case of Switzerland and making use of data provided by the post- electoral survey Selects 2007, this research demonstrates that regarding the rare policy domains in which the preferences of citizens are clearly linked to economic cleavages - redistribution and social security in particular - members of the Federal Assembly have policy preferences that best reflect the policy preferences of richer citizens. The under-representation of the opinions of relatively poor citizens and of those being the in the middle of the income distribution can be to some extent be explained by differences in political participation and political information across income groups. The thesis also puts forward the role played by descriptive representation - the similarity between representatives and represented in terms of their socioeconomic status - for the representation of citizens' preferences and interests. In addition, the structure of the party system in Switzerland does not reflect the multidimensionality of policy preferences among citizens who, as a result, have a hard time translating their complex preferences into a vote choice. Given the configuration of political actors, this tends to favour the election of representatives from the right who do not represent the preferences of their voters on economic issues. Finally, an analysis of representation at the cantonal level tends to confirm that the lack of party finance regulations in Switzerland may partially explain inequalities in the representation of citizens with different levels of income.

Does CRP Play a Causal Role in the Development of Coronary Heart Disease: Results of a Mendelian Randomisation Experiment Involving 128,935 People

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Whether CRP is causally associated with CHD or merely a marker of underlying atherosclerosis is uncertain. Methods: We used a Mendelian randomisation design to investigate the causal relationship of CRP with CHD. We identified three genetic variants in the CRP locus (rs7553007, rs1130864 and rs1205) which influence CRP levels. We tested the three SNPs for association with CHD amongst 28,112 CHD cases and 100,823 controls. We then compared the observed relationship between the SNPs and CHD, with that predicted from the association of SNPs with CRP levels, and of CRP levels with CHD. Results: SNPs in the CRP locus were not associated with CHD: rs7553007, OR 0.98 (95% CI, 0.94-1.01); rs1130864, OR 1.00 (95% CI, 0.86-1.15); rs1205, OR 1.03 (95% CI, 0.99-1.07); combined OR for all three SNPs, 1.00 (95% CI, 0.97-1.02), per 20% lower CRP (figure). In contrast, the predicted OR for CHD from a 20% lower CRP level is 0.94 (95% CI, 0.94- 0.95), based on meta-analysis of observational studies. Conclusions: Though CRP variants are associated with CRP levels, and CRP levels with risk of CHD, we observed that CRP variants are not associated with CHD risk. Our Mendelian randomisation experiment strongly argues against a causal association of CRP with CHD.

Enterocystoplasty using modified pedicled, detubularized, de-epithelialized sigmoid patches in the mini-pig model.

Enterocystoplasty and gastrocystoplasty have been developed to restore adequate bladder capacity but they still result in the undesired harmful contact of urine with the intestinal mucosa. In an attempt to prevent this nonphysiological interface we performed several modified enterocystoplasties in the mini-pig model using a pedicled, detubularized, de-epithelialized sigmoid patch. Five techniques of patch coverage were used to evaluate urothelial growth or survival on the sigmoid patch. All but 1 patch had intestinal mucosa remnants with mucocele formation. When no coverage was applied or a biodegradable polyglactin mesh was temporarily covering the pedicled, detubularized, de-epithelialized sigmoid patch, severe shrinkage occurred. Partial cover with autologous urothelium islets seemed to decrease shrinkage. Adequate urothelium survival and satisfactory elastic properties of the patch were observed when total cover of the sigmoid patch was achieved with a sheet of homologous urothelium recovering autologous urothelial islets or when the patch was applied to protruding urothelium obtained following sagittal posterior detrusor myotomy.

Adult education policy in the European Union during the Lisbon decade : the shift to vocational adult learning and work skills matching

This doctoral dissertation investigates the adult education policy of the European Union (EU) in the framework of the Lisbon agenda 2000–2010, with a particular focus on the changes of policy orientation that occurred during this reference decade. The year 2006 can be considered, in fact, a turning point for the EU policy-making in the adult learning sector: a radical shift from a wide--ranging and comprehensive conception of educating adults towards a vocationally oriented understanding of this field and policy area has been observed, in particular in the second half of the so--called ‘Lisbon decade’. In this light, one of the principal objectives of the mainstream policy set by the Lisbon Strategy, that of fostering all forms of participation of adults in lifelong learning paths, appears to have muted its political background and vision in a very short period of time, reflecting an underlying polarisation and progressive transformation of European policy orientations. Hence, by means of content analysis and process tracing, it is shown that the new target of the EU adult education policy, in this framework, has shifted from citizens to workers, and the competence development model, borrowed from the corporate sector, has been established as the reference for the new policy road maps. This study draws on the theory of governance architectures and applies a post-ontological perspective to discuss whether the above trends are intrinsically due to the nature of the Lisbon Strategy, which encompasses education policies, and to what extent supranational actors and phenomena such as globalisation influence the European governance and decision--making. Moreover, it is shown that the way in which the EU is shaping the upgrading of skills and competences of adult learners is modeled around the needs of the ‘knowledge economy’, thus according a great deal of importance to the ‘new skills for new jobs’ and perhaps not enough to life skills in its broader sense which include, for example, social and civic competences: these are actually often promoted but rarely implemented in depth in the EU policy documents. In this framework, it is conveyed how different EU policy areas are intertwined and interrelated with global phenomena, and it is emphasised how far the building of the EU education systems should play a crucial role in the formation of critical thinking, civic competences and skills for a sustainable democratic citizenship, from which a truly cohesive and inclusive society fundamentally depend, and a model of environmental and cosmopolitan adult education is proposed in order to address the challenges of the new millennium. In conclusion, an appraisal of the EU’s public policy, along with some personal thoughts on how progress might be pursued and actualised, is outlined.

Mini-Mu insertions in the tetracycline resistance determinant from Proteus mirabilis

The inducible tetracycline resistance determinant isolated from Proteus mirabilis cloned into the plasmid pACYC177 was mutagenized by insertion of a mini-Mu-lac phage in order to define the regions in the cloned sequences encoding the structural and regulatory proteins. Three different types of mutants were obtained: one lost the resistance phenotype and became Lac+; another expressed the resistance at lower levels and constitutively; the third was still dependent on induction but showed a lower minimal inhibitory concentration. The mutant phenotypes and the locations of the insertions indicate that the determinant is composed of a repressor gene and a structural gene which are not transcribed divergently as are other known tetracycline determinants isolated from Gram-negative bacteria

Citizens against the State: the riddle of high impact, low functionality courts in Brazil

The Brazilian federal judiciary offers an interesting riddle to scholars of judicial politics and policy change. While the courts have played a major policy role over the past two decades, constraining and altering federal policy across a range of subjects, the court system has simultaneously been labeled "dysfunctional." This paper investigates this riddle: a system plagued by major systemic flaws in its day-to-day operations, which nonetheless still manages to exert a powerful influence on public policy in Brazil. I adopt a new institutional perspective, focusing on how the institutional and normative structure within which judges and other legal actors operate affects policy outcomes.

The citizen soldiers at North Point and Port McHenry, September 12 & 13, 1814. Resolves of the citizens in town meeting, particulars relating to the battle, official correspondence and honorable discharge of the troops. Also, celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary, 1889. Reprint. --

First edition printed by Nathaniel Hickman.

Reflections on practical approaches to involving children and young people in the data analysis process

This article reflects on key methodological issues emerging from children and young people's involvement in data analysis processes. We outline a pragmatic framework illustrating different approaches to engaging children, using two case studies of children's experiences of participating in data analysis. The article highlights methods of engagement and important issues such as the balance of power between adults and children, training, support, ethical considerations, time and resources. We argue that involving children in data analysis processes can have several benefits, including enabling a greater understanding of children's perspectives and helping to prioritise children's agendas in policy and practice. (C) 2007 The Author(s). Journal compilation (C) 2007 National Children's Bureau.