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Reasoning about your own future mistakes
No full textWe propose a model of reasoning in dynamic games in which a player, at each information set, holds a conditional belief about his own future choices and the opponents' future choices. These conditional beliefs are assumed to be cautious, that is, the player never completely rules out any feasible future choice by himself or the opponents. We impose the following key conditions: (a) a player always believes that he will choose rationally in the future, (b) a player always believes that his opponents will choose rationally in the future, and (c) a player deems his own mistakes infinitely less likely than the opponents' mistakes. These conditions, together with iterating property (b), lead to the new concept of perfect backwards rationalizability. We show that perfect backwards rationalizable strategies exist in every finite dynamic game. We prove, moreover, that perfect backwards rationalizability constitutes a refinement of both perfect rationalizability (a rationalizability analogue to Selten's (1975) perfect equilibrium) and procedural quasi-perfect rationalizability (a rationalizability analogue to van Damme's (1984) quasi-perfect equilibrium) – two concepts that are introduced in this paper. As a consequence, our concept avoids both weakly dominated strategies in the normal form and strategies containing weakly dominated actions in the agent normal form. For one-shot games, the concept coincides with permissibility (Brandenburger (1992), Börgers (1994))
Maternal death surveillance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017–2021:Causes and contributing factors
No full textBackground: Despite national efforts, maternal mortality remains a major public health challenge in Ethiopia. Identifying context-specific causes and delays in receiving appropriate and timely healthcare is essential to guide targeted interventions. This study analysed maternal mortality in Addis Ababa over a 5-year period to identify the causes and contributing factors. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted using maternal death surveillance data collected from 2017 and 2021 in Addis Ababa. The data were extracted from health facility-based maternal death case-based reports and the verbal autopsy tool utilized for community-based maternal death investigations. The data are part of the national surveillance system owned by the Public Health Emergency Management Center of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute. Information included in the dataset included socio-demographic characteristics, the underlying causes of death, the timing of death, and type of delays in receiving healthcare. Results: A total of 309 maternal deaths were recorded in Addis Ababa. The maternal mortality ratio was 74 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. The majority of deaths (86.4 %) occurred after delivery. Direct obstetric causes were responsible for 94.2 % of deaths, with obstetric haemorrhage identified as the leading cause (41.1 %). Other direct causes included hypertensive disorders (23.0 %) and puerperal sepsis (12.6 %). An additional 5.8 % of deaths were resulting from indirect causes. Among the deaths resulting from direct obstetric causes, 62.2 % were due to delays in receiving appropriate and timely care after reaching health facilities. Common reasons for the delays in receiving care were delayed facility referrals (46.0 %), case management challenges (43.1 %), and lack of supplies and equipment (28.7 %). Furthermore, 37.5 % of deaths were resulting from delays in deciding to seek health care, primarily contributed by a failure to recognize the problem. About a quarter of deaths (24.7 %), were contributed by delays in reaching health facility, predominantly due to delayed arrival at referral receiving health facilities. Conclusion: Although the maternal mortality ratio in Addis Ababa is lower than the national rate, it is still above the WHO target. Almost all maternal deaths were results of the direct obstetric causes. Delays in receiving appropriate and timely care remain the leading contributing factor to maternal deaths. Strengthening emergency referral systems, enhancing facility-based management capacity through health worker training, and increasing community awareness could address key gaps in reducing preventable maternal mortality. Enhanced surveillance can be used to monitor the impact of interventions over time
Altered Periaqueductal Gray Functional Connectivity in Overactive Bladder Patients:A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using Clustering Analysis
No full textPurpose: Overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome is a subset of storage lower urinary tract symptoms that significantly affects health-related quality of life, impacting social, occupational, and psychological well-being. Although the precise pathophysiology of OAB remains unclear, disruption of the neural network that regulates lower urinary tract activity has been suggested. The brain-bladder axis depends on a complex and extensive network of brain regions, with the periaqueductal gray (PAG) playing a pivotal role in mediating bidirectional communication. Methods: This study investigates whether the functional connectivity-based organization of the PAG in human subjects changes dynamically over time. OAB patients and healthy controls (HC) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T, beginning with an empty bladder (subsensory threshold bladder filling state). Functional connectivitybased clustering analysis was performed to evaluate time-dependent changes in PAG organization. Results: Significant group differences in time-dependent PAG functional organization were observed (P =0.017). In HC, functional subdivisions of the PAG reorganized dynamically during the resting-state scan, whereas OAB patients displayed a largely static functional organization, showing minimal change over time. Conclusions: These findings indicate altered PAG signaling and differences in sensory processing among OAB patients. The absence of dynamic PAG reorganization may contribute to OAB pathophysiology, offering new insight into its neural mechanisms
Hesse's Grandiose Conjectural Autobiographies:On the Fairy Tale Iris
No full textHermann Hesse’s well-known fairy tale Iris is interpreted psychoanalytically within the framework of his lifelong practice of ‘conjectural autobiography’. Hesse often merged fact and fiction to dramatize his inner crises, his troubled marriage, and his desperate attempts at self-realization. In Iris, the protagonist Anselm follows Hesse’s familiar triadic pattern of childhood harmony, alienation, and apparent reconciliation, however the conclusion suggests not maturity but a symbolic regression into the maternal womb. In this sense, Iris may be read as an ‘anti-fairy tale’: rather than affirming life, it idealizes mystical dissolution. Hesse’s magnetic appeal may, at least in part, lie in his ability to transform unconscious desires for retreat and self-annihilation into grandiose visions that offer irresistible, yet ultimately empty, promises of spiritual fulfillment
Adoptees Traveling Worlds: Love and Multiplicitous Being in Adoptees’ Autofictional Writing
No full textIn the adoptive family, discourses of love have been mobilized to attach the adoptee to the intimate space of the nuclear family, thereby detaching them from other spaces and meaningful others. In this article, I engage with the question of what kinds of love have been erased in the adoptive family, how understandings of love impact upon adoptees’ subjectivity and which ways of imagining the self, in its connection to present and absent others, thereby become disabled. In order to assess whether alternative understandings of love, self and kinship can be imaginable within the adoptive family, I turn towards two works of autofiction written by adoptees: Shâb ou la nuit by the French author Cécile Ladjali and The girl I am, was and never will be by US author Shannon Gibney. In examining their articulations of love and the difficulties of finding words for that which might exist outside of dominant, quasi-hegemonic discourses, I draw on Maria Lugones’ articulation of love as connected to her theory of world-traveling. This enables us to understand adoption narratives and searches as attempts to reconnect with pre-existing worlds and meaningful others, made inaccessible by the Euromodern institution of adoption
Codes of conduct in EU law - self-regulation or co-regulation as the future not only in the digital sphere?
No full textLearning ecosystems in urban transformations:a research agenda
No full textCurrent scholarship on urban transformation emphasizes the importance of learning,but the state of the art of research on learning dynamics in urban transformationsis still conceptually and empirically fragmented. To address this deficit, we proposea research agenda and related conceptual apparatus that draws upon previousresearch in urban transformations and cognate fields. The proposed agenda isfounded on the central concept of learning ecosystem and provides a conceptualtooling which can contribute to moving the field forward in its understandingof who learns what, how, where, when and to what effects in relation to urbantransformations. The proposed agenda and conceptual framework contribute tothe development of the field by providing an operationalizable array of conceptsthat can guide empirical research and by presenting an integrative frameworkfor understanding learning in urban transformations which is compatible withestablished theoretical approaches in the field.Science Highlights• Demonstrates the need for an inclusive and integrative conceptual frameworkon learning in urban transformations• Introduces the learning ecosystems concept as a valuable foundation for such aframework• Presents empirically operationalizable concepts for researching learningdynamics in urban transformations• Outlines a research agenda for future research on learning dynamics in urbantransformationsPolicy and Practice recommendations• Learning is a potentially crucial engine for urban transformation processes, but itis important to specify exactly how learning is expected to occur• Urban transformation practice must be reflexive about expectations concerningwho is assumed to learn what, how, where, when and to what effects• It is important to consider the situated interplay of learning cultures, learningfacilitators, learning infrastructures, learning devices and learning practices• It is crucial to consider the expected interaction between localized learningprocesses and wider systemic effect
Reanimated Shadows (Tony Judt’s "Postwar" at 20)
No full textPart of Marco Bresciani (ed.), “Confronti. Tony Judt’s "Postwar" at 20” , doi: 10.1409/11835
Bridging profitability and sustainability:essays on private sector innovation for sustainable development in low-income contexts
Get PDFAlterations in the transcriptome of human primary bronchial epithelial cells exposed to emissions from a heated tobacco product
No full textIntroduction: IQOS is a Heated Tobacco Product marketed as reduced-risk alternative to cigarettes. This is based on limited industry-independent toxicological evidence. Methods: Cigarette Smoke Extract (CSE) and IQOS extract (IQOSE) were generated by puffing mainstream emissions in PBS. Nicotine levels were quantified via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Subsequently, undifferentiated Primary human Bronchial Epithelial Cells (PBECs) from three donors were exposed (24 h) to 1 %CSE, 1 %IQOSE, 3 %IQOSE (v/v), or nicotine concentrations (1.5, 6 or 18 μg/mL), representative of the levels present in the extracts. Transcriptomic alterations were assessed via RNA sequencing, and specific mRNA alterations were validated at the protein level by Western blot. Results: IQOSE contained about 4-fold more nicotine than CSE. Nicotine did not significantly affect PBECs transcriptome. Substantial differences in the amount of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed in response to CSE and IQOSE between donors. However, in all donors, 3 %IQOSE exposure downregulated pathways involved in cell cycle progress. In addition, both mRNA and protein levels of molecules controlling autophagy and mitophagy increased in response to IQOSE in one donor, and the disease Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) was enriched in cells from two donors upon exposure to CSE or IQOSE. In the most responsive donor, pathways associated with ER-stress and DNA replication were deregulated. Conclusions: Despite significant inter-donor variability, IQOSE induced specific gene signatures associated with pathways known to be involved in (smoking-related) lung diseases in all donors. Collectively, these findings provide novel insights into the molecular toxicity of IQOS mainstream emissions in human bronchial epithelial cells.</p