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A twin transition or a flagship policy? Emergent constellations and dominant blocks in green and digital technologies
No full textThis paper seeks to understand whether what has been labeled the "twin transition", a flagship EU policy, emerges as a new endogenous technological trajectory involving the convergence of green and digital technologies, or whether this policy is in fact having little impact. Embracing an evolutionary approach to technology, we first identify the set of relevant technologies defined as "green" and then analyze their evolution in terms of the dominant blocks within the green technology sector and their intertwining with digital technologies, drawing on 560,720 patents granted by the US Patent Office from 1976 to 2024. Three dominant blocks emerge as relevant in defining the direction of innovation, namely energy, transport, and production processes. We assess the technological concentration and underlying complexity of the dominant blocks, interpreting this through the construction of counterfactual scenarios. We find hardly any evidence for a pattern of actual endogenous convergence of green and digital technologies in the period under analysis. On the whole, for the time being, the "twin transition" appears to be a flagship policy in name only, rather than an endogenous technological trajectory driving structural change
Coconvex characters on collections of phylogenetic trees
No full textIn phylogenetics, a key problem is to construct evolutionary trees from collections of characters where, for a set X of species, a character is simply a function from X onto a set of states. In this context, a key concept is convexity, where a character is convex on a tree with leaf set X if the collection of subtrees spanned by the leaves of the tree that have the same state are pairwise disjoint. Although collections of convex characters on a single tree have been extensively studied over the past few decades, very little is known about coconvex characters, that is, characters that are simultaneously convex on a collection of trees. As a starting point to better understand coconvexity, in this paper we prove a number of extremal results for the following question: What is the minimal number of coconvex characters on a collection of n-leaved trees taken over all collections of size t=2, also if we restrict to coconvex characters which map to k states? As an application of coconvexity, we introduce a new one-parameter family of tree metrics, which range between the coarse Robinson-Foulds distance and the much finer quartet distance. We show that bounds on the quantities in the above question translate into bounds for the diameter of the tree space for the new distances. Our results open up several new interesting directions and questions which have potential applications to, for example, tree spaces and phylogenomics
Seeing is believing:are investors' corporate online visits as informative as site visits?
Get PDFThis paper examines the post-visit earnings forecast inaccuracy of online visits (visits via videoconferencing) relative to site visits (visits to production or operation sites) with data from China between 2020 and 2021. We use the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the city where analysts' offices are located as an instrument for the choices between online visits and site visits. Our results show that online visits fail to maintain the accuracy of analysts' EPS forecasts. Moreover, the diminished financial reporting quality of firms amplifies the forecasting disadvantages associated with online visits. Finally, the lack of site observation rather than one-on-one communication is the primary reason for the underperformance of online visits
Stable support, scant initiative:European business associations and Economic and Monetary Union, 1946-1992
No full textThe article investigates the views of European business associations on the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) project between 1946 and 1992. In doing so, it places the campaign for EMU organised by the Association for the Monetary Union of Europe in the run-up to the Maastricht Treaty into its previously neglected historical context. The article argues that although European business associations supported EMU in general, their views concerning its construction evolved and differed. As a result of these divergences, they only responded to political proposals made by others, instead of pro-actively pushing a specific agenda forward
“I could have married in Europe, if I wanted to” How black migrant men challenge moralizing and racializing discourses when returning to Senegal
No full textMarriage offers one of the few routes for Senegalese migrants to enter Europe and settle there legally, and it is often assumed that migrants marry just for a residence permit. “Marriage migration” is highly scrutinized by state actors, whose admission practices and their consequences have been the focus of much research. Less, however, is known about the perspectives of migrants who left Europe in response to these practices. Drawing on one year of ethnographic fieldwork, we show how male Senegalese returnees and deportees challenge the idea that men want to marry a European resident at all costs. These men are spatially excluded from Europe but they discursively regain their dignity by returning to Senegal. Their return also challenges gendered and racialized European narratives about dangerous and hypersexual black Muslim males, and at the same time reinforces their positioning in moral hierarchies about love and marriage
The Revival of Sorbents in Chronic Dialysis Treatment
No full textInterest in the use of sorbents in chronic dialysis treatment has undergone a revival in the last decades, for which two major factors are responsible. The first is the potential of sorbents as adjunct therapy for the removal of substances that are difficult to remove by conventional dialysis therapies. The second is their use in regeneration of dialysate, which is of pivotal importance in the design of portable or even wearable treatments, next to the potential for reducing water use during conventional dialysis treatment. Sorbent-enhanced dialysis with synthetic polymers was associated with a reduction in inflammatory parameters as compared to hemodialysis and even associated with improved survival in smaller studies, although this needs to be confirmed in large randomized trials. Incorporation of sorbents within a dialysis membrane (mixed matrix membrane) appears a promising way forward to reduce the complexity and costs of a dual therapy but needs to be tested in vivo. For regeneration of dialysate, at present, a combination of urease, zirconium-based sorbents, and activated charcoal is used. Next to sodium release by the sorbent in exchange for ammonium and the CO2 release by the hydrolysis of urea has been a bottleneck in the design of wearable devices, although short-term trials have been performed. Still, for widespread and flexible application of sorbent-assisted portable or wearable devices, a direct urea sorbent would be a major asset. In the near future, it will likely become apparent whether sorbent-assisted dialysis techniques are feasible for routine implementation in clinical practice
Was Robert Gibrat right? A test based on the graphical model methodology
No full textUsing both regression analysis and an unsupervised graphical model approach (never applied before to this issue), we confirm the rejection of Gibrat’s Law (stating that a firm’s growth is independent of that firm’s initial size) when our firm-level data are considered over the entire investigated period, while the opposite is true when we allow for market selection; indeed, the growth behavior of the surviving most efficient firms is in line with Gibrat’s Law. This evidence reconciles early and current literature and may have interesting implications in terms of both theoretical research and policy suggestions regarding subsidies to small firms, which do not necessarily grow faster than their larger counterparts.</p
In the Eye of the Beholder:Visualizing Strengths, Burdens and Desires Through the Lens of Neurodivergent Children, Their Parents, and Professionals Using the Yucel Method
No full textObjectivesIn mental healthcare, there is a growing emphasis on one's strengths and context instead of focusing primarily on individual deficiencies, pathologies, risks, and negative emotions. Using the visual and tactile Yucel method, this study gains insight into strengths, burdens, and desires of neurodivergent children in residential care and their parents from different perspectives.MethodsIn this qualitative study, a total of 45 interviews with the Yucel method were conducted with nine neurodivergent children, their parents, and involved professionals. All built a constellation of the child and family's strengths, burdens, and desires using the Yucel method. To explore if by applying this visual and tactile method additional information is provided to that gathered in the standard diagnostic process, the information of the Yucel method was compared to the information found in the multidisciplinary reports of the children.ResultsThematic analysis showed that besides common mentioned strengths (e.g., mother, sports and activities) and burdens (mental health problems), differences in the informants' perspectives were found. Parents mentioned strengths and burdens that were not addressed by other informants and a diversity in needs was found. The comparison of the results from the interviews with the Yucel method with the information in the multidisciplinary reports showed that the Yucel method provided additional information.ConclusionsThe Yucel method brought more strengths and perspectives into view than diagnostics as usual in the first three months of residential care. This study contributes to the knowledge regarding personal, strength-based, and family-oriented diagnostics in mental healthcare of neurodivergent children and their families
Introduction of a nationwide first-trimester anomaly scan in the Dutch national screening program
No full textBackground: A significant proportion of major fetal structural anomalies can be detected in the first trimester by ultrasound examination. However, the test performance of the first-trimester anomaly scan performed in a low-risk population as part of a nationwide prenatal screening program is unknown. Potential benefits of the first-trimester anomaly scan include early detection of fetal anomalies, providing parents with more time for reproductive decision-making. Objective: To investigate the uptake, test performance, and time to a final prenatal diagnosis after referral. Study Design: A nationwide implementation study was conducted in the Netherlands (November 2021−November 2022). The FTAS was performed between 12+3 and 14+3 weeks of gestation by certified sonographers using a standard protocol. Women were referred to a tertiary care center if anomalies were suspected. Uptake, test performance, and time to a final prenatal diagnosis (days between referral and date of final diagnosis/prognosis for reproductive decision-making) were determined. Test performance was calculated for first-trimester major congenital anomalies, such as anencephaly and holoprosencephaly and all diagnosed anomalies <24 weeks of gestation. Results: The first-trimester anomaly scan uptake was 74.9% (129,704/173,129). In 1.0% (1313/129,704), an anomaly was suspected, of which 54.9% (n=721) had abnormal findings on the detailed first-trimester diagnostic scan and 44.6% (n=586) showed normal results. In 0.5% (n=6), intrauterine fetal death occurred. In the total group of 721 cases with abnormal findings, 332 structural anomalies, 117 genetic anomalies, 82 other findings (abnormal fetal biometry, sonomarkers, placental/umbilical cord anomaly, an-/oligohydramnios), and 189 cases with transient findings (defined as ultrasound findings which resolved <24 weeks of gestation) were found, with 1 case having an unknown outcome. 0.9% (n=1164) of all cases with a normal first-trimester anomaly scan were diagnosed with a fetal anomaly in the second trimester. Test performance included a sensitivity of 84.6% (126/149) for first-trimester major congenital anomalies and 31.6% (537/1701) for all types of anomalies. Specificity for all anomalies was 99.2% (98,055/98,830); positive predictive value 40.9% (537/1312); negative predictive value 98.8% (98,055/99,219); positive likelihood ratio 40.3; negative likelihood ratio 0.7; false positive rate 0.8% (775/98,830), and false negative rate 68.4% (1164/1701). The median time to diagnosis for structural anomalies was 20 days (6–43 days; median gestational age 16+3), for genetic anomalies 17 days (8.5–27.5 days; median gestational age 15+6 weeks), and for first-trimester major congenital anomalies 9 days (5–22 days; median gestational age 14+6 weeks). Conclusion: The performance of a newly introduced nationwide first-trimester anomaly scan in a low-risk population showed a high sensitivity for first-trimester major congenital anomalies and a lower sensitivity for all anomalies combined. The program was accompanied by a referral rate of 1.0%, of which 59.1% involved cases where anomalies were either not confirmed or resolved before 24 weeks gestation. Timing of diagnosis was around 16 weeks of gestation for referred cases. To evaluate the balance between benefits and potential harm of the first-trimester anomaly scan within a nationwide prenatal screening program, it is essential to assess the effectiveness of the program over time and to consider the perspectives of both women and their partners, as well as healthcare professionals.</p
Worldwide application and valuation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support during the COVID-19 pandemic (WAVES)
No full textOBJECTIVE: The outcomes of COVID-19 patients on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) varied. We aim to investigate the variability concerning location and timeframe. We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from 351 institutions in 53 countries. The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge or death up to 90 days from ECMO start. The associations between calendar time (month and year) of ECMO initiation and the primary outcome were examined by Cox regression modeling. Multivariable survival analyses were adjusted for the time of ECMO start, age, body mass index, APACHE II, SOFA, and the duration of mechanical ventilation before ECMO. RESULTS: 1060 adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium (COVID Critical) international registry and required VV-ECMO support. The study period is from January 2020 to December 2021. The median age was 51 years old, and 70% were male patients. Most patients were from Europe (39.3%) and North America (37.4%). The in-hospital mortality of the entire cohort was 47.12%. In North America and Europe, there was an increased probability of death from May 2020 through February 2021. Latin America showed a steady rate of survival until late in the study. South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa showed an increased chance of mortality around May 2020. In the Asian-Pacific region, after February 2021, there was an increased probability of death. The time of ECMO initiation and advanced patient age were associated with increased mortality. CONCLUSION: Variability in the outcomes of COVID-19 patients on VV-ECMO existed within different regions. This variability reflects the differences in resources, policies, patient selection, management, and possibly COVID-19 virus subtypes. Our findings might help guide global response in the future by early adoption of patient selection protocols, worldwide policies, and delivery of resources