4,197 research outputs found
Impersonal Style and the Form of Experience in W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn
No full textThis article argues that W. G. Sebald’s prose fiction reverses the traditional positioning of the witness as a point of singularity, and that it instead theorizes a relationship to the act of witnessing that, while anchored in personal experience, is imbued at its core with impersonal form. Using The Rings of Saturn as my central example, I demonstrate that it is the tension between the immediacy of first-person experience and the characteristic distance of Sebald’s style that makes possible the narrator’s attunement to the “traces of destruction” that he encounters during his walk, and to which he bears witness both in and through his narrative. Sebald’s witnessing, then, is less a relation between past and present or witness and event than it is a critical orientation that produces the imperative to bear witness as a function of the very permeability of these categories.Peer reviewe
Which Democracies Pay Higher Wages?
No full textThis paper asks if and how constitutions affect labour market outcomes. This question is motivated by Rodrik (1999), who suggests that 'democracies pay higher wages' and Persson and Tabellini (2003) who provide evidence that constitutions impact on economic outcomes. An empirical analysis using treatment effect estimators and Bayesian Model Averaging provides robust causal evidence that presidential democracies are associated with lower wages, after controlling for other potential determinants such as the level of income per capita.Democracy, Constitutions, Wages, Factor Shares, Bayesian Model Averaging
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Experimental evidence for a variable first coordination shell of the cadmium(II) ion in aqueous, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N,N '-dimethylpropyleneurea solution
No full textA combined extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and large angle X-ray scattering (LAXS) investigation has been performed to evaluate the coordination structure of the cadmium(II) ion in aqueous, dimethyl sulfoxide, and N,N'-dimethylpropyleneurea (dmpu) solutions. This approach has singled out the existence of a flexible coordination shell around the cadmium(II) ion in aqueous and dimethyl sulfoxide solutions, whereas a regular octahedral complex is detected in dmpu. The EXAFS and LAXS techniques provide different values of the Cd-O first shell distance (2.27(1) &ANGS; and 2.302(5) &ANGS;, respectively) for the hydrated and dimethyl sulfoxide solvated complexes, and this discrepancy is originated by the simultaneous presence of hexa- and heptacoordinated complexes in solution, giving rise to a broad distribution of distances around the ion. These findings demonstrate that, in solution, the cadmium(II) ion forms quite flexible hydration and dimethyl sulfoxide solvate complexes undergoing a solvent exchange with unusually stable seven-coordinated intermediate complexes, and therefore the mean ion-solvent distance is longer in solution than in the solid state. In the dmpu solution, due to the bulkiness of the solvent molecules, the octahedral cadmium(II) solvate is extremely crowded and it is not possible for a seventh ligand to enter the inner-coordination shell. This investigation shows that the combined analysis of the EXAFS and LAXS data allows a reliable determination of the structural properties of electrolyte solutions, also in the presence of flexible coordination shell with a variable number of coordinating molecules
Pancake Ice Thickness Mapping in the Beaufort Sea From Wave Dispersion Observed in SAR Imagery
No full textThe early autumn voyage of RV Sikuliaq to the southern Beaufort Sea in 2015 offered very favorable opportunities for observing the properties and thicknesses of frazil-pancake ice types. The operational region was overlaid by a dense network of retrieved satellite imagery, including synthetic
aperture radar (SAR) imagery from Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed (CSK). This enabled us to fully test and apply the SAR-waves technique, first developed by Wadhams and Holt (1991), for deriving the thickness of frazil-pancake icefields from changed wave dispersion. A line of subimages from a main SAR image (usually CSK) is analyzed running into the ice along the main wave direction. Each subimage is spectrally analyzed to yield a wave number spectrum, and the change in the shape of the spectrum between open water and ice, or between two thicknesses of ice, is interpreted in terms of the viscous equations governing wave propagation in frazil-pancake ice. For each of the case studies considered here, there was good or
acceptable agreement on thickness between the extensive in situ observations and the SAR-wave calculation. In addition, the SAR-wave analysis gave, parametrically, effective viscosities for the ice covering a consistent and narrow range of 0.03–0.05 m2 s21
Swedish integration policy documents: a close dialogic reading
No full textSweden as the great welfare state where everybody is equally welcomed and cared for has for long been the prevailing view. Although Swedish integration policy seems to confirm this view, this is far removed from many people’s experienced reality. I argue that part of this disharmony lies in how West European languages contain and relate to an ‘identity’ construction, which perpetuates and is perpetuated through dichotomies that strengthen the social and political cogency of concepts such as ‘race’, ethnicity and culture. Based on this, I carry out a discourse analysis of Sweden’s major integration policy documents from the mid 1970s up to today.
After an eclectic reading of discourses on migration and integration terminology, ‘identity’ and language, I assert the centrality of ‘identity’ construction to everything we do. With this in mind, taking the dialogism promoted by the Bakhtinian Circle as the dichotomy to monologism, I carry out a close dialogic reading in the tradition of Lynn Pearce (1994) and Peter Stallybrass and Allon White (1986).
Contextualising the policy documents, I present the history of migration and integration from a Swedish perspective. Focusing on the last five decades, I divide the different historic tendencies into themes ranging from: emigration to labour migration, refugee migration and the European Union, and from immigrant policy to integration policy.
Believing that the conceptualisation and the handling of categorisation, segregation, culture, discrimination and racism are all central to a successful integration policy, I analyse the policy documents thematically accordingly. I show how the interdependence of the common ‘identity’ constructions and language sometimes obscures and frequently counteracts the intention of the author. As a result, I argue that the Bakhtinian Circle holds the key to a better understanding of the invincibility of stereotyping within racialised discourses, through applying absolute ‘identity’ constructions in monologic speech, and how this may be counteracted in order to strive for a dialogic approach to the world
SAR ice thickness mapping in the Beaufort Sea using wave dispersion in pancake ice: a case study with intensive ground truth
No full textAn experimental method to determine compliance curves close to the crack tip and comparison with PD-signal for fatigue cracks exposed to overloads
No full textDoes education cause participation in politics?
No full textIn most studies of political behavior in Western countries, it is found that
individuals with higher education participate to a greater extent in political activities
than individuals with lower levels of education. According to the conventional view,
education increases skills and knowledge but also affects political interest and political
efficacy; factors that all in turn trigger political participation. This dissertation tests two
alternative explanations to the conventional view. The first alternative – the relative
education model – claims that the social status gained by education drives participation
and not the educational experience. According to the second alternative explanation –
the pre-adult socialization model – the relationship is largely due to self-selection effects.
It suggests that pre-adult factors heavily affect both educational choice as well as
political participation in adulthood. The first three papers evaluate the relative
education model while the last two papers deal with the pre-adult socialization model.
The first paper deals with the research question: Is the relative education model
supported in the Swedish context? The second paper deals directly with the causal
mechanism: Does social network position mediate the effect of education on political
participation? The third article brings the discussion on the relative education model
further by providing the first country comparative test of the relative education model,
using data from 37 countries. Hence, it deals with the research question: Is the effect of
education on political participation absolute or relative in a comparative perspective?
The three first articles present evidence in favor of the relative education model. The
fourth paper employs matching techniques on data from the UK to mimic an
experimental test of the causal effect of higher education. It deals with the question: Is
college education a cause or a proxy for political participation? This paper contributes
to the discussion by using a more extensive set of pre-adult covariates than previous
studies, including important information on childhood cognitive ability. The fifth paper
moves from length of education to testing the impact of type of education. It presents a
panel study that follows Swedish adolescents over time during the first year in the
gymnasium (upper secondary level) in order to answer the question: Does type of
education affect political participation? The findings of both paper four and five point in
favor of the pre-adult socialization model; education seems to be a proxy rather than a
cause for political participation. Taken together, the five papers provide weak evidence
that the educational experience directly causes participation. Thus, the dissertation
challenges the conventional view on how education is related to participation
Adiponectin in atherosclerosis
No full textAdiponectin is a protein secreted from adipocytes, circulating at high levels in plasma (3 30μg/mL), and in overweight subjects it is down regulated. Adiponectin inhibits the development of atherosclerosis in experimental animal models but whether adiponectin is anti atherogenic in humans is not known. Furthermore, epidemiological studies on plasma adiponectin with regard to cardiovascular outcome are contradictory.We therefore explored the relationship between plasma adiponectin, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in three separate studies in which the investigated subjects differed with respect to age, cardiovascular risk factors, and prevalence of CVD. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between plasma adiponectin and intima media thickness (IMT) in the common carotid artery (CCA), in the bifurcation of the carotid artery (Bif) at baseline and after 30 months progression. In addition, we analysed the associations of 1,214 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five loci ADIPOQ, ADIPOR1, ADIPOR2, CDH13, and ARL15 in relation to plasma adiponectin. The relationship between plasma adiponectin raising alleles and IMT measures was also investigated. We also explored the use of gene expression profiles, measured with Affymetrix® microarray technology, from carotid atherosclerotic plaques and from peripheral blood mononuclear cells for improving the prediction of ischaemic events, in addition to established risk factors.In paper I, we demonstrated that low plasma adiponectin was associated with myocardial infarction in young individuals (In summary, prevalent CVD is an important divider for the relationships between plasma adiponectin and outcome measures; Low plasma adiponectin is associated with adverse outcome in subjects without prevalent CVD, whereas in subjects with prevalent CVD high plasma adiponectin is associated with mortality. Plasma adiponectin is inversely associated with early atherosclerosis and progression of atherosclerosis in men. Adiponectin raising alleles are inversely associated with early atherosclerosis in men, which supports a causal protective role of adiponectin in early atherosclerosis.Additionally, gene expression profiling from atherosclerotic plaques improves prediction of ischaemic events in subjects with prevalent CVD.List of scientific papersI. Persson J, Lindberg K, Gustafsson TP, Eriksson P, Paulsson-Berne G, Lundman P. Low plasma adiponectin concentration is associated with myocardial infarction in young individuals. J Intern Med. 2010 Aug; 268(2):194-205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02247.x II. Persson J, Folkersen L, Ekstrand J, Helleberg J, Gabrielsen A, Lundman P, Hedin U, Paulsson-Berne G. High plasma adiponectin concentration is associated with all-cause mortality in patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis. 2012 Oct 8. [Accepted] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2012.09.036 III. Persson J, Strawbridge RJ, Piksasova O, Gertow K, Silveira A, Baldassarre D, Van Zuydam N, Shah S, Fava C, Gustafsson S, Veglia F, Sennblad B, Larsson M, Sabater-Lleal M, Leander K, Gigante B, Tabak A, Kivimaki M, Kauhanen J, Raurama R, Smit AJ, Mannarino E, Giral P, Humphries SE, Tremoli E, de Faire U, Lind L, Ingelsson E, Hedblad B, Melander O, Kumari M, Hingorani A, Morris AD, Palmer CNA, Lundman P, Öhrvik J, Söderberg S, Hamsten A. Role of adiponectin in early atherosclerosis and incident cardiovascular disease in high-risk European subjects. [Manuscript]IV. Folkersen L,Persson J,Ekstrand J,Agardh HE,Hansson GK,Gabrielsen A, Hedin U, Paulsson-Berne G. Prediction of ischemic-events on the basis of transcriptomic and genomic profiling in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. Mol Med. 2012 May 9; 18(1):669-675. https://doi.org/10.2119/molmed.2011.00479 </p
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