Social Embeddedness in Stakeholder Networks and Legislators’ Policy Preferences: The Case of German Livestock Policy

In a world of increasing complexity, politicians have only limited information about the relationship of policies and the outcomes. They often make use of simplified heuristics, i.e. policy beliefs. Hence, an influence opportunity for in- terest groups occurs: informational lobbying. It complements classic lobbying strategies, e.g. vote buying or campaign spending. Providing expert knowledge allows interest groups to influence legislators towards the preferred policy posi- tion. Aside from so-called "approved votes", German parliamentarians generally follow parliamentary group’s discipline. Thus, experts’ role within parliamentary groups is crucial. They deal with key issues and represent the parliamentary group in the committees. Furthermore, they work out the group’s positions on these specific issues. They are the starting point for interest groups to dissemi- nate their information and hence influence the legislators’ positions. An exemplary field of complexity is the agricultural sector. In particular, live- stock production is challenged by questions of sustainability, i.e. public expec- tations towards animal welfare, producers and consumers’ welfare as well as ecological consequences. Importance of animal welfare is demonstrated by the ongoing debate about piglet castration or husbandry system standards. This raises two questions: First, to what extend are stakeholders able to gain direct access to politicians? Second, how can they use this structure to influence policy decisions? Using a social network approach, we first investigate the structure of three networks: exchange of expert knowledge, political support and informal social ties. In particular, we put emphasis on the connection between parliamen- tary actors and other stakeholders from society, i.e. interest groups. This refers to the first question. Second, we apply a model of political exchange using infor- mation and lobbying networks. Following Henning et al. (2019), this model not only includes political exchange, but also belief updating. Moreover, it considers direct as well as indirect ties. This analysis step serves to answer the second question

Communicational and Lobbying Power in German Farm Animal Welfare Politics

Farm animal welfare is the main driver of nowadays criticism on German livestock sector. At the same time, non market actors more and more are key actors within animal welfare politics. Hence, we investigate political power of stakeholder organizations in German livestock policy. Our network based framework consists of two components: First, actors influence policy decisions through informational lobbying. Informational lobbying refers to providing expert knowledge in order to influence decision makers' policy beliefs. Second, the exchange of influence resources and power allows interest groups to influence the policy positions of political agents. We combine both measurements with the Banzhaf power index in order to quantify the power of both, political agents as well as interest groups. How this power affects animal welfare policy is illustrated in the field of piglet castration. Results imply that the agricultural sector as well as animal protection groups have the highest influence on beliefs and that state actors distribute most of the power to the agribusiness sector. This structures leads to a positive evaluation of surgical castration under anaesthesia. On the other hand, immunocastration is evaluated as rather useless. This implies that participatory processes decrease the procedures acceptance

The Exhibition as an Experiment: An Analogy and its Implications

The analogy of the exhibition as an experiment suggests innovative curatorial approaches that challenge institutional practices. This analogy has however a historical precedence in modernism when itbecame paradigmatic of the exhibitions at the Museum of ModernArt in New York in the 1940s, defining the curatorial approach of its founding director Alfred J Barr. This article considers this early useof the analogy of the exhibition as an experiment and further reflects on its redefinition at the turn of the 20th century by examining how both the notions of the exhibition and of the experiment havechanged over time. In particular, the article examines the different meanings and practices inferred by the concepts of the exhibition and the experiment in the first decades of the 20th century and in the present. It outlines how correspondences between cultural and scientific paradigms can be deployed to tease unacknowledged synergies between two modes of knowledge production (i.e. the art exhibition and the experiment) and address questions of presentness, authority and legitimacy that they imply

Simulation of Vehicle-Pedestrian Interaction

The literature on vehicle crash reconstruction provides a number of empirical or classical theoretical models for the distance pedestrians are thrown in impacts with various types of vehicles and impact speeds. The aim of this research was to compare the predictions offered by computer simulation to those obtained using the empirical and classical theoretical models traditionally utilised in vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction. Particular attention was paid to the pedestrian throw distance versus vehicle impact speed relationship and the determination of pedestrian injury patterns and associated severity. It was discovered that computer simulation offered improved pedestrian kinematic prediction in comparison to traditional vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction techniques. The superior kinematic prediction was found to result in a more reliable pedestrian throw distance versus vehicle impact speed relationship, particularly in regard to varying vehicle and pedestrian parameters such as shape, size and orientation. The pedestrian injury prediction capability of computer simulation was found to be very good for head and lower extremity injury determination. Such injury prediction capabilities were noted to be useful in providing additional correlation of vehicle impact speed predictions, whether these predictions were made using computer simulation, traditional vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction methods or a combination of both. A generalised approach to the use of computer simulation for the reconstruction of vehicle-pedestrian accidents was also offered. It is hoped that this approach is developed and improved by other researchers so that over time guidelines for a standardised approach to the simulation of vehicle-pedestrian accidents might evolve. Thoracic injury prediction, particularly for frontal impacts, was found to be less than ideal. It is suspected that the relatively poor thoracic biofidelity stems from the development of pedestrian mathematical models from occupant mathematical models, which were in turn developed from cadaver and dummy tests. It is hoped that future research will result in improved thoracic biofidelity in human mathematical models

“Wearing me place on me face”: Scousebrows, placemaking and everyday creativity

This paper emerges from a multidisciplinary research project called “Brews and Brows: Shaping Stories from Eyebrows to Scousebrows” that entailed gathering stories about eyebrow grooming from women and men from the city of Liverpool, UK, and creating a new taxonomy of the eyebrow where none currently exists. The point of departure for this paper is to challenge the negative commentary on the Scousebrow in the press and social media by engaging people in discussions surrounding the personal significance of eyebrow shaping and styling. In challenging this denigration, this paper uses data from in-depth interviews with eyebrow artists and clients and ethnographic interviews at a four-day event held in Liverpool. This paper argues that the everyday (little c) creative practice of eyebrow grooming is not only an important part of crafting and performing identity, particularly for Scouse women, but also an example of bottom-up placemaking in the city of Liverpool

Crafting place: Women’s everyday creativity in placemaking processes

Amid a resurgence of domestic craft, this article contends that everyday creative practices of women are part of placemaking processes in the creative city. Specifically, the research focuses on Liverpool in the Northwest of England, the so-called (and self-proclaimed) ‘centre of the creative universe’. This article utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with members of knitting groups and the city centre Women’s Institute to explore how women use craft practice to create a sense of self and attachment to place. The idea of women gathering to craft is enduring, and is examined here to understand affective labour and the role that creativity plays in the urban experience of women. It is argued that the groups demonstrate a lack of engagement with the wider market and official placemaking processes, but instead demonstrate an element of self-valorization. The article challenges thinking around culture-led placemaking in cities like Liverpool, where discourses of creativity have been used as a driver for regeneration by shifting the emphasis onto seemingly banal settings on the edges of the so-called creative city. While urban placemakers have been more recently concerned with developing hubs of creative industries, the role of these groups that are not producing a profitable ‘product’ should not be underestimated or exploited

Oral abstracts of the 21st International AIDS Conference 18-22 July 2016, Durban, South Africa

The rate at which HIV-1 infected individuals progress to AIDS is highly variable and impacted by T cell immunity. CD8 T cell inhibitory molecules are up-regulated in HIV-1 infection and associate with immune dysfunction. We evaluated participants (n=122) recruited to the SPARTAC randomised clinical trial to determine whether CD8 T cell exhaustion markers PD-1, Lag-3 and Tim-3 were associated with immune activation and disease progression.Expression of PD-1, Tim-3, Lag-3 and CD38 on CD8 T cells from the closest pre-therapy time-point to seroconversion was measured by flow cytometry, and correlated with surrogate markers of HIV-1 disease (HIV-1 plasma viral load (pVL) and CD4 T cell count) and the trial endpoint (time to CD4 count <350 cells/μl or initiation of antiretroviral therapy). To explore the functional significance of these markers, co-expression of Eomes, T-bet and CD39 was assessed.Expression of PD-1 on CD8 and CD38 CD8 T cells correlated with pVL and CD4 count at baseline, and predicted time to the trial endpoint. Lag-3 expression was associated with pVL but not CD4 count. For all exhaustion markers, expression of CD38 on CD8 T cells increased the strength of associations. In Cox models, progression to the trial endpoint was most marked for PD-1/CD38 co-expressing cells, with evidence for a stronger effect within 12 weeks from confirmed diagnosis of PHI. The effect of PD-1 and Lag-3 expression on CD8 T cells retained statistical significance in Cox proportional hazards models including antiretroviral therapy and CD4 count, but not pVL as co-variants.Expression of ‘exhaustion’ or ‘immune checkpoint’ markers in early HIV-1 infection is associated with clinical progression and is impacted by immune activation and the duration of infection. New markers to identify exhausted T cells and novel interventions to reverse exhaustion may inform the development of novel immunotherapeutic approaches

The politics of presentation Museums, galleries and exhibitions in New York, 1929-1947

In 2 vols.; vol. 2 slides: for colour slides accompanying this thesis please apply to the issuing universitySIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX189412 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo