Contacting, Petitioning, and Satisfaction with Government Responsiveness

The Treatment of Infants and Toddlers with their Parents in an Outpatient Unit for Infant Psychiatry This article presents an integrative treatment model for infants and toddlers between zero to three years and their parents by integrating different complementary psychotherapeutic perspectives. Between 2012 and 2014 a total of 214 children between zero and three years have been treated, the diagnostic and process data of 53 % (N = 113) of the children were evaluable. The parents have been consulted in the beginning, at the end and six months post-treatment with different questionnaires concerning distress of the children and of the parents as well as regarding the social and the emotional behavior of the toddlers. The psychotherapists filled in different instruments at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. Our research demonstrates that a clearly conceptualized intervention has a measurable and persistent positive effect on the symptoms of the children, on the parent-child-relationship and on the wellbeing of the parents.

Time-varying and spillover effects of the macroeconomy on nonfinancial corporate financialization: Evidence from China

PurposeInvestigation and assessment of the effectiveness of pulse radiofrequency denervation for managing persistent shoulder pain following reverse arthroplasty.MethodsAt the N.N. Priorov National Medical Research Center treatment of chronic pain in the shoulder joint performed in 40 patients who underwent reverse shoulder arthroplasty. Implantation of endoprostheses was carried out both in the N.N. Priorov National Medical Research Center, and in other clinics. The patients were divided into two groups: main group– patients who underwent radiofrequency denervation (n = 20), control group– patients treated conservatively (anti-inflammatory therapy, physiotherapy, glucocorticosteroid injections) (n = 20). The follow-up period for all patients was 24 months. As part of the preoperative study, clinical examination, radiographs and computed tomography of the shoulder joint, comparative electroneuromyography of the upper extremities, ultrasound of the shoulder joint and suprascapular nerve were performed. Functional and clinical results were assessed and compare using the questionnaire The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH), Visual Analog Scale (VAS) in patients of the control and main groups with terms of 12, 24 months from the start of treatment. Taking into account the characteristics of the sample, the Mann-Whitney U-test was used. Statistical data was processed in the IBM SPSS Statistics program.ResultsThe results of the study data processing allow us to conclude that there are statistically significant differences in the main and control groups of patients, both in terms of the severity of pain syndrome and in the limitations of daily household activity. Consequently patients who underwent radiofrequency denervation of the suprascapular nerve were monitored. As a result, all patients had a persistent positive effect throughout the entire follow-up period. Excellent (< 25 DASH points, low VAS points) and good (26–50 DASH points, low VAS points) functional results were obtained in all patients. The average score for VAS was 0.17 points, the average score for DASH was 28.3. Motor denervation of the shoulder joint was not observed in any of the patients. There were no hematomas or infectious complications.ConclusionTo summarize, after shoulder joint replacement, the developed radiofrequency denervation technique has been validated for its effectiveness in alleviating pain syndrome.

Aquatic habitats are often characterized by both high diversity and the threat of multiple anthropogenic stressors. Our research deals with temporal and spatial aspects of two of the main threats for biodiversity, namely eutrophication and fragmentation. It is known that pulsed nutrient addition creates temporal differences in environmental conditions, promoting higher diversity by preventing the best competitor from dominating. Furthermore, a metacommunity landscape with intermediate connectivity increases autotrophs’ diversity and stability. However, it is yet unclear if these two factors are additive in increasing diversity and if the effects extend to the consumer level. With the goal of understanding how eutrophication impacts biodiversity in a metacommunity landscape, we hypothesized that pulsed nutrient addition will increase diversity among both autotrophs and heterotrophs, and this effect will be even greater in a metacommunity landscape. We simulated eutrophication and fragmentation in a microcosm experiment using phytoplankton as primary producers and microzooplankton as grazers. Four treatment combinations were tested including two different landscapes (metacommunity and isolated community) and two forms of nutrient supply (pulsed and continuous): metacommunity/continuous nutrient addition (MC); metacommunity/pulsed nutrient addition (MP); isolated community/continuous nutrient addition (IC); isolated community/pulsed nutrient addition (IP). As expected, pulsed nutrient addition had a persistent positive effect on phytoplankton diversity, with a weaker influence of landscape type. In contrast, the grazer community strongly benefited from a metacommunity landscape, with less significance of pulsed or continuous nutrient addition. Overall, the metacommunity landscape with pulsed nutrient supply supported higher diversity of primary producers and grazers.

Four anticonvulsant medications (carbamazepine, valproate, gabapentin and lamotrigine) have received attention in the psychiatric literature as efficacious treatment for bipolar disorder, either as monotherapy or as adjunctive agents. Although two earlier reports in 1993 suggested that primidone may also be helpful for bipolar disorder, this older anticonvulsant has not been evaluated in any subsequent studies to confirm these earlier findings. In the present prospective open study, 26 patients with refractory bipolar disorder were treated with primidone as an adjunctive therapy. Eight (31%) patients experienced a persistent positive therapeutic effect. Five (19%) patients were considered partial or temporary responders to primidone. The remaining 13 patients (50%) were considered treatment failures. Although a 31% response rate is considered modest in most psychotropic medication studies, the authors believe that this success rate is significant in this refractory patient population and should provide impetus for future more scientific studies to confirm the preliminary findings of this open trial.

Participatory and responsive governance in universal health coverage (UHC) systems synergistically ensure the needs of citizens are protected and met. In Thailand, UHC constitutes of three public insurance schemes: Civil...

This study was conducted at the Office of the Regional Civil Service Agency of Palu. In this study, the researchers applied the concept proposed by Agus Dwiyanto concerning five indicators that determine the performance of government employees, namely productivity, responsiveness, accountability, service quality, and responsibility. This study was descriptive research with a qualitative approach. Informants were selected purposively, in which the researchers deliberately chose people who were considered to understand the investigated problem. The informants in this study were the Head of the Regional Civil Service Agency of Palu, the Head of the Division of Transfer and Rank, the Head of the Sub-Division of Rank, employees of the Regional Civil Service Agency of Palu, and three civil servants from other agencies. Results showed as follows. In terms of productivity, there are still employees who are late to come for work which can result in a lack of employee working hours from the work time that has been set. In terms of service quality, it has not been running well because there are often delays in making decrees concerning appointments to be civil servants. In terms of responsiveness, it has gone well. The government employees of the Regional Civil Service Agency of Palu provide solutions to the problems faced by civil servants in Palu regarding promotions. In terms of responsibility, it has run quite well, as shown by the presence of a suggestion box and telephone-based service for civil servants to submit their suggestions and criticisms. In terms of accountability, it has run well, as indicated by the conditions found, in which employees have completed their works and reports on time. In addition, they are also responsible for the results of their works and reports to their respective heads of division if an error is found in making reports or delays in collecting reports.

The low degree of institutionalization of Chinese administration means that citizens engaging with the bureaucracy have a choice of strategies to achieve objectives. This article deploys Asia Barometer survey data from 2006 to construct a predictive model of preferences to obtain a government permit, including use of connections (guanxi), bribery, writing letters, waiting patiently, and the passive-pessimistic response “nothing can be done”. It finds that strategy preference varies according to location (urban or rural interacting with region), socio-economic status, social capital, political values and political performance evaluations. The pattern of determinants shows that Chinese citizens are cross-pressured. The class and gender nature of guanxi and bribery are an obstacle to the creation of a modern Chinese state, but high levels of social trust, support for political freedom, the market and meritocracy combined with the reservoir of trust enjoyed by executive organs present a favourable climate for efforts to improve governance.

Current research provides little evidence for the effectiveness of treatment in reducing sexual offence recidivism amongst low-risk populations. However, in real-world correctional settings, program delivery rarely occurs in a vacuum, treatment may be politically mandated and unidimensional measures of program success may preclude recognition of broader benefits. The current study investigated the effectiveness of a low-intensity treatment program, both in terms of participants' recidivism outcomes and in terms of broader organizational/systems impacts. The results demonstrated low base rate recidivism across both program participants (n = 311) and a comparison group of men who were assessed as demonstrating similar static sexual offence recidivism risk (n = 391), and little evidence of reduced recidivism following treatment. However, program administration led to many potential participants being identified as demonstrating higher levels of dynamic risk and overridden to more intensive treatment options (n = 101). Given evidence that such options do effectively reduce recidivism in higher risk populations, these findings may suggest an overall positive net effect.

Authoritarian leaders around the world have recognized that citizen engagement is a core element of successful environmental governance. Faced with a massive environmental crisis, also authoritarian China is mobilizing its citizens to address its ecological problems. However, taking a functional approach to public participation, the Chinese party-state like other authoritarian regimes attempts to channel citizen action into institutional pathways and away from more contentious extra-institutional ones. Little research has investigated citizens’ reactions to such attempts. This paper analyses citizen participation between institutional and extra-institutional venues at the case of Chinese environmental governance. It finds that Chinese citizens use a mix of both channel types, but are overall more drawn to extra-institutional channels despite the risks. Moreover, our findings point to different motivations for the use of venues: personal grievances are more linked with the use of institutional channels, broader environmental concerns with extra-institutional ones. This shows, first, that channeling attempts have not yet been successful in crowding out noninstitutional channels. And second, that citizens seem to attach different meanings to the different channel types. This will make it hard for the Chinese and other authoritarian regimes to phase out extra-institutional action without severe losses for the effectiveness of environmental governance.

ABSTRACTThe persistent influence of historical bureaucratic institutions on various contemporary socio‐economic outcomes is well documented, yet the extent to which these institutions shape current citizen‐state interactions remains underexplored. This study focuses on the persistent effect of a cultural factor shaped by a historical meritocratic institution (ancient China's imperial examination) on citizen compliance with social distancing policies during the first wave of COVID‐19 in China. Based on historical archives and digital mobility data, we find that human mobility decreased significantly more in cities with more achievers in the examination after the unexpected lockdown, the Wuhan Lockdown, in China. This effect is implemented through channels of current education level and bureaucracy‐oriented value. Further analysis based on survey data shows that this effect is reflected in citizens' obedience to the central government, rather than to local governments. These findings offer a new explanation for the geographic variation in citizen compliance and highlight the persistent positive effect of meritocratic selection on contemporary citizen‐government interactions.

State of Research in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition: 2010 and Beyond

The Arctic stratospheric polar vortex (SPV) is known to influence winter surface climate through dynamical coupling. Here, we demonstrate that beyond this established pathway, variations in SPV strength also modulate Arctic high clouds, inducing persistent radiative effects at the surface. This previously less well recognized mechanism shows that a strengthened SPV increases Arctic high-cloud cover, generating a positive net cloud radiative effect that amplifies Arctic Ocean warming and sea ice loss over the Barents-Kara Sea; a weakened SPV produces opposing effects. Our results establish this radiative pathway as one of the primary drivers of the winter-mean Arctic response to stratospheric variability. Numerical experiments confirm that this radiative pathway can cause up to 1.7 K of Arctic Ocean warming during the delayed phase of strong SPV events relative to climatology. Notably, the radiative influence operates more persistently than the transient dynamical response, offering enhanced predictive potential for subseasonal-to-seasonal Arctic surface conditions. These findings reveal a key radiative mechanism underlying SPV-driven Arctic climate variability, which is essential for understanding present and future winter Arctic changes.

The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference

ABSTRACTPurpose: In its cognitive, relational, and structural forms, social capital has been identified as a powerful strategic tool. However, prior empirical studies focus only on the direct effect of various dimensions of social capital and address relational social capital at either a dyadic level or a network level. Drawing on the social capital theory and social network theory, this study fills the above-mentioned gaps by examining the role of structural and relational social capital on performance through exploring direct and interaction effects simultaneously and revealing the moderating effect of relational social capital at the dyadic and network levels (including business ties and political ties) simultaneously.Methodology/Approach: Based on data for 393 distributors from China, a moderated regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.Findings: The empirical test generally supports the hypotheses and indicates that the value of structural social capital is conditional on both curvilinear and linear moderating effects of relational social capital: the moderating effects of business ties on the structural social capital–buyer performance relationship is inverted U-shaped, while the moderating effects of relational social capital at the dyadic level and political ties on the structural social capital–buyer performance relationship is positive.Research Implications: This study incorporates all three dimensions of social capital, represents one of the first attempts to examine the interplay between structural and relational social capital in emerging economies, explores relational social capital at the dyadic and network levels simultaneously, and responses to the fact that buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs) are embedded within a larger context of social networks. By addressing these issues, this study sheds new light on the individual and joint impact of various dimensions of social capital and provides new evidence on both the positive and negative aspects of social capital in a single model.Practical Implications: The results provide important implications for managers in addressing social capital in an emerging economy. In order to improve performance, managers should first encourage and foster frequent, diverse, scarce, and high-quality information exchange and interactions to accumulate structural social capital. Additionally, managers should not only emphasize relational social capital building and development in BSRs, but also pay attention to the cultivation of relational social capital among the business network. They should acknowledge the persistent positive effect of political ties and the potential negative effect of business ties.Originality/Value/Contribution: First, few studies examine both the individual and synergetic effects of various dimensions of social capital in a single model or explicitly explore relational social capital in a dyadic relationship and deeply consider it at the network level in a single model. This study addresses these issues.