Modification of hematoma findings in the breast region

Subcutaneous bruises caused by blunt injury are common findings in medicolegal case work. If the hematoma involves the anterior thoracic wall, bruises are mostly absent in the region of the nipples and the surrounding areola. A similar phenomenon has already been described for hypostatic skin hemorrhages. A possible explanation for both phenomena is the special tissue texture in the nipple–areola complex. Based on four cases from the forensic autopsy material and two cases from clinical forensic examinations, the macromorphological findings and the histological correlates are presented.     

Tagebaurestlochflutung im Spannungsfeld zwischen Berg- und Wasserrecht –- Anmerkung zu OVG Magdeburg, Beschluss vom 26. Mai 2008 (2 L 187/06)

Zusammenfassung  Bei Stilllegung von Bergbaubetrieben ist ein zentrales Thema die Einstellung der bergbaulichen Grundwasserhaltung. Dies gilt insbesondere, wenn die bergrechtliche Wiedernutzbarmachung durch Flutung der sog. Tagebaurestl?cher und Herstellung von Landschaftsseen erfolgt. In den dabei durchzuführenden berg- und wasserrechtlichen Verfahren stellt sich die Frage, wie mit Vern?ssungssch?den bei Wiederanstieg des Grundwassers auf sein vorbergbauliches Niveau umzugehen ist. Zu dieser Problematik hat mit dem Beschluss des OVG Magdeburg vom 26. Mai 2008 erstmals ein Oberverwaltungsgericht Stellung genommen und dabei für begrü?enswerte Klarheit gesorgt. Das OVG Magdeburg hat im Ergebnis die erstinstanzliche Entscheidung des VG Halle best?tigt, wonach über solche Vern?ssungen nicht im wasserrechtlichen Planfeststellungsverfahren, sondern im bergrechtlichen Betriebsplanverfahren zu befinden ist und die Vern?ssungen im übrigen Baugrundrisiken darstellen, die in die Verantwortung der Grundeigentümer fallen.     

An institutional dinosaur: Austrian corporatism in the post‐industrial age

While the Austrian party system, based on a competitive electoral logic, is able to absorb the wide‐ranging changes created by modernisation in the last 25 years, the corporatist system, based on a ‘protective’ logic insulates itself from societal change. Corporatist organisations are designed to create societal stability. As societies experience dynamic change, the corporatist institutional structure not only becomes obsolete but also hinders evolutionary institutional adaptation to a changing society. Corporatist institutions are increasingly ‘out of touch’ with popular demands. The sources for this maladaptation reside within the central institutional features of corporatism themselves: organisation of interests in peak associations, compulsory membership to three of the four ‘strategic actors’, and the decision rule of unanimity.     

Partisan Bias in Message Selection: Media Gatekeeping of Party Press Releases

Parties try to shape media coverage in ways that are favorable to them, but what determines whether media outlets pick up and report on party messages? Based on content analyses of 1,496 party press releases and 6,512 media reports from the 2013 Austrian parliamentary election campaign, we show that media coverage of individual party messages is influenced not just by news factors, but also by partisan bias. The media are therefore more likely to report on messages from parties their readers favor. Importantly, this effect is greater rather than weaker when these messages have high news value. These findings have important implications for understanding the media’s role in elections and representative democracies in general.     

Costly Signals: Voter Responses to Parliamentary Dissent in Austria,Britain, and Germany

When Members of Parliament (MPs) disagree publicly with their party, this provides a signal to voters regarding both their political views and their character valence. We argue that the strength of this signal to voters depends on the personal career costs an MP incurs by dissenting. The greater the perceived costs of dissent to the MP, the more positively voters should react to dissent. In line with this theory, we use a series of conjoint analysis experiments in Britain, Germany, and Austria to show that: (1) dissent has a more positive effect on voter evaluations in systems where the costs of dissent are higher, and (2) more costly types of dissent have a greater impact on voter evaluations. These findings have important implications for understanding how voter evaluations of MPs depend on beliefs about parliamentary systems and how parliamentary institutions condition the link between voters and MPs.     

Economic growth and political extremism

Public Choice - We argue that the growth rate, but not the level of aggregate income, affects the support for extreme political parties. In our model, extreme parties offer short-run benefits to...     

The impact of associational life on trust in local institutions: a comparison of 57 Swiss municipalities

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of associational life on individual political trust in 57 Swiss municipalities. Our hierarchical regression models show that individual political trust is not only affected by individual associational membership but also by the exchange between associations and local political authorities in a community. In other words, if political authorities and associations are linked at the community level, citizens will place more trust in their local institutions. Furthermore, we find clear evidence for the rainmaker hypothesis: our results show that the positive effect of a vibrant connection between associational life and local politics on political trust is not solely confined to the associational members themselves, but rather indicate that the structure of the local civic culture fosters political trust among members and non-members at the same time. However, the internal democratic processes of associations have no effect on individuals’ trust in local political institutions.     

“Boundary Delineation” in grenzüberschreitenden Policy‐Netzwerken: Primat der “Policies” oder der “Polity”? Das Fallbeispiel des Policy‐Netzwerks zur 28‐Tonnen‐Limite

Zur Analyse neuer Verhandlungssysteme der Politikformulierung hat sich seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre das Konzept der Policy‐Netzwerke herausge‐bildet. Verschiedentlich wurde diesen Netzwerkkonzepten in der Literatur vorgeworfen, dass bei dynamischen networking‐Prozessen nicht zwischen inhaltlichen und institutionell geprägten Aktivitäten unterschieden werden kann. Inwiefern sich diese These aufrecht erhalten lässt und welche Implikationen sie für die Ausdifferenzierung von grenzüberschreitenden Netzwerken birgt, ist Gegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrags. Die quantitative Netzwerkanalyse der schweizerischen Schwerverkehrspolitik im europäischen Umfeld über drei Phasen hinweg stützt die Institutionalismus‐These, wonach sich das grenzüberschreitende Netzwerk entlang der staatsrechtlich‐institutionellen Dimensionen Schweiz‐EU sowie staatlich‐parastaatlich/privat ausdifferenzierte. Die Sektorzugehörigkeit dagegen wirkte in dieser Konstellation erst innerhalb formal‐institutionell definierter Strukturen differenzierend.     

Flexible pensions for politicians

It may be difficult to motivate politicians in their last term. To solve this problem, we suggest a triple mechanism involving political information markets, flexible pensions, and democratic elections. An information market is used to predict the potential reelection chances of the politician. Pensions depend on the price in the information market and thereby motivate the politician to act in a socially optimal manner. We show that, on balance, the triple mechanism increases social welfare. Finally, we suggest several ways to avoid the manipulation of information markets and we discuss possible pitfalls of flexible pensions.