Early epidermal changes in heat- and electrically injured pig skin. I. A light microscopic study

In order to find methods applicable for disclosing electrical torture, pig skin was exposed to heat and electricity under controlled circumstances. Biopsies were obtained immediately after exposure and the morphology of the heat lesions was compared to that of electrical lesions. The cytoplasm of epidermal cells in heat lesions appeared granular or fibrillar, while the nuclei were rather unaffected. In electrical lesions the cytoplasm appeared homogeneous often with a peculiar white colour in hematoxylin-eosin stained sections. The nuclei were either dark and shadowy or enlarged and vesicular. The keratin in electrical lesions often showed a bright yellow colour. Small defects in the epidermis were seen in some electrical lesions. Thus the morphology of electrical lesions differed markedly from that of heat lesions. Although some of these differences may be due to differences in distribution and intensity of energy, it is probable that pH shifts in the cells due to electrolysis is the main cause of the specific morphology of electrical lesions.     

Taking cues on multidimensional issues: the case of attitudes toward immigration

What determines popular attitudes toward immigration? Recent work emphasises the importance of education rather than economic or labour market factors. Missing from this work, however, is a consideration of elite positions. This study extends education-based accounts in two key ways: by acknowledging the multidimensional nature of the immigration issue and by incorporating cues from party elites. Cues from trusted elites inform popular attitudes on immigration. But rather than serving as a heuristic for the less sophisticated, elite cues on immigration are disproportionately employed by those more educated individuals who rely on elite positions to form opinions on multidimensional issues, like immigration, on which they are cross-pressured. Theoretical expectations are supported by evidence from cross-national analyses of party positions and public opinion and from a longitudinal examination of mass and party positions in Denmark. The results call attention to the importance of dimensionality in the formation of issue opinions.     

Reform Strategies Matter: Explaining the Perplexing Results of Regional Government Reforms in Norway and Denmark

Reforming the public sector often means imposing immediate costs on well-organised interests in return for longer-term, diffuse benefits to voters and taxpayers. Nonetheless, reforms sometimes are carried through. Investigations of this puzzle have followed two approaches: The first is structural and explains reforms as a consequence of the institutional setting in which policymakers operate. The second focuses on human agency. It investigates how reformers search for ways to overcome structural obstacles. This approach has lived a quiet life in recent decades. In this paper, we investigate recent attempts to reform the regional government level in Norway and Denmark. Despite very similar structural settings and political preferences, the reforms failed in Norway, but were successful in Denmark; failure and success being defined by the two governments' intensions. We argue that the explanation lies in the different reform strategies pursued by the central governments in the two countries.     

Subnational Collective Action: The Varied Patterns of Mobilisation of Local Government Associations

This article assesses differences in the way local government associations organise to influence EU legislation in different countries. EU policy outcomes have an increasing financial and administrative impact on local government. This has been increasingly recognised by both EU institutions and many national governments, and recent reforms have sought to ensure greater involvement of local authorities in the preparation of EU proposals and domestic pre-negotiations, with an emphasis on the aggregation of local government interests via European and national local government associations. Research suggests that representative organisations need to be well resourced to be able to mobilise at both European and national level to influence EU proposals. This article empirically assesses these claims by examining attempts by local government associations in England, Denmark and Ireland to influence EU environmental directives. The findings suggest that financial, staffing, and informational resources, as well as structural issues, are important factors influencing how local government representative bodies respond to EU legislative proposals.     

Differences and Changes in Danish Party Organisations: Central Party Organisation versus Parliamentary Party Group Power

The subject of this article is the relationship between the central party organisation and the parliamentary party group. The article investigates whether Danish political parties are changing into parties dominated by their parliamentary party groups, as has been hypothesised. In contrast to most of the literature on party change, which is based on ideas of convergence caused by external changes, this article argues that party organisation is basically a party decision and therefore influenced by party preferences and characteristics. The analyses are based on data from the statutes of 16 Danish parties in over 50 years. One noteworthy finding is that Danish parties do not converge. Party ideology proves to be very important for the power structure of a party. Even though political parties are exposed to changing political circumstances they still organise according to their basic ideas about democracy and representation.     

The Kramer problem: Micro-macro resolution with a Danish pool

In a seminal paper, Kramer (1983) posed his “problem” for the study of economic voting with election surveys: the items administered can measure neither individual nor national economic wellbeing accurately. Instead these items of economic perception are laden with erroneous judgment and partisan bias. Thus, the investigation of economics and elections should not be a survey research enterprise. Here we show, through varied analyses in an extensive, well-gathered Danish election pool, that these fears are unfounded. The presence of strong sociotropic voting effects from surveys can be established, and reconciled with the observed effects of national fluctuations in the macro economy. Indeed, the micro- and macro- processes mirror each other, so resolving the Kramer problem.     

Campaigns Matter: How Voters Become Knowledgeable and Efficacious During Election Campaigns

Election campaigns are more than simple competitions for votes; they also represent an opportunity for voters to become politically knowledgeable and engaged. Using a large-scale Web panel (N ≈ 5,000), we track the development of political knowledge, internal efficacy, and external efficacy among voters during the 2011 Danish parliamentary election campaign. Over the course of the campaign, the electorate’s political knowledge increases, and these gains are found across genders, generations, and educational groups, narrowing the knowledge gap within the electorate. Furthermore, internal and external efficacy increase over the course of the campaign, with gains found across different demographic groups, particularly narrowing the gaps in internal efficacy. The news media play a crucial role, as increased knowledge and efficacy are partly driven by media use, although tabloids actually decrease external efficacy. The findings suggest that positive campaign effects are universal across various media and party systems.     

丹麦的北极战略

丹麦虽然是个北极小国,但因为格陵兰岛巨大的资源和航道利益,所以高度重视北极。它所发动的伊卢利萨特宣言,反对将北极问题国际化,坚持在已有的国际法基础上和平解决北极国家间争端。伊卢利萨特宣言既显示了丹麦借助气候外交提高国家地位的努力,也昭示了北极争夺进入新的阶段。     

The Mainstreaming of Far-Right Discourse in Denmark

Building on two recent case studies of public debates concerning political meetings arranged by or involving controversial Muslim actors in Denmark, this article argues that an observed mainstreaming of intolerant discourses, most forcefully expressed by the Danish People's Party, can be explained by the proliferation of a new form of “liberal intolerance” that has transformed old racist or nationalist intolerance into a discourse stressing liberal reasons (autonomy, gender equality, social cohesion, public-private divide, security risks) for not tolerating particular Muslim practices. By comparing the two cases, the different toleration/intoleration positions and arguments in the two debates are brought out, and four different modalities of “liberal intolerance” are identified. Further, the article shows how the spread of liberal intolerance discourses across the political spectrum in Denmark has significantly affected Danish (liberal) Muslim actors’ possibilities of political participation and room for maneuvering.     

Electrical and thermal injuries in pig skin — Evaluated and compared by light microscopy

The morphology of pig skin after electrical (el) and thermal exposure was studied in order to find methods applicable for disclosing electrical torture.Biopsies from pig skin exposed 24 hours earlier to either heat or electrical current under general anesthesia were studied by light microscopy. The amount of energy used of either type ranged from about 6 to about 100 joule deposited on two circular areas of the skin measuring 12 mm in diameter.In sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin alterations were found in heat-influenced specimens following the administration of moderate and large doses of energy. Changes were observed in el-influenced specimens also after the administration of low amounts of energy, which did not lead to macroscopical changes in the skin. The two types of energy induced different patterns of alterations inside the epidermis. The most characteristic change following heat exposure was the presence of a granular or fibrillar eosinophilic cytoplasm and subepidermal clefts, while el-expoure often produced white homogeneous cytoplasm and shadowy nuclei (“white necrosis”) in the attached epidermis. The individual changes could be produced by both types of injury, but to a highly different degree. However, the alteration classified as “vesicular nuclei” was only observed in el-damaged skin. The dermis from the more severely injured skin of both groups showed a homogeneous appearance (“necrosis”). While the changes of epidermis and dermis in response to heat were diffusely distributed, the changes created by electrical injury were often present in segments. By electrical damage homogeneous areas with loss of stainability and shadowy nuclei were occasionally observed in sweat glands, hair sheaths and in vessel walls, structures which are suggested to serve as conductors for the electrical current. “Vesicular nuclei” were observed in similar structures.Some of the findings may be associated with differences in intensity of energy during exposure to heat and electricity. Furthermore, the existence of different biological patterns following the two types of exposure should be considered. The studies are being continued to elucidate these basic questions, and to study further the medical diagnostic potential of examining skin biopsies from tortured individuals.