Framing socio-political controversy: The 2012 Spanish labor reform as a case study of cascading activation

In February 2012, the Spanish Government approved an aggressive labor reform. Many political agents committed to emphasis framing, highlighting certain aspects of the topic to persuade their publics with their definitions of the situation. Some generic frames suggested an individualistic approach to the labor market, while some others called for collective action. Following the cascading activation model, this research attempted to identify the flows of frames from the elites to the media outfits. A content analysis was conducted with the materials disseminated in February 2012 by the government, the two main Spanish unions, the confederation of employers, and four print media. Differences and similarities were found through bivariate analyses between the categories of the codebook. Although clear cascades emerged from the unions to the online daily Público.es, and from the government to Larazón.es, generally the media frame building processes did not limit to just depicting the frames of an elite.

Eduard Gamper (1887–1938): cases and accidents

Eduard Gamper (1887–1938) was Head of the Department of Neuropsychiatry at the Charles University’s German Faculty of Medicine in Prague. He had trained in Innsbruck, where he undertook groundbreaking work on the midbrain in an anencephalic child and in a series of patients who had died from Wernicke’s encephalopathy. Gamper identified the mamillary bodies as key in the performance of declarative memory. Considered an expert in memory disorders, he was chosen by the Medical Faculty in Innsbruck to provide expert opinion on the notorious case of Philipp Halsmann, who was suspected of murdering his father. Details of the case remained unresolved and Gamper’s opinion caused both professional and political controversy. When in Prague, Gamper made great efforts to improve patient care and clinical services, establishing a special ward for patients with neurological conditions. This task was not nearly completed, when he and his wife died after their car drove over a cliff into the Walchensee in Bavaria. Rumours surrounded his death: that Gamper had just examined Adolf Hitler; that he was a political victim; that the Gestapo were behind the accident. After an investigation of the available evidence, we can report that an unusual 22 cm of snow fell in the area of the Walchensee on April 20, 1938, the day of the Gampers’ deaths. We were unable to find any evidence for foul play in what appears to have been a tragic accident.

Introduction

Like all clinicians, reproductive healthcare providers face specialty-specific ethical questions. However, the first editor of this book, Dr. Julie Chor (JC), an obstetrician-gynecologist who also completed a Complex Family Planning Fellowship, has never found an ethics text that is tailored to the needs of practicing clinicians, students, and trainees in reproductive healthcare. This is an unfortunate gap in the literature because whether reproductive health providers come from obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, pediatrics, or another field, they all must be able to identify and analyze complex ethical issues that lie at the crossroads of patient decision-making, scientific advancement, political controversy, government regulation, and profound moral considerations in the context of continually evolving medical, legal, and societal factors. To fill this gap, Dr. Chor invited co-editor Professor Katie Watson (KW), a bioethics professor and lawyer who focuses on reproductive ethics, to partner in creating the text that she has always longed to use but has never found while practicing and teaching in this complex milieu....

Variations in administration of Covid-19 vaccine during last 20 weeks at a vaccination center of Agra, Uttar Pradesh

Background: Covid-19 pandemic has created havoc around the world and vaccination is an effective tool against this demon. Study of variations in administration of daily doses of Covid-19 vaccine at vaccination centre can help in better resource management. Material & methods: This record based descriptive study was conducted among beneficiaries of Covid-19 vaccination at S. N. Medical College, Agra. Record of administration of daily doses and vaccine wastage, vaccination of different groups of beneficiaries and occurrence of various national and local events related to vaccination was also analyzed. Result: A total of 33,571 doses of any Covid-19 vaccine (Covaxin/Covishield) were administered during past 88 working days in 20 weeks expanded over 5 months. On an average 165 doses were administered every day by each team and overall vaccine wastage was 0.85%. Maximum average of 199 doses per day by each team was observed on Mondays. There are many peaks and drops in administration of daily doses of Covid-19 vaccine at our center which can be attributed to either some national or local events related to supply of vaccine at our center, addition of a new group of beneficiary, any news or political controversy related to Covid-19 vaccination etc. Conclusion: Understanding of spikes and drops in the curve of daily/weekly administration of Covid-19 vaccine, in view of occurrence of various national and local events related to vaccination, can help in better formulation of strategies specially related to human resource allocation for success of National Covid-19 vaccination program.

Conclusion

This book’s ethnographic narrative ends with a description of the last months of the Moscovici cabinet, which dissolves as he and his collaborators look for new opportunities, while the incoming Commission headed by Ursula von der Leyen is engulfed in political controversy and Brexit negotiations. Exiting fieldwork through a collective reading of the book manuscript, I discuss the methodological challenges of embedded observation, while the Moscos take stock of their collective experience. What did the political commissioner and his staff achieve? What were the limits of political work? The conclusion is an opportunity to reflect on Juncker’s “Political Commission” experiment and on what it means to do politics in the European Union.

Music and Movement in Britain, 1793–1815

The frequent references to the actors and events of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in the titles of the dance tunes of the period raise the question of how we should understand their significance. This article argues that the practice is one of a number of examples of music and song shaping people's lived experience and behavior in ways that were rarely fully conscious. Drawing on a range of music collections, diaries, and journals, the article argues that we need to recognize how significant aural dimensions were in shaping people's predisposition to favor the status quo in this period of heightened political controversy.

Economic Factors Undermining National Security: Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, Australia

The article analyses Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap in Australia that is used by the United States to controls satellites pinpoint airstrikes around the world. The Joint Facility rises political controversy in Australia (especially after Edward Snowden’s revelations) as many doubt if it is in Australia’s best interests to contribute data for drone assassinations and targeting US nuclear weapons. Considering Australia’s policy towards Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap the author raises the question whether national security can be “outsourced” to save budget funds. The article concludes that in Australia it is noticeable that human intelligence potential in financial terms is less valued than some construction, manual jobs. Considering that Russia and China, which are in the focus of Pine Gap intelligence gathering do not outsource its national security and were more successful in preventing major information leaks, moreover in preventing major terrorist attacks on their soil, is indicating that national security should not be privatized.