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In parliamentary democracies, elections distribute the seats in parliament, but who gets into government and determines the policy agenda over the course of the legislative term is decided upon after the elections, in negotiations between the political parties. This introduction to the special issue discusses research concerning dynamic approaches to coalition governments. A dynamic approach implies that what happens at the electoral stage influences the government formation stage, which in turn shapes what happens during the government's tenure, which may influence the cabinet's durability. Hence, this type of research tries to analyse various stages of a government's 'life cycle' from its 'birth' to its 'death' as interdependent processes, rather than examining them in mutual isolation. These processes may be restricted to the confines of a self-contained universe of politicians and political parties, or they may involve 'external' events, such as, for example, elections, or the state of the economy. In addition to having a dynamic approach to analysing coalitions, the contributions in the special issue use brand-new comparative data from several independent research projects investigating various aspects of coalition politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the biggest challenges parties in multiparty governments face is making policies together and overcoming the risk of a policy stalemate. Scholars have devoted much attention to the study of how various institutions in cabinet and parliament help coalition parties with conflicting policy preferences to be efficient in the policy-making process. Coalition agreements are one of many instruments coalition partners can use to facilitate policy making. However, many scholars describe such agreements' actual role as cheap talk, due to their legally non-enforceable nature. Do coalition agreements make a difference in the policy-making productivity of multiparty governments? To address this question, this article focuses on governments' policy output and investigates whether coalition agreements increase the policy-making productivity of multiparty cabinets. Its central argument is that written agreements between coalition partners strengthen the capacity of coalition governments to make policy reforms, even when there is a high degree of ideological conflict among partners. To evaluate this argument, the article analyzes data on economic reform measures adopted by national governments in 11 Western European countries over a 40-year period (1978–2017), based on a coding of more than 1000 periodical country reports issued by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The results show that while coalition agreements foster policy productivity in minimal winning cabinets, they play a weaker role in minority and surplus governments. Coalition agreements limit the negative effect of intra-cabinet ideological conflict on reform productivity, suggesting that such contracts help parties overcome the risk of policy stalemate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dental enamel represents an important mineralized archive of an individual's early life. Previously, isotopic (Ca) or trace element ratios (Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca) have been used to reveal dietary and weaning histories, although few studies have utilized both proxies to evaluate the respective results. Here we report histologically-defined, spatially-resolved Ca-isotope (laser-cut & TIMS) and trace element ratio (Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca; LA-ICPMS) profiles along the enamel-dentine-junction in three deciduous dental crowns of three early twentieth century Italian infants (Modern-22, 27, 29). Modern-27 and Modern-29 display overall similar patterns of Ca-isotope variation and reflect an overall increase of >1.0‰ in δ44/40Ca across and after birth. Whilst the Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca signals of Modern-27 suggest a mixed breast-formula feeding, the two elemental proxies in Modern-29 hint at nearly exclusive breastfeeding until ∼4 months, followed by introduction of formula. A ∼0.5‰ δ44/40Ca decrease across and after birth together with Sr/Ca ratios in Modern-22 suggest a dominant breastfeeding history for the first ∼5–8 months. Enamel Ca-isotope data alone are not sufficient to distinguish between breastfed or formula-fed infants. In addition, Ca-isotope profiles in deciduous enamel suggest a connection between prominent physiological stress like birth and negative Ca-isotope excursions, underlining the physiological overprint of Ca-isotope signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The class of affine LIBOR models is appealing since it satisfies three central requirements of interest rate modeling. It is arbitrage-free, interest rates are nonnegative, and caplet and swaption prices can be calculated analytically. In order to guarantee nonnegative interest rates affine LIBOR models are driven by nonnegative affine processes, a restriction that makes it hard to produce volatility smiles. We modify the affine LIBOR models in such a way that real-valued affine processes can be used without destroying the nonnegativity of interest rates. Numerical examples show that in this class of models, pronounced volatility smiles are possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How can we explain institutional reforms that redistribute institutional power between the parliamentary majority and minority? This paper proposes an informal theoretical model to explain such reforms in European parliaments based on congressional literature and inductive explanations from case studies. The article argues that political parties as the relevant actors pursue institutional reforms based on their substantive goals, their current and expected future government status, transaction and audience costs of reforms, second-order institutions that regulate the relative influence of actors in changing parliamentary rules, and the institutional status quo. Hypotheses derived from this model are tested with a qualitative case study of all standing order reforms in the Austrian parliament from 1945 to 2014. The empirical analysis finds support for various hypotheses and their underlying causal mechanisms. As Austria constitutes a least-likely case, the evidence provides strong support for the theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On the basis of the known aminodiphosphinoamine ligand Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph) N(i-Pr)-H (3a), differently substituted aminodiphosphinoamine PNPN-H ligands (3) were prepared. By using different synthetic methods, theN-substituted ligands Ph2PN (i-Pr)P(Ph)N(c-Hex)-H (3b), Ph2PN(c-Hex)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3g), and Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph) N[(CH2)3Si(OEt)3]-H (3c), in addition to the formerly described Ph2PN(n-Hex)P (Ph)N (i-Pr)-H (3h), Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(Et)-H (3d), Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(Me)-H (3e), and Ph2PN(c-Hex)P(Ph)N(c-Hex)-H (3f), were obtained. In addition, Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Me)N(i-Pr)-H (3i), (cyclopentyl)2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3j), (-O-CH2-CH2-O-)PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3k), and (1-Ad)2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3l) were prepared with differentP-substitutions. All compounds were characterized and the molecular structures of the intermediates Ph2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)Cl (1a) and (cyclopentyl)2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)Cl (1e) and the ligand (1-Ad)2PN(i-Pr)P(Ph)N(i-Pr)-H (3l) were investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition ofPhosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elementsto view the free supplemental file. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the effects of the issue agenda and of party competence on party popularity. Based on the salience and the issue ownership literatures, shifts in party support may be attributable to two factors: changing voter perceptions of issue salience and shifts in perceived party competence. We thus hypothesize that (1) a party's popularity increases if the public issue agenda changes in its favour such that its “best” issues become more important to voters and (2) that voters' changing perceptions of party competence account for shifting party popularity. Using annual macro data on voter perceptions of the issue agenda, party competence and popularity in Austria, we find no support for the first hypothesis. Rather, voter perceptions of party issue competence vary considerably and this variation accounts for the parties' level of popular support. This suggests that party competition plays out more by what politicians actually do and what impression they give about their deeds and competence than by exercising influence on the issue agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Election manifestos are one of the most prominent sources of data for the study of party politics and government. Yet the processes of manifesto production, enactment, and public reception are not very well understood. This article attempts to narrow this knowledge gap by conducting a first investigation into the ‘life cycle’ of election manifestos from the drafting stage to their use in the campaign and post-election periods. Specifically, it investigates the Austrian case between 1945 and 2008 (with special emphasis on the 1990s and 2000s), employing a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data. While the research is thus mostly exploratory, it develops systematic expectations about variation between parties according to their ideology, organisation, government status, and characteristics of their electorates across the stages of the manifesto life cycle. Of those factors, organisational characteristics and status as government or opposition parties were found to be relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: A high cellular radiosensitivity may be connected with a risk for development of severe side effects after radiotherapy and indicate cancer susceptibility. Hence, a fast and robust in vitro test is desirable to identify radiosensitive individuals. Materials and methods: The study included 25 prostate cancer patients with severe side effects (S) and 25 patients without severe side effects (0) after radiotherapy as well as 23 male healthy age-matched donors. Blood samples were exposed to 0.5 Gy or 1 Gy of γ-rays. The initial level of double-strand breaks (dsb) and repair kinetics measured by phosphorylation of histone H2A (γ-H2AX-assay), apoptosis (Annexin V-assay) and the induction of chromatid aberrations after irradiation in the G2-phase of the cell cycle (G2-assay) were analysed. Results: A significant higher chromatid aberration yield was found in lymphocytes from prostate cancer patients when compared to healthy donors. We found no significant differences between patients S and patients 0. Conclusions: There is no obvious correlation between clinical and cellular radiosensitivity in lymphocytes of prostate cancer patients when all chosen in vitro assays are considered. Although 25% of the patients showed both severe side effects and increased radiation-induced chromosomal sensitivity, predictive value of G2-assay is doubtful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Local treatment of tendinopathies showed that the serotonin [5-HT3] receptor antagonist tropisetron evidently has an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect. We therefore investigated the question if this substance is also suitable for local treatment of trigger points. Methods: Thirty-three patients with myofascial pain syndromes were enrolled in a double blind trial [blinded observer procedure]. A single dose of 5 mg 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron or 10ml 0.5 per cent prilocaine solution respectively was injected into the corresponding trigger point. Results: Nine of 17 patients receiving tropisetron and eight of 16 patients on prilocaine responded to treatment by showing a reduction in pain on the visual analog scale three hours after the injection. Seven days after injection, the visual analog scale-value in these cases decreased by 76.5 per cent in the tropisetron group, whereas it was only by 14.8 per cent in the prilocaine group. Compared to the prilocaine group, the patients that had received tropisetron showed significantly better results also in the follow-up eight weeks after injection. Conclusion: Trigger point injection with the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron reduces pain in myofascial pain syndromes. The intense and long-term effect of the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron can be attributed to the substance's analgesic effect, and moreover, probably also to its anti-inflammatory action. Additional studies are needed for a more precise assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Austrian party system has entered a new phase since the controversial ÖVP-FPÖ coalition came into office in February 2000. The party system literature offers two contradicting expectations about party system mechanics in multi-party systems without relevant extremist parties: competition structured by party alliances and strictly competitive relations between government and opposition parties (as suggested by Sartori 1976 ) versus competition structured by individual parties and some mix of competition and co-operation and perhaps even power-sharing in extra-governmental arenas between government and opposition parties (as suggested by Dahl 1966 ). Our empirical analysis of party system competitiveness in the electoral, parliamentary and other arenas (in particular, the corporatist arena) between 2000 and 2003 shows that the relations between the government and opposition parties were strictly competitive (i.e. of a zero-sum character) in the electoral arena. Likewise, there was no trading between government and opposition in the parliamentary arena. Finally, the government substantially increased its impact on the official sites (i.e. arenas controlled by the government) and used fire and hire methods more than any of its predecessors to build up its positions in public sector institutions. The opposition parties, in turn, perceived the government parties as a bloc and were united in their goal of undermining the government parties' majority. Yet, while relations between the government and opposition parties remained highly competitive throughout the entire period, relations between the parties on each side of the government-opposition divide became more fluid, partly for tactical considerations and partly for reasons of genuine preferences. In sum, the post-2000 Austrian party system is a weak version of a two-bloc system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of roller compaction parameters on granule and tablet quality of a dry herbal extract from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.), which is widely used in the treatment of mild to moderate depressive disorders. Eight different extract batches were blended with 0.5, 2, and 5% of magnesium stearate and were compacted at different compaction forces using a gap width and force controlled roller compactor. The ribbon formed was milled into granules having mean particle sizes up to 700 μm. The roller compaction of the extracts decreased significantly the angle of repose from about 45 to 32° and the Hausner ratio from about 1.2 to 1.1. Tabletting of granulated extract instead of extract powder effectively reduced not only dust and feeding problems during the tabletting process but also prevented capping. The incorporation of 2 and 5% of magnesium stearate into the roller compacted extract reduced significantly the sticking of the dry herbal extracts to the punch faces without affecting the crushing strength of the tablets. Tablets containing granulated extracts exhibited a 3-fold lower disintegration time of about 12 min compared to tablets containing extract powder. Dissolution studies revealed that hyperforin, hypericin, and rutin were more rapidly released from tablets containing granulated extract. Therefore, roller compaction leveled out the differences in technological properties between the eight dry herbal extracts and compression of granulated extract significantly improved tablet quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of roller compaction parameters and the amount of magnesium stearate used in dry granulation on granule and tablet properties of a dry herbal extract from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.). Two different extract batches were blended with magnesium stearate and compacted using a gap width and force controlled roller compactor. A 33 factorial design was used to evaluate the influence of the three independent variables, the amount of magnesium stearate, the roller compaction force, and the granulating sieve size on the mean particle size of granulated extracts and on the disintegration time of tablets containing these granulated extracts. The evaluation was done by multilinear stepwise regression analysis. The mean particle size d50 ( R2>0.9) of both compacted extracts increased with increasing compaction force and with granulating sieve size. The disintegration time of the tablets was mostly in the range 5–15 min and increased slightly with increasing magnesium stearate concentration in the compacted extract and with decreasing compaction force of the roller compaction. The incorporation of magnesium stearate into the granulated extract reduced its potential negative influence on the disintegration time, while maintaining its functionality as a lubricant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: As in a prospective, randomized, placebocontrolled, multicenter, double-blind trial in fibromyalgia [FMS] a significant reduction of pain especially, but of other symptoms as well, could be gained after 10 days of peroral daily treatment with 5 mg tropisetron, the question was evaluated as to whether quicker and better effects could be achieved with intravenous application of 2 mg tropisetron daily for a limited period of time. Methods: In the first cohort, 18 FMS patients received a single bolus intravenous [i.v.] injection of 2 mg tropisetron, in the second cohort 24 FMS patients were treated with 2 mg i.v. bolus injection tropisetron daily for five days. Pain intensity was measured with the visual analog scale and the painscore; pain at the tenderpoints and control points [dolorimeter] was evaluated as well as 17 ancillary symptoms before and after treatment; furthermore, pain intensity was followed up by means of a patient diary, until pain recurrence. Results: Even with a single i.v. injection of 2 mg tropisetron a significant pain reduction as well as an enhancement of the pain threshold provable by dolorimetry could be achieved; however, this lasted only a few days. Three out of these 18 patients did not respond at all to therapy. If 2 mg tropisetron were applied daily for five days, 23 of 24 patients showed a pain reduction, which lasted for two weeks to two months in 20 of these patients. Two patients stopped fillling in the pain diary. Twelve ancillary symptoms such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, morning stiffness, and others, were also significantly improved by the latter treatment. In the global assessment 16 out of 24 patients showed a significant improvement and seven showed a slight improvement of their disease. There was only one patient who did not experience any improvement. Tolerability was good. Conclusion: Intravenous injection of 2 mg of the 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron once daily for five days can often produce a longer-lasting therapeutic effect on fibromyalgia symptoms. The results achieved are now being evaluated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are a novel therapy for patients suffering from fibromyalgia, although the optimal duration of treatment is still unclear. The objective of this phase II study was to evaluate whether prolonging treatment with tropisetron to 4 weeks is tolerable and correlated with an improved clinical benefit. Thirty female patients with fibromyalgia received oral tropisetron (5 mg) daily for 28 days in an open­label fashion. Treatment resulted in significantly decreased pain as measured by visual analog scale (VAS), with a mean reduction of 59.7% and an absolute median change of -25.0 from baseline to day 28 (p<0.0001). A similar, significant reduction of 55.7% and absolute median change of -31.0 was observed in the painscore (p<0.0001). The response rate with patients showing a ≥35% reduction in individual pain scores was 72.4% at day 28. The pressure tolerance of tender­points was slightly increased at the end of the treatment period. In addition, significant improvements were observed in the State­Trait­Anxiety­Inventory (STAI), scales of von Zerssen (Bf­S) and Beck Depression Index (BDI). Functional symptoms were compared with the results from a 10­day, randomized, double­blind phase III study of tropisetron in 418 fibromyalgia patients. In both studies several functional symptoms such as sleep disturbances and dizziness improved significantly (p<0.05). In the 28 days study, the number and extent of improvement in functional symptoms was increased compared with the shorter trial. Tolerability and safety of tropisetron was good, and typically for 5-HT3-receptor antagonists, gastrointestinal symptoms and headache were the most frequently reported events. In conclusion, 28 days treatment of fibromyalgia patients with 5 mg tropisetron resulted in significant pain reduction, which was most pronounced after 10 days with a further reduction up to day 28. Psychometric tests showed significant improvements in depression and anxiety state scores, while functional symptoms improved with extended tropisetron treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Kirchheimer's catch‐all party thesis systematically, using the example of the Austrian Socialist Party (SPÖ). First, five central elements of the Kirchheimer catch‐all party are identified and possibilities for empirical research are explored. Then the empirical evidence on these five dimensions is analysed. As Kirchheimer has expected, the SPÖ's ‘ideological baggage’ has been drastically reduced, its top leadership groups and its electoral leader in particular have been further strengthened, the working‐class clientele has been de‐emphasised, and the party's function in the political system has been substantially reduced. Concerning the SPÖ's link to interest groups, however, Kirchheimer's thesis is only valid when looking at the most recent period. In view of the cumulative effect of the changes in the direction of a catch‐all party the SPÖ of the 1990s can definitely be classified as a catch‐all party. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article announces that Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen has been appointed as editor at the periodical by replacing Anand Menon and Zsolt Enyedi and Kevin Featherstone resigned as the member of Editorial Advisory Board of the periodical.