Ireland has become something of a trail-blazer in the use of deliberative methods in the process of constitutional review. It is the first case in which the process has been employed a second time: ...the Irish Citizens' Assembly (2016-18) followed upon the Convention on the Constitution (2012-14). The creation of two mini-publics in quick succession and their significant role in supporting key referendums for constitutional change that followed (marriage equality in 2015 and abortion in 2018) suggests a degree of 'systemization' of deliberation in the Irish process of constitutional review. This report sets out the basic details of the most recent Citizens' Assembly - how it was set up, its agenda, its manner of operation, and its outcomes. We conclude with a brief discussion of the recent Irish experience of constitutional mini-publics and the degree to which they speak to a process of systematizing deliberation in the Irish policy process.
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Ireland has enjoyed continuous democratic government for almost a century, an unusual experience among countries that gained their independence in the twentieth century. But the way this works has ...changed dramatically over time. Ireland’s colonial past has had an enduring influence over political life, enabling stable institutions of democratic accountability, while also shaping economic underdevelopment and persistent emigration. More recently, membership of the EU has brought about far-reaching transformation across almost all aspects of life. But the paradoxes have only intensified. Now one of the most open economies in the world, Ireland has experienced both rapid growth and a severe crash in the wake of the Great Recession. By some measures, Ireland is among the most affluent countries in the world, yet this is not the lived experience for many of its citizens. Ireland is an unequivocally modern state, yet public life continues to be marked by ideas and values in which tradition and modernity are uneasy bedfellows. It is a small state that has ambitions to carry more weight on the world stage. Ireland continues to be deeply connected to Britain through ties of culture and trade, now matters of deep concern post-Brexit. And the old fault lines between North and South, between Ireland and Britain, which had been at the core of one of Europe’s longest and bloodiest civil conflicts, risk being reopened. These key issues are teased out in this book, making it the most comprehensive volume on Irish politics to date.
Triple-wavelength lidar observations of the depolarization ratio and the backscatter coefficient of marine aerosol as a function of relative humidity (RH) are presented with a 5 min time resolution. ...The measurements were performed at Barbados (13° N, 59° W) during the Saharan Aerosol Long-range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) winter campaign in February 2014. The phase transition from spherical sea salt particles to cubic-like sea salt crystals was observed with a polarization lidar. The radiosonde and water-vapor Raman lidar observations show a drop in RH below 50 % in the marine aerosol layer simultaneously with a strong increase in particle linear depolarization ratio, which reaches values up to 0.12 ± 0.08 (at 355 nm), 0.15 ± 0.03 (at 532 nm), and 0.10 ± 0.01 (at 1064 nm). The lidar ratio (extinction-to-backscatter ratio) increased from 19 and 23 sr for spherical sea salt particles to 27 and 25 sr (at 355 and 532 nm, respectively) for cubic-like particle ensembles. Furthermore the scattering enhancement due to hygroscopic growth of the marine aerosol particles under atmospheric conditions was measured. Extinction enhancement factors from 40 to 80 % RH of 1.94 ± 0.94 at 355 nm, 3.70 ± 1.14 at 532 nm, and 5.37 ± 1.66 at 1064 nm were found. The enhanced depolarization ratios and lidar ratios were compared to modeling studies of cubic sea salt particles.
Abstract Treatment of infections in the intensive care unit (ICU) represents a great challenge, especially those caused by Gram-negative organisms. Rapid introduction of appropriate antimicrobial ...therapy is crucial to reduce mortality; resistance rates in the ICU can be elevated due to antimicrobial selection pressure. We evaluated the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients hospitalized in ICUs (ICU patients). The isolates were consecutively collected as part of the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program from January 2009 to December 2011 and tested for susceptibility to multiple antimicrobial agents at a central laboratory by reference broth microdilution methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility results for 5989 bacterial isolates from ICU patients (3445 from the United States USA and 2544 from Europe EU) were analyzed and compared to those of 17,244 organisms from non-ICU patients (9271 from USA and 7973 from EU). Escherichia coli , Klebsiella spp., and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most frequently isolated organisms from ICU patients, followed by Enterobacter spp., Serratia spp., Haemophilus influenzae , Acinetobacter spp., and Proteus mirabilis . Susceptibility rates were generally lower among ICU isolates compared to non-ICU organisms. E. coli isolates from ICU patients exhibited elevated extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-phenotype rates (13.7% in USA and 16.6% in EU); furthermore, only amikacin (90.5–94.8% susceptibility), colistin (99.8–100.0% inhibited at ≤2 μg/mL), imipenem (95.5–96.0%), meropenem (95.4–95.8%), and tigecycline (96.3–98.0%) exhibited good activity against Klebsiella spp. ESBL-phenotype rates have increased among both E. coli and Klebsiella spp. from ICU patients in the USA and in Europe, with the most noticeable increase among Klebsiella spp. from Europe (from 27.5% in 2009 to 41.8% in 2011; P = 0.015 and odds ratio = 0.89 95% confidence interval, 1.13–3.18). Meropenem susceptibility among Klebsiella spp. improved slightly in the USA but decreased markedly in Europe from 100.0% in 2009 to 89.7% in 2011. Only colistin (99.4% susceptible) and amikacin (97.3% in USA and 84.9% in EU) exhibited good activity against P. aeruginosa strains from ICU patients. The greatest differences in susceptibility rates between P. aeruginosa strains from ICU and non-ICU patients were observed for the anti-pseudomonal β-lactams, such as ceftazidime, meropenem, and piperacillin/tazobactam. The results of this study (101 medical centers) highlight major antimicrobial coverage problems and trends in antimicrobial resistance for USA and EU ICU patient isolates.
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OprD loss and hyperexpression of AmpC, MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ, MexEF-OprN, and MexXY-OprM were evaluated among 120 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates collected during 2012 in U.S. hospitals and selected ...based on ceftazidime MIC values (1 to >32 μg/ml). AmpC derepression (10-fold greater than that with the control) and OprD loss (decreased/no band) were the most prevalent resistance mechanisms: 47.5 and 45.8% of the isolates were considered positive, respectively. Elevated expression of the efflux pumps MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ, MexEF-OprN, and MexXY-OprM was observed in 32.5, 8.3, 0.0, and 28.4% of the isolates, respectively. A total of 21 different combinations of resistance mechanisms were noted, and the most prevalent included AmpC derepression with OprD loss with and without efflux hyperexpression (38 and 10 isolates, respectively). A total of 26 isolates had no changes in the resistance mechanisms tested and had lower MIC values for all β-lactams or β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations analyzed. OprD loss had a strong correlation with elevated MIC results for imipenem and meropenem (median MIC values of 8 and 4 μg/ml, respectively), with all combinations displaying OprD loss also displaying elevated median MIC values for these carbapenems (4 to >8 μg/ml). AmpC expression levels were greater in isolates displaying elevated cefepime, ceftazidime, or piperacillin-tazobactam MIC values (≥4, ≥4, and ≥16 μg/ml, respectively). Isolates displaying derepressed AmpC had ceftolozane-tazobactam MIC values ranging from 1 to 16 μg/ml. No strong correlation was noticed with MIC values for this β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combination and OprD loss or hyperexpression of efflux systems. Two KPC-producing isolates were detected among 16 isolates displaying ceftolozane-tazobactam MIC values of ≥8 μg/ml.
The Constitutional Convention was established by the Irish government in 2012. It was tasked with making recommendations on a number of constitutional reform proposals. As a mini-public, its ...membership was a mix of 66 citizens (randomly selected) and 33 politicians (self-selected). Its recommendations were debated on the floor of the Irish parliament with three of them leading to constitutional referendums; other recommendations are in the process of being implemented. This article uses data gathered during and after the operation of the Convention to examine this real-world example of a mixed-membership mini-public. The focus is on how the inclusion of politicians may have impacted on the Convention’s mode of operation and/or its outcomes. We find little impact in terms of its operation (e.g. no evidence that politicians dominated the discussions). There is evidence of a slight liberal bias among the politician membership, but this had little effect on the outcomes.
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The crisis of democracy and the science of deliberation Dryzek, John S; Bächtiger, André; Chambers, Simone ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
03/2019, Volume:
363, Issue:
6432
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Citizens can avoid polarization and make sound decisions
That there are more opportunities than ever for citizens to express their views may be, counterintuitively, a problem facing democracy—the ...sheer quantitative overabundance overloads policymakers and citizens, making it difficult to detect the signal amid the noise. This overload has been accompanied by marked decline in civility and argumentative complexity. Uncivil behavior by elites and pathological mass communication reinforce each other. How do we break this vicious cycle? Asking elites to behave better is futile so long as there is a public ripe to be polarized and exploited by demagogues and media manipulators. Thus, any response has to involve ordinary citizens; but are they up to the task? Social science on “deliberative democracy” offers reasons for optimism about citizens' capacity to avoid polarization and manipulation and to make sound decisions. The real world of democratic politics is currently far from the deliberative ideal, but empirical evidence shows that the gap can be closed.
Abstract Here we evaluated the frequency of occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of Gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients hospitalised with pneumonia in medical centres in the ...USA ( n = 28) and Europe and the Mediterranean region (EMR) ( n = 25) in 2009–2012. Susceptibility testing was performed by reference broth microdilution methods. Overall, 12 851 isolates were collected (6873/5978 in USA/EMR). The same top 11 organisms were observed in both geographic regions, but in different rank orders, and Gram-negative organisms represented 61.5/76.1% of strains in USA/EMR. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most frequently isolated Gram-negative organism in both regions (20.9/20.9% of cases in USA/EMR) and showed reduced susceptibility to most antimicrobials tested, including ceftazidime (79.6/68.7% susceptibility in USA/EMR), meropenem (76.3/65.8%) and piperacillin/tazobactam (72.9/63.9%). Klebsiella spp. was isolated from 9.7/11.6% of cases and showed extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) phenotype rates of 19.5/35.1% in USA/EMR. Meropenem and amikacin were active against 62.3/78.7% and 60.8/85.2% of ESBL phenotype Klebsiella spp. from USA/EMR, respectively. Enterobacter spp. ranked fourth in the USA (5.9%) and sixth in EMR (5.5%), whereas Escherichia coli ranked fifth in the USA (5.5%) and third in EMR (11.8%). Acinetobacter spp. and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia combined were isolated from 8.0/10.7% of cases in USA/EMR. A significant increase in P. aeruginosa susceptibility to meropenem and a significant decrease in gentamicin susceptibility among Klebsiella spp. were noted in EMR. These results confirm that very few agents remain broadly active against the most frequently isolated Gram-negative organisms from patients with pneumonia in US and EMR medical centres.
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