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Appendix in English

ABSTRACTAn implicit assumption in distributing and coordinating work among independent organizations in a supply chain is that a focal organization can use financial or contractual mechanisms to enforce compliance among the other organizations in meeting desired performance objectives. Absent contractual agreement or financial gain, there is little incentive for independent organizations to coordinate their process improvement activities. In this study, we examine a health care supply chain in which the work is distributed among independent organizations. We use a detailed case study and anabductive reasoningapproach to understand how and why the independent organizations choose to coordinate and collaborate in their work. Our study makes two contributions to the literature. First, we use well‐established lean principles to explain how independent organizations achieve superior performance despite highly uncertain and variable customer demand—a context considerably different from the origins of lean principles. Second, we forward relational coordination theory to explain why the organizations in this decentralized supply chain coordinate their work. Relational coordination includes the use of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect for one another's work as primary mechanisms to explain process improvement in the absence of any contractual incentives. Our study constitutes a first step in generating theory for work design and its improvement in decentralized supply chains.

Das Rentenversicherungssystem wird infolge der demographischen Entwicklung auch in Zukunft unter erheblichem Druck stehen. Wenn immer weniger Erwerbstätige die Rente von immer mehr Rentnerinnen und Rentnern finanzieren müssen, wird dies bei gleichbleibendem Rentenniveau zu steigenden Belastungen der Arbeitseinkommen führen. Mit stei genden Beiträgen wächst die Gefahr, dass der bereits eingeschlagene Weg fortgesetzt wird, die solidarische Finanzierung der Alterssicherung aufzukündigen. Zudem begünstigt der wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Wandel die Ausweitung unsicherer Arbeits- und Einkommensverhältnisse, so dass ein wachsender Teil der Bevölkerung nur noch eine unzureichende Alterssicherung aus der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung zu erwarten hat. Die Industriegewerkschaft Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt hat vorgeschlagen, diesen Gefahren zu begegnen, indem die bestehende gesetzliche Rentenversicherung in ein universelles System der Alterssicherung umgewandelt wird. Wichtigste Ziele der Reform sind die Entlastung der Arbeitseinkommen, die Stärkung der Basis für eine solidarische Finanzierung der Rentenversicherung sowie der Ausbau eigenständiger Ansprüche auf ein Alterseinkommen für alle Mitglieder der Gesellschaft. Das soll erreicht werden durch: eine Versicherungpflicht mit Verpflichtung zur Zahung eines Mindestbeitrags für die gesamte Bevölkerung von der Vollendung des 15. Lebensjahres an bis zum Rentenalter, Einbeziehung aller Einkommen, d.h. auch der Vermögenserträge in die Beitragsbemessungsgrundlage, die Aufhebung der Beitragsbemessungsgrenze und die Einführung einer oberen Grenze für die Rentenhöhe. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung werden die finanziellen und juristischen Konsequenzen eines solchen universellen Systems der Alterssicherung behandelt. Unter juristischen Gesichtspunkten birgt die Kappung der Renten gewisse Probleme, aber die vorgesehene Umgestaltung des Rentensystems müsste keineswegs generell wegen mangelnder Kompatibilität mit dem Grundgesetz scheitern. Die auf der Basis empirischer Daten für das Jahr 1998 ermittelten finanziellen Ergebnisse der Untersuchung lassen darauf schließen, dass die mit einem universellen Alterssicherungssystem angestrebten Ziele zumindest in wesentlichen Punkten erreicht werden könnten.

This is a short monograph that summarizes a series of meetings of the Mediation Support Network (MSN), a network of primarily non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that support mediation in peace negotiations. Specifically, MSN members discussed and reflected on the "UN Guidance for Effective Mediation" and specifically focused on how to translate the UN Guidance into practice. Rather than being a comprehensive commentary, this document therefore focuses on certain issues and cases that seem pertinent from the MSN perspective. The discussions focused on numerous case studies that illustrate the challenges of mediation, and how they were dealt with. The aim of these case studies – some of them specifically focusing on the NGO role in mediation – is to help translate the UN Guidance into effective practice. A few key themes about mediation were featured: preparedness; consent; impartiality; inclusivity; national ownership; international law and a normative framework; coherence, coordination, and complementarity; and quality peace agreements. Conclusions included the need for mediation to be professionalized and that careful analysis is needed before any mediation action. Such analysis and strategizing requires the long-term development of institutional and human capacity. There is a strong and legitimate call for making mediation processes more inclusive, with regard to the inclusion of a range of actors (e.g., marginalized groups, women, religious actors, etc.) and with regard to the content of a peace agreement. However, mediators often face pressure to reach a minimum agreement quickly, especially when hostilities are ongoing. This can make it particularly difficult to reach more inclusive, and thus more complex, agreements. Inclusivity also entails efforts, outside the formal mediation process, to support dialogue between actors, so that they can better influence formal processes and sustain peace agreements once they are signed. Coordination of mediators benefits from the inclusion of civil society: Local ...

Introduction: Previous studies have suggested an effect of gender on outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), but the results are conflicting. We aimed to investigate the association of gender to outcome, coronary angiography (CAG) and adverse events in OHCA survivors treated with mild induced hypothermia (MIH). Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from the International Cardiac Arrest Registry. Adult patients with a non-traumatic OHCA and treated with MIH were included. Good neurological outcome was defined as a cerebral performance category (CPC) of 1 or 2. Results: A total of 1,667 patients, 472 women (28%) and 1,195 men (72%), met the inclusion criteria. Men were more likely to receive bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, have an initial shockable rhythm and to have a presumed cardiac cause of arrest. At hospital discharge, men had a higher survival rate (52% vs. 38%, P < 0.001) and more often a good neurological outcome (43% vs. 32%, P < 0.001) in the univariate analysis. When adjusting for baseline characteristics, male gender was associated with improved survival (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.78) but no longer with neurological outcome (OR 1.24, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.67). Adverse events were common; women more often had hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia and bleeding requiring transfusion, while men had more pneumonia. In a subgroup analysis of patients with a presumed cardiac cause of arrest (n = 1,361), men more often had CAG performed on admission (58% vs. 50%, P = 0.02) but this discrepancy disappeared in an adjusted analysis. Conclusions: Gender differences exist regarding cause of arrest, adverse events and outcome. Male gender was independently associated with survival but not with neurological outcome.