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It's been a tumultuous two weeks in Venezuela. First, the Biden administration and the Maduro government signed a deal exchanging democratic guarantees for sanctions relief on oil, natural gas, and gold mining — some of Venezuela's largest industries. With the sanctions lifted, Maduro allowed the opposition's primary election to go ahead. María Corina Machado, a classical liberal who calls herself the "Iron Lady of Venezuela" and went through the same Yale program as Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, won the election with an astounding 93 percent of the vote. Venezuelans overwhelmingly showed up to vote, doubling the expected turnout of 1 million ballots. Maduro quickly declared the election illegitimate and labeled Machado a puppet of U.S. interests, going directly against the sanctions relief deal.The U.S. and Machado have expressed little intention beyond rhetoric to reinstate sanctions. After all, the U.S. is in desperate need of oil, and Venezuela has plenty to offer. Unless the U.S. can establish direct incentives for Maduro and his regime to make democratic reforms, a peaceful path to democratization is highly unlikely. If anything, Maduro has shown his willingness to keep sanctions on to push for specific geopolitical demands while maintaining his domestic anti-U.S. message. In 2021, Maduro suspended all negotiations with the U.S. over the imprisonment of Colombian financier Alex Saab. Despite that, the U.S. went ahead with some sanctions relief soon after. Maduro has created an alternative economy for Venezuela, where illicit markets make up for over one fifth of all of the country's GDP. With oil revenues currently standing at $9.3 billion annually, sanctions relief would only lead to "a moderate increase in Venezuelan oil production," according to Dr. Francisco Monaldi of the Baker Institute. Alternatively, the Maduro regime has increasingly looked to other economic opportunities to ensure its permanency. After being pushed out of the international financial system, Venezuela has grown its commercial, financial, diplomatic, political, and security relationship with other sanctioned regimes, including Iran, China, Russia, Nicaragua, and Cuba, which have themselves contested the results of the opposition election and reiterated support for Maduro. More states with a nominally anti-Western posture, such as Bolivia, South Africa, Turkey, and Ethiopia, are also providing some support given that some of their interests align with Maduro's. These relationships lead to a circle of mutual assistance wherein the leaders' political survival is ensured through a permanent flow of commerce and cash between these regimes.These states now have a vested interest in preventing an adversary to their interests from entering the Palacio de Miraflores, and Maduro knows it. Sanctions are much less harmful to the regime than they were years ago. Maduro's calculation is simple: Whether he decides to hold a fully democratic election against Machado, a sham election like in 2018, or to fully overtake the country through military force, Maduro will have sufficient support on his side. Credible polls show Maduro has the backingt of 58 percent of voting intentions (compared to Machado's 23 percent), with many in the resistance, particularly those with the financial capability to organize contestation efforts, having already left the country. Whether the U.S. foreign policy establishment likes it or not, Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chávez, will use any foreign pressure the U.S. decides to undertake to his political advantage. If sanctions are lifted, Maduro will keep attacking the opposition while boasting about his negotiating genius. If sanctions are put back on, Maduro will parade as a martyr again to his crowd of adoring supporters, meanwhile using the tried-and-tested alternative global order offered by sanctioned regimes to ensure the regime's security.Some left-wing governments in the region are also offering rhetorical and material support to Maduro, heightening the regional cost of regime change. With this deal and other domestic political wins — including slashing the poverty rate by a quarter in two years, regaining international recognition, and raising oil production — Maduro's support will likely consolidate. The regime also has the added benefit of violent support from the colectivos (pro-Maduro thugs who intimidate the opposition), the military and intelligence services, drug cartels, the state media apparatus, and a number of foreign governments. On the off-chance that Maduro ultimately loses the election, these interests might collectively ensure that a peaceful transition of power is impossible without significant military involvement from the West — cooperation that the West is likely unwilling or unable to offer. Maduro's rise to power demonstrates how difficult he will be to unseat. Illiberal and dictatorial regimes do not simply relinquish power under popular and external pressure, and Maduro has proven his ability to disregard opposition in favor of his interests. To foster democratic reforms, regime change must start from within the regime itself.In the non-Western world, some dictatorships have survived domestic and foreign coup attempts, debilitating sanctions, continuous opposition, and meager political support. If those conditions were sufficient for a transition to popular rule, democracy would have blossomed in countries with dictatorships facing heavy internal and external pressure, like Belarus, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Egypt. In these cases, we can see how immense pressure, instead of spurring democratic reforms, can lead to further repression from the regime. Unfortunately, it may take a conflict for Maduro to leave power, and such a conflict would leave thousands or millions dead and displaced, with only a failed state in its wake. However, there is a better, less bloody option. Instead of imposing foreign military power over Maduro's regime, Western allies can privately encourage democratic ideals within the regime itself by creating incentives and providing the regime a nonviolent alternative.There is precedent for this. During the Cold War, authoritarian dictators ruled with support from either the West or the rest. Right-wing dictatorships in Latin America enjoyed the support of the U.S. In Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay, there were intense debates among the military government about how and when the military would cede power back to the people. Ultimately, due to the prevalent view that holding onto power too harshly and lengthily could result in a failed state, the countries all held elections on their own accord a few years later, with the military progressively regaining a relatively apolitical role in their countries.After long attempts at reform from various political and military groups outside the countries, the Central Intelligence Agency and its allies, which helped put many of these dictatorships in power in the first place, encouraged democratic reforms through private pressure and dialogue by ensuring the regime leaders would not face persecution.To prevent a return to dictatorship or conflict, Western powers or the new democratic regimes offered some protection to political and military leaders associated with dictatorship. Without some kind of civil or internationalized conflict, it is ultimately up to the regimes themselves to decide when democracy is restored, and they will only do so if they believe they will still hold some power and their interests protected. Unless his own security is guaranteed, Maduro will have no impulse to leave power. Reform won't happen until the regime, or Maduro himself, is willing to change. Dear RS readers: It has been an extraordinary year and our editing team has been working overtime to make sure that we are covering the current conflicts with quality, fresh analysis that doesn't cleave to the mainstream orthodoxy or take official Washington and the commentariat at face value. Our staff reporters, experts, and outside writers offer top-notch, independent work, daily. Please consider making a tax-exempt, year-end contribution to Responsible Statecraft so that we can continue this quality coverage — which you will find nowhere else — into 2024. Happy Holidays!
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U.S. officials view the war in Ukraine as a way of achieving geopolitical objectives in the Black Sea, an energy-rich region that connects Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.At two recent Senate hearings, State Department officials portrayed the war as a means of transforming the geopolitics of energy in the Black Sea. As long as Ukrainians keep fighting, they said, there remains a potential to transform the Black Sea into a new market for the European Union. The officials envisioned a new energy corridor that provides Europe with oil and natural gas from Central Asia."The United States has long recognized the geostrategic importance of the Black Sea region," State Department official James O'Brien told the Senate in a written statement. "Not only does the Black Sea border three NATO Allies and several NATO partners, but it is also a vital corridor for the movement of goods—including Ukrainian grain and other products bound for world markets—and hosts significant untapped energy resources."Weakening RussiaSince the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, officials in Washington have seen the war as an opportunity to weaken Russia. While they have mobilized military and economic support for Ukraine's defense, they have worked to impose major costs on Russia's military and economy. As U.S.-backed Ukrainian forces have imposed major losses on Russian forces, the United States and its allies have worked to isolate Russia economically and limit its revenues from the sale of oil and natural gas.So far, the United States has provided Ukraine with $43.9 billion in military assistance, and a U.S.-led coalition of some 50 nations has committed an additional $33 billion in military support.The support of the United States and its allies has proven critical to Ukraine's resistance to Russia, which "starts with the incredible courage of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian fighters," Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged last year. "But what we've been able to provide them—the United States, Germany, and many other partners and allies—is what is making the difference."While U.S. officials have been open about their intentions of using Ukraine to weaken Russia, they have been careful about claiming that they are making hardheaded geopolitical calculations. Typically, U.S. officials have remained sensitive to the Ukrainian position that the war is a matter of resisting Russia's military occupation, especially given that so many Ukrainians have died fighting in the war."We brought together a coalition of more than 50 countries to help Ukraine defend itself, and it's critical," President Biden said in September, as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.When O'Brien spoke to a Senate committee on October 25, he provided a blunter explanation of U.S. goals. Not only did he portray the war as "a very good bargain" for the United States, citing the fact that "Ukrainians are paying the bulk of the cost" by doing nearly all the fighting, but he also described it as an opportunity for the United States to achieve major geopolitical objectives, ones he indicated were "incredibly exciting."One key objective, O'Brien explained, is to strengthen NATO's presence in the Black Sea. Given that NATO is present in the Black Sea through member states and partner countries, O'Brien saw an opportunity to use the war to increase NATO's military presence across the region's lands, airspace, and waters. In terms of the weapons involved, he said, "that will be something that NATO will dig in on."Pulling the Black Sea WestwardAnother key objective, O'Brien noted, is to pull Ukraine and other Black Sea countries away from Russia while integrating them into the European Union, where they will be required to follow its rules of trade and production. The entire region, he envisioned, "becomes a place where we're in very good position to control what happens as the rules get made," he said.In another major admission, O'Brien acknowledged that Washington aspires to create oil and gas pipelines that lead from Central Asia to Europe. Claiming that Central Asia relies too much on China and Russia to export its energy resources, O'Brien reviewed multiple possibilities for alternative pipelines to run through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey."Whatever path we take leads us to the Black Sea," he said.The senators who convened the hearing supported O'Brien's vision, agreeing that the Black Sea remains an area of great geopolitical importance. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who has been pressuring the Biden administration to devise a formal strategy for the Black Sea, praised its efforts to create a "new east-west energy corridor that would go under the Black Sea and provide an alternative for energy coming out of Central Asia into Europe."For decades, in fact, the United States has been pursuing geopolitical opportunities in the Black Sea. Years of analysis by U.S. diplomats, as captured in leaked diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks, show that U.S. officials have attributed a great deal of importance to the region, especially as it concerns energy. One of Washington's major goals has been to strengthen NATO's presence in the Black Sea region, regardless of warnings that such moves could provoke Russia.U.S. energy companies also depend on the region's pipelines. Chevron and ExxonMobil, both of which maintain operations in Kazakhstan, rely on a pipeline that leads to the Black Sea.Earlier this year, Defense Department official Mara Karlin spoke about the "critical geostrategic importance" of the Black Sea region, characterizing it as a major frontline for the transatlantic alliance, a major link between Europe and the Middle East, and "a key node for transit infrastructure and energy resources."The Senate has been active in considering the geopolitical factors at stake. Not long after holding the hearing on October 25, the Senate convened an additional hearing on November 8 to revisit the reasons for the war in Ukraine. O'Brien testified once again, this time joined by additional colleagues who helped him reinforce his message about the geopolitics of energy in Ukraine, the Black Sea, and the broader region.Redrawing the Energy MapState Department official Geoffrey Pyatt, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who now leads U.S. energy diplomacy, explained that the United States is facing extraordinary opportunities in the Black Sea region, which he described as "one of the fulcrums of the energy map of Europe today."One of the most significant regional transformations, Pyatt explained, is "the redrawing of the energy map around the Black Sea that's taking place." It includes "new pipeline infrastructure," such as "the Southern Gas Corridor to bring gas from Central Asia to European consumers."While the war has created new opportunities to transport natural gas from Central Asia to Europe, it has also made it much more difficult for Russia to export natural gas to Europe. Whereas Russian natural gas made up 45 percent of the EU's natural gas imports in 2021, it is now down to 15 percent."As we look to the future, you're going to have a Europe which has decoupled from Russian energy supplies," Pyatt said.So far, the major winner in the geopolitical contest has been U.S. energy companies. As Russian exports to Europe have decreased, U.S. exports have increased, positioning the United States to become one of Europe's major suppliers. If Europe can acquire more natural gas from Central Asia, then Russia could potentially be excluded from the European market altogether.As O'Brien noted, the situation is putting Russian President Vladimir Putin in a tough position. "It's a long-term strategic loss for him, and it creates a great opportunity for us in a number of important sectors," he said.But a major question remains: how long will U.S. officials continue viewing the war as "a good deal for America," as O'Brien described it? Although Ukraine is paying the bulk of the cost in terms of fighting, the number of deaths keeps rising, and there is no end in sight."It's difficult to get a decisive battle, so what we need is what's in the supplemental," O'Brien said, referring to the Biden administration's request for more money to help Ukraine fight the war. It will provide "the ability to fight this fight over some time," he said.This piece has been republished with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus.
Relevance. The global pandemic caused by the prevalence of COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2) has become a trigger for the formation of a wide range of problems in the medical, socio-psychological, and rehabilitation spheres. The frequency of neurological or psychiatric diagnosis in patients after SARS-Cov-2, in the next 6 months, was 33.62%; the frequency of first diagnosis is 25.79%, and the mental health disorders themselves are diverse and affect almost all aspects of mental functioning, significantly worsening the quality of life. In addition, the extreme burden of the healthcare system in Ukraine in the context of a prolonged socio-economic and political crisis requires immediate реформування reform. Therefore, it is important to study the peculiarities of mental health of Ukrainian citizens in the context of epidemic danger and reform of the healthcare system at the present stage. Goal. To study the peculiarities of mental health of Ukrainian citizens in the paradigm of reforming the healthcare system in conditions of epidemic danger at the present stage. Materials and methods. Subject to informed consent in compliance with the principles of Bioethics and deontology, for the period from March to September 2021, 80 people aged 20 to 80 years were examined, who suffered covid-19 in 2020-2021 in mild (Group 1) and moderate severity – Group 2 (lung damage from 25 to 60%) and did not previously have a psychiatric diagnosis. The clinical and psychopathological method and screening diagnostics were implemented in the form of a semi-structured psychopathological interview, the main purpose of which was a comprehensive assessment of the patient's mental status. The psychodiagnostic method was used using the hospital scale of anxiety and depression HADS; the quality of life questionnaire SF-36; Being Activity Mood (BAM); The scale of C. D. Spielberger – Yu.L. Khanin. Results. The most common mental and behavioral disorders (MBD) using the HADS method are analyzed. The results showed that clinically expressed anxiety occurred in 33.7% of respondents (groups 1 and 2), and its subclinical variant – in 6.3%. The dominant plot of anxiety was phobic thoughts, fears of severe or fatal consequences of a viral disease in yourself or your loved ones. Clinically expressed depression was observed in 29.7%, and subclinically – in 68%. Assessment of the quality of life according to the SF-36 questionnaire revealed clinical indicators of the average score on the "vital activity" scale – 32.0 and 43.0 in groups 1-2, respectively. According to the BAM methodology, the self-assessment of the individual indicated a low assessment of all indicators in both groups. 75% of patients on the C. D. Spielberger–Yu.L. Khanin scale had high levels of situational and personal anxiety, and 25% had moderate levels. The level of situational anxiety was 56.70±0.48, and personal anxiety – 43.86±0.34 points. The Law of Ukraine "On rehabilitation in the field of healthcare " and the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "Issues of Organization of rehabilitation in the field of healthcare" are legislative and executive innovations of the present, which differ: pronounced" patient-centricity"; stages; multi-level; multicomponent influences; a significant range of rehabilitation coverage; interdisciplinarity; consistency; organizational and informational integrity; management efficiency; modernity, innovation. That is, the implementation of this law, if the necessary funding is available, will provide rehabilitation assistance to the population of Ukraine, including in conditions of epidemic danger, at the proper level. Conclusions. Thus, according to our study, as a result of the covid-19 viral disease, there was an increase in the number of patients with MBD: adaptive, anxiety-phobic and depressive. Organizational and methodological aspects of comprehensive medical and psychological care for patients with MBD in the framework of the development of the corresponding algorithm included: unity of measures, manageability of impacts; integrality; holistic approach; continuity, etc. However, an algorithm should be developed and brought into line with the presented innovations of healthcare reform in Ukraine for the terminology and formation of rational, effective directed routing of patients with anxiety-phobic disorders in conditions of epidemic danger in order to improve and increase the level of medical and psychological care and improve their quality of life. Keywords: COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2) pandemic, mental disorders, behavioral disorders, health system reform. ; Актуальність. Світова пандемія, спровокована розповсюдженістю COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2) стала тригером формування широкого кола проблем в медичній, соціально-психологічній, реабілітаційній сферах. Частота неврологічного або психіатричного діагнозу у пацієнтів після перенесеної SARS-Cov-2 в наступні 6 місяців склала 33,62%; частота постановки діагнозу вперше – 25,79%, а самі порушення психічного здоров'я різноманітні і торкаються практично всіх сторін психічного функціонування, значно погіршуючи якість життя. Крім того, надзвичайне навантаження системи охорони здоров'я в Україні в умовах тривалої соціально-економічної, політичної кризи вимагає негайного ії реформування. Тому, важливим є вивчення особливостей психічного здоров'я громадян України в умовах епідемічної небезпеки та здійснення реформ в системі охорони здоров'я на сучасному етапі. Мета. Дослідити особливості психічного здоров'я громадян України в парадигмі реформування системи охорони здоров'я в умовах епідемічної небезпеки на сучасному етапі. Матеріали і методи. За умови інформованої згоди із дотриманням принципів біоетики та деонтології за період з березня по вересень 2021 року обстежено 80 осіб віком від 20 до 80 років, які перенесли у 2020-2021 рр. COVID-19 у легкому (1 група) і середньому ступені тяжкості – 2 група (ураження легенів від 25 до 60%) та не мали раніше психіатричного діагнозу. Клініко-психопатологічний метод та скринінгова діагностика реалізувались у вигляді напівструктурованого психопатологічного інтерв'ю, основною метою якого була комплексна оцінка психічного статусу пацієнта. Психодіагностичний метод був задіяний із використанням госпітальної шкали тривоги і депресії HADS; опитувальника якості життя SF-36; САН; шкали Ч.Д. Спілбергера – Ю.Л. Ханіна. Результати. Проаналізовано найбільш поширені психічні та поведінкові порушення і розлади (ПППіР) за методикою HADS. Результати показали, що клінічно виражена тривога мала місце у 33,7% респондентів (групи 1 і 2), а її субклінічний варіант – у 6,3%. Домінуючою фабулою тривоги були фобічні думки, побоювання важких або фатальних наслідків вірусної хвороби у себе або близьких. Клінічно виражена депресія спостерігалась у 29,7%, а субклінічно – у 68%. Оцінка якості життя за опитувальником SF-36 виявила клінічні показники середнього балу за шкалою «життєва активність» – 32,0 та 43,0 в 1–2 групі відповідно. За даними методики САН самооцінка особистості свідчила про низку оцінку всіх показників в обох групах. У 75% пацієнтів за шкалою Ч.Д. Спілбергера–Ю.Л. Ханіна відмічалися високі показники рівня ситуативної та особистісної тривожності, а у 25% – помірні. Рівень ситуативної тривожності дорівнював 56,70±0,48, а особистісної – 43,86±0,34 бали. Закон України «Про реабілітацію у сфері охорони здоров'я» та Постанова Кабінету міністрів України «Питання організації реабілітації у сфері охорони здоров'я» є законодавчими та виконавчими нововведеннями сьогодення, які відрізняються: вираженою «пацієнт-центрованістю»; етапністю; багаторівневістю; полікомпонентністю впливів; значним спектром реабілітаційного охоплення; мультидисциплінарністью; послідовністю; організаційною та інформаційною цілісністю; ефективністю менеджменту; сучасністю, інноваційністю. Тобто, впровадження зазначеного Закону за наявності необхідного фінансування дозволить забезпечити реабілітаційну допомогу населенню України, в тому числі, в умовах епідемічної небезпеки, на належному рівні. Висновки. Таким чином, за даними нашого дослідження в результаті перенесеної вірусної хвороби COVID-19 мало місце збільшення кількості хворих із адаптаційними, тривожно-фобічними та депресивними ПППіР. Організаційно-методичні аспекти комплексної медико-психологічної допомоги хворим з ПППіР в рамках розробки відповідного алгоритму включали: єдність заходів, керованість впливів; інтегральність; цілісний підхід; наступність тощо. Але, має бути розроблений та приведений у відповідність термінології й представленим нововведенням реформування охорони здоров'я України алгоритм для формування раціональної, ефективної скерованої маршрутизації пацієнтів з тривожно-фобічними розладами в умовах епідемічної небезпеки з метою удосконалення й підвищення рівня надання медико-психологічної допомоги та покращення якості їх життя. Ключові слова: пандемія COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2), психічні порушення і розлади, поведінкові порушення і розлади, реформування системи охорони здоров'я.
Introduction.The article is devoted to the topical issues in the area of ensuring the right of the older persons to health, taking into account modern realities. In particular, it focuses on the existing problematic aspects through the prism of the right to decent treatment and autonomy. The issue of abuse of the elderly, which negatively affects their physical and mental health and providing palliative care, which helps to improve the quality of life of patients with diseases that limit life expectancy have been analyzed; it focuses on the problem of dementia, which is one of the leading causes of disability and dependence among older people around the world; given the fact that older people are at high risk during COVID-19, the focus is on protecting this category of people during a pandemic. The main results of the study. An analysis of the existing legal framework for cooperation between states to overcome the negative trends in the provision of health care to the elderly, in particular: the Toronto Declaration on the Global Prevention of Elder Abuse, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, the European Social Charter (revised), the Inter-American Convention on Protecting the Human Rights of Older Persons, the Global action plan on the public health response to dementia 2017-2025, the "Towards a Dementia Plan" Guide , World Health Organization Guidelines for Reducing the Risk of Cognitive Function and Dementia. In addition, attention is paid to the recommendations of the main bodies of international intergovernmental organizations, in particular the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and international treaty bodies in this field - the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (General recommendation № 24, General recommendation № 27) etc. Relevant conclusions and recommendations have been made. Conclusions.It should be noted that the existing tendency of the population to age is a reality of today and encourages society to seek new ways of life in these circumstances. Aging is no longer seen as a problem, but rather as a challenge and an opportunity for society to respond and take timely adaptation measures. The international community is making significant efforts to create a legal framework, develop standards, and develop international cooperation to ensure a decent old age for the elderly. The task for governments is to implement international norms into national legislation and to optimize national measures in this area. The field of healthcare for the older personsis the most sensitive, as it is a question of a decent standard of living, so it needs a balanced strategy, which should include: disease prevention (diagnosis, medical care, etc.); development, improvement, introduction of an affordable and inexpensive system of long-term care with the involvement of the elderly themselves in this work and training of specialists who will work in this field; training of persons who informally care for the elderly; regular independent monitoring of long-term care services, based on clear principles and rights that older people can exercise on their own; giving preference to home care; creation of appropriate services to provide advice, psychological, legal assistance to the elderly. It is also important for society to be aware of aging in order to understand the problems and not to cause repeated psychological trauma to the older persons so they don't feel like a "burden" for society, rather than full members. ; Статья посвящена актуальным вопросам в области обеспечения права на здоровье пожилых людей с учетом современных реалий. В частности, в ней акцентируется внимание на существующих проблемных аспектах сквозь призму права на достойное обращение и автономию. Исследована проблематика жестокого обращения с лицами пожилого возраста, которое негативно влияет на состояние их физического и психического здоровья; оказания паллиативной помощи, способствующей улучшению качества жизни пациентов с заболеваниями, ограничивающими продолжительность жизни; сосредоточено внимание на проблеме деменции, являющейся одной из основных причин инвалидности и зависимости среди пожилых людей во всем мире; учитывая то обстоятельство, что пожилые люди находятся в группе высокого риска в условиях COVID-19, акцентировано на защите этой категории лиц. Проведен анализ существующей правовой основы сотрудничества государств по преодолению негативных тенденций в оказании помощи пожилым людям в области здравоохранения, в частности: Торонтская декларация о глобальном предотвращении жестокого обращения с пожилыми людьми, Конвенция Совета Европы о предотвращении насилия в отношении женщин и домашнего насилия и борьбе с этими явлениями, Европейская социальная хартия (пересмотренная), Межамериканская конвенция о защите прав пожилых людей, Глобальный план действий сектора общественного здравоохранения по реагированию на деменцию 2017-2025 гг., документы Всемирной организации здравоохранения в отношении деменции. Кроме того, сосредоточено внимание на рекомендациях, принятых главными органами международных межправительственных организаций, в частности, Комитета министров Совета Европы, и международных договорных органов в этой сфере – Комитета по экономическим, социальным и культурным правам, Комитета по ликвидации дискриминации в отношении женщин (Общая рекомендация № 24, Общая рекомендация № 27) и др. Сделаны соответствующие выводы и рекомендации. ; Вступ. Стаття присвячена актуальним питанням у галузі забезпечення права наздоров'я літніх людей з урахуванням сучасних реалій. Зокрема, в ній акцентованоувагу на існуючих проблемних аспектах через призму права на гідне поводження й автономію. Досліджено проблематику жорстокого поводження з особами похилого віку, що негативно впливає на стан їх фізичного і психічного здоров'я; надання паліативної допомоги, яка сприяє поліпшенню якості життя пацієнтів із захворюваннями, що обмежують тривалість життя; зосереджено увагу на проблемі деменції, яка є однією з основних причин інвалідності і залежності серед літніх людей в усьому світі; зважаючи на ту обставину, що літні люди знаходяться у групі високого ризику під час COVID-19, зосереджено увагу на захисті цієї категорії осіб під час пандемії. Основні результати дослідження.Проведено аналіз існуючої правової основи співпраці держав щодо подолання негативних тенденцій в наданні допомоги літнім людям у галузі охорони здоров'я, зокрема: Торонтська декларація про глобальне запобігання жорстокого поводження з людьми похилого віку, Конвенція Ради Європи про запобігання насильству стосовно жінок і домашньому насильству та боротьбу з цими явищами, Європейська соціальна хартія (переглянута), Міжамериканська конвенція про захист прав людей похилого віку, Глобальний план дій щодо заходів громадської охорони здоров'я у відповідь на деменцію на 2017-2025 рр., Керівництво «На шляху до плану по деменції», Керівні принципи Всесвітньої організації охорони здоров'я щодо зниження ризику когнітивних функцій і деменції. Крім того, зосереджено увагу на рекомендаціях головних органів міжнародних міжурядових організацій, зокрема, Комітету міністрів Ради Європи, та міжнародних договірних органів у цій сфері – Комітету з економічних, соціальних і культурних прав, Комітету з ліквідації дискримінації щодо жінок (Загальна рекомендація № 24, Загальна рекомендація № 27) тощо. Зроблено відповідні висновки і рекомендації. Висновки.Слід констатувати, що існуюча тенденція населення до старіння, є реаліями сьогодення і спонукає суспільство до пошуків нових шляхів існування за цих обставин. Старіння вже не розглядається як проблема, а скоріш за все, як виклик і можливість суспільства зреагувати та прийняти своєчасні заходи по адаптації. Міжнародним співтовариством докладаються суттєві зусилля щодо створення правової основи, розробки стандартів, розвитку міжнародної співпраці задля забезпечення літнім людям гідної старості. Завдання для урядів полягає в імплементації міжнародних норму у національне законодавство та оптимізація національних заходів у цій сфері. Галузь охорони здоров'я для літніх людей є самою чутливою, оскільки мова йде про гідне існування, тому вона потребує виваженої стратегії, складовою якої повинна стати: профілактика захворювань (проведення діагностики, медичного догляду тощо); розробка, удосконалення, запровадження доступної і недорогої системи довгострокового догляду із залученням до цієї роботи самих літніх осіб і підготовка фахівців, які працюватимуть у цій сфері; здійснення навчання осіб, які неофіційно доглядають за літніми людьми; здійснення регулярного незалежного моніторингу послуг з довгострокового догляду, побудованому на чітких принципах і правах, які літні люди можуть реалізовувати самостійно; надання переваги догляду на дому; створення відповідних служб з наданням консультаційної, психологічної, правової тощо допомоги літнім людям; суттєве значення має й поінформованість суспільства про старіння з метою розуміння проблематики і незавдання повторної психологічної травми літнім людям у результаті якої вони відчуватимуть себе «тягарем» для суспільства, а не повноцінними його членами.
The high street and the retail sector are facing a period of flux with tremendous pressures from local, national and global consumer trends, including rapid changes in the fiscal climate affecting local authorities. This situation has become particularly acute since the global economic downturn of 2008, which many see as the start of a significant long term global restructuring or the world's economy. Building on the findings of recent Government thinking, including the "Understanding high street performance" report by Genecon and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published in 2012, this study argues for a fresh approach to the situation faced by the retail sector, the high street and, more generally, town centres across the country. Instead of a reactive approach to consumer trends, this report argues for a re-think of the strategic positioning of town centres to reclaim them to their rightful position and role as places that serve their communities, visitors, businesses and key stakeholders with a quality of experience that encourages them to keep coming back, staying longer and becoming local residents in due course. In line with this, the achievement of prosperity for town centres is aligned here with their strategic aspirations, and ability to satisfy changing demands, which this report suggests includes a holistic approach to the integration and management of the daytime, evening and night time economies. These three segments of the 24-hr economy should be seen as part of one menu that town centres offer in an economy increasingly driven by customer experience and perceptions. To achieve this, key town centre decision makers - who should include the business community as well as local residents - need first to establish a vision for the future of their town centre that is anchored in the 'personality' or unique characteristics of their town, sometimes referred to as the 'DNA' of the place. The aims of this study are to: 1. Present a set of tools that will help places of different sizes (from small market towns to large city centres and potentially also villages and rural locations) to plot a locally tailor-made strategic road map towards prosperity informed by their stakeholders. 2. Develop and present a state-of-the-art Town Centre Classification Matrix linked to a 'personality' test for town centres. This tool, which can be used for individual retailers and businesses as well as entire towns and tourist destinations, represents the first stage of strategic positioning and includes key elements of perceptions among visitors, residents and businesses. 3. Develop and present a new and clear national performance framework for town centres is presented. This framework is linked to the Town Centre Classification Matrix and allows places to evaluate their current situation and to monitor progress towards their strategic vision or objectives. This is achieved through a ground-breaking approach that effectively demystifies the concept of town centre performance indicators. Each indicator is explained in an approachable manner with data collection methodologies that include the possibility of using commercially available data or adopting a do-it-yourself method to field research locally. 4. Empower and support communities, Town Teams, Portas Pilots, local authority representatives, businesses operating in or near town centres, trader organisations, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), town centre managers, business improvement district managers, policy makers, town planners, charities, national retail associations, shopping centre managers, urban regeneration practitioners, tourism officers, consultancies and researchers. 5. Help locations and centres of all sizes to make key investment decisions adopting a strategic approach using decision support tools (including key performance indicators) that enable decision makers to prioritise and deal with local issues effectively. Additionally, the indicators used in this study also support users who wish to do so in pursuing further market research avenues to gain a better understanding of their town centre and the complexity of interactions between different parameters. This includes the differences that may exist in some places between facts and perceptions (e.g. reported retail crime versus perceptions of crime and safety in the town centre). As in any change management context, it is vital to know the facts so that informed decisions can be taken to prioritise available resources effectively. Based on the findings of this study, there follow ten key recommendations for further action from central government, LEPs, the retail sector and key local decision makers: 1. The role of retail and other businesses (e.g. leisure) in town centres should be revised to adopt a more holistic approach bringing the daytime, evening and night time economies under a common umbrella of strategic positioning and performance. 2. The national performance framework for town centres and Town Centre Classification Matrix presented here should be adopted nationally as part of a wider package to support ailing high streets and town centres. 3. A National Observatory for Town Centre Prosperity should be created for the UK, based on the Town Centre Performance Barometer Toolkit presented here. This national observatory should act as a common database of best practice and avoid simplistic benchmarking or league table approaches. Instead, it should focus on the sharing of innovative and entrepreneurial practices adopted by different town centres to achieve prosperity through inclusive and strategic partnership approaches at all levels. 4. A long term analysis of UK town centre prosperity trends should be carried out on the basis of field data collected using the performance criteria presented in this study. Whilst the indicator-based Town Centre Performance Barometer Toolkit is adequate for a first snap shot of the issues affecting different town centres today, it will only provide limited assistance to locations unless trends can be developed for each indicator through continuous use over a longer time frame. 5. The role of effective and genuine partnership-based place management as a key mechanism in the strategic visioning and delivery of prosperous town centres of all sizes should be recognised and supported by central and local government, urban regeneration professionals, LEPs and key local decision makers. This should apply not only to the operational management of town centres but, crucially, to key decisions affecting their development, including major interventions and regeneration projects with an impact on future growth prospects. 6. The effectiveness of current place management models (including Town Teams, Portas Pilots and Business Improvement Districts, among others) should be investigated further with due attention to place management practice overseas to establish more focused support interventions from the public and private sectors in achieving better results in each case without reinventing the wheel. 7. The impact of high performing town and city centres on neighbouring smaller centres should be investigated further, particularly by LEPs, taking a regional network and impact approach to avoid a polarisation of resources towards a (limited number of) high performing town or city centres or the squandering of resources on duplication in a small geographic area. Similarly, governance issues affecting LEPs and local councils in areas (including town centres) located on different local authority boundaries should be addressed as part of a wider framework. 8. The interactions between town centre performance parameters and their cause-effect relationships should be researched further as there is currently a limited level of evidence and understanding of these beyond relatively simple one-to-one (and not one-to-many) relationships. 9. A better understanding of consumer behaviour within the town centre ecosystem needs to be achieved at both macro and micro level in order to better support long-term decision making for their effective strategic positioning. This study offers a first step towards this by highlighting the importance of visitor perceptions but does not address the deeper and more complex mechanisms that govern the development of these perceptions. 10. The national observatory recommended above should develop further the indicator-based toolkit presented here to create indices linked to a weighting system for individual indicators derived from an extensive nation-wide field research programme on town centre prosperity.
학위논문 (석사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 정치학과, 2012. 2. 박찬욱. ; 본 연구는 1970년대 이후 미국의 통상정책 결정과정에서 주된 절차적 기제로 작용해온 신속처리절차(Fast-track procedures)가 2002년 무역법을 통해 무역증진권한(Trade Promotion Authority; TPA)으로 재입법되는 과정의 동학을 의회-행정부 관계를 중심으로 설명하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 신속처리절차는 대통령이 비관세장벽 관련 내용이 포함된 무역협정을 체결하고 이행법안을 의회에 제출하면 양원은 수정안 제출 없이 가부만을 결정해서 90일내에 처리해야 한다는 규정으로 1974년 무역법에서 처음 도입된 이래 30년 간 미국의 무역정책결정과정에서 중요한 위치를 차지해왔다. 하지만 자유무역정책에 대한 양당의 합의가 약해지면서 1994년 만료되었고, 2002년 8월 6일 부시 대통령이 법안에 서명을 하면서 8년 만에 통상정책결정과정에 다시 등장했다. 그렇다면 어떠한 맥락에서 클린턴 행정부 시기에는 부결되었던 연장 법안이 부시 행정부 때는 성공할 수 있었을까? 기존의 연구들은 1997년과 2001년 표결 분석을 통해 의원 차원에서 이익집단ㆍ유권자들과의 관계, 정당 차원에서 단점정부를 그 요인으로 지적한다. 하지만 입법과정에서 의회의 행태는 의원 개인, 정당 두 차원 외에도 행정부와의 관계에서 입법부로서의 의회를 강화하고자 하는 유인의 영향을 받는데 본 논문은 마지막 차원에 주목한 설명을 제시하고자 한다. 즉 의회는 국내외 경제적 상황, 유권자와 이익집단에 대한 고려, 행정부 등 다양한 요구에 대응하는 과정에서 입법부로서의 지위 강화를 위해 행정부와의 관계에서 개입을 증대하는 동시에 실패했을 경우에 부담해야 하는 비난, 지지기반의 이탈과 같은 손실을 최소화하는 방향으로 정책을 입안하려고 했고, 그 결과로 2002년에 무역증진권한이 다시 입법되었다는 것을 보이고자 한다. 입법 과정을 보면 초기에는 기존 연구 결과에서 나타나듯 의원 개인의 차원에서는 재선을 위해 유권자와 이익집단을 고려했고 정당 차원에서는 다수당이 되려는 선거 정치에 대한 고려와 이익집단과의 관계에서 통과와 저지의 공을 주장하려는 의도에서 정당 간 대립이 나타나기도 했다. 하지만 입법과정이 본격화되고 상원에서 안데스 산맥 국가들에 대한 무역특혜협정, 무역조정지원과 포괄법안의 형태로 입법되는 것으로 논의되면서 양당의 지도부는 의회가 미국의 전반적인 무역정책의 수립에 어떻게 개입해야 하는가에 대한 고민을 시작했다. 의회는 무역개방이 필요하다는 방향성에는 전반적으로 동의하고 있었고 WTO Doha Round가 임박해오고 있는 상황에서 행정부에 권한을 위임하지 않았다가 미국의 무역과 경제 상황이 악화된다면 그에 대한 책임을 온전히 부담해야 하기 때문에 무역증진권한의 입법을 통해 책임을 공유할 필요가 있었다. 이 경우 직접적인 권한 행사 주체는 행정부이기 때문에 실패했을 때는 행정부에 책임을 전가할 수 있는데다 권한의 위임범위와 재량권을 더욱 축소하고 적극적으로 개입해 무역 정책을 수립할 수 있기 때문에 의회의 입장에서는 결과에 대한 직접적인 책임을 회피할 수 있다. 동시에 절차의 적용 요건을 강화하고 감독기구를 늘리고 등의 조치를 통해 협상과정에 의회가 능동적으로 개입할 수 있는 통로를 확대하고, 행정부가 의회의 의사와 반하는 협상을 할 여지를 줄이기 위해 재량의 범위를 제한했다. 하지만 2002년 무역법에서 의회의 무역정책수립에 대한 적극적인 개입 의지가 가장 강하게 드러난 부분은 주도적으로 무역개방으로 인해 피해를 입은 부문에 대한 보상정책을 수립했다는 점이다. 무역조정지원에서 규정한 정책들은 분배정책적인 특성으로 인해 수혜자들에게 공을 주장하기는 쉽지만 비난을 받거나 실패할 확률은 낮기 때문에 의회의 입장에서는 헌법상 수임기관으로서 무역정책을 적극적으로 수립하는 의무를 다하고 있다고 주장하기에 효과적인 조치였다. 의회는 이처럼 무역조정지원 법안을 통해 적극적으로 개입해 직접 무역정책을 수립하고 무역협정체결과정에서 개입을 증대하는 동시에 권한을 위임하지 않았을 경우 WTO Doha Round에서 미국의 협상지위 약화로 미국의 무역과 경제 상황이 악화될 수 있다는 우려 때문에 개입의 정도를 자제하고 행정부에 직접적인 무역협정체결권한을 위임하는 내용의 무역증진권한을 입법한 것이다. ; The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamics of legislating the Trade Act of 2002 which granted Trade Promotion Authority, previously called fast-track negotiating authority, to the President of the United States focusing on the relations between the executive and Congress. Fast-track procedures were set forth in the Trade Act of 1974, stipulating that once the president formally submits a bill implementing a trade agreement concerning non-tariff barriers, both houses must vote on the bill without any amendments or filibusters. Being continuously in effect for 30 years, they have acted as a principal procedural mechanism for enacting trade agreements since 1970's. As the bipartisan consensus on free trade was eroded by the emergence of social issues like labor and environment in trade talks, however, they expired in 1994 due to failure to reach an agreement on how these issues should be handled. In 2002, a long and enthusiastic debate in both houses finally ended and the procedures were restored after a 8-year hiatus during the Bush presidency. If that is the case, in what circumstances was it possible for president Bush to regain the authority that president Clinton failed to win? The existing studies which conducted a comparative analysis on the roll-call voting that took place in 1997 and 2001 pointed out that representatives' consideration of constituents including pressure from interest groups and divided government had a noticeable effect in the different consequences. But besides these two, the respective members and party, a motive to reinforce the legislative branch as an institution has a impact on the behavior of Congress. This study aims to propose an explanation focusing on the third dimension from a view of interbranch politics. Then, responding to both domestic and international economic condition, demand from interest groups and constituents, and request from the executive branch, Congress approved the measure as a consequence of reflecting the intention to improve its status by increasing engagement with the process of decision making in the executive branch and minimize the loss such as the blame from the public or decrease in support accompanying failure of certain policy at the same time. In the early stage of legislation congressmen's consideration of constituents for winning reelection and partisan rivalry prevailed as other studies predicted. But as the actual legislative process progressed, the situation changed. With the Senate Democrats insisting on enactment of the omnibus trade bill incorporating TPA and two other bills, Andean Trade Preference Act and Trade Adjustment Assistance, concern over how Congress should engage with the establishment of generic trade policy spread throughout the party leaders. Congress agreed with the executive branch on the need of trade expansion and delegating the power to negotiate trade agreements for imminent WTO Doha Round because it would make them share the responsibility for possible deterioration in economy and trade in the future. The fact that the direct agent of exerting the authority was the executive branch had Congress make up its leeway as it could shift all the blame onto the other branch. Furthermore, when the economy got worse Congress could curtail the limit of the delegation and discretionary power given to the executive and establish trade policy firsthand. Delegating the authority, Congress expanded the means to actively involve in negotiating process by reinforcing its role of oversight, downsizing the discretionary power to prevent the executive from concluding the agreement despite congressional opposition, and tightening up the conditions to meet for the application of the fast-track procedures. But the most impressive part of the Trade Act of 2002 is TAA which reflected Congress's intension to play a leading role in making compensation policy for the people who got injured by trade. In conclusion, a broad agreement that TPA should be extended spread over Congress as it would consolidate the firm standing of the United States in trade talks including the upcoming WTO Doha Round. Moreover, Congress did not want to take full responsibilities or blame for the potential deteriorating economy. But at the same time Congress wanted to increase its engagement with trade policy making with the authority originally given to it by Constitution and its grown capabilities. The effort to restore the fast-track negotiating authority; TPA during the Bush presidency was feasible as it was linked to TAA bill, a measure taken by Congress to expand its involvement in trade policy making, and some steps to increase its engagement with the process of negotiation were taken. In other words, the Trade Act of 2002 was legislated as a result of Congress' struggle to balance between two motives, desire to avoid blame and increase its engagement with policy making. ; Master
El objetivo último del presente trabajo consiste en dar unos criterios de diseño para realizar el proyecto de un espacio de huertos urbanos en el municipio de Rubí, más concretamente en la zona de los valles de Sant Muç, donde las administraciones locales prevén crear un parque territorial equipado (POUM de Rubí de 2009). La propuesta tiene como referencia experiencias concretas y nociones teóricas relativas a la agricultura biológica, aplicadas a la situación concreta de Rubí y a las características del territorio. Para cumplir con este objetivo se ha considerado necesario investigar previamente las motivaciones que, de forma más o menos reciente, mueven la creación y difusión de huertos en el entorno urbano de las ciudades occidentales y considerar las diferentes tipologías de huertos urbanos existentes. Un segundo objetivo ha consistido en el análisis de diferentes experiencias de huertos urbanos (a nivel europeo, nacional y local) como ejemplos de referencia y como elementos para un análisis comparativo. Un tercer objetivo es el estudio en profundidad del fenómeno de los huertos marginales en Rubí y de su territorio. Para ello se ha considerado necesario estudiar la evolución de los huertos informales del entorno urbano, las características de los espacios ocupados (dimensiones, tipos de cultivo, elementos físicos y equipamientos entre otros) y también llegar a conocer el usuario-tipo y sus motivaciones. ; Este estudio presenta la evolución de los huertos urbanos a lo largo del siglo XX y trata de su función como herramienta de mejora de la sostenibilidad urbana. Se ha evidenciado la recuperación de los huertos en períodos marcados por crisis económicas profundas (los war gardens o orticelli di guerra)o en el contexto de políticas de ayuda social (los jardins ouvriers), y se han analizado las diferentes tipologías de huertos urbanos y periurbanos existentes en la actualidad. También se ha detectado la proliferación de huertos con un carácter marginal, indagando en sus aspectos más problemáticos. En general, el elemento característico de los huertos urbanos actuales es la polifuncionalidad, ya que no sólo están vinculados a la producción de alimentos, sino que responden a nuevas necesidades sociales de ocio y de recuperación del contacto con la naturaleza. Más concretamente, tienen funciones ecológicas, sociales, didácticas, de ocio, productivas, estéticas, terapéuticas y culturales, además de desempeñar un papel importante en la mejora de la gestión territorial. Dicho reconocimiento se refleja, en sus manifestaciones más maduras, en la integración de los huertos en el sistema de los espacios verdes urbano y en el desarrollo de su regulación normativa a nivel estatal. A diferencia de los países del norte y centro de Europa, en el Mediterráneo se ha evidenciado la ausencia de un marco normativo específico relativo a los huertos urbanos, a pesar de las numerosas iniciativas locales. El análisis de los casos británico, alemán y de unas experiencias locales de gestión de los huertos municipales en Cataluña (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), junto con el examen de las problemáticas relativas a los huertos marginales, han llevado a la formulación de unos criterios básicos a seguir para la rehabilitación y creación de un área de huertos urbanos. Finalmente, se ha examinado con detenimiento el fenómeno de los huertos marginales en el municipio de Rubí. El análisis ha culminado con la elaboración de una propuesta inicial de huertos urbanos municipales conforme a los criterios definidos; las funciones sociales (integración social y valorización de los bienes comunes) y culturales (recuperación de la tradición hortícola vernácula, promoción de la agricultura ecológica y de los productos locales) se han tenido especialmente en cuenta. ; Aquest estudi presenta l'evolució dels horts urbans al llarg del segle XX i tracta de la seva funció com a eina de millora de la sostenibilitat urbana. S'ha evidenciat la recuperació dels horts en períodes marcats per crisis econòmiques profundes (els war gardens o orticelli di guerra) o en el context de polítiques d'ajuda social (els jardins ouvriers), i s'han analitzat les diferents tipologies d'horts urbans i periurbans existents en l'actualitat. També s'ha detectat la proliferació d'horts amb un caràcter marginal, indagant en els seus aspectes més problemàtics. En general, l'element característic dels horts urbans actuals és la olifuncionalitat, ja que no només estan vinculats a la producció d'aliments, sinó que responen a noves necessitats socials d'oci i de recuperació del contacte amb la natura. Més concretament, tenen funcions ecològiques, socials, didàctiques, de lleure, productives, estètiques, terapèutiques i culturals, a més d'exercir un paper important en la millora de la gestió territorial. Aquest reconeixement es reflecteix, en les seves manifestacions més madures, en la integració dels horts en el sistema dels espais verds urbà i en el desenvolupament de la seva regulació normativa a nivell estatal. A diferència dels països del nord i centre d'Europa, al Mediterrani s'ha evidenciat l'absència d'un marc normatiu específic relatiu als horts urbans, tot i les nombroses iniciatives locals. L'anàlisi dels casos britànic, alemany i d'unes experiències locals de gestió dels horts municipals a Catalunya (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), juntament amb l'examen de les problemàtiques relatives als horts marginals, han portat a la formulació d'uns criteris bàsics a seguir per a la rehabilitació i creació d'una àrea d'horts urbans. Finalment, s'ha examinat amb deteniment el fenomen dels horts marginals al municipi de Rubí. L'anàlisi ha culminat amb l'elaboració d'una proposta inicial d'horts urbans municipals d'acord amb els criteris definits; les funcions socials (integració social i valorització dels béns comuns) i culturals (recuperació de la tradició hortícola vernacla, promoció de l'agricultura ecològica i dels productes locals) s'han tingut especialment en compte. ; This study presents the evolution of urban gardens throughout the twentieth century and its function as a tool for improving urban sustainability. In particular, it is shown that urban gardens had a great function in periods of deep economic crises (the war gardens or "orticelli di guerra") or in social assistance policies (the "jardins ouvriers" or poor gardens), providing food security for many low income persons. The study also focuses on different types of urban gardens, and it stresses the impacts related to the spread of degraded marginal gardens. Nowadays the main feature of urban gardens is multi-functionality, since they not only are related to food production, but to the satisfaction of new social needs as leisure and contact with nature too. More specifically, urban gardens have ecological, educational, recreational, productive, aesthetic, therapeutic and cultural functions as well, and they play an important role in promoting social inclusion, active civic participation and in improving land management. This recognition has lead to the integration of urban gardens in the system of green space and to the development of huge garden legislation. Unlike Northern European countries, in the Mediterranean area there are no specific national policies on urban gardens. Analysis of case studies on urban gardens in Britain and Germany, on management experiences of local urban gardens in Catalonia (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), together with the analysis of marginal urban gardens have led to the formulation of basic criteria for urban gardens projects. Finally, the phenomenon of marginal gardens in the town of Rubí has been carefully examined. The analysis has led to the formulation of an inicial proposal of local urban gardens under the criteria defined. Social and cultural functions as social integration, enhancement of common property, horticultural vernacular tradition and promotion of organic farming and local products have been especially considered.
Исследования российской академической диаспоры получили сегодня значительное развитие. Вместе с тем обращает на себя внимание тот факт, что большинство работ в этой области направлены на исследование той части диаспоры, которая связана с точными техническими науками, биологией и химией. При этом экономисты, социологи и другие обществоведы остаются «за кадром». На наш взгляд это несправедливо по ряду причин. Российские экономические, социальные и гуманитарные науки находятся в значительно более тяжелой ситуации, нежели науки точные. Развивавшиеся в советские годы в изоляции, эти дисциплины пытаются наверстать упущенное, но отставание от западных исследователей остается катастрофическим. Привлечение к развитию российской науки специалистов с опытом работы в ведущих международных университетах могло бы дать заметный импульс укреплению этих дисциплин. Вместе с тем, исследователям, работающим в этом поле для научной работы, не требуется ни дорогостоящих оборудования, ни создания отдельной инфраструктуры, что облегчает задачу привлечения специалистов. Возможно, этой ситуацией стоило бы воспользоваться для отработки пилотных моделей взаимодействия между учеными из российских ВУЗов, НИИ и представителями диаспоры. В фокусе настоящего исследования находятся исследователи, представляющие социально-экономические науки: экономику, историю, социологию, политологию, психологию, менеджмент (включая логистику), право, философию, образование, коммуникации, международные отношения. Спрос на эти направления подготовки в России остается высоким. Однако не вполне ясно, как наладить международное сотрудничество в условиях ограниченных ресурсов и высокой конкуренции за квалифицированные кадры. В этом отношении изучение возможностей сотрудничества с теми, кто предрасположен к совместной работе с российскими организациями, представляется вполне обоснованным ; Migrants' flows and diasporas have become important phenomenon in the modern world. Although diasporas differ in their scales, they definitely demonstrate the potential for being an important and often underestimated policy tool. This paper reviews the opportunities for cooperation with homeland, considering the example of the Russian academic diaspora in social sciences (the data from a descriptive pilot study, competed in autumn-winter 2008). The chosen focus is interesting because a) the studied community is small and questions its own attribution to diaspora, b) highly skilled professionals seem to present a special case for all diaspora studies, tend to be more independent from the rest of their compatriots, and to integrate closer into the host culture, c) social science was underdeveloped in the Soviet Union and remains rather isolated from the general flow of studies in nowadays Russia, thus limiting the attractiveness of return option. While some countries are competing for the highly skilled migrants, others either try to regulate emigration flows or develop the policies, enabling to turn the brain drain into the brain gain. The latter became a popular topic, also because of its relevance to the agenda of so many countries all over the world, including the most developed. Whether Russian academic diaspora in socio-economic field could be a noticeable change agent in developing Russian research and education; what are these people, are they interested in having more cooperation with Russia; how it could be stimulated that was the overall perspective of the study, and it defined the logic of the following text. High-skilled migration became a popular phenomenon in both reality and academic studies. If the normal migrants need an identity in a host society, the professionals get it with their job affiliation, thus do not need to seek or create one. Also the use of term 'minority' is often inadequate while describing Babylonian crowd, which forms many departments or laboratories in the developed countries thus the very essence of diaspora phenomenon is questioned by this category of people. Instead of solving the problem of adaptation to the new society, the migrants of this type seem to maximize the professional opportunities, which are often better in the host, than in home countries. Thus they often do not demonstrate most of the attributes, expected from a migrant sticking together with the other people of the same origin, supporting ethnic networks, etc. they do not need that assistance, as they get it through the job. A situation that stimulates emergence of networks: a migrant needs to find the ways in the society is substituted by much more individualistic perspective: 'the society (through the host institutions) assists the specialists to be integrated' or at least does not create any additional obstacles and provides the necessary support (e.g. visa support, insurance, housing, etc.). Integration through professional networks is often easier, as they are already established and recognized in the host society, such networks are often dense enough to provide the necessary support, and the colleagues help to integrate also psychologically and culturally. Diaspora could also be seen as a resource, opening additional opportunities in social or political space for its members: through creating own associations immigrants establish many contacts, at least with other immigrant associations, third-sector organizations, and the local authorities. Again high-skilled migrants might find integration into professional community more beneficial than addressing the diaspora as a tool for establishing themselves in the host society. Some studies suggest that as long as the migrant researchers are familiar with the social systems in both the host and the home country, they could serve as a special link between both, stimulating the circulation of intellectual resources. Thus it could be also expected to find a well-integrated community, sharing the same or close values and interests, and searching for the ways for further expansion ready to integrate the new members, etc. Finally, one should expect to find the Russian community abroad as fairly heterogeneous: complicated history of Russia in the 20th century has created different identities for 'Russians', meaning both geographical and cultural diversity. The definition 'Russian' could be attributed to those, associated with the Russian empire, its huge territories and mixed history, thus covering most of the so-called 'Russian-speakers'. It could also deal with the 'Russian-Soviet' divide, and the different views on country's past and future it is creating. Each definition of 'a Russian' in a mixed social environment of a host country loosens the diaspora tights further. Several key findings are discussed in the article. Those include: Heterogeneity of the category in question. Internationally integrated social researchers of widely defined Russian origin make a mixed group with very different background, different relations to Russia and its academic community, and presumably different identities (the question, which was not addressed in the study). Globalised logic of career-making dominates over any ethnic identity. The researchers have positive feelings about Russia, often are interested in the social processes there as a real or potential subject for their research, but it does not mean their readiness to move to Russia, neither their preference to cooperation with other researchers of the same origin in or outside the country. Career considerations define the further move of the well-integrated researchers. The origin does not play an important role, because the community is too small and the research topics are too diverse. Thus the term diaspora in its standard meaning is not fully applicable to the category in question these people form a special professional community, where work identity and work-related networking dominate. Broader focus is possible, while looking for the ways to attract internationally recognized researchers. Smaller importance of ethnic identity however broadens the pool of researchers, who might be interested in cooperation with their Russian counterparts. In the case of large country with many special processes, interesting for social researchers, there is a good chance of attracting not only those, related to the country by the background, but also those, looking for interesting data and good research opportunities. A number of suggestions on the formats and conditions of cooperation between internationally recognized and local researchers is made these schemes could be applied in different countries, not only in Russia
El objetivo último del presente trabajo consiste en dar unos criterios de diseño para realizar el proyecto de un espacio de huertos urbanos en el municipio de Rubí, más concretamente en la zona de los valles de Sant Muç, donde las administraciones locales prevén crear un parque territorial equipado (POUM de Rubí de 2009). La propuesta tiene como referencia experiencias concretas y nociones teóricas relativas a la agricultura biológica, aplicadas a la situación concreta de Rubí y a las características del territorio. Para cumplir con este objetivo se ha considerado necesario investigar previamente las motivaciones que, de forma más o menos reciente, mueven la creación y difusión de huertos en el entorno urbano de las ciudades occidentales y considerar las diferentes tipologías de huertos urbanos existentes. Un segundo objetivo ha consistido en el análisis de diferentes experiencias de huertos urbanos (a nivel europeo, nacional y local) como ejemplos de referencia y como elementos para un análisis comparativo. Un tercer objetivo es el estudio en profundidad del fenómeno de los huertos marginales en Rubí y de su territorio. Para ello se ha considerado necesario estudiar la evolución de los huertos informales del entorno urbano, las características de los espacios ocupados (dimensiones, tipos de cultivo, elementos físicos y equipamientos entre otros) y también llegar a conocer el usuario-tipo y sus motivaciones. ; Este estudio presenta la evolución de los huertos urbanos a lo largo del siglo XX y trata de su función como herramienta de mejora de la sostenibilidad urbana. Se ha evidenciado la recuperación de los huertos en períodos marcados por crisis económicas profundas (los war gardens o orticelli di guerra)o en el contexto de políticas de ayuda social (los jardins ouvriers), y se han analizado las diferentes tipologías de huertos urbanos y periurbanos existentes en la actualidad. También se ha detectado la proliferación de huertos con un carácter marginal, indagando en sus aspectos más problemáticos. En general, el elemento característico de los huertos urbanos actuales es la polifuncionalidad, ya que no sólo están vinculados a la producción de alimentos, sino que responden a nuevas necesidades sociales de ocio y de recuperación del contacto con la naturaleza. Más concretamente, tienen funciones ecológicas, sociales, didácticas, de ocio, productivas, estéticas, terapéuticas y culturales, además de desempeñar un papel importante en la mejora de la gestión territorial. Dicho reconocimiento se refleja, en sus manifestaciones más maduras, en la integración de los huertos en el sistema de los espacios verdes urbano y en el desarrollo de su regulación normativa a nivel estatal. A diferencia de los países del norte y centro de Europa, en el Mediterráneo se ha evidenciado la ausencia de un marco normativo específico relativo a los huertos urbanos, a pesar de las numerosas iniciativas locales. El análisis de los casos británico, alemán y de unas experiencias locales de gestión de los huertos municipales en Cataluña (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), junto con el examen de las problemáticas relativas a los huertos marginales, han llevado a la formulación de unos criterios básicos a seguir para la rehabilitación y creación de un área de huertos urbanos. Finalmente, se ha examinado con detenimiento el fenómeno de los huertos marginales en el municipio de Rubí. El análisis ha culminado con la elaboración de una propuesta inicial de huertos urbanos municipales conforme a los criterios definidos; las funciones sociales (integración social y valorización de los bienes comunes) y culturales (recuperación de la tradición hortícola vernácula, promoción de la agricultura ecológica y de los productos locales) se han tenido especialmente en cuenta. ; Aquest estudi presenta l'evolució dels horts urbans al llarg del segle XX i tracta de la seva funció com a eina de millora de la sostenibilitat urbana. S'ha evidenciat la recuperació dels horts en períodes marcats per crisis econòmiques profundes (els war gardens o orticelli di guerra) o en el context de polítiques d'ajuda social (els jardins ouvriers), i s'han analitzat les diferents tipologies d'horts urbans i periurbans existents en l'actualitat. També s'ha detectat la proliferació d'horts amb un caràcter marginal, indagant en els seus aspectes més problemàtics. En general, l'element característic dels horts urbans actuals és la olifuncionalitat, ja que no només estan vinculats a la producció d'aliments, sinó que responen a noves necessitats socials d'oci i de recuperació del contacte amb la natura. Més concretament, tenen funcions ecològiques, socials, didàctiques, de lleure, productives, estètiques, terapèutiques i culturals, a més d'exercir un paper important en la millora de la gestió territorial. Aquest reconeixement es reflecteix, en les seves manifestacions més madures, en la integració dels horts en el sistema dels espais verds urbà i en el desenvolupament de la seva regulació normativa a nivell estatal. A diferència dels països del nord i centre d'Europa, al Mediterrani s'ha evidenciat l'absència d'un marc normatiu específic relatiu als horts urbans, tot i les nombroses iniciatives locals. L'anàlisi dels casos britànic, alemany i d'unes experiències locals de gestió dels horts municipals a Catalunya (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), juntament amb l'examen de les problemàtiques relatives als horts marginals, han portat a la formulació d'uns criteris bàsics a seguir per a la rehabilitació i creació d'una àrea d'horts urbans. Finalment, s'ha examinat amb deteniment el fenomen dels horts marginals al municipi de Rubí. L'anàlisi ha culminat amb l'elaboració d'una proposta inicial d'horts urbans municipals d'acord amb els criteris definits; les funcions socials (integració social i valorització dels béns comuns) i culturals (recuperació de la tradició hortícola vernacla, promoció de l'agricultura ecològica i dels productes locals) s'han tingut especialment en compte. ; This study presents the evolution of urban gardens throughout the twentieth century and its function as a tool for improving urban sustainability. In particular, it is shown that urban gardens had a great function in periods of deep economic crises (the war gardens or "orticelli di guerra") or in social assistance policies (the "jardins ouvriers" or poor gardens), providing food security for many low income persons. The study also focuses on different types of urban gardens, and it stresses the impacts related to the spread of degraded marginal gardens. Nowadays the main feature of urban gardens is multi-functionality, since they not only are related to food production, but to the satisfaction of new social needs as leisure and contact with nature too. More specifically, urban gardens have ecological, educational, recreational, productive, aesthetic, therapeutic and cultural functions as well, and they play an important role in promoting social inclusion, active civic participation and in improving land management. This recognition has lead to the integration of urban gardens in the system of green space and to the development of huge garden legislation. Unlike Northern European countries, in the Mediterranean area there are no specific national policies on urban gardens. Analysis of case studies on urban gardens in Britain and Germany, on management experiences of local urban gardens in Catalonia (Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat, Terrassa, Manlleu, Girona), together with the analysis of marginal urban gardens have led to the formulation of basic criteria for urban gardens projects. Finally, the phenomenon of marginal gardens in the town of Rubí has been carefully examined. The analysis has led to the formulation of an inicial proposal of local urban gardens under the criteria defined. Social and cultural functions as social integration, enhancement of common property, horticultural vernacular tradition and promotion of organic farming and local products have been especially considered.
An unambiguous assessment of the results of changes in the post-communist political regime of Ukraine is hardly possible. The political system of this country has experienced both periods of democratic expectations & democratic setbacks during the last fifteen years. For example, in 1990-1994, before the first competitive parliamentary elections, there was a clear fragmentation among the old (communist) political elite in Ukraine; the country's first democratic constitution was adopted in 1996. However, after Leonid Kuchma was elected President in 1994, authoritarian tendencies gradually recrudesced, "oligarchic" clans took hold of the country's political system, & the elections were increasingly blatantly manipulated & rigged to the advantage of the ruling elite. This cycle of political development recurred ten years later. Manipulations of the results of the 2004 presidential election raised a massive protest among the inhabitants of Ukraine, which was symbolically dubbed the "Orange Revolution." A new influx of democratic expectations forced the ruling elite to concede to re-running the second round of Ukraine's presidential election, which was won by the opposition. However, the political crisis which struck the new government in September 2005 & the mutual accusations of corruption raised by the former "revolutionary" comrades-in-arms -- President Viktor Yushchenko & former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko -- raised new questions regarding the vitality of the democratic processes in Ukraine. The main question examined in this article is therefore whether the vacillation of Ukraine's political regime is not a regular, permanent condition. Having two main aims -- (1) to construct a theory of Ukraine's post-soviet political transformation, & (2) to disclose the possibilities of democracy consolidation in this country -- the article starts with making some "corrections" to the transitologist approach to regime change. Firstly, it is argued that political transformation theories should have a shared concept of democracy, irrespective of the number or type of the stages of democratization distinguished. The experience of post-communist countries shows that formal procedural democratic criteria are insufficient in order to characterize a political system as democratic. Secondly, traditional theories of regime change focus mostly on the analysis of the behavior of the main political actors (the political elite) & their decisions (agreements). The structural conditions (eg., the characteristics of socio-economic development) should be also included into theoretical thinking about regime change. Thirdly, the analysis of elites & their agreements is sufficiently developed to explain how & when the transition to democracy occurs. However, the democratic consolidation stage has remained somewhat mystified by 'transitologists.' The article argues that an assumption should probably be made that the behavior of political elite factions competing in the political system is always rational & self-interested, ie., democracy (or any other form of political regime) becomes "the only game in town" only if & when it is mostly advantageous for the political elite functioning in that system. Taking into account the above mentioned "corrections" to the transitologist approach, in the article, there is produced a model for analyzing post-soviet regime transformations. The model consists of three main explanatory variables: (1) the structure of political elite, (2) the 'rules of game' prevalent in the system, & (3) the strategies of political elite aiming at gaining business and/or mass support. Consequently, various interrelations of these variables may produce four possible ideal-type outcomes of regime change -- (1) democracy, (2) 'democracy with adjectives,' (3) zero-sum game (a very unstable option when political regime may be temporarily democratic but is at a huge risk of downfall), (4) authoritarianism. In post-soviet countries, it is not enough to examine the structure of political elite & the institutions in order to predict the consolidation of one or another form of political regime. 'Building politicians' "alliances" with business & (or) mobilizing mass support may negate any such predictions & produce additional (regressive, in terms of democratization) impulses to further regime change. The very possibilities of the political elite to form "alliances" with business & (or) to mobilize the masses are mostly determined by the structural characteristics of the country. Thus, the analysis of the latter may not also be omitted in examining post-soviet transitions. Political regime in Ukraine, which beginning of 1990s started evolving as a probable liberal democracy or at least 'democracy with adjectives,' after 1998 Verkhovna Rada elections moved to the situation of the zero-sum game. Such transition was conditioned by two factors. First, the changes within political elite structure -- the communist camp, which occupied an important, although not the most important place in the pluralist political elite structure in 1994-1998, became an anti-systemic political force after the adoption of the 1996 Constitution. For these reasons, only two opposing elite factions (oligarchs-"centrists" vs. national democrats) remained in the political system of Ukraine after the 1998 elections, the ideological confrontation of which was constantly increasing & became particularly acute at the outset of the "Orange Revolution" in 2004. Second, the fact that the business class in Ukraine was forming with the "assistance" of politicians allowed the political elite to build an alliance with business community already in 1994-1996 & maintain these tight clientelist relations even after the privatization period was over. When at the end of 2004 the national democrats gathered mass support & became virtually equal or even more influential than the so-called "centrists," who traditionally draw support from business structures, the zero-sum game in Ukraine became especially acute. Such it remains by now, even after the Orange revolution is over. In more than ten years of independence the business community of Ukraine has consolidated its positions in the Verkhovna Rada & accumulated control over almost all national TV channels & other media outlets, as well as separate industrial regions. Therefore even anti-oligarchically disposed government cannot ignore this power. The ruling elite that cares about its survival & political success is forced to co-ordinate its decisions with the interests of various business clans. On the other hand, since Ukraine's business class consists of several competing clans, any government decisions that seek to limit the political influence of business groups immediately affect the interests of competing business clans. The government cannot remain neutral in principal. Any attempts of the supposed "deoligarchisation" will only result in provoking sharper disagreements between business groups because the curtailment of the positions of one clan will open new prospects for the strengthening of the influence of its competitors. It may be argued that for these reasons there will always be at least one (and, most likely, the strongest one) oligarchic political camp supported by an "alliance" with business. In other words, Ukraine's political regime does not have any chance to be consolidated in the liberal democracy perspective. Another structural characteristic of Ukraine is the politically unorganized working class. At least several competing political forces claim to represent the workers' interests -- the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, & the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine. The internal competition among the left-wing forces encourages at least one of them (the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Progressive Socialist Party) to take a radical, anti-systemic position in order that potential supporters may distinguish it from other leftist parties. Therefore, it is likely that the political system of Ukraine will preserve a left-wing segment that will not wield much power but will propagate an anti-systemic ideology without "communicating" with other political forces. Due to its anti-systemic nature it will not be able to participate in the government of the state & the votes of the left-wing voters (comprising the basis for mass support) will probably be collected by the national democrats. This circumstance enables predicting that the zero-sum game will remain very intensive in Ukraine in the future as well. Thus, the permanent instability of the state & both -- democracy & authoritarianism -- in Ukraine (a zero-sum game) may actually be considered to be its consolidated political regime form. Adapted from the source document.
A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10(-20)), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10(-13)), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10(-16)) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10(-5)). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10(-3)) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10(-3)). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3'-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk. ; We thank all the individuals who took part in these studies and all the researchers, clin- icians, technicians and administrative staff who have enabled this work to be carried out, in particular those involved in the COGS project: Rosalind A. Eeles, Ali Amin Al Olama, Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Sara Benlloch (PRACTICAL), Andrew Lee, and Ed Dicks, Craig Luccarini and the staff of the Centre for Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, the staff of the CNIO genotyping unit, Daniel C. Tessier, Francois Bacot, Daniel Vincent, Sylvie LaBoissie ` re and Frederic Robidoux and the staff of the McGill University and Ge ́ nome Que ́ bec Innovation Centre, Sune F. Nielsen, Borge G. Nordestgaard, and the staff of the Copenhagen DNA laboratory, and Julie M. Cunningham, Sharon A. Windebank, Christopher A. Hilker, Jeffrey Meyer and the staff of Mayo Clinic Genotyping Core Facility. BCAC (acknowledgements by study) (ABCFS) : Maggie Angelakos, Judi Maskiell, Gillian Dite. (ABCS) C Ellen van der Schoot, Sanquin Amsterdam. (ACP) The ACP study wishes to thank the participants in the Thai Breast Cancer study. Special Thanks also go to the Thai Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), doctors and nurses who helped with the data collection process. Finally, the study would like to thank Dr Prat Boonyawongviroj, the former Permanent Secretary of MOPH and Dr Pornthep Siriwanarungsan, the Department Director-Generalof Disease Control who have supported the study throughout. (BBCS) Eileen Williams, Elaine Ryder-Mills, Kara Sargus (BIGGS) Niall McInerney, Gabrielle Colleran, Andrew Rowan, Angela Jones. (BSUCH) Peter Bugert, Medical Faculty Mannheim (CGPS) Staff and participants of the Copenhagen General Population Study. For the excellent technical assistance: Dorthe Uldall Andersen, Maria Birna Arnadottir, Anne Bank, Dorthe Kjeldgård Hansen (CNIO-BCS) Guillermo Pita, Charo Alonso, Daniel Herrero, Nuria A ́ lvarez, Pilar Zamora, Primitiva Menendez, the Human Genotyping-CEGEN Unit (CNIO)(CTS). The CTS Steering Committee includes Leslie Bernstein, Susan Neuhausen, James Lacey, Sophia Wang, Huiyan Ma, Yani Lu, and Jessica Clague DeHart at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Dennis Deapen, Rich Pinder, Eunjung Lee, and Fred Schumacher at the University of Southern California, Pam Horn-Ross, Peggy Reynolds, Christina Clarke Dur and David Nelson at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California, and Hoda Anton-Culver, Argyrios Ziogas, and Hannah Park at the University of California Irvine. (ESTHER) Hartwig Ziegler, Sonja Wolf, Volker Hermann. (GC-HBOC) Heide Hellebrand, Stefanie Engert and GC-HBOC (Supported by Deutsche Krebshilfe). (GENICA) The GENICA Network: Dr Margarete Fischer-Bosch-Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, and University of Tu ̈bingen, Germany [HB, Wing-Yee Lo, Christina Justenhoven], German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) [HB], Department of Internal Medicine, Evangelische Kliniken Bonn gGmbH, Johanniter Krankenhaus, Bonn, Germany [Yon-Dschun Ko, Christian Baisch], Institute of Pathology, University of Bonn, Germany [Hans-Peter Fischer], Molecular Genetics of Breast Cancer, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany [UH], Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, Germany [Thomas Bru ̈ning, Beate Pesch, Sylvia Rabstein, Anne Lotz]; and Institute of Occupational Medicine and Maritime Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany [Volker Harth] (HEBCS) Kirsimari Aaltonen, Karl von Smitten, Sofia Khan, Tuomas Heikkinen, Irja Erkkila ̈ . (HMBCS) Natalia Antonenkova, Peter Hillemanns, Hans Christiansen and Johann H. Karstens (KBCP) Eija Myo ̈ ha ̈ nen, Helena Kemila ̈ inen. (kConFab/AOCS) We wish to thank Heather Thorne, Eveline Niedermayr, all the kConFab research nurses and staff, the heads and staff of the Family Cancer Clinics, and the Clinical Follow Up Study (which has received funding from the NHMRC, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Cancer Australia, and the National Institute of Health (USA)) for their contributions to this resource, and the many families who contribute to kConFab. (LAABC) We thank all the study participants and the entire data collection team, especially Annie Fung and June Yashiki. (LMBC) Gilian Peuteman, Dominiek Smeets, Thomas Van Brussel and Kathleen Corthouts. (MARIE) Petra Seibold, Judith Heinz, Nadia Obi, Alina Vrieling, Sabine Behrens, Ursula Eilber, Muhabbet Celik, Til Olchers and Stefan Nickels. (MCCS) MCCS cohort recruitment was funded by VicHealth and Cancer Council Victoria. The MCCS was further supported by Australian NHMRC grants 209057, 251553 and 504711 and by infrastructure provided by Cancer Council Victoria. Cases and their vital status were ascertained through the Victorian Cancer Registry (VCR) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), including the National Death Index. (MBCSG) Bernard Peissel and Daniela Zaffaroni and Giulietta Scuvera of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (INT), Milan, Italy; Monica Barile and Irene Feroce of the Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (IEO), Milan, Italy; and the personnel of the Cogentech Cancer Genetic Test Laboratory. (MTLGEBCS) We would like to thank Martine Tranchant (CHU de Que ́ bec Research Center), Marie-France Valois, Annie Turgeon and Lea Heguy (McGill University Health Center, Royal Victoria Hospital; McGill Uni- versity) for DNA extraction, sample management and skilful technical assistance. J.S. is Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics. (MYBRCA) Phuah Sze Yee, Peter Kang, Kang In Nee, Kavitta Sivanandan, Shivaani Mariapun, Yoon Sook-Yee, Daphne Lee, Teh Yew Ching and Nur Aishah Mohd Taib for DNA Extraction and patient recruitment. (NBHS) We thank study partcipants and research staff for their contributions and commitment to this study. (OBCS) Meeri Otsukka, Kari Mono- nen(OFBCR) Teresa Selander, Nayana Weerasooriya(ORIGO) We thank E. Krol-War- merdam, and J. Blom for patient accrual, administering questionnaires, and managing clinical information. The LUMC survival data were retrieved from the Leiden hospital- based cancer registry system (ONCDOC) with the help of Dr J. Molenaar. (PBCS) Louise Brinton, Mark Sherman, Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Beata Peplonska, Witold Zatonski, Pei Chao, Michael Stagner(pKARMA) The Swedish Medical Research Counsel. (RBCS) Petra Bos, Jannet Blom, Ellen Crepin, Elisabeth Huijskens, Annette Heemskerk, the Erasmus MC Family Cancer Clinic. (SASBAC) The Swedish Medical Research Counsel. (SBCGS) We thank study partcipants and research staff for their contributions and commitment to this study. (SBCS) Sue Higham, Helen Cramp, Ian Brock, Malcolm W. R. Reed, Sabapathy Balasubramanian and Dan Connley. (SEARCH) The SEARCH and EPIC teams. (SGBCC) We thank the participants and research coordinator Kimberley Chua. (SKKDKFZS) We thank all study participants, clinicians, family doctors, researchers and technicians for their contributions and commitment to this study. (TNBCC) Robert Pilarski and Charles Shapiro were instrumental in the formation of the OSU Breast Cancer Tissue Bank. We thank the Human Genetics Sample Bank for processing of samples and providing OSU Columbus area control samples. (UKBGS) We thank Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Institute of Cancer Research for support and funding of the Breakthrough Generations Study, and the study participants, study staff, and the doctors, nurses and other health care providers and health information sources who have contributed to the study. We acknowledge NHS funding to the Royal Marsden/ ICR NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. OCAC (acknowledgements by study) : This study would not have been possible without the contributions of the following: J Dennis, P. Hall (COGS); D. C. Tessier, F. Bacot, D. Vincent, S. LaBoissie ` re and F. Robidoux and the staff of the genotyping unit, (Genome Quebec); D. C. Whiteman, P. M. Webb, A. C. Green, N. K. Hayward, P. G. Parsons, D. M. Purdie, B. M. Smithers, D. Gotley, A. Clouston, I. Brown, S. Moore. K. Harrap, T. Sadkowski, S. O'Brien, E. Minehan, D. Roffe, S. O'Keefe, S. Lipshut, G. Connor . Berry, F. Walker, T. Barnes, J. Thomas, L. Terry, M. Connard, L. Bowes, M-R. Malt, J. White, C. Mosse, N. Tait, C. Bambach, A. Biankan, R. Brancatisano, M. Coleman, M. Cox, S. Deane, G. L. Falk, J. Gallagher, M. Hollands, T. Hugh, D. Hunt, J. Jorgensen, C. Martin, M. Richardson, G. Smith, R. Smith, D. Storey, J. Avramovic, J. Croese, J. D'Arcy, S. Fairley, J. Hansen, J. Masson, L. Nathanson, B. O'Loughlin, L. Rutherford, R. Turner, M. Windsor, J. Bessell, P. Devitt, G. Jamieson, D. Watson, S. Blamey, A. Boussioutas, R. Cade, G. Crosthwaite, I. Faragher, J. Gribbin, G. Hebbard, G. Kiroff, B. Mann, R. Millar, P. O'Brien, R. Thomas, S. Wood, S. Archer, K. Faulkner, J. Hamdorf (ACS); R. Stuart-Harris, F. Kirsten, J. Rutovitz, P. Clingan, A.Glasgow, A. Proietto, S. Braye, G. Otton, J. Shannon, T. Bonaventura, J. Stewart, S. Begbie, M. Friedlander, D. Bell, S. Baron-Hay, G. Gard, D. Nevell, N. Pavlakis, S. Valmadre, B. Young, C Camaris, R. Crouch, L. Edwards, N. Hacker, D. Marsden, G. Robertson, P. Beale, J. Beith, J. Carter, C. Dalrymple, R. Houghton, P. Russell, L. Anderson, M. Links, J. Grygiel, J. Hill, A. Brand, K. Byth, R. Jaworski, P. Harnett, R. Sharma,.G Wain, D. Purdie, D. Whiteman, B. Ward, D. Papadimos, A. Crandon, M. Cummings, K. Horwood. A. Obermair, L. Perrin, D. Wyld, J. Nicklin, M. Davy, M. K. Oehler, C. Hall, T. Dodd, T. Healy, K. Pittman, D. Henderson, J. Miller, J. Pierdes, A. Achan, P. Blomfield, D. Challis, R. McIntosh, A. Parker, B. Brown, R. Rome, D. Allen, P. Grant, S. Hyde, R. Laurie, M. Robbie, D. Healy, T. Jobling, T. Manolitsas, J. McNealage, P Rogers, B. Susil, E. Sumithran, I. Simpson, I. Haviv, K. Phillips, D. Rischin, S. Fox, D. Johnson, S. Lade, P. Waring, M. Loughrey, N.O'Callaghan, B. Murray, L. Mileshkin, P. Allan; V. Billson, J. Pyman, D. Neesham, M. Quinn, A. Hamilton, C. Underhill, R. Bell, L. F Ng, R. Blum, V.Ganju, I. Hammond, C. Stewart, Y. Leung, M. Buck, N. Zeps (ACS); G. Peuteman, T. Van Brussel and D. Smeets (BEL); U. Eilber and T. Koehler (GER); L. Gacucova (HMO); P. Schu ̈rmann, F. Kramer, W. Zheng, T.-W. Park-Simon, K. Beer-Grondke and D. Schmidt (HJO); G.S. Keeney, S. Windebank, C. Hilker and J. Vollenweider (MAY); the state cancer registries of AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, and WYL (NHS); L. Paddock, M. King, U. Chandran, A. Samoila, and Y. Bensman (NJO); L. Brinton, M. Sherman, A. Hutchinson, N. Szeszenia- Dabrowska, B. Peplonska, W. Zatonski, A. Soni, P. Chao and M. Stagner (POL); ); C. Luccarini, P. Harrington the SEARCH team and ECRIC (SEA); the Scottish Gynaecological Clinical Trails group and SCOTROC1 investigators (SRO); W-H. Chow, Y-T. Gao (SWH); Information about TCGA and the investigators and institutions who constitute the TCGA research network can be found at http://cancergenome.nih.gov/ (TCGA); I. Jacobs, M. Widschwendter, E. Wozniak, N. Balogun, A. Ryan and J. Ford (UKO); Carole Pye (UKR); a full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the WTCCC data is available from http://www.wtccc.org.uk/ (WTCCC). CIMBA (acknowledgements by study) : (BCFR-AU) Maggie Angelakos, Judi Maskiell, Gillian Dite, Helen Tsimiklis. (BCFR-NY) We wish to thank members and participants in the New York site of the Breast Cancer Family Registry for their contributions to the study. (BCFR-ON) We wish to thank members and participants in the Ontario Familial Breast Cancer Registry for their contributions to the study. (BFBOCC-LT) We acknowledge Vilius Rudaitis, Laimonas Gris ˇ kevic ˇ ius, Ramu ̄ nas Janavic ˇ ius (if not in the authorship). BFBOCC-LV acknowledge Drs Janis Eglitis, Anna Krilova and Aivars Stengrevics. (BMBSA) We wish to thank the families who contribute to the BMBSA study. (BRICOH) We wish to thank Yuan Chun Ding and Linda Steele for their work in participant enrolment and biospecimen and data management.(CNIO) We thank Alicia Barroso, Rosario Alonso and Guillermo Pita for their assistance. (CONSIT TEAM) Alessandra Viel and Riccardo Dolcetti of the CRO Aviano National Cancer Institute, Aviano (PN), Italy; Laura Ottini of the 'Sapienza' University, Rome, Italy; Liliana Varesco of the IRCCS AOU San Martino - IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy; Laura Papi and Gabriele Capone of the University of Florence, Florence, Italy; Antonella Savarese and Aline Martayan of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori Regina Elena, Rome, Italy; Stefania Tommasi and Brunella Pilato of the Istituto Nazionale Tumori 'Giovanni Paolo II', Bari, Italy. (CORE) The CIMBA data management and analysis is funded through Cancer Research- UK grant C12292/A11174. ACA is a Senior Cancer Research - UK Research Fellow. (EMBRACE) RE is supported by NIHR support to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. (FCCC) We thank Ms. JoEllen Weaver and Dr Betsy Bove for their technical support. (GEMO) Genetic Modifiers of Cancer Risk in BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers (GEMO) study: National Cancer Genetics Network ) UNICANCER Genetic Group * , France. We wish to thank all the GEMO collaborating groups for their contribution to this study. GEMO Collaborating Centres are: Coordinating Centres, Unite ́ Mixte de Ge ́ ne ́ tique Constitutionnelle des Cancers Fre ́ quents, Hospices Civils de Lyon - Centre Le ́ on Be ́ rard, and Equipe ) Ge ́ ne ́ tique du cancer du sein * , Centre de Recherche en Cance ́ rologie de Lyon: Olga Sinilnikova w , Sylvie Mazoyer, Francesca Damiola, Laure Barjhoux, Carole Verny-Pierre, Me ́ lanie Le ́ one, Nadia Boutry-Kryza, Alain Calender, Sophie Giraud; and Service de Ge ́ ne ́ tique Oncologique, Institut Curie, Paris: Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet, Marion Gauthier-Villars, Bruno Buecher, Claude Houdayer, Etienne Rouleau, Lisa Golmard, Agne ` s Collet, Virginie Moncoutier, Ce ́ drick Lefol, Muriel Belotti, Antoine de Pauw, Camille Elan, Catherine Nogues, Emmanuelle Fourme, Anne-Marie Birot. Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif: Brigitte Bressac-de-Pail- lerets, Olivier Caron, Marine Guillaud-Bataille. Centre Jean Perrin, Clermont–Ferrand: Yves-Jean Bignon, Nancy Uhrhammer. Centre Le ́ on Be ́ rard, Lyon: Christine Lasset, Vale ́ rie Bonadona, Sandrine Handallou. Centre Franc ̧ ois Baclesse, Caen: Agne ` s Hardouin, Pascaline Berthet, Dominique Vaur, Laurent Castera. Institut Paoli Calmettes, Marseille: Hagay Sobol, Violaine Bourdon, Tetsuro Noguchi, Audrey Remenieras, Franc ̧ ois Eisinger. CHU Arnaud-de-Villeneuve, Montpellier: Isabelle Coupier, Pascal Pujol. Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille: Jean-Philippe Peyrat, Joe ̈ lle Fournier, Franc ̧ oise Re ́ villion, Philippe Vennin w , Claude Adenis. Centre Paul Strauss, Strasbourg: Danie ` le Muller, Jean-Pierre Fricker. Institut Bergonie ́ , Bordeaux: Emmanuelle Barouk-Simonet, Franc ̧ oise Bonnet, Virginie Bubien, Nicolas Sevenet, Michel Longy. Institut Claudius Regaud, Toulouse: Christine Toulas, Rosine Guimbaud, Laurence Gladieff, Viviane Feillel. CHU Grenoble: Dominique Leroux, He ́ le ` ne Dreyfus, Christine Rebischung, Magalie Peysselon. CHU Dijon: Fanny Coron, Laurence Faivre. CHU St-Etienne: Fabienne Prieur, Marine Lebrun, Caroline Kientz. Ho ˆ tel Dieu Centre Hospitalier, Chambe ́ ry: Sandra Fert Ferrer. Centre Antoine Lacassagne, Nice: Marc Fre ́ nay. CHU Limoges: Laurence Ve ́ nat-Bouvet. CHU Nantes: Capucine Delnatte. CHU Bretonneau, Tours: Isabelle Mortemousque. Groupe Hospitalier Pitie ́ -Salpe ́ trie ` re, Paris: Florence Coulet, Chrystelle Colas, Florent Soubrier, Mathilde Warcoin. CHU Vandoeuvre-les- Nancy: Johanna Sokolowska, Myriam Bronner. CHU Besanc ̧ on: Marie-Agne ` s Collonge- Rame, Alexandre Damette. Creighton University, Omaha, USA: Henry T. Lynch, Carrie L. Snyder. (G-FAST) We wish to thank the technical support of Ilse Coene en Brecht Crombez. (HCSC) We acknowledge Alicia Tosar for her technical assistance(HEBCS) HEBCS would like to thank Dr Kristiina Aittoma ̈ ki, Taru A. Muranen, Drs Carl Blomqvist and Kirsimari Aaltonen and RNs Irja Erkkila ̈ and Virpi Palola for their help with the HEBCS data and samples. (HEBON) The Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Research Group Netherlands (HEBON) consists of the following Collaborating Centres: Coordinating center: Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, NL: M.A. Rookus, F.B.L. Hogervorst, F.E. van Leeuwen, S. Verhoef, M.K. Schmidt, N.S. Russell, J.L. de Lange, R. Wijnands; Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, NL: J.M. Colle ́ e, A.M.W. van den Ouweland, M.J. Hooning, C. Seynaeve, C.H.M. van Deurzen, I.M. Obdeijn; Leiden University Medical Center, NL: C.J. van Asperen, J.T. Wijnen, R.A.E.M. Tollenaar, P. Devilee, T.C.T.E.F. van Cronenburg; Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, NL: C.M. Kets, A.R. Mensenkamp; University Medical Center Utrecht, NL: M.G.E.M. Ausems, R.B. van der Luijt, C.C. van der Pol; Amsterdam Medical Center, NL: C.M. Aalfs, T.A.M. van Os; VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, NL: J.J.P. Gille, Q. Waisfisz, H.E.J. Meijers-Heijboer; University Hospital Maastricht, NL: E.B. Go ́ mez- Garcia, M.J. Blok; University Medical Center Groningen, NL: J.C. Oosterwijk, A.H. van der Hout, M.J. Mourits, G.H. de Bock; The Netherlands Foundation for the detection of hereditary tumours, Leiden, NL: H.F. Vasen; The Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization (IKNL): S. Siesling, J.Verloop; The Dutch Pathology Registry (PALGA): L.I.H. Overbeek. The HEBON study is supported by the Dutch Cancer Society grants NKI1998-1854, NKI2004-3088, NKI2007-3756, the Netherlands Organization of Scien- tific Research grant NWO 91109024, the Pink Ribbon grants 110005 and 2014- 187.WO76, the BBMRI grant NWO 184.021.007/CP46 and the Transcan grant JTC 2012 Cancer 12-054. HEBON thanks the registration teams of IKNL and PALGA for part of the data collection. (HRBCP) We wish to thank Hong Kong Sanatoriuma and Hospital for their continual support. (HUNBOCS) We wish to thank the Hungarian Breast and Ovarian Cancer Study Group members (Janos Papp, Tibor Vaszko, Aniko Bozsik, Timea Pocza, Judit Franko, Maria Balogh, Gabriella Domokos, Judit Ferenczi, Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary) and the clin- icians and patients for their contributions to this study.(HVH) We wish to thank the Oncogenetics Group (VHIO), and the High Risk and Cancer Prevention Unit of the University Hospital Vall d'Hebron.(ICO) We wish to thank the ICO Hereditary Cancer Program team led by Dr Gabriel Capella. (INHERIT) We would like to thank Dr Martine Dumont, Martine Tranchant for sample management and skilful technical assistance. J.S. is Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics. J.S. and P.S. were part of the QC and Genotyping coordinating group of iCOGS (BCAC and CIMBA). (IPOBCS) We wish to thank Drs Ana Peixoto, Catarina Santos, Patrı ́ cia Rocha and Pedro Pinto for their skilful contribution to the study. (KCONFAB) We wish to thank Heather Thorne, Eveline Niedermayr, all the kConFab research nurses and staff, the heads and staff of the Family Cancer Clinics, and the Clinical Follow Up Study (which has received funding from the NHMRC, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Cancer Australia, and the National Institute of Health (USA)) for their contributions to this resource, and the many families who contribute to kConFab. (MODSQUAD) Modifier Study of Quantitative Effects on Disease (MODSQUAD): we acknowledge ModSQuaD members Csilla Szabo (National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA); Lenka Foretova and Eva Machackova (Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute and MF MU, Brno, Czech Republic); and Michal Zikan, Petr Pohlreich and Zdenek Kleibl (Oncogynecologic Center and Department of Biochemistry and Experimental Oncology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic). (MSKCC) Anne Lincoln, Lauren Jacobs. (NICCC) We wish to thank the NICCC National Familial Cancer Consultation Service team led by Sara Dishon, the lab team led by Dr Flavio Lejbkowicz, and the research field operations team led by Dr Mila Pinchev. (NRG Oncology) We thank the investigators of the Australia New Zealand NRG Oncology group. (OCGN) We wish to thank members and participants in the Ontario Cancer Genetics Network for their contributions to the study. (OSU CCG) Leigha Senter, Kevin Sweet, Caroline Craven, and Michelle O'Conor were instrumental in accrual of study participants, ascertainment of medical records and database management. Samples were processed by the OSU Human Genetics Sample Bank. (SEABASS) We would like to thank Yip Cheng Har, Nur Aishah Mohd Taib, Phuah Sze Yee, Norhashimah Hassan and all the research nurses, research assistants and doctors involved in the MyBrCa Study for assistance in patient recruitment, data collection and sample preparation. In addition, we thank Philip Iau, Sng Jen-Hwei and Sharifah Nor Akmal for contributing samples from the Singapore Breast Cancer Study nd the HUKM-HKL Study respectively. The Malaysian Breast Cancer Genetic Study is funded by research grants from the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Higher Education (UM.C/HIR/MOHE/06) and charitable funding from Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation. (SMC) SMC team wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the Meirav Comprehensice breast cancer center team at the Sheba Medical Center for assistance in this study. (SWE-BRCA) Swedish scientists participating as SWE-BRCA collaborators are: from Lund University and University Hospital: Åke Borg, Håkan Olsson, Helena Jernstro ̈ m, Karin Henriksson, Katja Harbst, Maria Soller, Ulf Kristoffersson; from Gothenburg Sahlgrenska University Hospital: Anna O ̈ fverholm, Margareta Nordling, Per Karlsson, Zakaria Einbeigi; from Stockholm and Karolinska University Hospital: Anna von Wachenfeldt, Annelie Liljegren, Annika Lindblom, Brita Arver, Gisela Barbany Bustinza, Johanna Rantala; from Umeå University Hospital: Beatrice Melin, Christina Edwinsdotter Ardnor, Monica Emanuelsson; from Uppsala University: Hans Ehrencrona, Maritta Hellstro ̈ m Pigg, Richard Rosenquist; from Linko ̈ ping University Hospital: Marie Stenmark-Askmalm, Sigrun Lied- gren(UCHICAGO) We wish to thank Cecilia Zvocec, Qun Niu, physicians, genetic counsellors, research nurses and staff of the Cancer Risk Clinic for their contributions to this resource, and the many families who contribute to our programme. (UCLA) We thank Joyce Seldon MSGC and Lorna Kwan, MPH for assembling the data for this study. (UCSF) We would like to thank Dr Robert Nussbaum and the following genetic coun- sellors for participant recruitment: Beth Crawford, Kate Loranger, Julie Mak, Nicola Stewart, Robin Lee, Amie Blanco and Peggy Conrad. And thanks to Ms. Salina Chan for her data management. (UKFOCR) We thank Carole Pye, Patricia Harrington and Eva Wozniak for their contributions towards the UKFOCR. (VFCTG) Geoffrey Lindeman, Marion Harris, Martin Delatycki of the Victorian Familial Cancer Trials Group. We thank Sarah Sawyer and Rebecca Driessen for assembling this data and Ella Thompson for performing all DNA amplification. Grant Support : The COGS project is funded through a European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme grant (agreement number 223175—HEALTH-F2-2009- 223175). BCAC is funded by Cancer Research UK [C1287/A10118, C1287/A12014] and by the European Community ́ s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement number 223175 (grant number HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS). The CIMBA data management and analytical work is funded by Cancer Research UK (C12292/A11174, C12292/A20861). Funding for the iCOGS infrastructure came from: the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n ° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/A16565), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 - the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defence (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium is supported by a grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund thanks to donations by the family and friends of Kathryn Sladek Smith (PPD/RPCI.07). The scientific development and funding for this project were in part supported by the US National Cancer Institute GAME-ON Post-GWAS Initiative (U19-CA148112). This study made use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control consortium. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. The results published here are in part based on data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas Project established by the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute. Personal support: K.L. is supported by a K99/R00 grant from the National Cancer Institute (Grant number 1K99CA184415-01). This project was supported in part by a Program Project Development Grant from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (S.A.G and A.M). The in vitro aspects of this project were performed within the Norris Cancer Centre at USC, which is supported in part by award number P30CA014089 from the National Cancer Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health. D.F.E. is a Principal Research Fellow of Cancer Research UK. A.C.A. is a Cancer Research—UK Senior Cancer Research Fellow. G.C.-T. and P.M.W. are supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council. (WCP) B.Y.K is funded by the American Cancer Society Early Detection Professorship (SIOP- 06-258-01-COUN) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), Grant UL1TR000124. L.E.K. is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Investigator award (MSH-87734). S.P.K. is supported by a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. J.S. is Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics. RB was a Cancer Institute NSW Clinical Research Fellow. M.C.S. is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. A.K.G. was funded by 5U01CA113916, R01CA140323, and by the Chancellors Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Sciences Professorship. J.L.H. is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow. S.L.E. and J.D.F. are supported by Fellowships from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) Australia and NHMRC project grant (1058415). Funding : BCAC: The Australian Breast Cancer Family Study (ABCFS) was supported by grant UM1 CA164920 from the National Cancer Institute (USA). The content of this manuscript does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the National Cancer Institute or any of the collaborating centres in the Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR), nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the USA Government or the BCFR. The ABCFS was also supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the New South Wales Cancer Council, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (Australia) and the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium. The ABCS study was supported by the Dutch Cancer Society [grants NKI 2007-3839; 2009 4363]. The ACP study is funded by the Breast Cancer Research Trust, UK. The BBCS is funded by Cancer Research UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer and acknowledges NHS funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and the National Cancer Research Network (NCRN).ES is supported by NIHR Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London, United Kingdom. IT is supported by the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.The BSUCH study was supported by the Dietmar-Hopp Foundation, the Helmholtz Society and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The CGPS was supported by the Chief Physician Johan Boserup and Lise Boserup Fund, the Danish Medical Research Council and Herlev HospitalThe CNIO-BCS was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the Red Tema ́ tica de Investigacio ́ n Cooperativa en Ca ́ ncer and grants from the Asociacio ́ n Espan ̃ ola Contra el Ca ́ ncer and the Fondo de Investigacio ́ n Sanitario (PI11/00923 and PI12/00070). The CTS was initially supported by the California Breast Cancer Act of 1993 and the California Breast Cancer Research Fund (contract 97-10500) and is cur- rently funded through the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA77398). Collection of cancer incidence data was supported by the California Department of Public Health as part of the statewide cancer reporting program mandated by California Health and Safety Code Section 103885. HAC receives support from the Lon V Smith Foundation (LVS39420). The ESTHER study was supported by a grant from the Baden Wu ̈rttemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts. Additional cases were recruited in the context of the VERDI study, which was supported by a grant from the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe). The GC-HBOC was supported by Deutsche Krebshilfe (107 352). The GENICA was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Germany grants 01KW9975/5, 01KW9976/8, 01KW9977/0 and 01KW0114, the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Heidelberg, the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance, Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum (IPA), Bochum, as well as the Department of Internal Medicine, Evangelische Kliniken Bonn gGmbH, Johanniter Krankenhaus, Bonn, Germany. The HEBCS was financially supported by the Helsinki University Central Hospital Research Fund, Academy of Finland (266528), the Finnish Cancer Society, The Nordic Cancer Union and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation. The HMBCS was supported by a grant from the Friends of Hannover Medical School and by the Rudolf Bartling Foundation. The KBCP was financially supported by the special Government Funding (EVO) of Kuopio University Hospital grants, Cancer Fund of North Savo, the Finnish Cancer Organizations, and by the strategic funding of the University of Eastern Finland. kConFab is supported by a grant from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and previously by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Queensland Cancer Fund, the Cancer Councils of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and the Cancer Foundation of Western Australia. Financial support for the AOCS was provided by the United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command [DAMD17-01-1-0729], Cancer Council Victoria, Queensland Cancer Fund, Cancer Council New South Wales, Cancer Council South Australia, The Cancer Foundation of Western Australia, Cancer Council Tasmania and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC; 400413, 400281, 199600). LAABC is supported by grants (1RB-0287, 3PB-0102, 5PB-0018, 10PB-0098) from the California Breast Cancer Research Program. Incident breast cancer cases were collected by the USC Cancer Surveillance Program (CSP), which is supported under subcontract by the California Department of Health. The CSP is also part of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, under contract number N01CN25403. LMBC is supported by the 'Stichting tegen Kanker' (232-2008 and 196-2010). Diether Lambrechts is supported by the FWO and the KULPFV/10/016-SymBioSysII.The MARIE study was supported by the Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V. [70-2892-BR I, 106332, 108253, 108419], the Hamburg Cancer Society, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Germany [01KH0402]. (MBCSG) is supported by grants from the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) and by funds from the Italian citizens who allocated the 5/1000 share of their tax payment in support of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, according to Italian laws (INT-Institutional strategic projects '5x1000'). The work of MTLGEBCS was supported by the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the 'CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer' program – grant # CRN-87521 and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade – grant # PSR-SIIRI-701.MYBRCA is funded by research grants from the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (UM.C/HlR/MOHE/06) and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (CARIF). Additional controls were recruited by the Singapore Eye Research Institute, which was supported by a grant from the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC08/1/35/19/550), Singapore and the National medical Research Council, Singa- pore (NMRC/CG/SERI/2010). The NBHS was supported by NIH grant R01CA100374. Biological sample preparation was conducted the Survey and Biospecimen Shared Resource, which is supported by P30 CA68485. The OBCS was supported by research grants from the Finnish Cancer Foundation, the Academy of Finland (grant number 250083, 122715 and Center of Excellence grant number 251314), the Finnish Cancer Foundation, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, the University of Oulu, the University of Oulu Support Foundation and the special Governmental EVO funds for Oulu University Hospital-based research activities. The Ontario Familial Breast Cancer Registry (OFBCR) was supported by grant UM1 CA164920 from the National Cancer Institute (USA). The content of this manuscript does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the National Cancer Institute or any of the collaborating centres in the Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR), nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the USA Government or the BCFR. The ORIGO study was supported by the Dutch Cancer Society (RUL 1997-1505) and the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-NL CP16). The PBCS was funded by Intramural Research Funds of the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services, USA. The pKARMA study was supported by Ma ̈ rit and Hans Rausings Initiative Against Breast CancerThe RBCS was funded by the Dutch Cancer Society (DDHK 2004-3124, DDHK 2009-4318). The SASBAC study was sup- ported by funding from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore (A*STAR), the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The SBCGS was supported primarily by NIH grants R01CA64277, R01CA148667, and R37CA70867. Biological sample preparation was conducted the Survey and Biospecimen Shared Resource, which is supported by P30 CA68485. The scientific development and funding of this project were, in part, supported by the Genetic Associations and Mechanisms in Oncology (GAME-ON) Network U19 CA148065.The SBCS was supported by Yorkshire Cancer Research S295, S299, S305PA and Sheffield Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre.SEARCH is funded by a programme grant from Cancer Research UK [C490/A10124] and supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Cambridge.SGBCC is funded by the NUS start-up Grant, National University Cancer Institute Singapore (NCIS) Centre Grant and the NMRC Clinician Scientist Award. Additional controls were recruited by the Singapore Consortium of Cohort Studies-Multi-ethnic cohort (SCCS-MEC), which was funded by the Biomedical Research Council, grant number: 05/ 1/21/19/425.SKKDKFZS is supported by the DKFZ. The TNBCC was supported by: a Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer (CA116201), a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a generous gift from the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Family Foundation, the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group research grant (HR R_BG/04) and the Greek General Secretary for Research and Technology (GSRT) Program, Research Excellence II, the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF), and Greek national funds through the Operational Program 'Education and Lifelong Learning' of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - ARISTEIA. The UKBGS is funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London. ICR acknowledges NHS funding to the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Funding : OCAC : Funding of the constituent studies was provided by the American Cancer Society (CRTG-00-196-01-CCE); the California Cancer Research Program (00-01389 V-20170, N01-CN25403, 2II0200); the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP-86727); Cancer Council Victoria; Cancer Council Queensland; Cancer Council New South Wales; Cancer Council South Australia; Cancer Council Tasmania; Cancer Foundation of Western Australia; the Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Cancer Research UK (C490/A6187, C490/A10119, C490/A10124, C536/A13086, C536/A6689); the Celma Mastry Ovarian Cancer Foundation; the Danish Cancer Society (94-222-52); the ELAN Program of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; the Eve Appeal; the Helsinki University Central Hospital Research Fund; Helse Vest; Imperial Experimental Cancer Research Centre (C1312/A15589); the Norwegian Cancer Society; the Norwegian Research Council; the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund; Nationaal Kankerplan of Belgium; Grant-in-Aid for the Third Term Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare of Japan; the L and S Milken Foun- dation; the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (4 PO5C 028 14, 2 PO5A 068 27); Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (UM.C/HlR/MOHE/06) and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation; the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Alliance Foundation; the US National Cancer Institute (K07-CA095666, K07-CA143047, K22-CA138563, N01-CN55424, N01-PC067010, N01-PC035137, P01-CA017054, P01-CA087696, P30-CA15083, P50-CA105009, P50- CA136393, R01-CA014089, R01-CA016056, R01-CA017054, R01-CA049449, R01-CA050385, R01-CA054419, R01- CA058598, R01-CA058860, R01-CA061107, R01-CA061132, R01-CA063682, R01-CA064277, R01-CA067262, R01- CA071766, R01-CA074850, R01-CA076016, R01-CA080742, R01-CA080978, R01-CA083918, R01-CA087538, R01- CA092044, R01-095023, R01-CA106414, R01-CA122443, R01-CA112523, R01-CA114343, R01-CA126841, R01- CA136924, R01-CA149429, R03-CA113148, R03-CA115195, R37-CA070867, R37-CA70867, U01-CA069417, U01- CA071966, R01-CA063678 and Intramural research funds); the US Army Medical Research and Material Command (DAMD17-98-1- 8659, DAMD17-01-1-0729, DAMD17-02-1-0666, DAMD17-02-1- 0669, W81XWH-10-1-0280); the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (199600 and 400281); the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany Programme of Clinical Biomedical Research (01 GB 9401); the state of Baden-Wu ̈rttemberg through Medical Faculty of the University of Ulm (P.685); the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance; the Mayo Foundation; the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation; the Lon V. Smith Foundation (LVS-39420); the Oak Foundation; the OHSU Foundation; the Mermaid I project; the Rudolf-Bartling Foundation; the UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centres at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College Hospital 'Womens Health Theme' and the Royal Marsden Hospital; WorkSafeBC. Funding : CIMBA (BCFR—all) : This work was supported by grant UM1 CA164920 from the National Cancer Institute. The content of this manuscript does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the National Cancer Institute or any of the collaborating centres in the Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR), nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the US Government or the BCFR. (BFBOCC-LT) BFBOCC is partly supported by: Lithuania (BFBOCC-LT): Research Council of Lithuania grant LIG-07/2012; (BIDMC) BIDMC is supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (BMBSA) BRCA-gene mutations and breast cancer in South African women (BMBSA) was supported by grants from the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) to Elizabeth J. van Rensburg. (BRICOH) SLN was partially supported by the Morris and Horowitz Familes Endowed Professorship. (CBCS) This work was supported by the NEYE Foundation. (CNIO) This work was partially supported by Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC08), RTICC 06/0020/1060, FISPI08/1120, Mutua Madrilen ̃ a Foundation (FMMA) and SAF2010-20493 (COH-CCGCRN) City of Hope Clinical Cancer Genetics Community Network and the Hereditary Cancer Research Registry, supported in part by Award Number RC4CA153828 (PI: J. Weitzel) from the National Cancer Institute and the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. (CONSIT TEAM) Funds from Italian citizens who allocated the 5x1000 share of their tax payment in support of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, according to Italian laws (INT-Institutional strategic projects '5x1000') to Siranoush Manoukian. (CORE) The CIMBA data management and data analysis were supported by Cancer Research – UK grants C12292/A11174 and C1287/A10118.SH is supported by an NHMRC Program Grant to GCT. ACA is a Cancer Research -UK Senior Cancer Research Fellow. (DEMOKRITOS) This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program 'Education and Lifelong Learning' of the National Strategic Reference Frame- work (NSRF) - Research Funding Program of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology: ARISTEIA. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.(DKFZ) The DKFZ study was supported by the DKFZ. (EMBRACE) EMBRACE is supported by Cancer Research UK Grants C1287/A10118 and C1287/A11990. D. Gareth Evans and Fiona Lalloo are supported by an NIHR grant to the Biomedical Research Centre, Manchester. The Investigators at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust are supported by an NIHR grant to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. (FCCC) The authors acknowledge support from The University of Kansas Cancer Center (P30 CA168524) and the Kansas Bioscience Authority Eminent Scholar Program. (GC-HBOC) The German Consortium of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (GC-HBOC) is supported by the German Cancer Aid (grant no 109076, Rita K. Schmutzler) and by the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC). (GEMO) The study was supported by the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer; the Association 'Le cancer du sein, parlons-en!' Award; the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the 'CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer' program and the French National Institute of Cancer (INCa). (GEORGETOWN) CI received support from the Non-Therapeutic Subject Registry Shared Resource at Georgetown University (NIH/NCI grant P30-CA051008), the Fisher Center for Familial Cancer Research, and Swing Fore the Cure. (G-FAST) Kim De Leeneer is supported by GOA grant BOF10/ GOA/019 (Ghent University) and spearhead financing of Ghent University Hospital. (HCSC) HCSC supported by a grant RD12/0036/0006 and 12/00539 from ISCIII (Spain), partially supported by European Regional Development FEDER funds. (HEBCS) The HEBCS was financially supported by the Helsinki University Hospital Research Fund, Academy of Finland (266528), the Finnish Cancer Society and the Sigrid Juselius Foundation. (HEBON) The HEBON study is supported by the Dutch Cancer Society grants NKI1998-1854, NKI2004-3088, NKI2007-3756, the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research grant NWO 91109024, the Pink Ribbon grant 110005 and the BBMRI grant NWO 184.021.007/CP46. HEBON thanks the registration teams of the Comprehensive Cancer Centre Netherlands and Comprehensive Centre South (together the Netherlands Cancer Registry) and PALGA (Dutch Pathology Registry) for part of the data collection. (HRBCP) HRBCP is supported by The Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry and the Dr Ellen Li Charitable Foundation, Hong Kong (HUNBOCS) Hungarian Breast and Ovarian Cancer Study was supported by Hungarian Research Grants KTIA-OTKA CK-80745, OTKA K-112228 and the Norwegian EEA Financial Mechanism Hu0115/NA/2008-3/OP-9. (ICO) Contract grant sponsor: Asociacio ́ n Espan ̃ ola Contra el Ca ́ ncer, Spanish Health Research Fund; Carlos III Health Institute; Catalan Health Institute and Autonomous Government of Catalonia. Contract grant numbers: ISCIIIRETIC RD06/0020/1051, RD12/0036/008, PI10/01422, PI10/ 00748, PI13/00285, PIE13/00022, 2009SGR290 and 2014SGR364. (IHCC) The IHCC was supported by Grant PBZ_KBN_122/P05/2004(ILUH) The ILUH group was supported by the Icelandic Association 'Walking for Breast Cancer Research' and by the Landspitali University Hospital Research Fund. (INHERIT) This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the 'CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer' program, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance-grant #019511 and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade – grant # PSR-SIIRI- 701. (IOVHBOCS) IOVHBOCS is supported by Ministero della Salute and '5 1,000' Istituto Oncologico Veneto grant. (IPOBCS) This study was in part supported by Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro.(KCONFAB) kConFab is supported by a grant from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and previously by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Queensland Cancer Fund, the Cancer Councils of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and the Cancer Foundation of Western Australia; (KOHBRA) KOHBRA is supported by a grant from the National R&D Program for Cancer Control, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs,Republic of Korea (1020350). (MAYO) MAYO is supported by NIH grants CA116167, CA128978 and CA176785, an NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer (CA116201), a U.S. Department of Defence Ovarian Cancer Idea award (W81XWH-10-1-0341), a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a generous gift from the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Family Foundation and the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation. (MCGILL) Jewish General Hospital Weekend to End Breast Cancer, Quebec Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MODSQUAD) MODSQUAD was supported by MH CZ - DRO (MMCI, 00209805) and by the European Regional Development Fund and the State Budget of the Czech Republic (RECAMO, CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0101) to LF, and by Charles University in Prague project UNCE204024 (MZ). (MSKCC) MSKCC is supported by grants from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the Robert and Kate Niehaus Clinical Cancer Genetics Initiative, and the Andrew Sabin Research Fund. (NAROD) 1R01 CA149429- 01. (NCI) The research of Drs MH Greene, JT Loud and PL Mai was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the US National Cancer Institute, NIH, and by support services contracts NO2-CP-11019-50 and N02-CP-65504 with Westat, Inc, Rockville, MD. (NICCC) NICCC is supported by Clalit Health Services in Israel. Some of it's activities are supported by the Israel Cancer Association and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), NY. (NNPIO) This work has been supported by the Russian Federation for Basic Research (grants 13-04-92613, 14-04-93959 and 15-04-01744). (NRG Oncology) This study was supported by National Cancer Institute grants to the NRG Oncology Administrative Office and Tissue Bank (CA 27469), the NRG Oncology Statistical and Data Center (CA 37517), and NRG Oncology's Cancer Prevention and Control Committee (CA 101165). (OSU CCG) OSUCCG is supported by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. (PBCS) This work was supported by the ITT (Istituto Toscano Tumori) grants 2011-2013. (SEABASS) Ministry of Science, Technol- ogy and Innovation, Ministry of Higher Education (UM.C/HlR/MOHE/06) and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation. (SMC) This project was partially funded through a grant by the Isreal cancer association and the funding for the Israeli Inherited breast cancer consortium (SWE-BRCA) SWE-BRCA collaborators are supported by the Swedish Cancer Society. (UCHICAGO) UCHICAGO is supported by NCI Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer (CA125183), R01 CA142996, 1U01CA161032 and by the Ralph and Marion Falk Medical Research Trust, the Entertainment Industry Fund National Women's Cancer Research Alliance and the Breast Cancer research Foundation. OIO is an ACS Clinical Research Professor.(UCLA) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Foundation; Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (UCSF) UCSF Cancer Risk Program and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. (UKFOCR) UKFOCR was supported by a project grant from CRUK to Paul Pharoah. (UPENN) National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01-CA102776 and R01- CA083855; Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Susan G. Komen Foundation for the cure, Basser Research Center for BRCA. (UPITT/MWH) Frieda G. and Saul F. Shapira BRCA-Associated Cancer Research Program;Hackers for Hope Pittsburgh. (VFCTG) Victorian Cancer Agency, Cancer Australia, National Breast Cancer Foundation unding for the iCOGS infrastructure came from: the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n ° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/ A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/A16565), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 - the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defence (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and grants R01-CA122443 and P50-CA136393. ; Sí
In 2015, Indonesia stands as an increasingly divided country, unequal in many ways. There is a growing income divide between the richest 10 percent and the rest of the population, and this gap is driven by many other types of inequality in Indonesia.People are divided into haves and have-nots from before birth. Some children are born healthy and grow up well in their early years; many do not. Some children go to school and receive a quality education; many do not. In today's modern and dynamic economy; most do not and are trapped in low-productivity and low-wage jobs. Some families have access to formal safety nets that can protect them from the many shocks that occur in life; many do not. And a fortunate few Indonesians have access to financial and physical assets (such as land and property) that increase their wealth over time. This wealth is passed down from generation to generation, both in the form of money and physical assets, and through greater access to better health and education. As a result, inequalities are being compounded and deepened over time. This report asks why inequality is increasing, why it matters, and what can be done. The first section examines the trend in inequality, which is already relatively high in Indonesia and rising more rapidly than in many neighboring countries. The second section seeks to understand what is driving rising inequality in Indonesia. The final section looks at what can be done to prevent the country from becoming even more divided. This section suggests ways to avoid an Indonesia in which relatively few people are healthy, happy and prosperous, and many more can only aspire to a better life but are unable to attain it.
This study is part of the ongoing dialogue on reforming trade logistics, and facilitating trade and transportation in Central and South Asian countries. It presents key findings from several rounds of first-hand observations and interviews conducted with multiple stakeholders to measure the performance of key road transport corridors across the region, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and to some extent, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The study identifies obstacles that hinder efficient movement of goods along transport corridors, and offers recommendations for short- and medium-term reforms for participating country governments with particular emphasis on the performance of border crossings. The overall objective of this study is to provide basic information on transport corridor performance so that national policy makers and private sectors have a basis to open discussions on how they might cooperate to facilitate international trade and transport by addressing infrastructure and operational bottlenecks in the region.
Dottorato di ricerca in Ecologia forestale ; The official development assistance funding for forestry can be estimated at least at US$ 1.1 billion per year. Forestry is crucial for the development cooperation sector as it combines ecological and socio-economic concerns. Accordingly, forestry projects can have multiple objectives and tend to apply integrated approaches to reverse detrimental agro-pastoral and extraction practices. Yet, understanding the long-term impacts of these interventions can be tricky. Following the standard Project Cycle Management (PCM), Multilateral and Bilateral Organizations do not conduct as normal procedure Impact Evaluations (IE) of development projects. Nonetheless, IE methodologies do exist and are consolidated, always implying experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Most commonly, two distinct methodologies are adopted in IE studies: randomized control trials and baseline monitoring. This research had the twofold objective to a) contribute to developing PCM procedure by setting up an appropriate project baseline and b) contribute to IE methodological advancement by testing a "no control trial" and "no baseline" methodology. It aimed to understand attributable impacts on beneficiaries – and relevant drivers – in relation to the core objective of forestry interventions: an increased awareness of the importance of forest resources and of their sustainable use and conservation through sound practices. Field research was conducted in the Fouta Djallon Highlands (FDH), a series of high plateaus concentrated in the central part of Guinea where the Gambia, Niger, Senegal and Konkouré Rivers take birth. In the '80s, thanks to the support from Specialized Agencies of the United Nations, the Government of Guinea, under the aegis of the Organization of African Unity (now African Union), engaged in the first stage of implementation of the Regional Programme for the Integrated Development of the FDH. Twelve pilot watersheds were identified and different donors from the International Community started field work in each of the identified sites. In 2009, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations started executing a ten-year capitalization project – EP/INT/503/GEF – inheriting the twelve original pilot sites plus two new ones. Data collection was carried out in three of the old sites: the source of the Senegal River, the source of the Guétoya (Konkouré watershed), and the source of the Gambia River. Although applying slightly different approaches, the three past initiatives active in the sites focused on reforestation and had the same overall objective: the conservation and sustainable use of the natural resources affecting the regimes of water courses originating in the area. Field investigation tools included questionnaires administered to household chiefs and adapted Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques and were designed to integrate with qualitative information the statistical analysis of the household survey data. Questionnaires were structured after the five livelihood assets of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital and financial capital) and the activity clusters of past projects, which respondents might have participated in. Total households surveyed were 296. Subsequent analysis focused on data collected in Tolo (Senegal River) and Bantignel (Guétoya). Impact drivers were searched in the livelihood assets and in the kind and level of participation in project activities. In order to organize and impose a structure on data obtained, Principal Components Analysis was implemented on six domains of independent variables – five livelihood assets plus participation in project activities – and on the dependant variable domain – observed and expected primary and secondary project impacts. Multiple linear regression was implemented between each of the most representative components of the independent variables on one side and the principal components of the dependent variable on the other, with the aim to extrapolate the drivers able to determine, increment and decrement project impacts. 2 The methodology allowed to identify the impacts occurred in the investigation sites and pointed out the kind and level of participation as well as the socio-economic and environmental factors able to determine and enhance the identified impacts. The analysis provided guidance on four topics key to the conceiving of future forestry projects with similar aims and in comparable contexts: participation, target beneficiaries, project focus and interest-generating assets. It also helped understand the behavior of the different livelihood assets within project dynamics. The social and natural capital were found to be the most influential. The richer the social capital is, the better people that hold it respond to project input. The natural capital is less linear. Either healthy natural resources or vulnerable ones – water in particular – whose weakness is understood and properly addressed, can be positive drivers of project impacts: the direction of the influence depends on how the natural capital interacts with project focus and activities. Human and financial capital are positively influential in the middle part of the range and become negative drivers in the lower part. An average physical capital is a driver of increase of project impacts, provided that sufficient water supply infrastructure is in place. A rich physical capital was found to decrease interest in project activities. ; I finanziamenti annui ai progetti di sviluppo in ambito forestale possono essere stimati ad almeno 1,1 miliardi di dollari. Il settore forestale è fondamentale per la cooperazione allo sviluppo, in quanto combina aspetta ecologici e socio-economici. Di conseguenza, i progetti forestali possono avere obiettivi multipli e tendono ad attuare approcci integrati al fine di invertire pratiche lesive agropastorali e di estrazione. Tuttavia rilevare gli impatti a lungo termine di questi interventi può essere problematico. Seguendo il quadro standard della gestione del ciclo di progetto, le organizzazioni multilaterali e bilaterali non conducono per passi valutazioni di impatto dei progetti di sviluppo. Nonostante ciò, le metodologie per la valutazione di impatto esistono e sono consolidate, ed implicano sempre studi con formulazioni sperimentali o quasi-sperimentali. Comunemente due distinte metodologie vengono adottate negli studi di impatto: siti di controllo e monitoraggio di dati di base. Questa ricerca ha assunto il duplice obiettivo di a) contribuire allo sviluppo della prassi del quadro di gestione del ciclo di progetto impostando una modalità appropriata di raccolta di dati di base e b) contribuire all'avanzamento metodologico degli studi di impatto testando una metodologia alternativa a quelle dei siti di controllo e dei dati di base. Lo studio ha mirato a comprendere gli impatti sui beneficiari – ed i relativi fattori di impatto – riconducibili a specifici progetti forestali e relativamente all'obiettivo principale di tali interventi: una maggiore consapevolezza dell'importanza delle risorse forestali, della loro conservazione e sfruttamento sostenibile attraverso pratiche idonee. La ricerca di campo è stata condotta nel Massiccio del Fouta Djallon, una serie di altipiani concentrati in Guinea, dove si originano i fiumi Gambia, Niger, Senegal e Konkouré. Negli anni '80, grazie al supporto di agenzie specializzate delle Nazioni Unite, il governo della Guinea, sotto l'egida dell'Organizzazione per l'Unità Africana (oggi Unione Africana), si impegnò nella realizzazione della prima fase del Programma Regionale per lo Sviluppo Integrato del Massiccio del Fouta Djallon. Vennero identificati dodici bacini idrografici pilota e diversi donatori della comunità internazionale iniziarono l'implementazione di progetti di terreno in ognuno dei siti identificati. Nel 2009, l'Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura (FAO) ha iniziato l'esecuzione di un progetto di capitalizzazione delle esperienze passate della durata di dieci anni (EP/INT/503/GEF) ereditando i dodici siti pilota originali ed aggiungendone due nuovi. La raccolta dei dati è stata condotta in tre dei vecchi siti: la sorgente del fiume Senegal, la sorgente del Guétoya (bacino idrografico del Konkouré) e la sorgente del fiume Gambia. Nonostante l'adozione di approcci leggermente diversi, le iniziative passate attive nei tre siti, erano incentrate sulla riforestazione e avevano lo stesso obiettivo generale: la conservazione e l'uso sostenibile delle risorse naturali che incidono sui regimi dei corsi d'acqua che si originano nella zona. Gli strumenti di indagine di campo hanno incluso questionari somministrati a capifamiglia e tecniche di valutazione rurale partecipativa adattate al contesto e sono stati progettati per integrare con informazioni qualitative l'analisi statistica dei dati dell'indagine sulle famiglie. I questionari sono stati strutturati sulla base dei cinque domini delle risorse di sussistenza del quadro dei mezzi di sussistenza sostenibili della Cooperazione Britannica (capitale umano, capitale sociale, capitale naturale, capitale fisico e capitale finanziario) e sulla base delle attività dei tre progetti passati, a cui gli intervistati avrebbero potuto partecipare. Il totale delle famiglie intervistate ammonta a 296. L' analisi statistica si è concentrata sui dati raccolti a Tolo (fiume Senegal) e Bantignel (Guétoya). I fattori di impatto sono stati ricercati nelle risorse di sussistenza e nel tipo e livello di partecipazione alle attività di progetto. Al fine di organizzare ed imporre una struttura ai dati ottenuti, è stata utilizzata l'analisi per componenti principali dei sei domini delle variabili indipendenti – le cinque risorse di sussistenza e la partecipazione alle attività di progetto – e sul dominio della variabile dipendente – impatti di progetto osservati e attesi, primari e secondari. E' stata successivamente eseguita la regressione lineare multipla tra ciascuna delle componenti più rappresentative delle variabili indipendenti da un lato, e le componenti principali della variabile dipendente dall'altro, con l'obiettivo di estrapolare i fattori in grado di determinare, incrementare e decrementare gli impatti di progetto. La metodologia ha permesso di identificare gli impatti verificatisi nei siti di indagine e di rilevare il tipo e il livello di partecipazione, così come i fattori socio-economici e ambientali, in grado di determinare e rafforzare gli impatti individuati. L'analisi ha fornito indicazioni su quattro temi chiave per la formulazione di progetti forestali futuri con finalità analoghe ed in contesti simili: modalità di partecipazione, selezione dei beneficiari, fuoco del progetto e risorse in grado di generare interesse. L'analisi ha altresì aiutato a comprendere il comportamento delle diverse risorse di sussistenza all'interno delle dinamiche di progetto. Il capitale sociale e quello naturale sono risultati essere i più influenti. Più il capitale sociale è ricco e meglio le persone che lo posseggono rispondono alle attività progetto. Il capitale naturale ha un comportamento meno lineare. Sia risorse naturali intatte che vulnerabili – in particolare l'acqua – la cui vulnerabilità sia compresa e adeguatamente indirizzata, possono costituire dei fattori di impatto positivi: la direzione dell'influenza dipende dall'interazione del capitale naturale con il fuoco e le attività di progetto. Il capitale umano e quello finanziario sono positivamente influenti nella parte centrale della scala e diventano fattori negativi nella parte inferiore. Un capitale fisico medio è un fattore di crescita di impatti, ammesso che siano disponibili sufficienti infrastrutture di approvvigionamento idrico. L'analisi ha evidenziato che un ricco capitale fisico diminuisce l'interesse nelle attività di progetto.