bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
11. William H. Riker and Peter C. Ordeshook. 1968. “A Theory of the
Calculus of Voting.”American Political Science
Review62 (March): 25–42 Cited 377 times.
Authors: Ordeshook Peter C.
Published: May 2008

The initial motive for writing “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting” was
not the argument that subsequently became the focus of academic discussion,
the necessity for positing a D term (“citizen duty”) to render the act of
voting rational. Instead, our purpose was to show that people reacted
“rationally” (i.e., logically) to an election's competitiveness. Admittedly
the data we brought to bear here were weak, but with the addition of D the
question arose as to whether we made voting rational only by rendering the
concept of rationality a tautology: rational people voted because, with D,
we assumed they were rational. However, one response with which I am sure
Riker would agree is to note an asymmetry in our thinking about social
processes. Few people claim to eat for a reason other than satisfying their
own (private) needs as opposed facilitating the (public) objective of
diminishing world hunger, and positing a growling tummy as a reason for
entering a restaurant is hardly taken as a instance of rationality turned
tautology. Yet the argument that the benefits of voting are dominated by a
private D term as opposed to some public PB calculation occasions precisely
that accusation.
Dual silencing of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors significantly limits growth of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in nude mice
Authors: Zhou X , Yuan Y , Song J , Chen W , Li J , Ye L , Meng X , Xia D
Published: May 2008

Objective:

We examined the effects of dual silencing of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors on the growth of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in nude mice; we also assessed potential side effects in these animals.

Methods:

Short hairpin ribonucleic acid expression vectors targeting epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors were constructed. Short hairpin ribonucleic acid plasmids targeting one or both receptors were transfected into human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells in nude mice. We then assessed epidermal growth factor receptor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor expression and also cellular apoptosis. Peripheral blood was collected and subjected to haematological and biochemical analysis.

Results:

The findings demonstrated that transfection with dual plasmids (targeting both epidermal growth factor receptor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor) resulted in tumour cell growth inhibition of 84.78 per cent, and a significant increase in the number of necrotic and apoptotic cells, compared with single plasmid treatment. The short hairpin ribonucleic acid had no significant side effects on the heart, liver, kidney, spleen or blood system in this experimental model.

Conclusion:

These results indicate that, in nude mice, dual silencing of both epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors results in more apoptosis and greater nasopharyngeal cancer cell growth inhibition, compared with silencing of either epidermal growth factor receptor alone or insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor alone. This occurred without significant side effects in the experimental animals.
The Second World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Expert Report. Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective
Authors: Wiseman Martin
Published: May 2008

It has been estimated by various authorities that about one-third of cancers in Western high-income societies are attributable to factors relating to food, nutrition and physical activity. Identifying with confidence specific associations between dietary patterns, foods, body composition or individual nutrients is not simple because of the long latent period for cancer development, its complex pathogenesis and the challenge of characterising the multidimensional aspects of diet and activity over a lifetime. Reliable conclusions must therefore be drawn not only from randomised controlled trials but from a variety of methodological approaches, judged within a classic framework for inferring causality. Using a newly-developed method with a protocol for standardising the literature search and for analysis and display of the evidence, nine independent academic centres have conducted systematic reviews addressing the causal associations between food, nutrition and physical activity and risk of development of seventeen cancers, as well as of weight gain and obesity. A review has also examined the efficacy of such interventions in subjects with cancer. The reviews have been assessed by an independent Panel of twenty-one international experts who drew conclusions with grades of confidence in the causality of associations and made recommendations. Recommendations are given as public health goals as well as for individuals.
Gut hormones and the treatment of disease cachexia
Authors: Ashby Damien , Choi Peter , Bloom Stephen
Published: May 2008

Advances in the understanding of appetite are leading to a refined concept of disease cachexia and point to novel therapeutic strategies based on the manipulation of appetite. The complex social and psychological short-term influences on appetite obscure the fact that over the longer term appetite is tightly regulated by physiological considerations; the homeostatic control of energy balance. Like obesity, which is now viewed as a disorder of homeostasis, cachexia can be seen as an adaptive response to the disease state that becomes harmful when prolonged. Several lines of evidence implicate a disorder of appetite regulation in the pathogenesis of cachexia. As the only known circulating mediator of increased appetite the peptide hormone ghrelin has attracted attention as a potential therapy. Trials in patients with various chronic illnesses, including cancer and kidney failure, have demonstrated short-term increases in energy intake. Trials in patients with emphysema and heart failure have also shown benefits in clinical outcomes such as lean body mass and exercise capacity, and longer-term trials using oral analogues are being undertaken. As well as improving nutrition, ghrelin has a number of other actions that may be useful, including an anti-inflammatory effect; of interest since many cachexias are associated with inappropriate immune activation. The manipulation of appetite, in particular by ghrelin agonism, is emerging as an exciting potential therapy for disease cachexia. Future research should focus on the ascertainment of clinically-relevant outcomes, and further characterisation of the non-nutritional effects of this pathway.
Roy Harris, Rethinking writing. London: Athlone
Press, 2000. Pp. xvi, 254. Hb $39.95.
Authors: Olson David R.
Published: May 2008

Most of us content ourselves with passing
on our alphabetical literacy to others all the while extolling
the virtues of both the alphabet and of literacy; but Roy Harris,
Emeritus Professor of Linguistics of Oxford University, sets
out to challenge our fundamental (mis)conceptions about writing.
Rather than extol the virtues of the alphabet, he threatens
to reveal the “tyranny of the alphabet.” Arguing
about literacy, he says, is likely to be unproductive until
writing itself is better understood.
Crossing borders: Recognition of Spanish words by English-speaking children with and without language impairment
Authors: KOHNERT KATHRYN , WINDSOR JENNIFER , MILLER RUTH
Published: May 2008

We introduce an objective method for classifying phonological overlap between Spanish and English translation equivalents. This method then is exploited to examine spoken word recognition using stimuli with graded levels of phonological overlap. Performance by typical English-only speaking (EO) children and English-only children with primary language impairment (LI) is compared to a control group of bilingual Spanish–English peers (BI). Response time and accuracy separated groups, with the BI group outperforming the EO group, who in turn outperformed the LI group. Children with more severe LI are slower than those with mild LI, and LI severity is significantly correlated with speed. The two groups of monolingual children and the LI subgroups respond in a qualitatively similar way to decreasing phonological overlap.
Ways to discharge-based soft X-ray lasers with the wavelength λ<15 nm
Authors: Kolacek K. , Schmidt J. , Prukner V. , Frolov O. , Straus J.
Published: May 2008

Two basic ways to amplification of spontaneous emission in the soft X-ray region are described. The first is based on the electron-collisional recombination pumping scheme, which uses recombination of fully stripped ions into hydrogen-like ions to create (in the case of sufficiently fast cooling) a population inversion on energy levels belonging to the Balmer-alpha transition. We test this scheme on nitrogen, for which the lasing wavelength is 13.4 nm. The second way to amplification of spontaneous emission is based on the electron-collisional excitation pumping scheme: this uses for creation of population inversion a fast excitation of Ne- or Ni-like ions. However, for wavelength below 15 nm it is necessary to use Ni-like ions of some metal vapors. Feeding metal vapors into a capillary is difficult, and if being fed they deposit on the capillary wall and significantly reduce the capillary lifetime. That is why we prepare metal vapor plasma in a capillary with liquid wall – by wire explosion in water. For slowdown of the plasma-channel expansion a local-water-compression by linearly focused shock wave is being developed.
Proton probing measurement of electric and magnetic fields generated by ns and ps laser-matter interactions
Authors: Romagnani L. , Borghesi M. , Cecchetti C.A. , Kar S. , Antici P. , Audebert P. , Bandhoupadjay S. , Ceccherini F. , Cowan T. , Fuchs J. , Galimberti M. , Gizzi L.A. , Grismayer T. , Heathcote R. , Jung R. , Liseykina T.V. , Macchi A. , Mora P. , Neely D. , Notley M. , Osterholtz J. , Pipahl C.A. , Pretzler G. , Schiavi A. , Schurtz G. , Toncian T. , Wilson P.A. , Willi O.
Published: May 2008

The use of laser-accelerated protons as a particle probe for the detection of electric fields in plasmas has led in recent years to a wealth of novel information regarding the ultrafast plasma dynamics following high intensity laser-matter interactions. The high spatial quality and short duration of these beams have been essential to this purpose. We will discuss some of the most recent results obtained with this diagnostic at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK) and at LULI - Ecole Polytechnique (France), also applied to conditions of interest to conventional Inertial Confinement Fusion. In particular, the technique has been used to measure electric fields responsible for proton acceleration from solid targets irradiated with ps pulses, magnetic fields formed by ns pulse irradiation of solid targets, and electric fields associated with the ponderomotive channelling of ps laser pulses in under-dense plasmas.
BEST PRACTICE IN UNDERTAKING AND REPORTING HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS
Authors: Busse Reinhard , Orvain Jacques , Velasco Marcial , Perleth Matthias , Drummond Michael , G¨rtner Felix , Jørgensen Torben , Jovell Albert , Malone Jim , R¨ther Alric , Wild Claudia
Published: May 2008

The aim of Working Group 4 has been to develop and disseminate best practice in undertaking and reporting assessments, and to identify needs for methodologic development.
Cross-national comparison of technology assessment processes
Authors: García-Altés Anna , Ondategui-Parra Silvia , Neumann Peter J.
Published: May 2008

Objectives:To compare methods and results among four health technology assessment organizations in different countries.

Methods:All assessment reports published between 1999 and 2001 by VATAP (United States), NICE (United Kingdom), CCOHTA (Canada), and AETS (Spain), were reviewed. Detailed information about the organization, the technology assessed, the methods used, and the recommendations made were collected. A descriptive analysis of the variables, as well as comparisons of means and proportions, was performed.

Results:Sixty-one reports assessing seventy-six technologies were published: nine (11.8 percent) by VATAP, thirty-nine (51.3 percent) by NICE, twenty (26.3 percent) by CCOHTA, and eight (10.5 percent) by AETS. A total of 64.5 percent of the technologies assessed were related to a high prevalence disease in the corresponding country. Most of the assessments addressed treatments (73.7 percent) and were mostly drugs (56.6 percent) and devices (23.7 percent). Most organizations used reviews of effectiveness and economic evaluations (64.5 percent), systematic reviews (21.1 percent), and original economic evaluations (36.7 percent). In 38.1 percent, the technology was recommended; the rest of the cases had no formal recommendations.

Conclusions:Critical issues for future technology assessment efforts are making assessment processes more consistent, transparent, and evidence-based; formalizing the inclusion of economic and ethical considerations; and making more explicit the prioritization process for selecting technologies for assessment and reassessment.
“The future should not take us by surprise”: Preparation of an early warning system in Denmark
Authors: Douw Karla , Vondeling Hindrik , Sørensen Jan , Jørgensen Torben , Sigmund Helga
Published: May 2008

Objectives:To explore and test methods for the operation of a national Early Warning System (EWS) in Denmark and to support decision making by the Danish Centre for Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment on this issue.

Methods:On the basis of literature reviews, information from members of EuroScan, and supported by clinical experts and stakeholders, existing methods were adapted and new methods were developed as part of a feasibility study.

Results:Approximately 200 technologies in 30 specialties were identified on the basis of information by EuroScan. A new instrument was developed to distinguish between important and unimportant technologies (filtering). Clinical experts in six specialties applied the instrument to sixty-two technologies in their respective fields, of which nine (15%) were judged potentially important for the Danish health care system. For priority setting, adapting a Dutch instrument to the Danish context was discussed. In principle, the instrument was acceptable, but several changes were proposed, for example, relating to the decentralized structure of the Danish health care system. For early assessment, the format and methods applied by SBU and Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment (CCOHTA) were compared and applied to pharmaceuticals (glitazones in treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus) and a procedure (embolization of uterine fibromas). Given the main target group of the Danish EWS, local decision makers, the CCOHTA format was preferred.

Conclusions:The findings of the study have laid the foundation for an EWS using appropriate methods adapted to local circumstances. On the basis of the findings, a decision was made to start an EWS.
Cost-effectiveness analysis: Can we reduce variability in costing methods?
Authors: Adam Taghreed , Evans David B. , Koopmanschap Marc A.
Published: May 2008

David B. Evans of the World Health Organization was erroneously omitted from the list of authors of the article entitled “Cost-effectiveness analysis: Can we reduce variability in costing methods,” which was published in Volume 19 Number 2 (Spring 2003) of International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. We regret the oversight.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LEGITIMACY OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER
Authors: Buchanan Allen
Published: May 2008

The international legal order is beginning to take human rights seriously, yet sound justifications for claims about human rights are conspicuously absent. Philosophers have begun to respond to this “justification deficit” by developing theories of human rights. Although a philosophical conception of human rights is needed, it would not be sufficient. The justification of human rights is a dynamic process in which a provisional philosophical conception of human rights both guides and is fleshed out by public processes of practical reasoning structured by legal institutions. Whether the “justification deficit” can be remedied depends not only upon the content of human rights norms as set out in the major conventions and the arguments philosophers can marshal to justify them but also upon the epistemic virtues of the institutions through which the norms are specified, contested, and revised over time.
Elephants or onions? Paying for nature in Amboseli, Kenya
Authors: BULTE ERWIN H. , BOONE RANDALL B. , STRINGER RANDY , THORNTON PHILIP K.
Published: May 2008

Traditional grazing grounds near Amboseli National Park (Kenya) are being rapidly converted to cropland – a process that closes important wildlife corridors. We use a spatially explicit simulation model that integrates ecosystem dynamics and pastoral decision-making to explore the scope for introducing a ‘payments for ecosystem services’ scheme to compensate pastoralists for spillover benefits associated with forms of land use that are compatible with wildlife conservation. Our break-even cost analysis suggests that the benefits of such a scheme likely exceed its costs for a large part of the study area, but that ‘leakage effects’ through excessive stocking rates warrant close scrutiny.
Payments for ecosystem services and poverty reduction: concepts, issues, and empirical perspectives
Authors: BULTE ERWIN H. , LIPPER LESLIE , STRINGER RANDY , ZILBERMAN DAVID
Published: May 2008

Paying for the provision of environmental services is a recent policy innovation attracting much attention in both developed and developing countries. This innovation, referred to as ‘payments for ecosystem services’ (when the emphasis is on enhancing ‘nature’ services) or ‘payments for environmental services’ (when amenities provided by the built environment are also included) is referred to here as PES. PES programs aim to harness market forces to obtain more efficient environmental outcomes. Since so many opportunities for PES programs could involve farmers in poor regions, international aid agencies and private donors, looking for a double dividend, increasingly consider using PES programs as a potential way of meeting both social and environmental objectives.
THE RISE AND FALL OF BRAZILIAN INEQUALITY: 1981–2004
Authors: Ferreira Francisco H. G. , Leite Phillippe G. , Litchfield Julie A.
Published: May 2008

Brazil's Gini coefficient rose from 0.57 in 1981 to 0.63 in 1989, before falling back to 0.56 in 2004. Poverty incidence rose from 0.30 in 1981 to 0.33 in 1993, before falling to 0.22 in 2004. This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the determinants of Brazil's distributional reversal over this period. The rise in inequality in the 1980s appears to have been driven by increases in educational attainment in a context of convex returns, and by high and accelerating inflation. Although the secular decline in inequality, which began in 1993, is associated with declining inflation, it also appears to have been driven by four structural and policy changes, namely, declining returns to education; pronounced rural-urban convergence; increases in social assistance transfers targeted to the poor; and a possible decline in racial inequality. Falling inequality has made a substantial contribution to poverty reduction.
WEALTH INEQUALITY: DATA AND MODELS
Authors: Cagetti Marco , De Nardi Mariacristina
Published: May 2008

In the United States wealth is highly concentrated and very unequally distributed: the richest 1% hold one third of the total wealth in the economy. Understanding the determinants of wealth inequality is a challenge for many economic models. We summarize some key facts about the wealth distribution and what economic models have been able to explain so far.
A Bayesian Analysis of MHD Waves in the Lower Atmosphere
Authors: Marsh M. S. , Ireland J. , Kucera T.
Published: May 2008

Magneto-hydrodynamic wave modes propagating from the solar photosphere into the corona have the potential to be exploited as an observational tool in an analogous way to the use of acoustic waves in helio/terrestrial seismology. In regions of strong magnetic field photospheric p-modes are thought to undergo mode conversion to slow magneto-acoustic waves, and that these slow magnetoacoustic p-modes may be waveguided from the photosphere into the solar corona along the magnetic field. A Bayesian analysis technique is applied to observations which suggests four distinct p-modes may be resolved in the transition region.
The nature of running penumbral waves revealed
Authors: Bloomfield D. S. , Lagg A. , Solanki S. K.
Published: May 2008

We seek to clarify the nature of running penumbral (RP) waves: are they chromospheric trans-sunspot waves or a visual pattern of upward-propagating waves? Full Stokes spectropolarimetric time series of the photospheric Sii10827 Å line and the chromospheric Hei10830 Å multiplet were inverted using a Milne-Eddington code. Spatial pixels were paired between the outer umbral/inner penumbral photosphere and the penumbral chromosphere using inclinations retrieved by the inversion and the dual-height pairings of line-of-sight velocity time series were studied for signatures of wave propagation using a Fourier phase difference analysis. The dispersion relation for radiatively cooling acoustic waves, modified to incorporate an inclined propagation direction, fits well the observed phase differences between the pairs of photospheric and chromospheric pixels. We have thus demonstrated that RP waves are in effect low-β slow-mode waves propagating along the magnetic field.
Wave propagation in multiple flux tubes and chromospheric heating
Authors: Hasan S. S. , van Ballegooijen A. , Steiner O.
Published: May 2008

This investigation is a continuation of earlier work on the dynamics of the magnetic network. In a previous calculation (Hasan et al. 2005), we examined the response of a single flux tube to transverse motions of its footpoints. We now extend this analysis to a more realistic model of the network consisting of multiple flux tubes. We apply a transverse velocity perturbation uniformly along the lower boundary located at the base of the photosphere. Our 2-D MHD simulations enable us to study the complex wave pattern due to waves generated in the individual tubes as well as their interaction with those emanating from adjacent tubes. Our results show that the dominant heating of the chromosphere occurs due to slow magnetoacoustic waves in a region that is close to the central region of the flux tube.
Resonant acoustic waves in a stratified atmosphere
Authors: Taroyan Y. , Erdélyi R.
Published: May 2008

The upward propagation of linear acoustic waves in a gravitationally stratified atmosphere is studied. The wave motion is governed by the Klein-Gordon equation which contains a cut-off frequency introduced by stratification. The acoustic cut-off may act as a potential barrier when the temperature decreases with height. It is shown that waves trapped below the barrier could be subject to a resonance which extends into the entire unbounded atmosphere. The parameter space characterizing the resonance is explored.
Correlative study of the emission from flares associated with Sun quakes
Authors: Martínez-Oliveros J. C. , Donea A.-C. , Cally P. S.
Published: May 2008

Multi-wavelength studies of energetic solar flares with seismic emissions have revealed interesting common features that may help us to identify the correlations of flare signatures from the inner to the outer solar atmosphere and, to develop diagnostic techniques to aid in the sun quake detection. In our study, we make use the relation between the microwave and the hard X-ray emissions associated with such flares to propose a scenario for the ignition of seismic transients from flares. We explore the mechanisms of energy transport to the photosphere, such us back-warming or direct particle impacts.
Two modes of propagating waves in sunspots
Authors: Kolobov D. Y. , Kobanov N. I.
Published: May 2008

The observations of sunspot chromosphere are presented. The authors suggest the existence of two modes of propagating waves at the chromospheric level. The connection between these modes and magnetic field topology can be inferred from the analysis of mode propagation velocity and spatial localization. Two hypotheses are tested to explain the phenomenon: “Visual pattern” and “Trans-sunspot wave”.