bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
12 Governance Matters: The IMF and Sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Woods Ngaire
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the IMF's relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, explaining the political pressures which have shaped the Fund's engagement with countries on the continent. It explores the way powerful donor countries have affected this relationship from both within and from outside the IMF, as well as non-governmental organizations. Within these political forces, the IMF has struggled to shape economic programs for its borrowing members. Equally challenging for the institution has been negotiating politics within borrowing countries. As a result the institution faces two powerful ongoing challenges: reconciling greater ‘ownership’ by its low-income borrowers with the mission defined by its most powerful shareholders; and working out the relationship of its work to that of the World Bank and other institutions in an increasingly complex aid architecture.
14 Rethinking the Governance of the International Monetary Fund
Authors: Mirakhor Abbas , Zaidi Iqbal
Published: September 2009

This chapter attempts to set out the principal issues that need to be resolved in formulating a proposal for quotas and voice reform in the IMF that could command broad support. Following John Rawls, it argues that ‘justice is the first virtue of social institutions’, and uses his theory of justice to provide a method for understanding what should be the case, in the context of voice and voting shares, before international institutions, such as the IMF, are to be justifiable to their members. The implementation of this process suggests, among other things, that a major revision of the quota formulas is long overdue, and leaving this unaddressed raises serious questions regarding the IMF's governance which could develop into a core mission risk and jeopardize the relevance of the institution.
The German Law of Unjustified Enrichment and Restitution
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This book provides a description of the German law of unjustified enrichment. It explains how German law generally allows restitution for transfers made without legal ground (rather than on the basis of individual unjust factors), an approach which the late Peter Birks proposed for English law to adopt, and which the House of Lords was careful not to rule out for the future in Deutsche Morgan Grenfell v Inland Revenue. Part I explains the workings of German unjustified enrichment law within the particular context of German contract, tort, and property law. It shows how the German general unjust enrichment clause is controlled by limiting its scope to intentional transfers, and complemented by specific grounds of unjust enrichment. This part also explains defences against and measure of enrichment claims. Part II places German law in the comparative context of three different fundamental approaches towards unjustified enrichment, shows some unexpected similarities between English and German law, and discusses whether English law could and should adopt the German approach. The book gives equal prominence to structural issues and legal doctrine on the one hand, and practical application of the law on the other. It provides leading German cases and relevant statutory provisions in English translation.
Introduction
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the long tradition of unjust enrichment in English law and the advantages of taking a closer look at the German law of unjustified enrichment from the perspective of English. The chapter then discusses the law of unjustified enrichment within the German Civil Code, the unjustified enrichment model of restitution, and other models of restitution. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
The Undoing of Performance: Basics
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins with a discussion of the performance concept. It shows that the Leistungskondition provides a simple solution for the majority of all unjustified enrichment cases, but does not cover situations which have to be covered by the ‘enrichment in another way’ provision. The chapter also looks at where, in English law terminology, another ‘unjust factor’ must be found. The chapter then covers the enrichment of the defendant and claimant.
The Undoing of Performance: Refinements
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

The BGB contains some specific conditions which are meant to complement the general clause in § 812 para. 1 sent. 1 BGB. This chapter begins with the one which the Bundesgerichtshof applied in the above case. It then discusses the performance between three or more parties and termination of contract.
Defences Against Performance-based Claims
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

Section 817 BGB contains a troublesome provision which operates as a defence against a condictio ob turpem vel iniustam causam: if both claimant and defendant violated a statutory prohibition or offended against good morals by the performance, no claim lies in unjustified enrichment. This chapter considers the three most important defences, i.e., those under §§ 814 and 817 BGB. Topics covered included claimant's knowledge of lack of legal ground, claimant's moral obligation, and claimant's own wrongdoing.
The Measure of Restitutionary Liability
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses gain-based restitution. The measure of liability in unjustified enrichment is governed by §§ 818-820 BGB. The wording of these provisions makes no distinction between different types of unjustified enrichment claims. It is the prevailing belief that §§ 818ff BGB contains a unitary system of consequences of liability which covers all of unjustified enrichment, including both performance and non-performance-based restitution. Even so, strong criticism of this view has been mounted by a number of authors.
Concurrent Liability
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This chapter presents an overview of issues of concurrent liability. Topics covered include concurrent liability within unjustified enrichment, unjustified enrichment and contract law, unjustified enrichment and negotiorum gestioun, justified enrichment and tort law, and unjustified enrichment and property law.
Classification and Consequences
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This chapter compares English and German law of unjustified enrichment in terms of scope, taxonomy, and approach. It shows that the English unjust factor approach and the German absence of legal ground approach are much closer to one another than at first meets the eye. They have both moved unjust(ified) enrichment largely out of the realm of equity and policy considerations into a rule-based and hence more predictable system. They have both adopted a general rule with a list of exceptions. They have struggled to limit the injustice and turmoil which their general rules are capable of creating by refining and expanding the exceptions to those rules. The approach they have each chosen has made them neglect some important aspects, and at times led them to rationalize rather than remedy deficiencies. And while they start from opposite ends, they employ very similar techniques for achieving what are often similar results.
Cases
Authors: Dannemann Gerhard
Published: September 2009

This chapter contains seventeen translations of key judgments by the Bundesgerichtshof which relate to unjustified enrichment and restitution. Twelve of these were published in 1997, both in the German Law Archive and appeared in The German Law of Obligations, Vol. I. They have been nominally revised for the present text. The translations of case nos 6 (wrecked car), 13 (incapacity), and 15 (honorary consul) first appeared in 2003 in Cases, Materials and Texts on Unjustified Enrichment.
1 Embedded Realpolitik? Reevaluating United States' Opposition to the International Criminal Court
Authors: Smith Charles A. , Smith Heather M.
Published: September 2009

The United States, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, sought to disengage actively from the International Criminal Court (ICC). In many ways, the new, post 9/11 realpolitik-based strategy can be seen as the logical extension of US realist concerns. This chapter interprets this ‘extension’ in terms of the embedded realist concerns in the political structure of the US Senate. It argues that the domestic politics of US opposition requires analysis of the logical grounding of these concerns and the deeply ingrained political reality underlying US opposition to the ICC. A central aim of the chapter is to show how this embedding process constitutes a crucial explanatory dynamic of such opposition, and how the electoral logic of the US Senate has helped to further reinforce US opposition. In addition to examining this logic, the chapter also discusses the reasons the United States should support the ICC. It concludes that the false legal pretences underlying the electoral logic of the Senate provides a robust explanation for US opposition.
4 The Politics of Discursive Legitimacy: Understanding the Dynamics and Implications of Prosecutorial Discretion at the International Criminal Court
Authors: Struett Michael J.
Published: September 2009

The authorities of the International Criminal Court are in a position to use their autonomy to develop substantial discursive separation from the pressures of realpolitik. Because the design of the ICC allows its officers considerable independent authority from the pressures of the officials of the state governments that created it, these officers are in a position to argue for the fair imposition of international criminal law standards with less need to bend to the realities of interstate power politics. This chapter proposes that the flexible design of the ICC advances the procedural aspects of legitimacy through the discursive dynamics of prosecutorial authority and discretion. It argues that such discursive legitimacy constitutes a way of understanding the universalizing effects of legalism; and that the permanence of the Court ensures that reasons and arguments (discursive strategies) will be formulated in response to the effects of any negative perception(s) of foreign legalism.
6 Political Evil, Cosmopolitan Realism, and the Normative Ambivalence of the International Criminal Court
Authors: Hayden Patrick
Published: September 2009

This chapter adopts a different approach to those that now regard the creation of the ICC as evidence of the progressive ‘enlightenment’ of humankind. It argues that the ICC is best characterized in terms of cosmopolitan realism, that is, a critical cosmopolitanism shorn of historical and moral idealism, and motivated more by the terrifying experience of political evil than by the triumph of enlightened moral consciousness. In this sense, the cosmopolitan law underwriting the ICC can only be properly understood with constant reference to the phenomenon of political evil. The aim of this chapter is to understand how the political of the ICC's actions can be understood in terms of the ambivalence between confronting political evil and promoting its universal morality via its capacity to subject the perpetrators of evil to political judgement and legal accountability. Given these aims, the chapter attempts to understand and explain why the ICC's actions should be regarded as the latest effort to juridify evil.
7 Four Cosmopolitan Projects: The International Criminal Court in Context1
Authors: Franceschet Antonio
Published: September 2009

This chapter develops a conceptual typology of four distinct cosmopolitan political projects that have influenced international law: control, order, governance, and citizenship. It argues that cosmopolitanism in the context of the ICC is not simply a homogeneous approach to reforming international law and politics. Rather, it is an approach demonstrating how the politics of state support for the ICC is occurring largely on the terrain of cosmopolitan moral politics. Cosmopolitans have supported the reform of world politics in ways that emphasize or privilege one or more of the following objectives: control for the sake of rights enforcement; order for the sake of international peace and security; governance for the sake of democratic reform; and citizenship for the sake of a common humanity. Although each of these projects supports the cosmopolitanization of international law, they do so in different ways. The chapter interprets both the objectives and implications of the ICC in light of these four political projects and the different forms of cosmopolitanism politics at play.
8 The Cosmopolitan Test: Universal Morality and the Challenge of the Darfur Genocide
Authors: Eckert Amy E.
Published: September 2009

Although recent ICC's actions have highlighted the strength of cosmopolitan justice, the ICC's statist character has, in the case of Sudan, exposed the disjuncture between state and global responsibilities, and in so doing, revealed the institutionalized limits of its own statism. This does not mean, however, that state politics has and will continue to offset the Prosecutor's cosmopolitan intent. On the contrary, it suggests the weak institutional context of its intent and the consequent need to develop its institutional ties and organs in order to materialize the very strength of this intent. This chapter argues that while the ICC has shown great resolve in investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of the Darfur genocide, the Darfur situation has exposed many of the underdeveloped institutional ties and/or concerns that have limited the impact of its cosmopolitan intent.
5 The relation between linguistic analogies and lexical categories
Authors: Gerken LouAnn , Wilson Rachel , Gómez Rebecca , Nurmsoo Erika
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines evidence that adults and infants can learn proto-categories through morphological paradigms in which a subset of the categories are double-marked. It is possible that the requirement for double-marking of categories provides evidence for analogy as a category learning mechanism. Experimental results allow for a refinement of factors contributing to ‘good analogies’. These refinements, in turn, may lead to advances in the understanding of syntactic category acquisition.
8 Expanding Analogical Modeling into a general theory of language prediction
Authors: Skousen Royal
Published: September 2009

In Analogical Modeling, language prediction is closely determined by the specific variables used. The kinds of structures that must be dealt with in a full theory of analogical prediction include strings of characters, scalar variables, syntactic trees, and semantic variables. These structures as well as a number of procedural issues are discussed in this chapter.
9 Modeling analogy as probabilistic grammar
Authors: Albright Adam
Published: September 2009

Models of analogy must be non-deterministic enough to handle gradient data, but must also explain why analogy obeys some striking restrictions: only a tiny subset of logically possible analogies are actually attested. This chapter discusses several unattested types of analogy, and considers their implications for formal models. Gradience and notable restrictions are best modeled using a grammar of probabilistic rules.
Consequences of species loss for ecosystem functioning: meta-analyses of data from biodiversity experiments
Authors: Schmid Bernhard , Balvanera Patricia , Cardinale Bradley J. , Godbold Jasmin , Pfisterer Andrea B. , Raffaelli David , Solan Martin , Srivastava Diane S.
Published: September 2009

A large number of studies have now explicitly examined the relationship between species loss and ecosystem function. Analyzed by two independent groups, the results from such experiments show that reductions in species diversity generally result in reduced ecosystem functioning, across a wide range of ecosystems, diversity manipulations, and functions. This chapter analyzes both data sets in parallel to explain variation in the observed functional effects of biodiversity. This chapter concludes: 1) the functional effects of biodiversity differ among ecosystem types (but not between terrestrial and aquatic systems), 2) increases in species richness enhance community responses but negatively affect population responses, 3) stocks are more responsive than rates, 4) diversity reductions often reduce function at an adjacent trophic level, 5) increased biodiversity results in increased invasion resistance. This chapter also analyzes the shape of the relationship between biodiversity and function, and discuss consequences of different relationships.
The analysis of biodiversity experiments: from pattern toward mechanism
Authors: Hector Andy , Bell Thomas , Connolly John , Finn John , Fox Jeremy , Kirwan Laura , Loreau Michel , McLaren Jennie , Schmid Bernhard , Weigelt Alexandra
Published: September 2009

Meta-analysis of the first generation of biodiversity experiments has revealed that there is a general positive relationship between diversity and ecosystem processes that is consistent across trophic groups and ecosystem types. However, the mechanisms generating these general patterns are still under debate. While there are unresolved conceptual issues about the nature of diversity and complementarity, the debate is partly due to the difficulty of performing a full-factorial analysis of the functional effects of all species in a diverse community. However, there are now several different analytical approaches that can address mechanisms even when full factorial analysis is not possible. This chapter presents an overview and users' guide to these methods. This chapter concludes that the current toolbox of methods allows investigation of the mechanisms for most, if not all, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning experiments conducted to date that manipulate species within a single trophic level (e.g. plant biodiversity experiments). Methods that can address mechanisms in multitrophic studies are a key need for future research.
Towards a food web perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Authors: Cardinale Bradley , Duffy Emmett , Srivastava Diane , Loreau Michel , Thomas Matt , Emmerson Mark
Published: September 2009

While one of the most striking features of our planet is its great variety of life, studies show that ongoing biodiversity loss could reduce the productivity of ecosystems by as much as 50%. However, evidence comes largely from experiments that have used highly simplified communities with on average seven species, all from a single trophic group. In contrast, natural communities have dozens, if not hundreds, of species spanning a variety of trophic levels. Would this additional complexity alter our conclusions about the functional consequences of diversity loss? This chapter reviews five hypotheses about how the fluxes of energy and matter through food-webs might depend on the diversity of species interacting within, as well as across trophic levels. After outlining the empirical support for or against each hypothesis, this chapter discusses several avenues of research that may prove useful as ecologists move towards a food web perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Biodiversity as spatial insurance: the effects of habitat fragmentation and dispersal on ecosystem functioning
Authors: Gonzalez Andrew , Mouquet Nicolas , Loreau Michel
Published: September 2009

Habitat destruction and fragmentation is driving biodiversity loss at local and regional scales, yet the functional effects of this loss are poorly understood. Here, this chapter reviews several concepts that allow us to link local and regional scales of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. First it shows how the species-area relationship can link loss of habitat to delayed loss of diversity and ecosystem functioning in remnant fragments. Second, it shows that non-linear averaging can be used to estimate the impact of spatial variance in biodiversity caused by fragmentation. Finally the chapter uses a metacommunity framework to formalize the spatial insurance hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that dispersal is a key process linking diversity to productivity and stability across fragmented landscapes. The theory this chapter outlines stresses that the knowledge of spatial processes across ecosystems will be essential if we are to understand how habitat fragmentation mediates the ecological and economic impacts of biodiversity loss.
Managed ecosystems: biodiversity and ecosystem functions in landscapes modified by human use
Authors: Jackson Louise , Rosenstock Todd , Thomas Matthew , Wright Justin , Symstad Amy
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the effects of management and intensification processes on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. It begins with a meta-analysis of studies conducted along landscape gradients, then reviews relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function within managed ecosystems. Pest control exemplifies the complexity of the functions of biodiversity in managed ecosystems (e.g., often correlating poorly with species richness, involving several trophic levels, and influenced by characteristics of the wider landscape). Finally, based on these analyses, this chapter describes an interdisciplinary context to link research on biodiversity and ecosystem function to end-users at different management scales that incorporates the influence of social and economic factors.
Biodiversity and ecosystem function: perspectives on disease
Authors: Ostfeld Richard S. , Thomas Matthew , Keesing Felicia
Published: September 2009

The effects of variation in biodiversity on transmission and risk of infectious disease have been conspicuously absent from the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) debates. This chapter addresses several key issues in the BEF literature as they pertain to infectious diseases, including: (1) the shape of the association between biodiversity and disease risk; (2) the relative importance of species richness versus species composition; (3) the relative importance of species richness versus diversity of functional groups or relevant life-history traits; (4) how natural sequences of species loss under environmental change (community disassembly) vs random sequences imposed experimentally influence disease risk; and (5) the importance of diversity at organizational levels other than (host) species in influencing disease risk. In a world where biodiversity is changing dramatically and infectious diseases are emerging and resurging, understanding the role of biodiversity in the ecology of diseases is arguably one of the most important areas in BEF research.
Opening communities to colonization – the impacts of invaders on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
Authors: Engelhardt Katharina , Symstad Amy , Prieur-Richard Anne-Helene , Thomas Matthew , Bunker Daniel E.
Published: September 2009

Research on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning typically varies biodiversity levels by establishing communities that are subsets of the species in the high diversity community. This chapter examines what happens when biodiversity change is not limited to these subsets but instead is open to colonization from a larger species pool. The chapter first examines species traits that are responsible for successful colonization, establishment, and impact on ecosystem processes. The chapter then addresses how novel species may produce cascading and irreversible effects, drawing on known processes (selection effect or complementarity effect) that drive relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Finally, the chapter explores how information on species traits and processes driving the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning may be used to enhance the economic evaluation of invasion risks to society.
Modelling biodiversity and ecosystem services in coupled ecological–economic systems
Authors: Brock William A. , Finnoff David , Kinzig Ann P. , Pascual Unai , Perrings Charles , Tschirhart John , Xepapadeas Anastasios
Published: September 2009

This chapter considers how economists model biodiversity in coupled social ecological systems, taking two polar cases along with a more general problem. Economists assume that all human decisions are purposive: people are assumed to optimize some objective function subject to some set of initial conditions, to some set of resource constraints, and to the dynamics of the system being used. The chapter considers two polar cases and one intermediate case. One polar case involves the preservation of wilderness areas or protected parks in 'close to natural' states. A second involves the exploitation of ecosystems to produce foods, fuels and fibers. The intermediate case involves the management of ecosystems to achieve a balance between non-consumptive cultural services with consumptive provisioning services. While the constrained optimization technique applied in all three cases may be unfamiliar, the chapter tries to give the intuition behind it. It also provides a verbal description of each of the three model structures developed. In all cases the social and biogeophysical components of the coupled system are interdependent — connected through a series of feedback loops. Economists refer to such systems as 'general equilibrium systems'. That is, the dynamics of the system in some state are driven by a tendency towards the equilibrium corresponding to that state, and any perturbation has the potential to stimulate responses across the system.
TraitNet: furthering biodiversity research through the curation, discovery, and sharing of species trait data
Authors: Naeem Shahid , Bunker Daniel E.
Published: September 2009

Functional diversity plays a central role in understanding and predicting the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning precisely because functional traits are the means by which species perform ecosystem functions. While species diversity is easily quantified, functional trait data are often lacking. This chapter describes TraitNet, a US NSF-funded Research Coordination Network dedicated to the advancement of trait-based evolutionary and ecological research. TraitNet's five primary goals are: (1) identify core hypotheses in trait-based research, (2) identify critical data gaps, (3) standardize the collection and curation of trait data, (4) build a model trait database, and (5) facilitate the development of cross-disciplinary ecoinformatic tools for curating and sharing trait data. This coordinated effort will usher in a new era in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research that will complement existing experimental approaches and provide means for scaling results from individuals to ecosystems.
Can we predict the effects of global change on biodiversity loss and ecosystem functioning?
Authors: Naeem Shahid , E. Bunker Daniel , Hector Andy , Loreau Michel , Perrings Charles
Published: September 2009

The efficacy and practicability of an idea, and the will of individuals or society to explore it, determine whether it catalyzes change or merely enters the vast store of quiescent ideas that make up the bulk of humanity's collective wisdom. The idea that biodiversity influences ecosystem functioning is not new. As in all science, there remain differences among researchers on the interpretation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research, but the efficacy of the idea that the diversity of life, not just its mass, influences both the biogeochemical and biotic properties of ecosystems, is well established. This chapter looks across the many contributions in this book and considers a few messages the current field of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research give us concerning efficacy, practicability, and societal will.
The earliest fossil record of the animals and its significance
Authors: Budd Graham E.
Published: September 2009

The fossil record of the earliest animals has been enlivened in recent years by a series of spectacular discoveries, including embryos, from the Ediacaran to the Cambrian, but many issues, not least of dating and interpretation, remain controversial. In particular, aspects of taphonomy of the earliest fossils require careful consideration before pronouncements about their affinities. Nevertheless, a reasonable case can be now made for the extension of the fossil record of at least basal animals (sponges and perhaps cnidarians) to a period of time significantly before the beginning of the Cambrian. The Cambrian explosion itself still seems to represent the arrival of the bilaterians, and many new fossils in recent years have added significant data on the origin of the three major bilaterian clades. Why animals appear so late in the fossil record is still unclear, but the recent trend to embrace rising oxygen levels as being the proximate cause remains unproven and may even involve a degree of circularity.
Assembling the spiralian tree of life
Authors: Giribet Gonzalo , Dunn Casey W. , Edgecombe Gregory D. , Hejnol Andreas , Martindale Mark Q. , Rouse Greg W.
Published: September 2009

The advent of numerical methods for analyzing phylogenetic relationships, along with the study of morphology and molecular data, have driven our understanding of animal relationships for the past three decades. Within the protostome branch of the animal tree of life, these data have sufficed to establish two major clades; Ecdysozoa, a clade of animals that all moult, and Spiralia (often called Lophotrochozoa), a clade whose most recent common ancestor had spiral cleavage. In this chapter, we outline the current knowledge of protostome relationships and discuss future perspectives and strategies to increase our understanding of relationships within the main spiralian clades. Novel approaches to coding morphological characters are a pressing concern, best dealt with by scoring real observations on species selected as terminals. Methodological issues, such as the treatment of inapplicable characters and the coding of absences, may require novel algorithmic developments. Taxon sampling is another pressing issue, as terminals within phyla should include enough species to represent their span of anatomical disparity. Furthermore, key fossil taxa that can contribute novel character state combinations, such as the so-called 'stem-group lophotrochozoans', should not be neglected. In the molecular forum, EST-based phylogenomics is playing an increasingly important role in elucidating animal relationships. Large-scale sequencing has recently exploded for Spiralia, and phylogenomic data are lacking from only a few phyla, including the three most recently discovered animal phyla (Cycliophora, Loricifera, and Micrognathozoa). While the relationships between many groups now find strong support, others require additional information to be positioned with confidence. Novel morphological observations and phylogenomic data will be critical to resolving these remaining questions. Recent EST-based analyses underpin a new taxonomic proposal, Kryptrochozoa (the least inclusive clade containing the Brachiopoda and Nemertea).
The origins and evolution of the Ecdysozoa
Authors: Telford Maximilian J. , Bourlat Sarah J. , Economou Andrew , Papillon Daniel , Rota-Stabelli Omar
Published: September 2009

Ecdysozoa is a clade composed of eight phyla, three of which — arthropods, tardigrades, and onychophorans — share segmentation and have appendages, and the remaining five — nematodes, nematomorphs, priapulids, kinorhynchs, and loriciferans — are worms with an anterior proboscis or introvert. Ecdysozoa contains the vast majority of animal species and there is a great diversity of body plans among both living and fossil members. The monophyly of the clade has been called into question by some workers based on analyses of whole genome datasets and we review the evidence that now conclusively supports the unique origin of these phyla. Relationships within Ecdysozoa are also controversial and we discuss the molecular and morphological evidence for several monophyletic groups within this superphylum.
Deciphering deuterostome phylogeny: molecular, morphological, and palaeontological perspectives
Authors: Smith Andrew B. , Swalla Billie J.
Published: September 2009

Deuterostomes are a monophyletic group of animals that include the vertebrates, invertebrate chordates, ambulacrarians, and xenoturbellids. Fossil representatives from most major deuterostome groups are found in the Lower Cambrian, suggesting that evolutionary divergence occurred in the late pre-Cambrian, in agreement with molecular clocks. Molecular phylogenies, larval morphology, and the adult heart/kidney complex all support echinoderms and hemichordates as a sister grouping (Ambulacraria). Xenoturbellids represent a relatively newly identified deuterostome phylum that lacks a fossil record, but molecular evidence suggests that these animals are a sister group to the Ambulacraria. Within the chordates, lancelets share large stretches of chromosomal synteny with the vertebrates, have an intact Hox complex and are sister group to the vertebrates according to ribosomal and mitochondrial gene evidence. In contrast, tunicates have a highly derived adult body plan and are sister group to the vertebrates by phylogenetic trees constructed from concatenated genomic sequences. Lancelets and hemichordates share gill slits and an acellular cartilage, suggesting that the ancestral deuterostome also shared these features. Gene network data suggests that the deuterostome ancestor had an A-P axis specified by Hox and Wnt genes, a D-V axis specified by a BMP/chordin gradient, and a L-R asymmetry determined by expression of nodal.
Molecular genetic insights into deuterostome evolution from the direct-developing hemichordateSaccoglossus kowalevskii
Authors: Lowe Christopher J.
Published: September 2009

Progress in developmental biology, phylogenomics, and palaeontology over the past five years has made major contributions to a long-enduring problem in comparative biology: the early origins of the deuterostome phyla. A detailed characterization of the early development of the enteropneust hemichordate, Saccoglossus kowalevskii, revealed close developmental genetic similarities between hemichordates and chordates during early body plan formation. The two phyla share close transcriptional and signaling ligand expression patterns during the early development of the anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes, despite large morphological disparity between the body plans. These genetic networks have been proposed to play conserved roles in patterning centralized nervous systems in metazoans, yet likely play conserved roles in patterning the diffusely organized basiepithelial nerve net of the hemichordates. Developmental genetic data are providing a unique insight into early deuterostome evolution, revealing a complexity of genetic regulation previously attributed only to vertebrates. Although these data allow for key insights into the development of early deuterostomes, their utility for reconstructing ancestral morphologies is less certain; morphological, palaeontological and molecular datasets should all be considered carefully when speculating about ancestral deuterostome features.
Invertebrate Problematica: kinds, causes, and solutions
Authors: Jenner Ronald A. , Timothy D. , Littlewood J.
Published: September 2009

Problematica are taxa that defy robust phylogenetic placement. Traditionally the term was restricted to fossil forms, but it is clear that extant taxa may be just as difficult to place, whether using morphological or molecular (nucleotide, gene, or genomic) markers for phylogeny reconstruction. This chapter discusses the kinds and causes of Problematica within the Metazoa, but particularly focussing on the invertyebrate taxa, as well as suggesting criteria for their recognition and possible solutions. The inclusive set of Problematica changes depending upon the nature and quality of (homologous) data available, the methods of phylogeny reconstruction and the sister taxa inferred by their placement or displacement. Rather than excluding Problematica from phylogeny reconstruction, as has often been preferred, this chapter concludes that the study of Problematica is crucial both for the resolution of metazoan phylogeny, and the proper inference of body plan evolution. This chapter provides an annotated list of key extant problematic taxa.
Improvement of molecular phylogenetic inference and the phylogeny of Bilateria
Authors: Lartillot Nicolas , Philippe Hervé
Published: September 2009

Inferring the relationships among Bilateria has been an active and controversial research area since Haeckel. The lack of a sufficient number of phylogenetically reliable characters was the main limitation of traditional phylogenies based on morphology. With the advent of molecular data, this problem has been replaced by another, statistical inconsistency, which stems from an erroneous interpretation of convergences induced by multiple changes. The analysis of alignments rich in both genes and species, combined with a probabilistic method (Maximum Likelihood or Bayesian) using sophisticated models of sequence evolution, should alleviate these two major limitations. This chapter applies this approach to a dataset of 94 genes from 79 species using the CAT model, which accounts for site-specific amino-acid replacement patterns. The resulting tree is in good agreement with current knowledge: the monophyly of most major groups (e.g. Chordata, Arthropoda, Lophotrochozoa, Ecdysozoa, Protostomia) was recovered with high support. Two results are surprising and are discussed in an evo-devo framework: the sister-group relationship of Platyhelminthes and Annelida to the exclusion of Mollusca, contradicting the Neotrochozoa hypothesis, and, with a lower statistical support, the paraphyly of Deuterostomia. These results, in particular the status of deuterostomes, need further confirmation, both through increased taxonomic sampling, and future improvements of probabilistic models.
The evolution of developmental gene networks: lessons from comparative studies on holometabolous insects
Authors: Peel Andrew D.
Published: September 2009

Recent comparative studies have revealed significant differences in the developmental gene networks operating in three holometabolous insects: the beetle Tribolium castaneum, the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. This chapter discusses these differences in relation to divergent and convergent changes in cellular embryology. This chapter speculates on how segmentation gene networks could have evolved to operate in divergent embryological contexts, and highlight the role co-option might have played in this process. This chapter argues that insects represent an important example of how diversification in life history strategies between lineages can lead to divergence in the genetic and cellular mechanisms controlling the development of homologous adult structures
Conserved developmental processes and the evolution of novel traits: wounds, embryos, veins, and butterfly eyespots
Authors: Beldade Patrícia , Saenko Suzanne V.
Published: September 2009

The origin and diversification of morphological novelties is a key issue in evolutionary developmental biology. Possibilities for comparative analysis of the genetic and developmental bases of such lineage-specific traits, however, can be limited when they have no obvious homolog in model organisms. The finding that the evolution of morphological innovations often involves the recruitment of pre-existing genes and/or gene networks offers the potential to overcome this challenge. Knowledge about shared developmental processes from studies in model organisms can then be used to understand the origin and diversification of traits represented only in other lineages. This chapter illustrates this approach in relation to butterfly eyespots using examples from the tractable laboratory system Bicyclus anynana. This chapter discusses experimental data exploring genetic commonalities between eyespot patterning and three different conserved developmental processes; wound healing, embryonic development, and wing vein formation. Analyzing such well-described processes in the context of eyespot development holds great promise for furthering our understanding of those lepidopteran-specific and highly diverse morphological traits.
3 Risk Management and Institutional Investors
Authors: Clark Gordon L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the governance of institutional investors, notably pension and retirement income funds. As most nation-states have abandoned quantitative and qualitative restrictions on cross-border investment for pension funds and insurance companies, these institutions have increasingly operated on a global scale. As such, these institutions are consigned to manage their financial risk while following their implicit or explicit mandates to maximize the rate of return on investments. Yet, just as the macro-level governance of financial markets is problematic, the chapter notes that institutional governance is more often than not imperfect and subject to problems of coordination. As such, the chapter provides an account of the nature and scope of financial decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty, demonstrating the importance of time, expertise, and collective commitment in the decision ecologies of these types of institutions. Understanding the dynamics and structure of decision-making in these institutions is a necessary ingredient to any comprehensive understanding of the logic of global financial markets.
4 The Practicalities of Being Inaccurate: Steps Toward the Social Geography of Financial Risk Management
Authors: Millo Yuval , MacKenzie Donald
Published: September 2009

Financial risk management is an integral part of today's global markets. Yet, in spite of its critical importance and the huge interest that this area generates among practitioners and academics alike, the social and institutional geography of financial risk management is yet a little known area. Using empirical evidence that traces the emergence of financial risk management in markets for financial derivatives, one of the ‘inner cores’ of the world's financial system, this chapter charts some of the contours of this new area in social geography. It argues that rather than simply serving as evidence to the validity and accuracy of modern financial economics, financial risk management is a loosely coupled array of techno-social practices, which encompasses a large number of interrelated, yet distinctively different, communities of practice. Traders, regulators, administrator and many ‘non-financial’ specialists (lawyers, accountants, IT professionals, to name but a few), along with a large variety of technological market devices take part in the creation and performance of the heterogeneous network that makes up global financial markets. Indeed, the chapter reveals, the remarkable success of financial risk management relays on the usefulness of its practices.
5 Learning to Cope with Uncertainty: On the Spatial Distributions of Financial Innovation and Its Fallout
Authors: Engelen Ewald
Published: September 2009

The final year of the boom will enter financial history books as a Janus-faced year. While the problems that were ultimately to unlock the triumphant course that the financial markets had taken since 2003 had been brewing for quite some time, disaster nevertheless struck like lightning. The increasing degree of self-confidence that had characterized financial agents up to July 2007 was shattered in a mere couple of weeks when calculable risk appeared to hide immeasurable uncertainty. This chapter uses the return of uncertainty to test the usefulness of a number of fundamental sociological claims concerning the importance of social, spatial, and reputational proximity for inter-organizational trust-building, and suggests that these claims are particularly relevant to understand the current responses of financial agents to the new conditions of uncertainty under which they operate.
7 Infrastructure Investment and the Management of Risk
Authors: O'Neill Phillip
Published: September 2009

Infrastructure is a rapidly emerging urban economic sector. This arises from a variety of forces including fiscal conservatism by governments and the associated privatization and corporatization of public utilities. These have created opportunities for infrastructure to be mobilized as a financial product. The product is assigned important attributes especially a claim for predictable and stable returns over long time periods which make it attractive to pension fund managers. Importantly, the emergence of the infrastructure sector and its financial mobilization have seen its rapid evolution from a set of hard physical structures and flows to a field of urban flows and connections involving everyday commercial, public, and private life. This chapter examines the issues involved in this evolution alongside the reformulation of infrastructure as a financial product, through a case study of Macquarie Bank, one of Australia's international infrastructure banks, concentrating on the strategies devised by Macquarie to control risk. These have a number of dimensions, such as a set of human resources strategies that mobilizes its young professionals to devise and negotiate new infrastructure products within a set of risk controls. Critical to the success of the Macquarie's risk control strategy is achieving an appropriate balance between financial product invention, IPOs, and holding products for capital gains and fees generation. This means that the daily operations of the contemporary city are increasingly bound to the investment and risk management strategies of the major infrastructure banks. The implications of this entanglement are explored.
8 Balancing Risk and Return in Urban Investing
Authors: Hagerman Lisa A. , Hebb Tessa
Published: September 2009

Investing in the underserved urban markets is an innovative practice in which institutional investors can enjoy competitive financial returns on their investment while stimulating economic growth in urban communities. Over the last three decades, targeted investment has undergone a paradigm shift from the traditional subsidy-driven model to the market-driven model. In the capital-driven model, institutional investors perceive investing in the underserved urban areas as an overlooked economic opportunity. Public sector pension funds look for ways to maximize their overall investment returns while managing risk. In doing so, they seek alternative investment strategies and increasingly allocate a portion of their portfolio to illiquid, riskier investments in pursuit of higher returns. Key to such sound investments is recognizing and mitigating the financial and political risks to which pension funds, particularly defined benefit pension funds are prone. This chapter deconstructs how pension funds use urban investments to meet their long-term liabilities while also managing risk. It argues that pension funds can use urban investments together with risk management tools to achieve their portfolio diversification requirements, through evidence drawn from over 100 individual interviews with pension fund trustees and officers, investment vehicles, and other stakeholders in examining the targeted investing strategies of the large California, New York, and Massachusetts' public sector pension funds.