bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A nonopioid analgesic acts upon the PAG‐RVM axis to reverse inflammatory hyperalgesia
Authors: Vazquez Enrique , Escobar William , Ramirez Karla , Vanegas Horacio
Published: January 2007

Metamizol (dipyrone) and other nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) induce antinociception by acting upon peripheral tissues and upon central nervous system structures, notably the periaqueductal grey matter (PAG) and the spinal cord. Inflammation‐induced hyperalgesia is prevented by spinal application of NSAIDs before the inflammation, but once central sensitization is established the spinal effect of NSAIDs is uncertain. The present study examines whether the action upon the PAG contributes to the attenuation of inflammation‐induced spinal hyperalgesia by NSAIDs. In deeply anaesthetized rats, responses of spinal multireceptive neurons to mechanical stimulation of the ipsilateral paw and leg were recorded. An inflammation in the paw was induced with carrageenan. Fifty minutes later, neuronal responses to innocuous and noxious stimulation had, respectively, increased to 206 and 304% for paw, and 160 and 190% for leg. When metamizol (150 µg in 0.5 µL) was microinjected into PAG before the inflammation, neuronal hyperexcitability was delayed for ∼ 60 min and was much reduced by 215 min. More interestingly, microinjection of metamizol into PAG when hyperexcitability was fully developed depressed neuronal responses down to baseline for ∼ 1 h. The effect of PAG metamizol was reversed by microinjection of a GABAAagonist into the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), which indicates that RVM relays the metamizol effect from PAG onto the spinal cord. These results suggest that, upon clinical administration of NSAIDs, a joint action upon PAG and spinal cord contributes to preventing the development of hyperalgesia but it is mainly the action upon PAG which contributes to reducing fully established hyperalgesia.
Truncated TrkB‐T1 regulates the morphology of neocortical layer I astrocytes in adult rat brain slices
Authors: Ohira Koji , Funatsu Nobuo , Homma Koichi J. , Sahara Yoshinori , Hayashi Motoharu , Kaneko Takeshi , Nakamura Shun
Published: January 2007

By altering their morphology, astrocytes, including those involved in the maintenance and plasticity of neurons and in clearance of transmitter, play important roles in synaptic transmission; however, the mechanism that regulates the morphological plasticity of astrocytes remains unclear. Recently, we reported that T1, a subtype of TrkB (a family of BDNF‐specific receptors), altered astrocytic morphology through the control of Rho GTPases in primary astrocyte cultures. In this study, we extended this observation to investigate acute neocortical slices from adult rats. T1 siRNA‐expression vectors were electroporated into astrocytes in neocortical layer I of living rats. In both normal slices and control vector‐electroporated slices, BDNF induced the elongation of the astrocytic processes and increased the branching of processes in slices after 1 h incubation. In contrast, in T1 siRNA‐electroporated slices, no such significant morphological changes were observed in the astrocytes. In addition, the number of synaptophysin+ sites in contact with GFAP+ processes increased in a BDNF–T1‐dependent manner without the increase in the total synaptophysin+ sites. Therefore, the present study provides evidence of the regulation of layer I astrocytic morphology by the BDNF–T1 signal in adult rat neocortical slices.
Differentiating allocation of resources and conflict detection within attentional control processing
Authors: Blasi Giuseppe , Goldberg Terry E. , Elvevåg Brita , Rasetti Roberta , Bertolino Alessandro , Cohen Jessica , Alce Guilna , Zoltick Brad , Weinberger Daniel R. , Mattay Venkata S.
Published: January 2007

Increasing demands for conflict detection and for allocation of attentional resources increase the need for attentional control. While prior evidence suggests that different cortical regions are preferentially engaged by these two attentional processes, the effect of increasing demand for conflict detection and/or allocation of attentional resources has been relatively unexplored. We designed a novel task (the ‘variable attentional control’– VAC – task) that varies the demand for attentional control by increasing conflict detection and allocation of attentional resources within the same stimuli. We studied 34 subjects who underwent event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing the VAC task. Increasing demand for attentional control, as reflected by longer reaction time and reduced accuracy, was associated with greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and dorsal cingulate. Furthermore, an increase in conflict detection was associated with greater dorsal cingulate activity, whereas an increase in demand for allocation of attentional resources implied greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. In essence, in addition to allowing the exploration of the overall effects of increasing demand for attentional control, our novel task also allowed parsing of the neural components of attentional control into those related to allocation of attentional resources and those related to conflict detection.
In vivoadministration of epidermal growth factor and its homologue attenuates developmental maturation of functional excitatory synapses in cortical GABAergic neurons
Authors: Nagano Tadasato , Namba Hisaaki , Abe Yuichi , Aoki Hiroyuki , Takei Nobuyuki , Nawa Hiroyuki
Published: January 2007

The ErbB1 ligand family includes epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor‐α (TGFα), heparin‐binding EGF‐like growth factor, amphiregulin and betacellulin. Previously, we demonstrated that TGFα decreases α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)‐type glutamate receptors in cultured neocortical γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons. In the present study, we examinedin vivoeffects of EGF and TGFα in the mouse neocortex using electrophysiological and biochemical techniques. In mouse neonates, subcutaneously administered EGF penetrated the blood–brain barrier and activated ErbB1 in the neocortex. Daily administration of EGF or TGFα attenuates developmental increases in expression of the AMPA receptor subunits (GluR1 and GluR2/3) in the neocortex of postnatal mice. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the reduction in AMPA receptor expression was significant in the GABAergic neurons, especially those positive for parvalbumin. Using cortical slices prepared from EGF‐treated mice, we recorded miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in both GABAergic and pyramidal neurons. Subchronic treatment with EGF decreased the amplitude and frequency of mEPSCs in GABAergic neurons, but its effects were negligible on pyramidal neurons. We conclude that EGF or other ErbB1 ligand(s) attenuates a developmental increase in AMPA receptor expression and function in cortical GABAergic neurons.
Selectivity of human retinotopic visual cortex to S‐cone‐opponent, L/M‐cone‐opponent and achromatic stimulation
Authors: Mullen Kathy T. , Dumoulin Serge O. , McMahon Katie L. , De Zubicaray Greig I. , Hess Robert F.
Published: January 2007

Our aim was to make a quantitative comparison of the response of the different visual cortical areas to selective stimulation of the two different cone‐opponent pathways [long‐ and medium‐wavelength (L/M)‐ and short‐wavelength (S)‐cone‐opponent] and the achromatic pathway under equivalent conditions. The appropriate stimulus‐contrast metric for the comparison of colour and achromatic sensitivity is unknown, however, and so a secondary aim was to investigate whether equivalent fMRI responses of each cortical area are predicted by stimulus contrast matched in multiples of detection threshold that approximately equates for visibility, or direct (cone) contrast matches in which psychophysical sensitivity is uncorrected. We found that the fMRI response across the two colour and achromatic pathways is not well predicted by threshold‐scaled stimuli (perceptual visibility) but is better predicted by cone contrast, particularly for area V1. Our results show that the early visual areas (V1, V2, V3, VP and hV4) all have robust responses to colour. No area showed an overall colour preference, however, until anterior to V4 where we found a ventral occipital region that has a significant preference for chromatic stimuli, indicating a functional distinction from earlier areas. We found that all of these areas have a surprisingly strong response to S‐cone stimuli, at least as great as the L/M response, suggesting a relative enhancement of the S‐cone cortical signal. We also identified two areas (V3A and hMT+) with a significant preference for achromatic over chromatic stimuli, indicating a functional grouping into a dorsal pathway with a strong magnocellular input.
Pigmentation predicts the shift in the line of decussation in humans with albinism
Authors: Von Dem Hagen Elisabeth A. H. , Houston Gavin C. , Hoffmann Michael B. , Morland Antony B.
Published: January 2007

In albinism a large proportion of nerve fibres originating in temporal retina cross the midline at the chiasm and project to the contralateral hemisphere. Studies in rodents with albinism have suggested that the extent of this misrouting at the chiasm is inversely related to pigmentation levels. Here, we examine whether there is evidence for a similar relationship in humans with albinism. Functional MRI was performed on 18 subjects with albinism, 17 control subjects and six controls with nystagmus as they underwent hemifield visual stimulation of nasal or temporal retina. Functional activation in 16 coronal slices beginning at the posterior occipital lobes were analysed and the extent of hemispheric response lateralization at each slice position was determined. During temporal retina stimulation, the control response was lateralized to the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulated eye for all slices. In albinos, the response in posterior slices was predominantly in the contralateral hemisphere, consistent with misrouting of temporal retina fibres. However, as slice location became progressively anterior, response lateralization reverted to the ipsilateral hemisphere. The slice location at which the transition from contra‐ to ipsilateralization occurred provided an estimate of the extent of fibre misrouting in the individual. The slice transition location correlated negatively with pigmentation level, providing the first evidence for a relationship between pigmentation and the extent of misrouting in humans with albinism.
Local synthesis of axonal and presynaptic RNA in squid model systems
Authors: Eyman Maria , Cefaliello Carolina , Ferrara Eugenia , De Stefano Rosanna , Lavina Zeno Scotto , Crispino Marianna , Squillace Angela , Van Minnen Jan , Kaplan Barry B. , Giuditta Antonio
Published: January 2007

The presence of active systems of protein synthesis in axons and nerve endings raises the question of the cellular origin of the corresponding RNAs. Our present experiments demonstrate that, besides a possible derivation from neuronal cell bodies, axoplasmic RNAs originate in periaxonal glial cells and presynaptic RNAs derive from nearby cells, presumably glial cells. Indeed, in perfused squid giant axons, delivery of newly synthesized RNA to the axon perfusate is strongly stimulated by axonal depolarization or agonists of glial glutamate and acetylcholine receptors. Likewise, incubation of squid optic lobe slices with [3H]uridine leads to a marked accumulation of [3H]RNA in the large synaptosomes derived from the nerve terminals of retinal photoreceptor neurons. As the cell bodies of these neurons lie outside the optic lobe, the data demonstrate that presynaptic RNA is locally synthesized, presumably by perisynaptic glial cells. Overall, our results support the view that axons and presynaptic regions are endowed with local systems of gene expression which may prove essential for the maintenance and plasticity of these extrasomatic neuronal domains.
Early electrophysiological abnormalities in lumbar motoneurons in a transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Bories Cyril , Amendola Julien , Lamotte d'Incamps Boris , Durand Jacques
Published: January 2007

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a lethal, adult‐onset disease characterized by progressive degeneration of motoneurons. Recent data have suggested that the disease could be linked to abnormal development of the motor nervous system. Therefore, we investigated the electrical properties of lumbar motoneurons in an in‐vitro neonatal spinal cord preparation isolated from SOD1G85R mice, which is a transgenic model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The study was performed on young animals at the beginning of their second week, between postnatal days 6 and 10. Measurements of resting membrane potential and action potential characteristics of motoneurons were similar in wild‐type and SOD1G85R mice. However, the input resistance of motoneurons from transgenic mice was significantly lower than that of wild‐type animals, whereas their membrane capacitance was increased, strongly suggesting larger SOD1G85R motoneurons. Furthermore, the slope of the frequency–intensity curve was steeper in motoneurons from wild‐type pups. Interestingly, the input resistance as well as the slope of the frequency–intensity curves of other spinal neurons did not show such differences. Finally, the amplitude of dorsal root‐evoked potentials following high‐intensity stimulation was significantly smaller in SOD1G85R motoneurons. The superoxide dismutase 1 mutation thus induces specific alterations of the functional properties of motoneurons early in development.
The operant serial implicit learning task reveals early onset motor learning deficits in the HdhQ92 knock‐in mouse model of Huntington's disease
Authors: Trueman Rebecca C. , Brooks Simon P. , Jones Lesley , Dunnett Stephen B.
Published: January 2007

A range of genetic mouse models of Huntington's disease have been created. However, as knock‐in models typically have milder phenotypes, they have frequently been overlooked as therapeutic tools in favour of the transgenic models that display severe behavioural symptoms. More sensitive tests are therefore required to reveal abnormalities and release the potential of knock‐in lines. An implicit learning task for mice has been developed in the nine‐hole operant box test apparatus, in which mice must respond to a sequence of lights in order to earn a reward. A light stimulus was presented randomly in one of five holes, to which a nose poke response resulted in the light being extinguished and a second light illuminated in a different hole. Response to the second light resulted in a liquid reward. To probe implicit learning, a predictable stimulus sequence was embedded among many unpredictable sequences. In the current study, the HdhQ92 mouse model of Huntington's disease was examined. At 4 months of age, HdhQ92/Q92 mice demonstrated clear and significant deficits in both accuracy and reaction time on all trials of the implicit learning task, with improved performance on predictable trials. We believe this to be the earliest reported behavioural deficit in the HdhQ92 knock‐in mouse line. The results of this study validate the serial implicit learning task as a sensitive tool for the examination of implicit and motor learning deficits in mutant mice, and may provide a powerful test for probing potential treatments for Huntington's disease.
Effect of neurotrophin‐3 on reinnervation of the larynx using the phrenic nerve transfer technique
Authors: Kingham Paul J. , Hughes Alexandra , Mitchard Louisa , Burt Rachel , Murison Pamela , Jones Alan , Terenghi Giorgio , Birchall Martin A.
Published: January 2007

Current techniques for reinnervation of the larynx following recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury are limited by synkinesis, which prevents functional recovery. Treatment with neurotrophins (NT) may enhance nerve regeneration and encourage more accurate reinnervation. This study presents the results of using the phrenic nerve transfer method, combined with NT‐3 treatment, to selectively reinnervate the posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) abductor muscle in a pig nerve injury model. RLN transection altered the phenotype and morphology of laryngeal muscles. In both the PCA and thyroarytenoid (TA) adductor muscle, fast type myosin heavy chain (MyHC) protein was decreased while slow type MyHC was increased. These changes were accompanied with a significant reduction in muscle fibre diameter. Following nerve repair there was a progressive normalization of MyHC phenotype and increased muscle fibre diameter in the PCA but not the TA muscle. This correlated with enhanced abductor function indicating the phrenic nerve accurately reinnervated the PCA muscle. Treatment with NT‐3 significantly enhanced phrenic nerve regeneration but led to only a small increase in the number of reinnervated PCA muscle fibres and minimal effect on abductor muscle phenotype and morphology. Therefore, work exploring other growth factors, either alone or in combination with NT‐3, is required.
A different regional response by mouse oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) to high‐dose X‐irradiation has consequences for repopulating OPC‐depleted normal tissue
Authors: Irvine Karen‐Amanda , Blakemore William F.
Published: January 2007

This study was designed to investigate whether the residual, dysfunctional oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) observed following X‐irradiation of the mouse spinal cord [D. M. Chari et al. (2003) Exp. Neurol., 198, 145–153], the presence of which prevented the endogenous repopulation of these areas from normal tissue, reflects a general response of OPCs in the mouse central nervous system (CNS) to X‐irradiation. The brains of adult mice were exposed to 40 Gy of X‐irradiation and the effect of X‐irradiation on the OPCs was assessed up to 4 weeks post‐irradiation using anti‐NG2 antibodies. X‐irradiation resulted in almost complete depletion of OPCs within the telencephalon (cortex, corpus callosum and hippocampus) by 7 days post‐irradiation, which was followed by progressive repopulation of OPCs from non‐irradiated areas of the cortex. By contrast, within the lower brain centres (the diencephalon and mesencephalon) OPC loss occurred much more slowly so that 26% of the OPCs still remained 4 weeks after X‐irradiation. The consequence of this heterogeneous response to X‐irradiation was that whereas transplanted and endogenous OPCs rapidly established themselves in the OPC‐depleted telencephalon this did not occur in the areas where there was incomplete depletion of endogenous OPCs. Our findings confirm not only the requirement for almost complete OPC depletion in order to establish transplanted OPCs in normal tissue but also highlight a heterogeneity of progenitor populations in different areas of the mouse CNS.
Pantoea agglomerans‐associated bacteria in grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Fitch)
Authors: Vorwerk S. , Martinez‐Torres D. , Forneck A.
Published: January 2007

1 Grape phylloxera lack intracellular symbionts, but the leaf‐galling form appears to be associated with a single microbial species.

2 16S and 18SrDNA sequences were used for identification of symbiotic material.

3 A single bacterial species, closely related to Pantoea agglomerans, was identified in adult parthenogenetic individuals, their eggs and leaf gall tissue of several populations.

4 A 16S rDNA primer pair was designed to test grape phylloxera populations more specifically for the presence of P. agglomerans.

5 16S rDNA sequences of the identified bacteria were very similar to already‐known secondary symbionts occurring in aphids, thrips and other insects.

6 The identified bacteria were culturable on simple media, which demonstrates that the relationship between grape phylloxera and P. agglomerans is not as firm as that of the obligately endosymbiotic Buchnera aphidicola and other aphids.
Effect of farm diversity on harvesting of coffee leaves by the leaf‐cutting ant Atta cephalotes
Authors: Varón Edgar H. , Eigenbrode Sanford D. , Bosque‐Pérez Nilsa A. , Hilje Luko
Published: January 2007

1 In Mesoamerica, shade trees are often included within coffee (Coffea arabica) agroforestry systems. Shade trees potentially protect the main crop by increasing vegetational diversity and reducing insect herbivory through one or more mechanisms.

2 The effect of on‐farm vegetational diversity on harvesting of coffee leaves by the leaf‐cutting ant, Atta cephalotes L., was examined on 15 coffee farms varying in vegetational diversity near Turrialba, Costa Rica. The farms ranged from coffee monocultures to complex‐shade coffee systems with three or more tree species present. The vegetational diversity of each farm was quantified using a leaf area index.

3 The species composition and biomass of the plant material being carried into colonies by ants was collected, identified to species, and its biomass was quantified four times during one year for at least two colonies in each of the 15 farms.

4 The proportion of plant biomass that was coffee being retrieved by A. cephalotes differed significantly among farm management types, and was highest (40%) in monocultures and lowest (< 1%) in farms with complex shade. Coffee was always harvested in a lower proportion than predicted based upon its relative abundance on the farms.

5 In dual‐choice bioassays with laboratory colonies, A. cephalotes significantly preferred the leaves of the predominant shade tree species on the farms, poró (Erythrina poeppigiana) over coffee.

6 The results indicate risk of injury by A. cephalotes can be reduced in vegetationally diverse coffee agroecosystems due at least in part to a foraging preference by the ants for plants other than coffee.
Temperature as a predictor of survival of the pine processionary moth in the Italian Alps
Authors: Buffo Emiliano , Battisti Andrea , Stastny Michael , Larsson Stig
Published: January 2007

1 The pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa is expanding its geographical range in Europe, as a consequence of enhanced winter survival under a warmer climate. A combination of daytime nest temperatures and night air temperatures determines the number of hours larvae are able to feed (hours above realized feeding threshold, RFT).

2 We tested the RFT‐based model for survival across multiple areas of the insect’s range in the Italian Alps over a 2‐year period. In a series of translocation experiments using natural temperature gradients as spatial analogues for global warming, we transferred colonies of T. pityocampa larvae to sites within zones of historical distribution, recent distribution, and outside the present range. The sites included traditional (Pinus nigra, Pinus sylvestris) as well as novel (Pinus mugo, Pinus uncinata, Pinus cembra) hosts.

3 Survival during precold (August to November), cold (December to February) and postcold (March to May) periods were analysed against climatic variables (temperature and rainfall) and predictors developed by the model.

4 Host species did not significantly affect final survival, with the exception of slower larval development, and resulting lower cold tolerance, on P. cembra than on P. mugo at the same site.

5 Across all the sites and hosts, final survival of colonies depended on the number of feeding hours during the cold period (RFT), which explained 82% of the variance in a regression model. We recommend using RFT, or its surrogate daily mean minimum temperature when nest temperature is not available, in predictive models of range expansion of T. pityocampa under climate change scenarios.
Longitudinal muscle shows abnormal relaxation responses to nitric oxide and contains altered levels of NOS1 and elastin in uncomplicated diverticular disease
Authors: Golder M. , Burleigh D. E. , Ghali L. , Feakins R. M. , Lunniss P. J. , Williams N. S. , Navsaria H. A.
Published: January 2007

Objective  Recent evidence challenges the ‘low‐fibre/high‐colonic intraluminal pressure’ hypothesis of diverticular disease (DD) and raises the possibility that other mechanisms are involved. Although bowel wall smooth muscle is known to be hypercontractile in DD, the nature of its relaxation is unknown. The present study investigated colonic smooth muscle responses to nitric oxide, as well as the smooth muscle contents of neural nitric oxide and elastin associated with the disease.

Method  Immunohistochemical/image analysis of antibodies to nitric oxide synthase (NOS1), co‐localized with protein gene product (PGP) and to elastin, was performed on three histological sections of sigmoid colons from 20 patients (10 DD, 10 controls) following resections for rectal tumours. Organ bath experiments examined smooth muscle responsiveness to nitroprusside, a nitric oxide donor.

Results  Uncomplicated diverticular longitudinal muscle showed lower nitric oxide immunoreactivity compared with controls: median percentage surface area of NOS1 over PGP was 26.0% (range 0.5–58.3), controls 45.0% (35.0–70.1; P = 0.018). Median percentage surface area of elastin was elevated, 21.3% (10.6–45.6), controls 8.2% (1.7–13.5; P = 0.0002), together with a low sensitivity to nitroprusside [mean − log  EC50 5.3 (SD 0.5), controls 6.6 (SD 0.5), difference 1.3, 95% CI 0.8–1.7; P < 0.0001] and there were lower maximum relaxation responses to nitroprusside compared with controls: median percentage (relaxation induced by nitroprussside/contraction induced by bethanecol) was 52.0%, range (20.0–92.0), controls 100.0% (71.0–125.0), P < 0.0001. No statistically significant differences were found in circular muscle, at the sample size studied.

Conclusion  This study established, for the first time, specific abnormalities in longitudinal muscle relaxation and contents of neural nitric oxide and elastin in uncomplicated DD. These findings may have important implications for both colon structure and function in the disease.
ON THE USE OF PANEL DATA METHODS TO ESTIMATE RATIONAL ADDICTION MODELS
Authors: Baltagi Badi H.
Published: January 2007

This paper reviews some of the econometrics problems faced when estimating a rational addiction model of Becker and Murphy using panel data. This is illustrated with three empirical applications. The first application looks at cigarette consumption using macro panel data on American states over time. The second application looks at liquor consumption using macro panel data on American states over time. The third application uses micro‐panel data on Russian alcohol consumption.
INACTIVITY AND LABOUR MARKET ATTACHMENT IN BRITAIN
Authors: Little Allan
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the transitions between the labour market and inactivity in Britain between 1995 and 2004. A substantial degree of behavioural heterogeneity exists between inactive individuals, and the social security system appears to influence both the timing and probability of moving between labour market states. The results presented here suggest that policy makers should not be misled by the term ‘hidden unemployment’, into thinking that substantial spare capacity exists on the periphery of the labour force. In light of recent proposals to reduce the number of Incapacity Benefit claimants, it is important to note a high degree of detachment among the long‐term sick and disabled, reinforced by duration dependence and poorer educational attainment.
IS THE COST OF DEBT CAPITAL HIGHER FOR YOUNGER FIRMS?
Authors: Hyytinen Ari , Pajarinen Mika
Published: January 2007

Not much is known about the returns to aging (maturing) in the market for small business finance. Using a large panel of closely held micro firms, we document that the cost of debt capital is higher for young firms. The main finding of this paper is that this negative qualitative relation is also obtained when cross‐sectional variation in unobservable creditworthiness of small businesses and within‐firm (i.e., inter‐temporal) variation in their observable creditworthiness are held constant. We control for the former by firm‐specific fixed effects and for the latter by a commercial credit score. We also provide an estimate of the quantitative magnitude of the aging effect, on which both economic theory and earlier empirical research are silent. We find that when a small business ages one year, its cost of debt capital decreases by 1–2 basis points. The effect is neither negligible nor alarmingly large.
SHORT‐TERM CONTRACTS REGULATIONS AND DYNAMIC LABOUR DEMAND: THEORY AND EVIDENCE
Authors: Nunziata Luca , Staffolani Stefano
Published: January 2007

We present a dynamic labour demand model where we evaluate the impact of employment regulations on permanent and temporary employment. We consider three different kinds of regulations, namely firing costs, hiring costs and a constraint on temporary contracts. These regulations differently affect the size and composition of employment. The theoretical results are interpreted and questioned on the basis of empirical evidence on the employment effects of the regulation reforms that occurred in the major European countries in the period 1983–1999. The empirical analysis is based on a new set of time‐varying indicators on permanent employment protection, fixed‐term contracts and temporary agency work regulations. We find evidence in support of the hypothesis that fixed‐term contracts have been effective stepping‐stones to permanent jobs during the period under observation. On the contrary, flexible temporary agency work regulations seem to induce a substitution of permanent with temporary contracts.
FISCAL INDULGENCE IN CENTRAL EUROPE: LOSS OF THE EXTERNAL ANCHOR?
Authors: Berger Helge , Kopits George , Székely István P.
Published: January 2007

In recent years, fiscal performance in Central Europe has steadily deteriorated, in contrast to the improvement in the Baltics. This paper explores the determinants of such differences among countries on the path to European Union (EU) accession. Regression estimates suggest that economic and institutional fundamentals do not provide a full explanation. An alternative explanation lies in the political economy of the accession process, and a game‐theoretic model illustrates why a country with a stronger bargaining position might have an incentive to deviate from convergence to the Maastricht criteria. The model generates alternative fiscal policy regimes – allowing for regime shifts – depending on country characteristics and EU policies.
A NOTE ON NEGATIVE ELECTORAL ADVERTISING: DENIGRATING CHARACTER VS. PORTRAYING EXTREMISM
Authors: Chakrabarti Subhadip
Published: January 2007

In this expository note, we extend the model of Harrington and Hess (1996) by incorporating valence advertising. There is a two‐candidate electoral contest. Candidates inherit a certain position indicating their ideological platform in an unidimensional policy space. They also inherit a certain valence index which is a comprehensive term for personal traits that are desirable to all voters such as integrity. The candidates can subsequently influence these using negative advertising with regard to both ideological and valence factors. We find that when the available resources are sufficiently small and certain reasonable assumptions are fulfilled, the candidate with the higher initial valence index will run a relatively personal campaign while the candidate with the lower initial valence index will run an ideological campaign.
Transformative Capacity, Information Technology, and the Making of Business ‘Experts’
Authors: Knox Hannah , O'Doherty Damian , Vurdubakis Theo , Westrup Chris
Published: January 2007

This paper explores the making of experts and the basis of claims to expertise in corporate organisational settings. The performance of expertise within organisations is increasingly associated with the implementation and use of integrated business information systems which purport to abstract the world into an informational form to make businesses run more efficiently. We argue that as these systems are put to work to replace the calculations of human experts, we are required to rethink how expertise is constituted as a political and performative process. We focus on the provisos and qualifications that surround the use of calculative techniques and the worries and scepticism over the correctness, accuracy and interpretation of numbers and figures derived from systems of calculation. Rather than identifying expertise as the capacity to make calculations and to abstract ‘representations’ from the ‘real world’, a job increasingly done by information systems, we find expertise being performed in the transformation of things of different orders which enables representations to be returned to the world through allusions to their transformative effect.
Counting Llamas and Accounting for People: Livestock, Land and Citizens in Southern Bolivia
Authors: Bolton Maggie
Published: January 2007

This paper uses historical and ethnographic data to examine the struggles that surround livestock enumeration in highland Bolivia. Colonial officials counted llamas for purposes of taxation, while present-day government agencies and NGOs enumerate animals to attract money from aid agencies and promote entrepreneurial activity. In both instances, livestock enumeration serves not just to count animals but to render accountable their owners. The paper argues, drawing upon the work of Timothy Mitchell (2002) that such enumerative procedures carried out by experts do not simply record a reality, but by rendering herders accountable, seek to produce particular kinds of people within particular economic realities. Far from being a culturally neutral practice, the enumeration of llamas can constitute an act of symbolic violence that seeks to erase specific relationships between herders and animals and to prioritise the individual over the communal. In both colonial and contemporary cases, Andean people seek to produce themselves in ways that contest those in which others would produce them.
Subjectivity, Visual Technology, and Public Culture: Watching the Ethnographic Film, Malanggan Labadama in New Ireland
Authors: Sykes Karen
Published: January 2007

The study of cultural change requires a dialectical theory of culture that does not reduce vectors of change to extra-cultural forces. Despite changes in expert technology that included the uses of ethnographic film to aid the carvers of Melanesian funerary sculptures, which are named malanggan, the carvers typically present their sculpture to either ritual or secular publics who are incredulous at the brief display, but with a difference in either case. This description of the visual shifts in the making and display of malanggan sculpture can be analyzed as a movement from ontological concerns about how people live in relationships, to epistemological concerns with how to communicate about who they are. These shifts in expert visual technique and its relationship to public culture are wholly cultural processes generating cultural change.
Assembling an Economic Actor: The Agencement of a Hedge Fund
Authors: Hardie Iain , MacKenzie Donald
Published: January 2007

Michel Callon has conceptualised economic actors as made up of socio-technical agencements: collectives of human beings, technical devices, algorithms, and so on. This article reports a pilot, partially observational study of a hedge fund, a category of actor in financial markets that is of growing importance but that has so far attracted little attention in economic sociology. It draws on that study, and on interviews with other financial market practitioners, to delineate what is involved in viewing such an actor as made up of an agencement, and discusses the merits of doing so.
The Nostalgia for Permanence at Work? The End of Work and its Commentators
Authors: Strangleman Tim
Published: January 2007

This article examines a contemporary trend in the sociology of work that is labelled here the ‘end of work’ debate after Jeremy Rifkin's book of the same name. It explores this trend, suggesting that marked similarities exist between a range of authors in Europe and North America who propose that work regimes and the meaning derived from them are changing fundamentally. This literature is then placed in the context of an older canon on decline in work and employment. Using the insights of newer qualitative studies that have emerged over the last decade it is suggested that much of the ‘end of work’ type of writing over-generalises a complex situation, suggesting that sociology needs to incorporate macro theorisation with detailed empirical research if it is to properly understand changes in the contemporary world of work.
Re-Defining ‘Norms’: D/Deaf Young People's Transitions to Independence
Authors: Valentine Gill , Skelton Tracey
Published: January 2007

Traditionally, young people's transitions from a state of dependent childhood to an independent adult identity have been measured in terms of a developmental stage model. However, it is increasingly being recognised that young people are not a universal category and that their transitions need to be understood within the diverse context of peers, family, and communities. This paper draws on a rich body of work from the interdisciplinary field of Deaf studies and original research with D/deaf young people – a group generally overlooked by sociological research – to challenge and to advance conventional interdisciplinary debates about youth transitions in two ways. In the first half of the paper we examine D/deaf young people's conventional school-to-work, housing and domestic transitions and in doing so reflect upon the ways that their experiences shed a new light on understandings of these traditional markers of independent adulthood. In the second half of the paper we challenge conventional definitions of what marks an important transition by focusing on the transition that many D/deaf young people themselves define as the most significant in their lives, learning BSL and the transition to an independent D/deaf identity that this enables them to make. In doing so the paper mainstreams within sociology an important body of research about D/deaf people's experiences from Deaf studies.
Objecting Relations: The Problem of the Gift
Authors: Hurdley Rachel
Published: January 2007

This paper focuses on informants’ accounts of gifts displayed on their living room mantelpieces drawn from a recent study exploring domestic display in Cardiff. The mantelpiece is an ideal space for looking at a particular category of salient objects: gifts on show in the home. An interpretation of narrative accounts is located within existing theoretical and empirical studies of gift exchange to reconsider the complex enmeshment of this traditional relation in everyday practices. An equivalence between the mantelpiece and the ‘gifts’ it presents in the home as taken-for-granted, inherited practices and materials leads to a final discussion focusing on the apparently democratised yet still gendered character of everyday gift practices. In conclusion, a consideration of the gendering of the gift questions whether this traditional, problematic method of accounting for and maintaining relations is desirable.
Official Policies and Informal Transversal Networks: Creating ‘Pan-European Identifications’ through Sport?
Authors: Levermore Roger , Millward Peter
Published: January 2007

The idea that sport has been drawn into helping build a collective identity around the nation-state, particularly in the immediate ‘era of independence’ after 1945, is well documented. However, it is only recently that sport has been linked to notions of moulding what we term here as ‘pan-European identifications’. It is our argument that there are two distinctive forms to such identification. The first posits a tangible notion of identity based around territories such as nation-states. Sport assists in this process through ‘official’ policies, such as declarations, reports and statements by the European Commission and other pan-European institutions. The second form recognizes that increasing transversal interactions weakens ideas of territorialized identity, resulting in a looser ‘sense of belonging’. Sport helps craft identifications here in an informal manner through pan-European sporting competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League and 2004 European football championships. This article is structured to look at both forms of this sport/identification interface whilst also considering the complex nature of sport and identity by explaining how sport can simultaneously erode such identifications.
Authentic Education and Moral Responsibility
Authors: CUYPERS STEFAAN E. , HAJI ISHTIYAQUE
Published: January 2007

abstract  An appeal to children's authenticity is widespread in major debates in the philosophy of education. However, no evident uniform conception of authenticity informs the dialectic. We begin with examples that confirm this multiplicity. We then uncover a common strand that unifies these seemingly differing conceptions: authenticity is exemplified by motivational elements, such as the agent's desires, when these elements are, in a manner to be explicated, ‘truly the agent's own’. It is this view of authenticity that is the mainstay of a predicament in the philosophy of education: if education entails intentional instilment of certain motivational elements in the child but such intentional moulding, in the absence of the agent's consent, is generally incompatible with authenticity, how is an authentic education possible? We respond by developing a relational account of authenticity that denies that motivational elements are authentic in their own right; they are authentic only relative to ensuring certain ends.
Not Cricket? Ethics, Rhetoric and Sporting Boycotts
Authors: DAIN EDMUND , CALDER GIDEON
Published: January 2007

abstract  Using as a background the ongoing crisis afflicting the international cricket scene over whether or not to boycott Zimbabwe, this paper seeks to explore the moral complexities surrounding the case of the sporting boycott in general as a response to morally odious regimes. Rather than attempting to provide some easy formula by which to determine justifiable from unjustifiable boycotts, we take as our starting point many of the arguments raised in the national press and explore and develop these arguments in order to shed light on the fundamental problems underlying the use of sporting boycotts as moral tools. The paper thus aims to show the inadequacy of the standard responses on both sides of the fence and, hopefully, clears the ground for future, more informed approaches to the issue.
Killer Robots
Authors: SPARROW ROBERT
Published: January 2007

abstract  The United States Army's Future Combat Systems Project, which aims to manufacture a ‘robot army’ to be ready for deployment by 2012, is only the latest and most dramatic example of military interest in the use of artificially intelligent systems in modern warfare. This paper considers the ethics of the decision to send artificially intelligent robots into war, by asking who we should hold responsible when an autonomous weapon system is involved in an atrocity of the sort that would normally be described as a war crime. A number of possible loci of responsibility for robot war crimes are canvassed: the persons who designed or programmed the system, the commanding officer who ordered its use, the machine itself. I argue that in fact none of these are ultimately satisfactory. Yet it is a necessary condition for fighting a just war, under the principle of jus in bellum, that someone can be justly held responsible for deaths that occur in the course of the war. As this condition cannot be met in relation to deaths caused by an autonomous weapon system it would therefore be unethical to deploy such systems in warfare.
Can Virtuous People Emerge from Tragic Dilemmas Having Acted Well?
Authors: VAN ZYL LIEZL
Published: January 2007

abstract  A tragic dilemma is thought to arise when an agent, through no fault of her own, finds herself in a situation where she must choose between two courses of action, both of which it would be wrong to undertake. I focus on tragic dilemmas that are resolvable, that is, where a reason can be given in favour of one course of action over another, and my aim is to examine whether Hursthouse's virtue‐ethical account of right action succeeds in avoiding two problems presented by tragic dilemmas. The first of these is that they produce the seemingly contradictory conclusion that an agent, in doing what she ought to do, acts wrongly, making it appropriate for her to feel guilt. The second is the paradox of moral luck, which consists in the conflict between the intuition that an agent cannot be held responsible for actions that are not fully voluntary, and the fact that she may nevertheless believe that she has done something morally reprehensible. I argue that if we accept Hursthouse's separation of action guidance and action assessment, her account succeeds in solving the problem of contradiction. However, it does not completely avoid the problem of moral luck. I argue, against Hursthouse, that the virtuous agent can emerge from a tragic dilemma having acted well, and that this is the conclusion we must arrive at if we want to avoid the problem of contradiction and of moral luck.
Why the Capability Approach is Justified
Authors: BERGES SANDRINE
Published: January 2007

abstract  Sen and Nussbaum's capability approach has in the past twenty years become an increasingly popular and influential approach to issues in global justice. Its main tenet is that when assessing quality of life or asking what kind of policies will be more conducive to human development, we should look not to resources or preference satisfaction, but to what people are able to be and to do. This should then be measured against a more or less narrow conception of what any human being should be able to be and do, i.e. which functions are essentially human. To have a capability is to be able to function in that way. Thomas Pogge has recently argued that despite its many attractions, the capability approach did not present a sufficiently strong challenge to Rawlsian resourcism. In this paper, I address Pogge's criticisms of the capability approach, and I argue that from the point of view of Nussbaum's Aristotelian version of the approach, his objections are not successful.
Race, Kinds and Ontological Commitments: Issues for Social Policy Clarification
Authors: MILLER STEVEN I. , PERINO FRANK
Published: January 2007

abstract  This article attempts to illustrate the continuing need to pay attention to ontological issues connected with the conduct of empirical research and subsequent policy making. Failure to do so leads to the conflation of social constructions with ideas about the thesis of an independent reality. Such category mistakes often lead to dilemmas in which culturally sensitive constructs may, on the one hand, be worthy of study because they do tell us how socially constructed categories do predict social phenomena; but, on the other hand, such constructs may illustrate an unwillingness on the part of the research community to recognize the objective nature of such constructs. Some recommendations are suggested for addressing the social policy consequences of these dilemmas.