bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Understanding disability in Parkinson's disease
Authors: Shulman Lisa M.
Published: February 2010

Even with optimal therapy, it is inevitable that the symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) progress and gradually result in disability in the performance of daily activities. Delay and prevention of disability is among the highest priorities in the clinical management of PD. Understanding the association between the diverse symptoms of PD and the emerging disability is fundamental to minimizing functional limitations. This article differentiates disability from impairment and quality of life and explores the relationship between the specific impairments of PD and resulting disability. Identifying appropriate tools for outcomes measurement and impediments to accurate assessment of disability are also reviewed. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society
Parkinson's disease: 10 years of progress, 1997–2007
Authors: Fahn Stanley
Published: February 2010

Many people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and their family members ask their physicians “What is happening in research on Parkinson's disease? Is there anything new?” As the initial speaker at the symposium organized by the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in celebration of its 50th anniversary, I sought to address these questions, focusing on research published between the years 1997 and 2007. I cataloged the advances I considered most important in the field, recognizing my viewpoint is a subjective one and most likely differs from similar listings that others would put together. Space limitation allows me to discuss only a tiny fraction of the remarkable new findings that have been discovered during this 10‐year span. Nevertheless, I expect the readers of this summation of advances in the field to be as impressed as I am on the wealth, breadth, and excitement stirring in the field of PD research. Included in this overview are highlights in both laboratory science and clinical science of PD research. In the former category are advances in knowledge on the genetics of PD; potential etiologic and pathogenic causes, especially the better understanding of endogenous factors within dopaminergic neurons; pathologic changes including deposition of alpha‐synuclein aggregates; and the consequences of altered alpha‐synuclein on the degradation of proteins by both the ubiquitin‐proteasomal pathway and the lysosome. Clinical science has also been very active and impressively productive with important clinical advances. In this category are new information on the epidemiology of PD, including awareness of additional factors (besides smoking) that might slow the onset and worsening of PD, such as caffeine and urate; neuroimaging with positron emission tomography and single photon emission tomography; keener awareness of nonmotor features of PD and their impact on quality of life for the persons with PD and their family; recognition of behavioral complications of medications utilized to treat PD, such as impulse control problems; appreciation of the natural history of PD with the increasing impairments as the disease relentlessly worsens over time; the many controlled clinical trials attempting to slow the progression of the disease and to provide new symptomatic therapies; and surgical approaches to alleviate symptoms and progression, including cellular and gene therapy as well as deep brain stimulation. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society
Dietary α‐tocopherol and neuromuscular health: Search for optimal dose and molecular mechanisms continues!
Authors: Gohil Kishorchandra , Vasu Vihas T. , Cross Carroll E.
Published: February 2010

Rodents fed α‐tocopherol (αT)‐depleted diets develop neuromuscular deficits. Unequivocal role of αT in the prevention of these deficits is confounded by possible neurotoxic oxidant products generated, ex vivo in αT‐depleted diets. The discovery that large doses of αT could ameliorate neuromuscular deficits, attributed to very low serum αT caused by mutations in either the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein or the αT‐transfer protein (αTTP), underscores the necessity of αT for neuromuscular health in humans. The discovery of human αTTP provided physiological relevance to biochemical data from rodents documenting αT–binding transfer protein, expressed exclusively in liver. The cloning of αTTP gene and the creation of αTTP‐knockout mice allowed to achieve severe systemic αT deficiency in brain and muscles, possibly at birth, eliminating the possible confounding effects of ex vivo‐generated oxidant products in vitamin E‐stripped diets. αTTP‐knockout mice have proven useful models to discover αT‐regulated phenotypes and molecular actions of αT in vivo. The results suggest that antioxidant and non‐antioxidant actions of αT in vivo may not be mutually exclusive. These studies also suggest that low levels of dietary αT can achieve in excess of nanomolar αT levels in tissues and maintain normal neuromuscular functions. This is consistent with biochemical and crystallographic data of α‐TTP and of other αT‐binding proteins that have dissociation constants in nanomolar range. Molecular mechanisms that cause a long delay for the development of deficiency symptoms remain enigmatic. It is likely that αT is metabolically stable in post‐mitotic neurons and myocytes and, if it undergoes redox‐cycling in vivo, a large repertoire of αT‐regenerating systems maintains its biological activity before it is totally depleted.
Latent mark development and analysis within a modern policing environment
Authors: Druce James Francis , Bristow Lucy Clare
Published: February 2010

The purpose of this article is to provide a background of the nature of latent print analysis within a modern UK police force. The article aims to provide an explanation as to the legal standing of fingerprint evidence, the methodology behind modern fingerprint examination and its history as a forensic investigation tool. The article also provides an understanding of modern latent mark development techniques and the considerations that should be given to the development and application of new development approaches. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Addition of surface polysulfide film to the inhibitor protective action against hydrosulfide corrosion of carbon steel
Authors: Vigdorovich V. I. , Tsygankova L. E. , Shel N. V.
Published: February 2010

Protection against carbon steel corrosion in the inhibited hydrosulfide media is conditioned by two effects: (i) a formation of low‐soluble film of iron sulfides on the steel surface in the presence of hydrosulfide and (ii) an inhibitor action. The theoretical basis of the method allowing differentiation of the deposits is suggested. With this view, the steel corrosion rate (K) is measured in time in uninhibited solutions by the polarization resistance method and the protective effect of the polysulfide film formed is estimated in time and at the stationary state (Zf). Then, similar data are obtained from the solutions of the same composition containing known inhibitor concentration, and the sum (total) protective effect (Zsum) is calculated. The inhibitor protective effect (ZInh) is calculated according to the equation ZInh = Zsum − Zf. In the high mineralized media (5% NaCl) containing 50–200 mg/l H2S, the protective effect of the polysulfide film with respect to the initial surface of carbon steel is equal to 40–75% increasing in time. The protective effect of the inhibitor (200 mg/l) on the tertiary amine base does not exceed 20–24% at the stationary state of the metal surface. The sum protective efficiency of the film and the inhibitor is equal to the integral protective effect that reaches 92–99%. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Difficulties in determining valence for Ag0 nanoparticles using XPS—characterization of nanoparticles inside poly (3‐sulphopropyl methacrylate) brushes
Authors: Ramstedt Madeleine , Franklyn Paul
Published: February 2010

The formation of silver nanoparticles (10–20 nm) inside poly (3‐sulfopropyl methacrylate) brushes was studied by using transmission electron microscopy, UV‐Vis spectroscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Initially, the silver forms Ag$_{4}^{2+}$ clusters that are stabilised by the anionic side groups of the brush. In the presence of a reducing agent, these clusters aggregate into nanoparticles or films. The apparent oxidation state for silver in the different forms was examined using XPS and a chemical state plot. It was seen that the nanoparticles do not display the same chemical shift as the silver film does. The reason for this observation is suggested to be the final and initial state effects. The latter is related to the relatively high amount of under coordinated or charged surface atoms on these particles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
XPS study of gold‐based metallic glass
Authors: Kaciulis S. , Mezzi A. , Fiore G. , Ichim I. , Battezzati L. , Rizzi P.
Published: February 2010

New multinary amorphous materials, based on gold, that can be produced in bulk form due to their high glass‐forming tendency, were discovered recently. However little is known about their corrosion properties.

In the present study, the characterization of Au49Cu26.9Ag5.5Pd2.3Si16.3 amorphous ribbons produced by melt spinning is reported. Their corrosion properties were tested by incubating the samples in artificial sweat and by monitoring the changes in surface structure by SEM and XRD. Before incubation, the surface of the samples was amorphous and flat, characterized only by microfeatures due to the liquid contact with the wheel during quenching. After treatment with artificial sweat, the formation of nanosized crystallites of Au on the sample surface was observed.

The surface chemical composition of both sides of the ribbon samples was investigated by XPS. Atomic concentration and chemical states of constituent elements before and after the incubation in artificial sweat were determined. The depth profiling of both sides of the samples was carried out by using Ar ion sputtering combined with cyclic XPS measurements. The segregation of Si on one side of the samples and the changes of chemical composition, caused by the treatment in artificial sweat, were revealed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formation of artificial micro‐pits on Al alloy with the photon rupture method and the localized corrosion behavior of the formed pits
Authors: Yanada K. , Sakairi M. , Kikuchi T. , Oya Y. , Kojima Y.
Published: February 2010

An in situ artificial micro‐pit fabrication method with an area selective electrochemical measurement technique was applied to investigate the effect of the geometry of artificially formed pits on their localized corrosion behavior in anodized 1000 series aluminum. This technique enables the fabrication of artificial micro‐pits with different aspect ratios (pit depth/pit diameter) in solutions. The aspect ratios of the fabricated artificial micro‐pits in this experiment could be varied from 0.13 to 1.83 by controlling the irradiation time of the focused pulsed YAG laser beam. By applying a constant potential to the final laser‐beam‐irradiated spot in chloride environments, localized dissolution occurred only at the laser beam irradiated area, because the anodic oxide film acted as an insulator. The corrosion current and charge increase with increasing aspect ratio at any applied potential. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reflections on the development and contribution of critical systems thinking and practice
Authors: Jackson Michael C.
Published: February 2010

The emergence of critical systems thinking has allowed the transdiscipline of systems thinking to mature by setting out how the variety of systems methodologies available can be used together in a coherent manner to promote successful intervention in complex societal problem situations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A revolution in the field of systems thinking—a review of Checkland's system thinking
Authors: Zexian Yan , Xuhui Yan
Published: February 2010

This paper focuses on discussing Checkland's system thinking by two parts. The first part of the paper reviews three significant paradigm shifts of Checkland's system thinking in the view of the system movement. The first shift is that system thinking is developed from the general system thinking to applied systems thinking. The second shift is that the applied system thinking is transferred from Hard System Thinking (HST) to Soft System Thinking (SST). The third shift is that the social paradigm of applied system thinking is diverted from functionalism to the interpretive tradition for dealing with human affairs. According to these three shifts, this paper ascribes Checkland's system thinking to four core concepts: the human activity system, the purposeful holon, the learning system and two pairs of system concepts. It indicates that Checkland's system thinking is a significant milestone in the history of system movement. The second part of this paper provides some criticisms and suggestions for Checkland's system thinking. Firstly, it criticizes the philosophical attitude of extreme subjectivism. It implies that the functionalism approach which based on positivism and the interpretive paradigm which based on the phenomenology are complementary rather than mutually exclusive when we deal with the complexity of social reality. Secondly, it analyses the latest achievement of system movement after 1970s and suggests that SST should be extended to three pairs of system concepts by supplementing ‘self‐organization and adaptive evolution’ as the third pair of systems concepts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Soft systems methodology and ‘soft’ philosophy of science
Authors: Huaxia Zhang
Published: February 2010

Soft systems methodology is very important in systems research. It closely joints with and interacts with philosophy of science. The paper first analyses the philosophical basis of soft systems methodology (SSM) and the change of the philosophical paradigms underpinning the change from classical systems engineering to SSM. It then explores how SSM, as applied hermeneutics and constructivism, partially influences the development of philosophy of natural science and philosophy of social science. It finally arrives at the conclusion that the relationship between hard systems methodology (HSM) and SSM is inter‐exclusive and inter‐complementary in different aspects at the same abstract level rather than the relationship between the universal and the particular at different language levels. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Theorizing systems methodologies across cultures
Authors: Zhichang Zhu
Published: February 2010

People across cultures solve problems differently, so do they theorize systems methodologies. Mainstream systems research has thus far managed to ignore the cultural dimension, which generates frustrations in cross‐border conversation and application. Exploring how representative systems methodologies are theorized in different cultural settings, this paper aims to (1) stress that systems methodologies, like other management thoughts and practices, are cultural artefacts, (2) propose that a heightened sensitivity towards cultural differences is essential to systems research and practice in an era of deepened globalization. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Experimental policy research methodology: Exploring China's policy issues adversarially in laboratory
Authors: Ya Li
Published: February 2010

There are some challenges for policy making in current Chinese context. Interest groups can hardly find any institutionalized channel to express their concerns. The lack of organized public participation obstructs the structuring of a focused, thorough debate of interest‐based policy options. Policy makers lack both methods and ability to clarify contradictory evidence interwoven with interest conflicts in policy debates. Systems methodology could be a good remedy. This paper discusses these challenges, presents a seminar‐gaming based and meta‐synthesis supported experimental policy research methodology (EPRM), and labels it as a multi‐paradigm methodology. Finally, the paper introduces an exploratory application of EPRM with a case of ticket price hike of the Summer Palace. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Relativités et puissances spectrales chez Gaston Bachelard
Authors: Alunni Charles
Published: February 2010

La Valeur inductive de la relativité est sans conteste l'ouvrage le plus méconnu de toute l'oeuvre «philosophique» de Gaston Bachelard. Au silence presque total, à l'absence de lectures, ne répondent que des interprétations du« premier genre», appuyées sur un certain ouï-dire discursif, mais qui font l'autorité des pseudo-standards. Les positions bachelardiennes sont ici confrontées à La Déduction relativiste d'Émile Meyerson. Le poids de l'analyse portera essentiellement sur un dépl(o)iement du dispositif bachelardien d'induction et de construction. L'appareillage « inductif » doit être pensé sur le modèle électromagnétique, et la position «constructiviste» est toujours liée au travail de synthèse. Enfin, c'est une véritable métaphysique que semble dès lors devoir engendrer cette « pensée des sciences ».
L'intelligence mathématique, l'infini et les machines
Authors: Longo Giuseppe
Published: February 2010

On évoquera très informellement l'énoncé de quelques résultats récents d'incomplétude des formalismes. Les preuves de ces théorèmes, très importants pour toute l'épistémologie contemporaine des mathématiques, utilisent une variété d'outils conceptuels qui vont démonstrativement au-delà des axiomatisations finitaires. Ces outils ne requièrent aucune ontologie mathématique, mais constituent des constructions humaines particulièrement solides, des formes d'intelligence de l'infini et de l'espace enracinées dans différentes formes de connaissance. On parlera également, mais très brièvement, tant de l'intelligence mathématique du Bon Dieu que de l'intelligence mathématique des ordinateurs digitaux.
Corolles et crinolines. Le mélange des genres dans l'œuvre de Henri Lecoq (1802-1871)
Authors: Drouin Jean-Marc , Fox Robert
Published: February 2010

Tout au long de sa longue carrière, Henri Lecoq a eu une réputation contrastée dans la communauté scientifique. Son oeuvre est citée par Mendel et par Darwin; cependant certains de ses compatriotes, tels qu'Adolphe Brongniart lui ont dénié originalité et profondeur. Dans une certaine mesure, Lecoq a subi le destin de beaucoup de naturalistes provinciaux dont les efforts n'étaient pas vraiment reconnus par les maîtres de la discipline. Mais une explication plus spécifique se trouve peut-être dans l'habitude qu'avait Lecoq d'utiliser dans le même texte différents styles considérés comme incompatibles. Son travail sur l'hybridation végétale est à cet égard significatif: des bribes de vulgarisation hautes en couleurs y côtoient des conseils pratiques pour les horticulteurs, et les descriptions pittoresques s'y mêlent aux réflexions théoriques. Au terme de cette étude, Lecoq apparaît comme un homme de science qui combine un sens aigu de l'observation avec les caractéristiques d'un auteur romantique.
L'eugénisme et la protection de l'espèce humaine dans les lois bioéthiques Vers une nouvelle construction juridique de l'homme
Authors: Iacub Marcela
Published: February 2010

L'objet de cette étude est de montrer les enjeux que posent aux droits de l'homme les lois bioéthiques de juillet 1994 en ce qui concerne l'application des biotechnologies à la reproduction. À cette fin, sont analysés des dispositifs juridiques mis en place dans la loi pour sélectionner des embryons et pour transformer leurs caractères génétiques. Ces résultats sont ensuite comparés aux procédés eugéniques employés en Occident dans la première moitié du xxe siècle. Cela conduit à récuser la catégorie d'eugénique pour rendre compte du projet biopolitique des lois bioéthiques. En conclusion, il s'avère que les enjeux posés par cette législation aux droits de l'homme concernent le sort qu'elle a réservé à la notion d'homme et de sujet de droit.
Écriture, institution et société le travail littéraire dans la compagnie de jésus en france (1620-1720)
Authors: Van Damme Stéphane
Published: February 2010

Depuis quelques années, un renouveau historiographique s'est amorcé dans le champ des recherches sur l'ancienne Compagnie de Jésus autour de la production des savoirs. Dans cet article, on s'est attaché à saisir la place, les modalités et les enjeux d'une reconnaissance des pratiques littéraires jésuites en France entre 1620 et 1720, en essayant de montrer les tentatives de constitution d'un apostolat littéraire. Deux approches sont ici proposées: l'une strictement institutionnelle qui essaie de mesurer l'importance du travail intellectuel dans l'espace des charges à l'intérieur de l'Ordre; une autre davantage centrée sur la communication sociale de l'Ordre à travers la discussion de plusieurs dossiers de la polémique antijésuite.
Some observations on the observations the decline of the french jesuit scientific mission in china
Authors: Hsia Florence C.
Published: February 2010

Dans la Chine de la fin du XVIIe siècle, les missionnaires jésuites français ont importé de Paris à Pékin une méthode de recherche scientifique typiquement française et aussi typiquement académique. Ce début prometteur a subi un infléchissement négatif dans le développement ultérieur des ambitions de la mission dans le champ des activités scientifiques del' Ancien Régime. On analyse ici les différences substantielles qui caractérisent la mission scientifique française jésuite à la fin du XVIIe siècle et au siècle suivant. À travers une étude des éditions parisiennes de la production scientifique française jésuite en provenance de Chine, les Observations (1688, 1692, 1729), est expliqué le déclin de la mission scientifique française jésuite par la dissolution de ses liens avec l'Académie des sciences et par ses difficultés à construire et à maintenir une vision collective et une identité de corps dans l'analyse des phénomènes naturels.
S100 proteins regulate the interaction of Hsp90 with Cyclophilin 40 and FKBP52 through their tetratricopeptide repeats
Authors: Shimamoto Seiko , Kubota Yasuo , Tokumitsu Hiroshi , Kobayashi Ryoji
Published: February 2010

MINT‐7710295: Cyp40 (uniprotkb:P26882) physically interacts (MI:0914) with Hsp90 (uniprotkb:P07900) and S100A1 (uniprotkb:P35467) by anti tag coimmunoprecipitation (MI:0007)
Comparative genomic and phylogenetic analysis of vitellogenin and other large lipid transfer proteins in metazoans
Authors: Hayward Alexander , Takahashi Tokiharu , Bendena William G. , Tobe Stephen S. , Hui Jerome H.L.
Published: February 2010

Vitellogenins and other large lipid transfer proteins (LLTP) are well known to play significant roles in the development, metabolism and reproduction of animals. Comparative genomics and phylogenetic analyses of LLTPs using the most comprehensive dataset in metazoans to date are carried out. Our analyses demonstrate that LLTP genes arose significantly earlier, and are more widespread than previously proposed – being present in numerous additional bilaterian and non‐bilaterian lineages. A hypothesis is advanced that the most ancestral animal LLTP gene is Vtg, while loss of domains occurred at the bilaterians stem giving rise to apolipoprotein and microsomal triglyceride transfer proteins genes.
Pategrás cheese as a suitable carrier for six probiotic cultures
Authors: Bergamini Carina , Hynes Erica , Meinardi Carlos , Suárez Viviana , Quiberoni Andrea , Zalazar Carlos
Published: February 2010

The viability of five single-strain and one three-strain probiotic cultures was assessed during Pategrás cheese ripening. Probiotics were inoculated into cheese-milk after a pre-incubation step – intended to improve their survival – or directly as a lyophilised culture; control cheeses without probiotics were also obtained. pH of probiotic and control cheeses was similar, except in probiotic cheeses containing the strain Lb. acidophilus B or the mixed culture. In these cases, the probiotic cheeses were more acid than their respective control cheeses. All the probiotics tested maintained counts above 107 cfu/g during the shelf-life settled for the product. Strains of the Lb. casei group: Lb. paracasei, Lb. casei and Lb. rhamnosus reached and kept the highest cell concentration during cheese ripening, followed by Lb. acidophilus and bifidobacteria. The direct addition of the probiotic cultures was more efficient than their inoculation after a pre-incubation step, for all the probiotics assayed. We have provided evidence that support the use of Pategrás cheese as a performing food-based vehicle for probiotic bacteria.
John Stuart Mill and the Antagonistic Foundation of Liberal Politics
Authors: Turner Brandon P.
Published: February 2010

The agonistic critique of liberalism argues that liberal theory unwisely eliminates conflict from the design of liberal-democratic institutions and understandings of liberal citizenship. John Stuart Mill anticipates and resolves the agonistic critique by incorporating several theories of antagonism into his political theory. At the institutional level, Mill places two antagonisms at the center of his political theory: the tension between the popular and bureaucratic elements in representative government, on the one hand, and that between the democratic and aristocratic elements in modern society, on the other. These tensions guarantee the fluidity of the political sphere. At the experiential level, Mill's embrace of antagonism is even more complete, as he argues that even our objectively correct opinions must be ceaselessly contested to become properlyours. The theory that emerges is both agonistic and liberal; further, it calls into question current liberal attitudes concerning conflict and antagonism.
Nietzsche's Tragic Realism
Authors: Kirkland Paul E.
Published: February 2010

Whether in the service of aristocratic radicalism or radical democracy, Nietzsche's political thought has most often been associated with transformation rather than limitations. This paper argues that Nietzsche offers a realism that presents politics as driven by grand aspirations and bound by tragic limitations. Nietzsche draws on Thucydides as a source for a realism that is neither reductionist nor transformative, but rather looks to the grandest of human aspirations and the limits to those aspirations. The paper analyzes Nietzsche's treatment of the character of modern idealism, the source of conflicting values, the effects of liberalism, and the consequences of democratic modernity in order to flesh out his tragic realism. Rather than advocating the tyrannical decay he expects in the short term, Nietzsche points the way to a new politics shaped by grander goals and more moderate expectations than the idealistic leveling of modernity.
Northern Lights Over Tocqueville
Authors: Lerner Ralph
Published: February 2010

Alexis de Tocqueville has recently come under the scrutiny of two scholars who, for all their resemblances, have produced strikingly divergent accounts. Both are Scandinavian by birth, both prolific writers, and both aim to show other social scientists how they might benefit from paying closer attention to Tocqueville. Each of these books might also shine a bright light on the other, for their authors approach their self-appointed tasks with fundamentally different mindsets. Jon Elster starts from what we now know and digs into the pages of the past to find prefigurations and anticipations. His Tocqueville proves to be a shrewd practitioner of the kind of social science analysis that Elster has long been advocating. Richard Swedberg is less inclined to plumb Tocqueville's depths for laws, mechanisms, or even firm conclusions. Instead, he listens in hope of learning how Tocqueville thought about the phenomena he came to observe. His Tocqueville is a persistent searcher and self-questioner—traits Swedberg would have us admire and emulate in our own work.
Institutional Performance and Compliance with EU Law: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia
Authors: Falkner Gerda
Published: February 2010

This article compares the performance of state institutions and compliance with EU law in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. The public institutions highlighted are of crucial relevance when it comes to enforcing EU social standards and include the court and legal systems as well as labour inspectorates and equal treatment authorities. Expert and practitioner assessments point to major shortcomings in their institutional performance. The procedural compliance pattern to which these shortcomings give rise closely resembles that found by previous studies in some Western European countries, notably Ireland and Italy. Thus, the four countries examined here fall within a ‘world of dead letters’ as far as their compliance with EU law is concerned. In this ‘world’, EU directives tend to be transposed in a politicised mode (although so far, this happened rather timely and correctly) and there is frequent non-compliance at the later stages of monitoring and enforcement.
Political Power, Fiscal Institutions and Budgetary Outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: HALLERBERG MARK , YLÄOUTINEN SAMI
Published: February 2010

This paper considers the effects of fiscal governance in Central and East European countries 1998–2008. The first part makes predictions about which form of fiscal governance fits which form of government. Under multi-party coalition governments, fiscal contracts where governments make political commitments to multi-annual fiscal plans work well. In countries where two political blocks face off against one another, delegation based around a strong finance ministry should be most effective. The second part examines electoral and party systems, which affect the form of government in place. The third part documents norms, rules, and institutions in place. The final section considers the joint effects of fiscal governance on fiscal outcomes. On balance, the underlying political climate is crucial for determining what types of fiscal norms, institutions, and rules function best. The more countries diverge from their expected form of fiscal governance, the greater the increase in a country's debt burden.
Performing to Type? How State Institutions Matter in East Central Europe
Authors: ZUBEK RADOSLAW , GOETZ KLAUS H.
Published: February 2010

While there is much research on the developmental trajectories of post-Communist state institutions and the external and domestic influences that have shaped their paths, much less is known about institutional performance, that is, the manner in which institutions operate and the extent to which they produce predictable patterns of effects. Academic analysis has been reluctant to shift attention from institutionalisation to effects, not least because of the fluidity of many formal institutions. The present article documents that over the last decade state institutions in East Central Europe have increasingly stabilized, especially at the macro-institutional level. The analysis highlights insights from institutional theory – notably how degrees, time, preferences and resources matter – to encourage further research in the field.
Political Institutions and Policy Performance: A Comparative Analysis of Central and Eastern Europe
Authors: JAHN DETLEF , MÜLLER-ROMMEL FERDINAND
Published: February 2010

The impact of political institutions on policy performance has been a major research question in studies of advanced democracies. This study analyzes the effects of institutions and political actors on economic, social and environmental policies in ten Central Eastern European countries from 1995 to 2004. Using time-series-cross section (TSCS) regression analysis, this study shows that the impact of institutional veto players on policy output is more significant than international pressure. Moreover, the communist legacy has a much higher effect on policy output than expected.
The behaviour near the crest of an extreme Stokes wave
Authors: FRAENKEL L. E.
Published: February 2010

In the preceding paper by Fraenkel & Harwin, the existence theorem leaves a gap in the description of the extreme wave that is constructed there. The form of the wave in a neighbourhood of the crest is not described accurately enough. This weakness is repaired in the present paper.
On the local uniqueness and the profile of the extreme Stokes wave
Authors: FRAENKEL L. E. , HARWIN P. J.
Published: February 2010

Proceeding from a recent construction (Fraenkel 2007, Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 183, 187–214), this paper contains three contributions to the theory of the extreme gravity wave on water (or “wave of greatest height”) initiated by Stokes in 1880. The first is a solution, of the extreme form of the integral equation due to Nekrasov, that consists of an explicit function plus a (rigorously) estimated remainder; the remainder vanishes at the crest and at the trough of the wave and in between has a maximum value less than 0.0026 times the maximum value of the explicit part. The second contribution establishes local uniqueness for a variant of the Nekrasov equation; we prove that this equation has only one solution between upper and lower bounding functions that are moderately far apart. The third contribution consists of a table and graph of strict upper and lower bounds for the interface between air and water in the physical plane.
Equilibrium order parameters of nematic liquid crystals in the Landau-de Gennes theory
Authors: MAJUMDAR APALA
Published: February 2010

We study equilibrium liquid crystal configurations in three-dimensional geometries, within the continuum Landau-de Gennes theory. We obtain explicit bounds for the equilibrium scalar order parameters in terms of the temperature and material-dependent constants. We explicitly quantify the temperature regimes where the Landau-de Gennes predictions match and the temperature regimes where the Landau-de Gennes predictions do not match the probabilistic second-moment definition of theQ-tensor order parameter. The regime of agreement may be interpreted as the regime of validity of the Landau-de Gennes theory since the Landau-de Gennes theory predicts large values of the equilibrium scalar order parameters – larger than unity, in the low-temperature regime. We discuss a modified Landau-de Gennes energy functional which yields physically realistic values of the equilibrium scalar order parameters in all temperature regimes.
CAPITAL CONTROVERSY FROM BÖHM-BAWERK TO BLISS: BADLY POSED OR VERY DEEP QUESTIONS? OR WHAT “WE” CAN LEARN FROM CAPITAL CONTROVERSY EVEN IF YOU DON'T CARE WHO WON
Authors: COHEN AVI J.
Published: February 2010

The author's path from heterodoxy to economic history to the history of economics is used as a case study to explore tensions between “doing economics” and “doing the history of economics,” between the ideological vision (Schumpeter) motivating a research agenda and the even-handed execution of research. These same tensions appear in the history of capital controversy, which contains deep questions of history and path dependence versus equilibrium models, limitations of aggregate production functions, and the roles of vision and ideology in the reluctance to abandon insights of one-commodity models when results are not robust.
Factors affecting knowledge sharing in the radiotherapy department: the radiation physics team as a community of practice
Authors: Armoogum K. , Buchgeister M.
Published: February 2010

We put forward the concept of the radiotherapy physics team as a community of practice (COP). Radiotherapy physicists are required to continuously develop their scientific, computational and management competencies. Much of this knowledge is gained through peer-to-peer interaction in a structured environment, enabling the individual to increase their tacit knowledge. Such interaction among peers will allow issues to be framed within their context, information to be shared, decisions to be made and protocols to be developed. The structure that allows physicists to create, share and manage knowledge conforms to the accepted definition of a COP. By implementing the methods of literature review and peer group survey, we have investigated the applicability of the concept of a radiotherapy physics COP. The results of the survey have shown a generally positive medical physicist training outlook in the UK and Germany, but highlighted certain areas where improvement is needed. Our surveys have shown that while most trainees are adequately supported, there are two areas where improvements can easily be made. Spatial factors, such as departmental geography, may not always be conducive to knowledge sharing but can readily be altered in most cases. The paucity of departmental seminars and journal club meetings has been highlighted as a problem at some training centres.
Why England and not China and India? Water systems and the history of the Industrial Revolution
Authors: Tvedt Terje
Published: February 2010

Global history has centred for a long time on the comparative economic successes and failures of different parts of the world, most often European versus Asian regions. There is general agreement that the balance changed definitively in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when in continental Europe and England a transformation began that revolutionized the power relations of the world and brought an end to the dominance of agrarian civilization. However, there is still widespread debate over why Europe and England industrialized first, rather than Asia. This article will propose an explanation that will shed new light on Europe’s and England’s triumph, by showing that the ‘water system’ factor is a crucial piece missing in existing historical accounts of the Industrial Revolution. It is argued that this great transformation was not only about modernizing elites, investment capital, technological innovation, and unequal trade relations, but that a balanced, inclusive explanation also needs to consider similarities and differences in how countries and regions related to their particular water systems, and in how they could exploit them for transport and the production of power for machines.
Law, land, development and narrative: a case-study from the South Pacific
Authors: Farran Sue
Published: February 2010

This article explores a primary source of legal studies, case-law, as a form of narrative in the context of indigenous land rights, and considers how this narrative negotiates pre-colonial land claims in a post-colonial context. Its case-study is the South Pacific island country of Vanuatu, a small-island, least-developed, nation-state, where laws introduced under Anglo–French colonial administration are still retained and sit uneasily alongside the customary forms of land tenure which govern ninety percent of all land in the islands. The article looks at the traditional and changing role of narrative presented as evidence by claimants and their witnesses against a context of rapid social and economic change, and asks whether the metamorphosis of narrative signals the future survival or imminent demise of customary indigenous land rights and what that might mean for these island people faced by the pressures of development.
The meta-ethics of law: Book One of Aristotle’sNicomachean Ethics
Authors: Heinze Eric
Published: February 2010

Traditional scholarship has approached Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics mostly as a system of positive ethics. Less attention has been paid to the work’s meta-ethics – the claims Aristotle makes about what any system of positive ethics must say or do in order to count as an ethical theory. In this article, Book One of the Nicomachean Ethics is read not simply as an introduction to Aristotle’s system of positive ethics, but as a statement of distinct meta-ethical principles, which can be evaluated independently of any view that might be taken of his positive ethics. Insofar as Aristotle inscribes his legal theory within his ethical theory, those principles stand as a meta-ethics of law. Under Aristotle’s legal meta-ethics, law necessarily presupposes: (1) a concept of the ‘good’; (2) purpose; (3) dialectics; (4) objectivist ethics; (5) a best constitution; (6) a positive ethics; and (7) a concept of the ‘human’.
‘Receiving’ the Swiss Civil Code: translating authority in early republican Turkey
Authors: Özsu Umut
Published: February 2010

The promulgation of the Turkish Civil Code of 1926, a nuanced translation of the Swiss Civil Code of 1907, has long been celebrated as an exceptionally thoroughgoing instance of ‘legal transplantation’. Despite their pervasiveness, such assessments cloud appreciation of the multifarious power dynamics at work in the Code’s preparation and implementation, especially the mechanisms through which it was made to serve Kemalist ideology’s twofold agenda of ‘modernising’ socio-legal relations while retaining – and, in certain instances, augmenting – those ‘traditional’ practices which early republican legislators and administrators found to be of especial value for their ‘nation-building’ project. The chief objective of this study is to reveal the inadequacies of the Turkish Civil Code’s standard characterisation as a ‘success story’ in comparative legal scholarship. Specifically, I demonstrate that the 1926 Code is best understood as the product of a deeply gendered tension between Kemalism’s dedication to a state-driven programme of national ‘modernisation’ and elements of the ‘tradition’ this programme was crafted for the sake of mobilising, radicalising and transforming.
A connection between the South Equatorial Current north of Madagascar and Mozambique Channel Eddies
Authors: Backeberg B. C. , Reason C. J. C.
Published: February 2010

Combining high resolution model output and geostrophic currents derived from satellite altimeter data, it is shown that the formation of mesoscale eddies in the Mozambique Channel (MZC) is connected to variability in the transport of the South Equatorial Current (SEC). Lagged cross‐correlations of the currents north of Madagascar and vorticities in the MZC, combined with a composite analysis of the model output, show that eddies form in the narrows of the channel approximately 20 weeks following a westward transport pulse in the SEC. A relationship between MZC eddies and the large‐scale variability of the South Indian Ocean may have downstream impacts on the Agulhas leakage, the Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation, and thus climate.
Ion temperature and density relationships measured by CINDI from the C/NOFS spacecraft during solar minimum
Authors: Coley W. R. , Heelis R. A. , Hairston M. R. , Earle G. D. , Perdue M. D. , Power R. A. , Harmon L. L. , Holt B. J. , Lippincott C. R.
Published: February 2010

The Ion Velocity Meter (IVM), a part of the CINDI instrument package on board the C/NOFS spacecraft, makes in situ measurements of plasma temperature, composition, density, and velocity. The 16 April 2008 launch of C/NOFS coincided with the deepest solar minimum since the space age began with F10.7 cm radio fluxes in the 60–70 solar flux unit range. Because of the 13° inclination of the orbit the location of the perigee advances through all local times in about 66 days. This allows seasonal sampling of ionospheric temperature, density, and composition as a function of local time, magnetic latitude, and altitude. Measurements taken near the spacecraft's 402 km perigee altitude indicate an unusually cold low‐density ionosphere with nighttime ion temperatures at the magnetic equator reaching as low as 600 K with an [O+]/[H+] ratio of 4 and maximum daytime temperatures of 1300 K. The O+ to H+ transition height is very low and at the highest altitudes measured H+ comprises over 75% of the ionospheric plasma at all local times. We compare average values of the measured parameters with those from the International Reference Ionosphere and with incoherent scatter radar measurements from Jicamarca.
A poke into the diversity and associations within human anterior nare microbial communities
Authors: Wos-Oxley Melissa L , Plumeier Iris , von Eiff Christof , Taudien Stefan , Platzer Matthias , Vilchez-Vargas Ramiro , Becker Karsten , Pieper Dietmar H
Published: February 2010

The anterior nares are the major reservoir for Staphylococcus aureus in humans, where nasal carriage has a crucial function as a source for invasive infections. Despite various investigations on aerobic community members based on traditional cultivation methods, little is known on the overall microbial composition and complex in situ interactions, but such knowledge is highly warranted for effective S. aureus control strategies. As assessed using advanced culture-independent approaches, this study provides a comprehensive survey of the anterior nare bacterial community of 40 individuals. Previously undiscovered co-colonization patterns and natural variations in species composition were revealed and provide insights for future intervention strategies for the control of health-care- and community-associated S. aureus infections.
Amorphous Ca-phosphate precursors for Ca-carbonate biominerals mediated by Chromohalobacter marismortui
Authors: Rivadeneyra María Angustias , Martín-Algarra Agustín , Sánchez-Román Mónica , Sánchez-Navas Antonio , Martín-Ramos José Daniel
Published: February 2010

Although diverse microbial metabolisms are known to induce the precipitation of carbonate minerals, the mechanisms involved in the bacterial mediation, in particular nucleation, are still debated. The study of aragonite precipitation by Chromohalobacter marismortui during the early stages (3–7 days) of culture experiments, and its relation to bacterial metabolic pathways, shows that: (1) carbonate nucleation occurs after precipitation of an amorphous Ca phosphate precursor phase on bacterial cell surfaces and/or embedded in bacterial films; (2) precipitation of this precursor phase results from local high concentrations of PO43− and Ca2+ binding around bacterial cell envelopes; and (3) crystalline nanoparticles, a few hundred nanometres in diametre, form after dissolution of precursor phosphate globules, and later aggregate, allowing the accretion of aragonite bioliths.
Spatial structure and persistence of methanogen populations in humic bog lakes
Authors: Milferstedt Kim , Youngblut Nicholas D , Whitaker Rachel J
Published: February 2010

Patterns of diversity within methanogenic archaea in humic bog lakes are quantified over time and space to determine the roles that spatial isolation and seasonal mixing play in structuring microbial populations. The protein encoding gene mcrA is used as a molecular marker for the detection of fine-scale differences between methanogens in four dimictic bog lakes in which the water column is mixed twice a year and one meromictic lake that is permanently stratified. Although similar sequences are observed in each bog lake, each lake has its own characteristic set of persisting sequence types, indicating that methanogen populations are delimited either by low migration between the anaerobic hypolimnia or by lake-specific selection. The meromictic lake is differentiated from all other lakes and contains sequences with a higher degree of microdiversity than the dimictic lakes. By relating the structure of diversity to the depth of each bog lake, we propose the hypothesis that the deeper parts of the water column favor microdiversification of methanogens, whereas the periodically disturbed water column of shallower dimictic lakes promote genetically more diverse methanogen communities.