bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Audacious Reforms: Institutional Invention and Democracy in Latin America By Merilee S. Grindle. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 2000. 269p. $45.00 cloth, $17.95 paper.
Authors: Crisp Brian F.
Published: May 2008

Merillee Grindle addresses three questions: Why would rational politicians choose to give up power? What accounts for the selection of some institutions rather than others? What are the political consequences of the creation of new institutions? She studies cases of decentralizing political reforms in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina. Her case studies are loosely guided by eleven hypotheses deduced from three schools of thought. The schools to which she refers in an introductory and concluding chapter are rational choice, comparative institutionalism, and new institutionalism (the latter has two subvariants: transaction costs and institutional design). The theoretical perspectives are apparently not equally useful across questions, as new institutionalism is not used to deduce hypotheses on why politicians would choose to reform, and rational choice is not applied to the reasons some some institutional changes are chosen over others.
The Multiculturalism of Fear. By Jacob T. Levy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 268p. $29.95.
Authors: Spinner-Halev Jeff
Published: May 2008

Jacob Levy argues that the multiculturalism of fear is meant to supplement, not displace, the multiculturalism of rights. Running against many recent celebrations of ethnic identity, Levy is wary of the effects that ethnic (which includes national) identity can have. Too often ethnic politics are cruel and conflictual. Levy is skeptical that a world where everyone's ethnic identity is politically recognized can be peaceful and harmonious. Yet neither can we simply wish ethnic identity away. While cultural identities are socially constructed, they are very much part of our world and so they must be dealt with. “The multiculturalism of fear,” Levy writes, “does see ethnic communities as morally important and distinctive, not because of what they provide for individuals, but because of what they risk doing to common social and political life” (p. 33).
In Defense of a Political Court. By Terri Jennings Peretti. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. 371p. $27.50.
Authors: Benesh Sara C.
Published: May 2008

Peretti's book purports to refute conventional constitutional scholarship about the dangers of a political Supreme Court, lauding such a political nature as supportive of the peculiar brand of democracy practiced in America. It seems, in large part, that she is quite successful in doing so, although I am certain that it is far easier to convince me of such a notion than it would be to convince the legal scholars whom Peretti so vehemently attacks.
Multicultural Jurisdictions: Cultural Differences and Women's Rights. By Ayelet Shachar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 207p. $55.00 cloth, $20.00 paper.
Authors: Parekh Bhikhu
Published: May 2008

Liberal multiculturalism contains a tension. It values culture as the source of individual identity and development, and seeks to accommodate cultural differences by granting the relevant groups special rights, exemptions, and, in some cases, varying degrees of autonomy. However, it also values basic individual rights that some of these groups might deny or severely curtail, especially in relation to women. Liberal multiculturalism is therefore faced with a conflict between what it takes to be two important goods, or what Ayelet Shachar calls the paradox of multicultural vulnerability. If it privileges cultural differences, it compromises and even jettisons its liberalism; if it privileges individual rights, it ceases to be multicultural. Is there a way of conceptualizing and organizing society such that both these goods can be realized? Shachar thinks there is, and devotes her thoughtful and well-argued book to outlining and defending it.
Constructing Sustainable Development By Neil E. Harrison. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. 175p. $54.50 cloth, $17.95 paper.
Authors: Payne Rodger A.
Published: May 2008

Nearly 15 years has elapsed since the World Commission on Environment and Development—the so-called Brundtland Commission—popularized the idea of “sustainable development.” The phrase turned out to be unusually slippery, providing both political cover and ammunition for almost anyone engaged in debates about the global environment and/or development. Indeed, scholars and policymakers of all theoretical or ideological stripes found creative ways to employ the phrase “sustainable development” to support a wide array of arguments in these discussions.
Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World. By John von Heyking. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. 278p. $37.50.
Authors: Scott Joanna Vecchiarelli
Published: May 2008

John von Heyking's inquiry into Augustine's politics of “longing” is a provocative contribution to the growing genre of “Augustine redux” literature written to resonate with our fin de siècle sensibilities. These valuable pearl-diving expeditions bridge scholarship and literate conversation, careful textual exegesis and political advocacy. Not surprisingly, they also illustrate the challenges of writing for multiple audiences with mixed messages. This work enters an already crowded field of recent crossover texts with Peter Brown's Augustine of Hippo (2000), Gary Wills's Saint Augustine (1999), Hannah Arendt's Love and Saint Augustine (1996), and Jean Elshtain's Augustine and theLimits of Politics (1995). A further trip back in time to the Cold War and the politics of “realism” turns up Herbert Deane's The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine (1963), another retrieval project written to persuade as well as inform. And this is just a very short list.
Sustaining Affirmation: The Strengths of Weak Ontology in Political Theory. By Stephen K. White. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 158p. $49.50 cloth, $15.95 paper.
Authors: Schoolman Morton
Published: May 2008

A play on the legendary statement attributed to Stalin—“When I hear the word ontology I reach for my gun”—captures the anticipated reaction of some to Stephen White's provocative work. It would be better if these readers were slow to draw. For White demonstrates that, wittingly and unwittingly, poststructuralist, postmodernist, and other theoretical types who eschew foundationalism nevertheless commit themselves to ontologically “sustained” (prefigured) ethical and political “affirmations” (judgments, values, insights, theories). He documents their “turn” to a new form of ontological justification. “Weak ontology” produces strong political theory, an important discovery for all theorists who are also post-Stalinists.
Total Freedom: Toward A Dialectical Libertarianism. By Chris Matthew Sciabarra. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. 390p. $65.00 cloth, $24.50 paper.
Authors: Stillman Peter G.
Published: May 2008

Sciabarra's book attempts to conjoin dialectics with libertarianism to produce total freedom. He is led to this seemingly odd conjunction by a concatenation of concerns. He sees dialectics as the logic or method most attentive to contexts and libertarianism as a radical political ideology of freedom. He sees the opportunity to free dialectics of its totalitarian (including Marxist) overtones and libertarianism of its apparent irrelevance, which is the more galling now that once-popular Marxism has failed as radical social theory. He wishes to combine his own academic appreciation of the dialectical elements of Marx's method with his long-standing love of libertarian ideas. Primarily, he hopes to expand libertarian thought from a narrow concentration on economic self-interest and the state as repressive to a broader concern with the cultural, social, and historical preconditions of freedom, and he sees dialectics, with its emphasis on contexts, dynamism, and relations, as a method that can be appropriated by libertarians to realize these broader concerns and to propound a comprehensive and radical social theory. No longer need libertarian thought be seen as atomic individualism struggling for freedom against state violence; building on dialectical thinking shorn of its Marxist content, libertarians can embrace whole individuals living in rich social environments that can carry out, without violence, the social powers that the state has illegitimately appropriated.
The Trouble with Government. By Derek Bok. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. 493p. $35.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Authors: Hibbing John R.
Published: May 2008

When first presented with this book, I confess to harboring two strong reservations—both, as it turns out, badly misplaced. First, perhaps because the author is a widely known American who was once the president of Harvard and, therefore, spent considerable time among movers and shakers, I was prepared for a broad, rambling, and discursive book peppered with anecdotes, personal musings, name-dropping, and disconnected prescriptions for change. Second, no doubt because I have never been fond of the overarching evaluation exercises that so enthrall foundations, when I read in the introduction that this volume on government had been commissioned by three major foundations, I feared I was about to read another governmental report card accompanied by the obligatory and often vacuous justification for the grade assigned in each area.
Championing Child Care. By Sally S. Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. 397p. $52.50 cloth, $26.00 paper.
Authors: Gelb Joyce
Published: May 2008

Sally Cohen has written an important and comprehensive analysis of child-care policy in the United States, challenging the conventional wisdom that no such federal policy exists and that child care is not a major government priority, in contrast to other democratic welfare states (e.g., the Scandinavian countries and France).
Democracy and Trust. Edited by Mark E. Warren. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 370p. $59.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Authors: Chanley Virginia A.
Published: May 2008

The essays in this edited volume are the product of a seminar and conference at Georgetown University. In different ways, each contribution addresses the complex nature of the relationship between democracy and trust and helps to define the issues and questions involved in this relationship. The contributors address the topic from a variety of perspectives, some primarily theoretical and others combining theory and statistical analysis. As editor and contributing author, Mark Warren provides an effective framework for the diverse set of contributions that comprise the volume and develops a typology of theories of trust and democracy.
Unemployment and Government: Genealogies of the Social By William Walters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 240p. $64.95 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Authors: McBride Stephen
Published: May 2008

William Walters probes understandings of the concepts of unemployment that developed and, to an extent, succeeded one another over a hundred years in British history. The British case has its own unique trajectory but parallels developments elsewhere, so the book's interest is not confined to specialists in British politics or social history. Walters applies a Foucauld-inspired governmentality perspective to unemployment in order both to overcome the routine and familiar understandings that have become attached to the concept and, more broadly, to contribute to what he terms a genealogy of the social. The latter refers to a particular sphere of governance as exemplified by the practices, techniques, and institutions devised to govern processes and problem populations, in this case the unemployed. Genealogical approaches are suspicious of generalization and systematization and hold that “we can learn from the particular and the contextual” (p. 8). Thus, Walters argues, the government of unemployment will be instructive for understanding social governance generally.
The Dynamics of Rules: Change in Written Organizational Codes. By James G. March, Martin Schulz, and Xueguang Zhou. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. 228p. $55.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Authors: Ostrom Elinor
Published: May 2008

James March, Martin Schulz, and Xueguang Zhou address the fascinating question of how rules evolve in a complex organization with a unique data set. Stanford University was founded in the decades before the turn of the last century. The authors searched and coded a vast Stanford archive of materials on rules related to student contact, the student honor system, faculty appointment and tenure procedures, faculty governance, and finally rules related to accounting, purchasing, and other administrative functions of a university. They are able to examine questions concerning the external and internal stimulants to rule creation, change, and suspension. No other book equals this one in regard to the breadth of the questions asked and the mode of analysis.
Uncertain Hazards: Environmental Activists and Scientific Proof. By Sylvia Noble Tesh. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. 192p. $35.00 cloth, $16.95 paper.
Authors: Harris Richard A.
Published: May 2008

Uncertain Hazards is an ambitious book, in two respects. First, it tackles an important issue for political science as well as sociology and history, namely, the impact that social movements have on reshaping the societies in which they mobilize. Second, in adopting a case study approach to this issue, the author explores the development of the modern environmental movement and its purported reframing or hegemonic reversal of environmental science and risk assessment in America. In effect, this volume is two separate but related studies. Indeed, Sylvia Noble Tesh suggests as much when she notes in her acknowledgments that her “theme shifted as the book took shape” (p. xi).
From Neighborhood to Nation: The Democratic Foundations of Civil Society. By Kenneth Thomson. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2001. 195p. $50.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.
Authors: Flanagan Richard M.
Published: May 2008

It was New York Governor Al Smith's famous dictum that the ills of democracy could be solved with more democracy. Many agree with him some 75 years later. The shelves of political science overflow with books lamenting the decline of intermediary institutions that once plugged the hearts and minds of citizens into government and civic life. Democracy scaled down to the town and neighborhood allows people to address problems that are experienced in the routine of everyday life. Stripped of abstraction, politics loses its mystery and the sense of alienation that accompanies it. But Americans no longer gather at the political club, the town meeting, the church, and the union hall. Citizens are plugged into television, the family, or perhaps the job, interested in private concerns. In response, pundits, professors, and politicians call for a revival of local political and civic life. President George W. Bush's “Faith-Based Initiative,” which would use federal funds to support church social service programs, can be viewed as a response to the national mood of a people adrift. While many have forwarded tiresome critiques of what ails us, Kenneth Thomson does the nitty-gritty empirical work that should mark social science's unique contribution to this debate.
The Rise of “The Rest”: Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies. By Alice H. Amsden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 416p. $35.00.
Authors: Doner Richard F.
Published: May 2008

Alice Amsden is one of the founders of the “statist” or “revisionist” school of East Asian economic development. Her earlier book, Asia's Next Giant (1989), refuted claims that growth in South Korea and other Newly Industrialized Countries was simply a function of high investment rates and correct prices, based in turn on the small-government fundamentals of stable, private property rights, macroeconomic stability, and trade liberalization. Amsden, along with others, emphasized the benefits of sector-specific state interventions distinctly at odds with neoclassical prescriptions.
Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide. By Peter Andreas. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. 176p. $39.95 cloth, $15.95 paper.
Authors: Mora Frank O.
Published: May 2008

The difficulty of policing a complex border like that between the United States and Mexico, specifically stemming the flow of illegal drugs and immigration, demonstrates, according to Peter Andreas's insightful and pathbreaking analysis, the challenges associated with globalization, diminished sovereignty, and economic integration between developed and developing economies. In fact, as he notes, intensifying law enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border has had several unintended consequences, including enhancing the incentive and thus the flow of illegal drugs and migrants, which, in turn, create obstacles to the expansion of legal flows. Throughout the book an implicit question emerges: How do you balance the positive gains from globalization with the negative or dark side effects of free trade, that is, drug trafficking and illegal immigration? Taking the dilemma further, how can states in a global, borderless economy promote two contradictory policies simultaneously: strong prohibitionist, law-enforcement policies to enforce state sovereignty and economic neoliberalism and integration?
Splendid Demonstrations: The Political Funerals of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Wilhelm Liebknecht
Authors: Hughes Michael L.
Published: May 2008

Great public figures can bestride the public stage in life—but be buried privately. Kaiser Wilhelm II despised his father, Friedrich III. Having established his legitimacy through his central role in his grandfather, Wilhelm I's, funeral, he refused Friedrich a public funeral and staged a private funeral so perfunctory the widow refused to attend. Otto von Bismarck, to spite Wilhelm II for having fired him, directed that his funeral should be private and at his country estate, denying Wilhelm the grand public display in Berlin he had planned.
Thierry Bulot (ed.), Langue urbaine et identité
(Langue et urbanisation linguistique à Rouen, Venise,
Berlin, Athènes et Mons). Paris & Montreal:
L'Harmattan, 1999. Pp. 235. Pb Euros 19.85.
Authors: Forlot Gilles
Published: May 2008

This book proposes to examine how the development
of the city is intrinsically connected with language interactions
and social norms. How can one account for social behaviors in
urban settings without explaining why such behaviors are
specifically urban? The studies collected here aim at expounding
how five cities – Rouen (France), Venice (Italy), Berlin
(Germany), Athens (Greece), and Mons (Belgium) – are places
of tension, conflict, and community sharing through the use
of dialectal or sociolectal language varieties.
A thematic guide to optimality theory. John J. McCarthy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, Pp. 324.
Authors: Curtin Suzanne
Published: May 2008

The timing of this book is perfect. Optimality theory (OT; Prince & Smolensky, 1993) has been a popular framework for phonological exploration since its conception. This is not to say that it has been embraced by everyone working in the field. Rather, it has generated a great deal of intellectual debate and research, creating a sense of revitalization in the field of phonology.
HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION AS A COMPLEMENT TO COMMUNITY HEALTH INDICATORS
Authors: Banta H. David , Hatziandreu Evridiki , Dauben Hans-Peter , Førde Olav Helge , Loud Marlène Laeubli , Isacsson Sven-Olof , Paccaud Fred , Sanchez Emilia , Steiger Therese Stutz
Published: May 2008

The aim of Working Group 1 has been to assess health promotion and disease prevention activities in terms of benefits, risks, and economic, social, and ethical implications as a complement to community health indicators.
DOING THE RIGHT THING AND DOING IT RIGHT: TOWARD A FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING THE POLICY RELEVANCE OF HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
Authors: Bensing Jozien M. , Caris-Verhallen Wilma M. C. M. , Dekker Joost , Delnoij Diana M. J. , Groenewegen Peter P.
Published: May 2008

Objectives: Health services research is a typical instance of applied research, meaning that its research findings should contribute to a more evidence-based health policy. A basic assumption for the usefulness of policy research is that it is of good scientific quality, but evaluation of health services research would be incomplete without an assessment of its societal relevance. However, there is no generally accepted framework in which criteria to assess societal relevance are defined.

Methods: In this study, we made an effort to specify criteria and indicators for policy relevance.

Results and Conclusions: In general, we concluded that it is important to define from the start of a research project, what kind of answers are being sought to the questions at hand, who the intended users of these answers will be, and how they can be reached. Furthermore, a productive dialogue between researchers and policy makers is indispensable for remaining in tune with policy thinking. In addition, we specified domains and a list of potential criteria for assessing policy relevance. For the purpose of quality assurance, these criteria have to be integrated into a quality improvement cycle. This means that the societal output of health services research should be related to the aims and missions at the level of projects, programs, and institutes. Furthermore, it is important that consensus is reached about (the weighting of) relevant indicators and that routines are developed for collecting information on these indicators.
Health-care technology assessment: a clinical perspective
Authors: Chantler Cyril
Published: May 2008

Health technology assessment needs to relate to contemporary questions which concern public health-care systems: how to keep people healthy, how to focus on the needs of those with chronic disabilities and integrate care between the hospital and the community, how to encourage and audit effective teamwork, and how to establish a consensus about what is effective and affordable. Clinicians have an ethical responsibility to practice efficiently and economically, for profligacy in the care of one patient may mean that another is treated inadequately. For similar reasons, clinicians need to play a full role in the management of services. Advice from health technology assessment is vital and needs to be accurate, relevant, timely, clear, and accessible. As well as being concerned about what works, we need also to eliminate from practice what does not. Regular audit and appraisal of practice against the evidence base should be useful in this respect. Alternative approaches to management, such as the provision of care as opposed to aggressive treatments, need to be evaluated, and health technology assessment needs to consider how services are delivered, not just specific treatments.
EMEA and the evaluation of health-related quality of life data in the drug regulatory process
Authors: Papanicolaou Sotiria , Sykes David , Mossialos Elias
Published: May 2008

Objectives:This study reviewed the European guidelines of the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) on how health-related quality of life (HRQOL) research should be conducted in clinical trials. Published product-level information was also reviewed to investigate the actual role of HRQOL data in the European regulatory process.

Methods:All disease-specific notes for guidance and concept papers on clinical investigations, development and evaluation of human medicinal products, as well as the European Public Assessment Reports (EPAR) of all approved drugs published on the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) Web site were evaluated for their HRQOL recommendations.

Results:Only twenty of the fifty CPMP guidance notes for clinical investigation of pharmaceutical products in specific disease areas included a reference to HRQOL. Most of the recommendations were generic and vague, and the terminology used was inconsistent across documents. The EPAR provided nonspecific information about HRQOL and contradictory conclusions on the effect of a drug on HRQOL sometimes occurred in different documents. The criteria used by the CPMP to assess the HRQOL data could not be identified due to an ad hoc approach to the inclusion of data in the EPAR.

Conclusions:A more systematic approach is needed on the way health outcomes data are considered, reviewed, and interpreted by the regulatory authorities. For this to be achieved, CPMP should develop general guidelines on the importance of HRQOL and how research should be conducted if data are to be included in the registration process.
Quitline in smoking cessation: A cost-effectiveness analysis
Authors: Tomson Tanja , Helgason Ásgeir R. , Gilljam Hans
Published: May 2008

Objectives: The cost-effectiveness of the Swedish quitline, a nation-wide, free of charge service, is assessed.

Methods: The study was based on data of a sample of 1,131 callers enrolled from February 1, 2000 to November 30, 2001. Outcome was measured as cost per quitter and cost per year of life saved. Cost per quitter was based on a calculation of the total cost of the quitline divided by the number of individuals who reported abstinence after 12 months. The cost per life year saved (LYS) was calculated by the use of data from the literature on average life expectancy for smokers versus quitters, the total cost of the quitline, and the cost of pharmacological treatment.

Results: The number of smokers who used the quitline and reported abstinence after 1 year was 354 (31 percent). The accumulated number of life years saved in the study population was 2,400. The cost per quitter was 1,052–1,360 USD, and the cost per life year saved was 311–401 USD. A sensitivity analysis showed that, for outcomes down to an abstinence rate of 20 percent, the cost per LYS rose modestly, from 311 to 482 USD. Discounting the cost per LYS showed the cost to be 135 USD for 3 percent and 283 USD for 5 percent.

Conclusions: The Swedish quitline is a cost-effective public health intervention compared with other smoking cessation interventions.
Policy relevance of Bayesian statistics overestimated?
Authors: van der Wilt Gert Jan , Rovers Maroeska , Straatman Huub , van der Bij Sjoukje , van den Broek Paul , Zielhuis Gerhard
Published: May 2008

Objectives: The observed posterior probability distributions regarding the benefits of surgery for otitis media with effusion (OME) with expected probability distributions, using Bayes' theorem are compared.

Methods: Postal questionnaires were used to assess prior and posterior probability distributions among ear-nose-throat (ENT) surgeons in the Netherlands.

Results: In their prior probability estimates, ENT surgeons were quite optimistic with respect to the effectiveness of tube insertion in the treatment of OME. The trial showed no meaningful benefit of tubes on hearing and language development. Posterior probabilities calculated on the basis of prior probability estimates and trial results differed widely from those, elicited empirically 1 year after completion of the trial and dissemination of the results.

Conclusions: ENT surgeons did not adjust their opinion about the benefits of surgical treatment of glue ears to the extent that they should have done according to Bayes' theorem. Users of the results of Bayesian analyses, notably policy-makers, should realize that Bayes' theorem is prescriptive and not necessarily descriptively correct. Health policy decisions should not be based on the untested assumption that health-care professionals use new evidence to adjust their subjective beliefs in a Bayesian manner.
Estimating the benefit and cost of radiotherapy for lung cancer
Authors: Barbera Lisa , Walker Hugh , Foroudi Farshad , Tyldesley Scott , Mackillop William
Published: May 2008

Purpose: To estimate the benefit and cost of using radiotherapy (RT) in the initial management of lung cancer in the general population.

Methods: We identified indications for RT in the initial management of small cell and non–small cell lung cancer through a review of the literature. The proportion of patients with each specific indication for treatment was determined using epidemiological observations from cancer registry data and from the literature. We estimated the benefit gained from RT use for each indication in the model using values published in the literature. We estimated the cost of RT for each indication using published Canadian data. The total benefit and cost was calculated for all indications combined. Results are reported in 2001 Canadian dollars.

Results: The mean benefit was 7 months of survival for each lung cancer patient treated with curative intent and 3 months of symptom control for each patient treated with palliative intent. The average cost was $9,881 per life year gained and $13,938 per year of symptom control gained. Sensitivity analysis revealed values between $7,905 and $19,762 per year of survival gain and between $10,368 and $27,875 per year of symptom control gained.

Conclusions: Using RT in the initial management of lung cancer can provide considerable gains in survival and symptom control. The cost of RT for the initial management of lung cancer is inexpensive compared with a common cut off of $50,000 per life year gained.
LEGAL MORALISM AND THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
Authors: Galvin Richard
Published: May 2008

My aim in this paper is to examine the role of legal moralism in the reasoning that underlies some high profile cases decided by the Supreme Court. In so doing, I provide a sketch of a version of legal moralism that arguably addresses the most serious concerns of some of its critics. My thesis is roughly that the decisions in Bowers and Barnes are ultimately indefensible and the decisions in Loving and Lawrence are indeed correct. But despite appearances to the contrary, legal moralism is not the culprit in Bowers and Barnes, because what might appear to be instances of legal-moralist arguments in the prevailing opinions in those cases are either variants of other types of argument or applications of untenable versions of legal moralism. Further, the arguments employed by the Court in the prevailing opinions in Loving and Lawrence are at least consistent with the most plausible version of legal moralism and would have entailed that Bowers and Barnes be decided differently. Indeed, Justice Stevens's dissent in Bowers contains important parallels with the most plausible versions of legal moralism, and Justice Scalia's dissent in Lawrence relies on an implausible version of legal moralism.
Use of folic acid supplements, particularly by low-income and young women: a series of systematic reviews to inform public health policy in the UK
Authors: Stockley Lynn , Lund Vivien
Published: May 2008

Objective

To provide a basis for making recommendations on the potential to improve use of folic acid supplements in the UK, particularly among low-income and young women.

Design

Systematic reviews of relevant research from 1989 to May 2006 in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Results

Twenty-six systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses were identified from the wider public health literature, and eighteen studies on the effectiveness of preconception interventions were included. Ninety studies were identified which were directly relevant to folic acid supplement intake. There were factors that are particularly associated with lower rates of use of folic acid supplements. One of the most important of these is the link with unintended pregnancy, followed by age, socio-economic and ethnic group. Integrated campaigns can increase the use of folic acid supplements to some extent. Research trials indicated that: (i) printed resources and the mass media used in isolation are not effective in the longer term; and (ii) health-care-based initiatives can be effective and are more likely to be successful if they include making supplements easily available.

Conclusions

Campaigns and interventions have the potential to exacerbate socio-economic inequalities in folic acid use. One way of addressing this is to include elements that specifically target vulnerable women. To achieve and maintain an effect, they need to be based on good health promotion practice and to be sustained over a long period. However, even high-quality campaigns that increase use result in under half of women in the target group taking supplements.
High‐Throughput Process Development: Determination of Dynamic Binding Capacity Using Microtiter Filter Plates Filled with Chromatography Resin
Authors: Bergander Tryggve , Nilsson‐Välimaa Kristina , Öberg Katarina , Lacki Karol M.
Published: May 2008

Steadily increasing demand for more efficient and more affordable biomolecule‐based therapies put a significant burden on biopharma companies to reduce the cost of R&D activities associated with introduction of a new drug to the market. Reducing the time required to develop a purification process would be one option to address the high cost issue. The reduction in time can be accomplished if more efficient methods/tools are available for process development work, including high‐throughput techniques. This paper addresses the transitions from traditional column‐based process development to a modern high‐throughput approach utilizing microtiter filter plates filled with a well‐defined volume of chromatography resin. The approach is based on implementing the well‐known batch uptake principle into microtiter plate geometry. Two variants of the proposed approach, allowing for either qualitative or quantitative estimation of dynamic binding capacity as a function of residence time, are described. Examples of quantitative estimation of dynamic binding capacities of human polyclonal IgG on MabSelect SuRe and of qualitative estimation of dynamic binding capacity of amyloglucosidase on a prototype of Capto DEAE weak ion exchanger are given. The proposed high‐throughput method for determination of dynamic binding capacity significantly reduces time and sample consumption as compared to a traditional method utilizing packed chromatography columns without sacrificing the accuracy of data obtained.
Editorial
Authors: Ermer Anneliese , Rösler Michael
Published: May 2008

Die forensische Psychiatrie und Psychologie beschäftigt sich mit dem Zusammenhang von Straftaten und der psychischen Verfassung der Täter und Opfer. Die Aufgabengebiete im Überschneidungsbereich von Recht und Psychiatrie sind vielfältig. Zentrale Themen und Fragestellungen betreffen die Schuldfähigkeitsbeurteilung und Risikoeinschätzung straffällig gewordener Menschen und die Glaubhaftigkeitsbegutachtung von Zeugenaussagen. Neben der Beantwortung von Begutachtungsfragen kommt auch der störungs- und deliktorientierten Behandlung psychisch kranker Straftäter eine große Rolle zu.
Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns in Normative Samples for the WISC-IV and WAIS-III
Authors: Saklofske Donald H. , Yang Zhiming , Zhu Jianjun , Austin Elizabeth J.
Published: May 2008

In order to explain observed variations in intelligence test scores, Spearman (1927 ) proposed the “law of diminishing returns” (SLODR). It states that the g saturation of cognitive ability tests decreases as a function of ability or age. Published studies have shown mixed results. However, a recent review ( Hartmann & Nyborg, 2004 ) suggests that there is evidence for differences in g saturation by ability level, but that observed age effects on g saturation are most likely to be a consequence of the ability effect. The current study analyzed the standardization data of the most recent Wechsler scales for both children and adults from several different countries. This study did not find evidence to support either the ability or age version of SLODR by using large normative samples for the WISC-IV from the United States, Canada, and Australia, and for the WAIS-III from the same three countries and also from The Netherlands.
On tropical cyclone activity in the Southern Hemisphere: Trends and the ENSO connection
Authors: Kuleshov Y. , Qi L. , Fawcett R. , Jones D.
Published: May 2008

A collective list of historical El Niño and La Niña events has been developed, based on an examination of different indices describing the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. Based on this list, tropical cyclone (TC) data from a newly created TC archive for the Southern Hemisphere (SH) have been stratified accordingly and significant changes in TC occurrences depending on warm or cold phases of ENSO have been identified. TC trends in the SH (area south of the equator, 30°E to 120°W) have been examined. For the 1981/82 to 2005/06 TC seasons, there are no apparent trends in the total numbers and cyclone days of TCs, nor in numbers and cyclone days of severe TCs with minimum central pressure of 970 hPa or lower. However, significant positive trends in occurrences and cyclone days of severe TCs with minimum central pressure of 945 hPa or lower have been identified.
Waveform modeling of historical seismograms of the 1930 Irpinia earthquake provides insight on “blind” faulting in Southern Apennines (Italy)
Authors: Pino N. A. , Palombo B. , Ventura G. , Perniola B. , Ferrari G.
Published: May 2008

The Southern Apennines chain is related to the west‐dipping subduction of the Apulian lithosphere. The strongest seismic events mostly occurred in correspondence of the chain axis along normal NW–SE striking faults parallel to the chain axis. These structures are related to mantle wedge upwelling beneath the chain. In the foreland, faulting develops along E–W strike‐slip to oblique‐slip faults related to the roll‐back of the foreland. Similarly to other historical events in Southern Apennines, the I0= XI (MCS intensity scale) 23 July 1930 earthquake occurred between the chain axis and the thrust front without surface faulting. This event produced more than 1400 casualties and extensive damage elongated approximately E‐W. The analysis of the historical waveforms provides the chance to study the fault geometry of this “anomalous” event and allow us to clarify its geodynamic significance. Our results indicate that the MS= 6.6 1930 event nucleated at 14.6 ± 3.06 km depth and ruptured a north dipping, N100°E striking plane with an oblique motion. The fault propagated along the fault strike 32 km to the east at about 2 km/s. The eastern fault tip is located in proximity of the Vulture volcano. The 1930 hypocenter, similarly to the 1990 (MW= 5.8) Southern Apennines event, is within the Mesozoic carbonates of the Apulian foredeep and the rupture developed along a “blind” fault. The 1930 fault kinematics significantly differs from that typical of large Southern Apennines earthquakes, which occur in a distinct seismotectonic domain on late Pleistocene to Holocene outcropping faults. These results stress the role played by pre‐existing, “blind” faults in the Apennines subduction setting.
Validation of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements of the total, stratospheric, and tropospheric column abundance of ozone
Authors: Osterman G. B. , Kulawik S. S. , Worden H. M. , Richards N. A. D. , Fisher B. M. , Eldering A. , Shephard M. W. , Froidevaux L. , Labow G. , Luo M. , Herman R. L. , Bowman K. W. , Thompson A. M.
Published: May 2008

The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) is an infrared, high‐resolution Fourier transform spectrometer which was launched onboard NASA's Aura satellite in 2004 and is providing global, vertically resolved measurements of ozone in the troposphere. TES version 2 (V002) data profiles have been validated in the troposphere and lower stratosphere by way of comparison to ozonesondes and aircraft measurements. TES measurements also have sensitivity throughout the stratosphere, and therefore TES ozone profiles can be integrated to determine the total and stratospheric column in addition to the tropospheric column ozone values. In this work we compare the ozone in the stratosphere measured by TES to observations from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument in order to show the quality of the TES measurements in the stratosphere. We also compare the determination of a total column value for ozone based on the TES profiles to the column measured by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The TES tropospheric ozone column value is also calculated from the TES profiles and compared with column values determined from ozonesonde data. Column measurements are useful because the errors are markedly reduced from errors at the profile levels and can be used to assess both biases and quality of the TES ozone retrievals. TES observations of total or partial column ozone compare well with the other instruments but tend toward higher values than the other measurements. Specifically, TES is higher than OMI by ∼10 Dobson units (DU) for the total ozone column. TES measures higher values in the stratosphere (above 100 hPa) by ∼3 DU and measures higher ozone column values (∼4 DU) in the troposphere than ozonesondes. While the strength of the TES nadir ozone product is the vertical resolution it provides in the troposphere, a tropospheric column value derived from TES have utility in analyses using or validating tropospheric ozone residual products.
Dust emissions from undisturbed and disturbed supply‐limited desert surfaces
Authors: Macpherson Torin , Nickling William G. , Gillies John A. , Etyemezian Vicken
Published: May 2008

Aeolian sediment transport systems have been treated frequently as transport limited, where transport is governed by the force of the wind, or as supply limited, where sediment transport is controlled by the availability of surface grains. Although many arid environments are dominated by supply‐limited surfaces, almost all available dust emission and sand transport models are restricted to transport‐limited conditions. To examine the emission of PM10 (particulate matter ≤10 μm aerodynamic diameter) and horizontal sand transport from supply‐limited environments, a series of wind tunnel tests were conducted in the Mojave Desert, California. In situ testing was conducted with an open‐floored, portable wind tunnel (12 × 1 × 0.75 m) on a variety of natural soils having disturbed and undisturbed surface conditions. Results indicate that for these supply‐limited environments, PM10 emissions are primarily driven by the aerodynamic resuspension of loose surface material as opposed to the dynamic entrainment mechanisms associated with saltating grains. Emission rates were directly influenced by wind shear and mechanical disturbance and indirectly influenced by soil texture. In addition, disturbance of the surface was found to increase the potential for multiple emission events, which may affect the temporal accumulation of atmospheric dust.
Phytomass patterns across a temperature gradient of the North American arctic tundra
Authors: Epstein Howard E. , Walker Donald A. , Raynolds Martha K. , Jia Gensuo J. , Kelley Alexia M.
Published: May 2008

Only a few studies to date have collectively examined the vegetation biomass and production of arctic tundra ecosystems and their relationships to broadly ranging climate variables. An additional complicating factor for studying vegetation of arctic tundra is the high spatial variability associated with small patterned‐ground features, resulting from intense freeze‐thaw processes. In this study, we sampled and analyzed the aboveground plant biomass components of patterned‐ground ecosystems in the Arctic of northern Alaska and Canada along an 1800‐km north‐south gradient that spans approximately 11°C of mean July temperatures. Vegetation biomass was analyzed as functions of the summer warmth index (SWI–sum of mean monthly temperatures > 0°C). The total absolute biomass (g m−2) and biomass of shrubs increased monotonically with SWI, however, biomass of nonvascular species (mosses and lichens), were a parabolic function of SWI, with greatest values at the ends of the gradient. The components of plant biomass on patterned‐ground features (i.e., on nonsorted circles or within small polygons) were constrained to a greater degree with colder climate than undisturbed tundra, likely due to the effect of frost heave disturbances on the vegetation. There were also clear differences in the relative abundances of vascular versus nonvascular plants on and off patterned‐ground features along the SWI gradient. The spatial patterns of biomass differ among plant functional groups and suggest that plant community responses to temperature, and land‐surface processes that produce patterned‐ground features, are quite complex.
Magnetospheric quasi‐static response to the dynamic magnetosheath: A THEMIS case study
Authors: Glassmeier Karl‐Heinz , Auster Hans‐Ulrich , Constantinescu Dragoş , Fornaçon Karl‐Heinz , Narita Yasuhito , Plaschke Ferdinand , Angelopoulos Vassilis , Georgescu Edita , Baumjohann Wolfgang , Magnes Werner , Nakamura Rumi , Carlson Charles W. , Frey Sabine , McFadden James P. , Phan Tai , Mann Ian , Rae I. Jonathan , Vogt Joachim
Published: May 2008

Earth's magnetosphere is buffeted by the time‐varying solar wind. For the first time, the THEMIS mission, with its five spacecraft, directly allows to compare measurements in the magnetosheath and their response in the magnetopause boundary region, and the outer magnetosphere to this buffeting. During the time interval studied, the spacecraft moved almost along the stagnation streamline allowing to use Bernoulli's law to relate local observations of the plasma density, temperature, flow velocity, and magnetic field to the stagnation pressure. Magnetopause distance and velocity are determined assuming a quasi‐static response. The dynamics inferred is compared with actual observations by three of the THEMIS spacecraft. Assuming a radially moving Chapman‐Ferraro current layer also the outer magnetospheric magnetic field response is modelled and compared with magnetic field measurements. Most of the low‐frequency variability of the outer magnetosphere and magnetopause boundary can be understood as the result of a quasi‐static response of the magnetosphere to magnetosheath dynamic pressure variations.
Turbulent heating and cross‐field transport near the magnetopause from THEMIS
Authors: Chaston C. , Bonnell J. , McFadden J. P. , Carlson C. W. , Cully C. , Le Contel O. , Roux A. , Auster H. U. , Glassmeier K. H. , Angelopoulos V. , Russell C. T.
Published: May 2008

We demonstrate that the low frequency broadband magnetic fluctuations observed during THEMIS spacecraft traversals near the Earth's magnetopause may be described as a turbulent spectrum of Doppler shifted kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs). These waves are most intense along reconnected flux‐tubes in the magnetosheath just outside the magnetopause. We identify distinct power‐law scalings of wave spectral energy density in wavenumber and show that Landau (LD) and transit time damping (TD) on ions and electrons is largest at the wavenumber where the power‐law index changes. The threshold amplitude for stochastic ion scattering/acceleration is also exceeded by these waves. These acceleration processes are manifest in observations of field‐aligned and transverse heating of electrons and ions respectively. From integration over the range of observed wavenumbers we show that, if the wave‐normal angles are sufficiently large, these waves can provide diffusive transport of magnetosheath plasmas across the magnetopause at up to the Bohm rate.