bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Selective Endothelin-A Receptor Antagonism Reduces Proteinuria, Blood Pressure, and Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Proteinuric Kidney Disease
Authors: Dhaun Neeraj , MacIntyre Iain M. , Kerr Debbie , Melville Vanessa , Johnston Neil R. , Haughie Scott , Goddard Jane , Webb David J.
Published: March 2011

Proteinuria is associated with adverse cardiovascular and renal outcomes that are not prevented by current treatments. Endothelin 1 promotes the development and progression of chronic kidney disease and associated cardiovascular disease. We, therefore, studied the effects of selective endothelin-A receptor antagonism in proteinuric chronic kidney disease patients, assessing proteinuria, blood pressure (BP), and arterial stiffness, key independent, surrogate markers of chronic kidney disease progression and cardiovascular disease risk. In a randomized, double-blind, 3-way crossover study, 27 subjects on recommended renoprotective treatment received 6 weeks of placebo, 100 mg once daily of sitaxsentan, and 30 mg once daily of nifedipine long acting. Twenty-four–hour proteinuria, protein:creatinine ratio, 24-hour ambulatory BP, and pulse wave velocity (as a measure of arterial stiffness) were measured at baseline and week 6 of each treatment. In 13 subjects, renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate were assessed at baseline and week 6 of each period. Compared with placebo, sitaxsentan reduced 24-hour proteinuria (−0.56±0.20 g/d;
P
=0.0069), protein:creatinine ratio (−38±15 mg/mmol;
P
=0.0102), BP (−3.4±1.2 mm Hg;
P
=0.0069), and pulse wave velocity (−0.64±0.24 m/s;
P
=0.0052). Nifedipine matched the BP and pulse wave velocity reductions seen with sitaxsentan but did not reduce proteinuria. Sitaxsentan alone reduced both glomerular filtration rate and filtration fraction. It caused no clinically significant adverse effects. Endothelin-A receptor antagonism may provide additional cardiovascular and renal protection by reducing proteinuria, BP, and arterial stiffness in optimally treated chronic kidney disease subjects. The antiproteinuric effects of sitaxsentan likely relate to changes in BP and renal hemodynamics.
Impact of School Finance Reform on Resource Equalization and Academic Performance: Evidence from Michigan
Authors: Roy Joydeep
Published: March 2011

Michigan radically altered its school finance system in 1994. The new plan, called Proposal A, significantly increased state aid to the lowest-spending school districts and limited future increases in spending in the highest-spending ones, abolishing local discretion over school spending. I investigate the impact of Proposal A on the distribution of resources and educational outcomes. I analyze the differential effects on the lowest-spending and the highest-spending districts, highlighting the role of local discretion, which has so far been neglected in the literature. I also provide important evidence on the effect of spending on academic performance. Proposal A was quite successful in reducing interdistrict spending disparities. There was also a significant positive effect on student performance in the lowest-spending districts as measured in state tests. However, the constraints on future increases in spending may have had a negative effect on student performance in the highest-spending districts.
Funding Special Education by Capitation: Evidence from State Finance Reforms
Authors: Dhuey Elizabeth , Lipscomb Stephen
Published: March 2011

This study examines responses to state capitation policies for special education finance between 1991–92 and 2003–4. Capitation refers to distributing funds based on the entire student enrollment. We find that disability rates tended to fall following capitation reforms, primarily in subjectively diagnosed categories and in early and late grades. The association appears immediately in less severe categories but gradually in severe categories. More frequent program exiting partly accounts for falling disability rates among high school students. Capitation also is associated with a rising local share and a falling state share of funding. The evidence supports an increased use of outside school placements among severe disabilities, consistent with an incentive-based response. We find weaker evidence of a relationship between capitation and higher request rates for dispute resolution. Finally, we present evidence of differential effects based on both the pre-reform funding system and the presumed strength of the policy change.
Contacts des langues et contact dans la langue : heterogeneite, construction de l'homogene et emergence du 'linguistique'
Authors: Nicolaï Robert
Published: March 2011

Les travaux sur le contact des langues donnent peu de place aux recherches sur les variations diastratiques et diaphasiques or, ces phénomènes sont concernés par cette problématique. Je tente de montrer que leur approche permet d'élargir le débat en questionnant des procès essentiels tels ceux de la construction du sens et de la sémiotisation des formes et je me propose d'appréhender le contact de ce point de vue.Je partirai d'un exemple simple puis, je présenterai ensuite l'arrièreplan conceptuel qui me conduit à ouvrir le débat : il s'articule autour de trois approches qui ont un rapport avec la dynamique des langues et qui gagnent à être liées : l'approche de la 'discursivité', celle de la 'variabilité' et celle du 'feuilletage'. Chacune d'elles privilégie un point de vue sur le fonctionnement de la communication humaine mais toutes trois s'intéressent au fait que dans l'espace global de la communication et en rapport avec la multiplicité des formes langagières et/ou linguistiques actualisées ou potentielles, finissent par émerger des formes, des représentations et des façons de parler qui présupposent l'existence nécessaire d'un contexte de contact interne au développement linguistique lui-même. Je tenterai de montrer que, loin d'être limité à des cas de figure qui impliquent la saisie d'un rapport entre des langues différentes, le contact se situe tout d'abord dans le dynamisme même qui conduit aux langues. Finalement, je présenterai le cas de l'indoubill qui, à une autre échelle, montre la pertinence de la problématique du contact, exemplifie la construction d'entités homogènes au travers d'une hétérogénéité manifeste, suggère quelques ouvertures de recherche et rejoint le questionnement sur le contact entre les langues.
Le code-switching comme ressource pour l'organisation de la parole-en-interaction
Authors: Mondada Lorenza
Published: March 2011

The aim of the paper is both to present existing research in interactional linguistics and to highlight some broader issues it raises for general linguistics. Thus, code-switching is dealt with not just as a particular phenomenon, but as a key area of study revealing important contemporary issues for linguistics.Plurilingualism has been approached from several perspectives: among them, the interactional approaches have focussed their inquiries on code-switching as it can be observed in naturally occurring interactional materials, recorded in various social settings. This empirical base has been fruitful for the exploration not only of the socio-pragmatic functionalities of code-switching but also for a redefinition of the grammatical resources involved in the organization of talk-in-interaction. In order to present these contributions, the paper will sketch some approaches coming from a broad interactional perspective, and develop more explicitly the approach inspired by conversation analysis.This leads us to formulate a series of issues to which code-switching can contribute in a powerful way :- issues dealing with the very definition of what the grammatical resources are: code-switching is not just the use of two or more codes by the speakers, but involves the active reconfiguration of what a "code" or, better, what a grammatical resource can be - as a flexible, indexical resource endogenously and locally redefined by the speakers for the practical purposes of the interaction.- issues dealing with the accomplishment of identities and social categories in interaction, dealt with as the emergent product of locally organized socio-linguistic practices;- issues dealing with the organization of sequentiality of talk-in-interaction : the way in which code-switching is mobilized both adjust and shape the interactional order and can teach us much about it.These issues are discussed by referring to the state of the art of this field and to the detailed analysis of a few excerpts of naturally occurring interactions recorded at work.
Representations linguistiques et accents regionaux du français
Authors: Petitjean Cécile
Published: March 2011

L'étude des représentations linguistiques (RL) constitue aujourd'hui un regard indispensable sur la dynamique des langues. Parce qu'elles portent sur la langue de la communauté d'appartenance, mais également sur celles des groupes extérieurs à cette communauté, les RL sont simultanément actrices et révélatrices des contacts entre langues et entre communautés linguistiques. Nous nous intéresserons ici à la question des français régionaux, et plus spécifiquement aux habitudes articulatoires inhérentes à ces derniers. Ce faisant, il s'agira d'observer la manière dont les locuteurs gèrent conjointement la diversité et la confrontation des pratiques linguistiques. L'observation et l'analyse d'un corpus constitué d'entretiens réalisés avec des locuteurs marseillais nous permettront d'éclairer les stratégies définies par les locuteurs afin de co-construire les connaissances communes leur permettant d'appréhender l'hétérogénéité de leur paysage linguistique et de partager, in fine, une même réalité linguistique. L'appréhension de l'altérité sociale et linguistique, ainsi que la considération des enjeux identitaires en découlant, reposeront sur une approche des processus linguistiques impliqués dans la co-construction des RL dans le champ discursif.
The Limits of Convergence in Language Contact
Authors: Silva-Corvalán Carmen
Published: March 2011

This article discusses the contact situation between English and Spanish in the United States, a situation characterized by both maintenance of the minority language and shift to English. Of relevance to understanding the linguistic phenomena that develop in this situation of societal bilingualism is the fact that the minority language is constantly being revitalized by interaction with large groups of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries.The article identifies some of the linguistic changes that affect the minority language at different points in the proficiency continuum or different stages of attrition, and argues that in this particular contact situation convergence toward English is constrained by the structure of the minority language undergoing change.
Convergence and the Retention of Marked Consonants in Sango: the Creation and Appropriation of a Pidgin
Authors: Samarin William
Published: March 2011

Sango challenges allegations that the sound inventories of pidgins are small and that in language contact sound change often leads to loss or assimilation in phonemic distinctions. Sango has retained almost the whole phonological system of Ngbandi, on which it is based. This is explained, not by substratal influence—the systems of co-territorial Ubangian languages of the Banda and Gbaya groups—but by similar systems of several West African and especially central Bantu languages spoken by the workers and soldiers who were brought to the Ubangi River basin by Belgian colonizers, beginning in 1887 and very soon after by the French, and who, with the indigenes, very quickly created a new language that was soon appropriated by the Ngbandis, thereby preserving at least this part of their own language.
Variation, Contact and Convergence in French Spoken Outside France
Authors: Gadet Françoise , Jones Mari
Published: March 2011

This article focuses on syntactic phonemena observed in situations of language contact in the French-speaking world, where French finds itself in (usually unfavorable) competition with English. A number of cases are examined where a superficial analysis might conceivably point to a change caused by transfer from English: more specifically, in the verb system (auxiliaries, the subjunctive), the use of clitic pronouns, adjective position (preposed or postposed), certain infinitival constructions, prepositions (including preposition stranding), the use of relative pronouns and que-deletion, the particle back and the marker comme. Our conclusions draw on theories of linguistic contact and change, both with respect to French and, more broadly, the study of language.
Tibetan Reform and the Kalmyk Revival of Buddhism
Authors: Sinclair Tara
Published: March 2011

The anti-religious campaigns of the Soviet Union in the 1930s eradicated Kalmyk Buddhism from the public sphere. Following perestroika the Kalmyks retain a sense of being an essentially Buddhist people. Accordingly, the new Kalmyk government is reviving the religion with the building of temples and the attempted training of Kalmyk monks, yet monasticism is proving too alien for young post-soviets. According to traditional Kalmyk Gelug Buddhism authoritative Buddhist teachers must be monks, so monastic Tibetans from India have been invited to the republic to help revive Buddhism. The subsequent labelling by these monks of 'surviving' Kalmyk Buddhist practices as superstitious, mistaken or corrupt is an initial step in the purification of alternate views, leading to religious reform. This appraisal of historical practices is encouraged by younger Kalmyks who do not find sense in surviving Buddhism but are enthused with the philosophical approach taught by visiting Buddhist teachers at Dharma centres. By discussing this post-Soviet shift in local notions of religious efficacy, I show how the social movements of both reform and revival arise as collusion between contemporary Tibetan and Kalmyk views on the nature of true Buddhism.
Citizenship and Ethnicity: Old Propiska and New Citizenship in Post-Soviet Uzbekistan
Authors: Hojaqizi Guliatir
Published: March 2011

This paper looks at two modes of 'belonging' in Uzbekistan: the first as a full citizen and the second as an 'illegal' resident of the place, these being two different ways of perceiving oneself as an Uzbek citizen. It is of crucial importance to consider the direct effect of existing internal registration regulations (propiska) on the self-perception of being a citizen and an Uzbek. I argue that this local policy, together with the failure of citizenship, has led to other kinds of memberships within non state institutions. The overarching Uzbek national identity has become a formal cover and an instrument for political discourse only at a higher level. At the lower level, as local discourses indicate, 'ethnic' or regional net-works and identities have been strengthened and regained their importance in the everyday lives of people in Uzbekistan. I will make use of contemporary approaches to the studies of citizenship that focus on the experiences of citizens and social construction of citizenship from below. The data used in the article was collected as part of fieldwork of thirteen months conducted in Uzbekistan.
A State of Passion: The Use of Ethnogenesis in Kyrgyzstan
Authors: Gullette David
Published: March 2011

This article analyses former President Askar Akaev's use of ethnogenesis, a theoretical approach concerned with demonstrating continuous social groups and group identity, in his nation-building campaign. In particular, it examines the president's sympathy for the work of Lev Gumilev, a prominent ethnogenetic theorist, and the ways he combined this with people's understandings of their ancestors. Akaev promoted the image of ancestors through Gumilev's concept of passionate energy. This is demonstrated through two commemorative ceremonies to ancestors. A further comparison between Gumilev's concept of 'passion' and charisma reveals other characteristics in the Kyrgyz nation-building campaign and how it attempts to influence people's everyday lives.
Challenging Colonial Power: Kazak Cadres and Native Strategies
Authors: Kendirbai Gulnar
Published: March 2011

The paper brings into focus the mediating role of Kazak leaders in sustaining a feasible balance between the workings of Russian imperial and Kazak native structures. By placing the analysis in the pre-Soviet colonial context and involving the native perspective, the paper challenges the vision of colonialism as viewed from the coloniser's perspective. It argues that not imperial policies but the vicissitudes of everyday colonial practice had finally reshaped the relationship between the Russian coloniser and the Kazak colonised. As the paper shows, this framework enabled the latter to renegotiate the terms under which they could continue to make use of their tribal networks. Ultimately, these networks came to operate as a middle ground and a buffer zone that facilitated Kazak participation in imperial Russian and Soviet structures and, at the same time, proved instrumental in alleviating the devastating effects of central decision making.
The 12th Dorje Phagmo of Tibet, 'Female Living Buddha' and Cadre: A Political Paradox?
Authors: Diemberger Hildegard
Published: March 2011

This paper looks at the Samding Dorje Phagmo as an example of a minority nationality cadre who has been appointed to high positions in the Chinese administration in the name of her ethnicity, religious role and gender. Like most cadres who were co-opted from traditional elites she is unique because of her historical profile and role, but she embodies practices that are widespread among Tibetan cadres. Historically the Samding Dorje Phagmo was an important religious institution, established in the fifteenth century as the reincarnation of the tantric goddess Vajravārāhī. In the 1950s the 12th Dorje Phagmo was included among the members of the local religious elite by the newly-established Chinese rule. She is currently the Vice-president of the National People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region and a member of the National People's Political Consultative Conference. She is therefore one of the more senior Tibetan cadres and one whose career has been most long-lived. Her political practice shows that the contemporary Sino-Tibetan relationship is not always a clear-cut one of domination and resistance, or secular communist suppression of Buddhist beliefs and practices, but full of paradoxes.
Contesting the Words that Wound: Ethnicity and the Politics of Sentiment in China
Authors: Bulag Uradyn
Published: March 2011

Nation is as much a sentimental community as an imagined community. This paper is an attempt to study the role of sentiment as a motor of ethnopolitics in China. Using as a heuristic device the recent Mongolian cadres' protest at 'Mongol Doctor' – a Chinese ethnic slur against the Mongols, the paper examines the formation of the Mongol sentimental community vis-à-vis the Chinese sentimental community historically and especially in the twentieth century.
Devouring Perspectives: On Cannibal Shamans in Siberia
Authors: Stépanoff Charles
Published: March 2011

Throughout Siberia, shamans are suspected of 'devouring' other humans. This article, based on ethnographic literature about Siberian peoples and on fieldwork conducted in Tuva, examines different theoretical interpretations of this conception. A 'perspectivist' approach explains that shamans become cannibal because they see humans as prey animals. The paradoxes of this interpretation lead to a critical discussion of the philosophical premises of the perspectivist theory. Another approach is then proposed: Siberian traditions demonstrate two distinct understandings of the kinds of body connected with different pragmatic contexts. Legendary narratives elaborate a definition of the body by its position in an interaction. The logic of practices is ruled by distinctly more essentialist schemas. The theme of shamans' cannibalism contributes convincingly to broader hypotheses about the internal properties of the shamanic bodies which are necessary to their ritual practices.
Cooking the Mongols/Feeding the Han: Dietary and Ethnic Intersections in Inner Mongolia
Authors: Billé Franck
Published: March 2011

The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the changing practices and perceptions of the Han residing in Inner Mongolia. Arguing that studies of Inner Mongolia all too frequently focus exclusively on the Mongols, and that the few Han appearing in them tend to be portrayed as agents of modernization and acculturation, the article seeks to challenge this limiting framework and to propose a more integrative approach. Taking dietary practices as its focus, the article suggests that the consumption patterns of foods traditionally marked as 'ethnic' do not neatly follow ethnic boundaries, and that limiting ethnographies of the region to the Mongols in fact obscures and conceals the numerous trends that cut across ethnic lines.
Pilgrims, Fieldworkers, and Secret Agents: Buryat Buddhologists and the History of an Eurasian Imaginary
Authors: Bernstein Anya
Published: March 2011

This article looks at the pre-Revolutionary history of Buryats' engagement with greater Eurasia, drawing on the legacies of the long underappreciated Russian Buddhological school and exploring the intellectual and political context of its emergence in the late nineteenth century. Exploring the role of Russian Orientalists and political figures such as the Orientalists V.P. Vasil'ev and Prince E.E. Ukhtomskii, and taking a close look at the fieldwork of the first Russian-trained indigenous Buryat Buddhologists G.Ts. Tsybikov and B.B. Baradiin, I demonstrate that this ultimately Eurasianist school of Buddhology was borne out of conflicting sentiments towards Russia's cosmopolitanism, statehood, and imperial destiny in Asia, as well as representations of indigenous peoples of southern Siberia. As a conclusion, I map the emergent forms of what I call 'Asian Eurasianism', linking it to contemporary cultural debates in Buryatia. I suggest that the term offers us a better way to understand the many ways by which many non-Russians position themselves in relation to the vast Eurasian continent.
The Dissolution of the Buryat Autonomous Okrugs in Siberia: Notes from the Field
Authors: Long Joseph , Graber Kathryn
Published: March 2011

This field report comprises observations on the political processes through which the two Buryat autonomous okrugs in Siberia were dissolved into (or, in local political rhetoric, 'unified' with) the larger territories surrounding them in 2008. The two sections discuss the dissolution decisions as observed by the authors in the course of fieldwork, in Pribaikal'e (Cisbaikal) by Joseph Long and in Zabaikal'e (Transbaikal) by Kathryn Graber. Some joint reflections on these events are given at the end.
The Relationship Between A-lce lha-mo Troupes and Their Sponsors
Authors: Drokar Dikey
Published: March 2011

This paper provides an introduction to A-lce lha-mo, also called 'Tibetan Opera', an ancient form of performing art as currently practised in Tibet. It explores the strategies used to reconstruct this tradition in different contexts and looks at various structures of patronage through the example of three troupes currently performing in Tibet.
De novis libris iudicia Images, Inscriptions and Interpretation
Authors: Tybout Rolf
Published: March 2011

A recent collection of papers focusing on the relationship between inscriptions and the images they accompany postulates a great variety in subjective ‘reader/viewer response’ and underlines discrepancies between texts and images. Inscriptions are believed to complicate rather than elucidate representations and to have been set up to pose challenges to readers. However, many of the examples selected are exceptional in one way or another. As a rule inscriptions intend to provide authoritative information to readers prepared to accept it as such. Inscriptions anchor floating images, investing the general with the specific and consequently serving an hermeneutic purpose. The ambit of ‘reader/viewer response’ tends to be inversely proportional to the amount of inscribed text, though with exceptions admitted: its room is potentially enlarged, first with the lapse of time, and secondly with inscriptions meant to be read in private space, especially in a sympotic context. The reconstruction of responses to inscribed images should start from (more or less) contemporary sources rather than modern viewers’ speculations. What is known of ancient reader/viewer reception in the domestic sphere (inter alia the ekphrasis of paintings in Lucian’s De domo) suggests that texts may have been subjected to several types of variatio and paintings may have elicited subject-orientated comments devoid of ingenious associations.
Anaximander’s Fragment: Another Attempt*
Authors: Mansfeld Jaap
Published: March 2011

I argue for the interpretation of Anaximander’s world as an unstable system. The inconsistency found by scholars in Theophrastus/Simplicius’ text disappears when it is realized that the elemental forces of nature do not change into each other. They are in the Infinite in time as well as in space. To some extent preference is given to Aristotle’s evidence over the doxographical vulgate habitually derived from Theophrastus, though of course the Theophrastean passage containing the verbatim quotation remains the primary witness.
Koerneria sudhausi n. sp. (Nematoda: Diplogastridae); a hermaphroditic diplogastrid with an egg shell formed by zygote and uterine components
Authors: Fürst von Lieven Alexander
Published: March 2011

A new hermaphroditic species belonging to the diplogastrid taxon Koerneria is described. Although Koerneria sudhausi n. sp. displays all known apomorphies of Koerneria, it shares apomorphic characters with Mononchoides colobocercus (originally described as Diplenteron colobocercus). I assume that the apomorphic features of Koerneria exist in M. colobocercus too and were overlooked in the original description. Consequently M. colobocercus is transferred from Mononchoides to Koerneria, becoming Koerneria colobocerca n. comb. Koerneria sudhausi n. sp. and its sister species, K. colobocerca, together form the Diplenteron species group within Koerneria. Characteristic features of K. sudhausi n. sp. are the species group-specific prerectum in combination with a short but pointed tail in both sexes. In K. sudhausi n. sp. a stoma dimorphism between stenostomatous and eurystomatous morphs occurs. Eurystomatous K. sudhausi n. sp. hermaphrodites lack two denticles in the armature of the left subventral stegostomatal sector. All adults possess pore-like amphids. Although K. sudhausi n. sp. is hermaphroditic, a considerable frequency of males (up to 16.6%) occurs. In cultures of K. sudhausi n. sp. males are functional. In K. sudhausi n. sp. males, the phasmid is situated between caudal papillae v6 and v7. The formation of a secondary egg shell by a uterine shell gland is described. Koerneria sudhausi n. sp. possesses an exceptionally high number of intestine cells, an inexplicable dimorphism in egg length, and a dauer juvenile that lacks the oily substance usually found in diplogastrid dauers.
Morphological and molecular characterisation of two putative Xiphinema americanum-group species, X. parasimile and X. simile (Nematoda: Dorylaimida) from Serbia
Authors: Barsi László , Luca Francesca
Published: March 2011

Problems associated with the taxonomic status of Xiphinema parasimile and X.
simile are reviewed. Their accurate identification is difficult due to their
high morphological and morphometrical similarity. A comparative
morphological and molecular study of these species was done to define their
specific status and differences. Lip region morphology showed less
variability in comparison with tail shape in both species, which was more
variable in X. simile. Differences in lip region were constant between these
species, but specimens with similar tail shape rarely occurred. Both species
showed considerable overlap in all morphometrical data and a polytomous key
is inadequate for their practical identification. In practice, the most
reliable approach for accurate determination of X. parasimile and X. simile
is the use of a combination of morphometrics with morphology of lip and
vulval regions and tail shape. Total DNA was isolated from individual
nematodes of both species and the ITS region of the 18S and 26S rDNA and
D1-D2 expansion segments of the 26S rDNA were amplified and cloned. The
ITS-RFLP patterns clearly revealed X. simile and X. parasimile to be
distinct species. The restriction profiles of the D1-D2 amplicons also
discriminated these species. D1-D2 sequences revealed no intrapopulation
variability and their comparison showed 89% of similarity to each other.
These data show that both ribosomal regions are useful to differentiate X.
parasimile and X. simile as two distinct species despite similar morphology
and morphometrics.
Asylum Seekers and Informed Consent — European Perspective
Authors: Prudil Lukáš
Published: March 2011

For centuries, people of various nationalities from various States have sought asylum for varied reasons. These people seeking asylum can need medical care in the host country. In this article I would like to discuss to what extent informed consent is needed, and to what extent informed consent must be sought. The problem is discussed from the perspective of European international documents, mainly on those of the Council of Europe.
Access to Health Care for Illegal Immigrants: A Specific Organisation in France
Authors: Bévière Bénédicte , Duguet Anne-Marie
Published: March 2011

Health care is a fundamental human right in Europe, and all Member States recognise everyone’s right to the access to preventive healthcare and to receive medical care in the event of sickness or pregnancy. Nevertheless, this right is focused on citizens and the application to migrants, particularly undocumented migrants, varies widely in the EU. The French legislation is organized with a humanitarian approach. In this article, the authors present the French system of social protection, the “Couverture médicale universelle” or CMU, which provides the same protection to asylum seekers and documented immigrants as to nationals, and the “Aide médicale d’état” or AME, that is open to every person who does not fulfil the legal conditions to obtain the CMU, such as illegal immigrants. Created in 1995, recently access to the AME has been restricted. A claim of discrimination has been rejected by the Conseil d’Etat and 215 000 persons received the AME in 2009. The expenses incurred by the AME increased by 17% in 2010, and there is a debate in Parliament to limit care and to ask the recipient for a financial contribution.
Legal Migration in the Relationship between the European Union and ACP Countries: The Absence of a True Global Approach Continues
Authors: Devisscher Purdey
Published: March 2011

For a long time, the relationship between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) was characterized by the focus on trade issues. In recent years however, other policy aspects have emerged, amongst which migration. This evolution results from the gradual recognition of the importance of migration in the Union’s external relations. The mainstreaming of migration in the relations with third countries raised the need for a Global Approach to Migration (2005) connecting illegal and legal migration, as well as introducing a positive migration-development nexus. The acknowledgement of a possible positive contribution of legal migration ‐ if well managed ‐ for developing countries, has resulted into new concrete initiatives such as circular migration, mobility partnerships and the Blue Card Directive. A closer look at the policy frameworks, as well as specific measures demonstrate however, that a true comprehensive approach is a long way from home. It is examined if the specific EU-ACP relationship offers a different point of view and effectively makes migration work for the development of both parties. More specifically, do the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) correspond to the abovementioned goal? A comprehensive and coherent legal framework that unites the interests of the Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and those of the developing countries, on the other hand, seems a distant perspective. It is concluded that ambitious policy objectives have been set and are waiting to be addressed by corresponding policy frameworks and legal commitments.
Regulating Tenancy Relationships in Jordan: Pro-Landlord, Neutral, and Pro-Tenant
Authors: Malkawi Bashar H.
Published: March 2011

The legal relationship between landlords and tenants has always been a complex issue. This article analyzes landlord‐tenant legal relationships in Jordan and the extent to which the legal rules are pro-landlord, neutral, or pro-tenant. The analysis will help in providing proposals for reforming the law in a manner that take the interests of all parties involved into account. This article concludes by arguing that legislation on landlord and tenant relations in Jordan is weakened by the conflicting rules in the Civil Code and the Landlord‐Tenant Law.
The Language of the Poor: Bible Stories as a Critical Narrative of the Present
Authors: Gal Nissim
Published: March 2011

The series of photographs called Bible Stories (2003-2006), made by the photographer Adi Nes, offers a visual interpretation of the biblical narrative as a source for a critical reflection on contemporary culture. The Bible Stories series uncovers the aesthetic, ethical and social codes of the current visual culture. Nes processes the biblical text and rereads it via photography. The renewed appearance of the bible stories connects contemporary photorealism with the tradition of biblical illustration. The contemporary appearance and interpretative recomposition of the biblical episodes invert the hierarchies exemplified in some of the stories, and restructure the apparent gender relations, opening up a way to societal Others in the present, and conscripting the transcendent status of the text in order to criticize contemporary culture through the creative act.
New Forms of Ladino Cultural Production in the Late Ottoman Period: Sephardi Theater as a Tool of Indoctrination
Authors: Borovaya Olga
Published: March 2011

The reforms in the Ottoman Empire aiming at the modernization of the state (1839–76) and the arrival of the schools of the Alliance Israélite Universelle as of the 1860s led to significant changes in the life of the Ottoman Sephardi community. As a result of westernization, the last third of the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of new forms of cultural production: press, belles lettres, and theater. They had no counterparts in previous epochs and were imported from Europe through the influence of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and the local westernizers. All of them took root and developed in their own way in the local Sephardi culture. As its title shows, this paper will deal with Sephardi theater as a sociocultural institution rather than with its aesthetic aspects which, as will be demonstrated, were not of great importance even to its creators. The paper examines the factors that brought Sephardi Theater into existence, as well as its functions in the Sephardi community.
Methods of Encoding in Samuel De Archevolti's Arugat Ha-Bosem
Authors: Ofer Yosef
Published: March 2011

The grammar book Arugat Ha-Bosem is the major work compiled by the Italian scholar R. Sh'muel ben Elhanan Ya'acov Archevolti, born c. 1530 and died in 1611. The book was completed in the city of Padua in 1602 and was published in Venice. It is a comprehensive, 32-chapter book dealing with the Hebrew language. Chapter Thirty in this book discusses many different ways of encoding a text, its perspective being that these too are types of human “languages of communication,” and are thus worthy of being discussed in a book dealing with language. The writer discusses ways of communicating with a deaf mute who neither hears nor speaks, with physical encoding by means of hidden inks, and mainly with the systematic encoding of messages, some systems being simple and others more complex.
Function and Significance of the Ebers Calendar's Lone Feast-Hieroglyph (Gardiner Sign-List W3)
Authors: Depuydt Leo
Published: March 2011

The Ebers calendar exhibits one sole instance of. This hieroglyph accompanies the name wp rnpt, presumably as a determinative, whereas the 11 other names in the same column conspicuously lack it. It is proposed that marks wp rnpt as the name of a lunar day whereas the 11 other names are the names of lunar months. This contrast between day and month is placed in the context of a comprehensive analysis of the entire Ebers calendar and of the original lunar calendar and its organic relation with the dominant civil calendar that the Ebers calendar is believed to portray.
Zur Reflexion Ptolemäischer Geschichte in Den Ägyptischen Tempeln Unter Ptolemaios IX. Philometor II./Soter II. Und Ptolemaios X. Alexander I. (116–80 V. Chr.)Teil 2: Kleopatra III. Und Kleopatra Berenike III. im Spiegel Der Tempelreliefs
Authors: Caßor-Pfeiffer Silke
Published: March 2011

Im Verlauf der Ptolemäerzeit gewinnt die Königin zunehmend an Bedeutung. Bei der neben Ptolemaios IX. auf den Tempelreliefs und in den Tempelinschriften dargestellten Königin handelt es sich um seine Mutter und Mitregentin Kleopatra III. und nicht wie unter seinen Vorgängern um die Ehefrau. Sie lößt sich anhand ihrer Darstellungsweise und ihrer Titel identifizieren. Ptolemaios X. findet sich zunächst ebenfalls von seiner Mutter und Mitregentin Kleopatra III., nach ihrem Tod von seiner Gemahlin und Mitregentin Kleopatra Berenike III. begleitet. Kleopatra III. kommt ausweislich ihrer Darstellungsweisen und Titel sowohl in politischer als auch kultischer Hinsicht eine herausragende Stellung zu. Unter Kleopatra Berenike III. wird dies zwar wieder ein wenig zurückgenommen, doch scheint sich für die Königin in kultischer Hinsicht eine gewisse Eigenständigkeit etabliert zu haben.
Memories of the Nile: Egyptian Traumas and Communication Technologies in Jan Assmann's Theory of Cultural Memory
Authors: Winthrop-Young Geoffrey
Published: March 2011

In the 1990s, the Egyptologist Jan Assmann emerged as the most important contributor to German discussions of collective memory. This paper investigates, first, to what extent Assmann's theory of communicative and cultural memory is a generalization of his work on the “bi-materiality” of Egyptian culture, and second, how his controversial notion of the “Mosaic distinction” is linked to his work on the traumatic impact of Akhenaten's religious reforms.
Bocchoris the Lawgiver—or was He Really?
Authors: Markiewicz Tomasz
Published: March 2011

The author revises the Classical tradition on pharaoh Bocchoris (Wahkare Bakenranef of the XIVth dynasty) as the most accomplished Egyptian lawgiver. The evidence of Diodorus, on which this tradition mostly rests, is scrutinized and compared with Egyptian sources. It is argued that Egyptian legal documents do not confirm, and occasionally contradict, Diodorus' account, which should be thus treated with care. The author suggests that Bocchoris' codification may have never taken place and the tradition of his alleged accomplishments can be explained in terms of political propaganda of the early XXVIth dynasty rulers. This tradition was subsequently used by the Greeks to explain Solonic reform as borrowed from or inspired by “the wisdom of Egypt.”
Central Organisation, Tabarrokāt and Succession among the Early Cheshtis in India
Authors: Ahmad Zilli Ishtiaq
Published: March 2011

The paper seeks to re-examine the thesis advanced by some eminent scholars that there was a well established tradition among the early Cheshtis to nominate one of their disciples as chief successor and pass on major part of their spiritual authority to him through the means of transferring the tabarrokāt to him that they had received from their masters. But the evidence available on the subject does not support the thesis. Similarly, there is no evidence that a central organisation with pan-Indian character or a well integrated system presided over by the chief successor, ever existed during the early history of the order (selsela).
Johannes Vermeer en de jezuïeten te Delft
Authors: Begheyn Paul
Published: March 2011

This article offers an addition and partial correction to the recent and pioneering research by John Michael Montias on Johannes Vermeer and his milieu. Isaac van der Mije (1602-1656) from Delft, educated as a painter before he became a Jesuit, may very well have been Vermeer's teacher, in view of his closeness to the artist and his family. There is no hard evidence that Vermeer became a Catholic at the occasion of his marriage to Catharina Bolnes in 1653, but it is known that Roeland de Pottere (1584-1675), the Jesuit who performed the marriage, was a rather strict opponent of mixed marriages. The Jesuits in Delft can be considered to have been the patrons who commissioned Vermeer's large painting Allegory of faith (about 1671-1674). Like Jesuits elsewhere in the Republic they will have selected a local painter for their catechetical didactic paintings. Finally two relatives of Vermeer are presented, who were benefactors of the Jesuits.
The West and Russia Reaction: No more diplomacy of lost opportunities
Authors: de Vos van Steenwijk Godert
Published: March 2011

Dr Holm and Ambassador De Vos van Steenwijk discuss the state of affairs between the West and Russia. They argue that it is much worse and antagonistic than would have been necessary. They blame this largely on mistakes in American and European policies towards the Soviet Union/Russia, but disagree on the causes and motivations of those policies. Holm and De Vos van Steenwijk offer thoughts on how matters could be rectified or at least improved.
Chechnya and the European Court of Human Rights: The merits of Strategic Litigation
Authors: Solvang Ole
Published: March 2011

In May 1998, eighteen months before the start of the second war in Chechnya, Russia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, thereby granting the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) jurisdiction to hear complaints against the Russian authorities from Russian citizens. When the second war in Chechnya started in December 1999, therefore, human rights organizations had access to a new potentially powerful tool with which to fight human rights abuses in Chechnya: the European Court of Human Rights. Several litigation projects emerged and hundreds of complaints have been filed from Chechnya. Ten years after the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights, the record shows that bringing cases to the ECHR has produced concrete positive results, but that the full potential of ECHR litigation is still to be realized.
The challenges and opportunities awaiting Kazakhstan in 2010
Authors: Salber Herbert
Published: March 2011

In November 2007, the OSCE's participating States agreed on future Chairmanships of the Organization through 2011. The 2010 Chairmanship will be held by Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's Chairmanship is unique as it is the first country from Central Asia, indeed the Commonwealth of Independent States to chair the OSCE. Yet, the challenges the country will face will be the same as for all Chairmanships, namely to seek consensus on the issues of the day in an evolving Eurasian-Atlantic security environment. Kazakhstan will also have the opportunity to draw on its unique experience and perspective while contributing to the political dialogue of the OSCE's participating States. At the same time, the country will have the opportunity to demonstrate its leadership by engaging in domestic reforms.
NATO and Central Asia: Security, interests and values in a strategic region
Authors: Vinnikov Alexander
Published: March 2011

The author provides an analytical overview of NATO's relations with, and policies towards, its Central Asian Partners. Since 11 September 2001, pursuing deeper engagement with Central Asian governments responds to the — at times conflicting — requirements of realpolitik and of advancing core values upon which the Alliance was founded sixty years ago, and which are also enshrined in its Partnership for Peace (PfP). In analysing this tension between pragmatism and idealism, the article focuses on five main aspects. The author concludes that NATO's approach towards Central Asia reflects an ever-present/inherent tension between pursuing security imperatives, underlying interests and core values. The result is a complex and somewhat uneasy policy, which seeks to reconcile these at times contradictory elements. Hence the Alliance has pursued enhanced engagement with Central Asian Partners in the belief that through daily cooperation in key areas of NATO and/or common interest, some core democratic values would eventually be incorporated into Partners' approach towards security, the role of the military, and international co-operation, thus benefiting the long term process of democratisation.
Criminal justice reform in Kazakhstan and OSCE commitments
Authors: Kanafin Daniyar
Published: March 2011

In his article Daniyar Kanafin writes about how Kazakhstan follows one of the key international standards related to fair trial, judicial independence. Based on the analysis of the national legislation, special publications and his own experience, the author tries to identify what causes insufficient judicial independence in Kazakhstan and offers possible solutions for this problem.
The European Union, Kazakhstan and the 2010 OSCE Chairmanship
Authors: Melvin Neil
Published: March 2011

Kazakhstan's OSCE Chairmanship in 2010 represents a considerable opportunity for the Organisation. While Kazakhstan's Chairmanship cannot 'save' the OSCE from its current problems, it could help set a new direction for the Organisation and inject a degree of movement at time of growing paralysis. This will be a tall order which Kazakhstan alone will be unable to achieve. To make the most of opportunity presented in 2010, the countries of the European Union need to work closely with Astana to prepare the country for the Chairmanship and also to help to develop ways forward for the organisation. Relations between Astana and Brussels are built on a shared interest in diversifying energy export routes from Kazakhstan, growing business ties, a common caution about the role of Russia in Eurasia and on Kazakhstan's commitment to promoting European forms of development in the country. The EU should place the 2010 Chairmanship within the context of this growing relationship, linking Kazakhstan's domestic and international initiatives of the year to the longer term ambition of the country to build a deeper relationship to Europe as a means to achieve a European form of modernisation.
The European Commission and post-conflict rehabilitation in Georgia — lessons learned
Authors: van Ruiten Maria
Published: March 2011

The article gives an overview of the European Commission's post-conflict economic rehabilitation programmes in Georgia. It describes the different economic reconstruction projects in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and their successes and setbacks in the period of 1998 to 2008 and analyses lessons learned of the EC's post-conflict assistance programmes from the perspective of conflict transformation in Georgia.
The ethical challenges of implementing counterterrorism measures and the role of the OSCE
Authors: Westervelt Steven , van Ginkel Bibi
Published: March 2011

The United Nations established a counterterrorism mechanism in the form of the Counterterrorism Committee when it adopted Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). The Committee has so far worked with regional organizations and individual states in capacity building efforts to augment local counterterrorism abilities. However, ethical bottlenecks remain. The problem of ethics arises when laws lack legitimacy regarding criminality and state power and when they diverge from the rule of law and good governance. Regional organizations are keenly placed to ensure that states adopt legitimate counterterrorism measures, thus avoiding ethical bottlenecks. By working with states to maintain the moral high ground, regional organizations such as the OSCE can prevent unnecessary compromises between human rights and security.