bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exchange Rate Policy and Sovereign Spreads in Emerging Market Economies
Authors: Gumus Inci
Published: October 2015

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between exchange rate policy and sovereign risk premia in emerging market economies, considering both officially declared regimes and actual exchange rate behavior. The results show that countries that announce a fixed exchange rate regime face lower spreads than countries that announce a floating regime or intermediate flexibility. When the actual exchange rate behavior is considered, this relationship persists between intermediate flexibility and pegs but countries that allow their exchange rates to freely float do not face higher spreads. The difference between the results is due to the fact that many countries deviate from their declared exchange rate policy. The countries that announce a floating regime do not face higher spreads than pegs when they actually allow a high degree of flexibility as they announced. However, intermediate flexibility leads to higher spreads independently of whether this is the announced policy or the actual behavior.
International Outsourcing and Unemployment in a Minimum‐wage Economy
Authors: Zhang Ting
Published: October 2015

To explore the impact of international outsourcing on unemployment and social welfare, the conventional trade model is extended by including both economies of scale and a minimum‐wage constraint in the unskilled‐labor market. In the paper, the scale economies are linked with the production of the most skill‐intensive good. It is shown that within such a framework, there is a trade‐off between a more socially desirable endowment allocation and a greater level of employment. Therefore, even though outsourcing could raise aggregate employment, this benefit is at the cost of further exacerbating the resource misallocation. In this way, the extensions to the traditional framework explored in the paper generate new insights as to why outsourcing may cause a net welfare loss to the home country.
Are Lone Mothers Responsive to Policy Changes? Evidence from a Workfare Reform in a Generous Welfare State*
Authors: Mogstad Magne , Pronzato Chiara
Published: October 2015

There is a heated debate in many developed countries about how to design a welfare system that moves lone mothers off welfare and into work. We analyze the consequences of a major Norwegian workfare reform of the generous welfare system for lone mothers. The reform imposed work requirements and time limits on welfare receipt, while raising in‐work benefits. Our difference‐in‐differences estimates show that the reform was successful in improving labor‐market participation and in increasing the earnings of lone mothers. However, the reform was associated with income loss and increased poverty among a sizeable subgroup of lone mothers, who were unable to offset the loss of out‐of‐work benefits with gains in earnings.
The Marginal Propensity to Earn and Consume out of Unearned Income: Evidence Using an Unusually Large Cash Grant Reform*
Authors: Bengtsson Niklas
Published: October 2015

In this paper, we use the rapid introduction of an unconditional cash grant (child support) in South Africa to estimate the marginal propensity to consume and earn out of unearned income. We find that the marginal propensity to earn is about −0.3 and that the marginal propensity to consume is about 0.7. Nothing of the grant appears to be saved; if anything, households dissave against future grant payments. The marginal propensities estimated here are similar to those reported in comparable papers using US data. However, they stand in contrast to some results on conditional cash transfers in other developing countries.
Agents as Empirical Macroeconomists: Thomas J. Sargent’s Contribution to Economics*
Authors: Uhlig Harald
Published: October 2015

Thomas J. Sargent has fundamentally changed and, in the words of Art Rolnick, who interviewed him in 2010, “irrevocably transformed” the field of macroeconomics—whether as sole author, as co‐author with collaborators, as an author influenced by others, or as a teacher of the profession, influencing others. This paper is about his contribution to our field. The Nobel Memorial prize to Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims has been awarded for the “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy” or, more broadly, for macroeconometrics. One often likes to distinguish between theorists, on the one hand, and empiricists and econometricians, on the other. Thomas J. Sargent holds a unique position in between. A key theme in a large part of his work has been to put the agents in his model on equal footing with the econometrician who is observing data from the model (i.e., to assume that agents are themselves empirical macroeconomists or macroeconometricians). In this paper, I use this theme to examine his work and his contributions to the study of economics.
Decomposition of the Discrete Ablowitz–Ladik Hierarchy
Authors: Geng Xianguo , Dai H. H. , Zhu Junyi
Published: October 2015

The nonlinearization approach of Lax pairs is extended to the discrete Ablowitz–Ladik hierarchy. A new symplectic map and a class of new finite‐dimensional Hamiltonian systems are derived, which are further proved to be completely integrable in the Liouville sense. An algorithm to solve the discrete Ablowitz–Ladik hierarchy is proposed. Based on the theory of algebraic curves, the straightening out of various flows is exactly given through the Abel–Jacobi coordinates. As an application, explicit quasi‐periodic solutions for the discrete Ablowitz–Ladik hierarchy are obtained resorting to the Riemann theta functions.
INTRODUCTION: TOWARD A METAPHYSIC OF MEANING
Authors: Robinson Andrew , Southgate Christopher
Published: October 2015

We introduce a two‐part collection of articles (Part 2 to appear in the September 2010 issue) exploring a possible new research program in the field of science and religion. At the center of the program lies an attempt to develop a new theology of nature drawing on the philosophy of C. S. Peirce. Our overall idea is that the fundamental structure of the world is exactly that required for the emergence of meaning and truth‐bearing representation. We understand the emergence of a capacity to interpret an environment to be important to the emergence of life, and we see the subsequent history of biological evolution as a story of increasing capacities for meaning making and meaning seeking. Theologically, we understand God to be the ground of all such meaning making and the ultimate goal of the universe's emerging capacity for interpreting signs. Here we explain our reasons for seeking a new metaphysical framework in which science and theology may each find a home. We survey the contributions to the two‐part collection, and we suggest that the interdisciplinary collaboration from which these have arisen may serve as a methodological model for the field of science and religion.
SELECTION, INTERPRETATION, AND THE EMERGENCE OF LIVING SYSTEMS
Authors: Weber Bruce H.
Published: October 2015

The autocell proposal for the emergence of life and natural selection through the interaction of two reciprocally coupled self‐organizing processes specifically provides a protein‐first model for the origin of life that can be explored by computer simulations and experiment. Beyond the specific proposal it can be considered more generally as a thought experiment in which the principles deduced for the autocell could apply to other possible detailed chemical scenarios of catalytic polymers and protometabolism, including living systems emerging within membranelike barriers. The autocell model allows for the analysis of the emergence of not only agency and purpose but also of interpretation and semiosis as true living systems arise.
PROCESS ECOLOGY: STEPPING STONES TO BIOSEMIOSIS
Authors: Ulanowicz Robert E.
Published: October 2015

Many in science are disposed not to take biosemiotics seriously, dismissing it as too anthropomorphic. Furthermore, biosemiotic apologetics are cast in top‐down fashion, thereby adding to widespread skepticism. An effective response might be to approach biosemiotics from the bottom up, but the foundational assumptions that support Enlightenment science make that avenue impossible. Considerations from ecosystem studies reveal, however, that those conventional assumptions, although once possessing great utilitarian value, have come to impede deeper understanding of living systems because they implicitly depict the evolution of the universe backward. Ecological dynamics suggests instead a smaller set of countervailing postulates that allows evolution to play forward and sets the stage for tripartite causalities, signs, and interpreters—the key elements of biosemiosis—to emerge naturally out of the interaction of chance with configurations of autocatalytic processes. Biosemiosis thereby appears as a fully legitimate outgrowth of the new metaphysic and shows promise for becoming the supervenient focus of a deeper perspective on the phenomenon of life.
DISCUSSION OF THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF BIOSEMIOTICS
Authors: Robinson Andrew , Southgate Christopher , Deacon Terrence
Published: October 2015

Kalevi Kull and colleagues recently proposed eight theses as a conceptual basis for the field of biosemiotics. We use these theses as a framework for discussing important current areas of debate in biosemiotics with particular reference to the articles collected in this issue of Zygon.
DISCERNING THE VOICE OF ZYGON: IDENTITY AND ISSUES
Authors: Hefner Philip
Published: October 2015

The challenge to the journal Zygon as suggested here is to respond to three different reference groups: public intellectuals, academia, and religious communities. An extended discussion follows of what I term the situation of irony in which religion‐and‐science finds itself. I argue that this situation of irony actually constitutes the domain in which our greatest contributions can be offered.
ON THE ROAD WITH RELIGION‐AND‐SCIENCE AND THE ROMANCE OF THE PAST
Authors: Schweitz Lea F.
Published: October 2015

This essay responds to the question “Where Are We Going?Zygon and the Future of Religion‐and‐Science” and was first presented on 9 May 2009 at a symposium honoring Philip Hefner's editorship of Zygon. It offers four suggestions for the future of religion‐and‐science: Ask big questions; encourage cultural literacy in the public sphere; bring a critical voice to other academic disciplines; and include the history of philosophy.
HISTORY AND THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Authors: Tirosh‐Samuelson Hava
Published: October 2015

Philip Hefner identifies three settings in which to assess the future of science and religion: the academy, the public sphere, and the faith community. This essay argues that the discourse of science and religion could improve its standing within the secular academy in America by shifting the focus from theology to history. In the public sphere, the science‐and‐religion discourse could play an important role of promoting tolerance and respect toward the religious Other. For a given faith community (for example, Judaism) the discourse of science and religion can ensure future intellectual depth by virtue of study and ongoing interpretation. The essay challenges the suggestion to adopt irony as a desirable posture for science‐and‐religion discourse.
THE GENETIC RECOMBINATION OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Authors: Modell Stephen M.
Published: October 2015

The estrangement between genetic scientists and theologians originating in the 1960s is reflected in novel combinations of human thought (subject) and genes (investigational object), paralleling each other through the universal process known in chaos theory as self‐similarity. The clash and recombination of genes and knowledge captures what Philip Hefner refers to as irony, one of four voices he suggests transmit the knowledge and arguments of the religion‐and‐science debate. When viewed along a tangent connecting irony to leadership, journal dissemination, and the activities of the “public intellectual” and the public at large, the sequence of voices is shown to resemble the passage of genetic information from DNA to mRNA, tRNA, and protein, and from cell nucleus to surrounding environment. In this light, Hefner's inquiry into the voices of Zygon is bound up with the very subject matter Zygon covers.
A LITERARY TRINITY FOR COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Authors: Teske John A.
Published: October 2015

The cognitive sciences may be understood to contribute to religion‐and‐science as a metadisciplinary discussion in ways that can be organized according to the three persons of narrative, encoding the themes of consciousness, relationality, and healing. First‐person accounts are likely to be important to the understanding of consciousness, the “hard problem” of subjective experience, and contribute to a neurophenomenology of mind, even though we must be aware of their role in human suffering, their epistemic limits, and their indirect causal role in human behavior and subsequent experience. Second‐person discussions are important for understanding the empathic and embodied relationality upon which an externalist account of mind is likely to depend, increasingly uncovered and supported by social neuroscience. Third‐person accounts can be better understood in uncovering the us/them distinctions that they encode and healing the dangerous tribalisms that put an interdependent and communal world increasingly at risk.
CONCERNING DIVERSITY AND PRACTICALITY
Authors: Koss‐Chioino Joan D.
Published: October 2015

I raise issues about the scope and content of the religion‐and‐science field of study and suggest that cultural diversity has not been considered relevant or important. Adding it to the present foci of discussion yields different ideas and constructs about the nature and experience of religion than currently found in most of the religion‐and‐science literature. Consideration of cultural diversity not only broadens the ideas and constructs but also leads to practical (applied) considerations that have not been prominent in this field.
ARE EVOLUTIONARY/COGNITIVE THEORIES OF RELIGION RELEVANT FOR PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION?
Authors: Peterson Gregory R.
Published: October 2015

Biological theories of religious belief are sometimes understood to undermine the very beliefs they are describing, proposing an alternative explanation for the causes of belief different from that given by religious believers themselves. This article surveys three categories of biological theorizing derived from evolutionary biology, cognitive science of religion, and neuroscience. Although each field raises important issues and in some cases potential challenges to the legitimacy of religious belief, in most cases the significance of these theories for the holding of religious beliefs is not very great.
FALSIFIABILITY AND TRACTION IN THEORIES OF DIVINE ACTION
Authors: Jones Kile
Published: October 2015

One of the most focused research programs in the science‐religion dialogue that has taken place up to the present is the series of volumes published jointly by the Vatican Observatory and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Originating with the encouragement of Pope John Paul II, this series has produced seven volumes focusing on how divine action can be understood in light of contemporary science. A retrospective volume published in 2008, Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action: Twenty Years of Challenge and Progress, contains articles reviewing the series as a whole. In this article I analyze the series as a whole as well as some of the pivotal problems discussed throughout the series, such as the zero‐sum game, scientific “traction,” falsifiability in theories of divine action, and locating special divine action in the physical world.
PALEY'S iPOD: THE COGNITIVE BASIS OF THE DESIGN ARGUMENT WITHIN NATURAL THEOLOGY
Authors: De Cruz Helen , De Smedt Johan
Published: October 2015

The argument from design stands as one of the most intuitively compelling arguments for the existence of a divine Creator. Yet, for many scientists and philosophers, Hume's critique and Darwin's theory of natural selection have definitely undermined the idea that we can draw any analogy from design in artifacts to design in nature. Here, we examine empirical studies from developmental and experimental psychology to investigate the cognitive basis of the design argument. From this it becomes clear that humans spontaneously discern purpose in nature. When constructed theologically and philosophically correctly, the design argument is not presented as conclusive evidence for God's existence but rather as an abductive, probabilistic argument. We examine the cognitive basis of probabilistic judgments in relationship to natural theology. Placing emphasis on how people assess improbable events, we clarify the intuitive appeal of Paley's watch analogy. We conclude that the reason why some scientists find the design argument compelling and others do not lies not in any intrinsic differences in assessing design in nature but rather in the prior probability they place on complexity being produced by chance events or by a Creator. This difference provides atheists and theists with a rational basis for disagreement.
TRANSFORMING THEOLOGICAL SYMBOLS
Authors: Shults F. LeRon
Published: October 2015

In this essay I explore the need for transforming the Christian theological symbols of the Trinity, Incarnation, and Redemption, which arose in the context of neo‐Platonic metaphysics, in light of late modern, especially Peircean, metaphysics and categories. I engage and attempt to complement the proposal by Andrew Robinson and Christopher Southgate (in this issue of Zygon) with insights from the Peircean‐inspired philosophical theology of Robert Neville. I argue that their proposal can be strengthened by acknowledging the way in which theological symbols themselves have a transformative (pragmatic) effect as they are “taken” in context and “break” on the Infinite.
TOWARD A THEOLOGY OF BOUNDARY
Authors: Law Jeremy T.
Published: October 2015

Awareness of boundary, both physical and mental, is seen as the beginning of perception. In any account of the world, therefore, boundary must be a ubiquitous component. In sharp contrast, accounts of God within the Christian tradition commonly have proceeded by the affirmation that God is above and beyond boundary as infinite, timeless, and simple. To overcome this “problem of transcendence,” of how such a God can relate to such a world, an eight‐term grammar of boundary is developed to demonstrate how God as Trinity can properly be held to be without boundary yet constitute the ground of a bounded world. This leads to a way of granting theological significance to the origin and development of life. Life is seen to exist in dynamic, intentional relationships between context (“outside”) and intext (“inside”) across permeable boundaries through which an exchange of resources and information takes place for the sake of self‐continuation. Comprehending life's distinctive utilization of boundary in terms of the grammar developed here enables life to be seen not only as a vestige of the Trinity but also, precisely because of this, as a sign and parable of redemption.
KNOWLEDGE CODIFICATION, INSTITUTIONS AND FINANCIAL MARKETS
Authors: MORRISON ALAN D.
Published: October 2015

Outcomes in financial markets depend upon the information available to market participants, and upon the contractual commitments that they can make. Many important commitments in financial markets are made outside the formal law, using institutional mechanisms that provide a plausible basis for commitment. Advances in information technology and changes to the political environment alter the institutions that are needed to support economic life, and hence should result in regulatory change. I illustrate this point with examples from investment and commercial banking, and I relate the design of regulatory institutions to the political and technological environment within which they operate.
MACRO‐FINANCE MODELS OF INTEREST RATES AND THE ECONOMY
Authors: RUDEBUSCH GLENN D.
Published: October 2015

During the past decade, much new research has combined elements of finance, monetary economics and macroeconomics in order to study the relationship between the term structure of interest rates and the economy. In this survey, I describe three different strands of such interdisciplinary macro‐finance term structure research. The first adds macroeconomic variables and structure to a canonical arbitrage‐free finance representation of the yield curve. The second examines bond pricing and bond risk premiums in a canonical macroeconomic dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. The third develops a new class of arbitrage‐free term structure models that are empirically tractable and well suited to macro‐finance investigations.
PREFERENTISM AND SELF‐SACRIFICE
Authors: HEATHWOOD CHRIS
Published: October 2015

According to the argument from self‐sacrifice, standard, unrestricted desire‐based theories of welfare fail because they have the absurd implication that self‐sacrifice is conceptually impossible. I attempt to show that, in fact, the simplest imaginable, completely unrestricted desire‐based theory of well‐being is perfectly compatible with the phenomenon of self‐sacrifice – so long as the theory takes the right form. I go on to consider a new argument from self‐sacrifice against this simple theory, which, I argue, also fails. I conclude that, contrary to popular opinion, considerations of self‐sacrifice do not pose a problem for preferentist theories of welfare.
“War by other Means” or Nonviolent Resistance? Examining the Discourses Surrounding Berkeley’s Divestment Bill
Authors: Hallward Maia Carter , Shaver Patrick
Published: October 2015

This article explores the discourses surrounding the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement aimed at ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although the boycott strategy is a form of unarmed resistance and thus nonviolent in scope, it has not been widely framed as a “nonviolent” movement. Furthermore, the boycott movement has often been framed in negative terms in Western media, and Israeli representatives have gone so far as to call the BDS movement anti‐Semitic, claiming it seeks to delegitimize the State of Israel. This article parses out how activists and opponents frame the movement and the extent to which these framings reflect actual practice and goals of the movement, through focusing on the case of the University of California, Berkeley student government’s effort to pass a divestment bill in spring 2010. The authors argue that supporters and opponents use different approaches to peace and conflict, which influences how they view the BDS movement.
Non‐uptake of highly active antiretroviral therapy among patients with a CD4 count < 350 cells/μL in the UK
Authors: Kober C , Johnson M , Fisher M , Hill T , Anderson J , Bansi L , Gompels M , Palfreeman A , Dunn D , Gazzard B , Gilson R , Post F , Phillips AN , Walsh J , Orkin C , Delpech V , Ainsworth J , Leen C , Sabin CA ,   the UK Collaborative HIV Cohort (CHIC) Study
Published: October 2015

Objectives

Current British HIV Association (BHIVA) guidelines recommend that all patients with a CD4 count <350 cells/μL are offered highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We identified risk factors for delayed initiation of HAART following a CD4 count <350 cells/μL.

Methods

All adults under follow‐up in 2008 who had a first confirmed CD4 count <350 cells/μL from 2004 to 2008, who had not initiated treatment and who had >6 months of follow‐up were included in the study. Characteristics at the time of the low CD4 cell count and over follow‐up were compared to identify factors associated with delayed HAART uptake. Analyses used proportional hazards regression with fixed (sex/risk group, age, ethnicity, AIDS, baseline CD4 cell count and calendar year) and time‐updated (frequency of CD4 cell count measurement, proportion of CD4 counts <350 cells/μL, latest CD4 cell count, CD4 percentage and viral load) covariates.

Results

Of 4871 patients with a confirmed low CD4 cell count, 436 (8.9%) remained untreated. In multivariable analyses, those starting HAART were older [adjusted relative hazard (aRH)/10 years 1.15], were more likely to be female heterosexual (aRH 1.13), were more likely to have had AIDS (aRH 1.14), had a greater number of CD4 measurements < 350 cells/μL (aRH/additional count 1.18), had a lower CD4 count over follow‐up (aRH/50 cells/μL higher 0.57), had a lower CD4 percentage (aRH/5% higher 0.90) and had a higher viral load (aRH/log10 HIV‐1 RNA copies/ml higher 1.06). Injecting drug users (aRH 0.53), women infected with HIV via nonsexual or injecting drug use routes (aRH 0.75) and those of unknown ethnicity (aRH 0.69) were less likely to commence HAART.

Conclusion

A substantial minority of patients with a CD4 count < 350 cells/μL remain untreated despite its indication.
‘Chimerica’ and the Global Asset Market Boom*
Authors: Ferguson Niall , Schularick Moritz
Published: October 2015

Over the past five years the world has witnessed a spectacular boom in asset prices. This paper reviews different explanations for this phenomenon, and argues that future financial historians will point to the divergence between high returns on capital and the low cost of capital, not to excess liquidity or asset shortage, as the driving force in global asset markets. The integration of the massive Asian labour force into the world economy has significantly increased global returns on capital while the cost of capital as measured by long‐term real interest rates has not increased, but has actually fallen. We label this two‐sided phenomenon ‘Chimerica’ because it is in large measure consequence of the symbiotic economic relationship that has developed between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. Not only has plentiful Chinese and Asian labour increased global returns to capital; Chinese excess savings have also depressed US and global interest rates. We show that the Chinese ‘savings glut’ was not primarily a function of precautionary household behaviour, but of surging corporate profits in China due to increasing exchange rate undervaluation.
Do the Use of Proceeds Disclosure and Bank Characteristics Affect Bank Underwriters’ Certification Roles?
Authors: Suzuki Katsushi , Yamada Kazuo
Published: October 2015

Abstract:  This paper examines the relationship between the intended use‐of‐proceeds and the bank characteristics and the bank underwriters’ certification effect in Japan. We find that the bank underwriters are positively associated with the announcement return and the post‐issue performance. However, if an issuer discloses that the intended use‐of‐proceeds is the repayment of loans, the bank underwriters are no longer associated with the announcement return and the post‐issue performance. We also find that the banks’ equity holdings are negatively associated with the announcement return. We conclude that the bank certification effect differs depending on the disclosed intended use‐of‐proceeds and the bank characteristics.
On the Anomalous Stock Price Response to Management Earnings Forecasts
Authors: Das Somnath , Kim Kyonghee , Patro Sukesh
Published: October 2015

Abstract:  This paper examines stock price formation subsequent to management forecasts of quarterly earnings. In the post‐announcement period, we find a significant upward price drift for both good news forecasts and bad news forecasts. Combined with the asymmetry in the initial market response, the upward post‐guidance drift in stock prices is consistent with a reversal of an initial overreaction to managers’ bad news forecasts and a continuation of an initial underreaction to managers’ good news forecasts. This interpretation is supported by a negative (positive) relationship between the initial market response and the post‐guidance drift in the bad news (good news) group. The drift pattern is robust to issues arising from measurement. Trading strategies exploiting the post‐announcement drift suggest the existence of economically significant trading profits, net of estimated trading costs.
CEO Compensation from M&As in Australia
Authors: Bugeja Martin , da Silva Rosa Raymond , Duong Lien , Izan H.Y
Published: October 2015

Abstract:  We investigate Australian CEO compensation following mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We find CEOs of acquiring firms receive higher compensation in the year of M&A completion and one year after. We also find a positive correlation between CEO compensation and firm performance, and some measures of CEO effort and skill in completing the deal. However, CEOs of bidding firms receive a lower bonus and other compensation if they wield more managerial power (that is, if the CEO sits on the nominating committee, has a higher level of share ownership, or the board has more executive directors). This result is in sharp contrast to the US where compensation is influenced by CEO power. Overall our findings are more consistent with the predictions of the incentive alignment theory rather than the managerial power theory.
Evolution of electrosensory ampullary organs: conservation of Eya4 expression during lateral line development in jawed vertebrates
Authors: Modrell Melinda S. , Baker Clare V. H.
Published: October 2015

The lateral line system of fishes and amphibians comprises two ancient sensory systems: mechanoreception and electroreception. Electroreception is found in all major vertebrate groups (i.e. jawless fishes, cartilaginous fishes, and bony fishes); however, it was lost in several groups including anuran amphibians (frogs) and amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals), as well as in the lineage leading to the neopterygian clade of bony fishes (bowfins, gars, and teleosts). Electroreception is mediated by modified “hair cells,” which are collected in ampullary organs that flank lines of mechanosensory hair cell containing neuromasts. In the axolotl (a urodele amphibian), grafting and ablation studies have shown a lateral line placode origin for both mechanosensory neuromasts and electrosensory ampullary organs (and the neurons that innervate them). However, little is known at the molecular level about the development of the amphibian lateral line system in general and electrosensory ampullary organs in particular. Previously, we identified Eya4 as a marker for lateral line (and otic) placodes, neuromasts, and ampullary organs in a shark (a cartilaginous fish) and a paddlefish (a basal ray‐finned fish). Here, we show that Eya4 is similarly expressed during otic and lateral line placode development in the axolotl (a representative of the lobe‐finned fish clade). Furthermore, Eya4 expression is specifically restricted to hair cells in both neuromasts and ampullary organs, as identified by coexpression with the calcium‐buffering protein Parvalbumin3. As well as identifying new molecular markers for amphibian mechanosensory and electrosensory hair cells, these data demonstrate that Eya4 is a conserved marker for lateral line placodes and their derivatives in all jawed vertebrates.
Four Responsibilities of the Tuberculosis Nurse, Circa 1919
Authors: King Marilyn Givens
Published: October 2015

Specialization in public health nursing practice was beginning to occur early in the 20th century. In a 1919 paper published in The Public Health Nurse, Mary Van Zile argued that there were four essential functions of the tuberculosis nurse. Later that year, Janet Scott reported on the results of a partnership between the tuberculosis dispensary, the Lions Club, and other Oklahoma City community organizations, which illustrated the application of Van Zile's principles, and the expanding scope of public health nursing practice.
Debt Issued Through Others: Conduits, Joint Powers Authorities, and Borrowing Costs in California Local Governments
Authors: ROBBINS MARK D. , SIMONSEN BILL
Published: October 2015

The issuance of debt is a complicated and time‐consuming task requiring governments to pay substantial fixed transaction costs. Conduit financings, where one entity issues debt on behalf of a government, including bond pools, where multiple governments issue debt together, are methods that offer the potential to reduce the burdens of participating governments, ideally lowering their costs. But conduit hosts have costs of their own to cover and may not be able to offer a cost advantage to their participants. In this paper we examine debt issued under the Marks Roos Act of 1985, a law created to facilitate pooling but actually used for conduit financing. We seek to determine how issuers fare using this mechanism rather than issuing by themselves. We examine issuance costs and borrowing costs (true interest cost) and find both to be significantly lower for those governments that issued by themselves.
A Socioeconomic Analysis of Property Assessment Uniformity: Empirical Evidence on the Role of Policy
Authors: ROSS JUSTIN M.
Published: October 2015

Though property assessment uniformity has been repeatedly studied as a technical problem related to the difficulty of the task, popular, and policy sentiment against the property tax is frequently directed at the incidence of nonuniformity across socioeconomic groups. Using data from Virginia, this paper brings socioeconomic determinants to the forefront of the analysis and their interaction with policy. Unlike the previous literature that employs controls for the time passed since the last reassessment, this paper consider show policy and socioeconomic variables may exert different influences between assessments. For example, the results indicate that elected and appointed assessors perform similarly during mass reappraisals in terms of maintaining uniformity, but appointed assessors perform far better during nonassessment years.
Tax Base Composition and Revenue Volatility: Evidence from the U.S. States
Authors: KWAK SUNJOO
Published: October 2015

This study examines the effect of tax base composition on revenue volatility, with focus on state general sales tax and individual income tax. In doing so, extensive historical data (1992–2007) are presented on state taxation of various categories of sales and incomes that exhibit wide cross‐state variations in taxable status, and revenue volatility is measured using the deviation‐from‐trend approach. Models of sales and income tax volatility are estimated using pooled OLS, and the analyses reveal that revenue volatility is significantly affected by how the tax base is composed. The paper concludes by discussing the policy implications of the results.
Street as Courtroom: State Accommodation of Labor Protest in South China
Authors: Su Yang , He Xin
Published: October 2015

Drawing on data collected from district-level governments, this article studies how the Chinese state responds to labor protests in South China. It examines both the internal logic and operational patterns of the state response involving the local courts and an assortment of government agencies. Internal documents and interviews reveal an emerging mode of state reaction. In the context of protest, the courts and related government agencies engage protesters on the street, which often grants a favorable resolution. This “street as courtroom” is a result of the weak capacity of the legal system coupled with a government-wide campaign to build a “harmonious society.” These findings compel researchers to reconsider the institutional boundaries of the prototypical court, the outcome of social protest, and the appropriate role of the courts in China.
The impact of recycling on the long‐run forestry
Authors: Tatoutchoup Didier , Gaudet Gérard
Published: October 2015

Abstract Interest in recycling of forest products has grown in recent years, one of the goals being to conserve trees or possibly increase their number to compensate for positive externalities generated by the forest and neglected by the market. This paper explores the issue as to whether recycling is an appropriate measure to attain such a goal. We do this by considering the problem of the private owner of an area of land, who, acting as a price taker, decides how to allocate his land over time between forestry and some other use, and at what age to harvest the forest area chosen. Once the forest is cut, he makes a new land allocation decision and replants. He does so indefinitely, in a Faustmann‐like framework. The wood from the harvest is transformed into a final product that is partly recycled into a substitute for the virgin wood, so that past output affects the current price. We show that in such a context, increasing the rate of recycling will result in less area being devoted to forestry. It will also have the effect of increasing the harvest age of the forest, as long as the planting cost is positive. The net effect on the flow of virgin wood being harvested to supply the market will as a result be ambiguous. An important point, however, is that recycling will result in fewer trees in the long run, not more. It would therefore be best to resort to other means if the goal is to conserve the area devoted to forestry.
Private money and bank runs
Authors: Sun Hongfei , Huangfu Stella
Published: October 2015

Abstract This paper studies bank runs in a model with private money. We show that allowing claims on demand deposits to circulate as a medium of exchange can help prevent bank runs. In our model, there exists a unique banking equilibrium where no one demands early withdrawals of real goods and agents in need of liquidity use private money to finance consumption. With private money, the unique equilibrium not only eliminates bank runs but also improves banking efficiency. The implications of our model are consistent with the evidence from the banking history of the United States.
Product line pricing in a vertically differentiated oligopoly
Authors: Deltas George , Stengos Thanasis , Zacharias Eleftherios
Published: October 2015

Abstract This paper examines the joint pricing decision of products in a firm’s product line. When products are distinguished by a vertical characteristic, those with higher values of that characteristic will command higher prices. We investigate whether, holding the value of the characteristic constant, there is an additional price premium for products on the industry and/or the firm frontier, that is, for the products with the highest value of the characteristic in the market or in a firm’s product line. We also investigate the existence of price premia for lower‐ranked products and other product line pricing questions. Using personal computer price data, we show that prices decline with the distance from the industry and firm frontiers, even after holding absolute quality constant. We find evidence that consumer tastes for brands is stronger for the consumers of frontier products (and thus competition between firms weaker in the top end of the market). There is also evidence that a product’s price is higher if a firm offers products with the immediately faster and immediately slower computer chip (holding the total number of a firm’s offerings constant), possibly as an attempt to reduce cannibalization. Finally, a product’s price declines with the time it is offered by a firm, suggesting intertemporal price discrimination.
Why Be Authentic? Psychocultural Underpinnings of Authenticity among Baby Boomers in the United States
Authors: Jung Hyang Jin
Published: October 2015

AbstractIn this article I explore the psychocultural underpinnings of authenticity as a signature feature of late modernity. I examine the self‐narratives of baby boomers in the United States, the generation that came of age under emerging postmodern conditions. The data point to shared emotional dynamics that not only provide a culture of authenticity with a strong motivational foundation but also inform the subjective experiences of modern rationality. The baby boomers, from their own bodily feelings and emotions, present a poignant critique of modern rationality. This antimodernist stance leads them to the postmodern conception and practice of selfhood, at the heart of which lies authenticity. The postmodern self takes shape by way of antimodernism, but remains within the modernist tradition of self‐transformation. Throughout the paradoxical contour of inner experiences of modernity is found a remarkable cultural and generational continuity.
Performativity in the Bilingual Classroom: The Plight of English Learners in the Current Reform Context
Authors: Pacheco Mariana
Published: October 2015

This article analyzes illustrative classroom events documented during an ethnographic study of bilingual classrooms in a “high‐achieving” school. Through a performativity lens that emphasizes the discursive constitution of subjectivities, I demonstrate how discourses around achievement and success in the current reform context exacerbated one bilingual teacher's deficit‐oriented ideologies about English learners and their families. This analysis has implications for practitioners and researchers interested in effectively supporting our most vulnerable student populations, and their teachers, in public schools. [English learners, accountability, literacy, performativity, bilingual education]
The Role of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD): Confronting the Problem of Illegal Drugs in the Americas
Authors: Horwitz Betty
Published: October 2015

The illegal drug trade has become a serious threat for the Americas. Is a multilateral approach to combat it possible? This article proposes that the United States and Latin America are finding ways to use multilateral organisms to confront this threat and examines as an example the role of CICAD in setting a cooperative agenda to develop an antidrug regime. CICAD has established common ground for long-term cooperation in certain areas. But common drug strategies in the Americas require the support of the United States and the cooperation of Latin American states, both of which are still works in progress. Therefore the future of the CICAD-inspired antidrug regime will depend on whether the United States and Latin America will cooperate to define the illegal drug threat in the same way and bestow on CICAD the authority necessary to address it.
Legislative Parties in Volatile, Nonprogrammatic Party Systems: The Peruvian Case in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Alemán Eduardo , Ponce Aldo F. , Sagarzazu Iñaki
Published: October 2015

This article extends the analysis of political parties in electorally volatile and organizationally weak party systems by evaluating two implications centered on legislative voting behavior. First, it examines whether disunity prevails where weakness of programmatic and electoral commonalities abound. Second, it analyzes whether inchoate party systems weaken the ability of government parties to control the congressional agenda. The empirical analysis centers on Peru, a classic example of a weakly institutionalized party system, and how its legislative parties compare to those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States. The results lend support to the view that lower unity characterizes weakly institutionalized settings. The agenda-setting power of government parties, however, appears to be influenced more by the majority status of the government than by the level of party system institutionalization.
An Integrated Model of Vote Choice in Argentina, 2009
Authors: Cataife Guido
Published: October 2015

This article studies voter behavior in Argentina. Do voters vote based on issues? Do they vote based on economic performance? What segments of the population are more or less likely to do so? What is the relative impact of issues and the economy in vote choice? To provide a reliable answer to these questions, this study uses a mixed-logit model of spatial voting with nonpolicy components. Contrary to the common belief, the analysis finds that issue voting is a statistically significant and important factor. Economic voting is prevalent in the middle and upper classes, but not among poor voters.
Missing women? The under‐recording and under‐reporting of women's work in Malaysia
Authors: FRANCK Anja Karlsson , OLSSON Jerry
Published: October 2015

Common methods to collect data on women's labour force participation frequently result in under‐reporting and under‐recording of their work. Based on fieldwork in Malaysia's Penang state, this article presents some of the difficulties associated with recording women's informal work. It contributes to theorization on the under‐reporting of women's remunerative activities in official surveys by arguing that while women's work is often devalued, under‐reporting may also be the result of women making strategic and pragmatic choices. By reporting themselves as “housewives”, for example, they may avoid questioning their society's gendered norms while securing their own interests in work outside the home.
Identification of metallic items that caused nickel dermatitis in Danish patients
Authors: Thyssen Jacob P. , Menné Torkil , Johansen Jeanne D.
Published: October 2015

Introduction: Nickel allergy is prevalent as assessed by epidemiological studies.

Objectives: In an attempt to further identify and characterize sources that may result in nickel allergy and dermatitis, we analysed items identified by nickel‐allergic dermatitis patients as causative of nickel dermatitis by using the dimethylglyoxime (DMG) test.

Materials and methods: Dermatitis patients with nickel allergy of current relevance were identified over a 2‐year period in a tertiary referral patch test centre. When possible, their work tools and personal items were examined with the DMG test.

Results: Among 95 nickel‐allergic dermatitis patients, 70 (73.7%) had metallic items investigated for nickel release. A total of 151 items were investigated, and 66 (43.7%) gave positive DMG test reactions. Objects were nearly all purchased or acquired after the introduction of the EU Nickel Directive. Only one object had been inherited, and only two objects had been purchased outside of Denmark.

Conclusions: DMG testing is valuable as a screening test for nickel release and should be used to identify relevant exposures in nickel‐allergic patients. Mainly consumer items, but also work tools used in an occupational setting, released nickel in dermatitis patients. This study confirmed ‘risk items' from previous studies, including mobile phones.
Idiotypic networks: toward a renaissance?
Authors: Behn Ulrich
Published: October 2015

Summary:  Idiotypic networks, after being a dominating paradigm for more than a decade, have fallen out of fashion in parallel with the rapid success of molecular immunobiology. Today signs of a possible renaissance in idiotypic network studies are visible. For system biologists and also for physicists, the network idea remains attractive. Herein, a short account of the historical development of the paradigm is given. The necessary technical and conceptual ingredients for a theoretical description of idiotypic networks are briefly reviewed, and previous approaches are discussed. We also describe a minimalistic model developed in our group that allows for understanding the random evolution toward a highly non‐trivial complex architecture. In the network, a connected large cluster of idiotype clones and many disconnected ones coexist, thus resembling the notion of central and peripheral parts proposed in the ‘second‐generation’ version of the paradigm. The connected cluster consists of groups of idiotypic clones with clearly distinct statistical properties. The simplicity of the model allows for calculating the size of the groups and the number of inter‐ and intragroup links, which define the architecture. Aspects of idiotypic interactions in experimental medicine are discussed, along with the challenges to theory and experimentation.