bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bilan et perspectives de la sociologie de la science dans les pays occidentaux
Authors: Lécuyer Bernard-Pierre
Published: July 2009

Définir d'emblée la sociologie de la science n'est pas choseaisée. Y parviendrait-on même que l'exploit formel aurait peu d'intérêt, dépourvue que serait la définition des référents empiriques qui lui donneraient un sens. Contentons-nous done d'affirmer ici que la sociologie de la science, si multiples que soient ses acceptions et ses tendances, est une incontestable réalité intellectuelle qui s'efforce souvent avec succès de conquérir une dignité scientifique. Quatre remarques s'imposent d'emblée:

1) Comme la sociologie du travail et plus encore la sociologie militaire, la sociologie de la science s'est développée bien après que les activités sociales qu'elle veut étudier, e'est-à-dire la recherche et l'enseignement scientifiques, fussent devenues (a) des activités numériquement importantes, (b) consommant des ressources considérables, (c) dont les résultats ont une certaine importance pour chacun des États-nations concernés.
Blacks Jews: the religious challenge or politics versus religion
Authors: Santamaria Ulysses
Published: July 2009

Amongst the many religious groups to be found in the United States, one is remarkable and very little known : the Black Hebrews. This group shares structural characteristics common to many minorities, but is also distinguished by a dual identity derived from the experience of slavery and the cultural mix specific to the New World.
Ungleichheitssemantiken : Graduelle Unterschiede und kategoriale Exklusivitäten
Authors: Berger Peter A.
Published: July 2009

Moderne Gesellschaften produzieren auf vielen Ebenen — in der Wissenschaft, in der Politik, in der Kunst, im »Alltag« — unablässig Beschreibungen ihrer Strukturen und Elemente und versuchen, Ursprung und Richtung ihrer Wandlungen abzuschätzen. Trotz der Ausdifferenzierung eines eigenen »Beobachtungssystems« in Form der institutionalisierten Sozialwissenschaften und trotz der methodischen Kompetenz, die dort mittlerweile angesammelt wurde, ist jedoch angesichts der hohen Komplexität dieser Gesellschaften nicht zu erwarten, daß diese »Selbstbeschreibungen« jemals vollständig oder abgeschlossen sein werden. Ebenso unwahrscheinlich ist es, daß Beschreibungen, die aus dem Blickwinkel unterschiedlicher Beobachter — darunter verstehe ich z.B. gesellschaftliche Subsysteme wie »Politik«, »Ökonomie« oder »Wissenschaft«, aber auch kollektive Akteure, Gruppen und Individuen — angefertigt werden, übereinstimmen. Und dies gilt in gesteigertem Maße für jene Beschreibungen, die mit sozialer Ungleichheit einen normativ in besonderem Maße »aufgeladenen« Bereich zum Thema haben.
Carrion and corpses: conflict in categorizing untouchability in Gujarat
Authors: Randeria Shalini
Published: July 2009

Death is the most potent of all the sources of impurity and inauspiciousness in the life of a Hindu. This paper explores the different discourses on the nature of untouchability in Gujarat in order to delineate the relationship between the collective, permanent pollution of the lowest castes in the caste hierarchy, the so-called ‘Untouchables’, and their occupational specialization involving the disposal of dead animals and human corpses. It also analyses the inter-caste exchange of food and services at two levels: that between each of the untouchable castes and the other castes of a village, and that among the different untouchable castes themselves. The intra-caste sphere of temporary death pollution (sutak) incurred by individuals affected by the death of kin or affines is not dealt with here.
Millenarianism and Mahdism in Lebanon
Authors: Habibis Daphne
Published: July 2009

The image of the Ayatollah Khomeini is inextricably bound up with the popular conception of Islam today. This view of Islam as a religion of fanaticism and violence ignores the existence of a powerful mystical strand in the form of Sufism in which a philosophy of love is central. Between 1980 and 1981, as part of my doctoral research, I spent six months in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, living with the pupils of a Sufi sheik. This group had millenarian beliefs which acted, not as a means of violent insurrection, but rather as a means of reconciling the contradictory and often violent forces to which they were subjected.
Small events-big events: A note on the abstraction of causality
Authors: Eriksson Björn
Published: July 2009

The aim of the article is to define and delimit a fundamental historical change in the construction of causal models and causal explanations on topics dependent on time. The author met with the problem while working with a study on the emergence of the sociological discourse, but had no opportunity then to elaborate it.
Are there limits to rationality?
Authors: Levi Margaret
Published: July 2009

Sociologists have traditionally tended to overstate the role of norms in explaining human behavior. Economists, on the other hand, have tended to downplay the role of norms. Increasingly, rational choice theorists have begun to explore the interaction between normative and instrumentally rational motivations. There are at least two major points at issue in these discussions. First, how does one conceptualize norms, especially in relation to rational action? Second, how does one go about studying the variation in the reliance on norms? Jon Elster's paper offers a controversial answer to the first question. Ralph Turner's paper offers some guidance for answering the second (1). Building on both Elster and Turner, I shall bring a somewhat different perspective to bear on both these issues.
Are there any irrational beliefs?
Authors: Runciman W. G.
Published: July 2009

The purpose of this article is to argue that sociologists, anthropologists, and historians have no need to invoke the, or a, concept of rationality in order either to report or to explain the beliefs of the individuals or groups whom they study. I do not dispute that they may invoke it, or that a range of other purposes can be served thereby. But I do dispute that they must.
Der Berliner Antisemitismusstreit und die Abdankung der rechtlich-praktischen Vernunft
Authors: Geismann Georg
Published: July 2009

Um 1880 fand in Deutschland eine heftige Kontroverse statt, die von der Berliner Universität ausging, welche dann auch am stärksten in sie involviert war. Entfesselt wurde der Streit durch einen Artikel in den Preußischen Jahrbüchern vom November 1879. Autor und späterer Wortführer der einen Seite war der Berliner Historiker Heinrich v. Treitschke. Seine Kontrahenten auf der anderen Seite waren insbesondere sein Berliner Fachkollege Theodor Mommsen sowie der Begründer der Marburger Schule des sogenannten Neukantianismus, der Philosoph Hermann Cohen.
Simulating the great transformation: property change under prolonged informality in Hungary
Authors: Böröcz József
Published: July 2009

Transformations of society-wide organizing principles or, ‘systemic’ features, of property relations are rare historical occurrences and constitute crucial aspects of social change. The recent architectonic rearrangement of the societies of East-Central Europe is especially remarkable as it represents a move away from a unique, very large-scale, comprehensive social experiment concerning the use of state power in establishing and maintaining putative ‘socialist property’ as a ‘systemic’ principle. The ongoing move away from that experiment—the post-state-socialist transition—is a vector with an unmistakable point of departure and a quite nebulous direction.
‘Power follows property’: Zu einem Topos der britischen politischen Herrschaftssoziologie im 17./18. Jahrhundert
Authors: Ottow Raimund
Published: July 2009

James Harrington gilt nach den Arbeiten von John Pocock als zentrale Figur der Vermittlung des von Hans Baron so bezeichneten Denkens des ‘civic humanism’ von den Theoretikern der italienischen Stadtrepubliken der frühen Neuzeit (Bruni, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, u.a.) zu den Liberalen und Republikanern in England und Amerika im 18. Jahrhundert. Iain Hampsher-Monk behauptet sogar, sein Einfluß im 18. Jahrhundert überstrahle den von Hobbes und Locke. Dabei sind seine Theorien im 18. Jahrhundert durchaus selektiv rezipiert worden, wie normal in Fällen der Rezeption unter veränderten historischen Bedingungen. Harrington schrieb zur Zeit des englischen Commonwealth, als nach der Hinrichtung von Charles I die Republik unter Cromwell prekär stabilisiert war. Im 18. Jahrhundert wurde sein Name besonders mit der Maxime ‘that power follows property’ verknüpft, die—hier als Annäherung formuliert—eine Abhängigkeit der Verteilungsstruktur politischer Macht von der Eigentumsstruktur postuliert und sowohl analytischen Wert beansprucht als auch normativ gewendet werden kann: die politische Macht geht aus den Eigentumsverhältnissen hervor, und um die Politik zu stabilisieren, ist die Verteilung politischer Macht den Eigentumsverhältnissen anzumessen.
The stranger in the Bible
Authors: Douglas Mary
Published: July 2009

When the Lord told Moses that his people should love the stranger as themselves (Leviticus 19:34), who was the stranger?
Le charisme selon Max Weber : La Question Sociologique
Authors: Ouédraogo Jean Martin
Published: July 2009

The central sociological issue in Weber's studies on charisma is to account for the emergence, the reproduction, and the eventual disappearance of reference systems. Such a preoccupation is in general keeping with a comprehensive sociology. Beyond that, these studies also aim to clarify the internal mutations of this type of legirimity, its possible conditions, notably in a religious form, relative to specifically modern notions of modernisation, secularisation and disenchantment.
Expliquer le nationalisme: les contradictions d'Ernest Gellner
Authors: Roger Antoine
Published: July 2009

Ernest Gellner's theory of nationalism is founded on a simplistic and deceptive materialistic reasoning, masking the tension between functionalist postulates and historicist inclinations. Various methods are used to resolve this tension. Initially, idealism is introduced into the body of the analysis. When this becomes too visible, the nature of the materialism displayed is discretely modified. Relational materialism — a dynamic articulation between relations to the means of production and relations between classes — gives way to substantialist materialism — based on a mechanical opposition between the means of production and ethno-linnguistic attributes. The use of a consistent vocabulary obscures the elision between the two: ‘structure’ and ‘culture’ are alternatively defined in relational or in substantialist terms. Gellner then returns to relational considerations which make his explanation all the more unclear.
National revivals and violence
Authors: Laitin David D.
Published: July 2009

Micro factors that induce violent confrontations amidst national revival movements are identified. These factors include the nature of local social structures, tipping phenomena, and fortuitous events that set off action/reaction cycles. They are shown to he better explanations than reigning macro theories to account for the peaceful nationalist revival in Catalonia in contrast to the violent one in the Basque Country. A robustness test for the micro factors succeeds in differentiating levels of violence in the politics of separation from the Soviet Union in the Ukraine and Georgia.
Morals of legitimacy in Naples: streetwise about legality, semi-legality and crime
Authors: Pardo Italo
Published: July 2009

This article investigates the relationship of ordinary Neapolitans' morals of legitimacy to legality, semi-legality and crime. It argues that addressing this relationship empirically serves much more than the purpose of making suggestions to be translated into law or policy. Raising key questions about control, value and representation, the analysis brings to light the significance of individual morality and action to the complex relation of domination to authority in civil society.
L'Afrique réinventée ou la construction de la tradition dans les cultes afro-brésiliens
Authors: Capone Stefania
Published: July 2009

Afro-American cults are characterised these days by a movement towards re-Africanisation, which seeks its legitimacy in mythical Africa. But this idea of Africa is the object of a continuous reinterpretation. Ethnologists which studied these cults, in particular the Afro-Brazilian ones, played a central role in the invention of a tradition which seems to have become the main pivot in these religious phenomena today. Membership in these cults by most of the researchers makes the mechanisms for the construction of a dominant model of tradition even more complex.
Interpréter L'Exception. Une Société Qui Questionne L'Anthropologie de la Parenté
Authors: Bouchery Pascal
Published: July 2009

The social organisation of the Na of China is exceptional in that marriage occupies a marginal place and the concept of kinship appears to be absent. This poses fundamental questions for the anthropology of kinship. For Cai Hua this puts into question the universality of marriage, Radcliffe-Brown's definition of the elementary family, and Lévi-Strauss’ theory of alliance. The article is based on the theoretical presupposition which interprets the residual presence of marriage solely as the result of cultural borrowing and provides as a principle the original absence of the institution in this society.
Mad-doctors and Magistrates: English psychiatry's struggle for professional autonomy in the nineteenth century
Authors: Scull Andrew T.
Published: July 2009

ThisPaper is the second of two essays devoted to a sociological examination of the emergence and attempted professionalization of psychiatry in Victorian England. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries witnessed the rapid growth of an institutional response to madness: first in the form of private, profit-making madhouses, and then, via direct state investment in the asylum solution, in the form of a rapidly proliferating network of county asylums coping with the ‘pauper insane’. The development and consolidation of these institutional means of coping with madness parallels that of a group of ‘experts’ in the management of the mad. For it was the existence of institutions which permitted, or perhaps it might be more accurate to say, formed the breeding ground, for this emerging coterie of specialists. During the nineteenth century, at least, ‘psychiatry’ is to all intents and purposes coextensive with ‘institutional psychiatry’.
Constitution-making and institutional design. The transformations of presidentialism in Argentina
Authors: Negretto Gabriel L.
Published: July 2009

This paper presents an analytical framework for the study of constitutional design from the point of view of the structure of interaction and mechanisms of institutional selection that affect the behavior and choices of the actors involved in a constitution-making process. This framework is used to explain the various limitations introduced to the powers of the President in the Argentine constitution of 1994. I argue that two levels of causation determined this reform. At the macro level, the limitation of presidential powers was the outcome of a distribution of political resources and a configuration of preferences among the actors that made possible the resolution of conflicts by means of compromise. At the micro level, the new set of institutions derived from the limited influence of the incumbent executive over constitutional design, the pluralism of the constituent assembly that approved the constitution, and the prevalence of bargaining as a mechanism of collective decision-making. Both levels of action facilitated a consensual constitution-making process from which emerged a powersharing structure that has the potential to lower the stakes of political competition for presidential office and create new rules of mutual trust between government and opposition.
Whence Durkheim's Nietzschean grandchildren? A closer look at Robert Hertz's place in the Durkheimian genealogy
Authors: Riley Alexander T.
Published: July 2009

Recent interptetive work suggests ways of historically situating French post-structuralism as a mingling of Nietzschean philosophy with elements of Durkheimian sociology. This article aims to demonstrate the presence of Nietzschean themes in the life-work of the Durkheimian Robert Hertz and to recognize him as a key figure in the history of this intellectual confluence. An examination of published and private sources reveals Hertz as a prototype of the Nietzschean/Durkheimian intellectuel pathitique of the inter-war period in France.
An ‘ancient sense of politics’? Weber, Caesarism and the Republican tradition
Authors: Baehr Peter
Published: July 2009

This article critically examines recent claims that Weber's political thought has close associations with classical republicanism. One salient indication of Weber's distance from this tradition is his theory of Ceasarism, and his view that modern polities are most robust when they assume a version of it consistent with civil liberties. By employing the resources of Begriffsgcschichte, I examine the extent of Weber's departure from the ‘ancient sense of politics’ and the originality of his own political theory.
Toward a theory of the role of the state in market transition: from bargaining to markets in post-communism
Authors: Domański Henryk , Heyns Barbara
Published: July 2009

State socialism is often analysed as if all institutions functioned in directions diametrically opposed to those in liberal Western states. A frequent assumption in both the East and the West, therefore, is that marketization and democratization require the dismantling of powerful, centralized states. This paper explores changes in the distribution of income in Poland between 1982 and 1991. As market reforms are introduced, power shifts from centralized to decentralized authorities, and from the state to the private sector. Market coordination produces new opportunities and sources of income for rentiers and entrepreneurs, but it also substantially reduces the income share going to direct producers. These data suggest that both economic equality and income determination depend on changes in state policy more than on fledgling markets. Dismantling the centralized state organisation is proved to be much less favorable for economic growth and a better income distribution than usual liberalism would claim.
Bureaucracy and democracy. A critical reading of Alvin W. Gouldner's book Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy
Authors: Vogel Ann
Published: July 2009

In Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy, Alvin W. Gouldner has developed a conception of rational domination which is different from that developed by Max Weber. Gouldner argues that a democratic variation of rational domination (representative bureaucracy) can be more efficient tban the authoritarian variation, and that, accordingly, the ‘iron cage of rationalisation’ is not inevitable. I will show that Gouldner—who is sociologically driven—contradicts Weber on the basis of an erroneous translation and a poor understanding of the concept of bureaucracy. Thus his critique in no way undermines the Weberian typology of domination.
Max weber's manifesto in economic sociology
Authors: Swedberg Richard
Published: July 2009

While references are often made to Weber's economic sociology, it is not commonly known that Weber himself only applied the term economic sociology (Wirtscftssoziologie) to one of his writings, namely to Chapter 2 in Part 1 ofEconomy and Society, “Sociological Categories of Economic Action”. This text, as I show, has basically been ignored in the huge secondary literature that exists on Weber's work as well as by economic sociologists. It represents, however, a very important contribution to Weber's work in economic sociology; indeed, it can be said to constitute Weber's manifesto in economic sociology. “Sociological Categories of Economic Action” is presented and discussed, and an effort is made to make this difficult text accessible as well as to show that it contains some extremely interesting material in economic sociology.
Coming to terms with the past. A framework for the study of justice in the transition to democracy
Authors: Elster Jon
Published: July 2009

After the transition from an authoritarian to a democratic regime, one commonly observes trials of the agents of the former regime and efforts to compensate its victims. In our century, waves of transitional justice have occured in German-occupied countries after 1941, in South- Eastern Europe in the 1970s, in Latin-American countries in the 1980s, and in post-Communist countries after 1989. The article proposes a framework for the behavioral study of these phenomena. The dependent variables are political decisions to pursue retroactive justice after the transition. Independent variables include the constraints of the actors, their motivations and beliefs, as well as the mechanisms by which individual policy preferences are aggregated into binding collective decisions.
The role of a minority's reference state in ethnic relations
Authors: van Houten Pieter
Published: July 2009

This article presents a model of the triangular relationship between minority, majority, and the minority's reference state which is a feature of many ethnic relations. The presence of a reference state can overcome a potential commitment problem between minority and majority if it is perceived to be both militarily strong and moderately irredentist. Empirical material from Croatia, Transylvania, Estonia and Crimea suggests the plausibility of the model. Russia's role as a reference state is particularly interesting.
Models of creativity abroad: migrants, strangers and travellers
Authors: Kupferberg Feiwel
Published: July 2009

Migration, the role of the stranger and travelling are all creativity-enhancing although for different reasons. The migrant model verifies Koestler's hypothesis that new ideas often arise out of combinations of separate frames of thinking. Simmel's theory of the stranger emphasizes the increased objectivity of limited commitments. Rudwick's recently suggested model of liminal experience might help us explain why the seemingly purposeless activity of travelling might also stimulate creativity.
Forms of property rights or class capacities: The example of Tuscan sharecropping
Authors: Emigh Rebecca Jean
Published: July 2009

This paper criticizes the economic perspective that property rights determine economic outcomes, by examining sharecropping, because this form of property right can be associated with remarkably different economic outcomes. In particular, drawing on evidence from fifteenth-century Tuscany, it is argued that landlords' and tenants' class capacities explain sharecropping's variability. The results show that Tuscan sharecropping was efficient and contractual, because the difference in landlords' and tenants' class capacity was relatively small.
Civil society and social order: demarcating and combining market, state and community
Authors: Offe Claus
Published: July 2009

Social change is currently occurring in three directions: political democratisation, economic globalisation, and the spread of postmodern culture. The consequent problems cannot be treated by any of the three known methods of macrosocial regulation: the state, the market, the community. ‘Civil society’ has been assigned the role of synthetic and pluralistic rationalisation.
A further note on civil society
Authors: Kumar Krishan
Published: July 2009

The discourse of civil society has continued to thrive, despite reservations expressed by thinkers from both East and West. Assuming it is here to stay for the time being, at least, which aspects of the concept still need most scrutiny ? What ate the outstanding problems and themes for further reflection ? How best can we make the concept serviceable ? This essay surveys some of the recent literature with an eye to these questions.
A phenomenology of Galileo's experiments with pendulums
Authors: PALMIERI PAOLO
Published: July 2009

The paper reports new findings about Galileo's experiments with pendulums and discusses their significance in the context of Galileo's writings. The methodology is based on a phenomenological approach to Galileo's experiments, supported by computer modelling and close analysis of extant textual evidence. This methodology has allowed the author to shed light on some puzzles that Galileo's experiments have created for scholars.
Criminal Law in the Africa of Today and Tomorrow
Authors: Read James S.
Published: July 2009

Future developments in the criminal laws of many African countries present a number of problems. The influence of English criminal law throughout the English-speaking areas has been universal: even in southern Africa where the legal systems are founded upon Roman-Dutch law, criminal law is to a great extent English in character.2 It will be seen, however, that English principles when applied south of the Zambezi may undergo metamorphosis as a result of reinterpretation according to fundamental notions of the Roman-Dutch system.
Fixed points of certain Anosov maps on Riemannian manifolds
Authors: YOKOYAMA TOMOO
Published: July 2009

We present sufficient conditions for Anosov-type maps on Lie groups or Riemannian manifolds to have fixed points.
Development and implementation cost analysis of telephone- and Internet-based interventions for the maintenance of weight loss
Authors: Meenan Richard T. , Stevens Victor J. , Funk Kristine , Bauck Alan , Jerome Gerald J. , Lien Lillian F. , Appel Lawrence , Hollis Jack F. , Brantley Phillip J. , Svetkey Laura P.
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The Weight Loss Maintenance Trial (WLM) was a multicenter, randomized trial comparing two weight loss maintenance interventions, a personal contact (PC) program with primarily telephone-based monthly contacts, and an Internet-based program (interactive technology, IT), to a self-directed control group, among overweight or obese individuals at high cardiovascular risk. This study describes implementation costs of both interventions as well as IT development costs.

Methods:Resources were micro-costed in 2006 dollars from the primary perspective of a sponsoring healthcare system considering adopting an extant intervention, rather than developing its own. Costs were discounted at 3 percent annually. Length of trial participation was 30 months (randomization during February–November 2004). IT development costs were assessed over 36 months. Univariate and multivariate, including probabilistic, sensitivity analyses were performed.

Results:Total discounted IT development costs over 36 months were $839,949 ($2,414 per IT participant). Discounted 30-month implementation costs for 342 PC participants were $537,242 ($1,571 per participant), and for 348 IT participants, were $214,879 ($617 per participant). Under all plausible scenarios, PC implementation costs exceeded IT implementation costs.

Conclusions:Costs of implementing and operating an Internet-based intervention for weight loss maintenance were substantially less than analogous costs of an intervention using standard phone and in-person contacts and are of a magnitude that would be attractive to many health systems, subject to demonstration of cost-effectiveness.
A valuation of patients' willingness-to-pay for insulin delivery in diabetes
Authors: Guimarães Camila , Marra Carlo A. , Colley Lindsey , Gill Sabrina , Simpson Scot H. , Meneilly Graydon S. , Queiroz Regina H. C. , Lynd Larry D.
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The aim of this study was to determine the insulin-delivery system and the attributes of insulin therapy that best meet patients' preferences, and to estimate patients' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for them.

Methods:This was a cross-sectional discrete choice experiment (DCE) study involving 378 Canadian patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Patients were asked to choose between two hypothetical insulin treatment options made up of different combinations of the attribute levels. Regression coefficients derived using conditional logit models were used to calculate patients' WTP. Stratification of the sample was performed to evaluate WTP by predefined subgroups.

Results:A total of 274 patients successfully completed the survey. Overall, patients were willing to pay the most for better blood glucose control followed by weight gain. Surprisingly, route of insulin administration was the least important attribute overall. Segmented models indicated that insulin naïve diabetics were willing to pay significantly more for both oral and inhaled short-acting insulin compared with insulin users. Surprisingly, type 1 diabetics were willing to pay $C11.53 for subcutaneous short-acting insulin, while type 2 diabetics were willing to pay $C47.23 to avoid subcutaneous short-acting insulin (p< .05). These findings support the hypothesis of a psychological barrier to initiating insulin therapy, but once that this barrier has been overcome, they accommodate and accept injectable therapy as a treatment option.

Conclusions:By understanding and addressing patients' preferences for insulin therapy, diabetes educators can use this information to find an optimal treatment approach for each individual patient, which may ultimately lead to improved control, through improved compliance, and better diabetes outcomes.
Effects of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's technology appraisals on prescribing and net ingredient costs of drugs in the National Health Service in England
Authors: Dietrich Eva Susanne
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE's) negative and restricting technology appraisals on the number of prescription items dispensed and the corresponding total net ingredient costs for drugs from 2000 to 2004 in the ambulatory care of the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales. In addition, it is discussed whether the NICE approach could be a role model for Germany.

Methods:The number of prescription items dispensed and the net ingredient costs of thirty-one drugs reimbursed by the NHS were analyzed, thereof thirteen drugs descriptively and twenty-one drugs with regression analyses. Data were extracted from the “Prescription-Costs-Analysis-Statistics” for the ambulatory care of the British Department of Health (England 1993–2005). In the case of the twenty-one drugs analyzed by regression analyses, predictions were established how the prescribing and the costs would have developed without NICE's drug appraisal. Finally, conclusions were drawn whether NICE's negative and restricting drug appraisals had a decreasing effect or not.

Results:For 97 percent of the drugs analyzed in this study, the publication of NICE's fourteen negative and restricting technology appraisals of drugs between 2000 and 2004 did not reduce the number of prescription items dispensed and net ingredient costs in the ambulatory care of the NHS in England and Wales.

Conclusions:Cost-effectiveness appraisals as performed by NICE or the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, IQWiG) are a useful and important tool to enhance the discussion about methods and acceptance of evidence-based medicine in general.
Policy implications of rationalization of statin use in Lithuania
Authors: Kadusevicius Edmundas , Jankauskiene Danguole , Paulauskaite Inga , Slapikas Rimvydas
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The aim of this study was to assess the trends and costs of statin use in Lithuania over a 3-year period and perform a cost-minimization and reference price analysis to rationalize the use of financial resources of the National Health Care System.

Methods: The defined daily dose (DDD) methodology was applied for assessment of statin use, which was expressed in DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day. Cost minimization and reference price calculations were used in the economic analysis.

Results:Over the 3-year period (2005–2007), the consumption and expenditures of statins in Lithuania doubled. The consumption went up from 3.87 DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day (in 2005) to 8.35 DDD/1,000 inhabitants/day (in 2007). Total expenses of statins increased during the same period from LTL6.186 million in 2005 to LTL12.418 million in 2007. Approximately 68 percent of the estimated costs for statins in 2007 were for atorvastatin. Provided that the calculated reference prices were fixed, the estimated savings would amount to a minimum of LTL1.371 million per year and could reach yearly savings in the order of LTL3.163 million. The total expenses would drop by at least 11 percent, and the decrease in costs could be as high as 25 percent (€1 = LTL3.4528).

Conclusions:Statins consumption is still very low in Lithuania in comparison with other European Union countries. Implementation of cholesterol education programs and changing reimbursement profile for statins therapy will increase consumption and expenditures. The introduction of reference-based pricing as an indirect cost control policy would help rationalizing the use of statins and their expenditures.
The process of updating the National List of Health Services in Israel: Is it legitimate? Is it fair?
Authors: Greenberg Dan , Siebzehner Miriam I. , Pliskin Joseph S.
Published: July 2009

Objective:The Israeli National Health Insurance Law stipulates a National List of Health Services (NLHS) to which all residents are entitled from their HMOs. This list has been updated annually for almost a decade using a structured review and decision-making process. Although this process has been described in detail in previous papers, none of these have fully addressed legitimacy and fairness. We examine the legitimacy and fairness of the process of updating the NLHS in Israel.

Methods:We assessed the priority-setting process for compliance with the four conditions of accountability for reasonableness outlined by Daniels and Sabin (relevance, publicity, appeals, and enforcement). These conditions emphasize transparency and stakeholder engagement in democratic deliberation.

Results:Our analysis suggests that the Israeli process for updating the NLHS does not fulfill the appeals and enforcement conditions, and only partially follows the publicity and relevance conditions, outlined in the accountability for reasonableness framework. The main obstacles for achieving these goals may relate to the large number of technologies assessed each year within a short time frame, the lack of personnel engaged in health technology assessment, and the desire for early adoption of new technologies.

Conclusions:The process of updating the NLHS in Israel is unique and not without merit. Changes in the priority-setting process should be made to increase its acceptability among the different stakeholders.
Differences in the identification process for new and emerging health technologies: Analysis of the EuroScan database
Authors: Ibargoyen-Roteta Nora , Gutierrez-Ibarluzea Iñaki , Benguria-Arrate Gaizka , Galnares-Cordero Lorea , Asua José
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The aim of this study was to analyze the EuroScan Database and to describe and compare the characteristics of the included technologies and participating agencies.

Methods:Data of interest were exported from the EuroScan Database to Excel and to SPSS. A descriptive analysis depending on the agency, type of technology, stage of diffusion, and technology purpose was conducted. A frequency distribution analysis of the diffusion stage for different technology types and assigned purposes was made with the EpiCalc 2000 statistical calculator. Apvalue of less than .05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Results:Four agencies introduced the great majority of the technologies (81 percent), with drugs representing the 46.26 percent of the total, followed by devices (21.21 percent). The purpose of 24.45 percent of the identified technologies was not specified, and 34.58 percent of them were identified at the investigational or phase III stage. The frequency distribution of diffusion stage at identification was found to be similar for devices and diagnostics (p= .543), whereas drugs were identified earlier than devices (p<.001). Some agencies were found to focus their work on drugs, whereas others focused mainly on devices. Interagency differences were also observed with regard to the stage of diffusion at which technologies were identified.

Conclusions:This is the first analysis of one of the most important databases on new and emerging health technologies. Our study suggests that more active strategies should be designed to provide an earlier identification, mainly in the case of devices.
Home telehealth for chronic disease management: A systematic review and an analysis of economic evaluations
Authors: Polisena Julie , Coyle Doug , Coyle Kathryn , McGill Sarah
Published: July 2009

Objectives:The research objectives were two-fold: first, to systematically review the literature on the cost-effectiveness of home telehealth for chronic diseases, and second to develop a framework for the conduct of economic evaluation of home telehealth projects for patients with chronic diseases.

Methods:A comprehensive literature search identified twenty-two studies (n= 4,871 patients) on home telehealth for chronic diseases published between 1998 and 2008. Studies were reviewed in terms of their methodological quality and their conclusions.

Results:Home telehealth was found to be cost saving from the healthcare system and insurance provider perspectives in all but two studies, but the quality of the studies was generally low. An evaluative framework was developed which provides a basis to improve the quality of future studies to facilitate improved healthcare decision making, and an application of the framework is illustrated using data from an existing program evaluation of a home telehealth program.

Conclusions:Current evidence suggests that home telehealth has the potential to reduce costs, but its impact from a societal perspective remains uncertain until higher quality studies become available.
Comparative effectiveness research priorities: Identifying critical gaps in evidence for clinical and health policy decision making
Authors: Chalkidou Kalipso , Whicher Danielle , Kary Weslie , Tunis Sean
Published: July 2009

Background:In the debate on improving the quality and efficiency of the United States healthcare system, comparative effectiveness research is increasingly seen as a tool for reducing costs without compromising outcomes. Furthermore, the recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act explicitly describes a prioritization function for establishing a comparative effectiveness research agenda. However, how such a function, in terms of methods and process, would go about identifying the most important priorities warranting further research has received little attention.

Objectives:This study describes an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-funded pilot project to translate one current comparative effectiveness review into a prioritized list of evidence gaps and research questions reflecting the views of the healthcare decision makers involved in the pilot.

Methods:To create a prioritized research agenda, we developed an interactive nominal group process that relied on a multistakeholder workgroup scoring a list of research questions on the management of coronary artery disease.

Results:According to the group, the areas of greatest uncertainty regarding the management of coronary artery disease are the comparative effectiveness of medical therapy versus percutaneous coronary interventions versus coronary artery bypass grafting for different patient subgroups; the impact of diagnostic testing; and the most effective method of developing performance measures for providers.

Conclusions:By applying our nominal group process, we were able to create a list of research priorities for healthcare decision makers. Future research should focus on refining this process because determining research priorities is essential to the success of developing an infrastructure for comparative effectiveness research.
Old age support in kind
Authors: MIYAZAWA KAZUTOSHI
Published: July 2009

It has been argued whether a transfer policy for elderly people should be in kind or in cash. This paper presents a rationale to answer the question in an endogenous growth model with a two-way intrafamily transfer in middle age, education for the child as an inter-vivos transfer, and informal parental care in exchange for a bequest. We have two analytical results. First, a transfer in cash, such as a public pension, prevents economic growth because a strategic behavior concerning caregiving generates a disincentive effect on education. Second, a transfer in kind, such as public formal care, promotes economic growth because the valuation of the service generates an additional benefit of education, which dominates the disincentive effect. Our results show that old age support should be in kind rather than in cash in the context of economic growth and also welfare if bequests are strategic.
The 1974 flank eruption of Mount Etna: An archetype for deep dike‐fed eruptions at basaltic volcanoes and a milestone in Etna's recent history
Authors: Corsaro R. A. , Métrich N. , Allard P. , Andronico D. , Miraglia L. , Fourmentraux C.
Published: July 2009

The 1974 western flank eruption of Mount Etna produced a rare, nearly aphyric and plagioclase‐free trachybasalt that could not be derived from the central volcano conduits and was more alkaline and more radiogenic than all previous historical lavas. New results for the petrochemistry and volatile content of its products, combined with contemporaneous seismic and volcanological observations, allow us to reinterpret the origin and significance of this event. We show that the eruption was most likely triggered by deep tectonic fracturing that allowed a dike‐like intrusion to propagate in 9 days from ≥11 km depth up to the surface, bypassing the central conduits. Relatively fast, closed system decompression of the volatile‐rich magma initially led to lava fountaining and the rapid growth of two pyroclastic cones (Mounts De Fiore), followed by Strombolian activity and the extrusion of viscous lava flows when gas‐melt separation developed in the upper portion of the feeding fracture. The 1974 trachybasalt geochemistry indicates its derivation by mixing 25% of preexisting K‐poor magma (best represented by 1763 La Montagnola eruption's products) and 75% of a new K‐rich feeding magma that was gradually invading Mount Etna's plumbing system and became directly extruded during two violent flank eruptions in 2001–2003. We propose to classify 1974‐type so‐called “eccentric” eruptions on Etna as deep dike‐fed (DDF) eruptions, as opposed to more common central conduit‐fed flank eruptions, in order to highlight their actual origin rather than their topographic location. We ultimately discuss the possible precursors of such DDF eruptions.
Argument‐recursive computation of Legendre polynomials and its application to the time domain near‐to‐far‐field spherical‐multipole analysis
Authors: Adam J. , Klinkenbusch L.
Published: July 2009

An efficient x‐recursive numerical scheme is presented to compute Legendre polynomials Pn(x) and their derivatives P′n(x) on the interval (0, 1) for a fixed‐order n ∈ . The numerical properties are discussed and, as an example of use in computational electromagnetics, the method is applied to improve a recently proposed spherical‐multipole based time domain near‐to‐far‐field transformation algorithm.
High‐quality unsaturated zone hydraulic property data for hydrologic applications
Authors: Perkins Kim , Nimmo John
Published: July 2009

In hydrologic studies, especially those using dynamic unsaturated zone moisture modeling, calculations based on property transfer models informed by hydraulic property databases are often used in lieu of measured data from the site of interest. Reliance on database‐informed predicted values has become increasingly common with the use of neural networks. High‐quality data are needed for databases used in this way and for theoretical and property transfer model development and testing. Hydraulic properties predicted on the basis of existing databases may be adequate in some applications but not others. An obvious problem occurs when the available database has few or no data for samples that are closely related to the medium of interest. The data set presented in this paper includes saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention, particle‐size distributions, and bulk properties. All samples are minimally disturbed, all measurements were performed using the same state of the art techniques and the environments represented are diverse.
Treatment of mice with fenbendazole attenuates allergic airways inflammation and Th2 cytokine production in a model of asthma
Authors: Cai Yeping , Zhou Jiansheng , Webb Dianne C
Published: July 2009

Mouse models have provided a significant insight into the role of T‐helper (Th) 2 cytokines such as IL‐5 and IL‐13 in regulating eosinophilia and other key features of asthma. However, the validity of these models can be compromised by inadvertent infection of experimental mouse colonies with pathogens such as oxyurid parasites (pinworms). While the benzimidazole derivative, fenbendazole (FBZ), is commonly used to treat such outbreaks, the effects of FBZ on mouse models of Th2 disease are largely unknown. In this investigation, we show that mice fed FBZ‐supplemented food during the in utero and post‐weaning period developed attenuated lung eosinophilia, antigen‐specific IgG1 and Th2 cytokine responses in a model of asthma. Treatment of the mediastinal lymph node cells from allergic mice with FBZ in vitro attenuated cell proliferation, IL‐5 and IL‐13 production and expression of the early lymphocyte activation marker, CD69 on CD4+ T cells and CD19+ B cells. In addition, eosinophilia and Th2 responses remained attenuated after a 4‐week withholding period in allergic mice treated preweaning with FBZ. Thus, FBZ modulates the amplitude of Th2 responses both in vivo and in vitro.
Electrically controlled reflection bands in a cholesteric liquid crystals slab
Authors: Castellanos-Moreno A. , Castro-Garay P. , Gutiérrez-López S. , Rosas-Burgos R. A. , Corella-Madueño A. , Reyes J. Adrian
Published: July 2009

We considered a cholesteric slab whose axis is normal to their borders, when a uniform electric field is perpendicularly applied to the helix axis. We found the solution of the boundary value problem for the reflection and transmission of normally incident waves due to the slab. We showed that a left-circularly polarized thin reflection band is immersed in a wider right-circularly polarized band reflection, when the cholesteric is subjected to low amplitude fields. For larger field values, both reflection bands redshift simultaneously as the field increases. A device based on this phenomenon can be used as a electrically tunable universal filter.
Photoresponse enhancement in the near infrared wavelength range of ultrathin amorphous silicon photosensitive devices by integration of silver nanoparticles
Authors: Moulin Etienne , Luo Peiqing , Pieters Bart , Sukmanowski Joachim , Kirchhoff Joachim , Reetz Wilfried , Müller Thomas , Carius Reinhard , Royer Francois-Xavier , Stiebig Helmut
Published: July 2009

We have investigated the contribution of localized surface plasmon polaritons (LSPPs) in silver nanoparticles with radii smaller than 20 nm to the photocurrent of ultrathin photosensitive devices based on amorphous silicon. An increased light absorption and an enhanced photocurrent are found for wavelengths between 600 nm and 1150 nm in presence of nanoparticles. As amorphous silicon absorbs light efficiently only at wavelengths up to 750 nm, the increased photocurrent in the near infrared range is explained in terms of LSPP-induced photoemission of electrons within and in close vicinity of the nanoparticles.