bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Land and Politics in Mexico
Authors: Adie Robert F.
Published: November 2009

In the many volumes written on the “agrarian question” in Mexico, probably no subject has received as much attention as theejido, village communal land. Whether polemical or objective, most of these works have been concerned with the ejido primarily in economic terms. Questions have been raised about its importance as an economic unit, government action to improve its output, and its reform or even abolition for economic reasons. Related studies have been concerned with the ejido in terms of social justice, that is, the extent to which and the ways in which theejidatarios, members of the ejido, have benefitted from the revolution. A few studies have been sociological or anthropological in nature, examining the ejido in terms of how it reinforces or breaks down traditional social and cultural patterns. While utilizing the data presented in these various studies, this note is concerned with the political aspect of the ejido or more specifically, how the ejido is a device which, both alone and in conjunction with a subculture of poverty, allows political control to be exercised over a vast peasant population engaged for the most part in primitive agriculture while urban Mexico proceeds with industrialization.

In the early 1920s George McCutcheon McBride insisted in his major study of Mexican land tenure patterns that the Indians had to be kept on the land.
Constituency Service among Canadian Provincial Legislators: Basic Findings and a Test of Three Hypotheses
Authors: Clarke Harold D. , Price Richard G. , Krause Robert
Published: November 2009

Les législateurs provinciaux canadiens en tant que serviteurs de leur circonscription

A partir de données cueillies par la poste auprès des législateurs provinciaux canadiens qui n'occupent pas de fonctions exécutives, les auteurs vérifient empiriquement la validité de trois hypothèses concernant la proportion de temps consacré par le législateur à desservir sa circonscription électorate, cette proportion étant supposée varier selon (1) la perception qu'a le législateur de son rôle de représentation, (2) le degré de compétition politique dans son comté et (3) l'orientation « locale » ou « cosmopolite » du législateur. Les données révèlent que si la grande majorité des législateurs provinciaux consacrent beaucoup de temps à desservir leurs électeurs, cette période de temps varie considérablement selon les partis et les provinces sans qu'il soit possible d'expliquer ces variations par regroupements culturels ou géographiques. Quant aux hypothèses à vérifier, il appert (1) que plus les législateurs se perçoivent comme des mandataires, plus ils consacrent de temps à leurs électeurs, (2) que le degré de compétition politique dans le comté n'influe en rien sur le service à l'électorat et (3) que les législateurs « locaux » (i.e. ceux qui résident depuis longtemps dans de petites communautés rurales) desservent davantage leurs électeurs que les législateurs « cosmopolitains » (i.e. ceux qui résident depuis moins longtemps dans les comtés fortement urbanisés).
Canadian Pluralist Democracy in Crisis
Authors: Thorburn H. G.
Published: November 2009

La démocratic pluraliste canadienne en crise

L' adoption du pluralisme comme philosophie dominante au Canada légitime la compétition entre groupes d'intéret comme modalité d'élaboration des politiques ce qui entraînela domination d'une petite élite sous les apparences d'une démocratic ouverte. Le pluralisme implique la compétition entre groupes ce qui place les Canadiens français dans une position minoritaire permanente. Ils sont aussi défavorisés dans la lutte pour l'obtention d'emplois ce qui produit la frustration, l'aliénation et le rejet du pluralisme dans le contexte pan-canadien au profit du séparatisme.

Les immigrants ont été assimilés dans la communauté canadienne-anglaise—réduisant ainsila composante canadienne-française—de façon à menacer leur survie en renforçant le nationalisme canadien ou anglophone. Ceci se compare au développement de l'américanisme aux Etats Unis et est révélateur de l'influence américaine croissante au Canada. Le pluralisme n'est pas contesté tant qu'il convient aux besoins de légitimation et de justification des élites du Canada car il réconcilie la démocratie et le contrôle des élites. Cependant, il empêche une planification rationnelle enfaveur d'un changement graduel et exacerbe les relations entre les deux groupes linguistiques qui forment le pays.
Metropolitan Reform in the Capitalist City
Authors: Magnusson Warren
Published: November 2009

Les récentes analyses néo-marxistes suggèrent que la réforme métropolitaine traditionnelle—soit la consolidation territoriale de l'autorité locale—peut être vue comme line réponse capitaliste aux contradictions du développement urbain dans les sociétés capitalistes avancées. Cette interprétation s'accompagne de nombreuses difficultés qui sont considérées dans cet article.

La réforme métropolitaine peut être seulement comprise historiquement comme un aspect du développement de l'Etat positif. L'idées de la bourgeoisie a été que les gouvernements locaux devraient être fondés sur les communautés crées par les forces économiques. La consolidation territoriale résulte de cela et elle a été avancée par les réformateurs libéraux et socialistes aussi bien que par les hommes d'affaires capitalistes. Tout ceci s'explique aux termes des compris implicites dans la tendance vers la social-démocratie. Bien que l'analyse néo-marxiste suggère qu'une telle tendance soit inévitable, l'éxperience américaine met sérieusement en question cette supposition. Au moins en ce qui concerne le gouvernement local, les fonctions décisives de légitimation et d'accumulation peuvent être accomplies par nombre d'autorités publiques concurrentes. C'est la leçon implicite de la théorie du « public choice ». Sicette théorie est correcte, il se peut que l'apothéose de l'état capitaliste ne soit pas un régime centralisé voué à la planification mais un gouvernement « poly-centré », modelé sur les principes de l'entreprise concurrentielle. Les implications pour l'analyse marxiste de l'Etat capitaliste en sont profondes. Cet article permet seulement de discuter des problèmes qui doivent être résolus mais il suggère aussi l'importance d'abandonner les hypothèses centralistes qui font partie de la plupart des analyses marxistes.
Interest-Group Tactics and the Politics of Foreign Investment: The Time-Reader's Digest Case Study
Authors: Litvak Isaiah A. , Maule Christopher J.
Published: November 2009

La politique canadienne en matière d'investissements étrangers: le cas Time-Reader's Digest

Cette étude traite de l'influence des entreprises et des gouvernements, tant canadiens qu'américains, sur la formulation de la politique canadienne concernant la publication des magazines. Les divergences d'intérêts et de perceptions des problèmes entre les ressortissants des diverses régions du Canada et des Etats-Unis sont analysées à partir des mémoires présentés devant la Commission Royale d'Enquête sur les Publications de 1960 et devant le Comité Sénatorial d'Enquête sur les Mass Média de 1970.

En prenant comme exemple les pressions exercées sur le gouvernement canadien par deux entreprises américaines, Time et Reader's Digest, les auteurs font ressortir l'importance des implications socio-culturelles et politiques des investissements etrangers. Il appert en effet que la traitement accordé à ces deux entreprises soit éxceptionnel eut égard à la politique généralement protectionniste du gouvernement canadien en ce qui a trait á ce secteur fondamental de l'économie que constituent les communications de masse.
The Normative Status of Talcott Parsons' and David Easton's Analyses of the Support System
Authors: Lewis Thomas J.
Published: November 2009

Le statut normatif du concept systémique de soutien politique chez Parsons et Easton

On peut concevoir un énoncé analytique, ou paradigme, comme un lien logique entre une proposition normative et une recherche empirique. Dans cette perspective, l'auteur analyse les énoncés théoriques systémiques formulés par Parsons et Easton concernant la notion de soutien politique afin d'éclairer les rapports logiques qu'ils entretiennent avec certains aspects normatifs du libéralisme classique. Il appert que les énoncés de Parsons, contrairement à ceux d'Easton, sont reliés aux concepts classiques d'égalité et de consentement. Cette différenciation théorique, qui a peu d'importance du point de vue de l'observateur d'un système politique, est capitale aux yeux du participant politique puisque c'est le rapport logique entre le paradigme et la proposition normative qui determine si les applications empiriques du paradigme seront jugées acceptables par le participant.
Reply to Comments on “The Mixed Constitution and the Separation of Powers in Canada”
Authors: Resnick Philip
Published: November 2009

Both Janet Ajzenstat's and Rod Preece's comments on my article are welcome, not least in allowing me to further develop, by way of reply, some of the implications of the type of theorizing I have been engaged in. For quite aside from the particulars of my interpretation of Montesquieu's doctrines, of Professor Preece's reading of the wisdom of the Canadian founding fathers, or of Professor Ajzenstat's “Blackstonean” reading of theBritish North America Act, there is the larger question of the uses of classical political theory in the understanding of Canadian politics and the state that we need to address.
The Governments and Societies of Canadian Federalism
Authors: Cairns Alan C.
Published: November 2009

Cet article expose un point de vue sur le fédéralisme canadien qui met l'accent sur l'impact des gouvernements provinciaux et fédéraux. Ces deux niveaux de gouvernement se sont créés de puissants soutiens pour leur propre survie en employant un Canadien sur neuf, en obtenant le support des partis et des groupes de pression et en structurant par leurs diverses politiques un réseau de relations avec les sociétés qu'ils dirigent.

Le système fédéral tel qu'il s'est développé depuis un siècle peut donc être mieux compris s'il est considéré comme un système de gouvernements. Chaque gouvernement a élaboré son propre modèle d'interdépendance avec sa société et chaque gouvernement cherche à garder le plus possible dans son orbite la société qu'il dirige. L'intégration qui en résulte alliée à l'orientation planificatrice des gouvernements contemporains accroît la difficulté d'obtenir l'accord intergouvernemental nécessaire au fonctionnement harmonieux du système fédéral. Ceci a créé un système fédéral utilement dérit comme une version canadienne inefficace du système américain.

En conclusion, l'auteur suggère que l'étude de la vie politique canadienne a souffert d'un biais disciplinaire qui s'est traduit par un réductionnisme sociologique; c'est-à-dire qu'on n'a pas accordé suffisamment d'attention à l'autonomie des gouvernements et à leur capacité de modeler la société.
Comment: Federation, Consociation, Corporatism—An Addendum to Arend Lijphart
Authors: McRae Kenneth D.
Published: November 2009

Arend Lijphart has launched a stimulating line of inquiry by calling attention to certain affinities between consociational democracy and federalism (above, pages 499–515), but in my opinion the analysis can become still more interesting if we introduce a third element to the comparison. I refer to the rapidly burgeoning literature of the past five years around the phenomena that have been variously and rather tentatively labelled as “neo-corporatism,” “societal corporatism” or “liberal corporatism.” The purpose of this brief note is not to evaluate nor even to summarize that literature, but to draw attention to certain points of contact between the patterns that it describes and the consociational and federal models discussed above. In making this tripartite comparison we may be led to examine more carefully the significance of alternative sites or arenas for making policy and resolving conflicts, and the different patterns and strategies of bargaining appropriate to different sites.
Rousseau and the Domestication of Virtue
Authors: Emberley Peter
Published: November 2009

Rousseau had usually been interpreted as desiring the re-emergence of pre-modern virtue. His writings contain many appeals to this supreme virtue of courage and honour. At the same time, however, Rousseau embraces many of the principles of modern philosophical thought, thus rendering a return to classical virtue problematic. The author proposes that his commitment to modern principles entails a substantial reformulation of virtue such that it becomes expressed as those qualities displayed in the social world of labour and love. This new account alters the character of human association by fundamentally altering the ancient distinction between public and private. The new social sphere which develops through this alteration is, however, subject to some difficulties.
Immigrant Political Adaptation in Canada: Some Tentative Findings
Authors: Black Jerome H.
Published: November 2009

L'adaptation politique des immigrants au Canada: quelques résultats préliminaires

Cet article étudie le phénomène de l'adaptation politique des immigrants au Canada, un sujet qui n'a pas été suffisamment traité par les politicologues rompus aux méthodes empiriques. Quoique l'auteur se réfère à divers indicateurs de l'adaptation, l'indicateur principal est celui de la participation politique, mesurée à lafois dans ses composantes et dans sa totalité. Partant du postulat qu'une plus grande participation signifie adaptation, l'auteur évalue les niveaux de l'activité politique de deux groupes de néo-canadiens: les immigrants britanniques et non-britanniques; il les compare ensuite aux Canadiens nées an Canada. Une revue de la littérature indiquait qu'il fallait s'attendre aux résultats suivants : 1. les natifs du Canada participeraient plus que les immigrants; 2. les immigrants britanniques seraient les immigrants les plus actifs.

Cependant, les résultats de cette recherche remittent ces affirmations en question. En utilisant les données de Canadian National Election Study de 1974 et plusieurs techniques d'analyse multivariées, l'auteur montre qu'il n'y a pas de différences majeures dans la participation, ce qui milite en faveur de l'interprétation alternative qu'il présente. Un deuxième aspect de la recherche porte sur la durée de résidence au Canada et l'âge à l'arrivée au pays, ce qui permet d'étudier le facteur temporel ou les aspects développementaux liés à l'adaptation politique de l'immigrant. Ici aussi, l'auteur obtient des résultats qui contredisent une bonne partie de la littérature existante. Entre autres, les données indiquent la possibilité d'une importante acquisition de connaissances sur la politique canadienne et ce, très tôt après l'arrivée au Canada.
The Least Advantaged Class in Rawls's Theory
Authors: Jackson M. W.
Published: November 2009

La classe la moins favorisée dans la théorie de John Rawls

La théorie de John Rawls semble pacifique mais elle reconnaît le besoin de la coercition. Les criminels, les parasites et les personnes intolérantes s'exposent à la coercition juste. Dans certaines conditions la coercition des personnes intolérantes augmente les rangs de la classe la moins favorisée. On peut logiquement définir la classe la moins favorisée de façon à inclure les personnes dépossédées par la coercition. L'un des buts principaux de la théorie est d'aider la classe la moins favorisée; toutefois, les membres de cette classe sont sujets à vouloir renverser les principes de justice de cette théorie. Le caractère déontologique de la théorie ne peut éliminerce paradoxe. La théorie partant des biens primaires n'est quepartiellement déontologique. C'est enfonction de ces biens primaires que les moins favorisés sont dépossédés.
L'élection québécoise de 1985: un bilan des sondages
Authors: Blais André , Crête Jean , Lachapelle Guy
Published: November 2009

A great number of polls have been made public by the media during the 1985 electoral campaign in Quebec. The polls correctly predicted the winning party, but were not very good for forecasting the actual vote. A difference of 3 percent has been observed between the prediction and the vote with respect to the Liberal party and third parties considered as a whole. It is shown that the discrepancy must be attributed more to those who do not answer polls at all than to those individuals not willing to reveal their vote intention. Finally, the campaign seems to have had a small impact on the vote, the Liberal party increasing its share by 2 per cent and third parties loosing many votes among those who were tempted to support them at the beginning of the campaign.
Comment on “Critics of the Judicial Committee: The New Orthodoxy and an Alternative Explanation”
Authors: Cairns Alan C.
Published: November 2009

The 1982 Charter gives the contemporary Supreme Court enhanced responsibilities in the overall Canadian constitutional system. These novel responsibilities require a jurisprudence appropriate to the new relations between courts and legislatures for which our past has ill-prepared us. In addition to the Charter and the host of citizen-state relations which are thus placed on the Supreme Court agenda, the 1982 Constitution Act, s. 52(1), establishes the supremacy of the constitution, which further underlines the growing significance of the judicial branch in our constitutional future. Are judges to be the midwives of constitutional evolution, seeking to adapt the constitution as an instrument of government to emerging conditions, or are they largely to eschew such a role by employing varying strategies and philosophies of self-control, such as adhering as closely as possible to a more technical task definition, deferring wherever possible to legislatures, resisting the lure of judicial creativity as inappropriate to their appointed status, and throwing the burden of constitutional adaptation on other more overtly political institutions of government?
Des motifs des électeurs au scrutin fédéral de 1984: le cas de Sudbury
Authors: Laflamme Simon
Published: November 2009

Prior to the 1984 Canadian federal electoral campaign, public opinion polls were predicting a Liberal victory. During the period of the campaign, the polls predicted a Conservative victory. What was it that produced this change among the electorate? This article attempts to respond to this question on the basis of an exploratory study carried out in the riding of Sudbury. The study shows that the focus of the election was less on the campaign platforms of the different parties than on the impossible mission facing the Liberal party and especially its leader.
Effects of Identification with Governing Parties on Feelings of Political Efficacy and Trust
Authors: Lambert Ronald D. , Curtis James E. , Brown Steven D. , Kay Barry J.
Published: November 2009

The authors tested predictions concerning the effects of respondents' identification with governing versus opposition political parties on feelings of political efficacy and trust, using data from the 1984 Canadian National Election Study. Dependent variables were political competence, perceived system responsiveness, and political trust, each measured federally and provincially. Respondents who supported the party in power scored significantly higher on perceived responsiveness and trust than those who supported opposition parties, although mainly at the provincial level. Whether respondents' preferred party was in power or not interacted with strength of party identification on the responsiveness and trust measures, both federally and provincially, as expected. Effects were much less pronounced for feelings of political competence. The authors suggest an interpretation to explain the weaker and inconsistent federal results. The article concludes with some observations concerning the relationship between partisanship, on the one hand, and efficacy and trust, on the other.
Gramsci and the Legitimization of the State: The Case of the Senegalese Passive Revolution
Authors: Fatton Robert
Published: November 2009

This article uses some of the fundamental conceptualizations of Antonio Gramsci to understand the political process in Senegal. It analyzes how the ruling class responded to the “organic crisis” generated by a dependent type of capitalist underdevelopment. It contends that this response embodied a “passive revolution” whereby potentially revolutionary forces were decapitated through the co-optation of their leading cadres in a reformed framework of political representation. The article suggests also that the contours and substance of the passive revolution reflected the “hegemonic project” elaborated by the “organic intellectuals” of Senegal. These intellectuals sought to establish a new “hegemony” capable of legitimizing the rule of a reinvigorated ruling class. Yet, because this new hegemony was founded on the basis of the passive revolution it never reached the masses and it generated therefore widespread popular scepticism and cynicism.
The CPSU in Transition from Brezhnev to Gorbachev
Authors: Harasymiw Bohdan
Published: November 2009

Leadership succession in the Soviet Union has always had some impact on the composition of the ruling Communist party, which is otherwise determined normally by the force of social status. As the CPSU constitutes the pool from which the Soviet political elite is drawn, changes in that pool brought about by the succession of Gorbachev are bound to have implications for the future. Apparently unable at the beginning of his term to stem the intake of new members, Gorbachev has made dramatic use of expulsions to regulate the composition of the party. In their overall effect, his policies have shown a remarkable continuity with the Brezhnev period. This includes the enhancement of workers’ and peasants’ chances of being drawn into full-time political roles at the expense of white-collar persons. The net effect is likely to be a widening of the gap between the party and the intelligentsia, who are effectively excluded from membership in the political elite.
State Autonomy and Canadian Foreign Policy: The Case of Deep Seabed Mining
Authors: Riddell-Dixon Elizabeth
Published: November 2009

The article assesses the utility of Eric Nordlinger's statist approach in explaining Canada's policies on deep seabed mining at the United Nations Third Conference on the Law of the Sea. Nordlinger argues that government decision-makers in liberal democratic societies enjoy considerable autonomy in translating their preferences into public policies even when opposition is mounted by major groups outside government circles. Nordlinger's thesis on state autonomy is useful in explaining Canada's deep seabed mining policies since government decision-makers determined policy outcomes. Nevertheless, the approach requires important modifications to enhance its relevance to the Canadian parliamentary system. It needs to distinguish between politicians and government bureaucrats, to identify the sources of their policy preferences and to recognize provincial involvement.
Ratification or Repudiation: Social Credit Leadership Selection in British Columbia
Authors: Blake Donald E. , Carty R. K. , Erickson Lynda
Published: November 2009

In July 1986, the Social Credit party of British Columbia held only the second leadership convention in its history. This article uses data from a survey of delegates to the convention to describe the divisions within the party, to assess disenchantment with the Bennett government and to estimate the effects of these and other factors on the final outcome of the convention. Analysis of a large number of policy and opinion items reveals a party largely united on economic policy but divided on social policy and issues of party organization and direction. However, leadership aspirants appeared unwilling to exploit these differences. The struggle for succession became one of “insiders” versus “outsiders,” between party professionals and the grass roots, between non-populists and populists, and the latter gave William Vander Zalm his victory.
Parliament and Representation: The Unfinished Agenda of Electoral Redistributions
Authors: Courtney John C.
Published: November 2009

Since 1964, federal electoral boundary readjustments have been the responsibility of independent commissions—one for each province and one for the Northwest Territories. The three redistributions completed to date under the new arrangements suggest that the commissions have increasingly accepted a substantial measure of intraprovincial population equality as the standard by which to define electoral boundaries. At the same time Parliament, in its debates and amendments to theElectoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, has urged commissions to move in the opposite direction by creating more, rather than fewer, electoral districts of unequal populations. These contrary positions derive from different views of what counts in determining electoral boundaries—territory or population. Drawing on American experience sinceBakerv.Carr(1962), Canadian courts may eventually be called upon to resolve the issue.
Reply to Leo Panitch's Review Article “Corporatism: A Growth Industry Reaches the Monopoly Stage”
Authors: Cawson Alan
Published: November 2009

Leo Panitch is at the same time far too generous and mistaken when he sees my book as representing the coming of the monopoly stage in the development of the growth industry of corporatism. If I were, by writing the first book-length work on the theory of corporatism, to succeed in cornering the vigorous international market in ideas, then this would be praise indeed. Of course, the notion is absurd and is as flawed as Panitch's reading of the book.
La dynamique de l'aide financière directe du gouvernement fédéral à l'industrie manufacturière au Canada
Authors: Blais André , Faucher Philippe , Young Robert
Published: November 2009

Le texte examine 1'évolution de l'aide financière directe du gouvernement fédéral à I'industrie manufacturière canadienne entre 1960 et 1980. L'aide fournie, sans être négligeable, est moins substantielle que d'aucuns le laissent parfois entendre. Elle augmente sensiblement jusqu'en 1971 et diminue quelque peu par la suite. Le texte tente de démontrer que l'évolution de cette aide peut être interprétée en bonne partie comme un mécanisme de compensation à la réduction de la protection tarifaire et qu'elle est peu influencée par la conjoncture économique. Une dernière section traite des avantages et des coûts politiques de l'aide financière directe par rapport à d'autres instruments d'intervention: on suggère que la principale caractéristique de l'aide financière directe est sa discrimination, discrimination dont se méfient les milieux industriels.
Integration and Autonomy in Canada-United States Relations, 1963-1972
Authors: Dolan Michael B. , Tomlin Brian W. , Von Riekhoff Harald
Published: November 2009

Integration et autonomie dans les relations canado-americaines 1963-1972

Les tendances à l'intégration et à l'autonomie dans les relations intergouvernementales entre le Canada et les Etats-Unis sont ici analysées pour la période de 1963-1972. Les notions d'intégration et d'autonomie sont conçues comme les deux pôles d'un continuum de relations entre nations interdépendantes; leur comportement pent être décrit en termes de réciprocité et d'engagement pour la consolidation ou l'extension de liens à l'intérieur d'une action commune.

L'analyse du comportement binaire de la politique étrangère propre au Canada et aux Etats-Unis, au cours de cette période, se base stir un relève exhaustif d'événements internationaux tirés de l'histoire canadienne. Ces données servent à dégager cinq indicateurs de comportements en matière de politique étrangère pour chaque pays: les transactions socio-économiques, la coordination d'une politique, l'alignement, la satisfaction dans la distribution des bénéfices de la relation et l'orientation affective. Ces indicateurs servent ensuite à décrire les fluctuations périodiques dans l'intégration ou, au contraire, dans la désintégration en vue d'une plus grande autonomie dans les relations intergouvernementales au cours des dix années qui font l'objet de cette étude. Cette tendance est contrasté par une accentuation du commerce et des investissements entre les économies des deux pays pour la même période.
PREVALENCE AND TREND OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG SARDINIAN CONSCRIPTS (ITALY) OF 1969 AND 1998
Authors: LOVISELLI A. , GHIANI M. E. , VELLUZZI F. , PIRAS I. S. , MINERBA L. , VONA G. , CALÒ C. M.
Published: November 2009

This study evaluated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the male Sardinian population (Italy), and verifies that it has increased over the last 30 years. Data were collected during 2003–2004 from military registers in the Archive of the Military District of Cagliari for the years 1969 and 1998. A total of 22,345 forms were analysed from all Sardinia. The conscripts were classified on the basis of their place of residence and socioeconomic status. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in Sardinia were 4.33% and 0.55%, respectively, for the conscripts of 1969 and 9.8% and 3% for 1998. Olbia-Tempio (northern Sardinia) was the province with the highest incidence of overweight and obesity in 1969, and Nuoro (central Sardinia) had the highest incidence in 1998. Distribution of body mass index, overweight and obesity across the island showed a statistically significant heterogeneity that strongly decreased from 1969 to 1998. Among the conscripts of 1969, the incidence of overweight and obesity were higher in rural than in urban regions. An opposite trend was observed for the 1998 prevalence, it being more frequent in urban than rural regions. Comparison with other Italian regions was made. The percentages of overweight and obese individuals in Sardinia have markedly increased during the last 30 years, but their low incidence with respect to other Italian populations could be explained by the genetic peculiarity of the island. The change in the internal distribution of obesity clearly reflects socioeconomic changes.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE OF ECONOMICS AND PHILOSOPHY ON AMBIGUITY AVERSION
Authors: Bonanno Giacomo , van Hees Martin , List Christian , Tungodden Bertil
Published: November 2009

The paradigm for modelling decision-making under uncertainty has undoubtedly been the theory of Expected Utility, which was first developed by von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944) and later extended by Savage (1954) to the case of subjective uncertainty. The inadequacy of the theory of Subjective Expected Utility (SEU) as a descriptive theory was soon pointed out in experiments, most famously by Allais (1953) and Ellsberg (1961). The observed departures from SEU noticed by Allais and Ellsberg became known as “paradoxes”. The Ellsberg paradox gave rise, several years later, to a new literature on decision-making under ambiguity. The theoretical side of this literature was pioneered by Schmeidler (1989). This literature views the departures from SEU in situations similar to those discussed by Ellsberg as rational responses to ambiguity. The rationality is “recovered” by relaxing Savage's Sure-Thing principle and adding an ambiguity-aversion postulate. Thus the ambiguity-aversion literature takes a normative point of view and does consider Ellsberg-type choices as behavioural “anomalies”.
For Some Histories of Greek Mathematics
Authors: Wagner Roy
Published: November 2009

Argument

This paper argues for the viability of a different philosophical point of view concerning classical Greek geometry. It reviews Reviel Netz's interpretation of classical Greek geometry and offers a Deleuzian, post-structural alternative. Deleuze's notion of haptic vision is imported from its art history context to propose an analysis of Greek geometric practices that serves as counterpoint to their linear modular cognitive narration by Netz. Our interpretation highlights the relation between embodied practices, noisy material constraints, and operational codes. Furthermore, it sheds some new light on the distinctness and clarity of Greek mathematical conceptual divisions.
In Search of the Proper Scientific Approach: Hayek's Views on Biology, Methodology, and the Nature of Economics
Authors: Beck Naomi
Published: November 2009

Argument

Friedrich August von Hayek (1899–1992) is mainly known for his defense of free-market economics and liberalism. His views on science – more specifically on the methodological differences between the physical sciences on the one hand, and evolutionary biology and the social sciences on the other – are less well known. Yet in order to understand, and properly evaluate Hayek's political position, we must look at the theory of scientific method that underpins it. Hayek believed that a basic misunderstanding of the discipline of economics and the complex phenomena with which it deals produced misconceptions concerning its method and goals, which led in turn to the adoption of dangerous policies. The objective of this article is to trace the development of Hayek's views on the nature of economics as a scientific discipline and to examine his conclusions concerning the scope of economic prediction. In doing so, I will first show that Hayek's interest in the natural sciences (especially biology), as well as his interest in epistemology, were central to his thought, dating back to his formative years. I will then emphasize the important place of historical analysis in Hayek's reflections on methodology and examine the reasons for his strong criticism of positivism and socialism. Finally, in the third and fourth sections that constitute the bulk of this article, I will show how Hayek's understanding of the data and goal of the social sciences (which he distinguished from those of the physical sciences), culminated in an analogy that sought to establish economics and evolutionary biology as exemplary complex sciences. I will challenge Hayek's interpretation of this analogy through a comparison with Darwin's views inThe Origin of Species, and thus open a door to re-evaluating the theoretical foundations of Hayek's political claims.
Inquiring into Communication in Science: Alternative Approaches
Authors: Oleinik Anton
Published: November 2009

Argument

This article focuses on a problematic character of communication in science. Two solutions are compared: paradigm-based science (the natural sciences model and its extension to the social sciences as represented by economics) and the semiotic solution developed in the arts and social sciences. There are several parallels between the latter approach and Marxist dialectics. A third, original, approach to solving communication problems is proposed; it can be labeled “transactional.” It represents a version of the semiotic solution with particular emphasis on interactions, both face-to-face and depersonalized, and the imperative of negotiating and finding compromises. Communication problems existing at two registers of interactions, face-to-face and depersonalized, are differentiated; freedom is interpreted as the capacity to change the registers at will. An in-depth case study of the Coase theorem in economic sciences and legal studies illustrates key points in the proposed analysis.
Relations between a computerized shopping task and cognitive tests in a group of persons diagnosed with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls
Authors: LARØI FRANK , CANLAIRE JENNIFER , MOURAD HAITHAM , VAN DER LINDEN MARTIAL
Published: November 2009

Cognitive deficits are clearly associated with poor everyday life functioning in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, previous studies have primarily used questionnaires to assess everyday life functioning. We developed a computerized real-life activity task (shopping task), where participants are required to shop for a list of seven grocery store items. Thirty individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls were administered an extensive battery of cognitive tests and the computerized shopping task. Performances on the computerized shopping task significantly differentiated patients and healthy controls for several variables. Moreover, performance on the shopping task was significantly correlated with verbal episodic memory, cognitive flexibility, planning, processing speed, and inhibition. Finally, performance on the computerized shopping task was significantly correlated with various clinical variables and with a global measure of social functioning. These findings suggest that the computerized task used in the present study provides an indication of the level of everyday life functioning and cognitive functioning of persons diagnosed with schizophrenia, and, therefore, may be viewed as a valuable instrument in both an evaluation and remediation context. (JINS, 2010, 16, 180–189.)
VOLTAIRE AND THE NECESSITY OF MODERN HISTORY
Authors: FORCE PIERRE
Published: November 2009

This article revisits what has often been called the “naive presentism” of Voltaire's historical work. It looks at the methodological and philosophical reasons for Voltaire's deliberate focus on modern history as opposed to ancient history, his refusal to “make allowances for time” in judging the past, and his extreme selectiveness in determining the relevance of past events to world history. Voltaire's historical practice is put in the context of the quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, and considered in a tradition of universal history going back to Bossuet and leading up to nineteenth-century German historicism. Paradoxically, Voltaire is a major figure in the history of historiography not in spite of his presentism (as Ernst Cassirer and Peter Gay have argued), but because of it.
Unveiling seismic and density structure beneath the Vrancea seismogenic zone, Romania
Authors: Tondi R. , Achauer U. , Landes M. , Daví R. , Besutiu L.
Published: November 2009

The Vrancea seismogenic zone in Romania exhibits an intense intermediate‐depth seismicity, confined to a relatively small, roughly cylindrical and elongated region, whose origin is still under debate. Our three‐dimensional P and S wave velocity and density images put additional physical constraints on the existing tectonic models to a depth of 200 km. The results appear to substantiate a combination of lithospheric delamination and oceanic subduction. For our analysis, we apply the tomographic inversion method of sequential integrated inversion (SII) to P and S first arrivals from active source data collected during the VRANCEA99 and VRANCEA2001 seismic refraction experiments, local earthquake data collected during the Carpathian Arc Lithosphere X‐Tomography (CALIXTO) experiment and recent gravity measurements of the studied area. The reconstructed models, which explain both travel times and gravity data, show a subducting slab which exhibits fast Vp, fast Vs, high density, and a low Vp/Vs ratio consistent with the cold downgoing plate. We associate intermediate‐depth seismicity with the observed sharp lateral Vp/Vs variations presumably generated by contact between the dense and cold slab and the lithospheric mantle in the shallower part or the asthenosphere in the deeper part. This contrast is particularly evident between 100 and 150 km depth, where the maximum historical seismic energy release is concentrated. Our results indicate the diagnostic power of a combined interpretation of 3‐D Vp, Vs, Vp/Vs, and density models.
Subsurface flow velocities in a hillslope with lateral preferential flow
Authors: Anderson A. E. , Weiler M. , Alila Y. , Hudson R. O.
Published: November 2009

Our understanding of hillslope subsurface flow relies on assumptions about how storm characteristics affect the hillslope runoff response. Experiments in hillslopes dominated by preferential flow features often show that runoff is dynamic and is affected by antecedent conditions, rainfall conditions, and position of the slope. We applied tracers to a hillslope under natural and steady state flow boundary conditions to determine the relationship between lateral tracer velocities and various hillslope lengths and storm indicators. Tracer velocities were similar to the fastest velocities measured in other similar experiments. The velocities were dependent on the boundary conditions and slope length, and the subsurface flow velocity was most closely related to the 1‐h rainfall intensity. Unlike some studies, there was little correlation between our measured flow velocities and storm volume or antecedent conditions. We attributed this to the hillslope characteristics and the relatively consistent wet antecedent conditions during the experiments. This experiment showed that the connectivity of the hillslope preferential flow network is an important factor governing the average subsurface flow velocity.
Potential impact of U.S. biofuels on regional climate
Authors: Georgescu M. , Lobell D. B. , Field C. B.
Published: November 2009

Recent work has shown that current bio‐energy policy directives may have harmful, indirect consequences, affecting both food security and the global climate system. An additional unintended but direct effect of large‐scale biofuel production is the impact on local and regional climate resulting from changes in the energy and moisture balance of the surface upon conversion to biofuel crops. Using the latest version of the WRF modeling system we conducted twenty‐four, midsummer, continental‐wide, sensitivity experiments by imposing realistic biophysical parameter limits appropriate for bio‐energy crops in the Corn Belt of the United States. In the absence of strain/crop‐specific parameterizations, a primary goal of this work was to isolate the maximum regional climate impact, for a trio of individual July months, due to land‐use change resulting from bio‐energy crops and to identify the relative importance of each biophysical parameter in terms of its individual effect. Maximum, local changes in 2 m temperature of the order of 1°C occur for the full breadth of albedo (ALB), minimum canopy resistance (RCMIN), and rooting depth (ROOT) specifications, while the regionally (105°W–75°W and 35°N–50°N) and monthly averaged response of 2 m temperature was most pronounced for the ALB and RCMIN experiments, exceeding 0.2°C. The full range of albedo variability associated with biofuel crops may be sufficient to drive regional changes in summertime rainfall. Individual parameter effects on 2 m temperature are additive, highlight the cooling contribution of higher leaf area index (LAI) and ROOT for perennial grasses (e.g., Miscanthus) versus annual crops (e.g., maize), and underscore the necessity of improving location‐ and vegetation‐specific representation of RCMIN and ALB.
Post‐rifting relaxation in the Afar region, Ethiopia
Authors: Nooner Scott L. , Bennati Laura , Calais Eric , Buck W. Roger , Hamling Ian J. , Wright Tim J. , Lewi Elias
Published: November 2009

Crustal accretion at divergent plate boundaries typically occurs via the periodic intrusion of dikes, but their emplacement and the associated deformation are rarely observed. The few existing observations at subaerial rifts show that these diking events are followed by a decadal‐scale period with extension rates faster than the secular divergent plate motion. This transient accelerated deformation has been explained by continued subsurface magma injection or by relaxation, in the viscoelastic mantle, of the stress changes imparted by dike opening. For the first time, GPS measurements were collected within a few months of a rifting event at a major plate boundary, the September 2005, 60 km‐long dike intrusion in the Dabbahu segment, Afar, Ethiopia. Extension rates for the first 3 years greatly exceed the plate motion (Nubia‐Arabia) secular divergence rate, even at sites located more than 60 km from the rift axis. Here we show that these observations are consistent with stress relaxation in a viscoelastic upper mantle with a viscosity of about 5 × 1018 Pa·s overlain by a 12–14 km‐thick elastic crust. The alternative model of continued diking requires continuous opening well below the Moho and is therefore unlikely. Instead, magma injection in Afar since June 2006 has taken the form of smaller discrete diking events, tapping into a mid‐crustal melt reservoir under the segment center.
Measurement of streaming potential coupling coefficient in sandstones saturated with high salinity NaCl brine
Authors: Jaafar M. Z. , Vinogradov J. , Jackson M. D.
Published: November 2009

We present measurements of the streaming potential coupling coefficient in intact sandstone samples saturated with NaCl brines at concentrations up to 5.5 molL−1. The values we record at low salinity are consistent with those reported previously. As brine salinity increases, the coupling coefficient decreases in magnitude, but is still measureable up to the saturated concentration limit. The magnitude of the zeta potential also decreases with increasing salinity, but approaches a constant value at high salinity. This behaviour is not captured by current models of the electrical double layer. Our results suggest that streaming potential measurements may be used to monitor flow in saline subsurface environments such as deep saline aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. However, they were obtained at laboratory temperature. Future work will focus on the effect of elevated temperatures at high salinity.
Kinetic structure of the sharp injection/dipolarization front in the flow‐braking region
Authors: Sergeev V. , Angelopoulos V. , Apatenkov S. , Bonnell J. , Ergun R. , Nakamura R. , McFadden J. , Larson D. , Runov A.
Published: November 2009

Observations of three closely‐spaced THEMIS spacecraft at 9–11 Re near midnight and close to the neutral sheet are used to investigate a sharp injection/dipolarization front (SDF) propagating inward in the flow‐braking region. This SDF was a very thin current sheet along the North‐South direction embedded within an Earthward‐propagating flow burst. A short‐lived depression of the total magnetic field (down to 1 nT), devoid of wave activity and intense particle fluxes, stays ahead of the SDF. Clear finite proton gyroradius effects, which help visualize the geometry and sub‐gyroscale of the SDF, are seen centered at the thin current sheet. The SDF nearly coincides with the narrow interface between plasmas of different densities and temperatures. At that interface, we observed strong (40–60 mV/m peak) E‐field bursts of the lower‐hybrid time scale that are confined to a localized region of density depletions. This sharp dipolarization/injection front propagating in the flow‐braking region appears to be a complicated kinetic‐scale plasma structure that combines a number of small‐scale elements (Bz drops, thin current sheets, LH cavities, injection fronts) previously discussed as separate objects.