bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Seasoned equity offerings and the short‐ and long‐run performance of initial public offerings in the UK
Authors: Levis Mario
Published: September 2010

In contrast to the US practice, rights issues is the predominant method of raising additional equity capital in the London market. the UK evidence for the period 1980‐1991 provides no support to the hypothesis that IPO firms deliberately underprice to signal their quality and facilitate subsequent seasoned equity offerings. the level of initial returns is related neither to the size of the issue nor to the price response at the announcement of a rights issue. the results demonstrate, however, that firms with higher first day returns are quicker in returning to the market for additional equity capital. There is also strong evidence to suggest that the announcement of a seasoned equity offering follows a period of significant rises in the stock prices of reissuing firms. Such gains are, however, dissipated quickly in the 18 months after the announcement of the seasoned equity offering. the level of underperformance is particularly pronounced for firms that raised relatively small subsequent amounts of capital in relation to funds raised at the initial offering. Thus, the paper documents a pattern of post‐issue behaviour which is fundamentally similar for both unseasoned and seasoned equity offerings.
Why Have Debt Ratios Increased for Firms in Emerging Markets?
Authors: Mitton Todd
Published: September 2010

I study trends in capital structure between 1980 and 2004 in a sample of over 11,000 firms from 34 emerging markets. The average firm's market‐value debt ratio rose by 15 percentage points over this quarter century. I study how this rise in leverage was influenced by firm‐level factors and by the availability of debt financing at the country level. The central finding is that the increase in debt ratios can largely be attributed to changes in the characteristics of emerging market firms over this period. For the average firm, the most prominent determinants of capital structure – size, profitability, asset tangibility, and growth opportunities – all shifted in the direction implying a higher optimal level of debt. At the country level, increased financial development within the country is associated with lower debt ratios, but increased financial openness to foreign markets is associated with higher debt ratios.
‘Solange, chapter 3’: Constitutional Courts in Central Europe—Democracy—European Union
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech
Published: September 2010

Abstract:  Soon after the accession of eight post‐communist states from Central and Eastern Europe to the EU, the constitutional courts of some of these countries questioned the principle of supremacy of EU law over national constitutional systems, on the basis of their being the guardians of national standards of protection of human rights and of democratic principles. In doing so, they entered into the well‐known pattern of behaviour favoured by a number of constitutional courts of the ‘older Europe’, which is called a ‘Solange story’ for the purposes of this article. But this resistance is ridden with paradoxes, the most important of which is a democracy paradox: while accession to the EU was supposed to be the most stable guarantee for human rights and democracy in post‐communist states, how can the supremacy of EU law be now resisted on these very grounds? It is argued that the sources of these constitutional courts’ adherence to the ‘Solange’ pattern are primarily domestic, and that it is a way of strengthening their position vis‐à‐vis other national political actors, especially at a time when the role and independence of those courts face serious domestic challenges.
Judicial Review of European Anti‐Terrorism Measures—The Yusuf and Kadi Judgments of the Court of First Instance
Authors: Eckes Christina
Published: September 2010

Abstract:  In the Yusuf and Kadi judgments of 21 September 2005, the Court of First Instance endorsed the Community practice of sanctioning individuals blacklisted by the United Nations (UN). It accepted that the Community uses its competence to adopt state sanctions in combination with Article 308 EC to freeze the assets of civil persons, including European citizens. The court also reduced its jurisdiction to a basic scrutiny of whether jus cogens was violated. The Court of First Instance's decisions can be criticised on various grounds. First, the application of these Articles is contrary to the wording of the Treaty and the case‐law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Further, as a consequence of the Court of First Instance's judgments, decisions of the UN Sanctions Committee become the supreme law within the EU, provided they meet the requirements of jus cogens as defined by the Court of First Instance. In addition, the individual is deprived of all fundamental rights guaranteed under European law.
Mapping Juridification
Authors: Blichner Lars Chr. , Molander Anders
Published: September 2010

Abstract:  ‘Juridification’ is an ambiguous term, both descriptively and normatively. In this article we distinguish between five dimensions of ‘juridification’: constitutive juridification, juridification as law's expansion and differentiation, as increased conflict solving with reference to law, as increased judicial power and as legal framing. In the first part, we clarify the five dimensions. In the second part, we discuss the relationship between them and in a third and concluding part, we briefly comment on some of the challenges we are faced with from a normative point of view.
When Worlds Collide: Enforcing United Nations Security Council Asset Freezes in the EU Legal Order
Authors: Godinho Jorge
Published: September 2010

Asset freezes are since 2000 being applied by the United Nations (UN) Security Council (SC) to non‐state actors. This came about as a ‘mutation’ of the sanctions program initiated by Resolutions 1267 (1999), 1333 (2000) and 1390 (2002): currently the targets are only supected terrorists or terrorism financiers.

This ‘mutation’ has created perplexities and problems, namely for the EU, which enforces UN SC Resolutions by a combination of first and second pillar methods. The main problem concerns issues of fundamental rights, currently being litigated.

The debate on the compatibility of the current practice of UN SC asset freezing within EU law takes place amidst a fundamental lack of clarity as to the exact purposes and operational objectives of such freezes. It is argued that this practice amounts to an ad hoc (para‐)criminal procedure measure, enacted by political bodies rather than courts, and without judicial oversight.

The current UN SC practice of asset freezing against non‐state actors breaches the right to judicial review, as well as the presumption of innocence. If this practice it is to continue at all, methods that make it fully compatible with the rule of law must be adopted. Especially, their renewal ad aeternum should not be possible.
Towards ontological engineering: a process for building a domain ontology from scratch in public administration
Authors: Brusa Graciela , Laura Caliusco M. , Chiotti Omar
Published: September 2010

Abstract: The state reformation that took place in the 1990s and the technological explosion have led governments to reframe their way of working so as to be able to offer new and better services for citizens. To achieve this goal, major obstacles must be overcome, such as the problem of semantic heterogeneity that leads to more difficult recovery and integration of information from different government sectors. Although in the private sector solutions to this problem through the building of ontologies have already been set out, the characteristics of government itself have led the direct application of these practices to fail. This paper presents a process for building a domain ontology in the public sector from scratch. In addition, it presents the application of this process for building an ontology for the Budgetary Domain of Santa Fe Province (Argentina).
Decentralization, Local Government, and the Welfare State
Authors: SELLERS JEFFEREY M. , LIDSTRÖM ANDERS
Published: September 2010

Despite growing interest in decentralized governance, the local government systems that comprise the most common element of decentralization around the world have received little systematic attention. This article, drawing on the first systematic index of decentralization to local government in 21 countries, demonstrates a close relation between Social Democratic welfare states and an intergovernmental infrastructure that in important respects ranks as the most decentralized among advanced industrial countries. This empowerment of local government in these countries was less an outgrowth of Social Democratic welfare state development than a preexisting condition that helped make this type of welfare state possible.
Do Intergovernmental Institutions Matter? The Case of Water Diversion Regulation in the Great Lakes Basin
Authors: HEINMILLER B. TIMOTHY
Published: September 2010

This article explores the role of intergovernmental institutions in domestic policy formation by investigating the extent to which these institutions substantively influence domestic policy choices. It does so by utilizing a rational choice institutionalist approach that focuses on the constraints and incentives created by intergovernmental rules and how these constraints and incentives do or do not influence eventual government policy decisions. The veto player concept is used to highlight some of the most important constraints and incentives, as well as to differentiate among various types of intergovernmental institutions. The cases examined involve water diversion regulation in the Great Lakes Basin and the three distinct intergovernmental institutions that have been created in this area: the International Boundary Waters Treaty, the Great Lakes Charter, and the Water Resources Development Act. The evidence suggests that intergovernmental institutions can matter in the development of domestic policy, but only those that include veto players as part of their institutional design.
Accountability in the Privatized State
Authors: HODGE GRAEME A. , COGHILL KEN
Published: September 2010

As well as better efficiency and improved services, privatization has also often promised improved accountability. But how does the empirical evidence on this look and what are the lessons here? This article looks at the notion of accountability and the degree to which privatizing public sector activities might improve or worsen such mechanisms. It then looks specifically at the different systems of accountability existing following three privatization activities in Victoria and compares these against that existing previously under public operation. The sale of electricity sector enterprises, the operation of urban rail service franchises, and the implementation of a public–private partnership project to supply transport infrastructure are adopted as case studies. For each case study, accountability systems are articulated and the operation of these systems is discussed. Overall, the article analyses the effectiveness of accountability systems now operating in the privatized state from the perspective of stakeholders. Importantly, the degree to which trade‐offs may have been made under new accountability arrangements is also discussed. Finally, the article draws together some general lessons on accountability for future privatization activities and proposes a conceptual model for a pyramid of accountability.
Initiatives for developing and comparing genotype interpretation systems: external validation of existing rule‐based interpretation systems for abacavir against virological response†
Authors: Cozzi‐Lepri A ,   on behalf of the Standardization and Clinical Relevance of HIV Drug Resistance Testing Project for the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research
Published: September 2010

Objectives

To investigate the concordance between any of the results of nine HIV‐1 drug‐resistance interpretation systems (ISs) and their ability to predict week 8 and week 24 virological responses to abacavir‐containing combination therapy.

Patients and Methods

A total of 1306 HIV‐infected patients with a viral load >500 HIV‐1 RNA copies/mL and a baseline genotypic resistance test were included in the study. Predicted abacavir susceptibilities according to each rule‐based IS were compared. Linear and logistic regressions were used to assess the prognostic value of each IS for week 8 and week 24 responses, respectively.

Results

A median of three (interquartile range 1–5) abacavir mutations were detected at baseline. Comparing the IS predictions for abacavir susceptibility, 9% to 45% of patients were predicted to have resistant (R) virus, 9% to 53% virus with intermediate (I) resistance, and 23% to 74% susceptible (S) virus. Overall, the median week 8 viral load reduction was 1.61 log10 copies/mL (95% confidence interval 1.52–1.71) and 50% of patients experienced virological failure at 24 weeks. Most ISs showed better virological responses with S and I viruses than with R viruses.

Conclusions

Despite some degree of variability in predicted abacavir susceptibility among ISs, most ISs are useful to predict virological response.
Gestational diabetes mellitus in a cohort of HIV‐1 infected women
Authors: González‐Tomé MI , Ramos Amador JT , Guillen S , Solís I , Fernández‐Ibieta M , Muñoz E , Almeda J , Rojano X , Rojo P , Nieto O ,   for the Spanish Cohort of HIV‐infected Mother–Infant Pairs
Published: September 2010

Objectives

We undertook a prospective study to estimate the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and associated risk factors in a cohort of 669 HIV‐1 infected women.

Methods

The O'Sullivan and glucose tolerance tests were performed during regular visits of 609 mothers.

Results

The median age of the cohort was 30.7 years (range 16–44), with most women having had heterosexual contact (67%). The majority were in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) category A (71%) and 53% exhibited hepatitis C co‐infection. Median viral load and CD4 count at third trimester were 545 cells/μL (range 139–1690 cells/μL) and 1.9 log (range 1.7–5.4), respectively. Seventy‐four per cent of the patients were treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), of whom 41% received a protease inhibitor (PI). An above‐average prevalence of 7% [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.2–9.5] for positive GDM diagnosis was found. Risk factors associated with GDM in univariate analysis included older age, hepatitis C co‐infection, stavudine and PI exposure. However, only older age [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 1.09, 95% CI 1–1.1] and PI exposure (AOR 2.4, 95% CI 1–5.3) remained as independent risk factors for GDM development in multivariate analysis.

Conclusions

In our cohort, the prevalence of GDM appears to be increased, with older age and PI exposure contributing as significant independent risk factors.
Lack of evidence for an association between UCHL1 S18Y and Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Hutter Carolyn M. , Samii Ali , Factor Stewart A. , Nutt John G. , Higgins Donald S. , Bird Thomas D. , Griffith Alida , Roberts John W. , Leis Berta C. , Montimurro Jennifer S. , Kay Denise M. , Edwards Karen L. , Payami Haydeh , Zabetian Cyrus P.
Published: September 2010

UCHL1 has been proposed as a candidate gene for Parkinson’s disease (PD). A meta‐analysis of white and Asian subjects reported an inverse association between the non‐synonymous UCHL1 S18Y polymorphism and PD risk. However, this finding was not replicated in a large case–control study and updated meta‐analysis restricted to white subjects. We performed a case–control study of 1757 PD patients recruited from movement disorder clinics and 2016 unrelated controls from four regions of the United States. All subjects self‐reported as white. We did not observe evidence for an association between S18Y genotypes and PD (overall P‐value for association: P = 0.42). After adjustment for age, sex, and recruitment region, the odds ratio for Y/S versus S/S was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.78–1.06) and for Y/Y versus S/S was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.58–1.29). We also did not observe a significant association for recessive or dominant models of inheritance, or after stratification by age at onset, age at blood draw, sex, family history of PD, or recruitment region. Our results suggest that UCHL1 S18Y is not a major susceptibility factor for PD in white populations although we cannot exclude the possibility that the S18Y variant exerts weak effects on risk, particularly in early‐onset disease.
Side‐to‐side differences in pressure pain thresholds and pericranial muscle tenderness in strictly unilateral migraine
Authors: Fernández‐de‐las‐Peñas C. , Cuadrado M. L. , Arendt‐Nielsen L. , Pareja J. A.
Published: September 2010

Previous studies dealing with pressure pain sensitivity or muscle tenderness in migraine have shown conflicting results. Our aim was to explore the differences in mechanical pain sensitivity and pericranial muscle tenderness between patients with unilateral migraine and healthy controls, and to analyse side‐to‐side differences in both study groups. Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) at cephalic and neck points, plus local and total tenderness scores were blindly assessed in 25 patients with strictly unilateral migraine and 25 healthy subjects. For PPT in the neck there were significant differences between groups (F = 47.029; P < 0.001) and sides (F = 6.363; P < 0.01), and a significant interaction between group and side (F = 5.201; P = 0.02), while PPT in the cephalic point showed differences between groups (F = 11.774; P < 0.001), but not sides (F = 2.838; P = 0.1). The total tenderness score showed significant differences between groups (F = 6.800; P < 0.01) and sides (F = 17.699; P < 0.001), along with a significant interaction between group and side (F = 14.420; P < 0.001). Patients had lower PPT and increased pericranial tenderness on the symptomatic side as compared with the non‐symptomatic side and to either side in controls (P < 0.001), whereas no significant differences were identified between the non‐symptomatic side and controls (P > 0.9). In migraine patients, PPT levels and muscle tenderness scores were negatively correlated (P < 0.001). The enhancement of local tenderness scores was related to hyperesthesia of specific muscles (sternocleidomastoid, suboccipital, and temporalis) rather than a generalized pericranial tenderness. Future studies should investigate the neuro‐physiological basis for the laterality of allodynic and hyperalgesic responses in unilateral migraine.
Parkinsonism and tardive antecollis in frontotemporal dementia – increased sensitivity to newer antipsychotics?
Authors: Czarnecki K. , Kumar N. , Josephs K. A.
Published: September 2010

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) often presents with behavioural changes warranting treatment with antipsychotic medications. It is known that patients with Lewy body dementia are sensitive to developing extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) from these medications. This has not been emphasized in FTD. We report three patients with FTD that developed parkinsonism and prominent antecollis after treatment with newer antipsychotics, including olanzapine, risperidone and quetiapine. Patients with FTD might have increased sensitivity to antipsychotic medications as with Lewy body dementia. Although newer antipsychotics have favourable side effect profiles, there is increasing evidence that EPS develop more frequently than previously thought.
Are Teen Unemployment Rates Influenced by State Minimum Wage Laws?
Authors: PARTRIDGE MARK D. , PARTRIDGE JAMIE S.
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT
Several recent studies have challenged the conventional notion that raising the minimum wage has negative labor market consequences. In particular, most recent minimum wage research has considered teen employment, with virtually no examination of unemployment rates. Given the conflicting findings in the recent literature, this study reconsiders this issue by examining the minimum wage's influence on teen unemployment rates. The empirical analysis considers state data from the latter 1980s, a unique period where many states raised their minimum wage above the federal level. The results suggest that both a greater minimum wage rate and greater minimum wage coverage increase teen unemployment rates. Further evidence suggests that employment declines outweigh teen labor force reductions, suggesting that increases in unemployment are primarily caused by labor demand shifts. Thus, policy makers should weigh these costs in deciding future minimum wage hikes.
Producer Services, Labor Market Segmentation and Peripheral Regions: The Case of Saskatchewan
Authors: EBERTS DERREK , RANDALL JAMES E.
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT
Within the last decade, a considerable literature has emerged on the growth and location of producer services employment in North America, and in the role of labor market characteristics in shaping these changes. One of the outcomes of this research has been the realization that producer services are overwhelmingly concentrated in metropolitan areas, and that there is a strong core‐periphery dichotomy in the representation of these activities. This paper explores the labor market characteristics of a set of producer service activities within the peripheral urban hierarchy of Saskatchewan, Canada, dominated by the regional cores of Saskatoon and Regina, and surrounded by ten peripheral regions. The data set was provided by Employment Canada, and divided into Canada Employment Centre (CEC) Areas. It was found that the higher order producer services, such as Finance and Business Services, are significantly underrepresented relative to the rest of Canada, while others, such as Services to Primary Producers and Transportation and Communications, are significantly overrepresented. However, the nature of these services, as reflected in their labor market characteristics, are very different. Gender and the role of part‐time labor appear to be distinguished on the basis of the specific producer service sector, with very few distinctions across space. On the other hand, differences in the roles played by part‐year labor is less related to the sector and more related to position within the peripheral hierarchy. Although the heartland‐hinterland model is usually applied at national or even international scales of analysis, the nature of the segmentation of the producer services labor force, and its relationship to urbanization and development of the sector, imply that the model can in fact be used as a fiamework for analyzing intraregional employment relationships within the periphery. This study highlights the nature of the labor force as one aspect of this framework.
Linking Policy and Outcomes: A Simulation Model of Poverty Incidence
Authors: DAVIS ELIZABETH E. , WEBER BRUCE A.
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT
Many states are striving to meet public demand for accountability by “benchmarking”—setting social goals for the state and tracking progress in meeting the goals. However, states are finding it difficult to set realistic targets and to assess the impacts of policy on achievement of the targets without a framework that models the relationships among policy targets, policy actions and social and economic forces outside the control of policymakers. This paper develops a dynamic simulation model of one “benchmark” (poverty incidence) in Oregon, linking transitions into and out of poverty to various events (increased earnings, or having a child as a teenager, for example), and linking these events to policy. The simulation results suggest that, with current policies, Oregon will come close to achieving its poverty benchmark target of 11 percent by the year 2000 if economic conditions remain favorable. The model is used to examine the impact on poverty incidence of three policy strategies: reducing high school dropout and teen pregnancy rates, increasing the effectiveness of social support programs to JOBS participants, and boosting job growth. The simulation results suggest that when assessing the state's performance or “grading” the observed trend in the poverty benchmark, policymakers should take into account the performance of the state (and national) economy. The impact of policy efforts to reduce poverty is limited because many poverty spells are caused largely by events not affected by current state policies.
Public vs. Private Garbage Disposal: The Economics of Solid Waste Flow Controls
Authors: KEELER ANDREW G. , RENKOW MITCH
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT
The welfare effects of public versus private waste disposal with and without flow controls are analyzed. The pricing of private waste disposal services is modeled as being bounded above by the public entity's average disposal cost, but constrained by potential entry of private competitors. It is found that once a publicly owned disposal facility has been built, waste generators are almost always better off if their local government has flow control authority. This results from the necessity of covering the fixed costs of the public facility once it has been built, in conjunction with the expected pricing behavior of private firms.
Urban Development and Knowledge‐Intensive Business Services: Too Many Unanswered Questions?
Authors: WOOD PETER
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT It is often assumed that future urban employment will be increasingly dependent on the knowledge‐intensive business services (KIBS). This underpins much of the current thinking about the development of the English “core cites.” Their example is employed to examine the more general validity of such assumptions, in terms of five critical questions to which research offers only partial and indefinite answers. For any city, how far are these activities really “knowledge intensive”? What markets do they serve? Is their future growth certain? And even when this is the case, how can they make a long‐term contribution to local urban economic success? Finally, how far do urban economic institutions and policies need to be adapted to foster knowledge‐based activities such as KIBS? It seems that, despite the growth of measured KIBS employment, most of the core cities possess few truly knowledge‐intensive KIBS, capable of serving national and international business markets, competitively adapting to future change, and adding to the competitiveness of the wider urban economy. Nationally such activities remain focused into the London region where, if anything, they have increased their concentration is recent years.
Externality Effects on Residential Property Values: The Example of Noise Disamenities
Authors: CLARK DAVID E.
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT  Studies conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration in the 1990s reveal that train whistle bans lead to higher accident rates at train crossings. However, advocates of these bans argue that they eliminate noise externalities that have a detrimental effect on residential home values. To assess this latter claim, an event study is conducted and hedonic models are estimated for three different areas in which Conrail unilaterally began ignoring local whistle bans. While the findings consistently show that proximity to rail lines has a negative and statistically important influence on home values, there is little evidence that the Conrail decision had any permanent and appreciable influence on the housing values in these communities. In two of the three study areas, there is no statistically significant impact of the Conrail action, and in the third area, the effects are found to be temporary in duration.
Regional Business Cycles and the Emergence of Sheltered Economies in the Southern Periphery of Europe
Authors: RODRÍGUEZ‐POSE ANDRÉS , FRATESI UGO
Published: September 2010

ABSTRACT Recent research has highlighted that in the last few years, the evolution of regional disparities in many European states has become pro‐cyclical. This represents a change with respect to the predominantly anti‐cyclical pattern of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper addresses the question of whether and when this change has taken place in the southern periphery of Europe, before analysing the factors that may have played a role in such a change. The analysis relies on a regional database that includes the evolution of the GDP per capita of NUTS II regions in five European countries (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) between 1980 and 2000. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis of a change towards a pro‐cyclical evolution of regional disparities in the cases of Italy, Portugal, and Spain, but not in those of Greece and France. A relationship between these pro‐cyclical patterns and the emergence of less dynamic sheltered economies is also detected in peripheral regions. This lack of dynamism is related to the fact that numerous peripheral areas in southern Europe have become increasingly dependent on factors such as transfers or public investment and employment, and therefore are less exposed to changes in market conditions.
Individualizing Japan: searching for its origin in first modernity
Authors: Suzuki Munenori , Ito Midori , Ishida Mitsunori , Nihei Norihiro , Maruyama Masao
Published: September 2010

Since the mid‐1990s Japanese society has entered a period of major change. The previous patterns of social order and social integration have collapsed, and it has become increasingly difficult to envision a stable life course for oneself. The ‘secure’ foundation has been weakening and anxiety has spread at an accelerated pace. Japan could enter the age of second modernity, or reflexive modernization. In Japan's first modernity, the mechanism responsible for risk management, an integrated society, and stabilized social order, was, first, private corporations that guaranteed long‐term stability for employees and their families (company‐centrism) and, second, land development rapidly implemented under the guidance of bureaucrats (developmentalism). From the 1990s, these systems were fundamentally destroyed by globalization and neoliberal policies. Private corporations limited the groups that could benefit from the seniority wage system, undermining in‐house welfare benefits. The government abandoned its role of improving the industrial and economic conditions of surrounding areas through offering public works projects. After these risk‐stabilizing mechanisms were gone, two problems became conspicuous – poverty among young workers in urban areas and the collapse of the local community in marginal areas. As the seniority wage system and lifetime employment were substitutes for the public social security system, public measures to deal with poverty remain inadequate. Now, the individualization of the family has advanced somewhat under compulsion as the rate of unmarried people and the divorce rate have climbed. The Japanese have a tendency to seek ‘self‐realization’; at the same time, they also want ‘secure employment’. Thus, they are torn between individualization and the desire for security. What is now necessary is a more stable system that will ensure them adequate material and spiritual ‘elbowroom’ to allow them to make their own choices.
The stranded individualizer under compressed modernity: South Korean women in individualization without individualism
Authors: Kyung‐Sup Chang , Min‐Young Song
Published: September 2010

South Korean families have functioned as a highly effective receptacle for the country's highly compressed conditions of modernity and late modernity. It is as much due to the success of South Korean families as an engine of compressed modernity as due to their failure that they have become functionally overloaded and socially risk‐ridden. Such familial burdens and risks are particularly onerous to South Korean women because of the fundamentally gender‐based structure of family relations and duties that has in part been recycled from the Confucian past and in part manufactured under industrial capitalism. Under these complicated conditions, South Korean women have had to dramatically restructure their family relations and duties as well as their individual life choices. Furthermore, under the most recent condition of what Beck calls second modernity, other institutions of modernity, such as the state, industrial economy, firms, unions, schools, and welfare systems, have become increasingly ineffective in helping to alleviate such (gender‐based) familial burdens and dilemmas. As a result South Korean women have experienced dramatic changes in marriage patterns, fertility, family relations, etc. South Korean women's individualization has thereby taken place primarily as a matter of practicality rather than ideational change. A brief analysis of the situation in the neighbouring societies of Japan and Taiwan reinforces the conclusion that individualization without individualism, particularly among women, is a region‐wide phenomenon in East Asia.
Recursive cosmopolitization: Argentina and the global Human Rights Regime
Authors: Levy Daniel
Published: September 2010

This paper illustrates how varieties of cosmopolitanism are shaped through a mutually constitutive set of cultural dispositions and institutional practices that emerge at the interstices of global human right norms and local legal practices. Converging pressures of ‘cosmopolitan imperatives’ and the multiplicity of particularized manifestations are co‐evolving in the context ofintercrossingsduring which distinctive cosmopolitanisms are established. This complex relationship of global normative expectations and their local appropriations is elucidated through the dynamic ofrecursive cosmopolitization. Suggesting that, local problems are resolved with recourse to global prescriptions while local solutions are inscribed in international institutions consolidating the global Human Rights Regime. The Argentinean case carries conceptual and empirical weight as it underscores the recursivity of cosmopolitization by calibrating the tensions of universalism and particularism at the intersection of global, national and regional scales. Argentina is a paradigmatic instantiation for how cosmopolitanism can emanate in the periphery as local problems are globalized. This, in turn, has resulted in the institutionalization of a global Human Rights Regime which exercises normative and political–legal pressures on how states legitimately deal with human rights abuses. It is this cosmopolitan balance, rather than presuppositions of universalistic exogenous pressures or particularistic national exceptions, which is shaping the cultural and political relevance of human rights norms.
Beck, Asia and second modernity
Authors: Calhoun Craig
Published: September 2010

The work of Ulrich Beck has been important in bringing sociological attention to the ways issues of risk are embedded in contemporary globalization, in developing a theory of ‘reflexive modernization’, and in calling for social science to transcend ‘methodological nationalism’. In recent studies, he and his colleagues help to correct for the Western bias of many accounts of cosmopolitanism and reflexive modernization, and seek to distinguish normative goals from empirical analysis. In this paper I argue that further clarification of this latter distinction is needed but hard to reach within a framework that still embeds the normative account in the idea that empirical change has a clear direction. Similar issues beset the presentation of diverse patterns in recent history as all variants of ‘second modernity’. Lastly, I note that ironically, given the declared ‘methodological cosmopolitanism’ of the authors, the empirical studies here all focus on national cases.
Planetarity and cosmopolitics
Authors: Gilroy Paul
Published: September 2010

This comment responds to the articles assembled by Beck and Grande (BJS 2010). It argues that their important approach has been extended in novel directions by these contributions and that the goal represented by a cosmopolitan sociology is pending in the expansion of the dialogue these pieces initiate.
How should permeability be measured in fine‐grained lithologies? Evidence from the chalk
Authors: MALLON A.J. , SWARBRICK R.E.
Published: September 2010

Two chalk data sets from the Central North Sea (UK/Norway and Denmark) with a similar lithological classification and porosity values (5–20%) have a difference in permeability of up to three orders of magnitude. The method of measuring permeability was different for the two data sets: samples from UK/Norway were measured by transient pulse decay (TPD), while the Danish samples were measured by routine core analysis. Petrological and petrophysical characterization of samples from the two data sets have revealed that all samples display a similar range of rock properties; the differences are not due to regional facies variations. It is likely that the low permeability values reported by TPD have more validity than routine core analyses in measuring lower porosity and permeability chalk (5–20% porosity, <0.01 mD). The fact that large sections of North Sea chalk potentially have much lower permeability than previously reported has widespread implications for petroleum migration and entrapment, and overpressure generation.
Rumination in the laboratory: What happens when you go back to everyday life?
Authors: Ottaviani Cristina , Shapiro David , Fitzgerald Leah
Published: September 2010

Rumination has been suggested to mediate the physiological consequences of stress on health. We studied the effects of rumination evoked in the laboratory and subsequent changes over 24 h. Heart rate (HR) and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) were monitored in 27 male and 33 female participants during baseline, reading, an anger recall interview, and recovery. Half of the sample was assigned to a distraction condition. The lab session was followed by a 24‐hour ambulatory (A)HR and BP recording and self‐reports of moods and rumination. Rumination was associated with higher SBP, DBP, and HR and increased negative mood compared to distraction. Rumination during the day was a strong predictor of AHR, ABP, and mood. BP reactivity in the laboratory and increases in ABP during rumination were related. The effects of negative cognition on health go far beyond the recovery periods usually measured in the laboratory, thus playing a pathogenic role.
Obesity in pregnancy: a review of reviews on the effectiveness of interventions
Authors: Thangaratinam S , Jolly K
Published: September 2010

Please cite this paper as: Thangaratinam S, Jolly K. Obesity in pregnancy: a review of reviews on the on the effectiveness of interventions. BJOG 2010;117:1309–1312.
THE TECHNOLOGY OF GLAZED ISLAMIC CERAMICS USING DATA COLLECTED BY THE LATE ALEXANDER KACZMARCZYK
Authors: TITE M. S.
Published: September 2010

During the 1980s, the late Alexander Kaczmarczyk undertook the analysis of some 1200 glazed Islamic ceramics from Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Syria spanning the period from the eighth to the 14th centuries ad, using a combination of XRF for the glazes, and AAS or PIXE for the bodies. The aim of the present paper is, first, to bring to the attention of researchers into Islamic ceramics the fact that these analytical data are available on the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art website, and also that some 400 of the analysed sherds are held in the Research Laboratory. Second, the paper provides a preliminary interpretation of the analytical data in terms of the choice of glaze type (i.e., alkali–lime, lead–alkali and high‐lead), tin‐opacification, body type (i.e., quartz or stonepaste, calcareous clay, and non‐calcareous clay), and colorants.
The Two Effects of District Magnitude: Venezuela as a Crucial Experiment*
Authors: SHUGART MATTHEW F.
Published: September 2010

Following Duverger, low district magnitude (low number of seats per electoral district) produces a mechanical effect, the underrepresentation of small parties, and a psychological effect, discouraging voters from voting for small parties. The two effects usually occur together and cannot be tested separately. However, in Venezuela an experimental ‘control’ is provided by the requirement that voters simultaneously cast a vote for the same party in each of three legislative tiers (Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and State Assembly), each with a different district magnitude. Hence the psychological effect can exert itself on only one tier. In the other tiers exceptionally high or low deviations from proportional representation are observed. The separate effects of district magnitude are analysed by their consequences on the number of electoral parties and the deviation from proportional representation.
Proportional Tenure vs Proportional Representation: Introducing a New Debate
Authors: TAYLOR PETER J. , LIJPHART AREND
Published: September 2010

The argument for proportional representation (PR) rests on the assumption that the legislature should accurately reflect the opinions of the voters as a whole. An alternative, and more compelling, argument is that the government (executive) should faithfully reflect the voters’ opinions. When we apply this proportional tenure (PT) criterion to 87 political parties in 18 countries from 1945 to 1980, we find that neither PR nor plurality‐majority systems have performed very well. In PR systems, small centrist parties tend to be favoured, and large parties, especially those that are ideologically ‘extreme’, are discriminated against. Three types of constitutional‐electoral arrangements may be introduced in order to make government tenure more proportional: PT in each government that is formed: PT by consecutive governments; and majoritarian PT in which the largest party forms the government for a period proportional to the size of its share of the popular vote.
Application of Procedural Justice to Electoral Systems*
Authors: REYNOLDS DAVID R. , SHELLEY FRED M.
Published: September 2010

Considerable attention has been paid to the properties of electoral mechanisms used in Western democracies to determine who formally exercises political power. However, attempts to justify preferences among different electoral mechanisms are generally underdeveloped and piecemeal. What is needed is an explicit emphasis on procedural justice as a benchmark for determining the most appropriate means of electing democratic governments. In this paper, concepts of procedural justice are described and applied to electoral systems. It is argued that procedural justice demands recognition of the criteria of representativeness, proportionality, unbiasedness, correctability, and initiative. These criteria imply that constituencies for the election of legislators should be territorial, and that they should be drawn in accordance with communities of conflict, which afford candidates strong incentives to seek and articulate imaginative solutions to major conflicts. These properties of procedural justice are consistent with empirical evidence that citizens demand more decentralized and participation‐oriented approaches to representative democracy.
A Mathematical Model for Political Bipolarization
Authors: DE MEUR G. , GASSNER M. , HUBAUT X.
Published: September 2010

The problem of fair representation is studied in the case of cleavage according to one or two criteria. In the latter case we show that with minimal requirements of equity, a solution exists only if the two criteria are binary. This might explain an observed tendency to political bipolarization.
Terrestrial laser scanning for use in virtual outcrop geology
Authors: Buckley Simon J. , Enge Håvard D. , Carlsson Christian , Howell John A.
Published: September 2010

This paper discusses the application of laser scanning and photo‐realistic modelling to aid the study of geological outcrops, using two examples from central and eastern Utah, USA, which are analogues to subsurface hydrocarbon fields. Terrestrial laser scanning point clouds were triangulated to obtain high‐resolution surface representations, which were combined with semi‐metric imagery to give texture‐mapped photo‐realistic models of the outcrops. Such models provide the basis for geological interpretation and were used to reconstruct the geometries of layers over the extent of the study area. The digitised geological layers were in turn used to build geocellular volumes that capture the properties of the geology. These models were built in subsurface reservoir modelling software and were used to simulate the flow of fluids through the reservoir analogue. In this way, the spatial information provided significantly more detailed quantitative data and greatly improved the outcrop studies compared to traditional field techniques.
Second‐Line Treatment for Helicobacter pylori Infection: 10‐day Moxifloxacin‐Based Triple Therapy versus 2‐week Quadruple Therapy
Authors: Kang Jung Mook , Kim Nayoung , Lee Dong Ho , Park Young Soo , Kim Yu Rim , Kim Joo Sung , Jung Hyun Chae , Song In Sung
Published: September 2010

Background and aim:  The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of 10‐day moxifloxacin‐based triple therapy versus 2‐week quadruple therapy for the second‐line treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Methods:  One hundred and ninety‐two patients who had failed previous H. pylori eradication on standard triple therapy were randomized to one of two regimens: 1, moxifloxacin (400 mg q.d.), amoxicillin (1000 mg b.i.d.), and esomeprazole (20 mg b.i.d.) for 10 days (the 10MEA group), or 2, esomeprazole (20 mg b.i.d.), tripotassium dicitrate bismuthate (300 mg q.i.d.), metronidazole (500 mg t.i.d.), and tetracycline 500 mg (q.i.d.) for 14 days (the 14EBMT group). The eradication rates, drug compliances, and side‐effect rates of these two regimens were compared.

Results:  Eradication rates by intention‐to‐treat and per‐protocol analyses in the 10MEA and 14EMBT groups were 71.9% and 82.6%, and 71.7% and 90.5% (p = .973 and .321), respectively. The 10MEA group was significantly superior to the 14EMBT group in terms of side‐effect rates (12.2% vs. 39.6%, p = .001), and discontinuation rates due to side‐effects were lower in the 10MEA group than in the 14EMBT group (0.7% vs. 13.2%, p < .001). Moreover, compliance was higher in the 10MEA group (94.2% (131/139)) than in the 14EBMT group (83.0% (44/53)) (p = .014).

Conclusion:  The 10‐day moxifloxacin‐based triple therapy was found to have a high eradication rate with few side‐effects and good drug compliance. These findings suggest that this regimen is a safe and effective second‐line treatment option for H. pylori infection in Korea.
Efficacy and Safety of Faropenem in Eradication Therapy of Helicobacter pylori
Authors: Ogura Keiji , Mitsuno Yuzo , Maeda Shin , Hirata Yoshihiro , Yanai Ayako , Shibata Wataru , Ohmae Tomoya , Yoshida Haruhiko , Kawabe Takao , Omata Masao
Published: September 2010

Aims:  While triple therapy with a proton pump inhibitor, amoxicillin, and clarithromycin is the standard therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication, it is ineffective against clarithromycin‐resistant strains. To seek a better regimen for eradication therapy, we assessed the sensitivity of clinical strains seen in Japan to faropenem and then evaluated the efficacy and safety of eradication therapy containing this antibiotic.

Methods:  Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of faropenem were determined in 78 Japanese clinical H. pylori isolates using the agar dilution method. H. pylori‐positive patients were consecutively assigned to a 7‐day eradication therapy protocol with LAF (lansoprazole 60 mg/day, amoxicillin 2000 mg/day, and faropenem 600 mg/day), and then to a 14‐day protocol. The outcomes of the therapies were assessed by 13C‐urea breath tests.

Results:  All 78 strains showed MICs of faropenem that were equal to or less than 0.2 µg/mL. The eradication rates according to intention‐to‐treat analyses were 46.5% with the 7‐day therapy (n = 43) and 62.5% with the 14‐day therapy (n = 32). No special measures were required to treat the adverse events observed in approximately one‐third of the patients.

Conclusions:  Faropenem was found to have good antimicrobial action against H. pylori in vitro. The 14‐day LAF therapy successfully eradicated H. pylori in about two‐thirds of the patients although the incidence of adverse events was high.