bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Audit of anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis in hospitalized oncology patients
Authors: Chin P. K. L. , Beckert L. E. L. , Gunningham S. , Edwards A. L. , Robinson B. A.
Published: November 2008

Background:  Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant problem in oncology patients. VTE prophylaxis is underutilized in hospitalized medical patients, but there are few data for the appropriateness and frequency of its use in the oncology subgroup. We aimed to document local practice.

Methods:  A cross‐sectional chart review of all hospitalized patients cared for by the Christchurch Hospital Oncology Service was carried out during two defined 4‐week periods. Assessment for indications and contraindications to prophylactic anticoagulation was based on the 2004 American College of Chest Physicians evidence‐based consensus guidelines.

Results:  Of 113 admissions to the oncology service, 38 (33.6%) had indications for prophylactic anticoagulation. However, 23 of these also had contraindications, leaving only 15 (13%) admissions where prophylactic anticoagulation was deemed appropriate. Only one was appropriately given prophylactic anticoagulation.

Conclusion:  Only a minority of hospitalized oncology patients are appropriate for prophylactic anticoagulation. Where it is suitable, however, it is poorly utilized locally. Local promotion of VTE prophylaxis and further study of this subgroup of hospitalized medical patients may improve uptake of this practice and attenuate morbidity from VTE.
Interactive and cumulative effects of multiple human stressors in marine systems
Authors: Crain Caitlin Mullan , Kroeker Kristy , Halpern Benjamin S.
Published: November 2008

Humans impact natural systems in a multitude of ways, yet the cumulative effect of multiple stressors on ecological communities remains largely unknown. Here we synthesized 171 studies that manipulated two or more stressors in marine and coastal systems and found that cumulative effects in individual studies were additive (26%), synergistic (36%), and antagonistic (38%). The overall interaction effect across all studies was synergistic, but interaction type varied by response level (community: antagonistic, population: synergistic), trophic level (autotrophs: antagonistic, heterotrophs: synergistic), and specific stressor pair (seven pairs additive, three pairs each synergistic and antagonistic). Addition of a third stressor changed interaction effects significantly in two‐thirds of all cases and doubled the number of synergistic interactions. Given that most studies were performed in laboratories where stressor effects can be carefully isolated, these three‐stressor results suggest that synergies may be quite common in nature where more than two stressors almost always coexist. While significant gaps exist in multiple stressor research, our results suggest an immediate need to account for stressor interactions in ecological studies and conservation planning.
Blood pressure control and awareness among patients with diabetes and hypertension attending a tertiary ophthalmic clinic
Authors: Wong N. , Wang S. S. , Lamoureux E. , Wong T. Y. , Tikellis G. , Harper A. , Wang J. J.
Published: November 2008

Aims  To assess the proportion of patients who had diabetes and hypertension with optimal blood pressure (BP) control and to describe patients’ awareness of the importance of BP control.

Methods  A cross‐sectional survey of out‐patients with diabetes who attended the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) was conducted between October 2006 and February 2007. Of 245 patients invited, 220 (90%) participated. Optimal BP control was defined as BP < 130/80 mmHg recorded at the latest visit; proportions of patients with awareness of BP control were defined non‐exclusively by: (i) ability to recall a previous BP record and rate the appropriateness of that BP level; (ii) ability to recall the recommended optimal BP control level by current diabetes management guidelines; (iii) knowledge that optimal BP control is important to diabetes management; and (iv) knowledge that optimal BP control is important to eye health.

Results  Of the 220 patients, 176 had both diabetes and hypertension. Of these, 49 of 176 (28%) had BP controlled optimally, and 30 of 176 (17%) recalled and rated a previous recorded BP level appropriately. Fewer than one in four (22%) acknowledged the recommended optimum BP level of < 130/80 mmHg, fewer than one in two (48%) rated BP as important to diabetes management, and one in three (35%) rated BP control as important to eye health.

Conclusions  In this sample of patients with diabetes and hypertension, fewer than one‐third achieved the BP level recommended by clinical guidelines, and fewer than half were aware of the importance of BP control.
Mechanism of disopyramide‐induced hypoglycaemia in a patient with Type 2 diabetes
Authors: Negishi M. , Shimomura K. , Proks P. , Mori M. , Shimomura Y.
Published: November 2008

Background  Disopyramide, an antiarrhythmia drug, has been reported to cause hypoglycaemia. Pre‐existing factors that increase the concentration of the drug in the blood increase the risk of hypoglycaemia. Furthermore, other factors can also increase the risk of hypoglycaemia even when disopyramide levels are in the therapeutic range. It has been proposed that disopyramide‐induced hypoglycaemia is caused by inhibition of the pancreatic B‐cell KATP channels.

Case report  We report a case of severe disopyramide‐induced hypoglycaemia in a 62‐year‐old woman with Type 2 diabetes taking low‐dose glimepiride treatment. She had not experienced hypoglycaemia prior to the start of disopyramide therapy. No further hypoglycaemic episodes occurred following withdrawal of disopyramide therapy.

Functional study  Current recordings of KATP channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes showed that at their estimated therapeutic concentrations, disopyramide and glimepiride inhibited KATP channels by about 50–60%. However, when both drugs were applied together, KATP channels were almost completely closed (~95%). Such dramatic inhibition of KATP channels is sufficient to cause B‐cell membrane depolarization and stimulate insulin secretion.

Conclusions  Disopyramide therapy is not recommended for patients treated with KATP channel inhibitors.
Biomedical, lifestyle and psychosocial characteristics of people newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes: baseline data from the DESMOND randomized controlled trial
Authors: Khunti K. , Skinner T. C. , Heller S , Carey M. E , Dallosso H. M. , Davies M. J ,   on behalf of the DESMOND Collaborative
Published: November 2008

Aims  To describe the characteristics of newly diagnosed people with Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and compare these with published studies.

Methods  Baseline data of participants recruited to the DESMOND randomized controlled trial conducted in 13 sites across England and Scotland were used. Biomedical measures and questionnaires on psychological characteristics were collected within 4 weeks of diagnosis.

Results  Of 1109 participants referred, 824 consented to participate (74.3%). Mean (± sd) age was 59.5 ± 12 years and 54.9% were male. Mean HbA1c was 8.1 ± 2.1% and did not differ by gender. Mean body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in women (33.7 vs. 31.3 kg/m2; P < 0.001); 69% of women and 54% of men were obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2). Total cholesterol was significantly higher in women (5.6 vs. 5.2 mmol/l; P < 0.001). Overall, 14.7% reported smoking. Percentages reporting recommended levels of vigorous activity (≥ 3 times/week) and moderate activity (≥ 5 times/week) were 10.6 and 16.0%, respectively, and were lower in women. Specific illness beliefs included 73% being unclear about symptoms and only 54% believing diabetes is a serious condition. Symptoms indicative of depression were reported by significantly more women than men (16.1% vs. 8.2%; P = 0.001).

Conclusion  Data from this large and representative cohort of newly diagnosed people with T2DM show that many have modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. Comparison with the literature suggests that the profile of the newly diagnosed may be changing, with lower HbA1c and higher prevalence of obesity. Many expressed beliefs about and poor understanding of their diabetes that need to be addressed in order for them to engage in effective self‐management.
Pregnancy outcome in patients with raised blood glucose due to a heterozygous glucokinase gene mutation
Authors: Spyer G. , Macleod K. M. , Shepherd M. , Ellard S. , Hattersley A. T.
Published: November 2008

Aim  To assess determinants of fetal growth in the offspring of pregnant women with hyperglycaemia due to a heterozygous glucokinase (GCK) gene mutation.

Methods  Details of gestational age at delivery, fetal birth weight and maternal antenatal treatment were collected from patients and retrospective case note review of 82 offspring born to 42 women with GCK gene mutations and 31 offspring born to 13 unaffected normoglycaemic women with an affected partner. Fetal genotype was determined using direct sequencing from either a mouth swab or a blood sample.

Results  In mothers with GCK mutations, non‐mutation‐carrying offspring were heavier than mutation‐carrying offspring (corrected birth weight 3.9 ± 0.6 vs. 3.2 ± 0.8 kg; P < 0.001) and more likely to be macrosomic (> 4.0 kg; 39% vs. 7%, P = 0.001). There was no difference in corrected birth weight between offspring of insulin‐ and diet‐treated women (3.7 ± 0.7 vs. 3.8 ± 0.6 kg; P = 0.1), although insulin‐treated mothers delivered earlier (37.5 ± 1.7 vs. 38.9 ± 2.3 weeks; P < 0.001) due to increased obstetric intervention.

Conclusions  Offspring of women with GCK mutations are at increased risk of macrosomia and its obstetric consequences. Fetal birth weight is predominantly altered by fetal genotype and not treatment of maternal hyperglycaemia with insulin. This probably reflects the large effect of a fetal GCK mutation on fetal insulin secretion and the difficulty in reducing the regulated maternal glycaemia caused by a glucose sensing defect in people with GCK mutations.
Long‐term review of driving potential following bilateral panretinal photocoagulation for proliferative diabetic retinopathy
Authors: Vernon S. A. , Bhagey J. , Boraik M. , El‐Defrawy H.
Published: November 2008

Aim  To determine the necessity for repeated Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) visual field testing in people with diabetes who have had bilateral panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) for proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Methods  A questionnaire survey was conducted of driving history in a cohort of people with diabetes who had been treated with bilateral PRP for proliferative retinopathy between 1988 and 1990. In addition, all similarly eligible subjects attending the diabetic retinal review clinic over a 12‐month period who had had laser between 1991 and 2000 were questioned as to their driving status.

Results  Forty‐five surviving patients from the 1988–1990 cohort were eligible and 25 returned the questionnaire (55%). Eight had never driven and 15 (13 with Type 1 diabetes) still held a valid licence, having passed the DVLA field test on a number of occasions. Neither of the two patients who had stopped driving reported failing the DVLA field test as the reason for stopping. All 12 of the patients directly questioned in the clinic were still driving and had passed at least one repeat DVLA test.

Conclusions  People with Type 1 diabetes who have no further laser treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy can expect to retain their UK driving licence for at least 15 years following small‐burn PRP, provided they maintain sufficient acuity.
The Role of Alliance Network Redundancy in the Creation of Core and Non‐core Technologies
Authors: Vanhaverbeke Wim , Gilsing Victor , Beerkens Bonnie , Duysters Geert
Published: November 2008

abstract

This paper studies the effect of a focal firm, and its partners' local alliance actions, on the creation of technological innovations by the former. More specifically, we study how two types of redundancy in a focal firm's ego network affect its ability to create new technologies in its technology core areas (exploitation) and/or non‐core areas (exploration). We analyse this empirically in three different industry settings: chemicals, motor vehicles, and pharmaceuticals. One of our key findings is that individual firms can indeed boost both types of innovative output by shaping the degree of redundancy in their local alliance network, but that the way in which this should be done differs between the creation of core and non‐core technologies. Next, we find that it is very useful to unpack the rather abstract notion of redundancy into more specific types of redundancy in ego networks. Overall, these findings reflect an action‐oriented view on the role of individual firms in collaborative networks, which may complement the dominant view in the alliance literature emphasizing the role of the overall network structure and firms' network position within it.
Substance use and functional impairment among adolescents directly exposed to the 2001 World Trade Center attacks
Authors: Chemtob Claude M. , Nomura Yoko , Josephson Louis , Adams Richard E. , Sederer Lloyd
Published: November 2008

The relationship between exposure to the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks, increased substance use, functional impairment and mental health service use, controlling for depression and post‐traumatic stress disorder, was assessed through an in‐school survey of directly exposed students (N = 1040) attending the five middle and five high schools nearest the WTC. The survey was conducted 18 months after the attacks. Students with one WTC exposure risk factor had a five‐fold increase in substance use, while those with three or more exposure risks had a nearly 19‐fold increase. Increased substance use was associated with impaired school work, school behaviour and grades. Students reporting increased substance use were nearly twice as likely to want help but were no more likely than asymptomatic students to receive services. Adolescents reporting increased substance use, without co‐morbidity, were less likely to receive psychological services than others. Attention to the needs of substance‐using adolescents exposed to disaster is needed.
Stressful but rewarding: Norwegian personnel mobilised for the 2004 tsunami disaster
Authors: Thoresen Siri , Tønnessen Arnfinn , Lindgaard Camilla Vibe , Andreassen Anne Lie , Weisæth Lars
Published: November 2008

Adequate responses to disasters and emergency situations rely, among other factors, on coping abilities in disaster workers and emergency personnel. In this study, different aspects of disaster‐related stressors and training/experience were investigated in Norwegian personnel (n = 581) mobilised for the 2004 tsunami disaster. The level of stress reactions, measured nine to ten months after the tsunami, was relatively low in this sample, indicating that the personnel coped well with the challenges of the disaster. The level of intrusive memories was higher in disaster‐area personnel (n = 335) than in home‐base personnel (n = 246). Stress reactions were significantly associated with witnessing experiences (disaster‐area group) and with having to reject victims in need of help (both groups). Specific preparation for the mission was associated with a lower level of stress reactions in disaster‐area personnel. Such factors may be considered in training and preparation programmes for disaster workers.
Inter‐organisational communication in civil–military cooperation during complex emergencies: a case study in Afghanistan1
Authors: Rietjens Sebastiaan J.H. , Verlaan Kirsten , Zaalberg Thijs W. Brocades , De Boer Sirp J.
Published: November 2008

This paper seeks to contribute to an improved information management and exchange between humanitarian organisations and military agents in complex emergencies. To do so, a theoretical information management process model was developed and applied to the case of information management between International Security Assistance Force troops and humanitarian organisations such as Cordaid, DACAAR and the International Office for Migration in Kabul, Afghanistan. Based on this analysis the main shortcomings and problems in each stage of the information management process were identified. These include a lack of structured information databases, the absence of identification of information needs, and an over‐classification of documents by the military. Using a logical framework analysis, six major improvement tactics were developed, including the creation of more overlap in rotations of personnel, the specification of aims and tasks regarding information management, the improvement of skills and competences of personnel involved, and the introduction of regular joint civil–military evaluations.
Putting houses in place:1 rebuilding communities in post‐tsunami Sri Lanka
Authors: Ruwanpura Kanchana N.
Published: November 2008

This paper interrogates the social and political geographies of resettlement and reconstruction of temporary and permanent shelters, which are fundamental to rebuilding tsunami‐affected communities. War and ethnic cleavages are an endemic feature of Sri Lanka's social polity, and uneven development processes in the country are clearly visible. This paper draws attention to these spaces of inequality by drawing on in‐depth interviews and participant observation carried out in Eastern and Southern Sri Lanka. It argues that communities' concerns and anxieties regarding displacement and resettlement have tended to be articulated against prevailing fault lines of war and inequality. This is the backdrop against which communities negotiated the recovery process. My fieldwork shows that it is critical to understand that disaster and development relief are ingrained within context specificities. Relief efforts therefore need to recognise that the process of ‘putting houses in place’ should be embedded within local social relations.
Chemical, biological and radiological incidents: preparedness and perceptions of emergency nurses
Authors: Considine Julie , Mitchell Belinda
Published: November 2008

Despite their important role in chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) incident response, little is known about emergency nurses’ perceptions of these events. The study aim was to explore emergency nurses’ perceptions of CBR incidents and factors that may influence their capacity to respond. Sixty‐four nurses from a metropolitan Emergency Department took part. The majority were willing to participate in CBR incidents and there was a positive association between willingness to participate and postgraduate qualification in emergency nursing. Willingness decreased, however, with unknown chemical and biological agents. One third of participants reported limitations to using personal protective equipment. Few participants had experience with CBR incidents although 70.3 per cent of participants had undergone CBR training. There were significant differences in perceptions of choice to participate and adequacy of training between chemical, biological and radiological incidents. The study results suggest that emergency nurses are keen to meet the challenge of CBR incident response.
May Lockean Doughnuts Have Holes? The Geometry of Territorial Jurisdiction: A Response to Nine
Authors: Steiner Hillel
Published: November 2008

The traditional Lockean account of a state's territorial rights construes them as arising from, and coextensive with, the property rights of whichever set of landowners mutually contract to form that state. The coherence of this individualistic account has recently been challenged by Cara Nine. I argue that the reasons offered in support of that incoherence charge are unpersuasive.
Territory is Not Derived from Property: A Response to Steiner
Authors: Nine Cara
Published: November 2008

An individualistic Lockean theory of territory holds that territorial rights are coextensive with and arise from the private property rights of individuals. In this essay I extend and deepen my arguments against this view. This essay is a rejoinder to Hillel Steiner's critique of my earlier arguments against the individualistic Lockean theory of territory.
On the Young Hirst: A Rejoinder to Jason Edwards and Kelvin Knight
Authors: Wenman Mark
Published: November 2008

In a recent article in Political Studies I presented a critical overview of Paul Hirst's theory of ‘associative democracy’ ( Wenman, 2007 ). I emphasised his proximity to English pluralism and especially to the work of G. D. H. Cole. I argued that — like Cole — Hirst's theory moves in a contradictory fashion between an advocacy of pluralism and the assumption of a unified social purpose which is manifest in his defence of functionalism and corporatism. In their response, also in this journal, Jason Edwards and Kelvin Knight claim that I ‘overstate’ the ‘intellectual continuity between Hirst and the English pluralists’ and so my reading misrepresents the ‘character’ and ‘intent’ of associative democracy ( Edwards and Knight, 2008 ). They make numerous substantive points in support of this view; I address each of them in turn.
Qualitative Analysis and Travelling Wave Solutions for the Generalized Pochhammer–Chree Equation with a Dissipation Term
Authors: Zhao Yan , Zhang Weiguo
Published: November 2008

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the influence of dissipation on travelling wave solutions of the generalized Pochhammer–Chree equation with a dissipation term, and provides travelling wave solutions for this equation. Applying the theory of planar dynamical systems, we obtain ten global phase portraits of the dynamic system corresponding to this equation under various parameter conditions. Moreover, we present the relations between the properties of travelling wave solutions and the dissipation coefficient r of this equation. We find that a bounded travelling wave solution appears as a bell profile solitary wave solution or a periodic travelling wave solution when r= 0; a bounded travelling wave solution appears as a kink profile solitary wave solution when |r| > 0 is large; a bounded travelling wave solution appears as a damped oscillatory solution when |r| > 0 is small. Further, by using undetermined coefficient method, we get all possible bell profile solitary wave solutions and approximate damped oscillatory solutions for this equation. Error estimates indicate that the approximate solutions are meaningful.
Companionate marriage in India: the changing marriage system in a middle‐class Brahman subcaste
Authors: Fuller C.J. , Narasimhan Haripriya
Published: November 2008

The Eighteen‐Village Vattimas are a Tamil Brahman subcaste. They were formerly rural landlords, but today they mostly belong to the urban middle class. In recent decades, the Vattimas' marriage system has changed markedly. Child marriage has ended and the age of marriage has since risen further. Close‐kin marriage is no longer preferred, although subcaste endogamy remains the norm. Nevertheless, the education and employment of individuals, and their personal compatibility, have now become crucial criteria, and young men and women are involved in arranging their own marriages. Among the Vattimas (like other Indians), a form of arranged, endogamous companionate marriage has now developed, which plays a fundamental role in reproducing both caste and the middle class in contemporary India.

Les Vattimas des Dix‐huit Villages forment une sous‐caste de brahmanes tamouls. Ces anciens propriétaires terriens ruraux sont aujourd’hui pour la plupart intégrés à lamiddle classurbaine. Depuis quelques dizaines d’années, leur système matrimonial a considérablement évolué. On ne marie plus les enfants et l’âge du mariage ne cesse de reculer. Le mariage entre proches parents n’est plus privilégié, bien que l’endogamie au sein de la sous‐caste reste la norme. En tout état de cause, l’éducation, l’occupation professionnelle et la compatibilité personnelle des futurs époux sont devenus des critères essentiels, et les jeunes gens des deux sexes s’impliquent dans l’arrangement de leur propre mariage. Parmi les Vattimas, comme chez d’autres Indiens, on voit apparaître une forme d’endogamie arrangée, qui joue un rôle fondamental dans la reproduction de la caste aussi bien que de la classe moyenne dans l’Inde contemporaine.
On the Impact of Innovation on the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve
Authors: AMIR RABAH , GERMAIN MARC , VAN STEENBERGHE VINCENT
Published: November 2008

When modeling the effects of innovation on the marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve, many studies in environmental economics have posited, implicitly or explicitly, a uniform downward shift. The purpose of this paper is to thoroughly investigate this claim in a simple theoretical framework by introducing innovation in the production function of a price‐taking, polluting firm in four economically meaningful ways. We establish that the effects of innovation on the MAC curve depend critically on the specific type of innovation, and that only innovation in end‐of‐pipe technology leads to a uniform downward shift of the MAC curve. A second class of results points to the fact that for other types of innovation in the overall production process, the scope for an upward shift of the MAC curve in response to innovation is easier to justify theoretically. These results call for a re‐appraisal of various results in environmental policy obtained in theoretical work relying on this postulate.
The Repugnant Conclusion and Utilitarianism under Domain Restrictions
Authors: SHIELL LESLIE
Published: November 2008

The paper investigates the problem of the repugnant conclusion in variable‐population social choice. A choice rule exhibits the repugnant conclusion if, given any alternative in which all individuals enjoy a high quality of life, there is always a better alternative (according to the choice rule) in which the population is larger and each individual has a life which is barely worth living. While it is well‐known that classical utilitarianism (CU) exhibits the repugnant conclusion on an unrestricted domain, the paper shows that critical‐level utilitarianism (CLU) also exhibits the repugnant conclusion on an unrestricted domain when repugnance is defined in terms of the critical level. In contrast, both CU and CLU are shown to avoid the repugnant conclusion on a restricted domain defined by bounded resources, the law of conservation of matter, concavity and monotonicity of preferences, positive subsistence consumption, and positive “neutral consumption.” In light of the universality of these restrictions, one may conclude that the problem of the repugnant conclusion may not be as great as previously thought.
Equilibria with Increasing Returns: Sufficient Conditions on Bounded Production Allocations
Authors: BONNISSEAU J. M. , JAMIN A.
Published: November 2008

This paper deals with the existence of marginal pricing equilibrium or equilibrium with general pricing rules in an economy with increasing returns to scale or more general types of nonconvexities in production. Its main contribution is to demonstrate existence of equilibrium with bounded loss and survival assumptions required only on a bounded subset of production allocations. Furthermore, we require only a weakened form of the free‐disposal assumption and we also allow nonpositive prices.
Ideological Divide within the Cabinet and Public Spending
Authors: RUBINCHIK ANNA
Published: November 2008

A budget, i.e., spending by category, is prepared by the cabinet of (three key) ministers. The finance minister wants to minimize total spending, while the rest have single‐peaked preferences over budgets and each views his own spending as relatively more important. The goal is to understand effects of polarization in spending priorities,—or divergence of the ideal points,—on the budget under two typical budgeting procedures. If the procedure is “fragmented,” i.e., the finance minister just passively compiles spending requests, then the divergence of the ideal budgets increases total spending. If the procedure is more centralized, i.e., challenging the initial proposal of the finance minister is costly, and it also requires support of another minister, then polarizationmaylead to a tighter budget, as it enlarges the set of the unchallenged proposals, provided the ideals of the spending ministers are sufficiently far apart.
Welfare‐ and Revenue‐Enhancing Tariff and Tax Reform under Imperfect Competition
Authors: NAITO TAKUMI , ABE KENZO
Published: November 2008

We examine welfare and revenue effects of tariff and tax reform in a country importing final and intermediate goods, both of which are produced under imperfect competition. We consider two reform strategies. First, lower the sum of a consumption tax and a tariff on the intermediate good, and leave the sum of the consumption tax and a tariff on the final good unchanged. Second, lower the former and change the latter to leave government revenue unchanged. We specify conditions under which each reform strategy raises welfare without decreasing government revenue.
Endogenous Categorization in Insurance
Authors: POLBORN MATTIAS K.
Published: November 2008

This paper analyzes the welfare properties of equilibrium when insurers use observable actions to classify consumers into different risk categories, and consumers' choice is influenced by the insurance market consequences of their actions. Specifically, we analyze this problem at the example of a car insurance market, in which individual preferences over car types are correlated with risk type and used by insurance firms for ratemaking. Equilibrium premiums for each car are determined by the losses that it generates. Consumers take insurance premiums into account when deciding which car to buy. This creates an incentive to buy the car that is preferred by more low risk individuals. From a utilitarian point of view, this incentive is excessive. Depending on parameters, it may even be possible to construct a tax‐subsidy scheme with balanced budget that Pareto improves on the market equilibrium.
Imperfect Competition and Corporate Governance
Authors: KELSEY DAVID , MILNE FRANK
Published: November 2008

This paper studies the objective function of the firm in imperfectly competitive industries. If those involved in decisions are also consumers the usual monopoly distortion is reduced. In oligopolistic industries, this may give the firm a strategic advantage and hence, in the right circumstances, will increase profit. If the firm cannot commit not to change its constitution, we find a Coase‐like result where all market power is lost in the limit. This enables us to endogenise the objective function of the firm. Finally we present a more abstract model of governance in the presence of market distortions.
Fiscal Discipline as a Social Norm: The European Stability Pact
Authors: FITOUSSI JEAN‐PAUL , SARACENO FRANCESCO
Published: November 2008

This paper reviews the arguments for and against the “Stability and Growth Pact.” We find the theoretical debate to be inconclusive, as both externality and credibility arguments can be used to yield opposite and plausible conclusions. Empirical evidence in favor of a Pact‐like rule is also scant. We therefore suggest the view that the Stability Pact is a public social norm, that countries obey in order to preserve reputation among the other members of the European Union. Using this extreme—but not implausible—hypothesis, we build a simple model similar in spirit toAkerlof's (1980)seminal work on social norms, and we show that reputation issues may cause the emergence of a stable but inferior equilibrium. Increased heterogenity generally has the effect of further reducing aggregate welfare; we conclude that the problems posed by the Pact/social norm are likely to increase following the enlargement, when a number of countries anxious to prove their “soundness” joined the club.
Luanda – Holanda: Irregular Migration from Angola to the Netherlands
Authors: Van Wijk Joris
Published: November 2008

Against the backdrop of push‐pull and social network theories on migration and criminological theory on human smuggling, this article tries to answer the questions of why and how Angolan asylum‐seekers migrated to the Netherlands since the end of the 1990s. The study shows that the migrants can be described as opportunity seeking migrants, rather than survival migrants. Most migrants made no use of typical human smugglers during their travel. They rather used assistance from their social network and made use of the services of middlemen, called esquemas, on an ad‐hoc basis. In this article it is argued that “archetypal” large smuggling organisations in Angola have not evolved because of the existence of these highly informal networks. Support is found that both push‐pull and social network theories can contribute to explaining irregular, asylum migration.
Less than Human? Diaspora, Disease and the Question of Citizenship
Authors: Harper Ian , Raman Parvathi
Published: November 2008

The aim of this special edition of International Migration is to bring about discussion between those conducting research in Diaspora Studies and the Anthropology of Public Health and Medicine. Historically, international migration has been associated with the transport of disease. Regardless of the evidence, metaphors of plague, and infection have circulated and been used to marginalise and keep out diaspora communities in host countries in an effort to ‘exclude filth’. Migrants have been referred to in terms such as the ‘Asiatic menace’ indicating a virus‐like threat to local populations. We look at the impact the traces of these images have on current host nations’ perceptions of diaspora communities and also ask what impact does this have on the diasporic communities’ self‐perceptions, if any? Does this affect conceptions of belonging, or feed into continuing dialogues of displacement? The movement of people has long been associated with the spread of disease and infections. In light of this, we are concerned with the role of medical knowledge and practices in relation to diaspora communities, and how these discourses have contributed to the perception of diaspora populations by host societies, and helped shape wider questions of belonging and citizenship. We aim to look at these questions in their historical context, both in their continuities and discontinuities, emphasising the importance of this to an understanding of current practices. Circuits of migration, and connected medical practices are taking new forms, where, on the one hand migrants are still associated with disease and pollution, but on the other migrants are also increasingly staffing the infrastructure of western public health services. At the same time, the west can no longer lay claim to ‘superior’ biomedical provision. These shifts signal new directions in the relationship between medical discourse and diasporic ‘others’, giving rise to a contradictory language of migrants being seen as both a threat, and a solution to the ‘health of the nation’.
Migrants, Settlers and Colonists: The Biopolitics of Displaced Bodies
Authors: Bastos Cristiana
Published: November 2008

All through the nineteenth century, Madeirans migrated from their Atlantic island to places as remote as Hawaii, California, Guyana and, later, South Africa. Scarcity of land, a rigid social structure, periodic famines and rampant poverty made many embark to uncertain destinies and endure the harsh labour conditions of sugarcane plantations. In the 1880s, a few hundred Madeirans engaged in a different venture: an experience of “engineered migration” sponsored by the Portuguese government to colonize the southern Angola plateau. White settlements, together with military control, scientific surveys and expeditions, contributed to strengthen the claims of European nations over specific territories in Africa. At that time, the long lasting claims of Portugal over African territories were not matched by sponsored colonial settlements or precise geographic knowledge about the claimed lands. There was little else representing Portugal than the leftover structures of the slave trade, the penal colonies and the free‐lance merchants that ventured inland. In fear of losing land to the neighbouring German, Boer and British groups in south‐western Africa, the Portuguese government tried then to promote white settlements by attracting farmers from the mainland into the southern plateau of Angola. As very few responded to the call, the settlement consisted mostly of Madeiran islanders, who were eager to migrate anywhere and took the adventure of Angola as just another destiny out of the island where they could not make a living. Their bodies and actions in the new place became highly surveilled by the medical delegates in charge of assessing their adaptation. The reports document what were then the idealized biopolitics of migration and colonization, interweaving biomedical knowledge and political power over displaced bodies and colonized land. At the same time, those records document the frustrations of the administration about the difficulties of the settlement experience and the ways in which colonial delegates blamed their failure on the very subjects who enacted and suffered through it. The eugenicism and racialism that pervade those writings, a currency during the age of empire, may now be out of taste both in science and in politics; however, they are not fully out of sight, and the subtle entrance of social prejudice into the hard concepts of biomedical science is still with us. Learning from this example may help analysing contemporary processes of medicalizing diversity or pathologizing the mobile populations, or, in other words, the biopolitics of migration in the 21stcentury.
Contagion and its Guises: Inequalities and Disease among Tibetan Exiles in India
Authors: Prost Audrey
Published: November 2008

The paper outlines the trajectories of Tibetan refugees afflicted by tuberculosis (TB) within the exile community of Dharamsala (H‐P). These stories reveal the political nature of TB status disclosure, highlighting the often conflicting ways in which the disease is perceived among different Tibetan exile regional and generational groups. On the basis of these case studies, I aim to show that differentiated experiences of treatment and stigma within “intermediary” host communities such as Dharamsala partially determine the ways in which Tibetans deal with the risk of TB in their “onward” journeys further afield, in Europe, Canada and the United States. With the now well‐established connection between migration‐related stresses and the onset or reappearance of TB symptoms, we may need to consider that, in some cases, it is the compounding of attitudes to disease in “intermediary” diasporic communities with the stigmatising label of “migrant menace” in the second stages of migration that impedes the care of migrants and even precipitates illness. With this premise the paper proposes that investigations of disease in diasporic communities should explore the totality of migration “stages” and their impact on health.
The Birth of the African‐Irish Diaspora: Pregnancy and Post‐Natal Experiences of African Immigrant Women in Ireland
Authors: Shandy Dianna J. , Power David V.
Published: November 2008

This article presents findings from a study of African immigration to Ireland. Set against a background description of who these recent immigrants are and why they come, this research, based primarily in a Dublin maternity hospital, looks at the experiences of pregnant and post‐partal African women to explore questions surrounding use of maternity services and their relationship to larger issues of integration into Irish society. This gendered segment of the population is of particular interest, as the phenomenon of Irish‐born children to non‐national parents has been a lightning rod issue in immigration debates in Ireland, leading to a June 2004 referendum limiting access to citizenship by birth in unprecedented ways. Ireland, long a country characterized by emigration, only recently transitioned to a nation of net immigration, and, as such, is grappling with the implications of its rapidly changing ethnic make‐up in questions of race and racism, allocation of social welfare entitlements, and effective health and human services delivery. Through this exploration of the phenomenon of inscribing immigration debates on African women’s bodies, this article highlights racism, family reunification, the right to work, and the lengthy process of adjudicating immigration claims as significant obstacles to integration into Irish society. Through this analysis, this article also provides empirical data that feed into ongoing debates about the meaning of “African diaspora.”
Traditional Christian Belief and Belief in the Supernatural: Diverging Trends in the Netherlands Between 1979 and 2005?
Authors: DE GRAAF NAN DIRK , TE GROTENHUIS MANFRED
Published: November 2008

Is there an ongoing decline in religious beliefs in the Netherlands? Using cross‐sectional data from 1979 up to 2005, we focus on traditional Christian faith and belief in the supernatural; the literature suggests that they undergo diverging trends. We first describe these trends using the Social and Cultural Developments in the Netherlands surveys covering the 1979–2005 period. Explanations for the trends are formulated and tested using OLS regression models and a counterfactional simulation technique. Our findings indicate that during the 1979–2005 period both traditional Christian faith and belief in the supernatural declined, although the latter at a slower rate. Since church membership rates are continuously declining as well, belonging and believing still go hand in hand in the Netherlands. The most important explanation for both the decline in traditional Christian faith and the decline in belief in the supernatural is the slow but continuous replacement of older religious affiliated cohorts with younger nonaffiliated cohorts.
Common dolphins subject to fisheries impacts in Southern Australia are genetically differentiated: implications for conservation
Authors: Bilgmann K. , Möller L. M. , Harcourt R. G. , Gales R. , Beheregaray L. B.
Published: November 2008

Interactions between short‐beaked common dolphins Delphinus delphis and the fishing industry of South Australia (SA) have lead to serious concerns over the long‐term viability of the local dolphin population. Common dolphins are gregarious animals with high vagility and are expected to display limited genetic differentiation over large spatial scales. Here, we investigate population genetic structure of southern Australian common dolphins using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and seven microsatellite markers. We found unexpected levels of genetic differentiation for short‐beaked common dolphins over a distance of ∼1500 km. Although no genetic structure was observed in common dolphins along the coast of SA, we detected marked differentiation between dolphins from SA and south‐eastern Tasmania, suggesting a minimum of two genetic populations in southern Australia. We hypothesize that the ephemeral distribution of small pelagic fish enhances movement and dispersal between dolphin groups at a local level. However, clear differences in water temperature, habitat features and fish abundance between SA and Tasmania may contribute to the contemporary isolation observed between dolphin populations. Our findings have important consequences for developing conservation management strategies, because SA has the largest purse‐seine fishery by weight in Australia, and substantial numbers of fatal common dolphin interactions have occurred. In 2004/2005 alone, an estimated 1728 common dolphins were encircled and 377 died over a 7‐month period. If these impacts lead to a reduction in population size, it is unlikely that dolphins from the adjacent south‐eastern Tasmanian population will replace the lost individuals. Recommendations for assessing the impacts of the fishery are presented. The information herein may also have implications for fisheries–marine mammal interactions in coastal and neritic habitats in other areas of the world. Moreover, we demonstrate that a species commonly thought to be wide ranging can show an unexpected degree of genetic differentiation.
Genetic identification of source populations for an aquarium‐traded invertebrate
Authors: Weese D. A. , Santos S. R.
Published: November 2008

Increasingly, wildlife managers are turning to molecular genetics to aid in conservation efforts. While such approaches have been applied to large terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate species, their application to other traded organisms has not been extensively explored. Here, we examined the utility of these techniques for identifying source populations of aquarium ornamental invertebrates, using members of the Hawaiian atyid genus Halocaridina as a study system. These shrimps, restricted to anchialine habitats of the Hawaiian Islands, are popular in the aquarium trade due to their ability to survive in hermetically sealed containers for extended periods of time. However, commercial harvesting, coupled with habitat destruction and strong regional endemism, could lead to the depletion/extinction of unique populations. Because the land district of Kona, along the west coast of the island of Hawai'i, has the state's highest concentration of anchialine habitats, we hypothesized that commercially available Halocaridina originated from this region. To test this, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences from 96 individuals, obtained from six vendors, were compared with 580 homologous sequences from previous studies covering the known distribution range of Halocaridina. Recovery of identical, regional‐specific haplotypes, network analyses and statistical assignment tests identified these commercially acquired specimens as belonging to either the Kona, Ka'ū, (western and southern coasts, respectively, island of Hawai'i) or Kina'u (southern coast, island of Maui) genetic groups of these shrimps. Although 39 of the 96 individuals originated from the Kona genetic group as hypothesized, our finding that commercially available Halocaridina are from three genetic groups spanning two islands suggests that other populations also warrant potential management consideration. While this study represents the first application of molecular genetics in identifying source populations of aquarium ornamental species, we feel that these techniques are amenable more broadly as they are dependent on only a few caveats.
The influence of family structure, the TPH2 G‐703T and the 5‐HTTLPR serotonergic genes upon affective problems in children aged 10–14 years
Authors: Nobile Maria , Rusconi Marianna , Bellina Monica , Marino Cecilia , Giorda Roberto , Carlet Ombretta , Vanzin Laura , Molteni Massimo , Battaglia Marco
Published: November 2008

Background:  Both genetic and psychosocial risk factors influence the risk for depression in development. While the impacts of family structure and of serotonergic polymorphisms upon individual differences for affective problems have been investigated separately, they have never been considered together in a gene–environment interplay perspective.

Methods:  We examined the effects of family structure and two serotonergic polymorphisms (the TPH2 G‐703T and the 5‐HTTLPR) upon depressive symptoms assessed by the new CBCL/6‐18 DSM‐oriented Affective Problems scale in a general population sample of 607 Italian children aged 10–14 years.

Results:  Belonging to ‘one‐parent’ families, the TPH2 G‐703T ‘G variant’, and the 5‐HTTLPR ‘short’ alleles were associated – both alone and in apparent gene‐by‐environment interaction – with higher Affective Problems scores. As predicted by quantitative genetics theory, both polymorphisms contributed with a small effect size, while ‘family structure’ had a moderate effect size.

Conclusions:  A putative hazard factor impinging on individual risk at the family‐wide level, namely family structure, appears to act interactively with two pivotal serotonergic genes in heightening risk for Affective Problems. Although it remains to be demonstrated that belonging to a one‐ rather than a two‐parent family has true environmental causal effects on Affective Problems, these data may contribute to identify/prevent risk for depression in childhood.