bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lipid Storage Metabolism Is Limited by the Prevailing Low Oxygen Concentrations within Developing Seeds of Oilseed Rape
Authors: Vigeolas Helene , van Dongen Joost T. , Waldeck Peter , Hühn Daniela , Geigenberger Peter
Published: December 2003

The aim of this study was to investigate whether endogenous restrictions in oxygen supply are limiting for storage metabolism in developing oilseed rape (Brassica napus) seeds. Siliques were studied 30 d after flowering, when rapid lipid accumulation is occurring in the seeds. (a) By using microsensors, oxygen concentrations were measured within seeds and in the silique space between seeds. At ambient external oxygen (21% [v/v]) in the light, oxygen fell to 17% (v/v) between and 0.8% (v/v) within seeds. A step-wise reduction of the external oxygen concentration led within 2 h to a further decrease of internal oxygen concentrations, and a step-wise increase of the external oxygen concentration up to 60% (v/v) resulted in an increase in internal oxygen that rose to 30% (v/v) between and 8% (v/v) within seeds. (b) The increase in oxygen levels in the seeds was accompanied by a progressive increase in the levels of ATP, UTP, and the ATP to ADP and UTP to UDP ratios over the entire range from 0% to 60% (v/v) external oxygen. (c) To investigate metabolic fluxes in planta, 14C-sucrose was injected into seeds, which remained otherwise intact within their siliques. The increase in oxygen in the seeds was accompanied by a progressive increase in the rate of lipid (including triacylglycerol), protein and cell wall synthesis, and an increase in glycolytic flux over a range from sub- to superambient oxygen concentrations. In contrast to lipid synthesis, starch synthesis was not significantly increased at superambient oxygen levels. The levels of fermentation products such as lactate and glycerol-3P increased only at very low (0%-4% [v/v]) external oxygen concentrations. (d) When 14C-acetate or 14C-acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) was injected into seeds, label incorporation into triacylglycerol progressively increased over the whole range of external oxygen concentrations from 0% to 60% (v/v). (e) Stimulation of lipid synthesis was accompanied by an increase in sugar levels and a decrease in the levels of hexose-phosphates and acetyl-CoA, indicating sucrose unloading and the use of acetyl-CoA as possible regulatory sites. (f) Increased lipid synthesis was also accompanied by an increase in the maximal activities of invertase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase. (g) The developmental shift from starch to lipid storage between 15 and 45 d after flowering was accompanied by an increase in the seed energy state. (h) The results show that at ambient oxygen levels, the oxygen supply is strongly limiting for energy metabolism and biosynthetic fluxes in growing rape seeds, affecting lipid synthesis more strongly than starch synthesis. The underlying mechanisms and implications for strategies to increase yield and storage product composition in oilseed crops are discussed.
Rubisco Activase Is Required for Optimal Photosynthesis in the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in a Low-CO2 Atmosphere
Authors: Pollock Steve V. , Colombo Sergio L. , Prout Davey L. , Godfrey Ashley C. , Moroney James V.
Published: December 2003

This report describes a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant that lacks Rubisco activase (Rca). Using the Ble  R (bleomycin resistance) gene as a positive selectable marker for nuclear transformation, an insertional mutagenesis screen was performed to select for cells that required a high-CO2 atmosphere for optimal growth. The DNA flanking the Ble  R insert of one of the high-CO2-requiring strains was cloned using thermal asymmetric interlaced-polymerase chain reaction and inverse polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The flanking sequence matched the C. reinhardtii Rca cDNA sequence previously deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. The loss of a functional Rca in the strain was confirmed by the absence of Rca mRNA and protein. The open reading frame for Rca was cloned and expressed in pSL18, a C. reinhardtii expression vector conferring paromomycin resistance. This construct partially complemented the mutant phenotype, supporting the hypothesis that the loss of Rca was the reason the mutant grew poorly in a low-CO2 atmosphere. Sequencing of the C. reinhardtii Rca gene revealed that it contains 10 exons ranging in size from 18 to 470 bp. Low-CO2-grown rca1 cultures had a growth rate and maximum rate of photosynthesis 60% of wild-type cells. Results obtained from experiments on a cia5 rca1 double mutant also suggest that the CO2-concentrating mechanism partially compensates for the absence of an active Rca in the green alga C. reinhardtii.
Photoactivated Adenylyl Cyclase Controls Phototaxis in the Flagellate Euglena gracilis
Authors: Ntefidou Maria , Iseki Mineo , Watanabe Masakatsu , Lebert Michael , Häder Donat-Peter
Published: December 2003

Euglena gracilis, a unicellular freshwater protist exhibits different photomovement responses, such as phototaxis (oriented movement toward or away from the light source) and photophobic (abrupt turn in response to a rapid increase [step-up] or decrease [step-down] in the light fluence rate) responses. Photoactivated adenylyl cyclase (PAC) has been isolated from whole-cell preparations and identified by RNA interference (RNAi) to be the photoreceptor for step-up photophobic responses but not for step-down photophobic responses (M. Iseki, S. Matsunaga, A. Murakami, K. Ohno, K. Shiga, C. Yoshida, M. Sugai, T. Takahashi, T. Hori, M. Watanabe [2002] Nature 415: 1047-1051). The present study shows that knockdown of PAC by RNAi also effectively suppresses both positive and negative phototaxis, indicating for the first time that PAC or a PAC homolog is also the photoreceptor for photoorientation of wild-type E. gracilis. Recovery from RNAi occurred earlier for step-up photophobic responses than for positive and negative phototaxis. In addition, we investigated several phototaxis mutant strains of E. gracilis with different cytological features regarding the stigma and paraxonemal body (PAB; believed to be the location for the phototaxis photoreceptor) as well as Astasia longa, a close relative of E. gracilis. All of the E. gracilis mutant strains had PAC mRNAs, whereas in A. longa, a different but similar mRNA was found and designated AlPAC. Consistently, all of these strains showed no phototaxis but performed step-up photophobic responses, which were suppressed by RNAi of the PAC mRNA. The fact that some of these strains possess a cytologically altered or no PAB demonstrates that at least in these strains, the PAC photoreceptor responsible for the step-up photophobic responses is not located in the PAB.
A Genomic Analysis of the Shade Avoidance Response in Arabidopsis
Authors: Devlin Paul Francis , Yanovsky Marcelo Javier , Kay Steve A.
Published: December 2003

Plants respond to the proximity of neighboring vegetation by elongating to prevent shading. Red-depleted light reflected from neighboring vegetation triggers a shade avoidance response leading to a dramatic change in plant architecture. These changes in light quality are detected by the phytochrome family of photoreceptors. We analyzed global changes in gene expression over time in wild-type, phyB mutant, and phyA phyB double mutant seedlings of Arabidopsis in response to simulated shade. Using pattern fitting software, we identified 301 genes as shade responsive with patterns of expression corresponding to one of various physiological response modes. A requirement for a consistent pattern of expression across 12 chips in this way allowed more subtle changes in gene expression to be considered meaningful. A number of previously characterized genes involved in light and hormone signaling were identified as shade responsive, as well as several putative, novel shade-specific signal transduction factors. In addition, changes in expression of genes in a range of pathways associated with elongation growth and stress responses were observed. The majority of shade-responsive genes demonstrated antagonistic regulation by phyA and phyB in response to shade following the pattern of many physiological responses. An analysis of promoter elements of genes regulated in this way identified conserved promoter motifs potentially important in shade regulation.
Improving your productivity with a PDA: some suggestions
Authors: Larsson Laura C.
Published: December 2003

PDAs (personal digital assistants) are companion tools that enable us to be more productive. Any device or applications that enable us to find, organize, use, and cope with too much information – as well as helping us prioritize the vast amounts of work we have to do is of enormous benefit to their owners. Applications that make us more efficient in managing our time, tasks, addresses and notes, for reminding us of when something needs to be done, in managing diary or journaling activities, in surfing for information on the Web, in reading books and articles in various formats, in writing and editing content for use by ourselves and others, for managing projects of all kinds, and for installing those applications that serve to improve our productivity are discussed. And, lastly, a few productivity‐enhancing hardware add‐ons are highlighted.
The role of safety culture in safety performance measurement
Authors: Arezes Pedro M. , Sérgio Miguel A.
Published: December 2003

The emergence of implementation and certification of structured management systems, such as the occupational health and safety management system, implies that companies should be able to measure the results and achievements from such implementation. This paper focuses on the description and comparison of the traditional indicators of health and safety performance and the use of different safety performance indicators, such as the companies’ safety culture. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the safety measurement performance process and analyze what is the potential role of safety culture in this process.
Survival of the fittest: measuring performance in a changing business environment
Authors: Kennerley Mike , Neely Andy , Adams Chris
Published: December 2003

The design and use of performance measurement systems has received considerable attention in recent years. Many organizations have redesigned their measurement systems to ensure that they reflect their current environment and strategies. But how to maintain them over time? Increasingly, the environment in which organizations compete is dynamic and rapidly changing, requiring constantly changing strategies and operations that reflect these changing circumstances. Despite this, few organizations appear to have the internal culture and systematic processes in place to manage their performance measurement systems in order to ensure that they continue to reflect their environment and strategies. This article presents case study research that investigates what actions organizations can take to ensure that their measurement systems change over time.
Women’s working futures – views, policies and choices
Authors: Merkes Monika
Published: December 2003

Changes in the economy, workforce, technology, population and family structures have implications for women’s working futures. Longer life expectancy and an increasing proportion of older people in the community are expected to influence fiscal, economic and social policy and put pressure on government income support systems. These pressures will be exacerbated by older workers leaving the workforce. With an increasing proportion of older people in the population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this paper is on women of the baby boom generation, their working futures and the issues that will influence their work‐retirement transition. This is explored from the viewpoint of Australian women and from a social policy perspective.
Judge Kocoras’s injunction
Authors: Carter Donahue Hugh
Published: December 2003

A federal district court injunction in Illinois will reverberate beyond the Land of Lincoln by reaffiriming policy and law for local phone competition in the USA. Chief District Judge Charles P. Kocoras reminded legislators, regulators and telecommunications executives that state regulators are to employ federal telecommunications law and policy, specifically total element long run incremental pricing (TELRIC) for unbundled network elements (UNE‐s), to administer markets for local telephone services. The genius of the decision resides in its fidelity to sedulous implementation of telecommunications statute and precedents, and by so doing, in sustaining public policy that enhances consumer welfare, stimulates investment and spurs innovation.
The digital divide and the competitive behaviour of Internet backbone providers
Authors: Roseman Daniel
Published: December 2003

Against the background of international telecommunications liberalization and declining settlement payments for many developing countries, charging arrangements for Internet interconnection services (IIS) have become a controversial issue. Following on from the author’s article in the previous issue of info, which reviewed the complaints and counter‐arguments regarding whether current charging arrangements for Internet interconnection are inequitable and subject to anti‐competitive behaviour on the part of Internet backbone providers, this paper reviews proposals for action and makes a number of recommendations as to how to move the debate usefully forward, including a number of positive measures that developing countries can take themselves, as well as measures requiring cooperation among complainant and “complacent” countries.
Plate 313. Rosa 'Complicata'
Authors: Jellett Barbara , Jay Maurice , Raymond Olivier
Published: December 2003

Rosa‘Complicata’, a widely cultivated rose recently investigated by ‘fingerprinting’ techniques, is shown to have a surprisingly uncomplicated history. The origin of this rose is explored and its connection with the wild Rosa complicata Grenier (1864), which was described from the French Jura, is discussed. A colour illustration and description are provided.
The Impact of Proportional Representation on Government Effectiveness: The New Zealand Experience
Authors: Boston Jonathan , Church Stephen , Bale Tim
Published: December 2003

It is often claimed that proportional representation (PR) undermines government effectiveness, including decisional efficacy, fiscal prudence, electoral responsiveness and accountability. Drawing on New Zealand's experience since the introduction of a mixed‐member proportional (MMP) electoral system in 1996, this article examines the impact of the new voting system on government effectiveness. Although government durability has been substantially reduced and the policy‐making process has become more complex, governments under MMP appear to be no less able to address major policy problems or respond to changing economic circumstances. Moreover, New Zealand has maintained continuous fiscal surpluses under MMP — a radical departure from the protracted, and often large, deficits that characterised the previous two decades under a majoritarian electoral system.
‘Managing for Outcomes’: Accountability and Thrust
Authors: Baehler Karen
Published: December 2003

Central agencies in New Zealand are now defining public management performance to include both the quality of a manager's ‘account’ of output‐outcome links and the manager's record of delivering efficient outputs. This article: (1) argues that the hard edge of accountability for deliverables must be dulled somewhat in order to pursue outcomes more vigorously; (2) shows how managers can use evaluation tools known as theories‐in‐action or logic models to give accounts of policy and management thrust; (3) proposes preliminary performance criteria for outcomes‐focused management; and (4) attempts to sketch a new ‘managing for outcomes’ accountability bargain. The conclusions apply broadly to any jurisdiction interested in holding managers accountable for outcomes‐focused management.
Paradoxes and Pendulum Swings: Performance Management in New Zealand's Public Sector
Authors: Norman Richard , Gregory Robert
Published: December 2003

Under New Zealand's radical state sector reforms, ‘empowered’ managers are held accountable in an arm's length way by politicians and control agencies through the use of clearly stated objectives and the availability of quality information about progress towards those objectives. However, empirical research indicates that this thermostatic metaphor embodies a number of paradoxes. A great deal of international attention has been paid to these reforms, but New Zealand has not discovered any ultimate resolution of the fundamental paradox of modern bureaucracy — the tendency for control to subvert purpose — and is now seeking a new ‘balance’ between these two managerial imperatives.
The Path for Top Management Teams to Achieve High‐Performing Council Organisations
Authors: Marton Richard L.
Published: December 2003

This article examines what management practices top management teams should pursue to achieve high‐performing council organisations. It reports on the findings of a study into the practices of top management teams at three high‐performing and three low‐performing Melbourne councils. The study makes two important findings. First, there is no one path for top management teams to achieve a high‐performance council. Second, the capacity of top management teams to work effectively with the elected members is the only factor that distinguishes high‐performing from low‐performing councils. The only features all high‐performing and all low‐performing councils do well in are financial monitoring and nurturing teamwork within business/operating units. But these are insufficient by themselves to provide success, and may simply be regarded as the basics of management practice.
Changing Roles for a State Agriculture Department: Driving Forces and Organisational Responses in the 21st Century
Authors: Wissemann Arnold , Rogers John , Duffield Bea
Published: December 2003

This article examines the forces of change that have been operating on a state agriculture department over recent decades. These forces of change include pressures for the department to meet community expectations on issues such as animal welfare and ecological sustainability — issues which were not emphasised in its former focus on agricultural production. The article then goes on to look at the responses that have occurred in a public sector agency to these forces and what these may mean for the future of this traditionally conservative arm of government in terms of changes to what have been its primary client groups and its most important priorities.
Balanced Scorecard Use in New Zealand Government Departments and Crown Entities
Authors: Griffiths John
Published: December 2003

While the concept of a balanced scorecard (BSC) has been extensively documented, there is limited research on the application of the balanced scorecard in a public sector environment and in New Zealand. This article examines how the BSC is being used as a performance management system, a strategic management system and to discharge external reporting obligations in three New Zealand public sector organisations. The findings are relevant to both the academic community and managers by highlighting how the BSC has been adapted to reflect the unique characteristics of public sector organisations.
Influencing Policy Transnationally: Pro‐and Anti‐Tobacco Global Advocacy Networks
Authors: Farquharson Karen
Published: December 2003

Using the global tobacco advocacy networks as a case study, this article argues that the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier and Jenkins‐Smith 1999), which theorises how advocacy coalitions affect policymaking domestically, and Keck and Sikkink's research into transnational advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink 1998) can provide insights into the mechanisms of how transnational advocacy networks impact both local and intergovernmental policymaking. I argue that by combining aspects of each of these approaches, all sides of a policy situation can be analysed. I contrast these approaches with the epistemic communities approach (Haas 1992), suggesting that, for the tobacco policy system, the epistemic communities approach provides less insight than the other two.
State Reform in Turkey: Reasons, Needs and Strategies
Authors: Yasamis Firuz D.
Published: December 2003

The state structure in Turkey including all its branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial) at both the national and local levels has been shown to be ineffective, even irrelevant, to the ingrained demographic, social, economic and political exigencies of the country. One of the main reasons behind this is the collapse of public finance. Conventional rhetoric limiting solutions to administrative reform fails to provide a sufficiently broad enough context within which public sector reform in Turkey can be discussed. Turkey's determination to become a full member of the EU also necessitates a comprehensive and radical overhaul of the Turkish public sector with respect to efficiency and productivity. Five main strategies are proposed to assist Turkey in overcoming its state governance predicament: initiating and carrying out a state‐wide reform by employing modern principles of public management; understanding and solving the problem of internal and external debts; enhancing the conditions of governance; reintroduc‐ing and strengthening the principle of meritocracy in public sector and cooperating more with the EU.
Host tree resistance against the polyphagous wood‐boring beetleAnoplophora glabripennis
Authors: Morewood W.D. , Hoover K. , Neiner P.R. , McNeil J.R. , Sellmer J.C.
Published: December 2003

Anoplophora glabripennis(Motschulsky) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiini) is an invasive wood‐boring beetle with an unusually broad host range and a proven ability to increase its host range as it colonizes new areas and encounters new tree species. The beetle is native to eastern Asia and has become an invasive pest in North America and Europe, stimulating interest in delineating host and non‐host tree species more clearly. When offered a choice among four species of living trees in a greenhouse, adultA. glabripennisfed more on golden‐rain tree (Koelreuteria paniculataLaxmann) and river birch (Betula nigraL.) than on London planetree (Platanus × acerifolia(Aiton) Willdenow) or callery pear (Pyrus calleryanaDecaisne). Oviposition rate was highest in golden‐rain tree, but larval mortality was also high and larval growth was slowest in this tree species. Oviposition rate was lowest in callery pear, and larvae failed to survive in this tree species, whether they eclosed from eggs laid in the trees or were manually inserted into the trees. Adult beetles feeding on callery pear had a reduced longevity and females feeding only on callery pear failed to develop any eggs. The resistance of golden‐rain tree against the larvae appears to operate primarily through the physical mechanism of abundant sap flow. The resistance of callery pear against both larvae and adults appears to operate through the chemical composition of the tree, which may include compounds that are toxic or which otherwise interfere with normal growth and development of the beetle. Unlike river birch or London planetree, both golden‐rain tree and callery pear are present in the native range ofA. glabripennisand may therefore have developed resistance to the beetle by virtue of exposure to attack during their evolutionary history.
Attraction of codling moth males to apple volatiles
Authors: Coracini Miryan , Bengtsson Marie , Liblikas Ilme , Witzgall Peter
Published: December 2003

The attraction of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, to apple volatile compounds known to elicit an antennal response was tested both in the field and in a wind tunnel. In the field, (E)‐β‐farnesene captured male moths. The addition of other apple volatiles, including (E,E)‐α‐farnesene, linalool, or (E,E)‐farnesol to (E)‐β‐farnesene did not significantly augment trap catch. Few females were caught in traps which also caught male moths, but female captures were not significantly different from blank traps. In the wind tunnel, males were attracted to (E,E)‐farnesol, but not to (E)‐β‐farnesene. The addition of (E,E)‐α‐farnesene to (E)‐β‐farnesene had a synergistic effect on male attraction. The male behavioural sequence elicited by plant volatiles, including upwind flight behaviour, was indistinguishable from the behaviour elicited by sex pheromone.
Sex differences in schizophrenia, a review of the literature
Authors: Leung M.D. Dr. Alice , Chue M. R. C. Psych. Dr. Pierre
Published: December 2003

Objective: To comprehensively and critically review the literature on gender differences in schizophrenia.

Method: An initial search of MEDLINE abstracts (1966–1999) was conducted using the terms sex or gender and schizophrenia, followed by systematic search of all relevant articles.

Results: Males have consistently an earlier onset, poorer premorbid functioning and different premorbid behavioral predictors. Males show more negative symptoms and cognitive deficits, with greater structural brain and neurophysiological abnormalities. Females display more affective symptoms, auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions with more rapid and greater responsivity to antipsychotics in the pre‐menopausal period but increased side effects. Course of illness is more favorable in females in the short‐ and middle‐term, with less smoking and substance abuse. Families of males are more critical, and expressed emotion has a greater negative impact on males. There are no clear sex differences in family history, obstetric complications, minor physical anomalies and neurological soft signs.

Conclusion: This review supports the presence of significant differences between schizophrenic males and females arising from the interplay of sex hormones, neurodevelopmental and psychosocial sex differences.
Anthropology and the British Museum: A conversation with John Mack
Authors: Kingston Sean
Published: December 2003

John Mack is Keeper of Ethnography at the British Museum, and until recently was also Senior Keeper. He curated The Museum of the Mind: Art and Memory in World Cultures as part of the British Museum's 250th anniversary programme. Major changes have taken place at the museum, including the return of the Museum of Mankind to the British Museum's Bloomsbury site. This site will by next year also house the Anthropology Library, one of the largest anthropology libraries in the world, the holdings of which were greatly enhanced by the gift of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Library to the British Museum Ethnography Department Library in 1976. John Mack can be contacted at J.Mack@british-museum.ac.uk.
The Legacy of Isaac Schapera (1905–2003)
Authors: Heald Suzette
Published: December 2003

‘I would like to be remembered – although I am sure that I will not be – as the equivalent, to the Tswana, of what Pepys is to English ethnography.’ Isaac Schapera interviewed by Jean and John Comaroff, 1988
Cannibals Talk
Authors: Hooper Steven
Published: December 2003

A response to Obeyesekere & Arens (AT19,5)
Bones of Contention
Authors: Spennemann Dirk H.R.
Published: December 2003

A response to Sahlins (AT19,3), Obeyesekere & Arens (AT19,5)
Artificially Maintained Controversies (Part 2)
Authors: Sahlins Marshall
Published: December 2003

A response to Obeyesekere and Anens (AT19,5)
ASA 2003: Communitas enters the academy
Authors: Willis Roy
Published: December 2003

Fifth Decennial Conference of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth, University of Manchester, 14‐18 July 2003
Challenging the Experts
Authors: Lindisfarne Nancy
Published: December 2003

10th Mediterranean Ethnological Summer Symposium (MESS), Piran, 15‐20 September 2003
Anthropology and Change in Higher Education
Authors: Djolai Marija
Published: December 2003

C‐SAP Annual Conference, Birmingham, 3‐4 April 2003
The Effects of Fiscal Decentralization on Public Spending: The Korean Case
Authors: Kwon Osung
Published: December 2003

The local government reforms of the 1980s and 1990s in Korea involved devolution of substantial resources from the central to local governments. Fiscal realignment between the levels of government occurred during the same period of time. This article places these changes within the context of fiscal decentralization, using a variety of time‐series regression techniques, in an effort to assess its impact. Findings suggest that fiscal decentralization serves as a constraint on the behavior of central government, while it serves as a booster on behalf of underdeveloped local governments. Fiscal decentralization may be a very effective means of self‐government, and plays a key role in improving the fit between the provision of public goods and citizens' demand in Korea.
Dynamic Revenue Curves for North Carolina Taxes
Authors: Walden Michael L.
Published: December 2003

Dynamic tax analysis allows a tax rate to affect the economic base being taxed. Consequently, the relationship between a tax rate and the taxed economic base is nonlinear and includes a region where a higher (lower) tax rate results in lower (higher) tax revenues. Relationships between the economic base and the tax rate are estimated for five major taxes in North Carolina. In all but one case, a statistically significant negative effect was found for the tax rate on the economic base. Dynamic relationships were strongest for the sales tax and weakest for the unemployment compensation tax.
Price Effects around a Sales Tax Holiday: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Harper Richard K. , Hawkins Richard R. , Martin Gregory S. , Sjolander Richard
Published: December 2003

Tax relief from a sales tax holiday depends on lower final prices for the eligible goods. In this article, prices are compared for ten goods across several retail locations before, during, and after the 2001 Florida sales tax holiday period. The comparison is also extended to the same items in a metropolitan statistical area just outside of Florida. The exploratory data indicate that before‐tax prices are slightly higher in Florida retail establishments during the sales tax holiday, but it is not clear whether these prices reflect less generous markdowns by Florida managers or pricing decisions for much larger regions. Whichever the case, the tax policy forces consumers to speculate on non‐holiday prices and choose items where the final price is, in fact, lower during the holiday.
Local discourse and global competition: production experiences in family workshops of the Brianza
Authors: Ghezzi Simone
Published: December 2003

One of the most important consequences of post‐Fordist global restructuring has been the ‘deterritorialization’ of capital and its increasing geographic expansion. Another and quite different view emphasizes the fact that capitalist activity can be organized by means of localized or territorially based systems of specialized production. In this article my purpose is to show how these two disciplinary discourses are actually not mutually exclusive. Developed local economies are not immune from concerns of deterritorialization, nor should their economic achievement gloss over the glitches that are emerging at the local level due to stiffer global competition. These two aspects become immediately apparent as I illustrate the local discourse that emerges among workshop owners within an industrial district of the Brianza in the Italian region of Lombardy. After a discussion about the origin and the characteristics of this regional economy, I illustrate by way of ethnographic examples how innovation and competitiveness within and outside this industrial district mask forms of exploitation and contradictions amidst family‐run workshops. In discursive terms, exploitation is articulated in various ways, but two in particular seem to be most recurrent in the narrative of small entrepreneurs of this region. One is the ideology of ‘hard work’ and the other, more recently heard of, is the ideology of ‘high quality product’. In the brief concluding section I will stress the point that these two discourses emerging from exploitative social relations of production are to be viewed as responses to the concerns regarding the possible deterritorialization of some factories and the increasing competition with crossboundary markets.
Questioning the use of ‘local democracy’ as a discursive strategy for political mobilization in Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto
Authors: Boudreau Julie‐Anne
Published: December 2003

Between 1997 and 2002, homeowners in various parts of Los Angeles sought to secede from the City. At the same time, in Toronto, the province of Ontario forced the amalgamation of six municipalities forming a new megacity of 2.4 million. Residents mobilized for several months. In 2000, the province of Quebec forced the merger of 28 local municipalities in Montreal, forming a new city of 1.8 million. Angst came mostly from suburban Anglophone municipalities, where it was felt mergers would affect linguistic privileges. In the three cases, but stemming from different positions on the Left‐Right political spectrum, social actors claimed more local autonomy ‘in the name of local democracy’. Comparing these cases where institutional reforms and claims for local autonomy captured the political agenda, the article asks whether the use of ‘local democracy’ as a legitimizing tool for territorial claims may point to the emergence of a new generalized discursive strategy. Comparing variations in interpretations, and locating them in their respective local political cultures and in relation to the political positioning of claiming groups, highlights the processes by which socio‐political movements mobilize residents to their cause while avoiding accusations of NIMBYism. In the end, the article questions the moral tone attached to the expression ‘local democracy’.
Public policies, political cleavages and urban space: state infrastructure policies in São Paulo, Brazil, 1975–2000
Authors: Marques Eduardo Cesar , Bichir Renata Mirandola
Published: December 2003

This article deals with the state policies of urban infrastructure in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1975 to 2000. Working with primary information about the investments made by the state in public works, we discuss a series of arguments present in the urban studies literature about the patterns of state investment in urban spaces and propose an alternative explanation for state action in Brazilian urban spaces in recent decades. We analyze the main elements that have influenced the overall pattern of investments, describe the main characteristics of this policy over time and in each of the municipal governments of the period, as well as develop an evaluation of the spatial distribution of the resources among each of the main social groups in the city.
Masculine identities and low‐paid work: young men in urban labour markets
Authors: McDowell Linda
Published: December 2003

This article brings together debates about labour market change, work‐based identities, growing concerns about the problem of working‐class, low‐achieving boys and the identification of a contemporary crisis of masculinity. It draws on a longitudinal study of young men in Sheffield and Cambridge — contrasting local labour markets in England — examining the initial workplace experiences of white working‐class male school‐leavers. Two individual cases are explored in depth, looking at initial working pathways in order to assess the attitudes and actions of young school leavers and their responses to the structural changes in the labour market that have transformed their opportunities compared with both their fathers' generation and their female peers. The implications for theoretical debates about working lives and the trasformation of gender divisions are assessed.
Finding oneself, losing oneself: the lesbian and gay ‘scene’ as a paradoxical space
Authors: Valentine Gill , Skelton Tracey
Published: December 2003

In recent years, geographers and urban sociologists have sought to map and understand the emergence and development of lesbian and gay spaces within the city — popularly dubbed ‘the scene’. It is often asserted that the city is a space of sexual liberation and that specifically the ‘scene’ can play an important part in lesbian and gay men's identity formation and development. However, despite the range and richness of the academic literature on the production and emergence of lesbian and gay urban spaces, relatively little attention has been paid to the actual role of the scene in the ‘coming out’ process and the way young lesbians and gay men negotiate transitions to adulthood. This article addresses this neglect by drawing on empirical work with lesbians and gay men in the UK to explore what the scene has meant to them. In the first half of the article we focus on the positive roles that the scene can play in helping young people to find themselves as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the second half of the article we consider the risks that they can encounter in the process. We conclude by reflecting on the scene as a paradoxical space, and on the implications of this research for the youth transitions and urban studies literatures, and for social policy.
Fighting for the global catwalk: formalizing public life in Castlefield (Manchester) and diluting public life in el Raval (Barcelona)
Authors: Degen Monica
Published: December 2003

Increasingly cities are using regeneration strategies to revive their economy and to give a facelift to their physical environment to compete on a global catwalk. As urban environments change, their sensuous geography is also altered. This article argues that the transformation of sensescapes has been a neglected dimension of urban politics that needs to be analysed. By focusing on two inner‐city neighbourhoods, el Raval in Barcelona and Castlefield in Manchester, I examine how power expresses itself in the sensuous reorganization of public space, thus shaping public life. I first develop a theoretical framework around the concept of ‘socially embedded aesthetics’ to uncover sensuous‐material and social spatializations of power. I then compare and contrast the key discourses in interviews held with planners and politicians driving the regeneration process. Supported by my own ethnographic observations two aspects are analysed: firstly, the physical reorganization of the neighbourhoods shaped by the strategy of accessibility and ‘designer heritage aesthetic’; secondly, the envisaged public life that the transformation of public places is expected to support. The research unveils similar sensuous ideological frameworks in the regeneration of both these areas: processes that foster the inclusion of commercially profitable experiences in public places and the exclusion of marginal ones or those that do not fit into the conceived vision of official agents.
Forging a ‘new’ organizational infrastructure for Los Angeles’ progressive community
Authors: Nicholls Walter Julio
Published: December 2003

What margins of maneuverability do urban‐based progressive movements have for affecting policy outcomes in entrepreneurial and neoliberal political systems? This article provides a partial answer to this question by examining how relations developed and stabilized between actors in the different sectors (community based organizations, labor, university) of Los Angeles’ progressive community. Such relations are a necessary but not sufficient condition for affecting policy outcomes. I argue that these relations have resulted from a 20‐year process of interactions between the more innovative agents of each of the sectors. Through their repeated experimentation in building frameworks to coordinate their partnerships, I argue that a variety of complex mechanisms have taken shape that nourish relations and coordinate complex forms of collective action. Functioning as ‘relational platforms’, these coordinating mechanisms have combined to form an emergent ‘organizational infrastructure’ that facilitates both ongoing relational processes and the mobilization of collective resources in politically effective ways. Thus, by examining the organizational infrastructure that makes such a broad based ‘movement’ possible and sustainable, the article offers the reader one insight into how urban progressives have been able to build the power necessary to affect policies in one of the world's most entrepreneurial and neoliberal cities.
Housing differences in the late Soviet city: the case of Tartu, Estonia
Authors: Kulu Hill
Published: December 2003

Research on the residential and housing differences of urban populations in post‐second world war Central and Eastern Europe has a tradition extending back to the 1960s. Most studies have focused on the Polish, Czech and Hungarian (large) cities using aggregatelevel data and testing simultaneously the impact of a few factors on residential and housing differences. This research clarifies the housing differences in the late Soviet era of Tartu (the second largest city in Estonia). Using the individual‐level data of the 1989 Soviet census and multivariate methods, the article demonstrates that several factors (age, education, occupation, employment sector, ethnic origin, place of origin) shape the individual's housing and living conditions in the late Soviet period in Tartu. On the one hand, the results support the importance of the policy of different institutions (state, enterprises) in shaping people's living conditions; on the other hand, they also point to people's resources and desires as the cause.
Self‐help in housing and chengzhongcun in China's urbanization
Authors: Zhang L. , Zhao Simon X. B. , Tian J. P.
Published: December 2003

This article focuses on the housing issues of rural migrants arising from urbanization, with particular reference tochengzhongcun, a topic with considerable impact on policymaking. An attempt is made to understand the underlying rationale of self‐help in housing and the important role of chengzhongcun in sheltering rural migrants in the context of China's rural‐urban dichotomy. As demonstrated in this study, chengzhongcun accommodate, with little in the way of government resources and assistance, millions of rural migrants because of their social accessibility and affordability. While not denying their social problems, we argue that chengzhongcun in fact act as an innovative and positive agent to promote urbanization in present day China by housing massive numbers of rural migrants and assimilating them into cities. Current government policies towards chengzhongcun have generated a wide range of interest conflicts and confrontations. The consequences of such conflicts show that the government policies were problematic and unworkable, as they violated basic market principles as well as citizen rights. Policy strategy towards the redevelopment of chengzhongcun must acknowledge their credibility in the Chinese road to urbanization and requires more thoughtful and prudent consideration of migrants' demands for affordable housing.
The right to the city
Authors: Harvey David
Published: December 2003

The right to the city is not merely a right of access to what already exists, but a right to change it. We need to be sure we can live with our own creations. But the right to remake ourselves by creating a qualitatively different kind of urban sociality is one of the most precious of all human rights. We have been made and re‐made without knowing exactly why, how, and to what end. How then, can we better exercise this right to the city? But whose rights and whose city? Could we not construct a socially just city? But what is social justice? Is justice simply whatever the ruling class wants it to be? We live in a society in which the inalienable rights to private property and the profit rate trump any other conception of inalienable rights. Our society is dominated by the accumulation of capital through market exchange. To live under capitalism is to accept or submit to that bundle of rights necessary for endless capital accumulation. Free markets are not necessarily fair. Worse still, markets require scarcity to function. The inalienable rights of private property and the profit rate lead to worlds of inequality, alienation and injustice. The endless accumulation of capital and the conception of rights embedded threin must be opposed and a different right to the city must be asserted politically. Derivative rights (like the right to be treated with dignity) should become fundamental and fundamental rights (of private property and the profit rate) should become derivative. But new rights can also be defined: like the right to the city which is not merely a right of access to what the property speculators and state planners define, but an active right to make the city different, to shape it more in accord with our heart's desire, and to re‐make ourselves thereby in a different image.
Glocalizing protest: urban conflicts and the global social movements
Authors: Köhler Bettina , Wissen Markus
Published: December 2003

The emergence of global social movements is essentially symbolized by the names of cities like Seattle, Genoa or Porto Alegre. This is not accidental, because groups stemming from various parts of the world need places to constitute themselves as movements. But the role of cities in representing great parts of the movements' consciousness also hints at the importance urban struggles have for global protests. The article examines the relationship between urban conflicts and global social movements. By looking for continuities and ruptures between former and current urban conflicts it points out the specificity of the latter: to politicize the contradictions of neoliberal restructuring; to challenge the discursive and institutional terrains of urban politics which were shaped in the 1990s, often with active participation of former movement actors; and, finally, to act simultaneously on various spatial scales. In the last part of the article some examples of ‘glocalized’ urban protests are presented and analysed, pointing out their ambiguities as well as the specific contribution they can make to the strategic orientation of the global social movements: to fight the destructive influences neoliberal globalization exerts on everyday life and, thereby, to develop alternative forms of societalization.
On the corner of diverse/reverse globalization: the third stage of global 'urban studies'
Authors: Machimura Takashi
Published: December 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

Peter Marcuse and Ronald van Kempen (eds.) 2000:, Globalizing Cities: A New Spatial Order?

Peter Marcuse and Ronald van Kempen (eds.) 2002:, Of States and Cities: The Partitioning of Urban Space.
Global times and emerging socio‐spatial shapes
Authors: Paasi Anssi
Published: December 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

Saskia Sassen (ed.) Global networks ‐ linked cities

Sajal Lahiri (ed.) Regionalism and globalization. Theory and practice