bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cullers of Words: Writing the Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Authors: Webb Jeff A.
Published: January 2013

The Dictionary of Newfoundland English was the creation of a Newfoundland-born British-trained specialist in Elizabethan era bibliography, an American structuralist-phonetician and an English-born dialect specialist. Starting from modest beginnings in the 1950s, the work resulted in the publication of a celebrated dictionary organized along historical principles in 1982. The DNE was unusual in that it combined oral sources, as did dialect dictionaries, with exhaustive excerpting from the textual corpus. This essay examines the backgrounds of these three men, and the effect upon the project of attitudes toward linguistic change in a rapidly modernizing region. A segment of the population wanted to jettison the local dialect which it associated with backwardness, while others lamented the loss of local culture that accompanied modernization. The DNE was descriptivist rather than prescriptivist, and attempted to give people pride in their oral culture.
A grammar-driven bilingual digital dictionary for Cayuga (Iroquoian)
Authors: Dyck Carrie , Kumar Ranjeet
Published: January 2013

Lexical access in Cayuga is especially difficult because of obligatory prefixation. For example, the related words in (a) should occur under the same lemma or citation form, but would be scattered throughout the dictionary if listed alphabetically. (a) A partial Cayuga verb paradigm (stem: -nę:ye:s or -hnę:ye:s to be tall ) aknihnę:ye:s   we two (exclusive) are tall dwahnę:ye:s   we all (inclusive) are tall ehnę:ye:s   she, someone is tall gahnę:ye:s   it is tall hahnę:ye:s   he is tall knę:ye:s   I am tall A typical solution is to use units like the stem [-hnę:ye:s] for the citation form. However, virtually no one knows how to identify the stem. Fortunately, digital dictionaries promise to solve the problem of user access in Iroquoian languages. We present a digital dictionary that exploits the unique grammatical properties of Cayuga to facilitate word look-up. Our digital dictionary refers to a database of whole words and removes the finite set of affixes, returning a stem-like unit. A relaxed search algorithm then returns a list of words which partially or wholly match the stem-like unit. The advantage of this approach is that the end-user only has know whole word forms to get the desired results. This makes the Cayuga dictionary accessible to lay-people in a way that was not previously possible.
That Most Ill-Defined Book: Problems with Labeling the Dictionary in Educated Writing
Authors: Shea Ammon
Published: January 2013

Central to the purpose of a dictionary is the proposal of clear and distinctive definitions of terms. While the art of lexicography is such that different dictionaries arrive at definitions with distinct wording or emphasis, this fact may be lost on most users of the dictionary. In this paper I examine to what extent users treat dictionaries as more or less interchangeable items, through their selection and usage of definitions in formal essays and dissertations. In particular, I treat individuals' use of dictionary definitions in Master's theses, doctoral theses, and scholarly journal articles as representative of their understanding of the individuality and applicability of different dictionary entries. I find that these highly educated writers (who might be expected to be expert users of the dictionary) explicitly reference the dictionary in one of four ways: (1) as indefinite entity (e.g. 'the dictionary'); (2) vaguely titled ('Webster's dictionary'); (3) date or edition irrelevant ('The American Heritage dictionary'); (4) fully cited and explained. Preliminary findings indicate that a large proportion of this educated population who cite dictionaries in writing fail to distinguish between notably distinct works. I also examine in what ways educational level and academic field does or does not predict one's skill at dictionary reference, citation, and application.
"Her word had no weight": Jane Austen as a lexical test case for the OED .
Authors: McConchie R. W.
Published: January 2013

Recent research on the OED has shown that Jane Austen has for various reasons been relatively overlooked by OED editors. The appearance of the online version greatly facilitates research into individual quoted authors and the dictionary's sources have become an important subject. It has long been clear that the OED has treated authors differentially, both in numbers of citations and the structure of entries, documenting some far more extensively than others. The purpose of this paper is to address this claim in a particular case by examining how Austen is represented in the OED and considering whether, for all its sophistication in defining, the OED has been sufficiently alert to the way she uses words.
DawgSpeak !: The Slanguage Dictionary of the University of Georgia
Authors: McCreary Don R.
Published: January 2013

This report addresses salient issues in a lexicography class developed by the author at the University of Georgia. Our class project is a dictionary of slang terms used on the UGA campus, titled "Dawgspeak." This dictionary, now in its sixth edition, has over 1750 entries in it. The question of how to carve up meaning is made concrete by the dictionary editor's decisions on how to treat the meanings of lexical items. When the treatment involves slang terms, their non-standardized and ephemeral nature may lead students to perceive the probable meanings differently depending on their own usage patterns, which can lead to profitable discussions in the lexicography class. The report concludes with sample pages from the "B" section and the "Slang Grammar Help Page."
The Export-Income Relationship in Developing Countries: Evidence from Panel Cointegration
Authors: Dawson P.J. , Sanjuán-López Ana I.
Published: January 2013

This paper quantifies the contribution of exports to economic growth in developing countries. We apply recently developed panel cointegration methods which admit structural breaks to examine bivariate export-income relationships for a panel of 47 developing countries for annual data for 1970–2004. Results show that long-run relationships exist and there is bi-directional causality between exports and income; structural breaks occur in most country-specific relationships and most occur in the 1980s following the debt crisis of 1981–82; the income-export elasticity is 0.22 while the export-income elasticity is 1.13. Structural differences also exist in the relationships by broad income group and the impact of exports on income increases while that of income on exports falls as income increases. Export-promotion policies are not misplaced and the trade liberalisation policies advocated and sometimes imposed by the World Bank which aim to stimulate economic development seem justified but should by tailored to individual country needs.
Public Expenditure, Private Investment and Income: Evidence in Indian States
Authors: Mallick Jagannath
Published: January 2013

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act 2003 was introduced in India in order to reduce revenue deficit by curtailing revenue expenditure. This paper examines the impact of public expenditure by type and nature on the income by constructing new data on combined capital expenditure and combined revenue expenditure of Centre and State governments of 15 major States during the period 1993–94 to 2004–05. This paper finds that, though public expenditure crowds-out private investment, public expenditure of all types and nature positively contributes to state income due to the inclusion of some productive expenditure in the revenue account. All revenue expenditures are not growth retarding, and specifically, infrastructure investment may be used as an instrument by the Central and State governments directly for equitable allocation of private investment to achieve balanced income across states and higher economic growth as a whole.
Remittances–Exchange Rate Nexus: The U.S.–Mexico Case
Authors: Rahman Matiur , Foshee Andrew , Mustafa Muhammad
Published: January 2013

This paper studies the long-run and short-run dynamics between emigrants’ nominal inbound remittances in U.S. dollar term to Mexico and the Peso-Dollar nominal exchange rates. Relatively high frequency monthly data from January 1987 through December 2008 are employed. Given the comparatively short sample period, the monthly data partially compensate for implementation of standard cointegration methodology. Empirically, both variables are found nonstationary in levels with I(1) behavior in terms of DF-GLS, Ng-Perron, and KPSS tests. The changes in exchange rate exert more pronounced influences on the changes of remittances in the long run as compared to the converse. Significant short-run interactive net positive feedback effects between the variables are also evidenced. On a net basis, Mexico should pursue an exchange rate policy that would promote remittance inflows from the USA for potential net economic gains without much apprehension of the so called Dutch Disease.
The “Relevance” of the African Traditional Medicine (Alternative Medicine) to Health Care Delivery System in Nigeria
Authors: Isola Omoleke Ishaq
Published: January 2013

This paper set out to examine the relevance of the African Traditional Medicine in Health Care Delivery Services in Nigeria. This has become necessary for three main reasons: Firstly, African Traditional Medicine Practitioners provided the earliest medical care in Nigeria. Secondly, the World Health Organisation has recognized the need to integrate the traditional medicine on the orthodox medicine when it defines it, as the total combination of knowledge and practices, whether explicable or not, used in diagnosing, preventing or eliminating physical, mental or social diseases. Thirdly, there are claims by the practitioners that since orthodox medicine cannot cure all diseases; hence, they can intervene in the areas where orthodox medicine is weak. Such areas include, social psychiatry, hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy and other psychosomatic illnesses. The researcher thus took a purposive sample of one hundred and fifty consisting of (50) traditional medicine practitioners, 50 orthodox medicine practitioners and 50 patients using interview and questionnaire administration to garner information on the relevance of traditional medicine in the Health Care Delivery system in Nigeria. Participant observation method was also used to reinforce the interview and questionnaire administration respectively. Secondary data were also obtained from the traditional medical clinics visited in Ibadan, Oyo, lIe-lfe and Ikire all in South Western Nigeria. Data collected were analysed descriptively and the findings are that: (i) African traditional medicine predated orthodox medicine in Nigeria; (ii) Traditional medical care is strong in some areas where the orthodox medicine is not very effective; (iii) There are problems associated with administration of traditional medical care such as issues of measurability of its drugs, dosage, preparation, documentation, preservation, potency and determination of the side effect and (iv) if the shortcomings are rectified, then, the African traditional medicine has a lot to offer in saving lives of African citizens and beyond the continent. The paper concluded that there is a need to properly integrate and blend African medicine on the orthodox medicine because such reinforcement will be of immense advantage to the sick and humanity in general.
Regulation of Entry and the Variety of Manufactured Exports from Developing Countries
Authors: Munemo Jonathan
Published: January 2013

This paper analyzes the effect of regulation of firm entry on the variety of manufactured goods exported by developing countries. Using panel regressions, I find robust evidence that an increase in entry regulation significantly reduces the variety of manufactured goods that developing countries export. Given the evidence which clearly shows that export variety of manufactured goods positively affects productivity, the results imply that reducing regulatory barriers to entry can raise productivity, and this is especially important in low income countries where exports are heavily concentrated in primary products and the cost of entry regulation is quite high.
Regime-Dependent Monetary Policy Convergence: The Case of Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Authors: Anoruo Emmanuel , Ahmad Yusuf
Published: January 2013

This paper examines the issue of monetary policy convergence for members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) using the Markov Switching unit root procedure. The results from the conventional unit root tests including the Dickey-Fuller and the modified Dickey-Fuller reveal that the exchange rate and inflation series are first difference stationary. The likelihood ratio tests suggest that the results from the Markov Switching ADF model should be preferred over those from the standard unit root testing procedures. In most of the cases, the results from the Markov switching ADF procedures indicate that the nominal exchange rate series are characterized by two stationary regimes. This finding provides evidence of monetary convergence among the SADC member countries. The existence of monetary convergence suggests that SADC member countries are likely to satisfy their macroeconomic convergence targets and hence attain some form of Maastricht-type criteria.
Factors Affecting Public Participation in River Ecosystem Restoration: Using the Contingent Valuation Method
Authors: Alam Khorshed
Published: January 2013

Understanding public support for ecosystem restoration is critical to its successful implementation because the sustainability of sound resource management is rooted in stakeholders’ support. The contingent valuation method was used to measure participants’ willingness to contribute, both in the form of money and time, to the restoration of an impaired river ecosystem. Data for this research was collected from the adult population of Dhaka City, located in the dying Buriganga River catchment. A study on the hypothetical restoration of this vulnerable urban river in Bangladesh showed that this new approach to framing the valuation questions generated greater contribution from the community. This approach was found suitable in the developing country setting where many of the participants’ ‘disposable income’ did not reflect their real earnings as the labour market was not fully monetized. This research finds strong support among residents for, and willingness to participate in, the restoration of the impaired ecosystem. The results from the logistic regression lend support to the hypothesis that a significant relationship exists between residents’ willingness to participate in restoration and their socio-demographic and perceptional characteristics. The information generated from this study will be helpful for better understanding the planning and implementation of ecosystem restoration strategies.
The Impact of Governance on Economic Growth in Africa
Authors: Fayissa Bichaka , Nsiah Christian
Published: January 2013

Sub-Sahara African countries have had a checkered past when it comes to good governance and institutions. Increasingly, economists and policy makers are recognizing the importance of governance and institutions for economic growth and development. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has four main goals: eradicating poverty, promoting sustainable growth and development, integrating Africa into the world’s economy, and accelerating the empowerment of women. Using fixed and random effects, and Arellano-Bond models, this paper investigates the role of governance in explaining the sub-optimal economic growth performance of African economies. Our results suggest that good governance or lack thereof, contributes to the differences in growth of African countries. Furthermore, our results indicate that the role of governance on economic growth depends on the level of income. In a nutshell, our results demonstrate that without the establishment and maintenance of good governance, achieving the goals of NEPAD will be hampered in Africa.
Earnings Inequality in Sri Lanka
Authors: Arun Thankom , Borooah Vani , Arun Shoba
Published: January 2013

This paper addresses the question of how greater equality by gender and race/ethnicity in the distribution of earnings would affect earnings inequality in Sri Lanka. The decomposition exercise of male-female earnings indicates the significant extent to which the gender disparity in earnings represents ‘discrimination’ against women. The findings showed that men had higher average earnings that attributed fully to discrimination in favour of male earners. Despite commendable achievements in social indicators, it is imperative to address persistent ethnic and gendered inequalities in order to maintain social and political cohesion.
Participation in the Labor Supply in Latin America, 2000–2008
Authors: Caceres Luis Rene
Published: January 2013

This paper analyzes the determinants of participation in the labor supply in a sample of ten Latin American countries. To this end, a VAR model is estimated with the variables economic growth, wages, unemployment and participation rate. A first section discusses the evolution and determining variables of participation rates in the Latin American countries, under the light of recent theories. This is followed by a review of recent literature on participation in Latin American countries. Next, impulse response functions are analyzed which permits to appreciate the role of economic growth, the real wage and the unemployment rate on participation. Further analysis is carried to appreciate the role of governance in the labor market. The paper ends with a discussion of the social policies related to labor markets.
The Intra-Regional Economy Of Veracruz Province: What Can The Municipios Tell Us?
Authors: Brock Gregory
Published: January 2013

A stochastic production function analysis of the 212 regions of Veracruz province in southern Mexico reveals some inefficiency in manufacturing, mining, trade and service sectors in recent years. Poverty indices appear to influence a region’s ability to combine capital and labor to create output and value added in some years indicating a reduction in poverty could contribute to job growth and putting idle capital back to work at the local level. With the agricultural crisis in the province, high population centers have been able to absorb some of the workers and exhibit relative higher productivity in both goods and services. Efficiency indices by county can be used to guide tax sharing and expenditure responsibilities within provinces.
Measuring Strucutral Change: The Case of China, Malaysia, and Ghana
Authors: Badibanga Thaddée , Diao Xinshen , Roe Terry , Somwaru Agapi
Published: January 2013

We extend the methods developed by Hausmann and Klinger (2006) to measure and compare the dynamics of a country’s structural transformation and apply the methods to China, Malaysia, and Ghana over the period 1962–2000. The results show that the rate of structural transformation is proportionately higher when a country produces more compact clusters of capital and consumer durable goods which in turn appear to lead more rapidly into new varieties of goods of higher unit values. We find that China’s transformation is the result of increasing proximity of her production/export basket to capital goods and consumer durables and the increasing values of new products in these two clusters. Malaysia’s product space in 1962 contained fewer of the world’s cluster of industrial goods than did China’s. The country nevertheless achieved a more rapid pace of transformation in the late 1980s which reduced her structural gap with China. The structure of the Ghanaian economy, however, is stagnant over time, and the country’s production profile is dominated by primary goods of low value.
Modeling Long-Run Determinants of Economic Growth for the Mauritian Economy
Authors: Damoense-Azevedo Maylene Y
Published: January 2013

This study develops a macroeconometric model for the Mauritian economy to explain long-run determinants of the country’s economic performance. The Engle-Granger (1987) two-step cointegration methodology is adopted to capture both short-run and long-run dynamic properties of the macroeconomy. The empirical findings indicate that labor, domestic investment, prices and financial development play a pivotal role in the economic growth process of the Mauritian economy. More notably, the contribution of financial development to the economic performance of the domestic economy is positively influenced by output, foreign direct investment, human capital, trade liberalization and price stability. Policy should emphasize the role of FDI-financing for education and training and capital investment projects. Furthermore, the promotion of trade and financial liberalization as well as the maintenance of macroeconomic stability is crucial to enhance financial deepening and in turn sustained economic performance.
Government Expenditure And Economic Growth: The Ethiopian Experience, 1950–2007
Authors: Menyah Kojo , Wolde-Rufael Yemane
Published: January 2013

This paper investigates the relationship between government expenditure and economic growth in Ethiopia to test Wagner’s Law which postulates that as real income increases there is a tendency for the share of public expenditure to increase relative to national income. Using the bounds test approach to cointegration, the paper finds robust evidence of a long-run relationship between government expenditure and GDP. Using four long-run estimators, we obtained elasticities ranging from 1.73 to 1.79, implying that a 1% increase in income leads to a 1.73–1.79% increase in government expenditure. Applying a modified version of the Granger causality test, we also found a unidirectional causality running only from GDP to government expenditure thus supporting the Wagnerian hypothesis of an expanding public sector. Since there was no causality running from government expenditure to income, the evidence suggests that the Keynesian view that government expenditure can be an effective policy instrument for promoting economic growth in Ethiopia was not supported. Therefore, there is a need for making fiscal policy as a stabilizer to enhance economic growth.
Do Mergers Improve the Efficiency of Banks in Taiwan?: Evidence From Stochastic Frontier Approach
Authors: Lee Tung-Hao , Liang Lien-Wen , Huang Bor-Yi
Published: January 2013

Banking consolidation is a global trend, but in Taiwan, after the failure of the Second Financial Reform, it does not have a clear policy for bank mergers. This paper investigates whether mergers influence the cost efficiency of banks in Taiwan, and our results suggest that the government should utilize market mechanism to encourage FHC or large banks’ mergers. We use the method of stochastic frontier approach (SFA) to investigate the uncertain relationship between merger and the cost efficiency of Taiwanese banks. Based on Battese and Coelli (1995), we use maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate the stochastic cost efficiency model and the inefficient model simultaneously. We find that, for Taiwanese banks, technology efficiency increases with time by lowering operation cost; cost efficiency decreases right after merger, and has to wait for three years to regain efficiency. The larger banks and FHC banks benefit more from cost savings than smaller banks.
The Impact of Credit and Non-Credit Aspects on Self-Employment Profit: A Comparison of Microcredit Programs and Commercial Lenders in Rural Bangladesh
Authors: Alam Saad
Published: January 2013

Rural credit programs in Bangladesh help the poor by providing collateral-free loans or credits at a low cost. In addition, they provide social development programs such as vocational and business training through a group-based peer monitoring system. These non-credit aspects may add to the success of microcredit programs. This article examines the effects of the credit and non-credit aspects of microcredit programs on self-employment profits. Using a household level data and an Instrumental Variable-Fixed Effect approach, the results show that the non-credit social aspects of the microcredit programs affect profit above and beyond the credit aspects and increase self-employment profit by 50% to 81%. This article also compares microcredit programs to existing commercial lenders which do not offer non-credit services. The results show that credit effects are larger while non-credit effects are smaller for commercial loans and demonstrate the efficacy of the non-credit aspects of the microcredit programs in raising profits.
Who Migrates Overseas and Is It Worth Their While?: An Assessment of Household Survey Data from Bangladesh
Authors: Sharma Manohar , Zaman Hassan
Published: January 2013

The paper assesses the costs and household level benefits of migrating overseas from Bangladesh. We survey households who have had overseas migrants to assess their characteristics compared to non-migrants. We also compute various types of migration and remittance related transaction costs and discuss the channels by which overseas migration is financed, remittances sent and the constraints faced by the poorest. Using the Propensity Score Matching method to address household level selection bias, the paper finds that overseas migration conveys substantial benefits to families as measured by household consumption, use of modern agricultural inputs, and the level of household savings. We also offer some possible policy directions to strengthen the returns from migration as well as reduce some of the costs.
The Effect of Export Composition on Economic Growth: The Case of Korea
Authors: Koh Sae Ran , Mah Jai S.
Published: January 2013

This article investigates the causal relationship between export composition and economic growth, among others, in the case of a strongly outward-oriented country, i.e. Korea. The cointegration tests show that cointegrating vectors exist among the concerned variables. Also, the error correction model indicates that there is a bidirectional causality between export composition and economic growth. That is, the increasing ratio of non-textile exports to textile exports has led to higher economic growth and vice versa . The empirical results remain qualitatively the same even when we include a measure of trade liberalization as one of the explanatory variables that may affect economic growth.
China at the Tipping Point?: Goodbye to Gradualism
Authors: Wang Tiancheng
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
China is heading toward a tipping point, with two scenarios standing out as the most likely “scripts” for how a political opening will come about. Whichever scenario occurs, most Chinese intellectuals think they know the best course for the nation to follow. That course can be summed up in one word: gradualism. Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime’s 1989 crackdown on the democracy movement, intellectuals have embraced the notion that only “slow and steady,” step-by-step reform can offer China a safe and feasible path toward liberal democracy. But the intellectuals are wrong about that. Once a political opening starts, risks (including the threat of national disintegration) will continue to grow in number and severity the longer the transition process drags on. Instead of “taking it slow,” China should shun gradualism and opt instead for a quick transition powered by early nationwide elections.
China at the Tipping Point?: The Rising Cost of Stability
Authors: Chen Xi
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
This essay examines the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s strategies for maintaining social stability. Although the CCP has tried to institutionalize the political system in the reform era, such efforts have been hampered by the Maoist legacy. To cope with challenges from the society, the CCP mainly relies on a highly centralized and resource-intensive weiwen system, and shows little respect for institutional differentiation and formal procedures. While such strategies are sometimes effective in the short term, they are not sustainable in the long run. They not only are extremely costly, but also tend to generate illegitimate state force and encourage ordinary people to engage in unruly behaviors.
Debate: Arab Democracy or Islamist Revolution?
Authors: Fradkin Hillel
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
The argument of Roy’s “The Transformation of the Arab World” in the July 2012 issue of the Journal of Democracy is threefold. First, the circumstances in which the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups such as the Salafists have reached power have also put them “into a political space formatted by certain constraints.” Second, the Islamists are aware of this situation and they have bent or will bend to it. Third and finally, if they do not “accept the demands of the democratization process . . . they will find themselves sidelined.” So whether the Islamists cooperate or not, democratization will triumph. All this may eventually prove true. At the moment, however, the political evidence tends strongly in a different direction.
Mexico’s 2012 Elections: The Return of the PRI
Authors: Flores-Macías Gustavo
Published: January 2013

With Mexico seeming poised for a change election in 2012, why did it vote in a regime that ruled the country for much of the 20th century? Is the new PRI different from the old PRI? What are the implications of the PRI’s return for Mexico’s democracy? This article argues that several institutions on which the old regime was based remained intact after the transition, which made the return of the PRI almost inevitable. It suggests that the PRI's return is a mixed blessing for Mexican democracy. On the one hand, the peaceful turnover of power among all parties is a welcome sign that democracy is maturing. Political parties should have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes—a sign that electoral accountability may be working. On the other hand, however, the return of the PRI is likely to reinvigorate several features of the old regime that remained unscathed by the country’s democratic transition, potentially representing a setback for Mexico's young democracy.
China at the Tipping Point?: The Turn Against Legal Reform
Authors: Minzner Carl
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
Over the past decade, Chinese authorities have turned against many of the legal reforms they themselves had enacted in the late 20th century. Lawyers have come under increased pressure. Political campaigns warning against rule-of-law norms have rippled through the courts. And central authorities have massively increased funding for extralegal institutions aimed at curtailing and suppressing citizen discontent. These shifts have choked off input institutions key to the authoritarian resilience of Communist Party rule. They have fueled social unrest. And they have led to new concerns about individual leaders seizing control of the domestic security apparatus for their own purposes. In 2012, new calls emerged regarding the need to revive flagging legal reforms, particularly in the wake of the fall Party leadership transition. It remains unclear how China’s new leaders will respond. They may restart legal reform as part of a comprehensive program of political and institutional transformation. Or they may refuse, risking an escalating spiral of social and political turmoil.
Debate: There Will Be No Islamist Revolution
Authors: Roy Olivier
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
Hillel Fradkin has quite correctly summarized my analysis before criticizing it. Therefore, apart from the rather crucial detail of what the “failure of political Islam” means, there is no misunderstanding between us, but rather a decisive difference in approach and perspective. Fradkin is concerned about what constitutes the essence of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as an ideological movement, whereas I concentrate on how the Muslim Brothers, as political and social actors, are shaped by the political, social, and religious context in which they now find themselves.
Regime Types and Democratic Sequencing
Authors: Møller Jørgen , Skaaning Svend-Erik
Published: January 2013

Many countries today appoint their governments on the basis of competitive elections but fall short with respect to other properties of liberal democracy. Such regimes can be classified in a conceptual typology based on a hierarchical distinction between electoral rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law. Empirical realities provide an almost perfect match with this hierarchy as high respect for the rule of law hardly ever exists without high respect for civil liberties, which almost never exists without high respect for electoral rights. This finding questions the potential of an ‘authoritarian’ pathway to liberal democracy which privileges the rule of law over electoral rights.
China at the Tipping Point?: The Troubled Periphery
Authors: Greve Louisa
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
The response of the Chinese state (and of Chinese society at large) to the problems of the country’s periphery —which includes not only include not only Tibet, Xinjiang, and Inner Mongolia, but hundreds of counties, prefectures, and townships in Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan, and other areas—is piling more tension and misery upon the populations there, but it is not undermining state power. If anything, the party-state seems to draw strength from peripheral troubles, and indeed these troubles continually undermine prospects for better governance under any future rulers, including those installed by the 2012 Eighteenth Party Congress.
China at the Tipping Point?: Foreseeing the Unforeseeable
Authors: Nathan Andrew J.
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
The resilience of the Chinese authoritarian regime is approaching its limits. Theories of “threshold models” and “informational cascades” derived from the East German experience may help explain what happens next. China, however, is different from East Germany in several ways. Among other differences, it is not a client state and its economy is growing faster than those of its neighbors. Citizens are better informed about what other people think; the Chinese police are more skilled in the arts of repression, and the regime is more adaptive than other authoritarian regimes. A breakthrough moment could be triggered by several kinds of events. A key variable in the cascade model of political change is fear, and that seems to be diminishing.
Southeast Asia: In The Shadow of China
Authors: Reilly Benjamin
Published: January 2013

In this essay, Benjamin Reilly ponders the puzzling pattern of democracy’s presence or absence across Southeast Asia. Indeed, the dearth of democracy in the region’s richest countries (Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore), together with its strength in the poorest (Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste) seems to defy the idea—so basic to modernization theory—that stable democracy is fostered by economic development. The reason for this seemingly anomalous situation, says Reilly, lies in the realm of history and geography. He argues that physical proximity to China and the traditional degree of Chinese influence (heavier on the mainland, lighter on the offshore periphery) offer the best explanation of how democracy is distributed across Southeast Asia.
China at the Tipping Point?: Authoritarianism and Contestation
Authors: Su Zhenhua , Zhao Hui , He Jingkai
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
This paper argues that despite the considerable resilience demonstrated by the Chinese authoritarian regime, its power experiences continuous atrophy. With the weakening of the totalitarian control imposed on Chinese society, the current stability maintenance system has been decreasing in its effectiveness. Meanwhile, contentious activities within the civil society gain momentum, and grow in both frequency and complexity. Movements such as human rights advocacy and political pluralism are traversing down a path towards a multilaterally coalesced resistance of authoritarian authority. The final part of this paper proposes and analyzes three possible trends of the development of social contentions in Chinese civil society.
Papua New Guinea: From Coup to Reconciliation
Authors: May R.J.
Published: January 2013

Papua New Guinea has been described as a ‘fragile state’, though it has maintained an unbroken record of democracy—at least up till August 2011. In that month, while Prime Minister Somare was on extended medical absence the National Parliament declared the prime ministership vacant and elected a new prime minister, Peter O’Neill. The Parliament’s actions were challenged and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld the challenge, but O’Neill ignored the Court’s ruling, creating an impasse with two claimants to the office of prime minister. A national election in mid-2012—which O’Neill’s group sought to postpone—eventually resolved the situation. O’Neill became prime minister, and, in an odd twist, Somare joined the coalition government.
Egypt: Why Liberalism Still Matters
Authors: Dunne Michele , Radwan Tarek
Published: January 2013

According to conventional Western wisdom, liberal ideas are unpopular among Egyptians, despite what some enthusiastic young people said in Tahrir Square in early 2011. Yet while it is true that social mores have become more conservative in Egypt in recent decades, it is not true that core liberal ideas are in retreat. On the contrary, the essentials of political liberalism—citizens’ rights, government accountability, the rule of law, limits on state power—have become so popular that the liberal ideological field has become crowded.
China at the Tipping Point?: Top-Level Reform or Bottom-Up Revolution?
Authors: Li Cheng
Published: January 2013

Abstract:
This essay examines two sharply contrasting and controversial perspectives on China’s near- to medium-term future: top-level reform and bottom-up revolution. The essay highlights the ongoing Chinese discourse in three key areas: the impact of the Bo Xilai crisis on China’s political trajectory, possible triggers for sociopolitical uprising, and new initiatives and institutional safeguards with which the CCP leadership may open the way to systemic change. By first presenting an empirical and conceptual critique of “authoritarian resilience,” a predominant view in overseas studies of Chinese politics, this essay then examines the inherent vulnerability in China’s one-party system and the system’s failed claim for meritocracy in elite recruitment. China’s future will hinge on the dynamic between the fear of revolution and the hope for political reform.
Controlling Corruption Through Collective Action
Authors: Mungiu-Pippidi Alina
Published: January 2013

Control of corruption in a society is an equilibrium between resources and costs which either empowers or constraints elites predatory behaviour. While most research and practice focuses on legal constraints, this paper investigates normative constraints, deemed to be more important, especially civil society and the press. Fresh evidence—both historical and statistical—is found to support Tocqueville’s assertions regarding the importance of collective action and the joint action of media and associations in not only creating a democratic society, but controlling corruption as well. However, little is known on how to build normative constraints.
Repentance as a Bodhisattva Practice: Wŏnhyo on Guilt and Moral Responsibility
Authors: Cho Eun-su
Published: January 2013

The title of the Korean Buddhist philosopher Wŏnhyo's Mahāyāna Repentance of the Six Senses suggests that Buddhist practitioners are expected to repent of their misdeeds. This would mean that Wŏnhyo takes us to be responsible for our evil acts, and yet in the same text he argues that these acts, just like the self that is their supposed agent, are themselves not real. Moreover, he denies that there are real causal relations, thus rejecting hard determinism as well. He thus seems to resist all the possible approaches to the problem of determinism and responsibility while still affirming at least some degree of responsibility for our actions. How this might be made sense of and what it might tell us about the debate over determinism and responsibility are explored here.
The Issue of Determinism and Freedom as an Existential Question: A Case in the Bhagavad Gītā
Authors: Kwak Duck-Joo , Han Hye-chong
Published: January 2013

A reading of the Bhagavad Gītā is proposed here that shows a new way of formulating the philosophical issue of determinism and freedom, that is, not as a moral but as an existential question. To do so we first briefly draw upon the American philosopher Stanley Cavell's practice of ordinary language philosophy as a conceptual bridge to the ancient text. This leads to a revised notion of freedom, not as "self-determination" in a Kantian sense but as "existential achievement," which can be described as a form of autonomy in the sense of becoming what you are or having the will to be responsible to yourself.
Buddhist Paleocompatibilism
Authors: Siderits Mark
Published: January 2013

Neo-compatibilists hold that the causal determination of our mental states is compatible with our being responsible for our actions, in that responsibility does not require that the cause of the action be wholly located in the agent. Incompatibilists find this unpersuasive. It is claimed here that in one way of formulating the Buddhist distinction between conventional truth and ultimate truth, compatibilists could accommodate the ostensibly libertarian notion of agent causation. The key to this development is that according to one conception of the two truths, the fact that one determines an action is not incompatible with every mental event being causally determined by prior events, since there are no semantic relations between conventionally true statements and ultimately true statements.
Moral Luck, Self-cultivation, and Responsibility: The Confucian Conception of Free Will and Determinism
Authors: Hwang Kyung-Sig
Published: January 2013

In this essay it is argued that the conception of free will and determinism implied by Confucianism (of Confucius and Mencius) takes a compatibilist form. On one hand, it is argued that it is difficult to see libertarian free will in Confucianism. Confucianism's virtue ethics, with its emphasis on human character formation, cannot avoid the influence of internal factors and external circumstances on one's character that are beyond one's control. On the other hand, Confucianism espouses voluntary character formation and self-cultivation through human choice. This attitude likewise renders a hard determinist view untenable. With hard determinism and absolute free will both difficult to accept, the Confucian ethicists, beginning with Confucius and Mencius, seem to have been unable to avoid swinging between two extremes. However, as ethicists who exhort voluntary moral effort, they place autonomous action in the forefront of their compatibilism over inborn luck or fated events. Although this compatibilism may be valid from the standpoint of a practical philosophy that supports existing moral practices and responsibility, I examine whether it is truly tenable from a theoretical perspective.
Choice, Freedom, and Responsibility in Ancient Chinese Confucianism
Authors: Kim Myeong-seok
Published: January 2013

Galen Strawson has argued that genuine freedom and responsibility are impossible for human agents because there is an infinite regress in determining the ultimate principles of choice of our action. This essay attempts to refute this position by providing a Confucian argument that (1) one's choice of the principles by means of which one chooses to act in a particular way can be made through a deliberative process that examines what Strawson seems to consider higher-order principles of choice in comparison to other possibilities, and that (2) this fact makes it possible that Strawson's infinite regress does not really occur.
Female voices found in the Tainaner Ensemble’s Shakespeare Unplugged 3 – Macbeth
Authors: Chen Yilin
Published: January 2013

In 2003 and 2007, the Tainaner Ensemble performed two adaptations of Macbeth in Taiwanese, the most frequently spoken local language in Taiwan other than Mandarin Chinese. Both adaptations, based on the same script, deleted the battle scenes and featured three witches as protagonists.
The number of female characters thus increased, and additional care was taken to show female influences. These Taiwanese adaptations produced various tunes by addressing the rhyme, meter and tone of these compositions. Actors were required to find rhythm in their body movements and the voice
of their characters. The female actors playing Lady Macbeth and the three witches also incorporated different vocal techniques into their speeches to enhance the rhythm. The female voices came to the forefront and complemented the feminine power in these adaptations. This article discusses
how this female domination was established, and the ways that the coordination between physical and verbal actions equipped the female characters to create melody in their performances. The manifestation of these female voices offered the feminist reading of Macbeth to signify the female rise
to power.
Remastering the art of French cooking: Adaptation, anamnesis and authenticity in Julie & Julia
Authors: Johnston Susan
Published: January 2013

Using questions of fidelity and authenticity as a starting point, this article reads the presence of nostalgia and the longing for authenticity in the complex mise en abyme of adaptations at the heart of the film Julie & Julia (Ephron 2009): the original blog The Julie/Julia Project
(2002-2004), the novel Julia & Julia (2005) and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2001). The study suggests the concept of anamnesis, not re-enactment but remaking, to explain the particular fidelity of this series of adaptations, and argues that this concept helps to
articulate the ongoing faith of audiences in authenticity and fidelity.
Estimating the order of vanishing at infinity of Drinfeld quasi-modular forms
Authors: Pellarin Federico
Published: January 2013

The aim of this paper is twofold. We first introduce and study certain deformations of
Drinfeld quasi-modular forms by using rigid analytic trivialisations of families of Anderson t-motives of rank two. We show that a sub-algebra of these deformations has a natural graduation by the group

ℤ
2

×
ℤ
/

(
q
-
1
)

ℤ

$\mathbb {Z}^2\times \mathbb {Z}/(q-1)\mathbb {Z}$

and an homogeneous endomorphism. Then, we deduce from this and other properties, multiplicity estimates.
Frozen embryo transfer: the present practice and beyond
Authors: Chaudhuri Anjana Ray , Chatterjee Siddhartha
Published: January 2013

Background: With the success of oocyte donation in vitro fertilization (IVF) in postmenopausal women, the importance of endometrial preparation became obvious. This appears also very crucial for achieving pregnancy after frozen embryo transfer (FET) after failed fresh IVF cycles and FET in subsequent natural cycles. Although there are different methods of preparing endometrium, in this study, another method of preparing the implantation bed using letrozole was scrutinized for its usefulness.

Methods: Two hundred and seventy patients between 28 and 40 years of age undergoing IVF due to bilateral tubal blocks were chosen for FET. They had a previous unsuccessful single IVF attempt or had postponed embryo transfer due to the threat of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome or poor endometrial development. Informed consents were obtained from the participants. One hundred patients had endometrial preparation by gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist down-regulation and with hormone replacement therapy, 55 had natural cycle FET, and the remaining 115 patients had letrozole-induced ovulation induction (OI) for endometrial preparation.

Results: The clinical and biochemical pregnancy rate or live birth rate was higher in the letrozole OI group than in the other two groups.

Conclusions: OI by letrozole and subsequent endometrial preparation as a result of it may be utilized for FET, and this will be cheap and easy to administer, giving better success rates in FET cycles.