bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ambivalent Self-Determination
Authors: Cahill Maria 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This chapter focuses on the interface between international law and Irish constitutionalism. Part I examines how Ireland achieved constitutional self-determination first on the basis of and then in violation of an international treaty. The remainder of the chapter concentrates on the place of international law within the framework provided by the 1937 Constitution. Part II highlights how constitutional law has, in general, required that international treaties may neither displace the content of the Constitution nor curtail the competences of the legislature or the courts; as such, it seeks to preserve self-determination as substantive constitutional integrity. Part III focuses on the atypical case of the EU, for which the concept of self-determination used is consciously ambivalent about substantive constitutional integrity, tolerating significant compromises as long as they are made using the correct procedure: in other words, self-determination is reconceived as procedural constitutional integrity.
The Electoral Framework and the Politics of Representation
Authors: Carty R. Kenneth 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
The framework that governs electoral competition in Ireland has a profound impact on the democratic cast and character of the country’s political life. The institutionalization and organization of both constitutional referendums and national general elections constrain and shape its capacity for responsible decision-making. The former has become an increasingly significant focus of electoral decision, the latter have fostered a conservative politics in which representative impulses overwhelm the party system’s ability to provide for disciplined choice. Despite a party-focused proportional representation electoral regime, the use of the single transferable vote has generated a politician–party–voter dynamic privileging a constituency-centred politics that has persisted in the face of the social and economic changes that have transformed much of Irish life.
Parliamentary Accountability and Reform
Authors: MacCarthaigh Muiris 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
The assertion that the Irish parliament, Oireachtas Éireann, or more specifically its lower house Dáil Éireann, is poor at if not incapable of fulfilling its constitutional role of holding the government to account is an established feature of the study of Irish politics. In this chapter, the development of parliamentary accountability is examined in constitutional and comparative contexts. This is achieved by first looking at the idea of accountability and its manifestation within the Westminster family of parliamentary systems, including the Oireachtas. The chapter examines the three principal methods through which executive accountability to Dáil Éireann has been pursued, namely debates, questions, and, more recently, committees. An analysis of the parliamentary reforms that have been proposed and introduced to address perceived accountability deficits is then presented. In a final section, important changes that resulted from the outcome of the 2016 general election for the operation of parliamentary accountability are examined.
The Political Executive
Authors: Martin Shane 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
There can be little doubt that the cabinet is at the apex of political power in Ireland. Yet the central theme of this chapter is a challenge to the conventional wisdom of undue executive dominance. This is often thought of as an imbalance in the relative power of the executive and legislature, where the imbalance favours the executive. This chapter cautions that the degree to which the party or parties comprising the executive must remain responsive to the preferences of the bodies they serve—parliament, but ultimately the electorate—may be underestimated. Specifically, we suggest that the level of ex ante control (through the government selection process) and ex post control (through various oversight mechanisms) make the Irish cabinet particularly responsive to the interests and preferences of parliamentarians and voters. Even though the government may appear to dominate the legislature, responsiveness and accountability are core features of the political system.
Form over Function
Authors: Reidy Theresa 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of the system of local government and politics. It reviews the institutional and management structures, policy functions, and financial profiles of local government units. The chapter emphasizes that successive waves of reform have done little to establish a robust system of local government, and, indeed, that legislative changes have focused on institutional form over function at several junctures. The number of local authorities has been rationalized, and while the official position stresses enhanced policy and administrative roles, any rigorous analysis must conclude that local government has been hollowed out. Local elections have become more regular since a constitutional change in 2001, and while they have obvious ‘second order’ aspects, candidate numbers are robust, turnout remains reasonable relative to other contests, and there is a strong perception that councillors are embedded in their communities.
The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy in Ireland
Authors: Kinsella Stephen , Regan Aidan 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Relative to other small open economies in Western Europe, Ireland has a low revenue to national income ratio. This limits the strategic capacity of the state to invest in new public services. Fiscal policy is highly centralized, with weak revenue raising capacity at local government level. The Irish government commits significant resources to socially protecting low-income earners through the welfare state. The income tax base is quite narrow in Ireland relative to comparator countries. A rather small group of higher income earners pay most income and wealth taxes. Social insurance revenues are relatively low from a comparative perspective. More recently, Irish revenue has become unusually dependent on procyclical corporate tax receipts.
The Distribution of Income and Wealth in Ireland
Authors: Collins Micheál L. , Regan Aidan 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Ensuring a fair and efficient distribution of economic resources in society is one of the most important public policy challenges facing democratic governments. This chapter notes how the emergence of new and better data on the composition and distribution of income and wealth has heightened interest in economic inequality. Data on the distribution of both income and wealth are presented, highlighting how Ireland, as a liberal market economy, has high levels of direct market income inequality but the welfare state plays a significant role in redistribution. The provision of robust wealth data is a recent phenomenon for Ireland, one absent from our understanding of living standards, well-being, and redistributive public policies for some time. Wealth is more unequally distributed than income, and it is notably concentrated in housing capital. The chapter concludes by highlighting the relevance and potential of these new insights.
Gender Quotas in Ireland
Authors: Buckley Fiona , Brennan Mary 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This chapter considers the implementation and effect of legislative gender quotas in the 2016 general election, a first for Ireland and a first for the proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote electoral system (PR-STV). It focuses on political parties and examines how they integrated the formal gender quota law into their candidate selection processes. Particular attention is paid to whether the law changed existing candidate selection practices, many of which are guided by informal candidate selection norms, such as a preference for incumbents and those exhibiting localist traits. The chapter concludes that the gender quota law did engender change in the candidate recruitment, selection, and election of women, but, as scholars of feminist institutionalism would describe, the change was ‘nested’ and ‘bounded’ within existing practices surrounding candidate selection, thereby denting but not dismantling the gendered norms of this process.
The Politics of Regulation in Ireland
Authors: Scott Colin 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
There has been a global trend towards greater dependence on regulation since the 1980s. This chapter examines how this has played out in Ireland. Ireland offers an interesting case study of regulatory governance because of the long-standing practice of delegating key welfare functions to NGOs, which established the early Irish state as regulator as well as direct service provider. Subsequently, changes in state structures align to wider global trends towards regulatory governance. Nevertheless, there are also particular national characteristics, with significant weaknesses in regulatory capacity and with respect to accountability. Arguably, the global financial crisis, and the ensuing crises that hit Ireland from 2008, have shifted regulation towards a less exceptional model, with better established independent capacity over financial regulation, and, following a longer trend, growing independent provision for overseeing government. Within Ireland, there is a growing recognition that effective regulation of business and government is becoming a core doctrine.
Foreign, Security, and Defence Policy
Authors: Tonra Ben 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This chapter explores the roots of Irish foreign, security, and defence policy, placing them in the context of a deeply pragmatic approach to public policy. Those roots are defined in terms of nationalism, solidarity, and global justice, which are themselves deep markers within Irish political culture. Ireland’s pragmatic approach is then grounded in a meticulously crafted rhetoric surrounding key foreign policy priorities but an associated reluctance to devote substantial resources towards these foreign policy and defence goals. Together, this gives rise to an assessment that the interests of smaller and less powerful states such as Ireland are best defended within legitimate, strong, and effective multilateral institutions such as the UN—even as the state continues to face adaptation challenges arising from a deepening foreign, security, and defence policy engagement within the EU.
Paul and Contemporary Philosophy
Authors: Blanton Ward 
Published: August 2021

AbstractModern philosophy is inextricably intertwined in the history of cultural and hermeneutical engagement with Paul the apostle. More recent philosophical and historical reflection on this fact of entwinement has renewed key struggles about cosmopolitanism, internationalism, anti-Judaism, cultural and political revolution, technology or cultures of calculation, and—perhaps above all—how we cope with our relentless drives to improve, energize, transcend, escape, or destroy the given worlds we inhabit. The goal of this chapter is to articulate several usefully orienting issues about the intertwining of Paul and contemporary philosophy and to signal some useful ways forward for further interdisciplinary research which addresses these broader cultural concerns.
Protection Shopping among Empires: Suspended Sovereignty in the Cocos-Keeling Islands
Authors: Benton Lauren , Clulow Adam 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
The political status of the Cocos-Keeling Islands, a group of twenty-seven small atoll islands in the Indian Ocean about 1,700 miles west of Australia, remained unresolved from the time of the islands’ settlement in 1827 until their effective incorporation into Australia in 1984. For a century and a half, protection shopping helped to create and sustain the islands’ condition of suspended sovereignty. During the nineteenth century, the ruling family actively cultivated the protection of Dutch and British imperial agents and played one empire against the other. Imperial agents veered between intervention and restraint, and Cocos-Keeling islanders invoked protection to blunt rulers’ power over them. The politics of protection continued into the twentieth century. Despite international attention to self-determination, the Cocos-Keeling Islands were not positioned for statehood, and full and effective integration into the British empire or Australia was perennially delayed. The territory’s history as a place of seemingly permanent semi-autonomy illuminates a global pattern in which protection politics worked to suspend sovereignty and in some cases perpetuate social and racial inequalities, both inside political communities and across the international order.
Multiomics approach reveals a role of translational machinery in shaping maize kernel amino acid composition
Authors: Shrestha Vivek , Yobi Abou , Slaten Marianne L , Chan Yen On , Holden Samuel , Gyawali Abiskar , Flint-Garcia Sherry , Lipka Alexander E , Angelovici Ruthie 
Published: August 2021

AbstractMaize (Zea mays) seeds are a good source of protein, despite being deficient in several essential amino acids. However, eliminating the highly abundant but poorly balanced seed storage proteins has revealed that the regulation of seed amino acids is complex and does not rely on only a handful of proteins. In this study, we used two complementary omics-based approaches to shed light on the genes and biological processes that underlie the regulation of seed amino acid composition. We first conducted a genome-wide association study to identify candidate genes involved in the natural variation of seed protein-bound amino acids. We then used weighted gene correlation network analysis to associate protein expression with seed amino acid composition dynamics during kernel development and maturation. We found that almost half of the proteome was significantly reduced during kernel development and maturation, including several translational machinery components such as ribosomal proteins, which strongly suggests translational reprogramming. The reduction was significantly associated with a decrease in several amino acids, including lysine and methionine, pointing to their role in shaping the seed amino acid composition. When we compared the candidate gene lists generated from both approaches, we found a nonrandom overlap of 80 genes. A functional analysis of these genes showed a tight interconnected cluster dominated by translational machinery genes, especially ribosomal proteins, further supporting the role of translation dynamics in shaping seed amino acid composition. These findings strongly suggest that seed biofortification strategies that target the translation machinery dynamics should be considered and explored further.
‘Once I joined my motivations changed’: Exploring the initial and continuing motivations of police support volunteers in an English constabulary
Authors: Pepper Melissa 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Understanding and responding to motivations—both initial and continuing—are pivotal features of effectively involving volunteers within an organization, influencing satisfaction and ongoing commitment. This article explores the initial and continuing motivations of police support volunteers (PSVs)—citizens who give their time freely to perform tasks that complement the duties of police officers and staff. Drawing on survey and interview data with 160 PSVs in a large urban police service in England, the article considers motivations through three typologies—The Altruistic PSV, The Social PSV, and The Career PSV. It explores defining features of each typology and highlights the shifting nature of motivations as volunteer service progresses—most notably an increase in socially driven volunteers, and a fall in those seeking fulfilment of career goals. Implications for practice are considered, in particular investing in dedicated volunteer resources that recognize and respond to the heterogeneity of volunteer cohorts and fluidity of motivations.
How to Sell Hard Information
Authors: Ali S Nageeb , Haghpanah Nima , Lin Xiao , Siegel Ron 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
The seller of an asset has the option to buy hard information about the value of the asset from an intermediary. The seller can then disclose this information before selling the asset in a competitive market. We study how the intermediary designs and sells hard information to robustly maximize the intermediary's revenue across all equilibria. Even though the intermediary could use an accurate test that reveals the asset’s value, we show that robust revenue maximization leads to a noisy test with a continuum of possible scores. In addition, the intermediary always charges the seller for disclosing the test score to the market, but not necessarily for running the test. This enables the intermediary to robustly appropriate a significant share of the surplus resulting from the asset sale.
Flexible Wages, Bargaining, and the Gender Gap
Authors: Biasi Barbara , Sarsons Heather 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Does flexible pay increase the gender wage gap? To answer this question, we analyze the wages of public school teachers in Wisconsin, where a 2011 reform allowed school districts to set teachers’ pay more flexibly and engage in individual negotiations. Using quasi-exogenous variation in the timing of the introduction of flexible pay, driven by the expiration of preexisting collective-bargaining agreements, we show that flexible pay lowered the salaries of women compared with men with the same credentials. This gap is larger for younger teachers and smaller for teachers working under a female principal or superintendent. Survey evidence suggests that the gap is partly driven by women engaging less frequently in negotiations over pay, especially when the counterpart is a man. The gap is unlikely to be driven by observable gender differences in job mobility or teacher ability, although the threat of moving and a high demand for male teachers could exacerbate it. Our results suggest that pay discretion and wage bargaining are important determinants of the gender wage gap and that institutions, such as unions, might help narrow this gap.
Integrated printed BDNF/collagen/chitosan scaffolds with low temperature extrusion 3D printer accelerated neural regeneration after spinal cord injury
Authors: Liu Xiao-Yin , Chen Chong , Xu Hai-Huan , Zhang Yu-sheng , Zhong Lin , Hu Nan , Jia Xiao-Li , Wang You-Wei , Zhong Kun-Hong , Liu Chang , Zhu Xu , Ming Dong , Li Xiao-Hong 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Recent studies have shown that 3D printed scaffolds integrated with growth factors can guide the growth of neurites and promote axon regeneration at the injury site. However, heat, organic solvents or cross-linking agents used in conventional 3D printing reduce the biological activity of growth factors. Low temperature 3D printing can incorporate growth factors into the scaffold and maintain their biological activity. In this study, we developed a collagen/chitosan scaffold integrated with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (3D-CC-BDNF) by low temperature extrusion 3D printing as a new type of artificial controlled release system, which could prolong the release of BDNF for the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI). Eight weeks after the implantation of scaffolds in the transected lesion of T10 of the spinal cord, 3D-CC-BDNF significantly ameliorate locomotor function of the rats. Consistent with the recovery of locomotor function, 3D-CC-BDNF treatment could fill the gap, facilitate nerve fiber regeneration, accelerate the establishment of synaptic connections and enhance remyelination at the injury site.
Reducing the Risk of Withdrawal Symptoms and Relapse Following Clozapine Discontinuation—Is It Feasible to Develop Evidence-Based Guidelines?
Authors: Blackman Graham , Oloyede Ebenezer , Horowitz Mark , Harland Robert , Taylor David , MacCabe James , McGuire Philip 
Published: August 2021

AbstractClozapine is the only antipsychotic that is effective in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. However, in certain clinical situations, such as the emergence of serious adverse effects, it is necessary to discontinue clozapine. Stopping clozapine treatment poses a particular challenge due to the risk of psychotic relapse, as well as the development of withdrawal symptoms. Despite these challenges for the clinician, there is currently no formal guidance on how to safely to discontinue clozapine. We assessed the feasibility of developing evidence-based recommendations for (1) minimizing the risk of withdrawal symptoms, (2) managing withdrawal phenomena, and (3) commencing alternatives treatment when clozapine is discontinued. We then evaluated the recommendations against the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II criteria. We produced 19 recommendations. The majority of these recommendation were evidence-based, although the strength of some recommendations was limited by a reliance of studies of medium to low quality. We discuss next steps in the refinement and validation of an evidence-based guideline for stopping clozapine and identify key outstanding questions.
Novel lncRNA‐HZ04 promotes BPDE‐induced human trophoblast cell apoptosis and miscarriage by upregulating IP3R1/CaMKII/SGCB pathway by competitively binding with miR‐hz04
Authors: Huang Wenxin , Dai Mengyuan , Qiu Taotao , Liang Tingting , Xie Jiayu , Mi Chenyang , Zhao Jingsong , Chen Weina , Tian Peng , Zhang Shuming , Zhang Huidong 
Published: August 2021

AbstractNormal pregnancy is essential for human reproduction. However, BaP (benzo(a)pyrene) and its metabolite BPDE (benzo(a)pyrene‐7,8‐dihydrodiol‐9,10‐epoxide) could cause dysfunctions of human trophoblast cells and might further induce miscarriage. Yet, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Herein, we identified a novel upregulated lnc‐HZ04 and a novel downregulated miR‐hz04 in villous tissues of unexplained recurrent miscarriage (RM) relative to those in healthy control tissues and also in BPDE‐treated human trophoblast cells. Lnc‐HZ04 directly and specifically bound with miR‐hz04, diminished the reduction effects of miR‐hz04 on IP3R1 mRNA expression level and on IP3R1 mRNA stability, and then activated the Ca2+‐mediated IP3R1/p‐CaMKII/SGCB pathway, which further promoted trophoblast cell apoptosis. The miR‐hz04 target site on lnc‐HZ04 played crucial roles in these regulations. In normal trophoblast, relatively less lnc‐HZ04 and more miR‐hz04 suppressed this apoptosis pathway and gave normal pregnancy. After exposure to BPDE or in RM tissues, p53 was upregulated, which might promote p53‐mediated lnc‐HZ04 transcription. Relatively more lnc‐HZ04 and less miR‐hz04 activated this apoptosis pathway and might further induce miscarriage. BaP could also induce mice miscarriage by upregulating its corresponding murine apoptosis pathway. Therefore, BPDE‐induced apoptosis of human trophoblast cells was associated with the occurrence of miscarriage. This work discovered the regulation roles of lnc‐HZ04 and miR‐hz04 and provided scientific and clinical understanding of the occurrence of unexplained miscarriage.