bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Utilisation of extended release quetiapine (Seroquel XL™): Results from an observational cohort study in England
Authors: Osborne V. , Davies M. , Layton D. , Shakir S.A.W. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundA post-authorisation safety study was carried out as part of the EU Risk Management Plan to examine the long-term (up to 12 months) use of quetiapine XL as prescribed in general practice in England.AimTo present a description of the drug utilisation characteristics of quetiapine XL.MethodsAn observational, population-based cohort design using the technique of Modified Prescription-Event Monitoring (M-PEM). Patients were identified from dispensed prescriptions issued by general practitioners (GPs) for quetiapine XL between September 2008 and February 2013. Questionnaires were sent to GPs 12 months following the 1st prescription for each individual patient, requesting drug utilisation information. Cohort accrual was extended to recruit additional elderly patients (special population of interest). Summary descriptive statistics were calculated.ResultsThe final M-PEM cohort consisted of 13,276 patients; median age 43 years (IQR: 33, 55) and 59.0% females. Indications for prescribing included bipolar disorder (n = 3820), MDD (n = 2844), schizophrenia (n = 2373) and other (non-licensed) indications (n = 3750). Where specified, 59.3% (7869/13,276) were reported to have used quetiapine IR (immediate release formulation) previously at any time. The median start dose was highest for patients with schizophrenia (300 mg/day [IQR 150, 450]). The final elderly cohort consisted of 3127 patients and 28.5% had indications associated with dementia. The median start dose for elderly patients was highest for patients with schizophrenia or BD (both 100 mg/day [IQR 50, 300]).ConclusionsThe prevalence of off-label prescribing in terms of indication and high doses was common, as was use in special populations such as the very elderly. Whilst off-label use may be unavoidable in certain situations, GPs may need to re-evaluate prescribing in circumstances where there may be safety concerns. This study demonstrates the ongoing importance of observational studies such as M-PEM to gather real-world clinical data to support the post-marketing benefit:risk management of new medications, or existing medications for which license extensions have been approved.
A multicenter observational study of the effectiveness of antiarrhythmic agents in ventricular arrhythmias: A propensity‐score adjusted analysis
Authors: Suzuki Makoto , Nagahori Wataru , Mizukami Akira , Matsumura Akihiko , Hashimoto Yuji 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundVentricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs) are life‐threatening events that result in hemodynamic compromise. Recurrence is common and may worsen a patient's clinical course despite appropriate treatment. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of antiarrhythmic drugs for suppression of VTs.MethodsIn this cohort study, eligible patients were those who were admitted to one of the nine cardiovascular care centers and treated with continuous infusion of an antiarrhythmic drug for at least 1 h to prevent recurrence of VTs after return of spontaneous circulation. To adjust for differences in baseline characteristics among treatment groups, propensity scores for administered agents were generated and used as covariates in regression analyses.ResultsSeventy‐two patients were enrolled and 67 patients were included in the final analysis. Amiodarone (n=21, 31.3%), nifekalant (n=24, 35.8%), and lidocaine (n=22, 32.8%) were administered as first‐line therapy for suppression of VTs. In the adjusted analyses, the odds ratio (OR) of switching to a different drug was significantly higher in the lidocaine group (OR 37.6, 95% CI 5.1–279, p<0.001) than in the amiodarone group, but not in the nifekalant group (OR 4.1, 95% CI 0.72–23.2, p=0.11). There was no significant difference in mortality rate in the lidocaine group (OR 1.67, 95% CI 0.40–6.95, p=0.48) or the nifekalant group (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.15–4.85, p=0.89) compared with the amiodarone group.ConclusionAmiodarone and nifekalant are similarly effective in preventing VT recurrence, but their impact on survival rate is minimal. These data indicate that both nifekalant and amiodarone can be used for treatment of refractory VT.
Drag and diffusion coefficients of a spherical particle attached to a fluid–fluid interface
Authors: Dörr Aaron , Hardt Steffen , Masoud Hassan , Stone Howard A. 
Published: February 2016

Explicit analytical expressions for the drag and diffusion coefficients of a spherical particle attached to the flat interface between two immiscible fluids are constructed for the case of a vanishing viscosity ratio between the fluid phases. The model is designed to account explicitly for the dependence on the contact angle between the two fluids and the solid surface. The Lorentz reciprocal theorem is applied in the context of geometric perturbations from the limiting cases of $90^{\circ }$and $180^{\circ }$contact angles. The model agrees well with the experimental and numerical data from the literature. Also, an advantage of the method utilized is that the drag and diffusion coefficients can be calculated up to one order higher in the perturbation parameter than the known velocity and pressure fields. Extensions to other particle shapes with known velocity and pressure fields are straightforward.
Negotiating Aboriginal Self-Government Agreements in Canada: An Analysis of the Inuvialuit Experience
Authors: Alcantara Christopher , Davidson Adrienne 
Published: February 2016

AbstractIn 1973, the federal government of Canada invited Aboriginal groups to enter into comprehensive land claims negotiations to settle outstanding claims not addressed by historical treaties. After eight years of negotiations, the Inuvialuit became the second group in Canada to sign a modern treaty, doing so in 1984. Missing from that agreement, however, was a self-government chapter, which was not open to negotiation at that time. In 1996, the Inuvialuit initiated self-government negotiations with the Crown but have yet to conclude an agreement despite increased institutional capacity. What explains this puzzle? Drawing upon the existing literature on land claims negotiations, Aboriginal self-government and historical institutionalism, we analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources to argue that a number of institutional and non-institutional factors have prevented the Inuvialuit from successfully completing self-government negotiations with the Crown.
Spending on Political Staffers and the Revealed Preferences of Cabinet: Examining a New Data Source on Federal Political Staff in Canada
Authors: Robson Jennifer 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThere is no unifying theory to guide the study of partisan political staff. The literature suggests staffers may be variously mechanisms for resolving principal-agent problems, extensions of centralized political control or spoils given as rewards inside the core executive. Annual Public Accounts data, available only since 2007, offer a promising new addition to the debate over federal exempt staffs. This paper presents descriptive and linear regression results on staffing expenditures for five years of federal data in Canada. Using the construct of “revealed preference,” predictors of variance in ministerial spending on staffing may provide new, objective information on their function in Canadian government. Results of this study demonstrate that quantitative methods can be applied to the study of political staff and may be a helpful addition as the field continues to develop, test and refine theory.
Personal Law and Human Rights in India and Israel
Authors: Galanter Marc , Krishnan Jayanth 
Published: February 2016

Although India and Israel differ dramatically in size, population, and affluence, there are many important similarities. Each is the contemporary vehicle of an old and resilient civilization that expresses a distinctive, influential and enduring arrangement of the various facets of human experience. Each of these cultures underwent a prolonged colonial experience in which its traditions were disrupted and subordinated to a hegemonic European Christian culture; each had an earlier experience with victorious, expansive Islam; each has reached an uneasy but flourishing accommodation with the secular, scientific modernity of the West.In each case this was achieved by a movement that embraced “Enlightenment” values and in turn provoked a recoil from modernity/rediscovery of tradition. In each there is a conflict between those with “modern” secular views of civil society and those revivalists or fundamentalists who seek to restore an indigenous religiously based society. The secular nationalism that predominated in the struggle for independence and the formation of the state is now countered by powerful tides of fundamentalism.
Did East German Border Guards Along the Berlin Wall Act Illegally?
Authors: Ott Walter 
Published: February 2016

The German Democratic Republic's practice of firing upon istowncitizens is well-known. The question arises whether acts which were exempt from punishment in theGDRcan be punished today inreunifiedGermany? The West German Constitution expresses the notion that retroactive effect of penal laws is prohibited. However, the German Courts, above the Federal Constitutional Court (decision of 24/10/1996) have affirmed the criminal liability of East German border guards based on G. Radbruch's “natural law doctrine.”As a conclusion, it becomes clear that the illegality of acts of Berlin Wall guards can only be derived by following either the Federal Constitutional Court's natural law strategy or the strategy of a strict Statutory Positivism (Gesetzespositivismus); since it can be shown that official instructions and orders to shoot were not permissiblebeneaththe level of constitutional provisions, normal statutes or regulations justifiy restrictions on the human dignity and integrity (in particular the right to life and liberty) of GDR citizens.
The Status of Arabic in Israel: Refiections on the Power of Law to Produce Social Change
Authors: Saban Ilan , Amara Muhammad 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe status of Arabic in Israel gives rise to question. Israel is a rare case of an ethnic nation-state that grants the language of minority group with a legal status which isprima facieone of equality. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel. What are the reasons for this special state of affairs? The answer is threefold: historic, sociological and legal. In various ways the potential inherent in the legal status of Arabic has been depleted of content, and as a result of that, as well as other reasons, the socio-political status of Arabic closely resembles what you would expect the status of a language of a minority group in a state that identifies itself as the state of the majority group to be. This answer, however, is another source of puzzlement – how does such a dissonance between law and practice evolve, what perpetuates it for so long, is change possible, is it to be expected?We present an analysis of the legal status of Arabic in Israel and at the same time we proceed to try and answer the questions regarding the gap between the legal and the sociopolitical status of Arabic. We reach some of our answers through a comparison with the use of law to change the status of the French language in Canada. One of these answers is that given the present constellation in Israel, the sociopolitical status of Arabic cannot meaningfully be altered by legal means.
Israeli Administrative Law at the Crossroads: Between the English Model and the American Model
Authors: Barak-Erez Daphne 
Published: February 2016

Administrative law in Israel is at the crossroads. Historically, Israeli administrative law was born from English administrative law and like its English counterpart was developed against the background of two significant factors: the relative dearth of constitutional law concerning the protection of human rights on the one hand, and the power of the central government on the other. These two factors had traditionally contributed to the centrality of administrative law that underwent a radical change. First, constitutional law is now an independent source for the recognition and enforcement of human rights following the enactment of new basic laws on human rights—Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation and Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. Second, privatization has changed completely the scope and pattern of activities conducted by administrative agencies in both countries.This Article discusses the developments in Israeli administrative law as a result of these changes. In this context, it also evaluates the potential recourse to American administrative law, which has grown in the context of a well developed constitutional law and a relatively low level of government activity in the economic sphere.The Article argues that the main focus of administrative law—in contrast to constitutional law—should be on the protection of interests (that are not considered human rights), on distributive justice, on procedural justice (in the context of bureaucratic decision-making) and on a broader scope of review (not limited to the protection of human rights), with a special emphasis on the executive branch. In the context of adapting to privatization, it also argues that administrative law should strengthen its focus on the challenge of regulation, on the protection of social rights and on the duties of “mixed” bodies, which are, in many cases, the product of privatization.
Criminal Intent: A Comment on “Foreseeability”, “Probability,” “Purpose” and “Knowledge”
Authors: Levy Yuval 
Published: February 2016

The use of the word “intention” has given rise to considerable uncertainty regarding criminal offenses in the Israeli justice system. The term remained undefined in the Israel Criminal Code [New Version] — 1977, despite the fact that it was used in its offense-creating provisions, and was applied by judges on a daily basis. This paper will provide a survey of Israeli jurisprudence on the meaning of the word “intention”, a comparison of relevant provisions in British law, and observations on the reform bill for Israel's Criminal Code (the General Part) of 1992.Justice Agranat authoritatively defined “intention” in the 1952 case of Jacobovitz v. Attorney General as “foresight of a result accompanied by a desire to bring it about”. This definition has been applied throughout Israeli case law and was reaffirmed of late by Chief Justice Shamgar in Vannunu v. State of Israel.
Legal Background and Analysis of the 1997 Convention Banning Anti-Personnel Mines
Authors: Goller Karin Calvo 
Published: February 2016

Countries all over the world, from Angola to Afghanistan, from Cambodia to Nicaragua, are littered with uncleared mines. In 1994, it was estimated that more than 100 million anti-personnel mines (hereinafter: AP mines) were scattered wantonly in over sixty countries. In 1997, over 110 million mines were deployed and another 100 million stockpiled around the world. Mines can be scattered over large areas by airplanes or delivered by rockets and do not need to be laid manually.AP mines were originally designed to slow down the advancement of enemy troops and to defend territory. For thirty years, AP mines have injured large numbers of civilians, although this remained practically unreported up until the 1980s, when these mines were used increasingly as a deliberate military strategy to spread terror among civilians.
Shneur-Zalman Feller at Eighty: A Tribute
Authors: Kremnitzer Mordechai 
Published: February 2016

Today is a day of celebration for Israeli law. It is a celebration in honour of a man, Professor Feller, on his eightieth birthday, and a celebration in honour of a book,Elements of Criminal Law, upon the publication of its third volume.A story is told about Chief Justice Cullen of the New York Court of Appeals. It seems that when faced with a particularly hard case, after all the judges would express their views and no appropriate legal result would emerge, Judge Cullen would pound on the table and say: “Back to the books!” I shall therefore begin with the book.Nearly fifteen years have passed from the time Professor Feller began the project to its completion. But, in truth, the project began some three decades earlier, when he began to research and teach criminal law. The bookElements of Criminal Lawtransforms Israeli criminal law from a practical field — the domain of judges and lawyers — to a scientific discipline.
Judicial Cognizance of Guilt-Consciousness
Authors: Cohn Haim H. 
Published: February 2016

The term “guilt” connotes many different phenomena: theology, philosophy, ethics, psychology and law all contributed to the variety of connotations. It is not my purpose, nor do I pretend to engage in etymological or anthropological research into the evolution of the various aspects and concepts of guilt: I shall try to describe and distinguish only those phenomena of guilt of which judges may have to take cognizance for the proper exercise of punitive discretion.First and foremost, there is “guilt” within the meaning of criminal law. On the one hand, guilt is spoken of as denoting the mental element in crime: the guilt of one who committed a criminal act — actus reus — presupposes the criminal mind — mens rea; or, an actus reus is transformed into guilt by the supervenience of mens rea. Whether the mens rea is intent or wilfulness, or only negligence or recklessness, does not affect the incidence of guilt, but may well raise the question of degree of guilt. On the other hand, “guilt” is the result of a verdict to the effect that the accused is criminally responsible (“finding of guilty”), and it is in this sense that the accused may “plead guilty”.
Recodifying the Finnish Criminal Code of 1889: Towards a More Efficient, Just and Humane Criminal Law
Authors: Lahti Raimo 
Published: February 2016

Finland, along with the other Nordic or Scandinavian countries, belongs to the so-called civil law tradition. Countries following this tradition include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. All of these nations are advanced, industrialized welfare states. The Nordic countries have pursued economic, social and cultural development along similar lines, and have cooperated intensively in legal and political matters.Various means of Nordic cooperation have been developed since the Second World War, and these interstate activities have become even more diversified since the 1960s. The objectives and organs of cooperation between the States were laid down in a special treaty signed in 1962. The treaty covers cooperation in the legal, cultural, social and economic spheres as well as in traffic and environmental matters. Efficient cooperation in criminal law is based on a variety of sources, consisting primarily of the treaties between the Nordic countries, multilateral European conventions, common basic approaches in crime control and human rights policies, uniform legislation in relevant areas, and established practice between state authorities.
Judicial Review of Knesset Decisions by the High Court of Justice
Authors: Shamgar Meir 
Published: February 2016

Some fifteen years ago, an address on the subject of judicial review of the actions of the Knesset would have been extremely short and quite familiar to English jurists. Our practice was basically the same as in England: the Parliament is sovereign, its laws inviolate, and its inner proceedings immune from review.Beginning with two decisions in the early 1980s, Flato-Sharon and Sarid, the Court has gradually recognized the justiciability of a limited range of Knesset decisions. While the precise level of review varies according to the type of decision at issue, the Court's review has been motivated in all cases by the need to preserve the rule of law and the integrity of our democratic regime.
Human Rights in an Age of Terrorism
Authors: Pannick David 
Published: February 2016

In difficult times, you need friends. The Legal Friends of the Hebrew University in London, and your many friends elsewhere in the world, have been thinking about you a great deal during recent months. As your President, Professor Magidor, wrote in his moving letter on 31 July, this university symbolizes the values of pluralism and tolerance. You exemplify the spirit of Israel, with your deep historical roots and your encouragement of open debate about the future. It is a great pleasure to be invited to address you today as the Lionel Cohen Lecturer.My subject concerns the very limits of pluralism and tolerance: the application of human rights in an age of terrorism. When dealing with enemies, politicians need to be tough. In the latest volume of his compelling biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert A. Caro describes the future American president's explanation to his mother in 1956 of why he did not think much of the chances in the presidential election that year of the Democratic Party candidate, Adlai Stevenson: “He's a nice fellow, Mother, but he won't make it ‘cause he's got too much lace on his drawers.”The threat posed by terrorist enemies understandably provokes politicians to be tough. But how should judges respond when asked to rule on whether a state can afford to grant human rights to those who seek to destroy its very existence? Or, to put it another way, equally tendentious, should judges accept that the State cannot afford to deny human rights to such people if it is to maintain the values which make our society worth defending?
Shock-Incarceration Programs in Israeli Sanctioning Policy: Toward a New Model of Punishment
Authors: Einat Tomer 
Published: February 2016

Issues such as prison overcrowding, a growing realization that prisons cannot rehabilitate, and the belief that many inmates could be adequately managed in less intrusive and costly settings, have led Israeli scholars and practitioners, in the last four decades, to devote efforts to the development of alternative sanctions to imprisonment. Specifically, the focus has been on the development and elaboration of alternative sanctions that match the severity of punishment to the seriousness of the crime.Intermediate sanctions (also called “alternative sanctions,” “alternatives to imprisonment,” or “community-based sanctions”) have been proposed as “ways to manage the burgeoning numbers of offenders without sacrificing public safety.” These punishment options are considered to fall on a continuum between traditional probation supervision and traditional incarceration.
Smart walkers: an application-oriented review
Authors: Page Solenne , Saint-Bauzel Ludovic , Rumeau Pierre , Pasqui Viviane 
Published: February 2016

SUMMARYIn this paper, a development method for smart walker prototypes is proposed. Development of such prototypes is based on technological choices and device evaluations. The method is aimed at guiding technological choices in a modular fashion. First, the method for choosing modules to be integrated in a smart walker is presented. Application-specific modules are then studied. Finally, the issues of evaluation are investigated. In order to work out this method, more than 50 smart walkers and their pros and cons with respect to the different studied applications are reviewed.