bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Forty Years of United Nations General Assembly Voting
Authors: Holloway Steven 
Published: November 2009

AbstractStudies of bloc voting in the United Nations have appeared periodically since the early 1960s. This article examines the evolution of UN voting in its first four decades using multidimensional scaling, which is compared to factor analysis and found to be superior for representation and interpretation. UN voting is important for showing how world politics is reflected in that body, hence the frequent use of UN votes as a dependent variable in the analysis of foreign policy behaviour.
L'impact mécanique du vote alternatif au Canada: une simulation des élections de 1997
Authors: Bilodeau Antoine 
Published: November 2009

AbstractDiscussions over the debate on the electoral system in Canada typically contrast the actual distribution of legislative seats held by the parties resulting from the first-past-the-post system with what the outcome would have been with proportional representation. But the debate could consider another option, namely, the alternative vote. What would electoral outcomes have been in the 1997 Canadian election with the alternative vote? According to a simulation, 10 per cent of the members of parliament in Ottawa would have been different. The Liberals and the Conservatives would have benefited from the new distribution of votes while the Bloc Québécois and the Reform party would have fewer seats.
La classification canadienne des occupations pendant l'entre-deux-guerres: réflexion sur un cas d'indépendance statistique
Authors: Beaud Jean-Pierre , Prévost Jean-Guy 
Published: November 2009

AbstractDuring the first decades of this century, British and United States census officials constructed social classifications based upon the opposition between intellectual and manual occupations, the former being ordered according to their more or less professional character and the latter according to skills. Logically, one would have expected Canadian statisticians to follow the same path: but the “professional” model never took root in Canada. When census officials here developed a classification of occupations, they did not attempt to create a unilinear scheme of large homogeneous classes using occupation as privileged criterion; following the definitions of classical political economy, they rather set upon themselves to measure the extent of the division of labour. This article seeks to explain the peculiarity of the Canadian case by relating it to three conjoined factors: first, the highly centralized character of Canada's statistical system; second, the important role played by nascent Canadian political economy as the intellectual milieu of statisticians; finally, the fact that the Canadian economy was characterized at that time by the persistence of an important correlation between industry and occupation.
Cultural Diversity and Theories of Political Integration
Authors: Lijphart Arend 
Published: November 2009

Plusieurs«théories»ont été consacrées à l'intégration politique: les théories du nationalisme, de l'édification nationale, de l'intégration régionale (internationale ou intranationale), du développement politique, de la stabilité politique, du fédéralisme. Toutes s'entendent à considérer une forte homogénéité culturelle comme nécessaire à l'intégration politique. Même celles de Ernst Haas et Amitai Etzioni sur l'intégration régionale ou d'aucunes relatives au fédéralisme n'expriment, à cet égard, qu'une apparente dissidence.Plus fondamentale est l'objection de la théorie dite«consociétale»qui affirme la possible intégration d'une société culturellement fragmentée, à condition que les chefs des différentes sous-cultures qui s'y rencontrent combattent délibérément et conjointement les effets désintégrateurs de la diversité culturelle. Le«consociétalisme»n'est pas qu'une explication structurée; c'est aussi un schème normatif applicable à plusieurs pays fragmentés et dont il faut admettre les coûts, financiers ou autres, tout comme les réels bénéfices politiques.
Aristotle on Acquisition
Authors: Ambler Wayne H. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractAristotle is reputed to be a thinker for whom nature is a standard which enables political judgments to avoid being arbitrary. By examining his discussion of acquisition in the Politics, this article reconsiders whether and how this reputation is deserved. Although Aristotle's discussion seems to represent a classic case in which theoretical reflections on nature issue in a moral condemnation of limitless acquisition, a subsequent distinction between theory and practice limits the practical consequences of his remarks on nature. This observation invites a rethinking of Aristotle's position on the relationship between nature and political life.
Hayek and Schmitt on the Rule of Law
Authors: Cristi F. R. 
Published: November 2009

abstractAccording to Hayek the rule of law constitutes the foundation of liberalism's political and legal theory. General and abstract laws, as opposed to concrete measures, protect individual freedom from prerogative and arbitrariness (normativism versus decisionism). Hayek maintains that Carl Schmitt's decisionism explains his attacks on liberalism and the prominent role he played in support of Hitler's regime. Two general observations should shorten the distance that Hayek seeks to establish between his posture and that of Schmitt. Firstly, Schmitt's critique is primarily aimed against the tendency that neutralizes the state and makes it vulnerable to democratic pressures. Secondly, Hayek's normativism is seen to contain a decisionist potential.
Towards a More Simplified Party System in France
Authors: Thorburn H. G. 
Published: November 2009

La simplification du régime de parti en FranceDepuis 1958, la France délaisse les factions politiques irréconciliables en faveur d'une entente autour de deux blocs capables de former un gouvernement. Cette évolution est en partie dûe à la fin de la guerre d'Algérie aussi bien qu'à la décolonisation subséquente qui privèrent l'extrême droite de ses thèmes, La retrait de l'organisation militaire de l'OTAN et la politique de rapprochement avec les pays socialistes, effectués par la France, eurent pour effet de terminer l'affrontement est-ouest dans la politique intérieure de ce pays et d'y légitimer le parti communiste. Telle est la base de cette entente.De Gaulle et la nouvelle constitution imposèrent ce dualisme au pays: le premier, parce qu'il devint le principe majeur de division entre les partis; la seconde, parce que l'élection du président au suffrage universel réduit la confrontation aux deux candidats les plus sérieux. Ce passage, d'une culture politique de partis irrédentistes à une pratique sociale d'accommodement, ne peut s'expliquer que par l'avènement d'une consommation de masse, axée sur une technologie avancée: des doctrines abstraites, l'intérêt de la nation s'est reporté sur des problèmes concrets, susceptibles de solutions techniquement identifiables. Cette évolution est rendue explicite par la nouvelle tendance de l'opinion publique à accepter les communistes comme parti politique légitime. Entre les positions traditionnelles de la droite et de la gauche, l'écart diminue, alors que les accommodements sociaux s'accroissent en nombre et que la tradition cartésienne perd peu à peu de son emprise.
Analyse stratégique du choix d'un candidat dans une circonscription urbaine
Authors: Crète Jean 
Published: November 2009

Strategic analysis is used in this article to report on a case study of candidate choice in an urban constituency. Several concepts are presented first. During a game, several agents, pursuing the objectives of a partisan organization, interact. It sometimes happens that the rules of the game do not anticipate completely the actions that ought to be advanced by the agents. There exists then a zone of uncertainty. If the agents come into conflict over the action to be taken there is a “crisis point.” Around a “crisis point” there occurs a particular play that can lead to several results. The agents have preferences regarding the results and they try, with the help of their resources, to impose their preferences on others. In order to leave nothing to chance, these rational agents establish strategies that guide their actions.The game described in this article has at stake the choice of a candidate for legislative elections. The agents are activists (or groups of activists) of the partisan constituency association. At the outset of the study there is one aspirant to the candidature; certain activists, for diverse reasons, reject the aspirant as candidate. They form a coalition and present another candidate. The two aspirants and their organizations campaign among members of the association who will decide the choice of candidate. In the course of the campaign several “crisis points” emerge: the two rival organizations oppose each other.Conclusions were drawn about the utility of case studies when they are made within a certain theoretical framework such as strategic analysis.
A Guide to the Interpretation of Locke the Political Theorist
Authors: McDonald Virginia 
Published: November 2009

Le paradigme égalitaire et libéral proposé par Locke s'oppose à celui non égalitaire soutenu par les auteurs qui lui sont contemporains. Cette opposition se retrouve non seulement entre ces deux paradigmes mais aussi chez Locke lui-même qui tente de concilier les exigences morales et intellectuelles de son nouveau paradigme avec celles, économiques, sociales et culturelles, du paradigme en vogue à son époque. La pensée théorique de Locke en matière politique doit être interprétée à la lumière de cette double confrontation.Il existe une polarisation parmi les interprètes contemporains de Locke entre les tenants du constitutionalisme libéral et ceux du marxisme, les premiers mettant surtout l'accent sur ses écrits égalitaires et libéraux et les seconds sur les passages qui reflètent les préoccupations sociales contemporaines à Locke. L'auteur croit qu'il vaut mieux reconnoître et expliquer les contradictions inhérentes à l'œuvre de Locke que de tenter de les résoudre en faveur de l'un ou l'autre pôle. Selon lui, Locke, tout en faisant intellectuellement et moralement siennes la plupart des idées égalitaires, conservait néanmoins une certaine sympathie pour le courant normatif de son époque. Il jut ainsi amené à céder devant les exigences pratiques du paradigme contemporain toutes les fois qu'elles entraient en contradiction avec ses convictions égalitaires. En l'absence d'une telle contradiction cependant, Locke approfondit les implications égalitaires du paradigme libéral.
Life in Print: Citation of Articles Published in Volumes 1–10 of the Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique
Authors: Courtney John C. , Kawchuk Karman B. , Spafford Duff 
Published: November 2009

AbstractThe Social Sciences Citation Index was canvassed for citations of all articles, notes, review articles, comments and replies published in volumes 1–10 of the Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique. The data show that nearly three-quarters of the 335 items published between 1968 and 1977 were cited at least once, with a greater likelihood of the citation appearing in non-Canadian than in Canadian publications. English-language items were cited four times as frequently as French-language ones, on the average, and those with at least some Canadian content were cited nearly twice as frequently, on the average, as those with no Canadian content.
Alcibiades and the Question of Tyranny in Thucydides
Authors: Palmer Michael 
Published: November 2009

Alcibiade et la question de la tyrannie chez ThucydideSelon Thomas Hobbes, Thucydide est « le plus politique de tons les historiographes ». Neanmoins, la plupart de ses commentateurs considèrent toujours son livre comme une oeuvre essentiellement « historique »; le moins que l'on puisse dire, c'est que son caractère « très politique » n'a pas reçu suffisamment d'attention. En qualifiant d'histoiré son ouvrage inachevé, nous affirmons implicitement qu'il n'offre pas une étude d'ensemble du politique. Je crois que cette interprétation est fausse.En quoi Thucydide est-il le plus politique des historiographes? Hobbes répond que par son choix des sujets et leur ordonnance, il permet an lecteur d'en tirer lui-même les leçons. Les réticences de Thucydide à commenter son propre texte sont universellement reconnues, mais comme l'affirme Hobbes, Thucydide s'adresse directement à ses lecteurs via son choix des sujets et l'ordre de leur présentation. Ce procédé ainsi que chaque remarque qu'il s'attribue sont particulièrement typiques de la méthode de Thucydide: pensons à ces passages dans lesquels il insère des « digressions », surtout lorsqu'il interrompt brusquement sa narration des événements. A partir de cette interprétation de Hobbes l'auteur étudie la présentation de Thucydide des événements entourant le rappel d'Alcibiade à Athènes lors de son expédition sicilienne, sa défection en faveur de Sparte et ses conséquences désastreuses pour Athènes et ses soi-disantes digressions surlafin de la tyrannie à Athènes. Le but de l'auteur est de préciser quelles lecons les lecteurs de Thucydide pensaient tirer de ses narrations.
La question du pouvoir chez Foucault: espace, stratégie et dispositif
Authors: Olivier Lawrence 
Published: November 2009

AbstractMichel Foucault's framework has substantially changed the manner in which we understand power. His analysis substitutes for theoretical representations a study of complex mechanisms of production like strategy, tactic, apparatus, technologies, and so forth. Those terms are not simply figures of speech or analogies. The archaeology of knowledge brings a new perspective of study for social analysis: space. That concept shapes Foucault's approach from L'Histoire de la folie to Souci de soi. From that point of view, it is less important to linger on his notion of power than to inquire about his general theory of productions developped through the archaeological analysis of madness, jail, sexuality or subjectivity. It is in this fashion that Michel Foucault's work will contribute to modify social and human sciences' practices
La politique fédérale canadienne au singulier et au pluriel
Authors: Laflamme Simon 
Published: November 2009

RésuméComment peuvent s'expliquer la différence et la ressemblance entre les différents partis politiques au Canada? Voilà la question à laquelle nous tentons de répondre dans cet article en comparant les positions des trois partis politiques dominants sur cinq thèmes: l'avortement, la peine capitale, le chômage, le déficit, le gel de l'armement nucléaire. Les relations que les partis politiques entretiennent entre eux et avec les populations qu'ils veulent représenter, puis les exigences de la vie en société contraignent le discours politique à s'uniformiser. Cette homogénéisation n'empêche pas toutefois l'émergence de philosophies et de stratégies politiques originates.
Identification of microRNA activity by Targets' Reverse EXpression
Authors: Volinia Stefano , Visone Rosa , Galasso Marco , Rossi Elda , Croce Carlo M. 
Published: November 2009

Abstract
Motivation: Non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) act as regulators of global protein output. While their major effect is on protein levels of target genes, it has been proven that they also specifically impact on the messenger RNA level of targets. Prominent interest in miRNAs strongly motivates the need for increasing the options available to detect their cellular activity.
Results: We used the effect of miRNAs over their targets for the detection of miRNA activity using mRNAs expression profiles. Here we describe the method, called T-REX (from Targets' Reverse EXpression), compare it to other similar applications, show its effectiveness and apply it to build activity maps. We used six different target predictions from each of four algorithms: TargetScan, PicTar, DIANA-microT and DIANA Union. First, we proved the sensitivity and specificity of our technique in miRNA over-expression and knock-out animal models. Then, we used whole transcriptome data from acute myeloid leukemia to show that we could identify critical miRNAs in a real life, complex, clinically relevant dataset. Finally, we studied 66 different cellular conditions to confirm and extend the current knowledge on the role of miRNAs in cellular physiology and in cancer.
Availability: Software is available at http://aqua.unife.it and is free for all users with no login requirement.
Contact: s.volinia@unife.it
Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Potential Antioxidant Activity of γ‐Oryzanol in Rice Bran as Determined Using an In Vitro Mouse Lymph Axillary Endothelial Cell Model
Authors: Huang Chih‐chun Jean , Xu Zhimin , Godber J. Samuel 
Published: November 2009

ABSTRACTA mouse lymphatic endothelial cell (SVEC4‐10) in vitro model was developed and found to be effective in the study of antioxidant activity of γ‐oryzanol in rice bran. The critical and vital parameters in developing these cell models included the emulsion preparation of hydrophobic compounds, the consistent management of cell culture, and the selection of cell viability detection methods compatible with the cell lines and the test substances. The SVEC4‐10 cell line had a fast metabolism and consequently could be used to determine antioxidant activity of a test substance in a relatively rapid manner. Results showed that γ‐oryzanol, ferulic acid, and α‐tocopherol could interact with cells such that oxidative damage induced by tert‐butyl hydroperoxide on cellular mitochondrial activity lessened, and in some situations, γ‐oryzanol was a more effective antioxidant than α‐tocopherol. The results also suggested different antioxidant mechanisms among γ‐oryzanol, ferulic acid, and α‐tocopherol. The three major components of γ‐oryzanol generally had higher antioxidant activity than γ‐oryzanol, with 24‐methylene cycloartanyl ferulate relatively more effective. Synergistic antioxidant activity among γ‐oryzanol, ferulic acid, and α‐tocopherol was also found.
Photosynthetic Redox Imbalance Governs Leaf Sectoring in theArabidopsis thalianaVariegation Mutantsimmutans,spotty,var1, andvar2
Authors: Rosso Dominic , Bode Rainer , Li Wenze , Krol Marianna , Saccon Diego , Wang Shelly , Schillaci Lori A. , Rodermel Steven R. , Maxwell Denis P. , Hüner Norman P.A. 
Published: November 2009

AbstractWe hypothesized that chloroplast energy imbalance sensed through alterations in the redox state of the photosynthetic electron transport chain, measured as excitation pressure, governs the extent of variegation in the immutans mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. To test this hypothesis, we developed a nondestructive imaging technique and used it to quantify the extent of variegation in vivo as a function of growth temperature and irradiance. The extent of variegation was positively correlated (R 2 = 0.750) with an increase in excitation pressure irrespective of whether high light, low temperature, or continuous illumination was used to induce increased excitation pressure. Similar trends were observed with the variegated mutants spotty, var1, and var2. Measurements of greening of etiolated wild-type and immutans cotyledons indicated that the absence of IMMUTANS increased excitation pressure twofold during the first 6 to 12 h of greening, which led to impaired biogenesis of thylakoid membranes. In contrast with IMMUTANS, the expression of its mitochondrial analog, AOX1a, was transiently upregulated in the wild type but permanently upregulated in immutans, indicating that the effects of excitation pressure during greening were also detectable in mitochondria. We conclude that mutations involving components of the photosynthetic electron transport chain, such as those present in immutans, spotty, var1, and var2, predispose Arabidopsis chloroplasts to photooxidation under high excitation pressure, resulting in the variegated phenotype.
ArabidopsisWUSCHEL Is a Bifunctional Transcription Factor That Acts as a Repressor in Stem Cell Regulation and as an Activator in Floral Patterning
Authors: Ikeda Miho , Mitsuda Nobutaka , Ohme-Takagi Masaru 
Published: November 2009

AbstractMost transcription factors act either as activators or repressors, and no such factors with dual function have been unequivocally identified and characterized in plants. We demonstrate here that the Arabidopsis thaliana protein WUSCHEL (WUS), which regulates the maintenance of stem cell populations in shoot meristems, is a bifunctional transcription factor that acts mainly as a repressor but becomes an activator when involved in the regulation of the AGAMOUS (AG) gene. We show that the WUS box, which is conserved among WOX genes, is the domain that is essential for all the activities of WUS, namely, for regulation of stem cell identity and size of floral meristem. All the known activities of WUS were eliminated by mutation of the WUS box, including the ability of WUS to induce the expression of AG. The mutation of the WUS box was complemented by fusion of an exogenous repression domain, with resultant induction of somatic embryogenesis in roots and expansion of floral meristems as observed upon ectopic expression of WUS. By contrast, fusion of an exogenous activation domain did not result in expanded floral meristems but induced flowers similar to those induced by the ectopic expression of AG. Our results demonstrate that WUS acts mainly as a repressor and that its function changes from that of a repressor to that of an activator in the case of regulation of the expression of AG.
Risk‐adjusted efficiency and risk aversion in the agricultural banking industry
Authors: Settlage Daniel M. , Preckel Paul V. , Settlage Latisha A. 
Published: November 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of the agricultural banking industry using both traditional and risk‐adjusted non‐parametric efficiency measurement techniques. In addition to computing efficiency scores, the risk preference structure of the agricultural banking industry is examined.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to examine the efficiency of agricultural banks in the year 2001. Standard cost efficiency is computed and compared to both profit and risk‐adjusted profit efficiency scores. The risk‐adjustment is a modification of traditional DEA wherein firm preferences are represented via a mean‐variance criterion. The risk‐adjusted technique also provides estimates of firm level risk aversion.FindingsResults from the traditional approach that does not account for risk indicate a low degree of efficiency in the banking industry, while the risk‐adjusted approach indicates banks are much more efficient. On average, 77 percent of the inefficiency identified by the standard DEA formulation is actually attributable to risk averse behavior by the firm. In addition, most banks appear to be substantially risk averse.Research limitations/implicationsThe risk‐adjusted DEA technique used in this study should be applied to other, diverse data sets to examine its performance in a broader context.Practical implicationsResults from this study support the idea that traditional DEA methods may mischaracterize the level of efficiency in the data if agents are risk averse. In addition, the paper outlines a practical method for deriving firm level risk aversion coefficients.Originality/valueThis paper sheds light on the agricultural banking industry and illustrates the power of a new efficiency and risk analysis technique.