bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Political Economy of IMF Conditionality: A Common Agency Model
Authors: Mayer Wolfgang , Mourmouras Alexandros 
Published: November 2005

AbstractThe paper models the relationship between an aid‐providing international financial institution (IFI) and an aid‐receiving government whose economic policy choices are influenced by a domestic interest group. Two assistance schemes are evaluated: conditional aid in which the IFI makes assistance contingent on less‐ distorting economic policies and unconditional aid which is provided without such conditions. Conditional aid is shown to raise welfare of the receiving country and the world as a whole relative to unconditional aid. The paper also examines how conditional and unconditional aid schemes are influenced by the IFI's opportunity cost of providing assistance and the receiving government's political dependence on a domestic interest group.
International Trade and Strategic Privatization
Authors: Bárcena‐Ruiz Juan Carlos , Garzón María Begoña 
Published: November 2005

AbstractThe literature on mixed oligopoly does not consider the strategic interaction between governments when they decide whether to privatize their publicly‐owned firms. In order to analyze this question, we consider two countries and assume that publicly‐owned firms are less efficient than private firms. We obtain that when the marginal cost of the publicly‐owned firms takes an intermediate value, each government wants it to be the government of the other country that privatizes its publicly‐owned firm. In this case, only one government privatizes, and that government obtains lower social welfare and producer surplus than the other.
Regulating a Polluting Oligopoly: Emission Tax or Voluntary Agreement?
Authors: David Maia 
Published: November 2005

AbstractThis paper compares, in a polluting oligopoly, an emission tax and a form of environmental policy called voluntary agreement (VA). Here there are two ways of reducing pollution: output contraction and end‐of‐pipe abatement. Given the imperfect competition, firms’ reaction to the tax is sub‐optimal. They reduce output excessively in order to raise the price and do not abate enough. The VA is a take‐it‐or‐leave‐it contract on abatement effort, offered to the firms with the threat of a tax. It has a limited effect on output and always allows higher abatement than the tax. We find that this kind of VA may be more efficient than the tax in a concentrated industry, when pollution is not too harmful and when the abatement technology is rather efficient and cheap.
Ethnic Networks in FDI and the Impact of Institutional Development
Authors: Tong Sarah Y. 
Published: November 2005

AbstractEthnic Chinese entrepreneurs are known for their active business networking practices, particularly in Southeast Asia. This paper empirically investigates the role of ethnic Chinese networks in promoting foreign direct investment (FDI). We further evaluate whether the effectiveness of networking activities are affected by the level of economic and institutional development of the source and the host countries. Using a standard gravity model, we find that ethnic Chinese networks are significant in facilitating cross‐border investment between countries. The strength of ethnic Chinese networks between country pairs, approximated by the product of the numbers of ethnic Chinese in both countries, is positively correlated with the cumulative amount of their reciprocal FDI. More importantly, this significant relationship is not limited to countries in Southeast Asia, but is applicable to other country pairs included in the study as well, regardless of whether the investment is originated from industrial countries or developing economies. Finally, the analysis finds no evidence that ethnic networks are only effective in countries where economic and legal institutions are under‐developed. Ethnic Chinese networks have played a significant role in promoting FDI to countries with a relatively higher bureaucratic quality, much more so than to countries with a lower bureaucratic quality.
COLONIAL EXPERIENCE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TROPICAL GEOGRAPHY IN FRANCE
Authors: Claval Paul 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACTThis article broadly positions the successful establishment of the field of French tropical geography in the immediate postwar period against developments stemming from a longer history of French colonial engagement in Africa, Asia and South America, and clarifies the seemingly late timing of, and paradoxes involved in, the creation of a body of French scientific knowledge about the tropics. Colonial scientific research did not develop in France until the end of the nineteenth century. However, the colonial geography appearing at this time did not rely on fieldwork but, rather, catered to the demands of the business class for overseas expansion and to public curiosity. Even while the medical geography of tropical areas and knowledge of tropical soils and ecology progressed greatly between 1900 and 1940, there were still only a few French geographers working in the tropics. With the advent of the Second World War, when “big science” appeared in France and its colonial empire, the number of French geographers involved in tropical research grew rapidly. The field of tropical geography built up by Pierre Gourou was a synthesis of approaches developed in South America, Africa and Indochina. Although it soon came under strong criticism for its pessimistic view of prospects for industrialisation and urbanisation in the tropics, it seduced French geographers because it matched the contemporary interest in zonality and relied on a genre de vie analysis of, typically, rural areas. Thus, the postwar blossoming of tropical geography shaped by Gourou was more a response to various internal dynamics within French geography than an exercise in imperialism. Its demise was not due to the eclipse of French colonialism but, rather, its inability to deal with the modernisation of tropical societies.
TROPICALITY AND TOPICALITY: PIERRE GOUROU AND THE GENEALOGY OF FRENCH COLONIAL SCHOLARSHIP ON RURAL VIETNAM
Authors: Kleinen John 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the relevance of the work of Pierre Gourou for Vietnamese and non‐Vietnamese scholarship on colonial and postcolonial rural society in Vietnam. The term “tropicality” is used to situate Gourou's work within the framework of both French and Vietnamese regimes of truth. It is argued that Gourou was aware of the complex human geographies of the tropics and monsoon Asia and the challenges this posed to both Western and “tropical” peoples. Gourou and the issue of tropicality is used to show that Vietnamese scholars did not completely reject French colonial systems of knowledge, and that decolonisation did not herald a complete shift in knowledge about rural Vietnam. Rather, since the 1940s there has been antagonism and accommodation between colonial and postcolonial, French and Vietnamese modes of knowledge production. While Gourou underscored the otherness of the tropics, and there are colonial overtones in his work, he had an immense influence on indigenous ethnography and geography in Vietnam and elsewhere in the formerly colonised world. The article traces this important influence and how it has been both questioned and affirmed since independence in the Vietnamese context. It is suggested that the humanistic approach that Gourou pioneered in his 1936 study of the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam has outlived and been able to overcome the setbacks and drawbacks of both colonial and revolutionary/Vietnamese politico‐intellectual projects.
The Rise and Fall of Chinese Immigration to Canada: Newcomers from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China1 and Mainland China, 1980–20002
Authors: Li Peter S. 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACTAn emerging perspective in the study of global diasporas stresses the effect of economic globalization and migration shifts in reshaping the population and identifying the formation of diaspora communities. This paper analyses the immigration patterns from Hong Kong and mainland China to Canada between the 1980s and 1990s, and shows that the migration shifts have been influenced by political and economic forces in Hong Kong and China, as well as changes in Canada's immigration policy. The imminent return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and its uncertain political future in the 1990s were often cited as the main reasons for Hong Kong's large emigration in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In reality, the rising volume of Hong Kong emigration was prompted by the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident in China and its aftermath, and by the booming economy of Hong Kong in the early 1990s that created the means for many middle‐class Chinese to emigrate. At the same time, Canada's expansion of the Business Immigration Program in the mid‐1980s also benefited immigrant entrepreneurs from Hong Kong. In contrast, the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 did not deter the economic growth of China. Immigration from China rose after 1989 when Canada allowed Chinese students studying in Canada to immigrate, but it was after the mid‐1990s that immigration from China expanded due to Canada's greater emphasis on admitting economic immigrants and to China's growing middle class. The continuous arrival of well‐educated and urban‐based immigrants from China is likely to change the population composition and identity complexity of the Chinese community in Canada.
Diversification and Extensible Networks: The Strategies of Chinese Businesses in Australia1
Authors: Lever‐Tracy Constance , Ip David 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACTThe paper reports on a study of 28 ethnic Chinese businesses in Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, carried out in 2000 and 2001. It focuses on their strategies of vertical, horizontal, and unrelated diversification often combining different activities, products, and markets at the same time. It demonstrates how these practices are socially embedded in their preference for using personal networks.Non‐related diversification, in particular, promotes and is facilitated by using “weak ties” that serve as bridges, leading into new networks (Granovetter, 1973). This can create links to Chinese of different national and dialect origins and to those of other ethnicities. It is suggested that open networks and diversification mutually interact to support each other and may have evolved in tandem from earlier, more closed and niche bound business cultures and practices.
“There are always two voices…”: International Students' Intentions to Stay in the United States or Return to their Home Countries
Authors: Alberts Heike C. , Hazen Helen D. 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACTThe scale of movement of international students has increased dramatically in the post‐war period, with the United States acting as a major destination owing partly to a good education system and generous funding of graduate studies. Officially, these migrations are expected to be temporary and visa restrictions are applied accordingly; in reality many international students never return to their home countries. Despite the large number of international students in the United States, little research has been done about this group of professional migrants. Using focus group interviews, we investigate the factors that motivate students to stay in the United States or return home on completion of their degrees. We identify three categories of motivating factors: professional, societal, and personal. Among our study participants, professional factors were generally cited as encouraging the students to stay in the United States, while societal and personal factors were more likely to draw them back to their home countries, although wide variations existed among individuals. Our results suggest that certain patterns exist among national groups. These operated in two main ways. First, specific characteristics of the home country (such as difficult political circumstances) provided state‐specific influences on the decision‐making process. Second, the relative weight assigned to each of the three groups of factors appeared to differ among national groups.
Differential phospholipase C activation by phenylalkylamine serotonin 5‐HT2Areceptor agonists
Authors: Parrish Jason C. , Braden Michael R. , Gundy Emily , Nichols David E. 
Published: November 2005

AbstractExperiments compared a series of phenethylamine hallucinogens with their phenylisopropylamine analogues for binding affinity and ability to stimulate serotonin 5‐HT2Areceptor‐mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidyl inositol in cells expressing cloned rat and human 5‐HT2Areceptors. The (±)phenylisopropylamine analogues had significantly higher intrinsic activities for 5‐HT2Areceptor‐mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidyl inositol compared to their phenethylamine analogues. With respect to the effects of the stereochemistry of the phenylisopropylamines, those with the (R) absolute configuration at the alpha carbon had higher intrinsic activities for hydrolysis of phosphatidyl inositol in a cell line expressing the human 5‐HT2Areceptor compared to those with the (S) absolute configuration. In virtual docking studies comparing the (R)‐ and (S)‐phenylisopropylamines with their phenethylamine analogues, there were distinct differences in the orientations of key ligand binding domain residues that have been identified as important by previous mutagenesis studies. In conclusion, our data support the hypothesis that phenylisopropylamines have higher hallucinogenic potency than their phenethylamine analogues primarily because they have higher intrinsic activities at 5‐HT2Areceptors. Although virtual ligand binding led to significant perturbations of certain key residues, our results emphasize the conclusion reached by others that overall three‐dimensional structural microdomains within the receptor must be considered.
Inhibition ofd‐serine accumulation in theXenopusoocyte by expression of the rat ortholog of human 3′‐phosphoadenosine 5′‐phosphosulfate transporter gene isolated from the neocortex asd‐serine modulator‐1
Authors: Shimazu Dai , Yamamoto Naoki , Umino Asami , Ishii Sumikazu , Sakurai Shin‐ichiro , Nishikawa Toru 
Published: November 2005

Abstractd‐Serine in mammalian brains has been suggested to be an endogenous co‐agonist of the NMDA‐type glutamate receptor. We have explored the molecules regulatingd‐serine uptake and release from the rat neocortex cDNA library using aXenopusoocyte expression system, and isolated a cDNA clone designated asdsm‐1(d‐serine modulator‐1) encoding a protein that reduces the accumulation ofd‐serine to the oocyte.dsm‐1is the rat orthologue of the human 3′‐phosphoadenosine 5′‐phosphosulfate transporter 1 (PAPST1) gene. The hydropathy analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of the Dsm‐1 protein predicts the 10 transmembrane domains with a long hydrophobic stretch in the C‐terminal like some amino acid transporters. Thedsm‐1mRNA is predominantly expressed in the forebrain areas that are enriched withd‐serine and NMDA receptors, and in the liver. The transient expression ofdsm‐1in COS‐7 cells demonstrates a partially Golgi apparatus‐related punctuate distribution throughout the cytoplasm with a concentration near the nucleus.dsm‐1‐expressing oocytes diminishes the sodium‐dependent and ‐independent accumulation ofd‐serine and the basal levels of the intrinsicd‐serine and increases the rate of release of the pre‐loadedd‐serine. These findings indicate thatdsm‐1may, at least in part, be involved in thed‐serine translocation across the vesicular or plasma membranes in the brain, and thereby control the extra‐ and intracellular contents ofd‐serine.
Sustained activation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 and protein tyrosine phosphatases mediate the expression of (S)‐3,5‐dihydroxyphenylglycine‐induced long‐term depression in the hippocampal CA1 region
Authors: Huang Chiung‐Chun , Hsu Kuei‐Sen 
Published: November 2005

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that brief application of group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonist (S)‐3, 5‐dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG) to hippocampal slices can induce a chemical form of long‐term depression (DHPG‐LTD) in the hippocampal CA1 region; however, the expression mechanisms of this LTD remain unclear. We show here that the expression of DHPG‐LTD can be specifically reversed by application of the broad‐spectrum mGluR antagonists, (S)‐α‐methyl‐4‐carboxyphenylglycine (MCPG) and LY341495, and mGluR5 antagonist, 2‐methyl‐6‐(phenylethyl)pyridine, but not by NMDA receptor antagonist, d‐2‐amino‐5‐phosphonopentanoic acid, mGluR1 antagonist, LY367385, group II mGluR antagonist, (2S)‐α‐ethylglutamic acid, or group III mGluR antagonist, (S)‐2‐amino‐2‐methyl‐4‐phosphonobutanic acid (MAP4). In addition, the ability of MCPG to reverse DHPG‐LTD was mimicked by the protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors, phenylarsine oxide and orthovanadate, but not phospholipase C inhibitor, U73122, protein kinase C inhibitor, bisindolylmaleimide 1, p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase inhibitor, SB203580, or protein phosphatases 1/2 A inhibitor, okadaic acid. Moreover, MCPG reversed the DHPG‐LTD without affecting the paired‐pulse facilitation. The expression of DHPG‐LTD was associated with the reduction of both tyrosine phosphorylation and surface expression of AMPA receptor GluR2 subunits. Together, these results suggest that sustained activation of mGluR5 and in turn triggering a protein tyrosine phosphatase‐dependent regulation of postsynaptic expression of AMPA receptors may contribute to the expression of DHPG‐LTD.
Cognitive Function in Normal‐Weight, Overweight, and Obese Older Adults: An Analysis of the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly Cohort
Authors: Kuo Hsu‐Ko , Jones Richard N. , Milberg William P. , Tennstedt Sharon , Talbot Laura , Morris John N. , Lipsitz Lewis A. 
Published: November 2005

Objectives: To assess how elevated body mass index (BMI) affects cognitive function in elderly people.Design: Cross‐sectional study.Setting: Data for this cross‐sectional study were taken from a multicenter randomized controlled trial, the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly trial.Participants: The analytic sample included 2,684 normal‐weight, overweight, or obese subjects aged 65 to 94.Measurements: Evaluation of cognitive abilities was performed in several domains: global cognition, memory, reasoning, and speed of processing. Cross‐sectional association between body weight status and cognitive functions was analyzed using multiple linear regression.Results: Overweight subjects had better performance on a reasoning task (β=0.23, standard error (SE)=0.11, P=.04) and the Useful Field of View (UFOV) measure (β=−39.46, SE=12.95, P=.002), a test of visuospatial speed of processing, after controlling for age, sex, race, years of education, intervention group, study site, and cardiovascular risk factors. Subjects with class I (BMI 30.0–34.9 kg/m2) and class II (BMI>35.0 kg/m2) obesity had better UFOV measure scores (β=−38.98, SE=14.77, P=.008; β=−35.75, SE=17.65, and P=.04, respectively) in the multivariate model than normal‐weight subjects. The relationships between BMI and individual cognitive domains were nonlinear.Conclusion: Overweight participants had better cognitive performance in terms of reasoning and visuospatial speed of processing than normal‐weight participants. Obesity was associated with better performance in visuospatial speed of processing than normal weight. The relationship between BMI and cognitive function should be studied prospectively.
Interpreting Velocities from Heat‐Based Flow Sensors by Numerical Simulation
Authors: Su Grace W. , Freifeld Barry M. , Oldenburg Curtis M. , Jordan Preston D. , Daley Paul F. 
Published: November 2005

AbstractWe have carried out numerical simulations of three‐dimensional nonisothermal flow around an in situ heat‐based flow sensor to investigate how formation heterogeneities can affect the interpretation of ground water flow velocities from this instrument. The flow sensor operates by constant heating of a 0.75‐m‐long, 5‐cm‐diameter cylindrical probe, which contains 30 thermistors in contact with the formation. The temperature evolution at each thermistor can be inverted to obtain an estimate of the ground water flow velocity vector using the standard interpretive method, which assumes that the formation is homogeneous. Analysis of data from heat‐based flow sensors installed in a sand aquifer at the Former Fort Ord Army Base near Monterey, California, suggested an unexpected component of downward flow. The magnitudes of the vertical velocities were expected to be much less than those of the horizontal velocities at this site because the sensors were installed just above a clay aquitard. Numerical simulations were conducted to examine how differences in thermal conductivities may lead to spurious indications of vertical flow velocities. We found that a decrease in the thermal conductivity near the bottom of the sensor can perturb the temperature profiles along the instrument in such a manner that analyses assuming homogeneous thermal conductivity could indicate a vertical flow component even though flow is actually horizontal. This work demonstrates how modeling can be used to simulate instrument response to formation heterogeneity and shows that caution must be used in interpreting data from such devices.
Cyclic AMP-Independent Regulation of Protein Kinase A Substrate Phosphorylation by Kelch Repeat Proteins
Authors: Lu Ailan , Hirsch Jeanne P. 
Published: November 2005

ABSTRACT

Pseudohyphal and invasive growth in the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
is regulated by the kelch repeat-containing proteins Gpb1p and Gpb2p, which act downstream of the G protein α-subunit Gpa2p. Here we show that deletion of
GPB1
and
GPB2
causes increased haploid invasive growth in cells containing any one of the three protein kinase A (PKA) catalytic subunits, suggesting that Gpb1p and Gpb2p are able to inhibit each of these kinases. Cells containing
gpb1
Δ
gpb2
Δ mutations also display increased phosphorylation of the PKA substrates Sfl1p and Msn2p, indicating that Gpb1p and Gpb2p are negative regulators of PKA substrate phosphorylation. Stimulation of PKA-dependent signaling by
gpb1
Δ
gpb2
Δ mutations occurs in cells that lack both adenylyl cyclase and the high-affinity cyclic AMP (cAMP) phosphodiesterase. This effect is also seen in cells that lack the low-affinity cAMP phosphodiesterase. Given that these three enzymes control the synthesis and degradation of cAMP, these results indicate that the effect of Gpb1p and Gpb2p on PKA substrate phosphorylation does not occur by regulating the intracellular cAMP concentration. These findings suggest that Gpb1p and Gpb2p mediate their effects on the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway either by inhibiting the activity of PKA in a cAMP-independent manner or by activating phosphatases that act on PKA substrates.