bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A New Staples Industry? Complexity, Governance and Canada’s Diamond Mines
Authors: Fitzpatrick Patricia J 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe discovery of indicator minerals in the Slave geological province began a staking and development rush that, in a little over a decade, saw Canada becoming one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds. An examination of the institutions surrounding the development of the first two diamond mines illustrates the complexities associated with mineral development. An emerging picture of a new approach to the northern staples-based economy reveals efforts to promote responsible economic development within a sound environmental framework. Furthermore, this approach necessarily involves the incorporation of a group of policy actors with agendas, needs, and requirements qualitatively different from those of traditional resource developers and producers. Thus the new diamond projects are proceeding in a way that is qualitatively different from historical practices that have governed staples based development in the mineral sector.
Offshore Petroleum Politics: A Changing Frontier in a Global System
Authors: Clancy Peter 
Published: October 2008

AbstractOff-shore oil and gas development is often thought of as a classic mature staple sector, where hydrocarbons are extracted from a remote and physically challenging hinterland, by highly capitalised enterprise, to realise profit from sale and consumption in distant markets. There are, however, reasons to look more closely at this political economy of the offshore domain, particularly from the perspective of Hutton’s post-staples hypothesis. To begin, offshore oil and gas is a relative late-arrival to the staple trade. This means that its regulatory regimes have been infused with social policy concerns that were not present in the formative eras of terrestrial petroleum. Other features arise from the “offshore” location, where a thrust toward integrated oceans policy has emerged in recent decades and threatens to erode the sectoral autonomy of the petroleum domain. Offshore oil and gas developments are one of the new “unconventional” energy sources which have emerged in Canada over the last two decades as oil prices have risen and conventional domestic sources declined.
From Black Gold to Blue Gold: Lessons from the Petroleum Trade Regime for an Emerging Water Trade and Investment Regime
Authors: McDougall John 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
Water resources in Canada are “potential” or “quasi-staples”. That is, the exploitation of water resources has featured many of the aspects of a staples industry such as their large-scale, technologically influenced, rural-based, bulk-commodity characteristics, but lack others, especially a traditional staples export orientation. However, this situation is changing. In the electricity case, deregulation in both Canada and the US markets has resulted in the emergence of a new production regime in Canada, one that is approaching a typical “mature” staples industry, albeit with the new environmental regulations and conditions for participation of a much broader spectrum of “stakeholders” which bears some resemblance to a ‘post-staples” model. The same is true of water resources as a whole where, for almost two decades, one of the most controversial concerns raised by Canadian opponents of free trade with the United States was that it would lead to the large scale export of water from Canada. Should this come to pass, this commodity would become a “staple” and the water industry which would emerge in Canada would move from “potential” to “actual”
Is Foreign Aid Compatible with Good Governance?
Authors: Araral Eduardo 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
Is foreign aid compatible with good governance? Using the case of irrigation aid in the Philippines, I hypothesise that aid is embedded in a perverse set of incentives which could undermine the application of good governance principles espoused by donors. My findings suggest that the problems of “moral hazard” and aid fungibility are embedded in irrigation aid. Furthermore, these incentives also drive a vicious cycle in irrigation commonly found in many developing countries. These findings indeed suggest that incentives structured into the relationship between donors and irrigation agencies may undermine the application of some principles of good governance espoused by donors.
Health Reforms in Rajasthan: An Empirical Study on Agencification
Authors: Singh Avantika 
Published: October 2008

AbstractAgencification, or the carving out of independent agencies from the government, is a New Public Management approach for restructuring government through separation of the policy formulation and policy implementation functions. This research is devoted to an empirical investigation of agencification in the public health system of the State of Rajasthan in India. The objective of this research is to make a meaningful contribution to the understanding of the rationale for agencification, composition of agencies, autonomy and control of agencies, and service delivery by agencies. This research employs organisation theory perspectives such as interorganisational relations to explicate mechanisms for achieving functional integration and coordination between agencies and parent departments.Agencies studied in this research are legally independent bodies with not-for-profit status, which function within the policy framework provided by the parent ministry/department. However, there is no explicit performance contracting and accountability for results, and the idea of agencies is path dependent and linked to the reforms process. Because of resource dependence, agencies achieve functional integration with the parent ministry/department. Most of the agencies deliver services through a network of private providers and voluntary organisations, which establish coordination through the exchange of resources and information. Coordination is more formalised and dependent on Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), contracts and paper-based reports than on trust, norms, reciprocity and informal communication.
Technocratic Solutions versus Political Realities: Implementing Governance Reforms in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan
Authors: Ahmad Raza , Akif Syed A A 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
Almost immediately after taking power in 1999, Pakistan’s fourth military regime articulated a seven point agenda that in large measure entailed governance policy shifts – the key being decentralization of powers and democratic local governance. Pakistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) articulated these goals in the pro-poor growth framework. The international aid community favoured this reform climate and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) took a lead in supporting public sector reforms especially by way of improving sub-national governance in a federal context. This paper focuses on the reform agenda articulated through ADB assisted Balochistan Public Resource Management and the complementary devolved social services programs. While it is still early to assess the impact of these policy shifts, we conclude that improved service delivery through better fiscal management is a long term goal. The ongoing reforms are located within and impacted by historically difficult federal-province relations and a highly contested political climate. There is an inherent danger of institutional reforms being appropriated by entrenched elites. In conclusion, subnational reforms cannot be isolated from the imperatives of federalism, local patrimonial structures i.e. the political economy context. Development agenda[s] should overtly address politics in designing and implementing governance reform programs.
The Ethics of Problem Representation: Widening the Scope of Ethical Debate
Authors: Bacchi Carol 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper makes a case for extending the scope of ethical reflection and debate in public policy beyond the current tendency to confine ethical scrutiny to the behaviours of individual politicians or public servants, and/or to a restricted set of issues characterized as “moral” issues, decided by “conscience” (eg abortion, euthanasia, etc.). It argues that reflecting on the ways in which public policies construct or represent social “problems” provides a rationale for broadening ethical scrutiny to the basic purposes of government. This is because the ways in which policy “problems” are represented (problem representations) have a range of ethical implications for targeted groups and individuals and for the general population, in terms of people’s sense of self-worth, their participation in democratic decision-making, and their ability to live full and meaningful lives.
Ethics and Issues in Public Policy
Authors: Provis Chris 
Published: October 2008

AbstractSeveral reasons can be identified which discourage issues from being defined as “ethical” issues in public policy making. One is the cost of resolving ethical issues, another is that it is harder to predict what the outcomes will be of argument and discussion about ethical issues, and a third is that identifying issues as ethical makes salient the prospect for allocating moral responsibility and blame. Efforts to increase the scope of market mechanisms are associated with avoidance of ethical issues, since markets offer routine, quasi-mechanical processes to resolve disagreement. However, to avoid definition of issues as ethical problems tends to push aside some concerns which it is important to address as part of human life.
The Ethics of Problem Representation in Public Education Policy: From Educational Disadvantage to Individual Deficits
Authors: McInerney Peter 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which notions of educational disadvantage have been reshaped and redefined in policy discourses during the ascendancy of neo-liberal governance in Australia. Over the past decade there has been a pronounced shift away from social democratic traditions of social justice towards more market-individualistic approaches that have called into question the ethical responsibilities of governments when it comes to challenging inequitable educational policies and practices. Commonwealth policy now leaves little place for socially produced disadvantage, as manifestations of disadvantage are typically described in educational terms and hence to be redressed by schools. What is most disturbing is that the problem is now being constructed around individual deficits, rather than structural inequalities. I conclude with a brief outline of ethical alternatives to current policies.
The policing of signs: Sacramentalism and authority in Rowan Williams' theology
Authors: Hobson Theo 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis article reflects on Rowan Williams' postmodern approach to sacramentalism and ecclesiology, tracing it through various books and articles. Partly under the influence of the Roman Catholic reception of Wittgenstein, he expounds the centrality of the Eucharist in cultural-linguistic and semiotic terms. Through this central ritual the church signifies the Kingdom of God in a uniquely strong sense of ‘signifies’. He foregrounds a dramatic model: the worshipping community performs the new humanity, it is remade through this unique form of ‘community theatre’. Its guardianship of the ultimate form of Christian sign-making is what authorises the church, Williams teaches, and necessitates hierarchical control. The postmodern idiom therefore serves a very conservative ecclesiology. Williams balances this high ecclesiology with a recurrent apophatic theme: the church must remember that its performance of the Kingdom of God is provisional, ironic. Yet the article questions whether this is sufficient: Williams does not fully confront the danger of such an ecclesiology becoming the ideological justification of a form of social power. This danger is raised with especial pertinence by the issue of homosexuality: it shows that the ecclesial policing of sacramentalism is potentially erroneous. This issue therefore threatens to unravel his ecclesiology, or at least to expose its innate violence. The article concludes that Williams is only half-willing to confront the negative dimension to his sacramental ecclesiology: its ideological character, its potentially violent policing of all Christian culture.
How to speak with intellectual and theological decency on the resurrection of Christ?: A comparison of Swinburne and Wright
Authors: van den Brink Gijsbert 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn recent scholarship the spiritual reading of the New Testament resurrection stories has come under pressure from new studies of the relevant data. In this article, two of the most conspicuous of these studies are compared and evaluated. First, Richard Swinburne's monograph opens our eyes to the fact that, in interpreting the resurrection stories, much more is at stake than is usually recognised in so-called ‘undogmatic’ exegesis. However, the rather crude way in which Swinburne deals with these stories, suggesting that they represent Jesus' resurrection as a bare fact not qualitatively different from other historical facts, neglects their peculiarity and displays insufficient hermeneutical sensitivity for their unique theological meaning. Second, Tom Wright's monumental volume is sometimes criticised for a similar single-minded focus on historical questions and a concomitant lack of attention to the eschatological character of Jesus' resurrection. As a result, George Hunsinger has argued, it becomes unclear why the resurrection reports embody life-transforming good news now. Close scrutiny of Wright's book, however, does not vindicate this criticism. Wright neither isolates the question of the resurrection's historicity from its theological meanings nor overlooks the fact that a plausible historical case for the resurrection does not in itself elicit faith. Still, he rightly argues that what people believe about what actually has happened often plays a vital role in their personal transformation. Moreover, the eschatological nature of the resurrection does not rule out the fact that it can be seen and discussed with integrity as a historical issue.
Bridging the gulf between biblical scholars and theologians: Can Barth and Wright provide an answer?
Authors: Michielin Maico 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThere was a time when the interpretation of the Bible was a seamless integrated theological activity. Today, the separation of biblical studies from theologically interested exegesis amongst theologians encourages a sceptical arms-length relationship between Old and New Testament scholars and theologians. Theologians criticise biblical studies' so-called objective and disinterested approach to interpreting the Bible for requiring scholars of both testaments to suspend their theological convictions. Biblical scholars condemn theologians for misusing biblical texts in support of their own preconceived theological agendas. The article suggests a way to bring these divergent exegetical approaches into conversation in a charitable, yet critical fashion, by comparing Karl Barth and N. T. Wright's exegesis of Romans 3:21–4:25. It concludes that the biblical scholar's and theologian's respective sensitivity to the historical and theological sense of the biblical text can, when brought together, benefit each other's reading of the Bible.
French vocabulary breadth among learners in the British school and university system: comparing knowledge over time
Authors: MILTON JAMES 
Published: October 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the scale of vocabulary learning that appears to be common among British foreign language learners of French up to university graduation. These results are compared with historical data and the knowledge learners possessed in previous generations. This is done by comparing current students' vocabulary knowledge with students who studied more than 20 years ago. These comparisons provide very powerful evidence in support of claims made to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority of a progressive decline in the knowledge of learners and the standard of school examinations over a period of decades.
Dispersion of the P wave as a test for cardiac autonomic function in diabetic children
Authors: Imamoglu Ebru Y. , Oztunc Funda , Eroglu Ayse G. , Onal Hasan , Guzeltas Alper 
Published: October 2008

AbstractObjectiveWe aimed, in this study, to compare dispersion of the p wave in patients with type 1 diabetes to nondiabetic control subjects, and to investigate the relationship between the dispersion of the p wave and cardiac autonomic dysfunction in diabetic children.MethodsWe enrolled 49 patients with type 1 diabetes, and 32 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects, measuring the Valsalva ratio, resting heart rate, and orthostatic hypotension in all. The duration of the p wave was measured manually on a high-resolution computer screen. Dispersion, defined as the difference between maximum and minimum durations of the p waves, was also measured in the 12-lead electrocardiogram before and after the Valsalva maneuver.ResultsThe mean age of the patients and their controls were 14.2 ± 4.8 years, and 12.7 ± 4.5 years, respectively. The mean duration of diabetes had been 6.2 ± 4.6 years. Maximal and minimal values for the duration of the p wave were significantly decreased in the diabetic children, with the dispersion itself significantly increased. Values for the dispersion in the diabetic subjects were similar before and after the Valsalva maneuver, whereas dispersion was found significantly increased after this maneuver in the controls. The differences in the Valsalva ratio, resting heart rate, and orthostatic hypotension between the groups, on the other hand, were not found to be statistically significant.ConclusionThe noted increase in the dispersion of the p wave in diabetic children reveals the onset of cardiac electrophysiological heterogeneity before it is possible to detect parasympathetic and sympathetic dysfunction with other tests.
Atrioventricular block following implantation of a stent in the oval fossa
Authors: Sreeram Narayanswami , Emmel Mathias , Bennink Gerardus 
Published: October 2008

AbstractA neonate weighing 2.8 kilograms underwent the staged hybrid procedure for palliation of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Within 6 hours following placement of a stent to retain patency of the interatrial communication, the infant developed second degree atrioventricular block, which resolved within 24 hours. Four days later, the patient developed complete atrioventricular dissociation. Removal of the stent was followed by recovery of atrioventricular conduction.
The syndrome of cardiac failure in adults with congenitally corrected transposition
Authors: Koželj Mirta , Prokšelj Katja , Berden Pavel , Jan Matevž , Osredkar Joško , Bunc Matjaž , Tretjak Martin , Podnar Tomaž 
Published: October 2008

AbstractObjectivesTo assess neurohormonal activation of cardiac failure in adults with congenitally corrected transposition, and to determine the most sensitive marker for recognition of the cardiac failure.BackgroundThe onset of morphologically right ventricular dysfunction is unpredictable in patients with congenitally corrected transposition, the combination of discordant atrioventricular and ventriculo-arterial connections, and its markers are unknown.MethodsWe measured amino terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide in 19 patients, aged 35 plus or minus 13.1 years, and in 19 control subjects. Morhologically right ventricular function was assessed by echocardiography, including tissue Doppler echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging or multislice computed tomography.ResultsThe patients showed a highly significant increase in the levels of amino terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide, the levels being significantly elevated even in asymptomatic patients. Left atrial dimensions were larger in patients, and significantly lower tissue Doppler echocardiographic velocities were measured at the lateral site of the tricuspid annulus and at the basal segment of the interventricular septum. The ejection fraction of the morphologically right ventricle correlated significantly with the levels of brain natriuretic peptide, and with left atrial dimensions.ConclusionsNeurohormonal activation is present in patients with congenitally corrected transposition even when they are asymptomatic. It is correlated with left atrial dimensions and tissue Doppler echocardiographic parameters. Levels of brain natriuretic peptide, and peak tricuspid early diastolic annular velocity, are the earliest and most sensitive markers of morphologically right ventricular dysfunction.
Implantation of drug-eluting stents for relief of obstructed infra-cardiac totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection in isomerism of the right atrial appendages
Authors: Wong Derek T. H. , Yoo Shi-Joon , Lee Kyong-Jin 
Published: October 2008

AbstractWe describe an infant with severe obstruction of infra-cardiac totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection associated with right isomerism, atrioventricular septal defect, pulmonary atresia, and multiple aortopulmonary collateral arteries. Implantation of a stent into the obstructed descending vertical vein provided effective palliation, with a dramatic increase in saturations of oxygen obviating the need for urgent high-risk surgery.
Managing public investment funds: best practices and new questions
Authors: MITCHELL OLIVIA S. , PIGGOTT JOHN , KUMRU CAGRI 
Published: October 2008

AbstractLarge publicly held pools of assets are playing an increasingly prominent role in the global investment arena. We compare three distinct forms of such public funds, namelyforeign exchange reservefunds,sovereign wealthfunds, andpublic pensionfunds, to highlight their differences and similarities. We review previous studies on ways to better secure prudent and economically sound public fund management practices in these funds, as well as how to evaluate their governance and investment policies and how to better protect the assets from political interference. Drawing from the pension and corporate finance literature, we also link their management to governance practices and country-specific characteristics, and contrast those with empirical findings on linkages with corporate governance.