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Grey Zone (grey + zone)
Selected AbstractsParty-System Reform in Democracy's Grey Zone: A Response to MoraskiGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2009Kenneth Wilson This article analyses the party-system reforms introduced in Russia during Vladimir Putin's presidency. It contests Byron Moraski's interpretation, published in an earlier edition of this journal, which claims that the reforms introduced in Putin's second term were a response to the 2003 Duma election and were intended to preserve the unity and discipline of United Russia, the regime's ,party of power'. This article argues that Moraski's explanation of the second-term reforms is flawed and contends that the first- and second-term reforms were part of a wider reform programme designed to centralize Russia's political system, consolidate its party system and contribute to the construction of a façade democracy. The article also challenges Moraski's argument that these reforms, while introduced to advance the regime's interests, could further democratization in the longer term by adding the crucial caveat that stronger opposition parties that could act as a democratizing influence will only emerge if practices of electoral manipulation lessen or fail. [source] Electoral System Reform in Democracy's Grey Zone: Lessons from Putin's RussiaGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2007Bryon Moraski Besides seat maximization, what factors motivate an incumbent regime in the grey zone between democracy and dictatorship to alter a relatively institutionalized parliamentary electoral system? To answer this question, this article seeks to uncover the rationale guiding the 2005 changes to Russia's electoral system. It presents evidence to suggest that the same strategies that allowed Russia's current party of power to use the existing electoral system to its advantage in the 2003 Duma election, threatened to spoil the fruits of that advantage in the years to come. Yet it also points out that moving from a mixed electoral system to a purely proportional system could be good for Russian democracy in the future. As a result, the work contends that seemingly authoritarian incumbents will promote reforms that aid the future cause of democracy when these same reforms serve their more immediate interests. [source] Defining maritime boundaries: ,the murky hand of history's oversight' in the Gulf of MaineTHE CANADIAN GEOGRAPHER/LE GEOGRAPHE CANADIEN, Issue 3 2004Joan Marshall In this paper, an unresolved boundary dispute in the Gulf of Maine, between the United States and Canada, in an area known as the Grey Zone is examined. In the context of a juridically weak framework of principles for determining international maritime boundaries, the case of a small fishing community caught between conflicting national interests and a lucrative fishing zone being claimed by both countries is examined. Left unresolved with the 1984 International Court of Justice decision defining the ,Hague Line', this dispute is made more problematic because of ambiguous objectives and conflicting agendas between national governments, between state and community levels and within the community itself. Cet article examine une dispute non-résolue qui concerne les frontières dans le Golfe du Maine, entre les Etats-Unis et le Canada, dans une région qui s'appelle la zone grise. Au context d'un cadre des principes qui est faible juridiquement pour déterminer les frontières maritimes internationales, cet article examine le cas d'une petite communauté de pêche prise entre les intérêts nationales en conflit, et une zone de pêche lucrative qui est revendiquée par les deux pays. Laissé non-résolue avec la décision par la CIJ (la Cour Internationale de Justice) en 1984 qui a défini la «Ligne d'Hague,» ce dispute se fait plus problématique à cause des objectives ambiguës et des agendas en conflit entre les gouvernements nationaux, entre les niveaux de l'état et de la communauté, et entre la communauté soi-même. [source] Electoral System Reform in Democracy's Grey Zone: Lessons from Putin's RussiaGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2007Bryon Moraski Besides seat maximization, what factors motivate an incumbent regime in the grey zone between democracy and dictatorship to alter a relatively institutionalized parliamentary electoral system? To answer this question, this article seeks to uncover the rationale guiding the 2005 changes to Russia's electoral system. It presents evidence to suggest that the same strategies that allowed Russia's current party of power to use the existing electoral system to its advantage in the 2003 Duma election, threatened to spoil the fruits of that advantage in the years to come. Yet it also points out that moving from a mixed electoral system to a purely proportional system could be good for Russian democracy in the future. As a result, the work contends that seemingly authoritarian incumbents will promote reforms that aid the future cause of democracy when these same reforms serve their more immediate interests. [source] Kinetics and sensitivity of ELISA IgG pertussis antitoxin after infection and vaccination with Bordetella pertussis in young childrenAPMIS, Issue 11 2009HANS O. HALLANDER Sera from 96 young children in a vaccine trial were analysed for kinetics of ELISA IgG anti-pertussis toxin (anti-PT) after a laboratory-verified pertussis infection. The antibody decay curves after infection were biphasic and similar in shape to those after vaccination. The change from a rapid to a slower decay after the peak occurred about 4,5 months from the first day of cough. In a group of children given a two- or a five-component acellular pertussis vaccine the proportion of sera above the tentative cut-off values for anti-PT of 20, 50 or 100 EU/ml 12 months after onset of the infection were 19%, 0% and 0% respectively. Corresponding figures for a whole-cell or placebo vaccine group of infected children were significantly higher, 73%, 39% and 30%, i.e. the antibody decay after infection in young children depends on vaccination status as well as on the pertussis vaccine given. In a large group of non-infected children vaccinated with the same five-component acellular vaccine 13%, 0% and 0% had sera above 20, 50 and 100 EU/ml at 12 months after the third vaccine dose and all were below the minimum level of detection 2 years after vaccination. In conclusion, knowledge about anti-PT kinetics is essential for the interpretation of seroepidemiological data but hardly offers the possibility to establish valid cut-off values for anti-PT in single sample serology. An option would be to identify a grey zone between the positive and negative ends of the distribution for follow-up testing by a second serum. [source] Resuscitation at the limits of viability , an Irish perspectiveACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 9 2009RA Khan Abstract Background:, Advances in neonatal care continue to lower the limit of viability. Decision making in this grey zone remains a challenging process. Objective:, To explore the opinions of healthcare providers on resuscitation and outcome in the less than 28-week preterm newborn. Design/Methods:, An anonymous postal questionnaire was sent to health care providers working in maternity units in the Republic of Ireland. Questions related to neonatal management of the extreme preterm infant, and estimated survival and long-term outcome. Results:, The response rate was 55% (74% obstetricians and 70% neonatologists). Less than 1% would advocate resuscitation at 22 weeks, 10% of health care providers advocate resuscitation at 23 weeks gestation, 80% of all health care providers would resuscitate at 24 weeks gestation. 20% of all health care providers would advocate cessation of resuscitation efforts on 22,25 weeks gestation at 5 min of age. 65% of Neonatologists and 54% trainees in Paediatrics would cease resuscitation at 10 min of age. Obstetricians were more pessimistic about survival and long term outcome in newborns delivered between 23 and 27 weeks when compared with neonatologists. This difference was also observed in trainees in paediatrics and obstetrics. Conclusion:, Neonatologists, trainees in paediatrics and neonatal nurses are generally more optimistic about outcome than their counterparts in obstetrical care and this is reflected in a greater willingness to provide resuscitation efforts at the limits of viability. [source] Ultrasonographic evaluation of the thickness of the small intestinal wall in dogs with inflammatory bowel diseaseJOURNAL OF SMALL ANIMAL PRACTICE, Issue 7 2005H. Rudorf Objectives: To establish whether the intestinal wall thickness, as measured ultrasonographically, is significantly increased in dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The results would provide the information necessary to decide whether measurement of ultrasonographic wall thickness can predict IBD in dogs. Methods: The intestinal wall thickness of 75 dogs with idiopathic IBD, as measured by ultrasonography, was compared with recently published normal values. IBD was either confirmed histologically (n=54) or suspected (n=21). In all cases there was a positive response to immunosuppressive treatment. Results: A positive association between intestinal wall thickness in dogs and either the histological diagnosis or the response to treatment was not found. Ultrasonographic intestinal wall measurements do not appear to be able to establish a diagnosis of intestinal inflammation and may result in a false negative diagnosis in cases of IBD. Clinical Significance: The same ,grey zone' of between 4 and 6 mm used in humans can be used in the canine duodenum to distinguish the normal range, reserving the term ,abnormal' for an intestinal measurement greater than 6 mm in the duodenum and greater than 4·7 mm in the jejunum. [source] Distribution of FMR1 and FMR2 alleles in Javanese individuals with developmental disability and confirmation of a specific AGG-interruption pattern in Asian populationsANNALS OF HUMAN GENETICS, Issue 2 2001SULTANA M. H. FARADZ The number of trinucleotide repeats in the 5, untranslated regions of the FMR1 and FMR2 genes was determined by PCR in 254 Fragile XA-negative Javanese male children with developmental disabilities. The distribution of FMR1 and FMR2 trinucleotide repeat alleles was found to be significantly different in the Indonesian population with developmental disability compared to that in developmentally disabled populations in North America and Europe (p < 0.021). Sequence analysis was performed on the trinucleotide repeat arrays of the 27 individuals with FMR1 alleles in the ,grey zone' (35,54 repeats). A repeat array structure of 9A9A6A9 was found in 16 unrelated individuals with 36 repeats, confirming earlier observations in intellectually normal Japanese. We propose that this FMR1 array pattern is specific for Asian populations and that Javanese and Japanese populations arose from a single progenitor population. [source] Diabetes classification: grey zones, sound and smoke: Action LADA 1DIABETES/METABOLISM: RESEARCH AND REVIEWS, Issue 7 2008R. D. G. Leslie Abstract Diseases gain identity from clinical phenotype as well as genetic and environmental aetiology. The definition of type 1 diabetes is clinically exclusive, comprising patients who are considered insulin dependent at diagnosis, whilst the definition of type 2 diabetes is inclusive, only excluding those who are initially insulin dependent. Ketosis-prone diabetes (KPD) and latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) are each exclusive forms of diabetes which are, at least initially, clinically distinct from type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes, and each have a different natural history from these major types of diabetes. KPD can be diagnosed unequivocally as diabetes presenting with the categorical clinical feature, ketoacidosis. In contrast, LADA can be diagnosed by the co-occurrence of three traits, not one of which is categorical or exclusive to the condition: adult-onset non-insulin-requiring diabetes, an islet autoantibody such as glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA) or cytoplasmic islet cell autoantibodies (ICA), and no need for insulin treatment for several months post-diagnosis. But while some would split diabetes into distinct subtypes, there is a strong case that these subtypes form a continuum of varying severity of immune and metabolic dysfunction modified by genetic and non-genetic factors. This article discusses the nature of disease classification in general, and KPD and LADA in particular, emphasizing the potential value and pitfalls in classifying diabetes and suggesting a need for more research in this area. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Optical turbulence vertical distribution with standard and high resolution at Mt GrahamMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2010E. Masciadri ABSTRACT A characterization of the optical turbulence vertical distribution (C2N profiles) and all the main integrated astroclimatic parameters derived from the C2N and the wind speed profiles above the site of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) (Mt Graham, Arizona, USA) is presented. The statistics include measurements related to 43 nights done with a Generalized SCIDAR (GS) used in standard configuration with a vertical resolution ,H, 1 km on the whole 20 km and with the new technique (High Vertical Resolution GS) in the first kilometre. The latter achieves a resolution ,H, 20,30 m in this region of the atmosphere. Measurements done in different periods of the year permit us to provide a seasonal variation analysis of the C2N. A discretized distribution of C2N, useful for the Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) simulations, is provided and a specific analysis for the LBT Laser Guide Star system ARGOS (running in GLAO configuration) case is done including the calculation of the ,grey zones' for J, H and K bands. Mt Graham is confirmed to be an excellent site with median values of the seeing without dome contribution ,= 0.72 arcsec, the isoplanatic angle ,0= 2.5 arcsec and the wavefront coherence time ,0= 4.8 ms. We find that the OT vertical distribution decreases in a much sharper way than what has been believed so far in the proximity of the ground above astronomical sites. We find that 50 per cent of the whole turbulence develops in the first 80 ± 15 m from the ground. We finally prove that the error in the normalization of the scintillation that has been recently demonstrated in the principle of the GS technique affects these measurements by an absolutely negligible quantity (0.04 arcsec). [source] Making War on Terror?THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 6 2006Global Lessons from Northern Ireland In place of the simple modelling employed in anti-terrorist legal discourse, this article posits an interactive model of the relationship between the state and violent political actors, exploring law's role in both the repression and mobilisation of challengers. Drawing on social movement theory, it hypothesises a process of ,legally implicated mobilisation' which takes account both of law's presence and its partial absence in ,legal grey zones' during violent conflict, and it suggests how law may impact upon key elements of the mobilisation process. The hypothesis is applied to qualitative data from Northern Ireland on violent challengers. The data point to the importance of ,messaging' about law in the state of exception, supporting claims that law can have a ,damping' effect on violent conflict. The relationship between repression and violence is partly symbiotic, and in the global ,war on terror,' prisoner-abuse may have a mobilising effect on violent challengers. [source] | |||||||||||||