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Lower Chamber (lower + chamber)
Selected AbstractsPolitical Determinants of Intergovernmental Grants: Evidence From ArgentinaECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2001Alberto Porto This paper explores the determinants of federal grants allocation across provincial states in Argentina. Our analysis suggests that the redistributive pattern implicit in the federal system of intergovernmental grants cannot be explained on normative grounds exclusively. In order to understand the rationale behind federal grants distribution, a positive approach could render better results. Specifically, we claim that the distribution of federal grants could be associated with political variables such as the political representation of jurisdictions at Congress. The econometric analysis suggests that the significant disparity observed in the per capita representation across different provinces is an important factor explaining the allocation of those transfers. In this respect, overrepresented provinces, both at the senate and at the lower chamber, have received, on average, higher resources from the national government compared to more populous and less represented states. These results are consistent with those observed in other countries. [source] Output of the Spanish Cortes (1979,2000): A case of adaptation to party governmentEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2006MANUEL SANCHEZ DE DIOS It mainly examines the output of the lower chamber due to the asymmetrical bicameralism and weak status of the Senate. In Spain, the legislative output has been dependent on different situations of party government. In general terms, the Cortes have been always very active in controlling the executive and its participation in law-making was highly relevant when there was a minority government. Because parties are central actors in parliament and due to the strong party discipline in the Spanish case, the author mainly studied parliament output from the viewpoint of strategies of opposition parties. Sometimes parties behaved in parliament procedures in a competitive way, while in others they behave cooperatively. There was a great variety of patterns of strategic behaviour on account of the different situations of party government and the diverse opposition parties. Half of the parliaments had minority governments in which minority parties played a very important role by supporting the government in parliament; however, the main opposition party was never the same since there were two changes of government. [source] Identifying connections in a fractured rock aquifer using ADFTsGROUND WATER, Issue 3 2005Todd Halihan Fractured rock aquifers are difficult to characterize because of their extremely heterogeneous nature. Developing an understanding of fracture network hydraulic properties in these aquifers is difficult and time consuming, and field testing techniques for determining the location and connectivity of fractures in these aquifers are limited. In the Clare Valley, South Australia, well interference is an important issue for a major viticultural area that uses a fractured aquifer. Five fracture sets exist in the aquifer, all dipping >25°. In this setting, we evaluate the ability of steady-state asymmetric dipole-flow tests (ADFTs) to determine the connections between a test well and a set of piezometers. The procedure involves dividing a test well into two chambers using a single packer and pumping fluid from the upper chamber to the lower chamber. By conducting a series of tests at different packer elevations, an "input" signal is generated in fracture zones connected to the test well. By monitoring the "output" response of the hydraulic dipole field at piezometers, the connectivity of the fractures between the test well and piezometers can be determined. Results indicate the test well used in this study is connected in a complex three-dimensional geometry, with drawdown occurring above and below areas of potentiometric buildup. The ADFT method demonstrates that the aquifer evaluated in this study cannot be modeled effectively on the well scale using continuum flow models. [source] A laboratory assessment of coronal bacterial leakage in root canals filled with new and conventional sealersINTERNATIONAL ENDODONTIC JOURNAL, Issue 4 2009A. U. Eldeniz Abstract Aim, To evaluate the resistance to ex vivo bacterial leakage over a 40-day period of root canal fillings with five new root canal sealers: RC Sealer, Epiphany, EndoREZ, GuttaFlow and Acroseal, compared with Apexit, AH Plus and RoekoSeal. Methodology, One hundred and forty-four single rooted human teeth were divided randomly into eight test (n = 15) and two control groups (n = 12). The root canals were filled using a single cone technique with gutta-percha except in the Epiphany and EndoREZ groups. These were filled with Resilon and resin-coated gutta-percha, respectively. The gutta-percha surface of the GuttaFlow group was coated with an experimental primer prior to filling. Positive controls were filled with gutta-percha without sealer and tested with bacteria, whereas negative controls were sealed with wax to test the seal between the chambers. Filled roots were incorporated in a split chamber model system using Streptococcus mutans as a microbial marker. Leakage was assessed for turbidity of the broth in the lower chamber every day for 40 days. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan,Meier product limit method and event times were compared using the Log-rank test (, = 0.05). Results, Epiphany, GuttaFlow with test primer and Apexit prevented leakage significantly better than AH Plus, RC Sealer, RoekoSeal, EndoREZ and Acroseal (P < 0.05). None of the specimens in the AH Plus, RC Sealer, RoekoSeal and EndoREZ groups resisted bacterial penetration for 40 days. Conclusion, The new sealers, Epiphany and GuttaFlow with primer, along with Apexit, showed better resistance to bacterial penetration than the other new or traditional sealers tested. [source] The Effect of Electoral Geography on Pork Barreling in Bicameral LegislaturesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2010Jowei Chen How does the electoral geography of legislative districts affect pork barreling? This article presents a formal model extending Mayhew's classic credit-claiming theory to account for the electoral geography of bicameralism. Under bicameralism, upper chamber (Senate) and lower chamber (Assembly) legislators who share overlapping constituencies must collaborate to bring home pork projects. Collaboration is easier between a Senator and an Assembly Member who share a large fraction of their constituents and thus have relatively aligned electoral incentives. But dividing a Senate district into a larger number of Assembly district fragments misaligns these electoral incentives for collaboration, thus reducing equilibrium pork spending. Hence, increased Senate district fragmentation causes a decrease in equilibrium spending. I exploit the 2002 New York Senate expansion as a natural experiment, examining how sudden changes in the geographic fragmentation of Senate districts account for differences in the distribution of pork earmarks immediately before and after the redrawing of district boundaries. [source] Influence of antiseptic agents on interleukin 8 release and transmigration of polymorphonuclear granulocytes in an in vitro model of peritonitisBRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY (NOW INCLUDES EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY), Issue 7 2000W. Sendt Background The effect of antiseptic agents on peritoneal cells is ill defined. The influence of taurolidine (TAU) and polyhexamide (HEX) was investigated in an in vitro model. Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs) were laid on collagen-coated filter inserts (HUVECs on the bottom, HPMCs on the top), thus representing a two-chamber peritoneal model. When confluence was reached, HPMCs were stimulated with 0·5 ml tumour necrosis factor (TNF) , 10 ,g ml,1 for 4 h. Afterwards 0·5 ml TAU (1 and 2 per cent) or 0·5 ml HEX (0·1 and 0·2 per cent) solutions were added to the upper compartment. After 1 h polymorphonuclear granulocytes (PMNs) (105 ml,1) were added to the lower compartment. After 2 and 6 h aliquots were taken from both compartments, transmigrated PMNs were counted and interleukin (IL) 8 concentrations were measured. Controls were either TNF-,-stimulated HPMCs or stimulated HPMCs where culture medium had been substituted for TNF-,. Significance of differences was assessed by analysis of variance with Bonferroni corrections. Correlations were calculated by linear regression analysis. Results Stimulation with TNF-, led to a time-dependent increase in PMN transmigration. IL-8 secretion into the apical compartment increased time dependently, resulting in a gradient between the two chambers. After substitution of the stimulus by culture medium, significantly less IL-8 was measured in both compartments. PMN transmigration was almost absent. Addition of HEX resulted in an initial increase in IL-8 levels comparable to TNF controls without further changes. A concentration-dependent decrease in IL-8 gradient was associated with reduced transmigration. The IL-8 gradient between the upper and lower chambers correlated significantly with PMN transmigration (r = 0·8205, P < 0·0001). Conclusion The decrease in IL-8 gradients by HEX and the diminished IL-8 response after addition of TAU may reflect either anti-inflammatory effects or cellular damage. Both antiseptic solutions reduced PMN migration, irrespective of continuous stimulation in this model. © 2000 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd [source] | |||||||||||||