Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Flaws
Kinds of Flaws Selected AbstractsThe Sin of Asyndeton: Fatal, Flaws in Enriching our WorshipTHE HEYTHROP JOURNAL, Issue 4 2000J. Barrington Bates First page of article [source] Flaws in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Rationale for Supporting the Development and Approval of BiDil as a Treatment for Heart Failure Only in Black PatientsTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2008George T. H. Ellison The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) rationale for supporting the development and approval of BiDil (a combination of hydralazine hydrochloride and isosorbide dinitrate; H-I) for heart failure specifically in black patients was based on under-powered, post hoc subgroup analyses of two relatively old trials (V-HeFT I and II), which were further complicated by substantial covariate imbalances between racial groups. Indeed, the only statistically significant difference observed between black and white patients was found without any adjustment for potential confounders in samples that were unlikely to have been adequately randomized. Meanwhile, because the accepted baseline therapy for heart failure has substantially improved since these trials took place, their results cannot be combined with data from the more recent trial (A-HeFT) amongst black patients alone. There is therefore little scientific evidence to support the approval of BiDil only for use in black patients, and the FDA's rationale fails to consider the ethical consequences of recognizing racial categories as valid markers of innate biological difference, and permitting the development of group-specific therapies that are subject to commercial incentives rather than scientific evidence or therapeutic imperatives. This paper reviews the limitations in the scientific evidence used to support the approval of BiDil only for use in black patients; calls for further analysis of the V-HeFT I and II data which might clarify whether responses to H-I vary by race; and evaluates the consequences of commercial incentives to develop racialized medicines. We recommend that the FDA revise the procedures they use to examine applications for race-based therapies to ensure that these are based on robust scientific claims and do not undermine the aims of the 1992 Revitalization Act. [source] Flaws in the assessment of the best interests of the newbornACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 4 2009Carlo V Bellieni Abstract We examined the literature on ethical decisions regarding neonates, to assess whether personal beliefs and prejudices influence end-of-life decisions taken by caregivers. Studies show that religion and familiarity with disability influence caregivers' decisions, whereas the influx of already being a parent, age, sex and professional experience is controverse. Caregivers' attitudes towards end-of-life decisions are also affected by personal concerns about litigation, prejudices and their view of disability. The concept of ,poor quality of life' is widely used as a reference in end-of-life decisions, but this can be interpreted differently, leaving room for a wide range of personal viewpoints. In most cases, parents' opinions are considered important and are sometimes the main determinant in decision making. However, it is unclear whether parents' decisions are based on their own wishes or on the best interests of the newborn. Conclusion: In neonatal end-of-life decisions, patients may not receive cures based only on their best interests. [source] A Dark Age Peter Principle: Beowulf's incompetence thresholdEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2010Oren Falk Many readers, recognizing the incompatibility of heroism with the duties of kingship, have argued that Beowulf tells a story of colossal failure. Drawing on anthropological theory, I propose that the protagonist is more Big-Man than king and that his heroism, far from a socially dysfunctional flaw, is in fact the leash by which society yanks him back from establishing himself as king. Beowulf thus speaks to an aristocracy disinclined to submit to royalty. The poem shines a light on Anglo-Saxons' aversion to despotic rule: to protect its own decentralized political structure, society against the state foredooms King Beowulf to death. [source] Baking for the common good: a reassessment of the assize of bread in Medieval England1ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 3 2004JAMES DAVIS This article reassesses the structure of the assize of bread and its relevance for bakers and consumers in late medieval England. It has long been thought that the laws governing the manufacture and sale of bread, although adhering to a logical relationship between weight and price, were nevertheless ill-considered in formulation, calculation, and enactment and did not, in reality, provide the stable allowance recommended for bakers. By examining the economic and moral ideology underlying the assize of bread it is possible to demonstrate that legislators were actually employing a rationale that best fitted contemporary circumstances and retail practices. There nevertheless remained one fundamental flaw in its construction, which was to have implications for its enforcement. [source] Load-bearing capacity of all-ceramic posterior four-unit fixed partial dentures with different zirconia frameworksEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2007Philipp Kohorst The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the load-bearing capacity of posterior four-unit fixed partial dentures (FPDs) produced with two different yttria-stabilized polycrystalline tetragonal zirconia (Y-TZP) ceramics, one being a presintered material, the other a fully sintered, hot isostatically pressed material. Additionally, as a novel approach, the influence of preliminary mechanical damage upon the fracture force of an FPD has been investigated. A total of 20 frameworks each were milled from presintered zirconia and from fully sintered zirconia. Prior to veneering, 10 frameworks of each material were ,damaged' by a defined saw cut similar to an accidental flaw generated during shape cutting. Before fracture testing, all FPDs were subjected to thermal and mechanical cycling. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate fracture surfaces. Statistical analysis showed that FPDs milled from fully sintered zirconia had a significantly higher fracture resistance compared with specimens made from presintered material, whereas preliminary damage did not have a significant effect. After aging, FPDs made from both materials were capable of withstanding occlusal forces reported in the literature. Therefore, both types of Y-TZP may be suitable for posterior four-unit all-ceramic FPDs, although further prolonged aging experiments and prospective clinical trials are required to prove their fitness for clinical use. [source] Playing the Odds: A New Response to Lucretius's Symmetry ArgumentEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, Issue 3 2010Jeremy R. Simon There remains, however, dispute as to what the flaw is. After establishing what I understand the target of Lucretius's argument to be (a desire for a longer life as such), I argue for a novel interpretation of what the flaw is, namely, that extending one's life into the time before one was actually born would be an uncertain bet for one who wanted to extend his life, whereas extending one's life beyond the time one actually dies is a sure bet. This account of what the flaw is has the particular merit of relying only on simple concepts used in everyday reasoning and thus can explain why Lucretius's argument gains no traction even in the absence of sophisticated philosophical analysis. [source] Effect of shot peening on fatigue limit of surface flawed samplesFATIGUE & FRACTURE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Issue 3-4 2008F. TAKAHASHI ABSTRACT The effects of shot peening on the fatigue limit of specimens having a semicircular notch of varied surface length, 2a, are investigated. In the case of un-peened specimens, the fatigue limit of specimens having a notch of a= 0.05 mm was equal to that of the un-notched specimens. However, the fatigue limit of a= 0.3 mm was 46% smaller than that of the un-notched specimens. On the contrary, in the case of peened specimens, the fatigue limit of a= 0.2 mm was equal to that of the un-notched specimens and furthermore, that of a= 0.3 mm was only 5% smaller than that of the un-notched specimens. Multiple non-propagating cracks were observed in peened specimens after fatigue testing. The stress intensity factor of the maximum non-propagating crack size corresponded to that of a= 0.2 mm notch. These results indicate that shot peening increases fatigue limit and decreases the likelihood that a surface flaw will result in failure. [source] Initiation and early growth of fatigue cracks in an aerospace aluminium alloyFATIGUE & FRACTURE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Issue 2 2002S. A. Barter Abstract Material imperfections usually play a substantial role in the early stages of fatigue cracking. This article presents some observations concerning fatigue crack initiating flaws and early crack growth in 7050-T7451 aluminium alloy specimens and in full-scale fatigue test articles with a production surface finish. Equivalent initial flaw size (EIFS) approaches used to evaluate the fatigue implications of metallurgical, manufacturing and service-induced features were refined by using quantitative fractography to acquire detailed information on the early crack growth behaviour of individual cracks; the crack growth observations were employed in a simple crack growth model developed for use in analysing service crack growth. The use of observed crack growth behaviour reduces the variability which is inherent in EIFS approaches which rely on modelling the whole of fatigue life, and which can dominate EIFS methods. The observations of realistic initial flaws also highlighted some of the significant factors in the fatigue life-determining early fatigue growth phase, such as surface treatment processes. Although inclusions are often regarded as the single most common type of initiating flaw, processes which include etching can lead to etch pitting of grain boundaries with significant fatigue life implications. [source] The continuous crack flexibility model for crack identificationFATIGUE & FRACTURE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, Issue 10 2001T. G. Chondros The presence of a crack in a structural member introduces a local flexibility that affects its dynamic response. Moreover, the crack will open and close in time depending on the loading conditions and vibration amplitude. The changes in dynamic characteristics can be measured and lead to an identification of the structural changes which eventually might lead to the detection of a structural flaw. The results of various independent evaluations of changes in the natural frequency of vibrations of cracked structural elements are reported. A crack model of a continuous flexibility, found with fracture mechanics methods using the displacement field in the vicinity of the crack developed recently is used here. The analytical results for the cracked elements behaviour based on the continuous crack flexibility vibration theory were correlated with numerical solutions, the lumped-crack beam vibration analysis and experimental results obtained on aluminium and steel beams with open cracks. [source] N-terminal CFTR missense variants severely affect the behavior of the CFTR chloride channel,HUMAN MUTATION, Issue 5 2008G.G. Gené Abstract Over 1,500 cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene sequence variations have been identified in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and related disorders involving an impaired function of the CFTR chloride channel. However, detailed structure,function analyses have only been established for a few of them. This study aimed evaluating the impact of eight N-terminus CFTR natural missense changes on channel behavior. By site-directed mutagenesis, we generated four CFTR variants in the N-terminal cytoplasmic tail (p.P5L, p.S50P, p.E60K, and p.R75Q) and four in the first transmembrane segment of membrane-spanning domain 1 (p.G85E/V, p.Y89C, and p.E92K). Immunoblot analysis revealed that p.S50P, p.E60K, p.G85E/V, and p.E92K produced only core-glycosylated proteins. Immunofluorescence and whole cell patch-clamp confirmed intracellular retention, thus reflecting a defect of CFTR folding and/or trafficking. In contrast, both p.R75Q and p.Y89C had a glycosylation pattern and a subcellular distribution comparable to the wild-type CFTR, while the percentage of mature p.P5L was considerably reduced, suggesting a major biogenesis flaw on this channel. Nevertheless, whole-cell chloride currents were recorded for all three variants. Single-channel patch-clamp analyses revealed that the channel activity of p.R75Q appeared similar to that of the wild-type CFTR, while both p.P5L and p.Y89C channels displayed abnormal gating. Overall, our results predict a major impact of the CFTR missense variants analyzed, except p.R75Q, on the CF phenotype and highlight the importance of the CFTR N-terminus on channel physiology. Hum Mutat 29(5), 738,749, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] A Note on Viable Proposals,INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2002Luc Lauwers Sengupta and Sengupta ("Viable Proposals,"International Economic Review 35 (1994), 347,59.) consider a payoff vector of a TU-game as a viable proposal if it challenges each legitimate contender. They show that for each game the set of viable proposals is nonempty. Their proof, however, has a flaw. I present a proof based upon a result by Kalai and Schmeidler ("An Admissible Set Occurring in Various Bargaining Situations,"Journal of Economic Theory 14 (1977), 402,11). [source] A Kharitonov-like theorem for robust stability independent of delay of interval quasipolynomialsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBUST AND NONLINEAR CONTROL, Issue 6 2010Onur Toker Abstract In this paper, a Kharitonov-like theorem is proved for testing robust stability independent of delay of interval quasipolynomials, p(s)+,eqk(s), where p and qk's are interval polynomials with uncertain coefficients. It is shown that the robust stability test of the quasipolynomial basically reduces to the stability test of a set of Kharitonov-like vertex quasipolynomials, where stability is interpreted as stability independent of delay. As discovered in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234), the well-known vertex-type robust stability result reported in (IMA J. Math. Contr. Info. 1988; 5:117,123) (See also (IEEE Trans. Circ. Syst. 1990; 37(7):969,972; Proc. 34th IEEE Conf. Decision Contr., New Orleans, LA, December 1995; 392,394) does contain a flaw. An alternative approach is proposed in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234), and both frequency sweeping and vertex type robust stability tests are developed for quasipolynomials with polytopic coefficient uncertainties. Under a specific assumption, it is shown in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234) that robust stability independent of delay of an interval quasipolynomial can be reduced to stability independent of delay of a set of Kharitonov-like vertex quasipolynomials. In this paper, we show that the assumption made in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234) is redundant, and the Kharitonov-like result reported in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234) is true without any additional assumption, and can be applied to all quasipolynomials. The key idea used in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234) was the equivalence of Hurwitz stability and , -o -stability for interval polynomials with constant term never equal to zero. This simple observation implies that the well-known Kharitonov theorem for Hurwitz stability can be applied for , -o -stability, provided that the constant term of the interval polynomial never vanishes. However, this line of approach is based on a specific assumption, which we call the CNF-assumption. In this paper, we follow a different approach: First, robust , -o -stability problem is studied in a more general framework, including the cases where degree drop is allowed, and the constant term as well as other higher-orders terms can vanish. Then, generalized Kharitonov-like theorems are proved for , -o -stability, and inspired by the techniques used in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234), it is shown that robust stability independent of delay of an interval quasipolynomial can be reduced to stability independent of delay of a set of Kharitonov-like vertex quasipolynomials, even if the assumption adopted in (IEEE Trans. Autom. Control 2008; 53:1219,1234) is not satisfied. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Purchase agreements: How one common flaw can cost you big money!JOURNAL OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 2 2007William H. Venema If you are about to buy and sell a company, there's a dangerous ambiguity in most purchase agreements that could be very costly,and most lawyers don't even recognize it. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Judges' Use of Examinee Performance Data in an Angoff Standard-Setting Exercise for a Medical Licensing Examination: An Experimental StudyJOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, Issue 4 2009Brian E. Clauser Although the Angoff procedure is among the most widely used standard setting procedures for tests comprising multiple-choice items, research has shown that subject matter experts have considerable difficulty accurately making the required judgments in the absence of examinee performance data. Some authors have viewed the need to provide performance data as a fatal flaw for the procedure; others have considered it appropriate for experts to integrate performance data into their judgments but have been concerned that experts may rely too heavily on the data. There have, however, been relatively few studies examining how experts use the data. This article reports on two studies that examine how experts modify their judgments after reviewing data. In both studies, data for some items were accurate and data for other items had been manipulated. Judges in both studies substantially modified their judgments whether the data were accurate or not. [source] Effect of Flaw State on the Strength of Brittle Coatings on Soft SubstratesJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 10 2001Hae-Won Kim A study is made of the role of flaw state on the strength properties of brittle ceramic coating layers bonded to soft polycarbonate substrates. We introduce Vickers radial cracks at prescribed loads into the coating undersurfaces prior to bonding to control the sizes and locations of the starting flaws. A spherical indenter is then loaded on the top bilayer surfaces, directly above the Vickers indentation sites, subjecting the radial cracks to flexural tensile stress. Radial crack responses are monitored in situ, using a camera located below the transparent substrate. Critical loads to cause radial crack instability, and ensuing growth of the arrested cracks, are recorded. Conventional biaxial flexure tests on corresponding monolith coating materials provide a baseline for data comparison. Relative to the monolith flexure specimens, the bilayers show higher strengths, the more so the larger the flaw, indicating enhanced flaw tolerance. A simple fracture mechanics analysis of the radial crack evolution in the concentrated-load field, with due account for distribution of flexural tensile stresses at the coating undersurface, is unable to account completely for the enhanced bilayer strengths for the larger Vickers flaws. It is hypothesized that the epoxy used to bond the bilayer components enters the cracks, causing crack-wall adherence and providing an increased resistance to radial crack instability. The fracture mechanics are nevertheless able to account for the arrest and subsequent stable extension of the radial cracks beyond the critical loads once this extraneous adherence has been overcome. [source] Piezospectroscopic Analysis of Interface Debonding in Thermal Barrier CoatingsJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 5 2000Xiao Peng One of the principal modes by which electron-beam-evaporated thermal barrier coatings fail is via the nucleation of local regions of debonding, which grow and link together until reaching a critically sized flaw for spontaneous buckling and spalling. This progressive-failure mode is used as a basis for analyzing the changes that can occur in photostimulated luminescence spectra that have been recorded from the thermally grown oxide. This process also provides a basis for the quantitative determination of the extent of local damage prior to spalling from an analysis of the shape of the luminescence spectra. [source] Models for potentially biased evidence in meta-analysis using empirically based priorsJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2009N. J. Welton Summary., We present models for the combined analysis of evidence from randomized controlled trials categorized as being at either low or high risk of bias due to a flaw in their conduct. We formulate a bias model that incorporates between-study and between-meta-analysis heterogeneity in bias, and uncertainty in overall mean bias. We obtain algebraic expressions for the posterior distribution of the bias-adjusted treatment effect, which provide limiting values for the information that can be obtained from studies at high risk of bias. The parameters of the bias model can be estimated from collections of previously published meta-analyses. We explore alternative models for such data, and alternative methods for introducing prior information on the bias parameters into a new meta-analysis. Results from an illustrative example show that the bias-adjusted treatment effect estimates are sensitive to the way in which the meta-epidemiological data are modelled, but that using point estimates for bias parameters provides an adequate approximation to using a full joint prior distribution. A sensitivity analysis shows that the gain in precision from including studies at high risk of bias is likely to be low, however numerous or large their size, and that little is gained by incorporating such studies, unless the information from studies at low risk of bias is limited. We discuss approaches that might increase the value of including studies at high risk of bias, and the acceptability of the methods in the evaluation of health care interventions. [source] Fuzzy Legality in Regulation: The Legislative Mandate RevisitedLAW & POLICY, Issue 4 2001Margit Cohn How does law interact with regulatory reality, and why does legislative mandate, which presumably stands at the apex of a regulatory package, often deviate from its ideal-type as exclusive organizer of action? These questions are treated in this article through the concept of "fuzzy legality," which serves as a common title for six different legal arrangements that stray from the ideal-type legislative mandate, while enabling "perfectly legal" industry behavior. Against the background of potential dangers involved in such practices, the article traces the politics of preference for fuzziness both by regulators and regulatees. It reassesses calls for responsive and reflexive law as a cure for the regulatory malaise: these may have been voiced due to existing overly rigid regulatory frameworks, rather than the intrinsic flaw of legal constructs. [source] Monetary remedies in public law , misdiagnosis and misprescriptionLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2006Roderick Bagshaw This paper argues that the Law Commission's discussion paper Monetary Remedies in Public Law was vitiated by three flaws prevalent in the critical literature that it surveyed. The first, and most significant, flaw is a tendency to proceed by dislocating legal rules from their context then comparing them as abstract verbal formulae. This is made apparent through a comparison between unreasonableness in the tort of negligence and Wednesbury unreasonableness. The second flaw is the presentation of evaluative conclusions without a sufficient defence of the criteria used to reach them. The third flaw is the adoption of an unhelpfully static perspective as to the purpose of public-law liability rules, which neglects the positive role that they play in structuring good public decision making. The paper concludes by providing a sketch for the design of a research project which transcends these flaws. [source] Impact of item-writing flaws in multiple-choice questions on student achievement in high-stakes nursing assessmentsMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008Marie Tarrant Context, Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are frequently used to assess students in health science disciplines. However, few educators have formal instruction in writing MCQs and MCQ items often have item-writing flaws. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of item-writing flaws on student achievement in high-stakes assessments in a nursing programme in an English-language university in Hong Kong. Methods, From a larger sample, we selected 10 summative test papers that were administered to undergraduate nursing students in 1 nursing department. All test items were reviewed for item-writing flaws by a 4-person consensus panel. Items were classified as ,flawed' if they contained , 1 flaw. Items not containing item-writing violations were classified as ,standard'. For each paper, 2 separate scales were computed: a total scale which reflected the characteristics of the assessment as administered and a standard scale which reflected the characteristics of a hypothetical assessment including only unflawed items. Results, The proportion of flawed items on the 10 test papers ranged from 28,75%; 47.3% of all items were flawed. Fewer examinees passed the standard scale than the total scale (748 [90.6%] versus 779 [94.3%]). Conversely, the proportion of examinees obtaining a score , 80% was higher on the standard scale than the total scale (173 [20.9%] versus 120 [14.5%]). Conclusions, Flawed MCQ items were common in high-stakes nursing assessments but did not disadvantage borderline students, as has been previously demonstrated. Conversely, high-achieving students were more likely than borderline students to be penalised by flawed items. [source] PUBLIC DEBT AS PRIVATE WEALTH: SOME EQUILIBRIUM CONSIDERATIONSMETROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2006Article first published online: 13 NOV 200, Ekkehart Schlicht ABSTRACT Government bonds are interest-bearing assets. Increasing public debt increases wealth, income and consumption demand. The smaller government expenditure is, the larger consumption demand must be in equilibrium, and the larger must be public debt. Conversely, lower public debt implies higher government spending and taxation. Public debt plays, thus, an important role in establishing equilibrium. It distributes output between consumers and government. In case of insufficient demand, a larger public debt entails higher private consumption and less public spending. If upper bounds on public debt are introduced (as in the Maastricht treaty), such constraints place lower bounds on taxation and public spending and may rule out macroeconomic equilibrium. As an aside, a minor flaw in Domar's (American Economic Review, 34 (4), pp. 798,827) classical analysis is corrected. [source] On tree 3-spanners in directed path graphsNETWORKS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007B.S. Panda Abstract A spanning tree T of a graph G is said to be a tree t -spanner if the distance between any two vertices in T is at most t times their distance in G. While the complexity of the problem of recognizing whether a graph has a tree t -spanner is known for any fixed t,3, the case t = 3 is still open. H.-O. Le and V. B. Le (1999, Networks, 34(2), 81-87) have shown that every directed path graph admits a tree 3-spanner by proposing an algorithm to construct a tree 3-spanner of a given directed path graph. In this paper, we point out a flaw in their algorithm by producing a directed path graph for which their algorithm fails to produce a tree 3-spanner although the graph admits a tree 3-spanner. Furthermore, we show that directed path graphs need not admit tree 3-spanners in general. Next, we show that directed path graphs of diameter two always admit tree 2-spanners and hence tree 3-spanners. Finally, we show that a tree 2-spanner of a diameter two directed path graph can be constructed in linear time. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 50(3), 203,210 2007 [source] 019 The COLIPA Standard for solar simulators failed to standardize sunscreen SPFSPHOTODERMATOLOGY, PHOTOIMMUNOLOGY & PHOTOMEDICINE, Issue 2 2002R.M. Sayre The COLIPA Standard for solar simulators was developed to insure that SPF tested in different laboratories was not different because of the solar simulator used. Indeed for products with lower SPFs 2-10, the solar simulator standard reasonably assures similar SPFs when tested in different laboratories. For products with SPFs greater than 15, the SPF for the same product could be tested at 15 in one laboratory but as an SPF 100 in another. Differences in SPF due to solar simulator filtration will occur only for sunscreen products that exhibit absorption like cut-off filters. Products which generally absorb all UV wavelengths equally will not exhibit differences in SPF due to solar simulator filtration. In addition because of different amounts of UVA allowed within the COLIPA standard, the actual response for a given exposure may in one laboratory produce persistent pigment darkening and in another a simple sunburn. Ways to correct this flaw will be examined. [source] Tax Expenditure Budgets, Budget Policy, and Tax Policy: Confusion in the StatesPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 4 2002John L. Mikesell A tax expenditure budget should contribute to efficient and effective public decisions by quantifying the division in the tax structure between provisions that represent revenue policy (distribute the cost of government according to the legislated tax base) and parts that represent budget policy (substitute for direct spending). For this transparency to have the desired impact, however, the tax expenditure budget process and the direct expenditure process must be properly integrated and the tax expenditure budget must make an accurate division between the parts of the tax structure. A review of the 33 states with tax expenditure systems shows many weaknesses in application of the concept and poor linkage to the direct spending budget system. Their most significant flaw is in dividing the tax structure into normal and preference elements; states need greater attention to defining their basic tax structure if they are to have a meaningful tax expenditure budget. [source] THE KNOWLEDGE ARGUMENT AND HIGHER-ORDER PROPERTIESRATIO, Issue 1 2005Amir Horowitz The paper argues that Jackson's knowledge argument fails to undermine physicalist ontology. First, it is argued that, as this argument stands, it begs the question. Second, it is suggested that, by supplementing the argument (and taking one of its premises for granted), this flaw can be remedied insofar as the argument is taken to be an argument against type-physicalism; however, this flaw cannot be remedied insofar as the argument is taken to be an argument against token-physicalism. The argument cannot be supplemented so as to show that experiences have properties which are illegitimate from a physicalist perspective. [source] Secret Law and the Value of Publicity*RATIO JURIS, Issue 2 2009CHRISTOPHER KUTZ The dangers of secret law from the perspective of democratic accountability are clear, and need no elaboration. But distaste for secret law goes beyond questions of democracy. Since Plato, and continuing through such non-democratic thinkers as Bodin and Hobbes, secret law has been seen as a mark of tyranny, inconsistent with the notion of law itself. This raises both theoretical and practical questions. The theoretical questions involve the consistency of secret law with positivist legal theory. In principle, while a legal system as a whole could not be secret, publicity need not be part of the validity criteria for particular laws. The practical questions arise from the fact that secret laws, and secret governmental operations, are a common and often well-accepted aspect of governmental power. This paper argues that the flaw of secret law goes beyond accountability and beyond efficiency to the role that law plays, and can only play, in situating subjects' understanding of themselves in relation to the state. Secret law, as such, is inconsistent with this fundamental claim of the law to orient us in moral and political space, and undermines the claim to legitimacy of the state's rulers. [source] Voucher Privatization: A detour on the road to transition?THE ECONOMICS OF TRANSITION, Issue 3 2002Barbara G. Katz We explore an overlooked aspect of the design of the Czech voucher privatization programme, namely, the consequences of allowing individuals to distribute their vouchers among the voucher privatization funds (VPFs). We develop and analyse a model of voucher privatization in which we study the problem facing individuals who invest their vouchers in VPFs which, in turn, are able to use their skills to alter the performances of the firms in which they acquire shares. The VPFs have different skills and, by their bids and subsequent joint ownership patterns, affect the performances of the firms in their funds. We show that even in the case in which voucher holders have identical and full information, and wish to allocate their vouchers to the VPFs in a manner consistent with the maximization of economy,wide profit, a coordination failure generally prevents the implementation of this efficient outcome. Uncertainty, as well as differing payouts by the VPFs, is shown to exacerbate the problem. We conclude that there was an inherent flaw in the design of the Czech voucher scheme. JEL classification: D44, L33, P21, G11. [source] An Evaluation of Hsp90 as a Mediator of Cortical Patterning in TetrahymenaTHE JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001JOSEPH FRANKEL ABSTRACT. This study asks two questions: 1) whether Hsp90 is involved in the regulation of cortical patterning in Tetrahymena, and 2) if it is, whether specific defects in this regulation can be attributed to functional insufficiency of the Hsp90 molecule. To address question I, we compared the effects of a specific inhibitor of Hsp90, geldanamycin, on population growth and on development of the oral apparatus in two Tetrahymena species, T. pyriformis and T. thermophila. We observed that geldanamycin inhibits population growth in both species at very low concentrations, and that it has far more severe effects on oral patterning in T. pyriformis than in T. thermophila. These effects are parallel to those of high temperature in the same two species, and provide a tentative affirmative answer to the first question. To address question 2, we ascertained the base sequence of the genes that encode the Hsp90 molecules which are induced at high temperatures in both Tetrahymena species, as well as corresponding sequences in Paramecium tetraurelia. Extensive comparative analyses of the deduced amino acid sequences of the Hsp90 molecules of the two Tetrahymena species indicate that on the basis of what we currently know about Hsp90 both proteins are equally likely to be functional. Phylogenetic analyses of Hsp90 amino acid sequences indicate that the two Tetrahymena Hsp90 molecules have undergone a similar number of amino acid substitutions from their most recent common ancestor, with none of these corresponding to any known functionally critical region of the molecule. Thus there is no evidence that the Hsp90 molecule of T. pyriformis is functionally impaired; the flaw in the control of cortical patterning is more likely to be caused by defects in mechanism(s) that mediate the response to Hsp90, as would be expected from the "Hsp90 capacitor" model of Rutherford and Lindquist. [source] Patents and Pharmaceutical R&D: Consolidating Private,Public Partnership Approach to Global Public Health CrisesTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2010Chidi Oguamanam Intellectual property (IP) is a reward and incentive market-driven mechanism for fostering innovation and creativity. The underlying, but disputed, assumption to this logic is that without IP, the wheel of innovation and inventiveness may grind to a halt or spin at a lower and unhelpful pace. This conventional justification of IP enjoys, perhaps, greater empirical credibility with the patent regime than with other regimes. Despite the inconclusive role of patents as a stimulant for research and development (R&D), special exception is given to patent's positive impact on innovation and inventiveness in the pharmaceutical sector. This article focuses on that sector and links the palpable disconnect between the current pharmaceutical R&D agenda and global public health crises, especially access to drugs for needy populations, to a flaw in the reward and incentive theory of the patent system. It proposes a creative access model to the benefits of pharmaceutical research by pointing in the direction of a global treaty to empower and institutionalize private,public partnerships in health care provisions. Such a regime would restore balance in the global IP system that presently undermines the public-regarding considerations in IP jurisprudence. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||