This article begins by recounting a series of mass surveillance practices conducted by members of the "Five Eyes" spying alliance. While boundary- and intersubjectivity-based theories of privacy ...register some of the harms linked to such practices I demonstrate how neither are holistically capable of registering these harms. Given these theories' deficiencies I argue that critiques of signals intelligence surveillance practices can be better grounded on why the practices intrude on basic communicative rights, including those related to privacy. The crux of the argument is that pervasive mass surveillance erodes essential boundaries between public and private spheres by compromising populations' abilities to freely communicate with one another and, in the process, erodes the integrity of democratic processes and institutions. Such erosions are captured as privacy violations but, ultimately, are more destructive to the fabric of society than are registered by theories of privacy alone. After demonstrating the value of adopting a communicative rights approach to critique signals intelligence surveillance I conclude by arguing that this approach also lets us clarify the international normative implications of such surveillance, that it provides a novel way of conceptualizing legal harm linked to the surveillance, and that it showcases the overall value of focusing on the implications of interfering with communications first, and as such interferences constituting privacy violations second. Ultimately, by adopting this Habermasian inspired mode of analysis we can develop more holistic ways of conceptualizing harms associated with signals intelligence practices than are provided by either boundary- or intersubjective-based theories of privacy.
Anchoring on Credit Spreads DOUGAL, CASEY; ENGELBERG, JOSEPH; PARSONS, CHRISTOPHER A. ...
The Journal of finance (New York),
June 2015, Letnik:
70, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This paper documents that the path of credit spreads since a firm's last loan influences the level at which it can currently borrow. If spreads have moved in the firm's favor (i.e., declined), it is ...charged a higher interest rate than is justified by current fundamentals, whereas if spreads have moved to the firm's detriment, it is charged a lower rate. We evaluate several possible explanations for this finding, and conclude that anchoring to past deal terms is most plausible.
The Jesuit Joseph-François Lafitau announced his 1716 discovery of ginseng outside Montreal as the product of his encounter with Mohawk women. While Lafitau's efforts to foreground the participation ...of indigenous peoples have often been lauded, the manner in which he laid claim to the discovery was integral to the subsequent rise of an ecologically unsustainable and culturally disruptive trade in ginseng. When Parisian naturalists argued that he had found an unrelated plant, Lafitau produced a detailed examination of indigenous ecological and medical knowledge. His insistence on the existence of an Asian plant in North America emerged from his larger ambitions to demonstrate the Old World origins of indigenous peoples. While he succeeded in winning over his detractors, he disseminated a body of knowledge about indigenous plant collection that most actively interested merchants. These merchants translated Lafitau's insights regarding indigenous cultures into a global trade that was economically profitable but locally devastating. The consequences of Lafitau's discovery therefore suggest a need for both attention to the material impacts of intellectual endeavors and caution as today's Native Americans are again being asked to collaborate with academics to better know and protect American environments.
Arsenic contamination of floodplain soils is extensive and additional fresh arsenic inputs to the pedosphere from human activities are ongoing.
We investigate the cumulative effects of repetitive ...soil redox cycles, which occur naturally during flooding and draining, on a calcareous fluvisol, the native microbial community and arsenic mobility following a simulated contamination event.
We show through bioreactor experiments, spectroscopic techniques and modelling that repetitive redox cycling can decrease arsenic mobility during reducing conditions by up to 45%. Phylogenetic and functional analyses of the microbial community indicate that iron cycling is a key driver of observed changes to solution chemistry. We discuss probable mechanisms responsible for the arsenic immobilisation observed in-situ. The proposed mechanisms include, decreased heterotrophic iron reduction due to the depletion of labile particulate organic matter (POM), increases to the proportion of co-precipitated vs. aqueous or sorbed arsenic with α-FeOOH/Fe(OH)3 and potential precipitation of amorphous ferric arsenate.
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•Oscillating redox conditions & heterotrophic metabolism are implemented in PHREEQC.•Depletion of labile organic matter limits iron reduction and arsenic release.•Amorphous FeAsO4∙2H2O precipitation potentially limits arsenic mobility during redox cycling.•Water fluctuating zones may naturally attenuate arsenic liberation during flooding.
We demonstrate through batch experiments, spectroscopy and modelling that repetitive cycles of oxidation and reduction decrease arsenic mobility in soils during subsequent reducing conditions.
•Refugee return programs are potentially crucial development interventions.•We assess the efficacy of the largest, the UNHCR shelter program in Afghanistan.•Matching techniques are used since ...randomisation of assistance is infeasible.•Shelter assistance reduces multidimensional poverty by around three percentage points.•The impact of shelter assistance on poverty works through noneconomic channels.
In this paper we assess the UNHCR post-return shelter assistance program in Afghanistan during 2009–11, motivated by the fact that the resolution of lost housing and property is commonly understood as a key ingredient in sustainable return and reintegration. We implement a variety of matching techniques in order to insulate our results from selection bias. Adopting a multidimensional approach, our results show that shelter assistance reduces the multidimensional poverty index of benefiting households by three percentage points. Looking at individual indicators of deprivation we find that assistance has the biggest effect on dietary diversity, food security, and heating.
Abstract A deep voice is evolutionarily advantageous for males, but does it confer benefit in competition for leadership positions? We study ecologically valid speech from 792 male public-company ...Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and find that CEOs with deeper voices manage larger companies, and as a result, make more money. After including proxies for other CEO attributes including experience, education and formant position, we document economically significant voice pitch effects. For the median CEO of the median sample firm, an interquartile decrease in voice pitch (22.1 Hz) is associated with a $440 million increase in the size of the firm managed, and in turn, $187 thousand more in annual compensation. Deep voiced CEOs also enjoy longer tenures. Although this is a study of association, the results are consistent with recent experimental predictions suggesting a role for voice pitch in leadership selection and also suggest economically meaningful effects of voice pitch reach the upper echelons of corporate management.
Mechanisms of liver fibrosis Tsukada, Shigeki; Parsons, Christopher J.; Rippe, Richard A.
Clinica chimica acta,
02/2006, Letnik:
364, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Liver fibrosis represents a significant health problem worldwide of which no acceptable therapy exists. The most characteristic feature of liver fibrosis is excess deposition of type I collagen. A ...great deal of research has been performed to understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of liver fibrosis. The activated hepatic stellate cell (HSC) is the primary cell type responsible for the excess production of collagen. Following a fibrogenic stimulus, HSCs change from a quiescent to an activated, collagen-producing cell. Numerous changes in gene expression are associated with HSC activation including the induction of several intracellular signaling cascades, which help maintain the activated phenotype and control the fibrogenic and proliferative state of the cell. Detailed analyses in understanding the molecular basis of collagen gene regulation have revealed a complex process offering the opportunity for multiple potential therapeutic strategies. However, further research is still needed to gain a better understanding of HSC activation and how this cell maintains its fibrogenic nature. In this review we describe many of the molecular events that occur following HSC activation and collagen gene regulation that contribute to the fibrogenic nature of these cells and provide a review of therapeutic strategies to treat this disease.
It is controversially discussed whether general anaesthesia increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) or accelerates its progression. One important factor in AD pathogenesis is the accumulation ...of soluble amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers which affect N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function and abolish hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). NMDA receptor antagonists, at concentrations allowing physiological activation, can prevent Aβ-induced deficits in LTP. The anaesthetics xenon and S-ketamine both act as NMDA receptor antagonists and have been reported to be neuroprotective. In this study, we investigated the effects of subanaesthetic concentrations of these drugs on LTP deficits induced by different Aβ oligomers and compared them to the effects of radiprodil, a NMDA subunit 2B (GluN2B)-selective antagonist.
We applied different Aβ oligomers to murine brain slices and recorded excitatory postsynaptic field potentials before and after high-frequency stimulation in the CA1 region of hippocampus. Radiprodil, xenon and S-ketamine were added and recordings evoked from a second input were measured.
Xenon and radiprodil, applied at low concentrations, partially restored the LTP deficit induced by pre-incubated Aβ1-42. S-ketamine showed no effect. None of the drugs tested were able to ameliorate Aβ1-40-induced LTP-deficits.
Xenon administered at subanaesthetic concentrations partially restored Aβ1-42-induced impairment of LTP, presumably via its weak NMDA receptor antagonism. The effects were in a similar range than those obtained with the NMDA-GluN2B antagonist radiprodil. Our results point to protective properties of xenon in the context of pathological distorted synaptic physiology which might be a meaningful alternative for anaesthesia in AD patients.
•Amyloid beta (Aβ) oligomers are one of the key pathogens in Alzheimer's Disease (AD).•General anaesthesia is discussed to increase the risk of AD onset or progression.•There is evidence for the gaseous anaesthetic xenon to be neuroprotective.•Xenon but not S-ketamine ameliorated Aβ1-42-induced impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP).•LTP deficits induced by Aβ1-40 were neither reversed by xenon nor by S-ketamine.
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