Brain amino acid abnormalities in liver disease--a postmortem study

In a postmortem exploratory study, we examined whether specific amino acid abnormalities associated with liver diseases in vivo may also be detected in human brain samples obtained at clinical autopsies. The branched-chain amino acids (BCAA: valine, leucine, isoleucine) were decreased in the group of patients with liver diseases compared with the control group, whereas the aromatic amino acids (AAA: phenylalanine, tyrosine) were increased. However, the ranges overlapped significantly and were not statistically different. The molar ratio BCAA/AAA was determined to be 1.92 in the collection of patients with liver diseases compared with 2.27 in the control group. In patients with liver disease, ornithine concentrations in the brain appeared significantly decreased whereas glutamine was significantly increased. No significant difference was found in the brain concentrations of proline. Amino acid analysis may contribute to the understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of liver disease, which are discussed, and may supplement the postmortem diagnosis.     

Von „alten“ und „neuen“ Kriegen — Zum Gestaltwandel kriegerischer Gewalt

There is a growing debate in the field of conflict and peace research as to whether the ways wars are fought have changed since the end of the cold war. Whereas some claim to identify the emergence of a new type of war — the so-called new wars — others deny a fundamental transformation of warfare. This article intervenes in this debate by subjecting the thesis of the new wars to a first plausibility test. An analysis of three case studies on the wars in Cambodia, Afghanistan and Angola suggests that there has indeed been a transformation of warfare since the end of the cold war. In contrast to the warfare of the 1980s, in the 1990s one can observe a privatisation of the conflict parties, a criminalisiation of their war economies, an economisation of their motives and a brutalisation of their strategies.     

Duverger's concept: Semi-presidential government revisited

Abstract The article attempts to follow up the fate of the concept Maurice Duverger created to explain the regime of the French Fifth Republic: semi–presidential government. Duverger expounded the concept in his fundamental book Échec au roi in 1978, trying to illustrate the fact that regimes of this type worked quite differently in the seven Western and Northern European countries that institutionalized it. 'Semi–presidentialism' is now widely, but very often controversially, used. The recent appearance of such regimes in newly democratizing states points to the fact that this form of government is often the preferred solution in times of transition. A critical review of Duverger's concept seems expedient as the diversification of these regimes raises new and perhaps intriguing questions. Due to the rejection of Duverger's concept or its ignorance in parts of the European scientific community, it is necessary to defend it as an important tool for political analysis. Moreover, it opens the opportunity for the examination of fundamental problems in political science.     

Duverger's concept: Semi–presidential government revisited

The article attempts to follow up the fate of the concept Maurice Duverger created to explain the regime of the French Fifth Republic: semi–presidential government. Duverger expounded the concept in his fundamental book Échec au roi in 1978, trying to illustrate the fact that regimes of this type worked quite differently in the seven Western and Northern European countries that institutionalized it. 'Semi–presidentialism' is now widely, but very often controversially, used. The recent appearance of such regimes in newly democratizing states points to the fact that this form of government is often the preferred solution in times of transition. A critical review of Duverger's concept seems expedient as the diversification of these regimes raises new and perhaps intriguing questions. Due to the rejection of Duverger's concept or its ignorance in parts of the European scientific community, it is necessary to defend it as an important tool for political analysis. Moreover, it opens the opportunity for the examination of fundamental problems in political science.     

Developmental trends in television coviewing of parent-child dyads

In this study, long-term trends in joint parent-child television viewing are taken as prototype for developmental changes of the parent-child relationship during adolescence. To describe and compare trends of television coviewing in different configurations of family members, trajectories of daily television viewing, tmeasured with Nielsen-type people meters over a time period of three years, were analyzed using time series methods. The findings show the transferability of hypotheses about general developments in relations between the generations on coviewing behavior of adolescents aged 14–16 with their parents to predict differential declines in the four parent-child dyads.Received Ph.D. from Free University of Berlin in 1976. Research interests include the role of the media in child development and family relations.Received Ph.D. from Free University of Berlin in 1984. Research interests include time series analysis, television behavior, and personality.Received M.S. from Technical University of Berlin, in 1987. Research interests include role of television in political socialization.     

Durch den Balkan nach Europa? Deutschland und Frankreich in den Jugoslawienkriegen

Starting from very different positions on the outbreak of violence in Slovenia and Croatia in 1991, French and German policies slowly converged over time and even reached a similar position on the Kosovo crisis. Yet, both foreign policies did not concentrate on the conflict solution as such but were rather concerned with preventing any negative spill-over on the European integration process and Franco-German relations respectively. The first part of the article summarises the two foreign policies in three phases of the Yugoslavian drama: First, the recognition of Slovenia and Croatia, second, the Bosnian war and third, the Kosovo crisis in 1998–99. By means of two heuristic criterea (behaviour towards institutions and conflict perception), both foreign policies are then compared analytically. Moreover, the striking differences in policies towards institutions and conflict perceptions motivate the generation of hypotheses in the next part. For France, we hold that identity theory might present a good approach in order to understand why French foreign policy was primarily driven by self-perceptions. Germany, by contrast, seems to be better suited to the application of role theory with its strong emphasis on alter-expectations. The article concludes by focusing on the perspectives of European integration and the Franco-German relations.     

The Moore thesis: what's left after 1989?

This article reconsiders the work of Barrington Moore and his critics on the historical emergence of democracy in the light of post-communist democratization. What are we to make of a region which violates Moore's dictum – “No bourgeoisie, no democracy”? Using the tools of comparative historical analysis, it makes sense of how democracy emerged in the region by developing a theory which both explains why this was possible and what social actors were essential to this outcome. With attention to patterns of social development in the region, the politics of elite alliance in the final phase of communism, the strength of civil society at extrication, and the role of the international system, it explains differences in regime outcomes across the region.     

Sense and sensitivity in pooled analysis of political data

Abstract. In recent years, pooled time–series cross–section data analysis has been advocated as a method for overcoming the 'small N, many variables' problem in comparative political economy in order to derive valid inferences from statistical comparisons of nation states. Moreover, the approach seemed promising in handling both comparisons among different countries and developments over time. However, due to the complex structure of pooled data sets, this approach cannot simply be regarded as a convenient way of increasing the number of cases and getting more significant results. This paper exemplifies the fallacies of pooled data sets by reanalyzing a study done by Paul Boreham and Hugh Compston on the effect of labour participation in policy formation on unemployment. Reanalysis of their data set controlling for the panel structure of the data by using 'panel corrected standard errors' and a more detailed analysis of the bivariate relationships show that the causal effect is less clear–cut than suggested and becomes considerably weaker during the 1980s. These dynamics are simply averaged out by pooled analysis. This leads to the conclusion that the currently most popular approach to pooled time–series cross–section analysis in comparative political economy — the constant–coefficients model — neither solves the small–N problem nor draws attention to dynamics over time. Thus, the article concludes that a sensitive interpretation of the findings obtained by advanced statistical methodology in comparative political economy is still dependent on small–N comparative analysis.