Confrontation and co‐operation in the Indian Ocean

The end of the Cold War has created new dangers and opportunities. The formation of an Indian Ocean Rim trading bloc has the potential to benefit some of the poorest people in the world. Regional maritime co‐operation could provide the catalyst for alleviating poverty on the Indian Ocean Rim by giving a spurt to incomes and employment from the seas.     

Eastern Mediterranean Gas Discoveries: Local and Global Impact

The ongoing discoveries of natural-gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean region significantly affect international relations. Since their viability has been increasingly confirmed, they have attracted public attention in the international energy market. Focusing on current gas production and trading in the Middle East, this paper studies the anticipated impact of gas production in the sea on geopolitical relations in the Middle East and investigates how these results may change the geoeconomic strategies of global energy-market players as well as nearby countries. In addition, our analyses provide comprehensive insights into the evolution of gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean.     

South Korean views on Japan's constitutional reform under the Abe government

In this Special Section, this article reviews South Korean views on Japan's ‘peace’ Constitution and the Abe government's attempts at constitutional reform. It identifies three different understandings among South Korean academics on why Japan is escalating attempts to revise the Constitution under the Abe government. An in-depth analysis demonstrates that all three perspectives pay specific attention to Japan's constitutional reform in relation to security policy changes. However, they differ in assessing the impact of Japan's constitutional reform on South Korea as well as how South Korea should deal with such a change. A minority opinion considers Japan's ‘remilitarisation’ through constitutional revision as conducive to South Korean security interests by increasing deterrence against North Korea, whereas the dominant opinion is that any attempt to revise the Constitution could be in and of itself a potential threat to South Korea's security due to a lack of trust attributed to unresolved historical conflicts between Korea and Japan. However, all three approaches pay hardly any attention to the positive role of Japan's peace Constitution while Japan's peace Constitution might provide a regional peace model in Northeast Asia.     

Is the U.S. Congress an Insurmountable Obstacle to Any “Far‐Sighted Conception of Budgeting”?

In recent years, Congress has recurrently failed to meet its minimum responsibilities in federal budgeting. This article analyzes whether it is possible to repair this problem, using concepts popularized by Allen Schick in his influential article “The Road to PPB.” His article compared the PPB reform effort to the history of budget process reforms that started with the design of the executive budget. It publicized a logical sequence of budget process improvements that started with control and then advanced through management and planning. The article did not substantially address the role of Congress, but eight years after it was published, Congress reasserted its constitutional role in the budget process. Its record of performance since then has ranged from mixed to dysfunctional. The Congress has been criticized for budgetary delays, micromanagement, myopia, procrastination, indiscipline, and an inability to prioritize intelligently. If these faults are set in stone, then an integrated system of budgeting, as described in “The Road to PPB” and related work, is unattainable. On the other hand, if reform of Congressional budgeting is politically feasible, improvements to that system can utilize the unique contributions that a legislature can make to a good system of budgeting.     

The Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Power Plant Emissions on Birth Weight: Evidence from a Pennsylvania Power Plant Located Upwind of New Jersey

To examine the infant health impact of prenatal exposure to power plant emissions, we draw scientific evidence on the impacted region downwind of a large polluter, a coal‐fired power plant located on the border of two states and proven to be the sole contributor to the violation of air quality standards of the impacted region. Our results show that among all live singleton births that occurred during 1990 through 2006, those born to mothers living as far as 20 to 30 miles away downwind from the power plant (which is also an affluent region) during pregnancy are at greater risks of low birth weight (LBW) and very low birth weight (VLBW): the likelihoods of LBW and VLBW could increase approximately by 6.50 and 17.12 percent, respectively. In light of the continual efforts of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in reducing cross‐state air pollution caused by transboundary power plant emissions, our study is aimed at broadening the scope of cross‐border pollution impact analysis by taking into account adverse infant health effects of upwind polluters, which can impose disproportionate burdens of health risks on downwind states due to air pollutants transported by wind.     

'Gold and Bracelet,Water and Wave': Signature and Translation in the Indian Poetry of Adela Cory Nicolson

Writing under the male pseudonym'Laurence Hope', Adela Cory Nicolson published three collections of poetic verses set in colonial India between 1901 and 1905, namely The Garden of Kama, Stars of the Desert and Indian Love. In the late 1880s, dressed as a young male Afghan groom, Nicolson routinely followed her husband to the military camps that the British colonial authorities had set up in Afghanistan. This experience of gender and cultural cross-dressing finds a special place in many of Nicolson's love poems. Although Leslie Blanch has claimed that the'mainspring of Laurence Hope's verses still elude us', it is clear that Nicolson relied heavily on appropriating the poetic languages of Hindu'bhakti' and Islamic'sufi' traditions, thereby transforming the erotic conventions of the late Victorian fin de sicle. Her use of poetic signature is central to the formation of such a poetics. Long ignored on grounds that it was merely part of the enormous left-over corpus of colonial exotica produced and consumed with unprecedented eagerness in the age of empire, Nicolson's poetry therefore invites a reappraisal on the grounds that it constituted a significant act of translation: a practice aimed at reconceptualizing notions of national poetic legacy under colonialism and at reworking gender and identity in relation to poetic voice.     

Internalizing Symptoms: Effects of a Preventive Intervention on Developmental Pathways from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood

This study examined the mediated and moderated effects of a universal family-focused preventive intervention, delivered during young adolescence, on internalizing symptoms assessed in young adulthood. Sixth grade students (N=446; 52% female; 98% White) and their families from 22 rural Midwestern school districts were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions in 1993. Self-report questionnaires were administered at seven time points (pre-test to young adulthood-age 21) to those receiving the Iowa Strengthening Families Program (ISFP) and to the control group. Results showed that growth factors of adolescent internalizing symptoms (grades 6-12) were predicted by ISFP condition and risk status (defined as early substance initiation). Moderation of the condition effect by risk status was found, with higher-risk adolescents benefitting more from the ISFP. Results also supported the hypothesis that the ISFP's effect on internalizing symptoms in young adulthood was mediated through growth factors of adolescents' internalizing symptoms; risk moderation, however, was only marginally significant in young adulthood. The relative reduction rate on clinical or subclinical levels of young adult internalizing symptoms was 28%, indicating that for every 100 young adults displaying clinical or subclinical levels of internalizing symptoms from school districts not offering an intervention, there could be as few as 72 displaying those levels of symptoms in school districts that offered middle school prevention programming. These findings highlight how the positive effects of family-focused universal interventions can extend to non-targeted outcomes and the related potential public-health impact of scaling up these interventions.     

Molecular Identification of Necrophagous Dermestes Species in South Korea Using Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I Nucleotide Sequences (Genus Dermestes)

Species identification of necrophagous insects found on a dead body is an essential key in applying medicolegal entomology to the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). Due to limited morphological identification of insect evidence, several studies have identified species using molecular information such as DNA markers. While considerable cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequence data of necrophagous fly species have been collected and annotated, those of necrophagous beetle species have not. Since necrophagous beetles such as Dermestes species have a larval period longer than that of flies, beetles are useful in even the late decomposition phase in estimating minimum PMI. To obtain the full-length COI gene sequences of six Dermestes species collected from South Korea, we designed primers for polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing. The obtained full COI nucleotide sequences were used for performing phylogenic analysis and comparison with previously reported sequences. The results demonstrated that the COI gene sequences could be used to identify forensically important Dermestes species in South Korea.     

A Structural analysis of Macbeth

SUMMARY

Kierkegaard's authorship could be summarized in the following statement: what it means to exist, that is, what it means to become a Christian. The crucial category is den enkelte, the single one, who upon becoming aware of his true self in personal communication with God, reaches the highest possible level of self-realization in interhuman communication.

However, to assume that Kierkegaard merely tried to enforce his Christian perspectives, would be to misunderstand him completely. Kierkegaard's spheres of existence offer an overview of all possible modes of existence by means of which a human being could reach self-realization. His intention was to invoke his readers to choose their own mode of existence and to accept responsibility for their choice.

This article illuminates the communicological relevance of Kierkegaard's spheres of existence by discussing both the views of life characteristic of each sphere and the forms of communication by means of which they are expressed. It is also maintained that a full understanding of the spheres of existence requires a study of Kierkegaard's concept of the self. A brief sketch of Kierkegaard's life is included to highlight his own struggle for self-realization.