Citizenship and Democracy: A Journey to Europe's Past

The relationship between citizenship and democracy is poorly understood, and the two notions are often used synonymously. Governing is obviously the central issue, but whereas citizenship seems to require self-limitation by calling on civic virtues, democracy is actually enlarging citizens' power. The Polish and Dutch Republics from the seventeenth and eighteenth century present an interesting mirror image of how citizenship and democracy relate to each other in political practice.     

Enhancing Smallholder Access to Agricultural Machinery Services: Lessons from Bangladesh

Resource poor smallholders in developing countries often lack access to capital goods such as farm machinery. Enabling adequate access through machinery services can thereby significantly contribute to food security and farm incomes. At the core of the service provision model is the lead farmer, who makes the initial investment in agricultural machinery, and provides services to others on a fee-for-service basis. Profiling the lead farmers can thereby provide important lessons and scaling implications. The present paper provides a case study of Bangladesh, using primary data to characterise the lead farmers. General education, credit availability and risk taking attitude play significant roles in whether or not a farm household will be a lead farmer in Bangladesh.     

Cumulative Trauma,Personal and Social Resources,and Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Among Income-assisted Single Mothers

Data from 247 single mothers were used to partially validate a theoretical model that highlights the process through which post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops among women. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the direct and indirect relationship between cumulative trauma (CT) and mothers’ PTSD symptom severity. Additionally, we examined the meditational role played by mothers’ strains and resources and the moderating role played by mothers’ residence in an intersectionally advantaged versus disadvantaged neighborhood. A good fit was found between the hypothesized model and data. Mothers’ strains and personal resources played a significant mediating role in the relationship between CT and PTSD symptom severity. Neighborhood of residence did not moderate the CT-PTSD process. Implication for practice and treatment are discussed.     

Postmortem examination of transepithelial ion currents in rabbit colon and trachea in relation to temperature of storage and its importance for interlethal reactions

Electrical phenomena resulting from transepithelial ion transport have been a subject of clinical, physiological, pharmacologic and toxicologic studies. These examinations concern mainly electric phenomena in live organisms. The changes of transepithelial ion pathways which take place postmortem have not been yet established. The aim of the study was an attempt to trace variability of electrophysiological parameters related to transepithelial ion transport in specimens of rabbit trachea and colon depending on temperature at which specimens were stored after death. It was observed that postmortem electric phenomena in epithelium of airways and alimentary tract of rabbit occur well-ordered but with slower course in trachea samples and in tissues which were preserved at low temperature after death.     

Die Haftung des Veräußerers für öffentliche Äußerungen Dritter – insbesondere durch Werbung – nach § 922 Abs 2 ABGB

Mit der Umsetzung der Verbrauchsgüterkauf-Richtlinie durch das Gew?hrleistungsrechts-?nderungsgesetz wurde im ?sterr Recht das Einstehenmüssen des übergebers nicht nur für eigene ?ffentliche ?u?erungen, sondern auch für jene Dritter ausdrücklich festgeschrieben. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die einschl?gige Regelung des § 922 ABGB sowohl unter dem Gesichtspunkt gemeinschaftsrechtlicher Vorgaben als auch im Lichte des (nationalen) Privatrechtssystems und stellt dabei in Frage, dass ein Einstehenmüssen für ?ffentliche ?u?erungen jedenfalls deren Einbeziehung in die Parteienvereinbarung voraussetzt.     

Mietvertragsklauseln auf dem Prüfstand des Verbraucherrechts

In einer jüngst in einem Verbandsklageverfahren ergangenen Entscheidung erkl?rte der OGH zahlreiche Klauseln eines Mustermietvertrages, der von einer gro?en ?sterreichischen Hausverwaltung verwendet wurde, für unzul?ssig. Der vorliegende Beitrag er?rtert die Entscheidung des 7. Senats, was angesichts ihres Umfanges nur hinsichtlich einiger ausgew?hlter Aspekte erfolgen kann. Den Schwerpunkt der Analyse bildet dabei die in den meisten Mietvertr?gen wohl ganz zentrale Regelung der Erhaltungspflicht. Ausgehend von den Ausführungen des OGH wird auch versucht, alternative Regelungsm?glichkeiten für Mietvertragsformulare aufzuzeigen.     

Population genetics of 10 STR loci in a population of Central Poland

Allele frequencies for the 10 short tandem repeats (STRs) included in AmpFlSTR SGM Plus amplification kit (D3S1358, vWA, D16S539, D2S1338, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D19S433, TH01, FGA) were estimated from a sample of 500 unrelated individuals born in Central Poland.     

STR data for the power plex-16 loci in a population from Central Poland

The allele frequencies for the 13 CODIS core loci and two recently developed but not extensively validated in Central European populations pentanucleotide STRs (Penta E and D) were determined using the Power Plex-16 (Promega) kit in a sample of 430 unrelated individuals born in Central Poland. The calculated parameters of polymorphism showed Penta E to be the most valuable marker from the studied set. The obtained distribution of Penta E and D alleles was statistically significantly different from that previously reported for a population of Southern Poland. Analysis of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium revealed a deviation for the D5S818 locus which may reflect presence of a null allele.     

Culture,Contiguity and Conflict: On the Measurement of Ethnolinguistic Effects in Spatial Spillovers

Research on ethnolinguistic heterogeneity has so far mostly focused on domestic measures, while little attention has been paid to ethnolinguistic relations between nations. In this paper, I propose a way of measuring ethnolinguistic affinity between nations. This index measures the degree of similarity two randomly drawn individuals from two different populations are expected to display. I show that this measure has several attractive theoretical characteristics, which make it particularly useful. Subsequently, I construct the measure for all countries in Africa and use it to show that civil conflict in Africa is likely to spill over between contiguous ethnolinguistically similar countries.