Constitutions for the 21st Century: Emerging Patterns-The EU, Iraq, Afghanistan…

Professor Mallat delivered the Third Annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in Comparative Law in 2004 and this article is based on his remarks. The article is included in the inaugural volume of CICLOPs that collects the first six Bernstein lectures. Strong moments in constitution-making often result from traumas; the breakthroughs by the European Union and constitutional achievements by both Iraq and Afghanistan stand as modern examples. The traumas of Europe, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been typified by violent conflict over the past century, including two World Wars, the Cold War, and the ‘war on terrorism’. Efforts and successes at constructing 21st Century constitutions can largely be seen as a response to these 20th Century traumas. Looking beyond the black-letter law of the European, Afghani, and Iraqi constitutions, emerging patterns in constitution making are to be found, including the recent international drive behind constitutions and the classical Montesquieuian separation of powers. Though these are two major driving forces in constitutional design, three ‘acid tests’ are not only heavily considered in the creation of these constitutions, but they are also heavily determinative in the success of any given constitution: religion, federalism, and, most importantly, the presidency. By analyzing these considerations and the acid tests in the context of the European Union, Iraq, and Afghanistan, their overwhelming importance and the difficulties in negotiating each within varied political climates becomes apparent. The hope is that these attempts and successes at constitutional design can serve as examples for other regions suffering from intense and prolonged violent turmoil, such as the successful resolution of the Northern Ireland problem or the as yet resolved Arab-Israeli conflict concerning Palestine. Further, these shifts in constitutional design over the past century act as signposts, pointing in the direction of change as the process and needs of constitutional design evolves from old concerns of self-contained internal affairs to a new modern concern of internationalism and, eventually, to a state of depoliticisation of constitutions

The effect of argumentative task goal on the quality of argumentative discourse

In argumentative discourse, there are two kinds of activity-dispute and deliberation-that depend on the argumentative task goal. In dispute the goal is to defend a conclusion by undermining alternatives, whereas in deliberation the goal is to arrive at a conclusion by contrasting alternatives. In this study, we examine the impact of these tasks goals on the quality of argumentative discourse. Sixty-five junior high school students were organized into dyads to discuss sources of energy. Dyads were formed by members who had differing viewpoints and were distributed to one of two conditions: 31 dyads were asked to discuss with the goal to persuade the partner, and 34 were asked to reach consensus. Argumentation was analyzed using a schema based on Toulmin (1958). Eleven different argumentative structures resulted from the combination of Toulmin's basic elements. Students in the consensus group scored significantly higher than students in the persuasion group in 5/6 argumentative structures that included rebuttals. The major implication of the present work is that, similar to Mercer's (2000) claim about types of classroom conversation, not all classroom argumentation tasks promote scientific reasoning equally

THE INFLUENCE OF FRIEDMAN'S METHODOLOGICAL ESSAY

Many leading methodologists have described the central role that Milton Friedman''s 1953 essay (henceforth referred to as F53) has played in methodological discussions. (See for instance Daniel Hammond, 1998; Kevin Hoover; 2001; Roger Backhouse 2002.) However, it does not necessarily follow that it has had a great influence on the practice of economics, because practicing economists pay little attention to free-standing discussions of methodology; at best they learn their methodology by seeing it put to work on substantive problems.1 Arguably, Friedman and Schwartz''s (1963) A Monetary History of the United States, has had more influence on the methodology of practicing economist than did F53. The most pervasive methodological influence in macroeconomics in the last thirty years has been the insistence of new classical economists on reducing macroeconomics to microeconomics, and in this they paid no attention to philosophical debates about reductionism

Sir John Adams: his legacy to the world of particle accelerators

John Adams acquired an unrivalled reputation for his leading part in designing and constructing the Proton Synchrotron (PS) in CERN's early days. In 1968, and after several years heading a fusion laboratory in the UK, he came back to Geneva to pilot the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) project to approval and then to direct its construction. By the time of his early death in 1984 he had built the two flagship proton accelerators at CERN and, during the second of his terms as Director-General, he laid the groundwork for the proton-antiproton collider which led to the discovery of the intermediate vector boson. How did someone without any formal academic qualification achieve this? What was the magic behind his leadership? The speaker, who worked many years alongside him, will discuss these questions and speculate on how Sir John Adams might have viewed today's CERN.Comment: 29 pages, John Adams Memorial Lecture 2009, published with high-resolution figures as CERN Yellow Report http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/133152

Gut microbiota markers in obese adolescent and adult patients: Age-dependent differential patterns

Obesity levels, especially in children, have dramatically increased over the last few decades. Recently, several studies highlighted the involvement of gut microbiota in the pathophysiology of obesity. We investigated the composition of gut microbiota in obese adolescents and adults compared to age-matched normal weight (NW) volunteers in order to assemble age- and obesity-related microbiota profiles. The composition of gut microbiota was analyzed by 16S rRNA-based metagenomics. Ecological representations of microbial communities were computed, and univariate, multivariate, and correlation analyses performed on bacterial profiles. The prediction of metagenome functional content from 16S rRNA gene surveys was carried out. Ecological analyses revealed a dissimilarity among the subgroups, and resultant microbiota profiles differed between obese adolescents and adults. Using statistical analyses, we assigned, as microbial markers, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Actinomyces to the microbiota of obese adolescents, and Parabacteroides, Rikenellaceae, Bacteroides caccae, Barnesiellaceae, and Oscillospira to the microbiota of NW adolescents. The predicted metabolic profiles resulted different in adolescent groups. Particularly, biosynthesis of primary bile acid and steroid acids, metabolism of fructose, mannose, galactose, butanoate, and pentose phosphate and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis were for the majority associated to obese, while biosynthesis and metabolism of glycan, biosynthesis of secondary bile acid, metabolism of steroid hormone and lipoic acid were associated to NW adolescents. Our study revealed unique features of gut microbiota in terms of ecological patterns, microbial composition and metabolism in obese patients. The assignment of novel obesity bacterial markers may open avenues for the development of patient-tailored treatments dependent on age-related microbiota profiles

An inquiry based instructional planning model that accommodates student diversity

The students in today’s public school classrooms represent great diversity and the struggle of teachers to teach all their students well. This paper describes an inquiry based instructional planning model that reflects lessons from the literature on effective teaching for diverse classrooms. An example of a high school lesson exemplifies the model. The model includes a framework for planning supports for students with extraordinary learning challenges

DEVELOPING LITERACY PRACTICES THROUGH DIGITAL STORYTELLING

This qualitative study explored the use of multimedia and traditional literacy to answer the question: ?How does creating a ?digital story? impact children?s literacy skills?? Forty-three seventh-grade students from a Midwestern school created a series of three digital stories over the course of several months implementing creative, narrative and persuasive writing. These digital stories utilized the grade level curriculum, integrating communication arts, social studies, science, and technology. The purpose of this study was to better understand how literacy skills were impacted through the use of digital storytelling. This understanding will be used to inform improvements in instruction of writing, story telling and related technologies, as well as the curricula utilizing them. Multiple projects were essential to master the tools and processes necessary for digital storytelling and developing writing skills. The first project focused on technological tools, cooperative groupings, and organization of the process. The second project focused on personal story to develop voice and include emotion. Working independently ensured that students understood the process and tools. By the third project students came to understand organization by effectively using the storyboard and adding yet another genre of writing to their repertoire. The children came to recognize the importance of organization, story, voice, emotion, pacing, economy of words, and value of re-writing while developing presentation skills. Collaboration and cooperation played an important role among teachers and students. Further research is needed to explore best practices for use with all grade levels

Spartan Daily, October 13, 1939

Volume 28, Issue 17https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2963/thumbnail.jp