The good, the bad and the ugly: the need for constitutional compromise and the drafting of the EU constitution

The Convention on the Future of Europe has provoked both cynicism and idealism. Cynics see it as a largely rhetorical exercise that consolidates but does not go beyond the achievements of recent intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) or greatly transform the nature of the EU. Idealists view it as offering the potential for a new departure that replaces intergovernmental bargaining with genuine deliberation to produce a genuine European consensus. According to this interpretation, a constitution should take the form of a contract that all rational individuals possessing a sense of justice would approve. This paper disputes both these views. Reasonable disagreement means that a constitutional consensus is never possible and some form of compromise necessary. Such compromises need not be simply the product of a self-interested bargain, though. There are good compromises as well as bad and ugly or poorly drafted and misguided ones. This paper provides criteria for distinguishing these three types and explores examples of each of them in the Convention on the Future of Europe and the resulting draft constitution

Proposed geo-altitude coordinates of vertical positions

Geoaltitude coordinates of geometric height, pressure, temperature, density, and potential energy levels in earth atmospher

Proposed nautical units of length and time technical report no. 2

Proposed units of length and time to facilitate coordination of space-time positions in orbital operation

Geosection indices for environmental data

System of geosection indices for indentification of environmental data associated with observation stations on earth surfac

SIPLIC forms of hourly precipitation data - Casper, Cheyenne, Lander, Sheridan, 1949-1951

Hourly precipitation data from four weather stations over a 13-year period presented in SIPLIC form with aid of IBM 1620 compute

Independent regulation of P53 stabilisation and activation after Rb deletion in primary epithelial cells

We have previously reported that deletion of the retinoblastoma gene Rb leads to rapid but transient p53 stabilisation. We investigated here the pathways involved. We show that upon Rb-deletion dysregulated E2F activates p19(ARF) expression that localises in the nucleoli. There it interacts with MDM2, leading to P53 stabilisation. At the same time, ATR is activated, activating CHK1 that may phosphorylate P53 but also contribute to inhibition of MnSOD expression leading to accumulation of ROS (reactive oxygen species) and subsequent DNA injury, which in turn maintains ATR/CHK1 activated. However, from 72 h after Rb deletion, NPM interacts with P19ARF and concomitantly the interaction between p19(ARF) and MDM2 decreases leading to a return to P53 degradation. This occurs despite the persistence of the DNA damage response pathways. We therefore observe in primary cells not subjected to exogenous gene expression or exogenous DNA damaging treatment, activation of 2 concomitant pathways of activation of P53 that are dealt with in independent manner: an oncogenic pathway with rapid activation of ARF which is 'switched off' downstream of p19(ARF) activation after 72 h of induction and a DNA damage response pathway keeping a low level of transcriptionally active P53 sufficient to deal with a physiological elevation of oxidative DNA injury. A possible connection between the two pathways is discussed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Forensic Patient Flow: An Imbalance Between Capacity And Demand

Background: The United States (U.S.) has an ever-growing incarcerated population. The sheer volume of this population coupled with inefficient patient flow through the judicial and health care systems, create a large imbalance between the high demand for services and the capacity to deliver them. The delay in criminal defendants accessing mental health services is impacted by the lack of patient flow, which creates barriers to entering and exiting the forensic hospital system. The increasing demand for inpatient forensic services, coupled with a static supply of resources, warrants further intervention by treatment and service providers. Identifying and removing barriers to patient flow can reduce the imbalance between capacity and demand and result in lower wait times to access inpatient treatment and care. Purpose: The purpose of this evidence-based quality improvement project was to identify barriers to the patient flow process that lead to inefficient treatment for forensic psychiatric patients and to implement a plan for removing those barriers. Methods: A nonexperimental evidence-based quality improvement study was conducted at a forensic psychiatric hospital in the Southeastern region of the U.S. utilizing Lean Methodology and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) to identify barriers (communication, legal, active treatment, discharge process) to patient flow and improve timely treatment by reducing wait time and length of stay for forensic psychiatric patients. Results: Statistically significant reductions in the forensic waitlist (51%) and wait time (50%) were achieved. During the study period, the average length of stay was reduced, and the number of admissions and discharges were increased. Conclusions: Maximization of efficiencies within the forensic psychiatric hospital patient flow process, through the minimization and elimination of non-value-added waste (waiting, over-processing, defects and skills) resulted in a reduction in the waitlist and wait times due to improved patient flow. Such improvements increased the state’s treatment capacity for defendants awaiting inpatient services at the forensic psychiatric hospital

The formation of Croatian national identity: a centuries-old dream?

This volume assesses the formation of Croatian national identity in the 1990s. It develops a novel framework calling into question both primordial and modernist approaches to nationalism and national identity before applying that framework to Croatia. In doing so it provides a new way of thinking about how national identity is formed and why it is so important. An explanation is given of how Croatian national identity was formed in the abstract, via a historical narrative that traces centuries of yearning for a national state. The book shows how the government, opposition parties, dissident intellectuals and diaspora groups offered alternative accounts of this narrative in order to legitimise contemporary political programmes based on different visions of national identity. It then looks at how these debates were manifested in social activities as diverse as football and religion, economics and language. This volume marks an important contribution to both the way we study nationalism and national identity, and our understanding of post-Yugoslav politics and society

Deficiency of G1 regulators P53, P21Cip1 and/or pRb decreases hepatocyte sensitivity to TGFbeta cell cycle arrest

TGFbeta is critical to control hepatocyte proliferation by inducing G1-growth arrest through multiple pathways leading to inhibition of E2F transcription activity. The retinoblastoma protein pRb is a key controller of E2F activity and G1/S transition which can be inhibited in viral hepatitis. It is not known whether the impairment of pRb would alter the growth inhibitory potential of TGFbeta in disease. We asked how Rb-deficiency would affect responses to TGFbeta-induced cell cycle arrest.Peer reviewe