The moral horizon of democracy, “majority rule” and Rousseau’s solution: On the democratic procedures for decision-making

The expansion and continuing prestige of democracy no longer seems inevitable. Doubts frequently arise about the viability of “democracy” as a political solution, and concerns still resurface regarding its well known imperfections. Some theorists and political philosophers believe that the solution to the current problems of democracy is more democracy, which idea finds expression in their books about how democracies die, against voting and in favor of the draw by lot, etc. Others, instead, fear the excesses of democracy, and out of concern they speak of the myth of rational voters, of illiberal democracies, of minority rights, etc. Notwithstanding the variety of outlooks, almost no one seriously questions political democracy as the only legitimate regime. The goal of this paper is to show that these problems and imperfections are not a new discovery, but inherent to the very first experiments in democracy in the modern era, acknowledged namely in Rousseau’s and Condorcet’s theories, an awareness maintained in the reflection of sociologists such as Robert Dahl or Arend Lijphart, and rational choice theorists such as James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock. The awareness of these essential features of democracy should help us to advance its defense—since no other known decision procedures evade them

The choice between keeping out chronic pollution versus acute mortality due to emersion: the case of the <i>Tricolor</i> oil pollution prevention in the Zwin nature reserve (Belgium)

As a result of the impending Tricolor oil pollution in the Southern Bight of the North Sea the Zwin nature reserve was blocked from the North Sea by use of a sandbarrier. This method of protection has an important consequence for tidal flat ecosystems: the absence of the tide. The effects on the ecological very important bottom-life of the tidal flats could not be estimated beforehand. All species that were present before the damming up were still present afterwards. During the emersion period Talitrus saltator and Orchestia gammarellus were found in high densities while these species were absent before and after the emersion. Strikingly was the strong decline in abundance of all species which were present in high densities in a sampling station and the abundance of Aphelochaeta marioni and Pygospio elegans declining in all sampling stations during the period of emersion

Does medium-term emersion cause a mass extinction of tidal flat macrobenthos? The case of the <i>Tricolor</i> oil pollution prevention in the Zwin nature reserve (Belgium and The Netherlands)

As a result of the Tricolor oil pollution in the Southern Bight of the North Sea (winter 2003) the Zwin nature reserve, consisting of tidal flats and salt marshes, was blocked from the North Sea by use of a sand barrier. Hence, macrobenthic tidal flat organisms, by nature strongly dependent on the cyclic incoming seawater, were emersed during a period of 27 days. Because the effect of medium-term emersion on the ecologically important benthic life could not be assessed beforehand, the damming was taken as an opportunity to examine these effects. This study demonstrated that: (1) no species vanished due to emersion, (2) although the emersion might have caused some mortality, a mass mortality within the macrobenthos did not occur, and (3) the supra-littoral amphipods Talitrus saltator and Orchestia gammarellus performed a strong, though ephemeral immigration into the intertidal zone during the period of emersion. In view of both its minor impacts on the macrobenthos and its effectiveness in preventing oil pollution in the Zwin nature reserve, damming as a measure against oil pollution may be considered effective protection, especially during winter

An outbreak of sheep-associated malignant catarrhal fever in sows

his paper describes a case of malignant catarrhal fever in a sow herd in Belgium caused by infection with ovine herpesvirus-2 (OHV-2). The 11 affected sows had high fever and 10 of them died within 3 days after the onset of clinical disease. The most prominent macroscopic lesion was a hemorrhagic to pseudo-membranous gastritis. Histopathology revealed severe infiltration and necrosis of the gastric mucosa. Neither antimicrobial treatment nor injection with anti-inflammatory drugs ameliorated the severity of the disease. As the sows and sheep were housed in the same building with the possibility of having direct nose-to-nose contact, and as PCR testing showed that the virus found in the sows was identical to that found in the sheep, it is very likely that the infection was transmitted from the subclinically infected sheep to the sows. The present case showed that OHV-2 infection should be included in the differential diagnosis when facing problems of fever followed by death, especially when pigs are housed in close contact with sheep

Reaching for the stars: When does basic research collaboration between firms and academic star scientists benefit firm invention performance?

While their expertise and scientific excellence make academic star scientists attractive collaboration partners for firms, this study indicates that firms face difficulties in capturing value from collaborations with academic stars. Stars are time constrained, may be less committed to commercialization, and can be a source of undesired knowledge spillovers to other firms. The purpose of this study is to recognize the contingencies under which collaboration with star scientists is positively associated with a firm's ability to produce valuable patents (invention performance). We analyze a panel data set on the collaborations in basic research (publication data) and invention performance (patent output) of 60 prominent pharmaceutical firms. We find that basic research collaboration with academic stars is on average not associated with a performance premium above the overall positive influence of collaborating with academia. We only observe this premium if the star scientist abstains from simultaneous collaboration with other firms (‘dedication’) and extend her collaboration with the firm to involve not only basic but also applied research (‘translation’). Extending prior work that has focused on corporate star scientists, we find that if the collaboration involves an internal firm star scientist, a translational contribution of the academic star is no longer a prerequisite, and may even be detrimental to inventive performance. Our findings inform the literatures on industry-science links and firms’ (scientific) absorptive capacity by revealing the crucial contingencies for firms to benefit from partnering with the best and brightest among academic scientists

Settlement of Macoma balthica larvae in response to benthic diatom films

The role of multi-species benthic diatom films (BDF) in the settlement of late pediveliger larvae of the bivalve Macoma balthica was investigated in still-water bioassays and multiple choice flume experiments. Axenic diatom cultures that were isolated from a tidal mudflat inhabited by M. balthica were selected to develop BDF sediment treatments characterized by a different community structure, biomass, and amount of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Control sediments had no added diatoms. Although all larvae settled and initiated burrowing within the first minute after their addition in still water, regardless of treatment, only 48-52% had completely penetrated the high diatom biomass treatments after 5 min, while on average 80 and 69% of the larvae had settled and burrowed into the control sediments and BDF with a low diatom biomass (<3.5 mu g Chl a g(-1) dry sediment), respectively. The percentage of larvae settling and burrowing into the sediment was negatively correlated with the concentration of Chl a and EPS of the BDF. This suggests higher physical resistance to bivalve penetration by the BDF with higher diatom biomass and more associated sugar and protein compounds. The larval settlement rate in annular flume experiments at flow velocities of 5 and 15 cm s(-1) was distinctly lower compared to the still-water assays. Only 4.6-5.8% of the larvae were recovered from BDF and control sediments after 3 h. Nonetheless, a clear settlement preference was observed for BDF in the flume experiments; i.e., larvae settled significantly more in BDF compared to control sediments irrespective of flow speed. Comparison with the settlement of polystyrene mimics and freeze-killed larvae led to the conclusion that active selection, active secondary dispersal and, at low flow velocities (5 cm s(-1)), passive adhesion to the sediment are important mechanisms determining the settlement of M. balthica larvae in estuarine biofilms