Looking to the future: Theoretical orientations and issues for applied research in the link between development and culture

Drawing on the empirical findings and theoretical insights presented throughout the works in this volume, this article attempts to outline useful theoretical orientations and issues for future applied research. Certainty of the continuing normative and empirical feasibility of a mutually productive link between culture and development is considered essential to the promotion of continuing research; yet this feasibility should neither be considered given nor immediately self-evident (...)

Policing Power: Essays on Coercion, Corruption, and the State

This dissertation is about how the state influences individuals’ behavior by giving certain citizens the legal and physical means to coerce other citizens. Using field experimentation, participatory observation, and time-series analysis of two large sets of micro-data on crime to study policing in West Africa and Melanesia, the findings challenge conventional wisdom about the relationship between coercion, corruption, and the state. Empowering women by sending police officers to assist them in disputes with men may not necessarily reduce gender-based coercion, because men can preserve their privileges by drawing on alternative authorities. Conferring police officers powers to coerce other people does not necessarily induce corrupt behavior, because conferral of power may cause them to care more about their reputation than the rents they can extract. Competitive elections may not reduce petty police corruption even if they make principals accountable; instead, elections may incentivize corruption by increasing agents’ uncertainty about how principals will act in the future. These findings contribute new insights to the theory of state-building, accountability, and bureaucratic politics

Declaring and Diagnosing Research Designs.

Researchers need to select high-quality research designs and communicate those designs clearly to readers. Both tasks are difficult. We provide a framework for formally "declaring" the analytically relevant features of a research design in a demonstrably complete manner, with applications to qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research. The approach to design declaration we describe requires defining a model of the world (M), an inquiry (I), adatastrategy(D), andananswerstrategy(A). Declaration of these features in code provides sufficient information for researchers and readers to use Monte Carlo techniques to diagnose properties such as power, bias, accuracy of qualitative causal inferences, and other "diagnosands." Ex ante declarations can be used to improve designs and facilitate preregistration, analysis, and reconciliation of intended and actual analyses. Ex post declarations are useful for describing, sharing, reanalyzing, and critiquing existing designs. We provide open-source software, DeclareDesign, to implement the proposed approach

The Competitiveness of Ports in Emerging Markets : The case of Durban, South Africa

This report provides a synthesis of main findings from the OECD Port-Cities Programme, created in 2010 in order to assess the impact of ports on their cities and provide policy recommendations to increase the positive impacts of ports on their cities. This Programme was directed by Olaf Merk, Administrator Port-Cities within the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate. This synthesis report was directed and written by Olaf Merk; it draws on the work of a number of other contributors: César Ducruet, Jasper Cooper, Jing Li, Ihnji Jon, Maren Larsen and Lucie Billaud. The report has benefited from comments from Bill Tompson, Nils-Axel Braathen, Jane Korinek, Nicolas Mat and Juliette Cerceau. The synthesis report is based on findings from a series of OECD Port-Cities case studies. Such case studies were conducted for Le Havre/Rouen/Paris/Caen (France), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Marseille (France), Mersin (Turkey), Rotterdam/Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Antofagasta (Chile), Bratislava/Komárno/Štúrova (Slovak Republic), Durban (South Africa) and Shanghai (China). Within the framework of these studies, study visits to these port-cities were conducted, which included a series of interviews with the port-city related actors and stakeholders in these places. The OECD Port-Cities Programme also benefited from visits to the following ports and port-cities and discussion with port-related actors in the following port-cities: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Casablanca, Venice, Trieste, Genoa, Valparaíso, Varna, Gdansk, Koper, Vienna, Antwerp, Felixstowe, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sydney and Newcastle (Australia). Contributions and inputs into the OECD Port-Cities case studies and related working papers were provided by César Ducruet, Elvira Haezendonck, Michael Dooms, Patrick Dubarle, Markus Hesse, Géraldine Planque, Theo Notteboom, José Tongzon, Jörg Jocker, Oguz Bagis, Angela Bergantino, Claude Comtois, Nicolas Winicki, Thai Thanh Dang, Claudio Ferrari, Alessio Tei, Anna Bottasso, Maurizio Conti, Salvador Saz, Leandro Garcia-Menéndez, Zhen Hong, Zhao Nan, Angela Xu Mingying, Xie Wenqing, Du Xufeng, Wang Jinggai, Jing Li, Matthieu Bordes, Rachel Silberstein, Xiao Wang, Jean-Paul Rodrigue, Jasper Cooper, Marten van den Bossche, Carla Jong, Christelle Larsonneur, Walter Manshanden, Martijn Dröes, Evgueny Poliakov, Olli-Pekka Hilmola, Charlotte Lafitte, Caroline Guillet, Léonie Claeyman, Suzanne Chatelier. The Programme has been enriched through the interaction with these experts. Within the framework of the Programme, three different workshops in Paris were organised and benefited from presentations by: César Ducruet, Markus Hesse, Elvira Haezendonck, Claudio Ferrari, Jan Egbertsen, Ingo Fehrs, Stijn Effting, Michael Vanderbeek, Alessio Tei, Philippe Deiss, Birgit Liodden, Johan Woxenius, Hyong Mo Jeon, Dimitrios Theologitis, Carla Jong, Lorene Grandidier, Dominique Lebreton, Claude Comtois, Marten van den Bossche, Matt Bogdan, Alice Liu, Jan Green Rebstock. Within the framework of the Programme, the Administrator has provided presentations and interventions in conferences organised by: European Committee of the Regions (COTER), European Seaport Organisation (ESPO), Moroccan Association for Logistics (Amlog), International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, City of Shenzhen, Korean Transport Institute (KOTI), Korean Maritime Institute (KMI), French Association of Town Planners (FNAU), Italian Association of Transport Economists (SIET), World Conference of Transport Research Society (WCTRS-SIG2), Maersk, Port Finance International, BSR Clean Cargo Working Group, Infrastructure Australia, International Association Cities Ports (AIVP), Inter American Committee for Ports, International Transport Forum (ITF), Florence School of Regulation, Cargo Edições Lda, Logistics Portugal, International Forum on Shipping, Ports and Airports (IFSPA), Port of Amsterdam, Port of Rotterdam, Port of Hamburg, Université du Sud Toulon-Var, Colloque Axe Seine Acte II. The Programme has benefited from the support of: the Netherlands Ministry of Economy, City of Rotterdam, City of Amsterdam, Port of Amsterdam, Çukurova Development Agency, City of Helsinki, Port of Marseille, Slovak Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, City of Hamburg, Transnet South Africa, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, Bouches du Rhône Department, Syndicat mixte du Schéma de Cohérence Territoriale Ouest Étang de Berre, Communauté d’agglomération Marseille Provence Métropole, City of Marseille, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille Provence, the Agence d’Urbanisme de Marseille, the Union Maritime et Fluviale, l’Agence d’Urbanisme de la Région du Havre et de l’Estuaire de la Seine (AURH), l’Agence d’Études d’Urbanisme de Caen Métropole (AUCAME), l’Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme (APUR), l’Institut d’Aménagement et d’Urbanisme de la région d’Île de France (IAU IDF), l’Agence d'Urbanisme et de Développement de la Seine Aval (AUDAS), la Ville du Havre, la Communauté d’Agglomération Havraise (CODAH), la Communauté de l’Agglomération Rouen Elbeuf Austreberthe (CREA), le Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH), le Grand Port Maritime de Rouen (GPMR), Ports de Paris. The report, as well as the Port-City case studies and related thematic papers can be downloaded from the OECD website: www.oecd.org/regional/portcities Further enquiries about this work in this area should be addressed to: Olaf Merk ([email protected]) of the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate

On Electron Transport in ZrB12, ZrB2 and MgB2

We report on measurements of the temperature dependence of resistivity, $\rho(T)$, for single crystal samples of ZrB$_{12}$, ZrB$_{2}$ and polycrystalline samples of MgB$_{2}$. It is shown that cluster compound ZrB$_{12}$ behaves like a simple metal in the normal state, with a typical Bloch -- Gr\"uneisen $\rho(T)$ dependence. However, the resistive Debye temperature, $T_{R}=300 K$, is three times smaller than $T_{D}$ obtained from specific heat data. We observe the $T^{2}$ term in $\rho(T)$ of these borides, which could be interpreted as an indication of strong electron-electron interaction. Although the $\rho (T)$ dependence of ZrB$_{12}$ reveals a sharp superconductive transition at $T_{c}=6.0 K$, no superconductivity was observed for single crystal samples of ZrB$_{2}$ down to $1.3 K$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Competitiveness of Port-Cities: The Case of Marseille-Fos - France

This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the port of Marseille-Fos, an analysis of the impact of the port on its territory and an assessment of policies and governance in this field. It examines declining port performance over the last decades and identifies the principal factors that have contributed to it. The effect of the ports on economic and environmental questions is studied and quantified where possible. The value added of the port cluster of Marseille-Fos is calculated and its interlinkages with other economic sectors and other regions in France delineated. The paper outlines the impact of the ports? operations, and shows how their activities spill over into other regions than the one in which the port of Marseille-Fos is located. The major policies governing the ports are assessed, along with policies governing transport and economic development, the environment and spatial planning. These include measures instituted by the port authorities, as well as by local, regional and national governments. Governance mechanisms at these different levels are described and analysed. Based on the report?s findings, recommendations are proposed with a view to improving port performance and increasing the positive effects of the port of Marseille-Fos on its territory

Silver bullets: a new lustre on an old antimicrobial agent

Silver was widely used in medicine to treat bacterial infections in the 19th and early 20th century, up until the discovery and development of the first modern antibiotics in the 1940s, which were markedly more effective. Since then, every new antibiotic introduced to the clinic has led to an associated development of drug resistance. Today, the threat of extensive bacterial resistance to antibiotics has reignited interest in alternative strategies to treat infectious diseases, with silver regaining well-deserved renewed attention. Silver ions are highly disruptive to bacterial integrity and biochemical function, with comparatively minimal toxicity to mammalian cells. This review focuses on the antimicrobial properties of silver and their use in synergistic combination therapy with traditional antibiotic drugs

The Short-Term Effect of Video Editing Pace on Children’s Inhibition and N2 and P3 ERP Components during Visual Go/No-Go Task

We investigated the immediate consequences of differently paced videos on behaviour and neural activity during response inhibition. Forty 7-year-olds watched a fast- or slow-paced video and completed a go/no-go task. Compared to the slow-paced-video group, children in the fast-paced-video group made more no-go errors. There was also an interaction between pace and no-go response type (correct, wrong) for the N2 and P3 peak latencies. In the slow-paced group, both components peaked earlier for correct response withholds. This usual pattern of activation was absent in the fast-paced group. Video pace appears to affect behaviour and the neural responses involved in inhibition

Shared values and deliberative valuation:Future directions

Valuation that focuses only on individual values evades the substantial collective and intersubjective meanings, significance and value from ecosystems. Shared, plural and cultural values of ecosystems constitute a diffuse and interdisciplinary field of research, covering an area that links questions around value ontology, elicitation and aggregation with questions of participation, ethics, and social justice. Synthesising understanding from various contributions to this Special Issue of Ecosystem Services, and with a particular focus on deliberation and deliberative valuation, we discuss key findings and present 35 future research questions in eight topic areas: 1) the ontology of shared values; 2) the role of catalyst and conflict points; 3) shared values and cultural ecosystem services; 4) transcendental values; 5) the process and outcomes of deliberation; 6) deliberative monetary valuation; 7) value aggregation, meta-values and ‘rules of the game’; and 8) integrating valuation methods. The results of this Special Issue and these key questions can help develop a more extensive evidence base to mature the area and develop environmental valuation into a more pluralistic, comprehensive, robust, legitimate and effective way of safeguarding ecosystems and their services for the future