The State, International Agencies, and Property Transformation in Postcomimmist Hungary

This is the published version. Copyright 2002 University of Chicago Press.This article challenges evolutionary accounts of property transformation in postcommunist Hungary, which hold that novel property forms based on interenterprise ownership have emerged in that country. It shows that private property has emerged as the predominant category of ownership in Hungary and explains the rapid diffusion of private ownership by focusing on the actions of the state and international agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. Following the collapse of communism, state actors in Hungary promoted the domestic accumulation of capital by subsidizing the sale of state enterprises to private parties, particularly enterprise insiders. Pressures from international agencies ultimately forced government officials to abandon this policy, however, and to conform to a neoliberal model of the state that allowed direct foreign investment. The conclusion considers the capacity of states to intervene in economic processes in an environment increasingly dominated by suprastate agencies

Mindfulness Training Encourages Self-Transcendent States via Decentering

Self-transcendence is theorized to be a core, mechanism of mindfulness. Yet, no known empirical study has investigated the process by which self-transcendent experiences emerge in novice practitioners. To address this gap, this study explored whether changes in decentering in response to mindfulness training translated into increases in self-transcendence over the course of five mindfulness training sessions. Participants (N=26) were randomly allocated to either a mindfulness training condition or an active listening condition. Results indicated that mindfulness training increased both decentering (p=.023) and self-transcendence (p=.001) relative to the active listening condition. Furthermore, greater decentering at the mid-point of training predicted greater self-transcendence at the training’s end, suggesting that those participants that become better able to non-reactively observe their thoughts, feelings and physical sensations while meditating were also more likely to experience self-transcendence. This study provides the first empirical evidence that mindfulness training can cultivate self- transcendent experiences through the process of decentering from internal phenomena

Mindful Lawyering: a Pilot Study on Mindfulness Training for Law Students

Many US law schools are now offering elective courses in mindfulness training to alleviate disproportionately high levels of anxiety, depression, stress, and disordered alcohol use among law students. To date, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these courses has been lacking. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the feasibility and impact of a 13-week mindfulness course, Mindful Lawyering, specifically tailored to law students. The primary hypothesis was that mindfulness training would be significantly correlated with improvements in well-being and mindfulness

A Mutational Analysis of Conjugation inTetrahymena thermophila

AbstractConjugation in the freshwater ciliateTetrahymena thermophilainvolves a developmental program that models meiosis, fertilization, and early developmental events characteristic of multicellular eukaryotes. We describe a gallery of five early-acting conjugation mutations. These mutants,cnj1–5,exhibit phenotypes in which specific steps in the conjugal pathway have been altered or eliminated. Specifically,cnj1andcnj2fail to condense their micronuclear chromatin prior to each of the three prezygotic nuclear divisions. This results in nuclear division failure, failure to replicate DNA, and failure to initiate postzygotic development. Thecnj3mutant appears to exhibit a defect in chromosome separation during anaphase of mitosis.cnj4mutants successfully carry out meiosis I, yet are unable to execute the second meiotic division and abort all further development.cnj5mutants are unable to initiate either meiosis I or meiosis II, yet proceed to execute all subsequent developmental events. These mutant phenotypes are used to draw inferences regarding developmental dependencies that exist within the conjugation program

Planting Food or Fuel: Developing an Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding the Role of Culture in Farmers’ Decisions to Grow Second-Generation Biofuel Feedstock Crops

Recent interest in biofuels as an alternative energy source has spurred considerable changes in agricultural practice worldwide. These changes will be more pronounced as second-generation biofuels, such as switch grass, gain prominence; this article examines the cultural factors associated with the decisions U.S. farmers face in targeting crops for fuel production instead of food. Through an interdisciplinary assessment of the dynamics of farmers' behavior, developed herein is a theoretical framework to analyze how farmers grapple with shifting expectations of their function.National Science Foundation EPS-0903806, KU-Transportation Research Institut

Heterogeneity of preferences for the benefits of environmental stewardship: a latent-class approach

Since 2005, Environmental Stewardship (ES) has been the principal agri-environment scheme for England and is the key instrument for the delivery of increased environmental benefits from agricultural landscapes. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether or not individuals' preferences for the environmental benefits associated with ES vary depending on types of landscapes within which these benefits are delivered. A latent class model is applied to data obtained from a choice experiment survey of over 1000 respondents sampled across England. The results suggest that individuals have heterogenous preferences for the benefits of ES, though different segments of the population with more homogenous preferences can be identified. In particular, higher levels of benefit are often associated with the operation of ES in landscapes close to where respondents live. This leads to the suggestion that, in order to maximise the benefits of ES, its implementation could take this result into account by encouraging greater uptake from farmers whose land is closer to large populations