The Putin phenomenon

The Putin presidency in Russia became increasingly popular as it progressed and a leadership cult developed around the president himself. Not only was there general satisfaction with the leadership as a whole, there was also evidence that it was regarded as increasingly successful in all fields of policy, particularly in international affairs; and focus group discussions as well as surveys suggested the newly elected president, Dmitri Medvedev, would be expected to continue those policies. A closer examination of the survey evidence suggests that the Putin leadership in fact had relatively weak roots in the wider society, and drew widely but superficially on public support. More than anything else it was the strong economic performance of these years that generated support for the Putin presidency, and this suggested that any future leader would depend for his position on maintaining that economic performance in what were now more difficult circumstances

Russia and its neighbours: East or West?

As ‘Europe’ becomes more diverse, the countries that were formerly part of the USSR face new choices. One of the most fundamental is whether they identify with the economic and military institutions of the ‘West’, such as NATO and the European Union, or with the Commonwealth of Independent States and other forms of association with the Slavic ‘East’. We examine these choices in each of three societies—Belarus, Russia and Ukraine—on the basis of national surveys conducted between 2000 and 2008. Across the three, ‘Eastern’ orientations have more popular support than ‘Western’ ones, but Ukrainian opinion is more sharply polarised than opinion in the other two countries. There is more support for a ‘Slavic choice’ in Russia than in either of the other two countries, and particularly large numbers there who regret the demise of the USSR; but opinion on such matters is moderate rather than fundamentalist and does not necessarily exclude a closer relationship with the European Union and NATO

Failure in welfare partnerships – a gender hypothesis: reflections on a serendipity pattern in Local Safeguarding Children Boards

This article examines the roles that occupational segregation and gender bias in the welfare professions play in persistent failures in inter-agency and inter-professional collaborations. Drawing on case study evidence from a Local Safeguarding Children Board in England, a ‘serendipity pattern’ of gender dominance is identified within professions affecting inter-professional collaborations such as those prevalent in Local Safeguarding Children Boards. As we assign this pattern ‘strategic interpretation’, we suggest that policy measures taken to augment the effectiveness of welfare partnerships have, so far, paid insufficient attention to the critical variable of gender, due to over-emphasis on the organisations, rather than the professions, involved. The article’s contribution to practice is unravelling the potential of this oversight to contribute to failure to establish a collaborative mind-set. Our contribution to theory is highlighting specific cultural barriers to inter-professional collaborations, unravelling the power differentials rooted in gender inequity in public sector workforces and challenging professional and organizational traditionalism. In doing so, we offer empirical evidence of the ‘gender hypothesis’ in welfare partnerships and indicate how future investigations might be pursued in this area

Media effects and Russian elections, 1999-2000

The Russian parliamentary and presidential elections of December 1999 and March 2000 appeared to have been won in large part through the partisan use of (particularly state) television. According to the evidence of a spring 2001 national survey, television was the main source of political information for the supporters of all parties and candidates. However, state television (which had been most supportive of the Kremlin) was much more likely to be favoured by the supporters of the pro-regime Unity party; while commercial television (which had provided a more even-handed coverage of the elections) was more popular and respected among the supporters of anti-Kremlin parties and candidates and less popular among supporters of Vladimir Putin. Regression analysis that takes account of reciprocal causation between media source and vote choice indicates that these were not spurious associations. The findings suggest that the state itself may exercise a disproportionate influence upon the electoral process in newly established systems in which social structures and political allegiances remain fluid

Belorussiya, Ukraina i Rossiya: vostok ili zapad?

No abstract available

Rethinking the 'Orange Revolution'

A national representative survey in November–December 2007 suggests that there was little consensus about the nature of the ‘Orange revolution’, and that perceptions varied considerably by region and age-group. The main reason for participation was to ‘protest against the authorities’, but here too there were considerable regional differences. Eight focus groups conducted in different parts of the country allowed participants to articulate their distinctive interpretations of the events: an ‘Orange’ narrative that saw the events of late 2004 as an authentic popular uprising, and a ‘Blue’ narrative that saw them as a Western-funded coup. After the event, increasing numbers felt they had lost rather than gained, with the gains clearest in respect of freedom of speech and losses most marked in relations with Russia. Different views of the revolutionary events in turn were closely associated with voting choices in the September 2007 parliamentary election

Turnout and representation bias in post-communist Europe

Electoral participation has been declining in post-Soviet Europe as in almost all of the established democracies. Patterns of electoral abstention in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine reflect those in other countries, but show particularly strong effects for older age. Not only do older electors vote more often, they also have distinctive views on matters of public policy, particularly on the economy but also on the Soviet system, strong leadership and hypothetical membership of the European Union. These differences are diminished but nonetheless generally remain statistically significant even when socio-economic controls are introduced. These differences may be seen as a ‘representation bias’ that advantages particular sections of the electorate and the views with which they are associated. The particular forms that are taken by this bias in post-communist societies may be transitory, but here as elsewhere lower levels of turnout will continue to impart a significant bias to the extent to which some views rather than others are articulated within the political process

Leech Parasitism of the Gulf Coast Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina major (Testudines:Emydidae) in Mississippi, USA

Ten leeches were collected from a Gulf Coast box turtle, Terrapene carolina major, found crossing a road in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi, USA. Eight of the leeches were identified as Placobdella multilineata and 2 were identified as Helobdella europaea. This represents the second vouchered report of leeches from a box turtle. Helobdella europaea is reported for the first time associated with a turtle and for the second time from the New World

Impact of Astaxanthin Supplementation on Postprandial Oxidative Stress

Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid found in salmon and microalgae that has antioxidative properties. Previous research shows dietary supplementation may result in increased endogenous antioxidant status and reduced markers of oxidative stress (OS). Research suggests OS causes increased risk for cardiometabolic and other chronic diseases, making it important to find interventions that can decrease occurrence of OS. While astaxanthin has been shown to be antioxidative, most studies observing the impact of astaxanthin has on OS has involved rodent models, therefore human trials are needed. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess whether four weeks of astaxanthin supplementation (6mg/day) can decrease blood markers of oxidative stress following the consumption of a high fat meal in healthy, young men. METHODS: Participants (n=13) were healthy, young men (mean ±SD; Age: 23.7 ±2.7 yrs; Weight: 79.8 ±12.6 kg; Height: 171.7 ±5.9 cm) that completed a randomized, double blinded crossover counterbalanced study. All participants completed 4 weeks of 6 mg of astaxanthin supplementation in addition to 4 weeks of placebo supplementation with a one-week washout period between treatments. After each supplementation period, participants consumed a high fat milkshake (milkshake; 1g fat/kg body weight, 1g carbohydrate/kg body weight, 0.25g protein/kg body weight) to induce postprandial OS. Blood samples were taken immediately before, as well as two, and four hours post milkshake consumption. The following were analyzed from each blood sample: triglycerides (TAG), glutathione (GSH), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP). RESULTS: Participant compliance on average was 98%. Regarding AOPP, there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or a significant main effect for treatment, while there was a main effect for time (F = 17.14, p \u3c 0.01) with significantly higher levels of AOPP at two and four hours postprandial compared to pre ingestion (p \u3c 0.01). In regard to MDA, there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or a significant main effect for treatment but a main effect for time was noted (F= 24.66, p \u3c 0.01) with significantly higher (p \u3c 0.01) MDA levels 2 and 4 hours post ingestion when compared to pre ingestion levels. In terms of GSH, while there was no treatment x timepoint interaction or main effect for time, the main effect for treatment did approach significance (F = 3.67, p = 0.06). There was no treatment x timepoint interaction for TAG nor a main effect for treatment, while there was a significant increase in TAG levels over time noted by a main effect (F = 15.80, p \u3c 0.01) with 2 and 4 hours post ingestion being significantly higher than pre ingestion TAG levels (p \u3c 0.01). Furthermore, with H2O2, a treatment x timepoint interaction (F = 5.94, p \u3c 0.01) was noted. H2O2 levels were significantly lower (p \u3c 0.05) 2 and 4 hours post ingestion following astaxanthin supplementation when compared to the placebo treatment. CONCLUSION: The high fat meal induced significant OS, reflected by increased levels of MDA, AOPP, and H2O2.Despite postprandial hyperlipidemia, astaxanthin was able to significantly decrease H2O2, suggesting astaxanthin is a desirable exogenous antioxidant for mitigating OS

Reconstructing a model of quintessential inflation

We present an explicit cosmological model where inflation and dark energy both could arise from the dynamics of the same scalar field. We present our discussion in the framework where the inflaton field $\phi$ attains a nearly constant velocity $m_P^{-1} |d\phi/dN|\equiv \alpha+\beta \exp(\beta N)$ (where $N\equiv \ln a$ is the e-folding time) during inflation. We show that the model with $|\alpha|<0.25$ and $\beta<0$ can easily satisfy inflationary constraints, including the spectral index of scalar fluctuations ($n_s=0.96\pm 0.013$), tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r<0.28$) and also the bound imposed on $\Omega_\phi$ during the nucleosynthesis epoch ($\Omega_\phi (1 {\rm MeV})<0.1$). In our construction, the scalar field potential always scales proportionally to the square of the Hubble expansion rate. One may thereby account for the two vastly different energy scales associated with the Hubble parameters at early and late epochs. The inflaton energy could also produce an observationally significant effective dark energy at a late epoch without violating local gravity tests.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures; added refs, published versio