Is the Filibuster Constitutional?

With the help of the President, Democrats in Congress were able to pass historic healthcare-reform legislation in spite of - and thanks to - the significant structural obstacles presented by the Senate’s arcane parliamentary rules. After the passage of the bill, the current political climate appears to require sixty votes for the passage of any major legislation, a practice which many argue is unsustainable. In this Debate, Professors Josh Chafetz and Michael Gerhardt debate the constitutionality of the Senate’s cloture rules by looking to the history of those rules in the United States and elsewhere. Professor Chafetz argues that the cloture rules represent an unconstitutional principle of entrenchment and highlights the absurdity by analogizing to a hypothetical rule requiring a supermajority to unseat an incumbent senator, which would surely not be tolerated. Chafetz concludes that historical practice fails to justify obstructionist tactics and that any constitutionally conscientious senator has a duty to reject the filibuster as it currently operates. Professor Gerhardt attributes the Senate’s behavior to the lack of a majority committed to curtailing abuses of Senate procedure. He argues that the weaknesses of the traditional arguments against the filibuster underscore the filibuster’s inherent constitutionality. Gerhardt points out that a majority of Senate seats is never subject to election at the same time and that the Constitution does not forbid, but instead expressly permits, the Senate to draft internal procedures. Failing to find an anti-entrenchment principle implied in the constitutional scheme, Gerhardt groups the filibuster with other Senate traditions - such as holds and bitter partisanship - and finds that the solution to unsatisfactory behavior in the legislature is, and always has been, accountability at the ballot box

Specialization and Values as Inputs to Decision-Making Mining Managers

L'objet du présent article est de découvrir ce que les dirigeants de l'industrie minière au Canada considèrent comme le plus important pour la direction de leurs entreprises. En d'autres termes, à quel système de valeurs se réfèrent-ils? S'intéressent-ils davantage aux personnes qu'aux choses matérielles?Pour tenter de répondre à ces questions, l'auteur s'est inspiré de deux modèles d'analyse de comportement: l'un mis au point par England et ses collègues, fondé sur les valeurs de jugement personnel, l'autre appuyé sur la théorie de Frost et de Barnowe où il s'agit de savoir si les intéressés sont portés plutôt vers les choses que les personnes.L'enquête fut faite à partir d'une liste de 594 membres de l'Institut canadien des mines et de la métallurgie en Colombie Britannique en Alberta et dans le territoire du Yukon. Il faut aussi noter que l'enquête porte sur les dirigeants d'entreprises situées dans des petits centres miniers. On a transmis par la poste à ces gens un questionnaire se rapportant à 66 concepts et 189 ont effectivement répondu.Lorsque les données de cette enquête furent compilées, elles ont donné le résultat suivant: selon le système mis au point par England, 76 des 189 répondants ou 38% pouvaient être considérés comme essentiellement pragmatiques, 65 ou 35% de ces dirigeants fondaient leurs attitudes sur un corps d'idées arrêtées, 4% étaient plutôt de type affectif et 22% avaient une orientation plutôt mélangée. D'autre part, suivant la théorie de Frost et Barnowe, ces dirigeants se partageaient en deux groupes principaux. On pouvait classer 67 d'entre eux parmi les « généralistes », c'est-à-dire qu'ils portaient autant d'attention aux personnes qu'aux choses; 79 d'entre eux s'intéressaient strictement aux questions d'ordre matériel; 13 mettaient l'accent sur la personne et 22 pouvaient être rangés dans une catégorie que l'auteur désigne sous le nom de « non-spécialistes ».De l'étude ci-dessus, on peut tirer deux conclusions:En premier lieu, les gérants de sociétés minières canadiennes, dans les petits centres, se préoccupent principalement du fonctionnement de l'entreprise et ils ne s'intéressent guère aux valeurs sociales d'ensemble, bien-être des travailleurs, environnement, etc.. Ce sont des technologues intéressés à leur travail pour qui l'exercice de leur tâche est d'importance primordiale.Deuxièmement, les différences d'orientation entre eux reposent sur la perception qu'ils se font du travail humain. Ceci se vérifie davantage chez ceux qui ont été obligés de prendre des décisions majeures se rapportant aux travailleurs et au rôle que ceux-ci tiennent dans l'entreprise.This thrust of this paper is to explore the objectives which mining managers perceive as important for effective organizational functioning in terms of their values, of the sense they make of the world around them in two specific, fundamental areas, orientation toward people and toward things, and of the interaction between managerial values and this orientation

Exercise therapy in adults with serious mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Individuals with serious mental illness are at a higher risk of physical ill health. Mortality rates are at least twice those of the general population with higher levels of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness. Although genetics may have a role in the physical health problems of these patients, lifestyle and environmental factors such as levels of smoking, obesity, poor diet, and low levels of physical activity also play a prominent part.<p></p> Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing the effect of exercise interventions on individuals with serious mental illness.<p></p> Methods: Searches were made in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Biological Abstracts on Ovid, and The Cochrane Library (January 2009, repeated January 2013) through to February 2013.<p></p> Results: Eight RCTs were identified in the systematic search. Six compared exercise versus usual care. One study assessed the effect of a cycling programme versus muscle strengthening and toning exercises. The final study compared the effect of adding specific exercise advice and motivational skills to a simple walking programme. Exercise programmes were noted by their heterogeneity in terms of the type of exercise intervention, setting, and outcome measures. The review found that exercise improved levels of exercise activity (n=13, standard mean difference [SMD] 1.81, CI 0.44 to 3.18, p = 0.01). No beneficial effect was found on negative (n = 84, SMD = -0.54, CI -1.79 to 0.71, p = 0.40) or positive symptoms of schizophrenia (n = 84, SMD = -1.66, CI -3.78 to 0.45, p = 0.12). No change was found on body mass index compared with usual care (n= 151, SMD = -0.24, CI -0.56 to 0.08, p = 0.14), or body weight (n = 77, SMD = 0.13, CI -0.32 to 0.58, p = 0.57). No beneficial effect was found on anxiety and depressive symptoms (n = 94, SMD = -0.26, CI -0.91 to 0.39, p = 0.43), or quality of life in respect of physical and mental domains. One RCT measured the effect of exercise on exercise intensity, attendance, and persistence at a programme. No significant effect was found on these measures.<p></p> Conclusions: This systematic review showed that exercise therapies can lead to a modest increase in levels of exercise activity but overall there was no noticeable change for symptoms of mental health, body mass index, and body weight.<p></p&gt

Ecological succession of a Jurassic shallow-water ichthyosaur fall.

After the discovery of whale fall communities in modern oceans, it has been hypothesized that during the Mesozoic the carcasses of marine reptiles created similar habitats supporting long-lived and specialized animal communities. Here, we report a fully documented ichthyosaur fall community, from a Late Jurassic shelf setting, and reconstruct the ecological succession of its micro- and macrofauna. The early 'mobile-scavenger' and 'enrichment-opportunist' stages were not succeeded by a 'sulphophilic stage' characterized by chemosynthetic molluscs, but instead the bones were colonized by microbial mats that attracted echinoids and other mat-grazing invertebrates. Abundant cemented suspension feeders indicate a well-developed 'reef stage' with prolonged exposure and colonization of the bones prior to final burial, unlike in modern whale falls where organisms such as the ubiquitous bone-eating worm Osedax rapidly destroy the skeleton. Shallow-water ichthyosaur falls thus fulfilled similar ecological roles to shallow whale falls, and did not support specialized chemosynthetic communities

Similarities and differences in the dolomitization history of two coeval Middle Triassic carbonate platforms, Balaton Highland, Hungary

Dolomitization of platform carbonates is commonly the result of multiphase processes. Documentation of the complex dolomitization history is difficult if completely dolomitized sections are studied. Two Middle Anisian sections representing two coeval carbonate platforms were investigated and compared in the present study. Both sections are made up of meter-scale peritidal–lagoonal cycles with significant pedogenic overprint. One of the sections contains non-dolomitized, partially dolomitized, and completely dolomitized intervals, whereas the other is completely dolomitized. Based on investigations of the partially dolomitized section, penecontemporaneous dolomite formation and/or very early post-depositional dolomitization were identified in various lithofacies types. In shallow subtidal facies, porphyrotopic dolomite was found preferentially in microbial micritic fabrics. Microbially induced dolomite precipitation and/or progressive replacement of carbonate sediments could be interpreted for stromatolites. Cryptocrystalline to very finely crystalline dolomite, probably of pedogenic origin, was encountered in paleosoil horizons. Fabric-destructive dolomite commonly found below these horizons was likely formed via reflux of evaporated seawater. As a result of the different paleogeographic settings of the two platforms, their shallow-burial conditions were significantly different. One of the studied sections was located at the basinward platform margin where pervasive fabric-retentive dolomitization took place in a shallow-burial setting, probably via thermal convection. In contrast, in the area of the other, smaller platform shallow-water carbonates were covered by basinal deposits, preventing fluid circulation and accordingly pervasive shallow-burial dolomitization. In the intermediate to deep burial zone, recrystallization of partially dolomitized limestone and occlusion of newly opened fractures and pores by coarsely crystalline dolomite took place

High resolution δ18O seasonality record in a French Eemian tufa stromatolite (Caours, Somme Basin)

International audienc

Light-Dependant Biostabilisation of Sediments by Stromatolite Assemblages

For the first time we have investigated the natural ecosystem engineering capacity of stromatolitic microbial assemblages. Stromatolites are laminated sedimentary structures formed by microbial activity and are considered to have dominated the shallows of the Precambrian oceans. Their fossilised remains are the most ancient unambiguous record of early life on earth. Stromatolites can therefore be considered as the first recognisable ecosystems on the planet. However, while many discussions have taken place over their structure and form, we have very little information on their functional ecology and how such assemblages persisted despite strong eternal forcing from wind and waves. The capture and binding of sediment is clearly a critical feature for the formation and persistence of stromatolite assemblages. Here, we investigated the ecosystem engineering capacity of stromatolitic microbial assemblages with respect to their ability to stabilise sediment using material from one of the few remaining living stromatolite systems (Highborne Cay, Bahamas). It was shown that the most effective assemblages could produce a rapid (12–24 h) and significant increase in sediment stability that continued in a linear fashion over the period of the experimentation (228 h). Importantly, it was also found that light was required for the assemblages to produce this stabilisation effect and that removal of assemblage into darkness could lead to a partial reversal of the stabilisation. This was attributed to the breakdown of extracellular polymeric substances under anaerobic conditions. These data were supported by microelectrode profiling of oxygen and calcium. The structure of the assemblages as they formed was visualised by low-temperature scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser microscopy. These results have implications for the understanding of early stromatolite development and highlight the potential importance of the evolution of photosynthesis in the mat forming process. The evolution of photosynthesis may have provided an important advance for the niche construction activity of microbial systems and the formation and persistence of the stromatolites which came to dominate shallow coastal environments for 80% of the biotic history of the earth