For Sale or Rent: Preventing Demolition by Neglect in Iowa\u27s Downtowns

The National Trust for Historic Preservation describes demolition by neglect as “an epidemic within historic areas and a challenging issue for state and local authorities.” For small towns in social and economic distress, downtown buildings present opportunities for community renewal given their historic and cultural importance, yet it is in these towns where building neglect often results in nuisance-laden commercial districts and the demolition of built assets. The State of Iowa recognized the pervasiveness of this problem by offering financial assistance to cities with competitive applications, but this alone is not a remedy. Through participant observation and the Community Capitals Framework, this report looks at a local case in Ackley, Iowa to demonstrate how outdated building codes, economic hardship, and deferred maintenance can permanently and negatively transform an array of local capitals. Drawing from this case, it identifies strategies for Iowa’s small towns that could both prevent demolition by neglect and serve as catalysts for positive community transformation

Economic Sanctions: Their Ineffectiveness at Attaining Their Stated Foreign Policy Goals with Specific Reference to the Cuban Case

International economic sanctions are not singularly modem phenomena. In ancient Greece, Pericles of Athens enacted the Megerian Decree in 432 BC in response to hostile acts taken against it by neighboring Megera. Later, during the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson encouraged the use of sanctions as an effective tool of coercive foreign policy to be used against the colonists\u27 enemies. Since then, following the historical precedence of economic acts like the Megerian Decree, economic sanctions have continued to be used as tools of coercive diplomatic policy. For example, following World War I, President Woodrow Wilson encouraged the use of economic sanctions as an equally strong, but less costly alternative to the use of military force. However, even though economic sanctions have long been used in attempts to force desired responses out of target nations (especially unilateral sanctions), they have seldom achieved their stated foreign policy goals

Inflammatory breast carcinoma (carcinoma erysipeloides): an easily overlooked diagnosis

A 70-year-old woman developed erythema and induration of the right chest wall, and swelling of her right arm. The provisional diagnosis was deep venous thrombosis and for cellulitis of the right arm. Skin biopsy showed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma within lymphatic vessels, and immunohistochemical staining revealed this to be of breast origin. Inflammatory carcinoma or carcinoma erysipeloides represents 1% of all cases of breast carcinoma. Our case illustrates the importance of considering this entity in the differential diagnosis of unilateral chest wall erythema and induration.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75705/1/j.1365-2133.1993.tb11855.x.pd

Concept, principle, and norm—equality before the law reconsidered

Despite the attention equality before the law has received, both laudatory and critical, peculiarly little has been done to precisely define it. The first ambition of this paper is to remedy this, by exploring the various ways in which a principle of equality before the law can be understood and suggest a concise definition. With a clearer understanding of the principle in hand we are better equipped to assess traditional critique of the principle. Doing so is the second ambition of this paper. I will argue that traditional criticisms are unpersuasive, but that there is a different, powerful argument against equality before the law. The third ambition of the paper is to argue that there is a sense, overlooked by both proponents and critics, in which the principle still captures something important, albeit at the cost of shifting from intrinsic to instrumental value

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

In this paper, we present a broad conceptualisation of major change in farm level trajectories. We argue that as a result of path dependency, major changes in farming practice primarily occur in response to 'trigger events', after which farm managers intensify their consideration of the options open to them, and may set a new course of action. In undertaking new actions, the farm system enters a period of instability, while new practices become established. Over time these new practices, if successfully achieving anticipated aims, lead to a further period of path dependency. Recognising and capitalising upon this pattern of events is important for the development of policies oriented towards incentivising major change in farming practices, and may explain why similar projects and/or policies influence some 'types' of farmers differently, and at different times. To illustrate our arguments, examples of this process are described in relation to empirical examples of major on-farm change processes, drawn from qualitative interviews with organic and conventional farmers in two English case study area

Triggering change: Towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making

In this paper, we present a broad conceptualisation of major change in farm level trajectories. We argue that as a result of path dependency, major changes in farming practice primarily occur in response to 'trigger events', after which farm managers intensify their consideration of the options open to them, and may set a new course of action. In undertaking new actions, the farm system enters a period of instability, while new practices become established. Over time these new practices, if successfully achieving anticipated aims, lead to a further period of path dependency. Recognising and capitalising upon this pattern of events is important for the development of policies oriented towards incentivising major change in farming practices, and may explain why similar projects and/or policies influence some 'types' of farmers differently, and at different times. To illustrate our arguments, examples of this process are described in relation to empirical examples of major on-farm change processes, drawn from qualitative interviews with organic and conventional farmers in two English case study area