Agent noun polysemy in Celtic: the suffix *‑mon‑ in Old and Middle Irish and its Proto-Indo-European origins

The present paper gives an historical account of agent noun formations in ‑mon‑ in Old and Middle Irish, based on the Proto-Indo-European prehistory of this suffix. The patterning of agent nouns in ‑mon‑ in Irish points to a polysemy already inherited from the originally adjectival Proto-Indo-European derivates denoting affiliation. This is supported also by polysemous nominalizations in Ancient Greek. Formations in ‑mon‑, originally deverbal in Proto-Indo-European, came to be formally enlarged and functionally reinterpreted in Early Celtic, thus leading to the polysemy in Irish, with both deverbal and denominal ‑mon‑formations designating professions, occupations and functions as well as instruments and even animal

Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A New Data Set

When the leader of an autocratic regime loses power, one of three things happens. The incumbent leadership group is replaced by democratically elected leaders. Someone from the incumbent leadership group replaces him, and the regime persists. Or the incumbent leadership group loses control to a different group that replaces it with a new autocracy. Much scholarship exists on the first kind of transition, but little on transitions from one autocracy to another, though they make up about half of all regime changes. We introduce a new data set that facilitates the investigation of all three kinds of transition. It provides transition information for the 280 autocratic regimes in existence from 1946 to 2010. The data identify how regimes exit power, how much violence occurs during transitions, and whether the regimes that precede and succeed them are autocratic. We explain the data set and show how it differs from currently available data. The new data identify autocratic regime breakdowns regardless of whether the country democratizes, which makes possible the investigation of why the ouster of dictators sometimes leads to democracy but often does not, and many other questions. We present a number of examples to highlight how the new data can be used to explore questions about why dictators start wars and why autocratic breakdown sometimes results in the establishment of a new autocratic regime rather than democratization. We discuss the implications of these findings for the Arab Spring

Diffusion-Controlled Synthesis of Magnetic Nanoparticles

Technological advancements of theMagnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) scanner and image reconstruction are important steps in the process of bringing MPI to preclinical and clinical applications. The future of this promising imaging modality, however, also crucially relies on the development of MPI tracers with high performance. An interesting material, not only for MPI, encompasses biogenic iron oxide nanoparticles due to their superior magnetic properties. It is a fact, however, that the production of such particles is extremely challenging. A promising approach for their manufacture is through the application of biomimetic synthesis routes. In the present study, a diffusion-controlled synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles, mimicking certain aspects of biomineralization in vitro is presented. The particles’ structural as well as static and dynamic magnetic properties are characterized and their potential as an MPI tracer is investigated

Party patronage in contemporary democracies: results from an expert survey in 22 countries from five regions

This Research Note presents a new dataset of party patronage in 22 countries from five regions. The data was collected based on the same methodology to compare patterns of patronage within countries, across countries and across world regions that are usually studied separately. The Note addresses three research questions that are at the center of debates on party patronage, which is understood as the power of political parties to make appointments to the public and semi-public sector: the scope of patronage, the underlying motivations, and the criteria on the basis of which appointees are selected. The exploration of the dataset shows that party patronage is, to a different degree, widespread across all regions. The data further shows differences between policy areas, types of institutions such as government ministries, agencies and state-owned enterprises, and higher, middle and lower ranks of the bureaucracy. It is demonstrated that the political control of policy-making and implementation is the most common motivation for making political appointments. However, in countries with a large scope of patronage, appointments serve the purpose of both political control and rewarding supporters in exchange for votes and services. Finally, the data shows that parties prefer to select appointees who are characterized by political and personal loyalty as well as professional competence

International Coercion, Emulation and Policy Diffusion: Market-Oriented Infrastructure Reforms, 1977-1999

Why do some countries adopt market-oriented reforms such as deregulation, privatization and liberalization of competition in their infrastructure industries while others do not? Why did the pace of adoption accelerate in the 1990s? Building on neo-institutional theory in sociology, we argue that the domestic adoption of market-oriented reforms is strongly influenced by international pressures of coercion and emulation. We find robust support for these arguments with an event-history analysis of the determinants of reform in the telecommunications and electricity sectors of as many as 205 countries and territories between 1977 and 1999. Our results also suggest that the coercive effect of multilateral lending from the IMF, the World Bank or Regional Development Banks is increasing over time, a finding that is consistent with anecdotal evidence that multilateral organizations have broadened the scope of the “conditionality” terms specifying market-oriented reforms imposed on borrowing countries. We discuss the possibility that, by pressuring countries into policy reform, cross-national coercion and emulation may not produce ideal outcomes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40099/3/wp713.pd

Sustainability reporting of German healthcare companies: a comparison

This study assesses the status quo of sustainability reporting by German healthcare companies. First, content analysis was conducted based on eight sustainability reports. Second, we developed case studies for three of those firms by investigating the further reporting environment. The results indicate that the specific business sector of a company does not influence its sustainability reporting level. Moreover, the case studies show a differentiated picture in regards to the sustainability activities of those companies. Most companies recognise sustainability as a subordinate part of their company values and often integrate substantial sustainability schemes. Only one company emphasises that sustainability has always been at the core of the company’s philosophy. To ensure a more transparent and sustainable development, this outcome indicates that new laws should not only require the creation of a sustainability report, but also regulate the formalities of it to derive a common standard