Shakespeare’s Exceptional Violence: Reading Titus Andronicus with Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben

In this paper I explore the multifaceted relationship between violence, speech and power in the most graphic of Shakespeare’s plays, Titus Andronicus. I take my cue from Hannah Arendt’s reflections on violence as opposed to power, and as something “incapable of speech,” but I read the play through the lens of Giorgio Agamben’s notion of sovereignty as the suspension of the law. I consider the dichotomy speech/muteness as an example not only of the dichotomy power/violence (Arendt) but also of the opposition between bios and zoe, that is the difference between a life worth to be included in the political realm and a life understood as the mere condition of being alive, a condition common to human beings and beasts (according to classical philosophy). In Titus Andronicus, these distinctions are blurred, and zoe becomes fully exposed to the sovereign decision. While the image of a mutilated and mute body cannot match Arendt’s idea of politics as the combination of speech and action bereft of violence, Agamben has developed the notion of a politics that renders life disposable, mute, bare, and can still be called politics or power, and precisely biopower. From this perspective, I argue, Lavinia and the other characters of Titus Andronicus are the embodiment of the concept of “bare life” as developed by Agamben, and Shakespeare’s Rome is a State of exception and of exceptional violence

An Alternative to the Traditional Cold Pressor Test: The Cold Pressor Arm Wrap

Recently research on the relationship between stress and cognition, emotion, and behavior has greatly increased. These advances have yielded insights into important questions ranging from the nature of stress\u27 influence on addiction1 to the role of stress in neural changes associated with alterations in decision-making2,3. As topics being examined by the field evolve, however, so too must the methodologies involved. In this article a practical and effective alternative to a classic stress induction technique, the cold pressor test (CPT), is presented: the cold pressor arm wrap (CPAW). CPT typically involves immersion of a participant\u27s dominant hand in ice-cold water for a period of time4. The technique is associated with robust activation of the sympatho-adrenomedullary (SAM) axis (and release of catecholamines; e.g. adrenaline and noradrenaline) and mildto- moderate activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis with associated glucocorticoid (e.g. cortisol) release. While CPT has been used in a wide range of studies, it can be impractical to apply in some research environments. For example use of water during, rather than prior to, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to damage sensitive and expensive equipment or interfere with acquisition of MRI signal. The CPAW is a practical and effective alternative to the traditional CPT. Composed of a versatile list of inexpensive and easily acquired components, CPAW makes use of MRI-safe gelpacs cooled to a temperature similar to CPT rather than actual water. Importantly CPAW is associated with levels of SAM and HPA activation comparable to CPT, and can easily be applied in a variety of research contexts. While it is important to maintain specific safety protocols when using the technique, these are easy to implement if planned for. Creation and use of the CPAW will be discussed

Electoral Accountability and Local Government Efficiency: Quasi-Experimental Avidence From the Italian Health Care Sector Reforms

This paper evaluates the effect of two policy changes on the efficiency of Italian regional governments in the provision of health care services: first a change in the electoral system; second a process of fiscal decentralisation. The electoral system was changed in 1995 and replaced a pure proportional system by a majoritarian system, fostering the transition of regional governments towards a presidential regime. The process of fiscal decentralisation took effect in 1998, when intergovernmental grants earmarked for the health care sector were replaced by regional taxes. The Italian context offers a unique source of data to test the predictions of recent theoretical models that support a positive relationship between government efficiency and the electoral accountability enhanced by institutions such as electoral rules and fiscal decentralisation. The paper provides two main contributions: 1) a comprehensive analysis of the two main reforms that involved Italian regional governments and the health care sector during the 1990s; 2) the evaluation of the impact of the electoral reform in a quasi-experimental setting. The final results provide empirical evidence in line with the findings of the theoretical models.electoral accountability, DEA, decentralisation, efficiency, health

Histochemical data on the skin mucous cells during the development of the trout [Translation from: Bollettino della Societa Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale 45, 1273-1276, 1969]

In the skin of Salmo irideus the production of mucus is due to one type of cell specialized as a mucus cell. The histochemical research presented in this paper describes the mucous cells of Salmo irideus and demonstrates observable variation in such cells during the fish's development

First record of the non-pollinating fig wasp Odontofroggatia galili Wiebes, 1980 from Malta (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae)

The fig wasp Odontofroggatia galili is reported for the first time from Malta. Odontofroggatia is a non-pollinating fig wasp genus associated with a narrow range of host plant species, among them Ficus microcarpa, a widespread ornamental tree native to Asia.peer-reviewe

Incentive Schemes for Local Government: Theory and Evidence from Comprehensive Performance Assessment in England

This paper studies Comprehensive Performance Assessment, an explicit incentive scheme for local government in England. Motivated by a simple theoretical political agency model, we predict that CPA should increase service quality and local taxation, but have an ambiguous effect on the efficiency of service provision. We test these predictions using a difference in difference approach, using Welsh local authorities as a control group, exploiting the fact that local authorities in Wales were not subject to the same CPA regime. To do this, we construct original indices of service quality and efficiency, using Best Value Performance Indicators. We estimate that CPA increased the effective band D council tax rate in England relative to Wales by 4%, and increased our index of service quality output also by about 4%, but had no significant effect on our efficiency indices. There is evidence of heterogeneous effects of CPA on efficiency, with some evidence that CPA impacted more on less efficient councils, and the ‘harder test’ from 2005-8 having a much bigger effect.local government, incentives, efficiency, difference in difference, DEA

Incentive Schemes for Local Government : Theory and Evidence from Comprehensive Performance Assessment in England

This paper studies Comprehensive Performance Assessment, an explicit incentive scheme for local government in England. Motivated by a simple theoretical political agency model, we predict that CPA should increase service quality and local taxation, but have an ambiguous e¤ect on the e¢ ciency of service provision. We test these predictions using a difference in difference approach, using Welsh local authorities as a control group, exploiting the fact that local authorities in Wales were not subject to the same CPA regime. To do this, we construct original indices of service quality and e¢ ciency, using Best Value Performance Indicators. We estimate that CPA increased the effective band D council tax rate in England relative to Wales by 4%, and increased our index of service quality output also by about 4%, but had no signifcant effect on our efficiency indices. There is evidence of heterogenous effects of CPA on efficiency, with some evidence that CPA impacted more on less efficient councils, and the "harder test" from 2005-8 having a much bigger effect. Key words: local government ; incentives ; efficiency ; difference in difference ; DEA JEL classification: H10 ; H70 ; H77 ; C21

Preconditioning of Active-Set Newton Methods for PDE-constrained Optimal Control Problems

We address the problem of preconditioning a sequence of saddle point linear systems arising in the solution of PDE-constrained optimal control problems via active-set Newton methods, with control and (regularized) state constraints. We present two new preconditioners based on a full block matrix factorization of the Schur complement of the Jacobian matrices, where the active-set blocks are merged into the constraint blocks. We discuss the robustness of the new preconditioners with respect to the parameters of the continuous and discrete problems. Numerical experiments on 3D problems are presented, including comparisons with existing approaches based on preconditioned conjugate gradients in a nonstandard inner product