Metaphorizing the Holocaust: The Ethics of Comparison

Metaphorizing the Holocaust: The Ethics of Comparison  This paper focuses on the ethics of metaphor and other forms of comparison that invoke National Socialism and the Holocaust. It seeks to answer the question: Are there criteria on the basis of which we can judge whether metaphors and associated tropes “use” the Holocaust appropriately? In analyzing the thrust and workings of such comparisons, the paper also seeks to identify and clarify the terminology and concepts that allow productive discussion. In line with its conception of metaphor that is also rhetorical praxis, the paper focuses on specific controversies involving the metaphorization of the Holocaust, primarily in Germany and Austria. The paper develops its argument through the following process. First, it examines the rhetorical/political contexts in which claims of the Holocaust’s comparability (or incomparability) have been raised. Second, it presents a review (and view) of the nature of metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche. It applies this framework to (a) comparisons of Saddam Hussein with Hitler in Germany in 1991; (b) the controversies surrounding the 2004 poster exhibition “The Holocaust on Your Plate” in Germany and Austria, with particular emphasis on the arguments and decisions in cases before the courts in those countries; and (c) the invocation of “Auschwitz” as metonym and synecdoche. These examples provide the basis for a discussion of the ethics of comparison. In its third and final section the paper argues that metaphor is by nature duplicitous, but that ethical practice involving Holocaust comparisons is possible if one is self-aware and sensitive to the necessity of seeing the “other” as oneself. The ethical framework proposed by the paper provides the basis for evaluationg the specific cases adduced

Instability of fluid flows, including boundary slip

We investigate the onset of instability in a variety of fluid models, and present results and details of their computation in each case. The fluid models we consider are: convection in the setting of the Navier-Stokes equations with boundary slip; Poiseuille-type solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations, again with boundary slip; Poiseuillfe-type solutions of the Green-Naghdi and dipolar fluid equations. In Chapter two we examine the onset of thermal convection in a thin fluid layer, with slip boundary conditions at the top and bottom surfaces of the layer. We show that non-zero boundary conditions do not affect the classical steady state solution, and the principle of exchange of stabilities still applies. It is seen that boundary slip reduces the critical Rayleigh number at which convection begins, below that found in the setting of no-slip boundary conditions. The next two chapters concern the transition to turbulence of pressure driven flow in a microchannel, at the boundaries of which the fluid obeys slip boundary conditions. In Chapter three we perform linear and nonlinear stability analyses for this flow, and show that we do not have exchange of stabilities for such flows. In Chapter four we perform a linear stability analysis for channel flow in the case when the fluid viscosity is a function of temperature. We show that for pressure driven flow in the plane, boundary slip stabilizes the flow. In Chapter five we develop a model of thread-annular flow, in which we believe boundary slip to be an important part. As well as our development of the model, we present previously unpublished results on the linear stability of thread-annular flow to non-axisymmetric disturbances. Some surprising behaviour is observed in the neutral curves, including behaviour missed by the computations of previous authors. Finally, we use Chapter six to discuss two alternative fluid models: the Green- Naghdi equations and the dipolar equations. We find Poiseuille flow type solutions in both of these settings, and perform linear stability analyses. These fluid models are systems of fourth order differential equations, and we show that the fourth order derivative terms dominate the stability of the flow

The governance of European security

This article seeks to develop a concept of ‘security governance’ in the context of post-Cold War Europe. The validity of a governance approach lies in its ability to locate some of the distinctive ways in which European security has been coordinated, managed and regulated. Based on an examination of the way governance is utilised in other political fields of political analysis, the article identifies the concept of security governance as involving the coordinated management and regulation of issues by multiple and separate authorities, the interventions of both public and private actors (depending upon the issue), formal and informal arrangements, in turn structured by discourse and norms, and purposefully directed toward particular policy outcomes. Three issues are examined to demonstrate the utility of the concept of security governance for understanding security in post-Cold War Europe: the transformation of NATO, the Europeanisation of security accomplished through EU-led initiatives and, finally, the resultant dynamic relationship between forms of exclusion and inclusion in governance

The Impact of EU Unfair Contract Terms Law on U.S. Business-to-Consumer Internet Merchants

This article focuses on the application of European Union unfair contract terms law to retail Internet transactions that U.S. businesses might engage in with European consumers. It compares attitudes toward consumer protection regulation in the U.S. and the EU to provide some context within which the specific provisions of unfair contract terms law can be understood. While many lawyers and legal academics in the U.S. who study the development of online markets are aware of the profound differences in U.S. and EU information privacy laws, the magnitude of the divergence in consumer electronic contracting law is not as widely recognized. The development of contract law on unfair terms in Europe over the last 25 years is an important change in EU contract law that has no direct counterpart in U.S. contract law. The application of contract law on unfair terms to online transactions is not at all surprising to lawyers in the EU, but may come as quite a surprise to U.S. businesses and the lawyers who advise them if they have mistakenly assumed that cross-border variations in consumer contract law are not great. As some have learned to their detriment, it is not sufficient for businesses to simply deploy U.S. versions of their online terms and conditions in their European operations

Experiences in fosfomycin susceptibility testing and resistance mechanism determination in Escherichia coli from urinary tract infections in the UK

PURPOSE: With an increase in the numbers of bacterial isolates resistant to first-line antibiotics, there has been a revival in the use of older drugs including fosfomycin with novel mechanisms of action. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypic nature of fosfomycin resistance in Escherichia coli from urinary tract infections (UTIs) using the various methods available in the clinical microbiology laboratory. METHODOLOGY: In total, 1000 culture-positive urine samples were assessed for the presence of E. coli and fosfomycin susceptibility was determined using the MAST Uri system, microbroth dilution, agar dilution and E-test strips.Results/Key findings. Initial investigation using breakpoint susceptibility testing on the MAST Uri system identified 62 of 657 (9.5 %) E. coli isolates as fosfomycin-resistant (MIC≥32 µg ml-1). However, on further testing, a lower rate of eight of the 62 (1.3 %) were robustly confirmed to be resistant using microbroth dilution, agar dilution and E-test strips. These true resistant isolates belonged to diverse E. coli multi-locus sequence types and each had a unique set of chromosomal alterations in genes associated with fosfomycin resistance. Fosfomycin-resistant isolates were not multiply drug resistant and did not carry plasmidic fosfomycin resistance genes. Therefore, the use of fosfomycin may be unlikely to drive selection of a particular clone or movement of transferable resistance genes. CONCLUSION: Fosfomycin remains a viable option for the treatment of E. coli in uncomplicated UTIs; different susceptibility testing platforms can give very different results regarding the prevalence of fosfomycin resistance, with false positives being a potential problem that may unnecessarily limit the use of this agent

MarA, RamA, and SoxS as Mediators of the Stress Response:Survival at a Cost

To survive and adapt to changing environments, bacteria have evolved mechanisms to express appropriate genes at appropriate times. Exposure to antimicrobials triggers a global stress response in Enterobacteriaceae, underpinned by activation of a family of transcriptional regulators, including MarA, RamA, and SoxS. These control a program of altered gene expression allowing a rapid and measured response to improve fitness in the presence of toxic drugs. Increased expression of marA, ramA, and soxS up regulates efflux activity to allow detoxification of the cell. However, this also results in trade-offs in other phenotypes, such as impaired growth rates, biofilm formation and virulence. Here, we review the current knowledge regarding the trade-offs that exist between drug survival and other phenotypes that result from induction of marA, ramA, and soxS. Additionally, we present some new findings linking expression of these regulators and biofilm formation in Enterobacteriaceae, thereby demonstrating the interconnected nature of regulatory networks within the cell and explaining how trade-offs can exist between important phenotypes. This has important implications for our understanding of how bacterial virulence and biofilms can be influenced by exposure to antimicrobials