Search

Political selection is central to the survival of all regimes. This article evaluates the relative importance of performance and political connection for the advancement of local politicians under authoritarianism. We hypothesize that in a large-scale multilevel polity, economic performance plays a greater role in promotion at lower administrative levels of government than at higher ones, even after controlling for political connections. This dualist strategy allows the ruling elites to achieve economic performance while minimizing the advancement of potentially disloyal challengers. Thus, balancing between loyalty and competence among subordinates enhances regime survival. Our empirical evidence draws on a comprehensive panel dataset of provincial, prefectural, and county-level Communist party secretaries and government executives appointed between 1999 and 2007. We find consistent evidence for our argument under various model specifications. We also explore the heterogeneous effects of performance on promotion given the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) age ineligibility rule for cadre promotion and jurisdiction characteristics.

In order to survive, animals must acquire information about the reward value of stimuli in their environment. This process partly depends on the ability of the organism to make associations between the environmental context and the internal representation of value. While this type of learning probably evolved in order to promote behaviors that increase fitness (e.g., ingestive and sexual behavior), neuropsychological research utilizing addictive drugs, which are potent artificial reinforcers, has led to a deeper understanding of reinforcement mechanisms. Through these associations, sensory cues can acquire emotional salience and motivational properties. Exposure to drug-related cues in human addicts results in drug craving and localized activation of central circuits that are known to mediate cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior in animal models of relapse. Similar regional activation patterns occur in humans in response to cues associated with foods. Furthermore, drug- and food-related cues not only activate common neuroanatomical regions but also result in similar activity-regulated gene expression programs within these shared areas. Here we discuss recent studies from our laboratory that investigate gene expression patterns elicited by exposure to palatable food- or drug-related cues. These studies suggest that the central nervous system stores and utilizes information about 'natural' and drug reinforcers in similar ways, both neuroanatomically and biochemically. These considerations may have important implications for the pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral treatments of substance use disorders, addiction, eating disorders, and obesity.

Relatively little attention has been focused on mechanisms related to neural plasticity and drug abuse in adolescence, compared with abundant research using adult animal models. As smoking is typically initiated in adolescence, an important question to address is whether the adolescent brain responds differently to nicotine compared with the adult. To investigate this question, we examined the expression of a number of early response genes (arc, c-fos and NGFI-B) that have been implicated in synaptic plasticity and addiction, following acute nicotine in adolescent and adult rats. Baseline expression of arc and c-fos was higher in adolescent brains compared with adults. Following acute nicotine treatment (0.1, 0.4 mg/kg), we found a marked induction of arc mRNA in the prefrontal cortex of nicotine-treated adolescents compared with a less pronounced increase of arc in the adult. c-fos and NGFI-B were also upregulated by nicotine, but not in an age-related manner. In contrast, nicotine induced less arc, c-fos, and NGFI-B expression in the somatosensory cortex of adolescents compared with adults. A fourth gene, quinoid dihydropteridine reductase was expressed at lower levels in white matter of the adolescent forebrain compared with the adult, but was not affected by nicotine. These results suggest that in adolescence, the activity of specific early response genes is higher in brain regions critical for emotional regulation and decision-making. Further, nicotine affects key plasticity molecules in these areas in a manner different from the adult. Thus, adolescence may represent a neurobiologically vulnerable period with regard to nicotine exposure.

Hypocretin/orexin (H/O) and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) are peptide neuromodulators found in separate populations of neurons located within the lateral and perifornical hypothalamic regions. H/O has been linked to sleep-wakefulness regulation and to the sleep disorder narcolepsy, and both systems have been implicated in energy homeostasis, including the regulation of food intake. In the present study we compared the development of H/O and MCH-expressing neuronal populations with in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry on adjacent sections in the embryonic and postnatal rat brain. We found that MCH mRNA and protein were present in developing neurons of the hypothalamus by embryonic day 16 (E16), whereas H/O mRNA and protein were not detected until E18. We also identified previously undescribed populations of MCH-immunoreactive cells in the lateral septum, paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, lateral zona incerta, and ventral lateral geniculate nucleus that may play a specific role in the development of these regions. MCH immunoreactive axonal processes were also evident earlier than H/O stained fibers and at the time H/O immunoreactive processes were first identified in the hypothalamus at E20, extensive MCH axonal fiber systems were already present in many brain regions. Interestingly, however, the density of axonal fibers immunoreactive for H/O in the locus coeruleus reached peak levels at the same developmental age (P21) as MCH immunoreactive axons in the diagonal band of Broca (DBB). The peak of axon density coincided with the developmental stage at which adult patterns of feeding and sleep–waking activity become established. The present results demonstrate developmental differences and similarities between the MCH and H/O systems that may relate to their respective roles in feeding and sleep regulation.

In this paper, a Windows PC-program is described that performs the transformation of measurement spectra obtained by resonant nuclear reaction analysis (RNRA) into concentration depth profiles. For the shape of the resonance a simple Breit–Wigner form is implemented. For the calculation of the straggling both the Bohr and the Lindhard–Scharff models can be used. The program can be used to evaluate depth profiles of an element in an otherwise homogeneous target. A nanometer depth scale is obtained by considering the concentration-dependent densities of the phases. This is exploited for the investigation of nitrogen profiles via the resonance reaction 15 N ( p , αγ ) 12 C . For demonstration purposes the program is used to determine nitrogen depth profiles of laser nitrided iron.

Most metals can be nitrided by irradiation with short pulses of an excimer laser in nitrogen containing atmospheres. By the laser nitriding process with a XeCl excimer laser beam (wavelength λ=308 nm, average energy density H=4 J/cm2, pulse width τ=55 ns) in pure nitrogen, iron nitride coatings of 1–2 μm thickness at a level of up to 15 at.% nitrogen were produced. The results of the complicated laser-plasma-material interaction can be resolved by combining Resonant nuclear reaction analysis (RNRA) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). Utilizing the exclusive sensitivity of RNRA to the isotope 15N, RNRA via the 15N(p,αγ)12C resonance reaction and alternate irradiations in a N2 atmosphere of natural or enriched 15N abundance are employed to study the take-up of new nitrogen into the surface and the transport mechanisms upon irradiation with subsequent pulses. Together with RBS investigations of convective transport of the molten base material using thin Au marker layers, information on basic mechanisms of the nitriding process (convection, diffusion) was gained enabling a simulation of the nitrogen depth profiles.

We have searched for the flavor-changing neutral current decay b -> s mu+ mu- in p pbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV with the DO detector at Fermilab. We determine the 90% confidence level limit for the branching fraction to be B(b -> X_s mu+ mu-) < 3.2 x 10^{-4}. We argue that this limit is more stringent than the best published limit on this decay rate.

The effect of the nitrogen take-up upon irradiation of iron or steel with excimer laser pulses in air or nitrogen atmosphere is well established. The resulting nitrogen depth profiles and phase compositions were measured by a combination of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, resonant nuclear reaction analysis and conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy for various laser parameters. The accuracy of the nitrogen profiling via the 15 N(p, xy) 12 C reaction allowed the detection of very low nitrogen concentrations and also the resolving of them laterally across the laser spot. The laser-induced changes in surface topography were observed with optical microscopy and surface profilometry. The microhardness across the laser spot and as a function of the depth is compared with the nitrogen depth and lateral profiles and the phase composition. Thus the mechanical properties can be related to the microstructure and phase composition in the laser modified surfaces of iron and steel. A comparison is made between the effects for irradiation of pure iron and the carbon steel C80.

Recent transparency reforms in China are intended in part to help activists, journalists, and others to limit the ability of the local party-state to engage in practices that not only harm ordinary Chinese but also go against central government interests. However, implementing these reforms requires cooperation from the very actors who may be weakened by them. We show that even controlling for pollution, development, and industrialization, Chinese cities dominated by large industrial firms are less transparent than those with a less-concentrated industrial base. This effect is stronger when the city’s largest firm is in a highly polluting industry. We control for pollution using satellite-generated data in order to avoid relying on questionable official data that may be manipulated by local governments. While the negative economic consequences of the dominance of large state-connected firms have been widely discussed, our study shows that this growth strategy has important and deleterious political effects as well.

We argue that interjurisdiction competition in authoritarian regimes engenders a specific logic for taxation. Promotion-seeking local officials are incentivized to signal loyalty and competence to their principals through tangible fiscal revenues. The greater the number of officials accountable to the same principal, the more intense political competition is, resulting in higher taxation; however, too many officials accountable to the same principal leads to lower taxation due to shirking by uncompetitive officials and the fear of political instability. Using a panel dataset of all Chinese county-level jurisdictions from 1999-2006, we find strong evidence for an inverse U-shaped relationship between the number of county-level jurisdictions within a prefecture — our proxy for the intensity of political competition — and fiscal revenues in most provinces but not so in politically unstable ethnic minority regions. The results are robust to various alternative specifications, including models that account for heterogeneous county characteristics and spatial interdependence.

The unique structures of process-bearing cells in the central nervous system (CNS) present an ideal model with which to study the differential distribution of mRNA. We conducted a side-by-side examination of the intracellular distribution of nine neural mRNAs by in situ hybridization histochemistry in mammalian brain and observed four general types of mRNA distributions. (1) Some mRNA species were confined to cell somas and included those encoding the glial proteins, myelin proteolipid protein and 2'3'-cyclic nucleotide-3'-phosphodiesterase and the neuronal enzymes, neuron-specific enolase and glutamate decarboxylase-67. (2) Some mRNAs were found abundantly within the cell soma and were also located throughout cellular processes. These included myelin basic protein (MBP) mRNA, which was localized to the cell soma and myelin sheaths of oligodendrocytes, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) mRNA, which was localized to the cell soma and processes of reactive and some non-reactive astrocytes in the adult brain and radial glia in embryonic brain. (3) Some mRNAs were found primarily in perinuclear cytoplasm but in some cells were also observed in cell processes. These included mRNAs encoding the protein kinase C/calmodulin-binding substrates, RC3 (neurogranin) and GAP-43, which were identified in the somas as well as within the proximal dendritic branches of specific forebrain neurons. (4) Some mRNAs were localized primarily within cell processes. These included MAP2 mRNA, which was identified by deep staining within dendritic fields but by only light staining within neuronal cell bodies. The data also indicated that the stage of cellular development and the regional location of a cell within the CNS had a profound influence on translocation events. MAP2 mRNA was found in the dendritic processes of most neurons but was confined to the soma of neurons in specific brainstem nuclei. MBP mRNA was confined to the perinuclear cytoplasm of immature oligodendrocytes and was then transported into the myelin sheath at a developmental stage corresponding to myelination. The distribution patterns of these mRNAs are likely to reflect the mechanism by which the protein products of these molecules are targeted within neurons and glia. In addition, mRNA movement may be influenced by cellular and regional factors not encoded solely within the structure of the translocated mRNA.

Exogenous shocks are said to play a key role in the breakdown of authoritarian regimes. This paper sheds light on the conditions under which crisis management play out to the advantage of authoritarian leaders, or not. By chance, a national probability survey of the Chinese population was conducted before and after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Based on a quasi-experimental design that allows us to match pre- and post-quake respondents, we find that citizens were highly responsive to media content. In the short run, a more open information policy helped shore up support for a government that exhibited a high degree of responsiveness to the crisis. We find, however, that this approach may have undermined the regime’s legitimacy. Whereas in the immediate aftermath of the quake the Chinese media emphasized political unity and harmony, over time increasing and unusual media criticisms of local governments in the media eroded public confidence. Even though support for political unity and harmony increased immediately after the quake, it quickly dropped below pre-quake levels. Our results are robust both to matching and to more standard parametric specifications.

Resume Lorsque l'on effectue une enquete, on rassemble des donnees dans un contexte completement different de celui qui existe dans un laboratoire, le contexte de l'enquete echappant souvent a la maitrise de l'enqueteur. Dans une enquete transsectorielle, on ne peut imposer un traitement. On rassemble plutot des donnees sur les divers niveaux des variables, a mesure qu'ils se manifestent dans l'ensemble de la population. L'appareil de mesure doit etre le meme pour toutes les donnees recueillies, mais il se pourrait que ce soit un compromis par rapport a l'ideal que l'on trouve en laboratoire. De meme, il faut parfois adapter les protocoles de mesure. Dans une enquete, enfin, il faut se rappeler que la population cible est limitee et qu'il est en general necessaire de prelever un echantillon, etant donne qu'on ne peut faire porter l'enquete sur toute la population. La plupart des enquetes d'envergure menees au Canada supposent des modeles d'echantillonnage complexes, vu la quantite de donnees a recueillir et la taille de la region geographique a couvrir. Les methodes statistiques traditionnelles mises au point pour etudier des populations infinies ne permettent pas de produire des estimations representatives de la population canadienne. Toute etude analytique des resultats doit prendre en compte la nature complexe du modele et calculer les variances connexes. L'enquete condition physique Canada de 1981 a servi a etablir des donnees normatives de reference relativement a un echantillon de Canadiens et de Canadiennes âges de 7 ans ou plus et a aider ainsi les decideurs, les planificateurs, les educateurs et les promoteurs a elaborer et a offrir des programmes de conditionnement et d'activites physiques dans le contexte plus vaste de la promotion de la sante. Il fallait principalement recueillir de l'information sur les taux de participation, les activites pratiquees habituellement et la depense d'energie. C'est pourquoi le questionnaire etait concu pour etablir la frequence, l'intensite et la duree des activites de loisirs, car ce sont elles qui se pretent le mieux a des strategies de promotion. On s'est en fait inspire du questionnaire «Minnesota LTA qu'on a adapte de facon a ce que les repondants puissent le remplir eux-memes. Pour definir les mesures physiques a inclure dans l'EPCP, on a plutot mis l'accent sur la sante que sur les qualites athletiques. Le protocole de base a ete le Physitest normalise canadien. On a modifie certaines des methodes existantes et ajoute d'autres elements. La Figure 1 resume les exigences de l'enquete et explique brievement comment elles ont influe sur le protocole. Comme 160 examinateurs devaient appliquer le protocole pendant une periode de 6 mois, on a accorde une grande priorite a la normalisation de la procedure. Pour la garantir, on a assujetti les examinateurs a une formation rigoureuse, les superviseurs ont effectue des visites de controle de la qualite, et les examinateurs ont pu obtenir des conseils techniques aupres des bureaux regionaux installes dans des universites. Comme c'etait en prenant les mesures anthropometriques qu'on risquait le plus de commettre des erreurs, on a accorde une attention speciale aux criteres de precision (Tableau I). Les erreurs inherentes a une enquete proviennent de 2 types de sources, a savoir l'echantillonnage et les elements autres que l'echantillonnage, et elles se divisent en 2 categories: les erreurs dues a une variation aleatoire, et les erreurs de biais. La Figure 2 decrit les mesures que l'ECPC a prises pour limiter l'incidence des erreurs de chacune de ces categories. L'enquete condition physique Canada a permis de recueillir une profusion de donnees sur l'activite physique, la motivation, la condition physique et des criteres generaux relatifs a la sante. Dans l'ensemble, 56% des Canadiens et Canadiennes âges de 10 ans ou plus sont actifs pendant leurs loisirs, en moyenne 3 h ou plus par semaine, pendant au moins 9 mois par annee. D'apres un critere propose par Haskell et al. relativement aux avantages que l'activite physique presente pour la sante cardio-vasculaire, on estime que 25% des adultes canadiens sont «raisonnablement actifs pendant leurs loisirs et depensent en moyenne au moins 3 kcal/kg par jour. Les activites les plus populaires, soit celles qu'ont citees au moins 20% des personnes interrogees, sont la marche, le cyclisme, la natation, le jogging ou la course, le jardinage, les exercices a domicile et le patinage sur glace. Le Tableau II resume les donnees normatives employees pour mesurer la sante cardio-vasculaire, la flexibilite, l'endurance musculaire et la force musculaire, et pour evaluer l'adiposite. Ces resultats donnent de la population canadienne une image qui inquiete les specialistes de la sante publique. Cette tendance pose un defi de taille a ceux et celles a qui il incombe de promouvoir l'activite physique et les habitudes de vie saines. On lance actuellement de nombreuses initiatives et leur degre de reussite sera evalue au fil des annees a venir, a la faveur des etapes successives de l'enquete condition physique Canada.

The documentation of several recent outbreaks of human virus diseases associated with the consumption of shellfish has reiterated the threat posed by these agents to the shellfish industry. This article reviews pertinent outbreaks, identifies principal viral agents involved, and delineates systems which may be at greatest risk. The results of two recent laboratory studies which sought to define environmental factors that contribute to virus accumulation by shellfish are also discussed. First, the accumulation of environmentally significant levels of feces-associated and monodispersed poliovirus by oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) was investigated. The results of this study suggested that virus accumulation by mollusks may not be significant when water column concentrations are below ⋍0.01 plaque-forming units (PFU) per milliliter. The second study focused on the relative contributions of undisturbed sediments versus those in the water column in the accumulation of viruses by epifaunal and infaunal shellfish (C. virginica and M. mercenaria). Viruses were found to be most efficiently accumulated when suspended in the water column.

The ability of a glycerin gel containing 0.4 per cent SnF2 to reduce enamel solubility was tested in thirty orthodontic patients, each requiring removal of four premolars. Two teeth were extracted and retained as controls. The gel was then employed in a home-care program for 1 to 7 weeks. The remaining two first premolars were then extracted and employed as experimental teeth. Differences in enamel solubility between the control and experimental teeth in each subject were used to estimate the effectiveness of the gel. Using the gel for 1 week reduced enamel solubility by 12.1 per cent and a highly significant increase in effectiveness was found with the longer periods of treatment. These results suggest that the daily use of such a gel may well be a valuable preventive adjunct in orthodontic treatment. Such a clinical study involving a large number of orthodontic patients has been in existence for approximately one year.