3,080 research outputs found
Book Review: Barr, Michael D.: The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence
No full textBook Review of the monograph by Barr, Michael D. (2014), The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence. London: I. B. Tauris, ISBN-13 978-1780762340, 224 pages. With The Ruling Elite of Singapore, Barr makes a significant contribution to the understanding of Singapore’s opaque governance and political elite. At a time of epochal political changes in Singapore comes this excellent analysis of the inner system of the city-state’s power centre. Thanks to its clear structure and accessible style, Barr’s work will be appreciated not only by scholars but also by a wider audience with a general interest in Singapore’s politics and history
Book Review: Barr, Michael D.: The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence
No full textBook Review of the monograph by Barr, Michael D. (2014), The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence. London: I. B. Tauris, ISBN-13 978-1780762340, 224 pages. With The Ruling Elite of Singapore, Barr makes a significant contribution to the understanding of Singapore’s opaque governance and political elite. At a time of epochal political changes in Singapore comes this excellent analysis of the inner system of the city-state’s power centre. Thanks to its clear structure and accessible style, Barr’s work will be appreciated not only by scholars but also by a wider audience with a general interest in Singapore’s politics and history
Book Review: Barr, Michael D.: The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence
No full textBook Review of the monograph by Barr, Michael D. (2014), The Ruling Elite of Singapore: Networks of Power and Influence. London: I. B. Tauris, ISBN-13 978-1780762340, 224 pages. With The Ruling Elite of Singapore, Barr makes a significant contribution to the understanding of Singapore’s opaque governance and political elite. At a time of epochal political changes in Singapore comes this excellent analysis of the inner system of the city-state’s power centre. Thanks to its clear structure and accessible style, Barr’s work will be appreciated not only by scholars but also by a wider audience with a general interest in Singapore’s politics and history
Medical Savings Accounts in Singapore: A Critical Inquiry
No full textAbstract With the United States currently experimenting with medical savings accounts (MSAs), it is appropriate to revisit the Singapore experience, where the practice has been in place for a decade and half. Singapore runs a modern, effective health system at a fraction of the cost of most systems operating in the developed West. Although MSAs contribute to the framework of a cultural rhetoric of personal responsibility for health care, this article argues that the heart of the Singapore sys-tem of health funding, with its financial discipline, is government control of inputs and outputs and strict rationing of health services according to wealth. Since the end of the Second World War, when Western governments began accepting increased levels of responsibility for the health of their citizens, the cost of health care to national economies has increased steadily and became a major concern for most governments after the 1970s. Regardless of different models of health funding used, and despite the fact that governments are not generally bearing all of the costs them-selves, health care expenditures have escalated to levels that have made it difficult to reconcile conflicting fiscal, social, and political imperatives. In 1997 the United States considered itself fortunate to have held its expenditure on health services at 13.6 percent of its gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) (Bishop 1998). In the European Union, the expenditure on health services has been rising 50 percent faster than the rise in GDP since the 1970s, leading to the current situation wherein EU countries The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers of this article for their advice and criti-cisms. The article is much improved due to their contributions
Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr 2014, sp. n.
No full textNeoeubria inbionis sp. n. Figs. 1–4, 25–27 Type material. Holotype (male): COSTA RICA: Guanacaste Prov., Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja, Las Pailas Trail, 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. // reared from pupa collected on wood in seep basin // HOLOTYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [red label]. Deposited in INBC. Allotype (female): locality data same as holotype // ALLOTYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [red label]. Deposited in INBC. Paratypes (2 M & 5 F): ECUADOR: Napo Prov., Huahua Sumaco, Km 44 on Hollin-Loreto Rd., XII-15-1989, Malaise Trap, MS/ JS Wasbauer, H. Real // CALIFORNIA STATE COLLN AGRICULTURE // PARATYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (1 M) (EMEC); data same, except XII-16-1989 (1 F) (CSCA); data same, except XII-18-1989 (1 M) (CSCA); data same, except XII-19-1989 (1 F) (CSCA); data same, except XII-21-1989 (2 FF) (CSCA, EMEC); data same, except XII-22-1989 (1 F) (CSCA). Adult Description. Body oval; males (Fig. 3) smaller than females (Figs. 1–2, 4); males 4.6–5.0 mm long and 2.75 mm wide, females 5.0– 5.6 mm long and 2.8–3.5 mm wide. Integument color medium brown, shiny where setae sparse; covered dorsally with a combination of different kinds of setae: widely-spaced, long, erect blond and dark brown setae; sparse, shorter, pale brown setae; and very dense, recumbent, pale blond setae forming a pattern of broad bands and large spots. Venter uniformly clothed in medium-length pale blond setae. Aedeagus of trilobed type (Fig. 25) and lightly sclerotized. Basal piece long, reduced to ventral plate basally with lateral flanges that clasp the base of parameres. Parameres long, widest at apical three-fourths of aedeagus; tips narrow, curved laterally; dorsally conjoined just anterior to midlength. Penis lanceolate; shorter than parameres; tip slightly curved ventrally and laterally compressed; base deeply cleft. 1. Ectopria is omitted from the key because it is probable that the Neotropical species belong in other genera. Ovipositor (Fig. 26) with bacula long, 1.4 times as long as coxites, thin, gently curved; only partially sclerotized. Coxites 0.7 times as long as bacula; joined medially in basal half, divergent medially in apical half; laterally gently sinuate. Styli short, one-segmented. Long, thin accessory sclerite dorsally in basal third of membrane between coxites. Immature specimens examined. COSTA RICA: Alajuela, Alta Masis, 9 VI 2000, Río San Lorenzo [WDS- A-1302] // William D. Shepard, leg. (1 larva); Guanacaste Prov., Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja, Las Pailas Trail, 18-I-2000, William D. Shepard & Cheryl B. Barr, collected on wood in seep basin [WDS-A-1283](24 larvae, 1 pupa); data same, except 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1386] (3 larvae, 3 pupae); data same, except 15-VI-2003, William D. Shepard & Cheryl B. Barr [WDS-A-1541] (11 larvae); data same, except Quebrada Pailas below Catarata, 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1387] (1 larva). NICARAGUA: Río San Juan, Refugio Bartola, 10 VIII 2002, riffle 3, Río Bartola, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1492] (1 larva). PANAMA: Chiriquí, Fortuna Forest Res., March 2004, Checo Colón-Gaud, leg. (1 larva). All immature specimens are deposited in EMEC. Etymology. Named in honor of INBio, the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica. The case is genitive. Distribution. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador, based on adult and larval specimens. Habitat. The type locality in Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja at an 780 m is a series of seeps in a small basin connected by a spring run to a narrow, slow-flowing forest stream which is a tributary of the Río Colorado. The entire area around the seeps and both streams is heavily forested and generally heavily shaded. In the seep basin the water is only about 2–3 cm deep over a substrate composed of a thick deposit of silt and fine detritus on which lie sticks and larger pieces of rotting, waterlogged wood (Fig. 27). In the basin the water is extremely slowmoving but in a couple of meters it begins to flow downhill in a narrow spring run which is crossed by the Las Pailas Trail between Stops 3 and 4. Larvae and pupae of N. inbionis were collected on pieces of decomposing wood found in the seep basin. Larvae were positioned below the water’s surface and pupae were above. The water is likely hypoxic because of the fine organic detritus substrate, coupled with the lack of sunlight for aquatic photosynthesizers due to the heavily-shaded nature of the site. Possession of a plastron facilitates larval survival in this water. Neoeubria was the only psephenid present in the seep area, and the only other co-occurring aquatic byrrhoid Coleoptera was an unidentified ptilodactylid larva. Other arthropods present in the seep area included aquatic Hemiptera, Belostoma (Belostomatidae) and Ambrysus (Naucoridae), and the crustacean Hyallela (Amphipoda). No specimens were collected from the spring run formed by the seeps. A single larva was collected in a second, larger stream, Quebrada Pailas, a tributary of the Río Colorado, which is also located along the Las Pailas Trail. The other sites at which larvae were collected by the senior author are also forest streams, although with rocky substrates and faster flow. Although the particular microhabitat of the larvae at these sites is unknown, at all of them submerged wood was common. Neoeubria inbionis has been collected at elevations ranging from as low as 40+ m in Nicaragua, to as high as 780 m in Costa Rica. The Ecuadorian adults were all taken in Malaise traps which were set in a forested area to catch flies. Although we could obtain no further information beyond the label data, collection of adults via Malaise traps indicates that N. inbionis adults behave like other eubriine adults and fly near the aquatic habitat in which the larvae occur. Phylogeny. In the recent phylogeny of the Psephenidae by Lee et al. (2007), Neoeubria is included as “Genus A.” In the most parsimonious tree Neoeubria is placed in a basal trichotomy within the subfamily Eubriinae. The trichotomy positions Neoeubria in one branch, Sclerocyphon + Tychepsephus in another branch, and the remainder of the eubriine genera in a third branch.Published as part of Shepard, William D. & Barr, Cheryl B., 2014, Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr, a new genus and new species of Neotropical water penny beetle (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Eubriinae), with a key to the adult Eubriinae of the Neotropic Zone, pp. 553-568 in Zootaxa 3811 (4) on pages 564-567, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3811.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/491902
Constructing Singapore : Elitism, Ethnicity and the Nation-Building Project, Michael D. Barr & Zlatko Skrbis
No full textMichael Barr, seul ou en collaboration, est depuis une décennie l’un des auteurs les plus prolifiques et les plus reconnus sur la structuration politique et sociologique du Singapour contemporain. Longtemps attaché à l’université du Queensland (Brisbane), aujourd’hui à Flinders (Adelaide), il est assez représentatif de la nouvelle génération (singapourienne aussi bien qu’étrangère) des spécialistes de la cité-état : fermement critique, et parfois même hyper-critique, elle n’en reconnaît pas m..
Cellular Pathways Leading to Patterns of Lytic Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation in Immortalized B Cell Lines
No full textLymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) are created by culturing lymphocytes from the peripheral blood and adding Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a ubiquitous human herpesvirus which infects, activates, and transforms B cells. These cell lines are used for genotyping, as targets for cytotoxic cells, and as models for EBV immortalization of B cells, particularly post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in which EBV-immortalized cells proliferate in the absence of a cytotoxic T-cell response. Studies have shown more diversity in LCLs than would be expected from cell lines that are often treated as interchangeable. It is not known how their diversity in factors like morphology, growth factor production, or cellular gene expression influences the EBV life cycle. In this study I investigated connections between LCLs' cellular and viral phenotypes, categorizing them as either low in EBV copy number or fluctuating within a high range. As measured by lytic EBV replication and viral gene expression, LCLs showed high or low lytic permissivity, with permissivity defined as the likelihood that a cell will switch from stable latent infection into the lytic EBV life cycle. Permissivity was not affected by blocking the late events of the lytic cycle. I used flow cytometry to characterize 19 aspects of LCL surface phenotype, but found little association with lytic permissivity. Microarrays and PCR were used to identify genes expressed at higher levels in non-permissive LCLs, including transcription factors that maintain B cell lineage. Unfolded protein response (UPR) genes and the UPR protein Grp94 were expressed at higher levels in permissive LCLs. A drug was used to investigate effects of the UPR on permissive and non-permissive LCLs that had been maintained for short or long periods of time. The UPR enhanced permissivity, causing more cells to enter the lytic cycle, but this did not lead to lytic replication. This study enhances our knowledge about EBV life cycles by giving us new information about host factors that contribute to the lytic switch. This data about LCL diversity has public health relevance to the diversity of PTLD cases, since identifying risk factors for PTLD is a significant part of care for EBV-positive transplant recipients
David Marshall and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Singapore
No full textThis paper looks at the career of David Marshall during the years in which he was a\ud
"peripheral politician", as Chan Heng Chee has called him. It was in these years that\ud
his commitment to the causes of human rights and civil rights in Singapore came to\ud
the fore. During his career as an opposition politician and later as a barrister he\ud
regularly championed the causes of freedom of speech and freedom of conscience in\ud
Singapore. He stood against increasing odds for the rights of those who were detained\ud
without trial and who were persecuted for their political beliefs.\ud
His career between 1956 and 1972 saw him take a leading role in a number of\ud
significant issues. These included his opposition to the government’s move to\ud
eliminate trial by jury in Singapore; his campaign for humane treatment for the\ud
detainees of Operation Cold Store; and his defense of freedom of the press when\ud
government critics were arrested, among other actions. This paper will look at\ud
Marshall’s role in these three occasions and evaluate his contribution to the practice\ud
of politics in Singapore and will evaluate the long term impact of his defense of the\ud
rule of law. It will be based on an examination of his speeches and on the materials in\ud
the David Marshall papers
J.B. Jeyaretnam: three decades as Lee Kuan Yew's bete noir
No full textJ.B. Jeyaretnam was Singapore's most celebrated opposition leader when his career came to an abrupt end in 2001, but he is better known for the injustices he has suffered at the hands of the People's Action Party regime than for anything he has achieved or said. Bankrupted, imprisoned, deprived of his livelihood and expelled from Parliament twice, he has acquired the aura of martyrdom, yet little is known about his life, his ideas or his motivations. Drawing on interview and archival research, this article studies him with a view to better understanding both the man himself and — probably of greater significance — what his experience can tell us about the dynamics of the Singapore policy. Why did he enter opposition politics and keep coming back for more in the face of persecution? Why did the government set out to destroy him with such vehemence? What does this tell us about the limits of political tolerance in Singapore, both today and in the past? What lessons can other opposition figures learn from his experience? And why has Jeyaretnam been treated so harshly while the government nurtures some other opposition MPs as responsible and courteous players
Index to Let Us Meet in Heaven: The Civil War Letters of James Michael Barr, 5th South Carolina Infantry
No full textThis is an index created by Dr. George Rable for research
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