Belfast beyond violence: Flagging up a challenge to local government?

Northern Ireland is emerging from violence but still living with conflict. The recent flags protests in Belfast represent a challenge to public administration to transcend the contested politics of local government in Northern Ireland and to navigate a way through a symbolic legacy issue. This article draws on a longitudinal hermeneutic analysis of empirical research conducted on Northern Ireland local government over a decade, where these concerns dominated much debate. Additional analysis of the research findings reveals broader problems applicable to any public administration faced with managing situations in which good governance in public participation and procedural correctness operates alongside fundamental political disagreement and distrust. These conclusions are particularly pertinent for local administrations in societies transitioning from conflict.

Economic and social integration the challenge for EU constitutional law

'At a time of crisis and therefore a crucial juncture in European politics, Dagmar Schiek offers us an inspiring vision of the potential of the European Union. In her brilliant study, she exposes the obstacles that economic integration has posed for achievement of social justice, and provides a bold solution. Rejecting more limited models of constitutionalism, she presents a convincing alternative which is socially embedded, allowing space for action by manifold actors at multiple levels of governance.' - Tonia Novitz, University of Bristol, UK. © Dagmar Schiek 2012. All rights reserved.

Islamist Versus Islamist: Rising Challenge in Gaza

Islam's diversity is a direct result of centuries of schism and factionalism, and presents a challenge to the original spirit of unity as envisaged by its founder, the Prophet Mohammed. Rivalry within Islam undermines the precedent notion of unity through communal belonging (tawhid and ummah). Yet in the twenty-first century this diversity is ignored, and political Islam is represented as being more of a monolith than a spectrum of ideas and aspirations. Generally, the materialization of new Islamist groups is a challenge to those who hold that unity is all. In the Gaza Strip, specifically, the dominant Islamist actor, Hamas, is facing internal challenges from other Islamist elements. These rival Islamists are also influenced by events across their border in post-revolutionary Egypt where a plethora of new Islamist actors are vying for political space and power. This article deals with Hamas's Islamist rivals, and the effects they have had on Hamas's governance of the Gaza Strip, and political and religious legitimacy within it. It will focus on ideological and violent disputes between the Islamist elements in Gaza, and the means by which Hamas and its security elements have tackled newly emerging rivals.

Gerodontology--how big is the challenge in Ireland?

Population trends suggest that the Irish population is ageing, and that this population will have substantial treatment needs. These patients will be better informed than previous generations, and will demand treatment aimed at preserving a natural dentition. This will impact upon delivery of oral healthcare and manpower planning needs to consider how to address the increased demand for dental care. Poor oral health is associated with systemic health problems, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and diabetes mellitus. It also has a negative impact upon quality of life, and the World Health Organisation has encouraged public healthcare administrators and decision makers to design effective and affordable strategies for better oral health and quality of life of older adults, which, in turn, are integrated into general health management programmes. Treatment concepts such as minimally invasive dentistry and the shortened dental arch concept are discussed in the context of these demographic changes and recommendations.

A review of the global pesticide legislation and the scale of challenge in reaching the global harmonization of food safety standards

Pesticide use is important in agriculture to protect crops and improve productivity. However, they have the potential to cause adverse human health or environmental effects, dependent on exposure levels. This review examines existing pesticide legislation worldwide, focusing on the level of harmonisation, and impacts of differing legislation on food safety and trade. Pesticide legislation varies greatly worldwide as countries have different requirements guidelines and legal limits for plant protection. Developed nations have more stringent regulations than developing countries, which lack the resources and expertise to adequately implement and enforce legislation. Global differences in pesticide legislation act as a technical barrier to trade. International parties such as the European Union (EU), Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have attempted to harmonise pesticide legislation by providing maximum residue limits (MRLs), but globally these limits remain variable. Globally harmonised pesticide standards would serve to increase productivity, profits and trade, and enhance the ability to protect public health and the environment. 

Evidence To Challenge the Universality of the Horiuti-Polanyi Mechanism for Hydrogenation in Heterogeneous Catalysis:Origin and Trend of the Preference of a Non-Horiuti-Polanyi Mechanism

The Horiuti-Polanyi mechanism has been considered to be universal for explaining the mechanisms of hydrogenation reactions in heterogeneous catalysis for several decades. In this work, we examine this mechanism for the hydrogenation of acrolein, the simplest alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehyde, in gold-based systems as well as some other metals using extensive first-principles calculations. It is found that a non-Horiuti-Polanyi mechanism is favored in some cases. Furthermore, the physical origin and trend of this mechanism are revealed and discussed regarding the geometrical and electronic effects, which will have a significant influence on current understandings on heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation reactions and the future catalyst design for these reactions.

Dignity and the Challenge to Liberty :Reading Andras Sajo's Constitutional Sentiments

This paper considers debates about the anti-liberal tendencies of the concept of “human dignity”, in particular those conceptions that are “expressivist”. My aim is to examine how far conceptions of dignity are expressivist, and if so what problems the concept of dignity understood in this way poses for liberty. I consider concerns about dignity’s potential illiberality, in particular the potential illiberality of respect-based conceptions of dignity, in the context of Professor András Sajó’s recent writing, illustrating the discussion with examples drawn from recent judicial decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding freedom of speech.