Good governance and market-based reforms : a study of Bangladesh

‘Good governance’ is increasingly regarded as pivotal to development in developing countries. The six indicators recognized as the most effective measurement tools of ‘good governance’ across the world are: voice and accountability; political stability and absence of violence; government effectiveness; regulatory quality; rule of law and control of corruption (Kaufmann, Kraay and Lobaton, 2003: 8–9). This paper investigates how lack of ‘good governance’ affects the success and sustainability of the market-based reforms undertaken in the agriculture sector of Bangladesh. The reforms have been associated with increased food grain production, improved food security conditions and easy access by farmers to agricultural inputs. However, a significant problem has arisen recently: the sale of low quality and underweight agricultural inputs sometimes at higher prices has become common. Not only is this problem undermining the positive impact of the reforms, it is also threatening their sustainability. The paper argues that the problems with regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption – indicators of good governance – are the underlying reasons for this problem. In the context of increasing pressures from donors to pursue market-based reforms, this paper stresses the need for integrated governance linking government, business and civil society as paramount for promoting good governance for the success and sustainability of the reforms.

Evidence for a common role for the serine-type Plasmodium falciparum serine repeat antigen proteases : implications for vaccine and drug design

Serine repeat antigens (SERAs) are a family of secreted “cysteine-like” proteases of Plasmodium parasites. Several SERAs possess an atypical active-site serine residue in place of the canonical cysteine. The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum possesses six “serine-type” (SERA1 to SERA5 and SERA9) and three “cysteine-type” (SERA6 to SERA8) SERAs. Here, we investigate the importance of the serine-type SERAs to blood-stage parasite development and examine the extent of functional redundancy among this group. We attempted to knock out the four P. falciparum serine-type SERA genes that have not been disrupted previously. SERA1, SERA4, and SERA9 knockout lines were generated, while only SERA5, the most strongly expressed member of the SERA family, remained refractory to genetic deletion. Interestingly, we discovered that while SERA4-null parasites completed the blood-stage cycle normally, they exhibited a twofold increase in the level of SERA5 mRNA. The inability to disrupt SERA5 and the apparent compensatory increase in SERA5 expression in response to the deletion of SERA4 provides evidence for an important blood-stage function for the serine-type SERAs and supports the notion of functional redundancy among this group. Such redundancy is consistent with our phylogenetic analysis, which reveals a monophyletic grouping of the serine-type SERAs across the genus Plasmodium and a predominance of postspeciation expansion. While SERA5 is to some extent further validated as a target for vaccine and drug development, our data suggest that the expression level of other serine-type SERAs is the only barrier to escape from anti-SERA5-specific interventions.

Hypermasculinity in schools: the good, the bad and the ugly

Beneath the common-sense understandings that some boys are sporty and some are not lies a complex suite of identity positions. For those that manage to have their identity confirmed within the powerful sporting discourses that dominate the masculinity landscape, the path to peer acceptance is a clearer one. Conversely, for boys that have their identity diminished by these same discourses, the consequences can be quite dramatic. While physical and athletic prowess are clearly prominent vectors in this sorting process there is a range of other personal and social conditions that impact such trajectories. Built on narrative methodological approaches, this chapter draws on research conducted in a range of settings to describe some of the ways young males understand and enact sporting masculinities. Through a series of research narratives I present the voices of a number of young males as they navigate their identities within and against dominant sporting discourses. To help make sense of the identity practices contained within these narratives a theoretical leaning towards ambivalence will be engaged. Drawing on the work of Foucault, the formation of a masculine sporting identity can be understood as the development of a specific relationship with oneself and with others. Within this framework, sporting identities, like all other identities, are viewed as a process not a state.

Can virtual world property be considered a digital good?

What types of goods should be considered digital goods? This paper discusses the question of whether virtual property, such as items available in virtual world environments like Linden Lab’s Second Life and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, should be considered a valid digital good. The makeup of a virtual property items are explored in this paper and their key features compared and contrasted with that of digital goods. Common examples of digital goods include: electronic books, software, digital music and digital movies. These goods are considered a tangible commodity, that is they have an unlimited supply and secondly they are in a digital/binary form (a sequence of 1’s and 0s’). When looking at why a virtual property items should be included in the category of ‘digital goods’, it is important to consider how items in a virtual world come to exist and how the availability of these items are often controlled by publishers and developers. The aim of this paper is show that digital goods should not be limited to the traditional views such as electronic books, software, music and movies; but in fact the term ‘digital good’ should also include the active market of virtual property
items.

Good lives model applied to a forensic population

According to the good lives model (GLM) all human beings seek primary goods (i.e., activities or experiences that benefit them) and offending reflects attempts to pursue these goods in ways that are unacceptable to society and damaging to the individual and others. The aim of this article was to explore how the GLM can be developed for use with a forensic population, a heterogeneous group of individuals whose common feature is the interface of the criminal justice and mental health systems. The conceptual, clinical and philosophical implications of using the good lives model of forensic mental health (GLM-FM) are explored. Three case studies are used to illustrate the ways in which the enriched model can provide a holistic approach to conceptualizing offending that occurs in the context of mental illness and in guiding treatment planning. It is suggested that the augmented model provides a clinically flexible and ethically sound framework for formulating treatment issues for forensic patients.

Applying the good lives model to male perpetrators of domestic violence

Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem that has devastating emotional, physical, psychological, and financial costs for individuals, families, and communities. Despite the widespread use of current intervention programmes, recent reviews have demonstrated that these have only a small impact on the reduction of recidivism. In this article, we briefly summarise the features identified in the literature that distinguish domestically violent men from those who do not engage in such behaviours. We then explore the most common interventions used to treat domestic violence offenders and discuss the limitations of these interventions, before outlining the assumptions of the Good Lives Model (GLM), a strengthbased approach to the treatment of offenders. We discuss the advantages of using the GLM compared to existing approaches and finally, we consider future directions for the use of the GLM in domestic violence interventions.

A generic virtual reality interaction system and its extensions using the common object request broker architecture (CORBA)

The paper describes the design and implementation of an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) interaction system. The system aims to provide a flexible mechanism for programmers to implement interaction in their VR applications, making good use of all accepted practices in the field. The paper further describes how the system was extended to a multi-user system using the CORBA middleware layer.

The dynamics of women’s network relationships: the good, bad and reality

The lack of women in leadership positions remains a persistent social phenomenon. The aim of the paper is to investigate how networking is connected to leadership aspirations and examine women’s understanding and practice of networking as a career developmental skill.

Theoretical explanations around women’s lack of leadership has focused on women’s organisational constraints, their outsider status and the conditions of women within the broader community; however, what is mostly absent from research is how women’s relationships with each other influence opportunities for leadership. Women often experience the ‘glass ceiling’ at the mid-career level, therefore the research focussed on networking at the mid-career level in order to better understand how women draw on networking to help achieve their career goals.

This paper responds to the persistent challenges that women face in networking by examining how networks are created, understood, and enacted by women. This paper reports on recent research that investigated how a select group of mid-career women understood and practiced networking. The paper discusses survey and interview data to analyse how women’s way of networking may influence career aspirations and identifies ways that women can strengthen their networking in order to build capacity and mobility for leadership.

Good works and god's work

Eighty per cent of the world’s population profess religious faith, making religious belief a common human characteristic found in all cultures and societies. Within development studies’ literature and practice, religion and faith have been largely ignored or misunderstood. While religious organisations are primarily concerned with providing spiritual leadership,an interest in the physical welfare of their communities is also a core aspect of their existence. Within Vanuatu, an important community space is the church building with a range of community development activities taking place within it. This case study considers how community development activities are incorporated into the daily ministries of Christian Churches in Vanuatu, including the use of church buildings as the location for these activities.

A good place to raise a family? Comparing parents, service-providers', and media perspectives of the inner and outer suburban areas of Melbourne

In Australia, the suburbs have historically been the favoured place to raise children. However this is being challenged both by social change and government policy encouraging innerurban renewal. We examined how inner-urban areas compare with more traditional suburban locations as places to raise a family. Recognising that there are many influences on perceptions of place, we included the opinions of parents, service-providers and the media in the two locations.

Research focused on two municipalities in Melbourne, one located >25km and the other <10km from the CBD. Themes were obtained and compared from in-depth interviews with parents, serviceproviders and analysis of municipality-specific and state-wide newspaper articles.

Service provision was the only theme common at all levels of analysis. For all other themes, differences occurred between perspectives of service-providers, media and parents, as well as between the two residential locations. These in-depth snapshots on the challenges and rewards of raising children in different urban locations can help inform government in planning healthy neighbourhoods that better serve the needs of contemporary Australian families.

Photoreceptor topography and spectral sensitivity in the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Marsupials are believed to be the only non-primate mammals with both trichromatic and dichromatic color vision. The diversity of color vision systems present in marsupials remains mostly unexplored. Marsupials occupy a diverse range of habitats, which may have led to considerable variation in the presence, density, distribution, and spectral sensitivity of retinal photoreceptors. In this study we analyzed the distribution of photoreceptors in the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Immunohistochemistry in wholemounts revealed three cone subpopulations recognized within two spectrally distinct cone classes. Long-wavelength sensitive (LWS) single cones were the largest cone subgroup (67-86%), and formed a weak horizontal visual streak (peak density 2,106 ± 435/mm2) across the central retina. LWS double cones were strongly concentrated ventrally (569 ± 66/mm2), and created a "negative" visual streak (134 ± 45/mm2) in the central retina. The strong regionalization between LWS cone topographies suggests differing visual functions. Short-wavelength sensitive (SWS) cones were present in much lower densities (3-10%), mostly located ventrally (179 ± 101/mm2). A minority population of cones (0-2.4%) remained unlabeled by both SWS- and LWS-specific antibodies, and may represent another cone population. Microspectrophotometry of LWS cone and rod visual pigments shows peak spectral sensitivities at 544 nm and 500 nm, respectively. Cone to ganglion cell convergences remain low and constant across the retina, thereby maintaining good visual acuity, but poor contrast sensitivity during photopic vision. Given that brushtail possums are so strongly nocturnal, we hypothesize that their acuity is set by the scotopic visual system, and have minimized the number of cones necessary to serve the ganglion cells for photopic vision.

When good dictators go bad: examining the 'transformation' of Colonel Gaddafi

On October 20, 2011, the 42 year rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi came to a violent end after months ofintense and brutal fighting. The violence in which Gaddafi died and the ensuing abuse of his dead body by his killers wascaptured on film and broadcast around the world. This gruesome end was the antithesis to his rise to power in 1969,where he was welcomed as a savior and a hero. Until his death, Gaddafi was the longest-serving non-monarchical Headof State and was considered by most scholars more likely to die of natural causes than be overthrown by his people. Sowhat happened in those 42 years that caused Gaddafi to go from beloved liberator to hated oppressor? And what is hislasting legacy for the country he ruled for over four decades?

Constitutionalism, good faith and the doctrine of specific performance: rights, duties and equitable discretion

This article will explore the European roots of the doctrine of specific performance and the influence of transformative constitutionalism on these in recent times. The question whether specific performance is available as of right (as in the civil law), or only subject to judicial discretion (as in the common law), will be investigated. The demonstrated impact of constitutional rights on contract law in the mixed system of South Africa will be contrasted with developments in English and Australian contract law, where the common-law rules are more deeply entrenched and the potential scope for human rights-based development of these is arguably smaller, though still important. The article will argue, using comparative rules on specific performance as an example, that the concept of a duty of good faith or contractual fairness is likely to play a greater role in future in all three of the countries under consideration, reducing the common/civil/mixed legal systems divide.