Despairing Justice and the Ethics of Legal Interpretation

This study discusses legal interpretation. The question is how legal texts, for instance laws, statutes and regulations, can and do have meaning. Language makes interpretation difficult as it holds no definite meanings. When the theoretical connection between semantics and legal meaning is loosened and we realise that language cannot be a means of justifying legal decisions, the responsibility inherent in legal interpretation can be seen in full. We are thus compelled to search for ways to analyse this responsibility. The main argument of the book is that the responsibility of legal interpretation contains a responsibility towards the text that is interpreted (and through the mediation of the text also towards the legal system), but not only this. It is not simply a responsibility to read and read well, but it transcends on a broader scale. It includes responsibility for the effects of the interpretation in a particular situation and with regard to the people whose case is decided. Ultimately, it is a responsibility to do justice. These two aspects of responsibility are conceptualised here as the two dimensions of the ethics of legal interpretation: the textual and the situational. The basic conception of language presented here is provided by Ludwig Wittgenstein s later philosophy, but the argument is not committed to only one philosophical tradition. Wittgenstein can be counterpointed in interesting ways by Jacques Derrida s ideas on language and meaning. Derrida s work also functions as a contrast to hermeneutic theories. It is argued that the seed to an answer to the question of meaning lies in the inter-personal and situated activity of interpretation and communication, an idea that can be discerned in different ways in the works of Wittgenstein, Derrida and Hans-Georg Gadamer. This way the question of meaning naturally leads us to think about ethics, which is approached here through the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. His thinking, focusing on topics such as otherness, friendship and hospitality, provides possibilities for answering some of the questions posed in this book. However, at the same time we move inside a normativity where ethics and politics come together in many ways. The responsibility of legal interpretation is connected to the political and this has to be acknowledged lest we forget that law always implies force. But it is argued here that the political can be explored in positive terms as it does not have to mean only power or violence.

Many Faces of Mao Zedong

The main aim of this work was to explore the use of Mao Zedong s (毛泽东, 1893—1976) visual image in contemporary Chinese art during the years 1976—2006. Chairman Mao is the most visually reproduced person in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the presence of his image is still unquestionable at many levels. Although several scholars have provided insightful observations on this topic, research focusing on Mao's visual image has been neglected. Employing the interdisciplinary approach of visual studies and using image as the main concept, this research combines different theoretical frameworks, deriving from art history, image studies and social sciences, for each chapter in order to explain the origins, intentions and major strategies of the contemporary Chinese artists. The focus of this research was to elucidate how Mao's visual image, deriving from the Maoist era, is re-created and negotiated in contemporary Chinese art works. The material reproductions - the visual images in contemporary art - are created to be juxtaposed with the immaterial mental images of Mao that were created during the Maoist era through the original visual images of Mao. This complex interaction between visual and mental images is further exemplified by art works that do not include Mao's visual image, but still imply his mental image. The methods used derive from both sinology and art history. The research is based on extensive fieldwork in China, which was crucial for gathering new information and materials from this vigorous art scene. The topic is approached through a Chinese cultural, political and historical perspective that is necessary for a further understanding of how the original visual images of Mao obtained their omnipotent status and what kind of iconography was created. Close structural analysis, taking into account the format, style, techniques, composition, colors, materials and space used in the art works, is employed to demonstrate the great variety of visual images created. The analysis is further placed in a continuous dialogue both with the contemporary art works of Mao and with the original visual images of Mao from the past. In this study it is shown that contemporary Chinese art relating to Chairman Mao is a more versatile and multilayered phenomenon than is generally assumed. Although some of the art works seem to fit into the definition of superficial art, the study demonstrates that this reading of the art works is not adequate. The author argues that employing Mao's visual images in contemporary Chinese art is based on three main strategies used by artists: to create a visual dialogue with a traumatizing past, to employ transcontextual parody, and to explore the importance of Tian'anmen through site-dependent art. These strategies are not exclusionary, but instead interdependent and many art works employ more than one of them. In addition, these three main strategies include versatile methods used by artists that make the use of Mao's visual images even more multifaceted.

Designing Creativity Through Clusters - A periodisation of cluster discourse

The thesis focuses on one of the most dominant articulations of the relation between geographical place and development, clusters - internationally competing place-bound economic system of production in related industries. The dominant articulation of cluster discourse represents the subnational region as a system of production, and as a means for competitiveness for Western countries. Its reproduction in theories has become one of the most prolific exports of economic geography to other disciplines and for policymaking. By analysing cluster discourse the thesis traces how the languages and processes of globalization have over time altered the understandings of the relation between geographical place and the economy. It shows how in its latest incarnation of the cluster discourse, the language of mainstream economics is combined with ‘softer’ elements (e.g. community, learning, creativity) in the economic geographic discourse. This is typical for the idea of soft capitalism, wherein it is assumed that economic success emanates from soft characteristics, such as knowledge, learning and creativity, rather than straightforward technological or cost advantages. A reoccurring critique against the dominant understanding of the relationship between competitiveness and regions, as articulated in cluster discourse, has pinpointed the perspective’s inability to reconcile the respective and reciprocal roles of local standard of living with firm competitiveness. The thesis traces how such critique is increasingly appropriated through the fusion of the economic, social and cultural landscape into the language of capitalism. It shows how cluster discourse has appropriated its critique, by focusing on creativity, with its strong associations to arts, individual artists and the cultural sphere in general, while predominantly creating its meaning in relation to competitiveness. The thesis consists of six essays that each outlines the development of the cluster discourse. The essays show how meaning systems and strategies are created, accepted and naturalized in cluster discourse, how this affects individuals, the economic landscape and society at large, as well as showing which understandings are marginalized in the process. The thesis argues that clusters are a) inseparable from ideology and politics and b) they are the result of purposeful social practice. It calls for increased reflexivity within corporate and economic geographic research on clusters, and underlines the importance of placing issues of power at the centre of analysis.

Post-acquisition Integration as Sensemaking: Glimpses of Ambiguity, Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Politicization

Though many studies have examined post-acquisition integration challenges, they have mainly focused on rationalistic explanations for the difficulties encountered in post-acquisition integration. There remains little knowledge of how the ‘irrational’ features of post-acquisition decision-making may impede organizational integration. This study attempts to bridge that gap by examining post-acquisition decision-making from a sensemaking perspective. The paper presents an in-depth analysis of a merger between a large Finnish furniture manufacturer and three smaller Swedish furniture companies. By focusing on the sensemaking processes surrounding integration issues, we uncover four interrelated tendencies that illuminate why the frequent problem of slow progress during post-acquisition integration occurs: inherent ambiguity concerning integration issues; cultural confusion in social interaction and communication; organizational hypocrisy in integration decision-making; and the politicization of integration issues.

Profitable Customer Management: A Study in Retail Banking

The increasing focus of relationship marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) studies on issues of customer profitability has led to the emergence of an area of research on profitable customer management. Nevertheless, there is a notable lack of empirical research examining the current practices of firms specifically with regard to the profitable management of customer relationships according to the approaches suggested in theory. This thesis fills this research gap by exploring profitable customer management in the retail banking sector. Several topics are covered, including marketing metrics and accountability; challenges in the implementation of profitable customer management approaches in practice; analytic versus heuristic (‘rule of thumb’) decision making; and the modification of costly customer behavior in order to increase customer profitability, customer lifetime value (CLV), and customer equity, i.e. the financial value of the customer base. The thesis critically reviews the concept of customer equity and proposes a Customer Equity Scorecard, providing a starting point for a constructive dialog between marketing and finance concerning the development of appropriate metrics to measure marketing outcomes. Since customer management and measurement issues go hand in hand, profitable customer management is contingent on both marketing management skills and financial measurement skills. A clear gap between marketing theory and practice regarding profitable customer management is also identified. The findings show that key customer management aspects that have been proposed within the literature on profitable customer management for many years, are not being actively applied by the banks included in the research. Instead, several areas of customer management decision making are found to be influenced by heuristics. This dilemma for marketing accountability is addressed by emphasizing that CLV and customer equity, which are aggregate metrics, only provide certain indications regarding the relative value of customers and the approximate value of the customer base (or groups of customers), respectively. The value created by marketing manifests itself in the effect of marketing actions on customer perceptions, behavior, and ultimately the components of CLV, namely revenues, costs, risk, and retention, as well as additional components of customer equity, such as customer acquisition. The thesis also points out that although costs are a crucial component of CLV, they have largely been neglected in prior CRM research. Cost-cutting has often been viewed negatively in customer-focused marketing literature on service quality and customer profitability, but the case studies in this thesis demonstrate that reduced costs do not necessarily have to lead to lower service quality, customer retention, and customer-related revenues. Consequently, this thesis provides an expanded foundation upon which marketers can stake their claim for accountability. By focusing on the range of drivers and all of the components of CLV and customer equity, marketing has the potential to provide specific evidence concerning how various activities have affected the drivers and components of CLV within different groups of customers, and the implications for customer equity on a customer base level.

Dimensions of University Student Learning in Medicine and Pharmacy

Study orientations in higher education consist of various dimensions, such as approaches to learning, conceptions of learning and knowledge (i.e. epistemologies), self-regulation, and motivation. They have also been measured in different ways. The main orientations typically reported are reproducing and meaning orientations. The present study explored dimensions of study orientations, focusing in particular on pharmacy and medicine. New versions of self-report instruments were developed and tested in various contexts and in two countries. Furthermore, the linkages between study orientations and students epistemological development were explored. The context of problem-based (PBL) small groups was investigated in order to better understand how collaboration contributes to the quality of learning. The participants of Study I (n=66) were pharmacy students, who were followed during a three-year professionally oriented program in terms of their study orientations and epistemologies. A reproducing orientation to studying diminished during studying, whereas only a few students maintained their original level of meaning orientation. Dualism was found to be associated with a reproducing orientation. In Study II practices associated with deep and surface approaches to learning were measured in two differing ways, in order to better distinguish between what students believed to be useful in studying, and the extent to which they applied their beliefs to practice when preparing for examinations. Differences between domains were investigated by including a sample of Finnish and Swedish medical students (n=956) and a Finnish non-medical sample of university students (n=865). Memorizing and rote learning appeared as differing components of a surface approach to learning, while understanding, relating, and critical evaluation of knowledge emerged as aspects of a deep approach to learning. A structural model confirmed these results in both student samples. Study III explored a wide variety of dimensions of learning in medical education. Swedish medical students (n=280) answered the questionnaire. The deep approach to learning was strongly related to collaboration and reflective learning, whereas the surface approach was associated with novice-like views of knowledge and the valuing of certain and directly applicable knowledge. PBL students aimed at understanding, but also valued the role of memorization. Study IV investigated 12 PBL tutorial groups of students (n=116) studying microbiology and pharmacology in a medical school. The educational application was expected to support a deep approach to learning: Group members course grades in a final examination were related to the perceived functioning of the PBL tutorial groups. Further, the quality of cases that had been used as triggers for learning, was associated with the quality of small group functioning. New dimensions of study orientations were discovered. In particular, novel, finer distinctions were found within the deep approach component. In medicine, critical evaluation of knowledge appeared to be less valued than understanding and relating. Further, collaboration appeared to be closely related to the deep approach, and it was also important in terms of successful PBL studying. The results of the studies confirmed the previously found associations between approaches to learning and study success, but showed interesting context- and subgroup-related differences in this respect. Students ideas about the nature of knowledge and their approaches to learning were shown to be closely related. The present study expanded our understanding of the dimensions of study orientations, of their development, and their contextual variability in pharmacy and medicine.

Numeroiden harhaa vai toteutuksen työkaluja? -indikaattorien käyttö maatalouden ympäristöpoliittisessa suunnittelussa

This research focused on indicators with the aim of recognizing the main characters of this particular tool. The planning and use of Finnish sustainability indicators for natural resource management was examined as well as the experiences about the international sets of agri-environmental indicators were described. In both cases, the actual utilization of information was found to be quite minimal. Indicators have succeeded in bringing more of environmental information into the processes of decision making, but information has not been directly shifted into the actions of natural resource management. The concept of technical use of indicators was presented and considered as a possible explanation for the failures of information transfer and communication. Traditionally indicators have been used in order to recognize and describe the performance of certain system; to provide clear operative message for the actors. In policy planning, the situation is essentially different. We may lack both the jointly shared and accepted objectives of development as well the reliable and representative methods for measuring the issue under attention. Therefore, the technical orientation of using indicators may cause several problems at the policy forum. The study identified the risks of 1) reduced informative basis of decision-making, 2) narrowed approach of interpreting the data, 3) the focus on the issues that already are best documented and provides the most representative data series, and 4) the risks of losing the systemic viewpoints while focusing on measurable details of the system. Technical use of indicators may also result the excessive focus on information while being detached from the actions. With sustainability indicators, the major emphasis was indeed paid with producing information while the reality of agricultural practices was left mostly unaffected. Therefore, the essential process of social learning, where actions and producing of relevant information are alternating was neither realized. This study underlines the complexity of information transfer, mutual communication and the learning of new practices. Besides the information and measurable number people also need personal experiences and interesting stories, which make them to understand the meaning of information in their own lives. Particularly important this is for thechildren, who are studying for to be the future decision-makers of food system; in production as well as the in consumption of food. Numbers will be useful tools of management as soon there exists the awareness of the direction, where to strive for.

We Are All Georgians: The Neoconservative Narrative on the Russia-Georgia War

In this thesis I examine the U.S. foreign policy discussion that followed the war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. In the politically charged setting that preceded the presidential elections, the subject of the debate was not only Washington's response to the crisis in the Caucasus but, more generally, the direction of U.S. foreign policy after the presidency of George W. Bush. As of November 2010, the reasons for and consequences of the Russia-Georgia war continue to be contested. My thesis demonstrates that there were already a number of different stories about the conflict immediately after the outbreak of hostilities. I want to argue that among these stories one can discern a “neoconservative narrative” that described the war as a confrontation between the East and the West and considered it as a test for Washington’s global leadership. I draw on the theory of securitization, particularly on a framework introduced by Holger Stritzel. Accordingly, I consider statements about the conflict as “threat texts” and analyze these based on the existing discursive context, the performative force of the threat texts and the positional power of the actors presenting them. My thesis suggests that a notion of narrativity can complement Stritzel’s securitization framework and take it further. Threat texts are established as narratives by attaching causal connections, meaning and actorship to the discourse. By focusing on this process I want to shed light on the relationship between the text and the context, capture the time dimension of a speech act articulation and help to explain how some interpretations of the conflict are privileged and others marginalized. I develop the theoretical discussion through an empirical analysis of the neoconservative narrative. Drawing on Stritzel’s framework, I argue that the internal logic of the narrative which was presented as self-evident can be analyzed in its historicity. Asking what was perceived to be at stake in the conflict, how the narrative was formed and what purposes it served also reveals the possibility for alternative explanations. My main source material consists of transcripts of think tank seminars organized in Washington, D.C. in August 2008. In addition, I resort to the foreign policy discussion in the mainstream media.

Luotettavaa tietoa ja merkityksellisiä valintoja – Kuluttajien ympäristövastuullista järkeilyä ilmastonmuutoksesta ja ohjausjärjestelmien hyväksyttävyydestä

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan kuluttajien näkemyksiä ilmastonmuutoksesta ja ilmastovaikutusten seuranta- ja palautejärjestelmän hyväksyttävyydestä kulutuksen ohjauskeinona. 15 kuluttajaa kokeili kuukauden ajan kulutuksen ilmastovaikutusten seuranta- ja palautejärjestelmän demonstraatioversiota ja he osallistuivat kokeilun pohjalta aihepiiriä käsitelleeseen verkkokeskusteluun. Analysoin verkkokeskustelun aineistoa arkisen järkeilyn näkökulmasta tutkien kuluttajien ilmastonmuutokseen ja ympäristövastuullisuuteen liittyvää arkitietoa sekä palvelun hyväksyttävyyteen liittyviä heuristiikkoja. Ilmastonmuutoksen todettiin yleisesti olevan vielä melko abstrakti ja monitulkintainen ilmiö, minkä vuoksi kuluttajilla on vaikeuksia ymmärtää omien valintojensa konkreettista merkitystä ilmastonmuutoksen kannalta. Vaikka tietoa kulutuksen ilmastovaikutuksista on saatavilla paljon, niin erityisesti yritysten tuottama tieto koettiin ristiriitaiseksi ja osin epäluotettavaksi. Kuluttajat myös kritisoivat ilmastonmuutoskeskustelun tarjoamaa kapeaa näkemystä kulutuksen ympäristövaikutuksista. Hiilidioksidipäästöihin keskittymisen sijaan ympäristövaikutuksia tulisi kuluttajien mielestä tarkastella kokonaisuutena, josta ilmastovaikutukset muodostavat vain yhden osan. Tutkimukseen osallistuneiden kuluttajien kulutustottumuksiin ilmastonmuutos vaikutti eriasteisesti. Toisille ilmastonmuutoksesta oli muodostunut keskeinen omaa kulutusta ohjaava normi, kun taas toiset kertoivat pohtivansa ilmastovaikutuksia pääasiassa suurimpien hankintojen kohdalla. Ympäristövastuullisuudessa merkitykselliseksi koettiin tasapainon löytäminen ja henkilökohtainen tunne siitä, että kokee toimivansa oikein. Ilmasto- tai ympäristökysymyksiä punnitaan valinnoissa joustavasti yhdessä muiden tekijöiden kanssa. Vaikka kuluttajilla toisaalta olisi tietoa ja halua ottaa ilmasto- ja ympäristövaikutukset huomioon valinnoissaan, toimintaympäristö rajaa keskeisesti kuluttajien mahdollisuuksia toimia ympäristövastuullisesti. Tutkimus toi esille neljä kuluttajien käyttämää heuristiikkaa heidän pohtiessaan ilmastovaikutusten seuranta- ja palautejärjestelmän hyväksyttävyyden ehtoja ja toimivuutta ohjauskeinona. Ensinnäkin palvelun tulee olla käytettävyydeltään nopea ja vaivaton sekä tarjota tietoa havainnollisessa ja helposti ymmärrettävässä muodossa. Toiseksi palvelun tarjoaman tiedon tulee olla ehdottoman luotettavaa ja kuluttajien valintojen kannalta merkityksellistä siten, että palvelu ottaa huomioon erilaiset kuluttajat ja tiedontarpeet. Kolmanneksi palvelu tulee toteuttaa kokonaisvaltaisesti ja läpinäkyvästi useampien kaupparyhmittymien ja julkisten toimijoiden yhteistyönä. Neljänneksi toteutuksessa tulee huomioda palvelun kannustavuus ja kytkeytyminen muihin ohjauskeinoihin.

An assessment of the current Indian scene in biotechnology

Biotechnology holds great promise, and is sure to make an impact in India in the nineties. The role of the government's Department of Biotechnology in focusing attention and resources on crucial problems and in supporting basic research is laudable.

Opportunity Exploration and Exploitation in International New Ventures: A Study of Relationships’ Involvement in Early Entrepreneurial and Internationalisation Events

International new ventures (INVs) are firms that engage very early after their foundation, if not immediately, in inter-national activities. INVs are a relatively recent phenomenon that deviates from earlier theories on international business. In order to develop our understanding of the emergence and early internationalisation of INVs three different research areas are built upon in the dissertation: International Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Networks. Net-works have been identified as important for INVs. However, there is a lack of more profound studies regarding the way different types of relationships influence INVs. Few studies are concerned with exploration and exploitation of opportunities and research on the benefits and drawbacks of entrepreneurs’ relationships for the international opportunity recognition process has been called for. By taking a network approach to opportunity exploration and exploitation, the dissertation develops our under-standing of how entrepreneurs’ relationships are involved in exploring and exploiting opportunities during an INV’s early and critical entrepreneurial and internationalisation events. The critical events are studied during three phases: pre-founding, start-up and early internationalisation. Since internationalisation is present from the very beginning, the early internationalisation phase may be parallel to both the pre-founding and the start-up phase. The dissertation contributes to international entrepreneur-ship research in mainly two ways. First, by offering a deep insight into which opportunity exploration and exploitation activities entrepreneurs’ relationships are involved. Second, by adding to our understanding of what the relationships contribute to these activities, mainly in the sense of benefits gained through the relationships. Studying micro firms in real time in their early development towards INVs is considered a unique contribution of the study as it offers valuable insights into pre-founding, start-up, pre-internationalisation as well as early internationalisation. The study shows that in order to understand the development of INVs, it is beneficial to go back to times when there was no thought of starting the INV. By focusing on the entrepreneurs’ background and relationships a more complete picture of the INV is gained. Relationships created at former workplaces or during school time might be the ones that develop business opportunities and set off internationalisation. By focusing on the pre-founding phase, the study also contributes to entrepreneurship literature as this stage has often been neglected or assumed obvious in earlier research. This dissertation shows that an important and mostly lengthy pre-founding phase precedes the decision to start a f rm. In addition, the integration of entrepreneurs’ real experiences with existing theory to develop a continuum for the strength of relationships allows for contributions to network theory.

Genomic alterations in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of clonal hematopoietic disorders whose etiology and molecular pathogenesis are poorly understood. During the past decade, enormous developments in microarray technology and bioinformatics methods have made it possible to mine novel molecular alterations in a large number of malignancies, including MPN and MDS, which has facilitated the detection of new prognostic, predictive and therapeutic biomarkers for disease stratification. By applying novel microarray techniques, we profiled copy number alterations and microRNA (miRNA) expression changes in bone marrow aspirate and blood samples. In addition, we set up and validated an miRNA expression test for bone marrow core biopsies in order to utilize the large archive material available in many laboratories. We also tested JAK2 mutation status and compare it with the in vitro growth pattern of hematologic progenitors cells. In the study focusing on 100 MPN cases, we detected a Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) mutation in 71 cases. We observed spontaneous erythroid colony growth in all mutation-positive cases in addition to nine mutation negative cases. Interestingly, seven JAK2V167F negative ET cases showed spontaneous megakaryocyte colony formation, one case of which also harbored a myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene (MPL) mutation. We studied copy number alterations in 35 MPN and 37 MDS cases by using oligonucleotide-based array comparative hybridization (array CGH). Only one essential thrombocythemia (ET) case presented copy number alterations in chromosomes 1q and 13q. In contrast, MDS cases were characterized by numerous novel cryptic chromosomal aberrations with the most common copy number losses at 5q21.3q33.1 and 7q22.1q33, while the most common copy number gain was trisomy 8. As for the study of the bone marrow core biopsy samples, we showed that even though these samples were embedded in paraffin and underwent decalcification, they were reliable sources of miRNA and suitable for array expression analysis. Further, when studying the miRNA expression profiles of the 19 MDS cases, we found that, compared to controls, two miRNAs (one human Epstein-Barr virus (miR-BART13) miRNA and one human (has-miR-671-5p) miRNA) were downregulated, whereas two other miRNAs (hsa-miR-720 and hsa-miR-21) were upregulated. However, we could find no correlation between copy number alterations and microRNA expression when integrating these two data. This thesis brings to light new information about genomic changes implicated in the development of MPN and MDS, and also underlines the power of applying genome-wide array screening techniques in neoplasias. Rapid advances in molecular techniques and the integration of different genomic data will enable the discovery of the biological contexts of many complex disorders, including myeloid neoplasias.

Purification and characterization of three toxins and two agglutinins from Abrus precatorius seed by using lactamyl-Sepharose affinity chromatography

Three toxins, abrin-I, -II, and -III, and two agglutinins, APA-I and -II, were purified from the seeds of Abrus precatorius by lactamyl-Sepharose affinity chromatography followed by gel filtration and DEAE-Sephacel column chromatography. abrin-I did not bind on DEAE-Sephacel column chromatography and the bound abrin-II, abrin-III, APA-I, and APA-II were eluted with a sodium acetate gradient. The identity of each protein was established by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. The relative molecular weights are abrin-I, 64,000; abrin-II and abrin-III, 63,000 each: APA-I, 130,000; and APA-II, 128,000. Isoelectric focusing revealed microheterogeneity due to the presence of isoforms in each protein. Toxicity and binding studies further confirmed the differences among the lectins. The time course of inhibition of protein synthesis in thymocytes by the toxins showed lag times of 78, 61, and 72 min with Ki's of 0.55, 0.99, and 0.74 ms−1 at a 0.63 nImage concentration of each of abrin-I, -II, and -III, respectively. A Scatchard plot obtained from the equilibrium measurement for the lectins binding to lactamyl-Sepharose beads showed nonlinearity, indicating a cooperative mode of binding which was not observed for APA-I binding to Sepharose 4B beads. Further, by the criterion of the isoelectric focusing profile, it was shown that the least toxic abrin-I and the highly toxic abrin-II isolated by lactamyl-Sepharose chromatography were not retained on a low-affinity Sepharose 4B matrix, which signifies the necessity of using a high-affinity matrix for the purification of the lectins.

The Tourism-Development Nexus in Namibia : A Study on National Tourism Policy and Local Tourism Enterprises' Policy Knowledge

The tourism development nexus in southern Africa involves highly topical issues related to tourism planning, power relations, community participation, and natural resources. Namibia offers a particularly interesting context for the study of these issues due to its colonial legacy, vast tourism potential, recently adopted tourism policy and community-based approaches to tourism and natural resource management. This study is an interdisciplinary endeavour to analyse the role of tourism in Namibia s post-apartheid transformation process by focusing on Namibian tourism policy and local tourism enterprises' policy knowledge. Major attention is paid to how the tourism policy's national development objectives are understood and conceptualised by the representatives of different tourism enterprises and the ways in which they relate to the practical needs of the enterprises. Through such local policy knowledge the study explores various opportunities, challenges and constraints related to the promotion of tourism as a development strategy. The study utilises a political economy approach to tourism and development through three current and interrelated discourses which are relevant in the Namibian context. These are tourism, power and inequality, tourism and sustainable development, and tourism and poverty reduction. The qualitative research material was gathered in Namibia in 2006-2007 and 2008. This material consists of 34 semi-structured interviews in 16 tourism enterprises, including private trophy hunting farms and private lodges, small tour operators and community-based tourism enterprises. In addition, the research material consists of observations in the enterprises, and 37 informal and 23 expert interviews. The findings indicate that in the light of local tourism enterprises the tourism policy objectives appear more complex and ambiguous. Furthermore, they involve multiple meanings and interpretations which reflect the socio-economic stratification of the informants and Namibian society, together with the professional stratification of the tourism enterprises and restrictions on the capacity of tourism to address the development objectives. In the light of such findings it is obvious that aspects of power and inequality affect the tourism development nexus in Namibia. The study concludes that, as in the case of other southern African countries, in order to promote sustainable development and reduce poverty, Namibia should not only target tourism growth but pay attention to who benefits from that growth and how. From a political economy point of view, it is important that prevailing structural challenges are addressed equally in the planning of tourism, development and natural resource management. Such approach would help the Namibian majority to enjoy the benefits of increasing tourism in the country.

Domestic labour relations in India : Vulnerability and gendered life courses in Jaipur

This study explores labour relations between domestic workers and employers in India. It is based on interviews with both employers and workers, and ethnographically oriented field work in Jaipur, carried out in 2004-2007. Combining development studies with gender studies, labour studies, and childhood studies, it asks how labour relations between domestic workers and employers are formed in Jaipur, and how female domestic workers trajectories are created. Focusing on female part-time maids and live-in work arrangements, the study analyses children s work in the context of overall work force, not in isolation from it. Drawing on feminist Marxism, domestic labour relations are seen as an arena of struggle. The study takes an empirical approach, showing class through empiria and shows how paid domestic work is structured and stratified through intersecting hierarchies of class, caste, gender, age, ethnicity and religion. The importance of class in domestic labour relations is reiterated, but that of caste, so often downplayed by employers, is also emphasized. Domestic workers are crucial to the functioning of middle and upper middle class households, but their function is not just utilitarian. Through them working women and housewives are able to maintain purity and reproduce class disctinctions, both between poor and middle classes and lower and upper middle classes. Despite commodification of work relations, traditional elements of service relationships have been retained, particularly through maternalist practices such as gift giving, creating a peculiar blend of traditional and market practices. Whilst employers of part-time workers purchase services in a segmented market from a range of workers for specific, traditional live-in workers are also hired to serve employers round the clock. Employers and workers grudgingly acknowledged their dependence on one another, employers seeking various strategies to manage fear of servant crime, such as the hiring of children or not employing live-in workers in dual-earning households. Paid domestic work carries a heavy stigma and provide no entry to other jobs. It is transmitted from mothers to daughters and working girls were often the main income providers in their families. The diversity of working conditions is analysed through a continuum of vulnerability, generic live-in workers, particularly children and unmarried young women with no close family in Jaipur, being the most vulnerable and experienced part-time workers the least vulnerable. Whilst terms of employment are negotiated informally and individually, some informal standards regarding salary and days off existed for maids. However, employers maintain that workings conditions are a matter of individual, moral choice. Their reluctance to view their role as that of employers and the workers as their employees is one of the main stumbling blocks in the way of improved working conditions. Key words: paid domestic work, India, children s work, class, caste, gender, life course