Models of Party Democracy : Patterns of Party Regulation in Post-War European Constitutions

This article investigates the ways in which political parties are codified in modern democratic constitutions, providing a unique cross-sectional and longitudinal overview of the patterns of party constitutionalization in post-war Europe. Although the constitutions of western liberal democracies traditionally have paid little attention to the role of parties, evidence suggests that in contemporary democracies, both old and new, they are increasingly accorded a formal constitutional status. Little is known, however, about the substantive content of their constitutional position or about the normative connotations of their constitutional codification. In this article, we demonstrate that there is a clear correlation between the nature and the intensity of party constitutionalization and the newness and historical experience of democracy and that, with time, the constitutional regulation of the extra-parliamentary organization and the parties’ rights and duties has gained in importance at the expense of their parliamentary and electoral roles. The analysis furthermore suggests that three distinct models of party constitutionalization can be identified – Defending Democracy, Parties in Public Office, and Parties as Public Utilities – each of which is related to a particular conception of party democracy

Menthol Alone Upregulates Midbrain nAChRs, Alters nAChR Subtype Stoichiometry, Alters Dopamine Neuron Firing Frequency, and Prevents Nicotine Reward

Upregulation of β2 subunit-containing (β2*) nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) is implicated in several aspects of nicotine addiction, and menthol cigarette smokers tend to upregulate β2* nAChRs more than nonmenthol cigarette smokers. We investigated the effect of long-term menthol alone on midbrain neurons containing nAChRs. In midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons from mice containing fluorescent nAChR subunits, menthol alone increased the number of α4 and α6 nAChR subunits, but this upregulation did not occur in midbrain GABAergic neurons. Thus, chronic menthol produces a cell-type-selective upregulation of α4* nAChRs, complementing that of chronic nicotine alone, which upregulates α4 subunit-containing (α4*) nAChRs in GABAergic but not DA neurons. In mouse brain slices and cultured midbrain neurons, menthol reduced DA neuron firing frequency and altered DA neuron excitability following nAChR activation. Furthermore, menthol exposure before nicotine abolished nicotine reward-related behavior in mice. In neuroblastoma cells transfected with fluorescent nAChR subunits, exposure to 500 nM menthol alone also increased nAChR number and favored the formation of (α4)_3(β2)_2 nAChRs; this contrasts with the action of nicotine itself, which favors (α4)_2(β2)_3 nAChRs. Menthol alone also increases the number of α6β2 receptors that exclude the β3 subunit. Thus, menthol stabilizes lower-sensitivity α4* and α6 subunit-containing nAChRs, possibly by acting as a chemical chaperone. The abolition of nicotine reward-related behavior may be mediated through menthol's ability to stabilize lower-sensitivity nAChRs and alter DA neuron excitability. We conclude that menthol is more than a tobacco flavorant: administered alone chronically, it alters midbrain DA neurons of the nicotine reward-related pathway

Cannabinoids Inhibit Insulin Receptor Signaling in Pancreatic β\beta-Cells

Objective: Optimal glucose homeostasis requires exquisitely precise adaptation of the number of insulin-secreting $\beta$-cells in the islets of Langerhans. Insulin itself positively regulates $\beta$-cell proliferation in an autocrine manner through the insulin receptor (IR) signaling pathway. It is now coming to light that cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R) agonism/antagonism influences insulin action in insulin-sensitive tissues. However, the cells on which the CB1Rs are expressed and their function in islets have not been firmly established. We undertook the current study to investigate if intraislet endogenous cannabinoids (ECs) regulate $\beta$-cell proliferation and if they influence insulin action. Research Design and Methods: We measured EC production in isolated human and mouse islets and $\beta$-cell line in response to glucose and KCl. We evaluated human and mouse islets, several $\beta$-cell lines, and CB1R-null (CB1R$^{−/−}$) mice for the presence of a fully functioning EC system. We investigated if ECs influence $\beta$-cell physiology through regulating insulin action and demonstrated the therapeutic potential of manipulation of the EC system in diabetic (db/db) mice. Results: ECs are generated within $\beta$-cells, which also express CB1Rs that are fully functioning when activated by ligands. Genetic and pharmacologic blockade of CB1R results in enhanced IR signaling through the insulin receptor substrate 2-AKT pathway in $\beta$-cells and leads to increased $\beta$-cell proliferation and mass. CB1R antagonism in db/db mice results in reduced blood glucose and increased $\beta$-cell proliferation and mass, coupled with enhanced IR signaling in $\beta$-cells. Furthermore, CB1R activation impedes insulin-stimulated IR autophosphorylation on $\beta$-cells in a G$\alpha_i$-dependent manner. Conclusions: These findings provide direct evidence for a functional interaction between CB1R and IR signaling involved in the regulation of $\beta$-cell proliferation and will serve as a basis for developing new therapeutic interventions to enhance $\beta$-cell function and proliferation in diabetes

Social and Hydrological Responses to Extreme Precipitations: An Interdisciplinary Strategy for Postflood Investigation

International audienceThis paper describes and illustrates a methodology to conduct postflood investigations based on interdisciplinary collaboration between social and physical scientists. The method, designed to explore the link between crisis behavioral response and hydrometeorological dynamics, aims at understanding the spatial and temporal capacities and constraints on human behaviors in fast-evolving hydrometeorological conditions. It builds on methods coming from both geosciences and transportations studies to complement existing post-flood field investigation methodology used by hydrometeorologists. The authors propose an interview framework, structured around a chronological guideline to allow people who experienced the flood firsthand to tell the stories of the circumstances in which their activities were affected during the flash flood. This paper applies the data collection method to the case of the 15 June 2010 flash flood event that killed 26 people in the Draguignan area (Var, France). As a first step, based on the collected narratives, an abductive approach allowed the identification of the possible factors influencing individual responses to flash floods. As a second step, behavioral responses were classified into categories of activities based on the respondents' narratives. Then, aspatial and temporal analysis of the sequences made of the categories of action to contextualize the set of coping responses with respect to local hydrometeorological conditions is proposed. During this event, the respondents mostly follow the pace of change in their local environmental conditions as the flash flood occurs, official flood anticipation being rather limited and based on a large-scale weather watch. Therefore, contextual factors appear as strongly influencing the individual's ability to cope with the event in such a situation

Fear or freedom? Visually impaired students’ ambivalent perspectives on physical education

With a growing interest in sport, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle, bodily practices are increasing in importance in our society. In the school context, physical education (PE) is the subject where these practices play a central role. But, the German language discourse shows in an exemplary manner that inherent body-related social normality requirements are articulated in didactic traditions and curricular requirements, and that these normality requirements have exclusionary potential for those students who do not fit into the norms. Against this background, this article seeks to understand children with visual impairments’ (CWVI’s) individual constructions of PE in a school specialized for CWVI in Germany. This interview study with eight CWVI focused on individual opportunities and challenges concerning central aspects in PE. The findings show that the CWVI draw ambivalent perspectives on PE that range from existential fears (e.g., fears of heights) to feeling free in working off energy. These aspects especially gain importance in connection to the body, when the general wish to learn and experience with the body seems to be disturbed by normality requirements – like doing certain movements in a pre-defined way – which lead to existential challenges for the CWVI. Further, the relationship between blind and visually impaired students in PE seems ambivalent. Within this special school setting, the segregation according to the external differentiation in “handicapped” and “non-handicapped” somehow leads to a kind of subsegregation at the blind and visually impaired school.Peer Reviewe

Fear or Freedom? Visually Impaired Students\u27 Ambivalent Perspectives on Physical Education

With a growing interest in sport, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle, bodily practices are increasing in importance in our society. In the school context, physical education (PE) is the subject where these practices play a central role. But, the German language discourse shows in an exemplary manner that inherent body-related social normality requirements are articulated in didactic traditions and curricular requirements, and that these normality requirements have exclusionary potential for those students who do not fit into the norms. Against this background, this article seeks to understand children with visual impairments’ (CWVI’s) individual constructions of PE in a school specialized for CWVI in Germany. This interview study with eight CWVI focused on individual opportunities and challenges concerning central aspects in PE. The findings show that the CWVI draw ambivalent perspectives on PE that range from existential fears (e.g., fears of heights) to feeling free in working off energy. These aspects especially gain importance in connection to the body, when the general wish to learn and experience with the body seems to be disturbed by normality requirements – like doing certain movements in a pre-defined way – which lead to existential challenges for the CWVI. Further, the relationship between blind and visually impaired students in PE seems ambivalent. Within this special school setting, the segregation according to the external differentiation in “handicapped” and “non-handicapped” somehow leads to a kind of subsegregation at the blind and visually impaired school

Kategorien als Ausdruck einer ausgewiesenen Beobachter_innenperspektive? Ein Vorschlag für eine qualitativere qualitative Inhaltsanalyse

Qualitative content analysis (QCA) is an established method in different fields of social and educational sciences. It can be located at the intersection of quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Although generally oriented towards hermeneutic-interpretive text comprehension, its categorical logic sometimes seems to follow a quantitative research logic. Against this background, and in order to better meet the criteria of qualitative research, I make a proposal for a more qualitative QCA. Specifically, I introduce a technique for the systematic explication of the prior knowledge relevant to the research and the construction of categories. The categories developed with this procedure can be seen as an expression of an identified observer perspective. This makes reconstructions of social constructions intersubjectively comprehensible.Als etabliertes Verfahren in verschiedenen sozial- und erziehungswissenschaftlichen Forschungsrichtungen lässt sich die qualitative Inhaltsanalyse an der Schnittstelle zwischen quantitativen und qualitativen Forschungszugängen verorten. Wenngleich vielfach auf hermeneutisch-interpretatives Textverstehen ausgerichtet, scheint die mit dem Verfahren verknüpfte kategoriale Logik mitunter dem quantitativen Forschungsparadigma zu entspringen. Um vor diesem Hintergrund den begründeten Anforderungen an qualitative Sozialforschung in höherem Maße gerecht zu werden, formuliere ich mit diesem Beitrag einen Vorschlag für eine qualitativere qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Konkret wird ein Verfahren vorgestellt, mit dem das für die Forschung relevante Vorwissen systematisch expliziert und anschließend zur Kategorienbildung nutzbar gemacht werden kann. Die so gebildeten Kategorien können als Ausdruck einer ausgewiesenen Beobachter_innenperspektive gelten, was einen intersubjektiv nachvollziehbaren Zugang zu vorgenommenen Rekonstruktionen sozialer Konstruktionen verspricht