Bicameral Model Research Articles

Lactic acid bacteria strains reduce in vitro mercury toxicity on the intestinal mucosa.

A bicameral model consisting of Caco-2 and HT29-MTX intestinal epithelial cells and THP-1-derived macrophages has been used to test the ability of two strains of Lactobacillus to protect from damage caused by mercury. Exposure to 1 mg/ml mercury [Hg(II) or methyl-Hg] for seven days in this model resulted in an inflammatory and pro-oxidant response mainly driven by macrophages. This led to an impairment in the intestinal barrier, defective tight-junctions, increased permeability and mucus hypersecretion. In addition, the wound-healing capacity of the epithelial monolayer was also diminished. However, the presence of heat-killed Lactobacillus intestinalis or Lactobacillus johnsonii cells during Hg exposure reverted these effects, and most of the parameters recovered values similar to control cells. Both lactobacilli showed the capacity to bind Hg(II) and methyl-Hg under the cell culture conditions. This points to Hg sequestration as a likely mechanism that counteracted Hg toxicity. However, differences in the Hg binding capacity and in the effects between both strains suggest that other probiotic-mediated mechanisms may play a role in the alleviation of the damage elicited by Hg. These results show the potential of the bicameral intestinal epithelial model for screening of effective strains for their use in later in vivo studies.

Udział Senatu Rzeczypospolitej w procesie ustawodawczym: ku dwuizbowości równorzędnej?

The article deals with the issue of relations between the Sejm and the Senate in the procedure of exercising its legislative function by the parliament. The author points out that the current Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 greatly limits the influence of the Senate on the legislative process, which refers to the Polish systemic tradition. In this way, the Constitution adopts an extremely asymmetric bicameral model, despite the fact that both chambers of parliament in the Polish system are perceived as an organ of the legislative authority. The author critically assesses the regulations in force from the point of view of the axiology of the democratic system and postulates strengthening the Senate’s position in the implementation of the legislative function.

Prospek Relasi Dewan Perwakilan Daerah Dengan Partai Politik

This article analyzes the relationship between the Regional Representative Council (DPD) and political parties that are often confronted diametrically. The questions presented, what is the historical factor for the formation of the DPD and the comparison of the practices of several countries in relation to regional representative bodies and political parties? What are the prospects for the relationship between the DPD and political parties in the future? This article aims to provide a different perspective on the relationship between the DPD and political parties from the historical, comparative and conception point of regional representation bodies. Through the socio-legal method, it was concluded that, first, historically the formation of the DPD was designed to be filled by individuals, not political parties. However, the practice of some countries shows that regional representative bodies generally cannot be separated from political parties. The lesson is that separating the DPD and political parties strictly can be said to always be violated because it is not in accordance with the natural conditions of filling the DPD directly by the people, who are influenced by the strength of the network and political parties. Second, whether or not there are political party affiliations in the DPD will not have a significant impact due to the limited authority of the DPD, so what is needed is the granting of significant DPD authority in the legislative process and supervision through the bicameral model. Thus, the prospect of the relationship between the DPD and political parties in the future can contribute to each other according to the DPD's already significant authority while still providing space for individuals

Composition of the Legislative Authority in the Iraqi and German Systems

The characteristic of legislative in federal system clearly reflects at the level of federal government, and its components. On the other hand, this process makes legislative into two different types, which based on bicameral model that consists of (Lower Council) that they represent people in general, and (Upper Council) that represents federal units/regions.Besides, at the level of federal units, legislative authority will once again to be elected in accordance of federal constitution, and region or federal unit’s constitution. This authority usually comprises of a single council bur rarely includes a couple of councils. So there will be one more legal power. Hence, Legislative authority in federal country includes some kind of complexity andpluralism due to distribution of powers among central authority and its regions/units. This constantly effects on legislation process even reflects on procedures, and guarantees to remain federal units in a way should secure the unitary and plurality of legislation in framework of this federalism state.

Using a two-level structural equation model to study the determinants of reproductive behaviour in Giza Governorate

The purpose of this paper was to measure the quality of concordance of one- and two-level structural equation models by testing the two following statistical hypotheses: first, the structure of the two-level model is more efficient than that of the one-level model; second, economic and social determinants and intermediate variables have a significant effect on current and future fertility in Giza Governorate. A two-tier bicameral model (women, geographical area) was built on 1500 families divided equally into three districts (urban, rural, and slum). The districts were divided into 294 convergent communities according to the standard of living. M−Plus 8.0 was used to estimate the numbers of four models. The first estimated structural relationships between the determinants of fertility within the layers; the second estimated relationships between the second and third strata; the third estimated structural equations at the second level; and the fourth included the constants and a random slope in the model. The results show that the estimated parameters of the models corresponded well to the model and the multi-level model, whose indicators are proposed within acceptable limits. The final proposed model and the significance of its coefficients were tested to ensure the quality of the compatibility of the final model. The results show that the overall quality of the proposed compatibility is very high and that the indicators are within the accepted limits. The compatibility quality index is 0.99, the correlation quality is corrected by 0.98, and the CI index of significance is 0.00. Therefore, we can say that the proposed multi-level structural model (based on the indicators of total compatibility quality) is more efficient than the one-level model, supporting the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis is that economic and social determinants and intermediate variables have a significant impact on current and future fertility.

States, Countries and Peoples: Who Should the Second Chamber Speak For?

States, Countries and Peoples: Who Should the Second Chamber Speak For?

University Governance

The “Reflections on Experience” section of the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Management Inquiry contained six articles examining the challenges associated with contemporary university governance and called for new theory and approaches. In this article, we respond by reporting one university’s innovative governance design that provides an imaginative alternative to the traditional bicameral model of the board of trustees (or governing board) and administration, and the faculty senate. Its collaborative model utilizes intermediate-sized, competency-based, and representative joint policy committees as the central means of formulating strategy. Outcomes of this alternative approach include greater trust, better and more timely decisions, and a reduction in intraorganizational conflict. We conclude that the approach merits attention as an alternative to the bicameral model and that management studies can help improve higher education governance research and practice.

An in vitro investigation of species-dependent intestinal transport of selenium and the impact of this process on selenium bioavailability

A range of Se species has been shown to occur in a variety of different foodstuffs. Depending on its speciation, Se is more or less bioavailable to human subjects. In the present study, the role of speciation as a determinant of Se bioavailability was addressed with an investigation of species-specific mechanisms of transport at the intestinal level. The present work focused on four distinct Se compounds (selenate (Se(VI)), selenite (Se(IV)), selenomethionine (SeMet) and methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys)), whose intestinal transport was mimicked through an in vitro bicameral model of enterocyte-like differentiated Caco-2 cells. Efficiency of Se absorption was shown to be species dependent (SeMet > MeSeCys > Se(VI) > Se(IV)). In the case of SeMet, MeSeCys and Se(VI), the highly polarised passage from the apical to basolateral pole indicated that a substantial fraction of transport was transcellular, whilst results for Se(IV) indicated paracellular diffusion. Passage of the organic Se species (SeMet and MeSeCys) became saturated after 3 h, but no such effect was observed for the inorganic species. In addition, SeMet and MeSeCys transport was significantly inhibited by their respective S analogues methionine and methylcysteine, which suggests a common transport system for both kinds of compounds.

Protect Our House

With deference to a Baltimore-based athletic apparel company with the marketing motto “Protect This House,” I see the need for members of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) to protect our House of Delegates. In other words, we need to preserve our self-governance and our responsibility to deliberate as a body. As the newly installed 2011-2013 Speaker of the House, I envision great potential and profound opportunity for our House, and well-informed, engaged delegates are key to meaningful debate and decision-making. I believe the House of Delegates is essential to AACP. There has been a tendency for organizations to discontinue their houses of delegates and to let the elected leadership conduct association business. The AACP Board of Directors can act on behalf of the organization between House sessions, but delegates must adopt policies. It is essential for members to have a voice in the policies that direct the actions of AACP. Elected leaders rely on the House to conduct this important function. AACP is distinct from other organizations. Our policies deal with pharmacy education and state what we believe, who we are, and what we stand for. You can think of the House as the legislative branch of government. We could have further divided into a bicameral model with a dean/administrative body and a faculty body. Instead delegates from the Council of Deans and Council of Faculties sit side by side to make decisions that affect pharmacy education. We have new delegates and seasoned delegates, and overall this is a good model that can be made even stronger. The perspectives of our institutional members and individual members are diverse and we do not always agree. Through our board, councils, sections, and special interest groups, we have the venues to discuss what is important to us. Through our democratic process in the House, we generally reach consensus. When voting on AACP policies, we should remain aware of the external audiences that monitor our actions. The pharmacy profession is highly regulated. Many entities are interested in the positions of pharmacists and pharmacy educators in particular. Practice issues have implications for pharmacy education, but so do initiatives or mandates from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Education, the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, and state and national pharmacy organizations. Our House will need to improve our policy development process so that we become more proactive in issues affecting our students, faculty members, staff, graduates, institutions, and stakeholders. We can lead the way. I look forward to working with the delegates from our member institutions. I will continue the efforts of our 2 previous speakers to improve training and communication with delegates. We have made progress by systematically reviewing our policies and archiving those that were outdated and by approving new rules of procedure for the House. This coming year, the Committee on Delegate Election and Deployment (CODED) will recommend best practices and timelines for electing delegates and alternate delegates so that they are honored, respected, and prepared for their vital roles in the AACP House. I am passionate about the process, committed to the responsibilities, and optimistic about the future of pharmacy education. I hope you are, too.

Bicameralism and Party Politics in Germany: An Empirical Social Choice Analysis

This paper analyses whether and how party politics transform German bicameralism. Based on the policy positions of bicameral legislators, the study computes the win sets, the yolks of each chamber and a Nash solution in order to analyse empirically the effects of party politics on German bicameralism. In comparison to the basic bicameral model, hypotheses on bicameral conflict and policy stability are tested in the case of similar and different party majorities in the two-dimensional policy space of German labour politics. The results show that party politics transform German bicameralism in two ways. Similar majorities collapse bicameral checks-and-balances, while different party majorities come close to the basic bicameral model with high policy stability and conflict between both chambers.

A simulation of final stop consonants in speech perception using the bicameral neural network model

This paper demonstrates the integration of contextual information in a neural network for speech perception. Neural networks have been unable to integrate such information successfully because they cannot implement conditional rule structures. The Bicameral neural network employs an asynchronous controller which allows conditional rules to choose neurons for update rather than updating them randomly. The Bicameral model is applied to the perception of word-final plosives, an ongoing problem for machine recognition of speech.

An Essay on Sequence, Position, Goals, and Committee Power

This essay considers the limits of the ex post veto as an explanation for committee power in Congress. A simple bicameral model is developed to indicate the severity of the conditions that must be met for a perfect ex post veto. Common conditions that undermine the ex post veto are explored, such as extreme committees, party turnover, and periodic legislation. Finally, the alternative explanation of member goals is described and Fenno's findings are reexamined. I conclude that the search for the foundations of committee power does not end with the ex post veto, although it remains an important source of leverage for committees.