bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Size Contrast and Assimilation in the Delboeuf and Ebbinghaus Illusions
Authors: Mruczek Ryan E. B. , Blair Christopher D. , Strother Lars , Caplovitz Gideon P.
Published: June 2017

The Ebbinghaus and Delboeuf illusions are two well-established size illusions, both of which demonstrate that the perceived size of an object depends on the physical size of the object relative to surrounding objects. This chapter reviews some of the primary observations and interpretations of these two classic illusions and some of the current theories regarding size contrast (objects appearing more different than they really are) and size assimilation (objects appearing more similar than they really are). Despite over a century of progress in visual psychology and neuroscience, many of the challenges in explaining assimilation and contrast effects on size perception remain highly relevant. Although unlikely to be due to the muscular effort of the eyes as posited by Delboeuf almost 150 years ago, the precise mechanisms that underlie size contrast and size assimilation remain unknown to this day. New discoveries about these and related effects are still being uncovered.
Geometrical Errors Are the Cost of Maintaining the Luminance Contrast Polarity
Authors: Roncato Sergio
Published: June 2017

The visual completion is the result of the integration of fragmented contours. The contrast polarity (or contrast sign) may affect this interpolation by strengthening the completion in a direction where the contrast polarity is preserved. This chapter illustrates some manifestations of these phenomena: the alteration of the alignment of the visual units and the illusory tilt of more complex visual organization. The occurrence of basic distorting effects underlying classic illusions—such as the Frazer illusion—is discussed. It is noted that the role of the contrast polarity rule in representing a “preferential” rule does not preclude other possibilities, such as edges completion, although it renders the contour detectable to a lesser degree.
Color and Luminance
Authors: Anstis Stuart
Published: June 2017

Color and luminance interact in many ways in the human visual system. For instance, the colors in an afterimage, which are due to adaptation of retinal cones, are especially vivid when test contours, presented after the adapting image, coincide with the blurred edges of the afterimage. A single colored adapting pattern can give rise to two differently colored afterimages, according to the position of black lines in the test field. This shows that colors seen by the low-acuity chromatic pathways will diffuse outward along, but not across, luminance contours. This is also true for real colors. Finally, flicker-augmented contrast shows that the visual system, when given a choice, will select the most salient color/luminance borders in a stimulus.
The Dungeon Illusion
Authors: Bressan Paola , Kramer Peter
Published: June 2017

A target gray spot looks darker on a white background than on a black one: the contrast illusion. If the target is embedded in a context consisting of black spots on the white background and white spots on the black background, the effect reverses: the dungeon illusion. Whether the dungeon figure produces contrast or contrast reversal depends on which of its three parts (target, context, and background) is gray, black, or white. In some variants, the effect further depends on whether the figures are themselves surrounded by larger white and black regions, implying that even the illumination and wall color of the laboratory might be critical. Here, the various versions of the dungeon illusion are presented and explained with the help of the double-anchoring theory of lightness—that computes the gray shade of objects by “anchoring” them both to their context and to the brightest region in the scene.
Changing the Chevreul Illusion by a Background Luminance Ramp
Authors: Geier János , Hudák Mariann
Published: June 2017

The Chevreul illusion comprises adjacent homogeneous grey bands of different luminance, which are perceived as inhomogeneous. It is generally explained by lateral inhibition. When the Chevreul staircase is placed in a luminance ramp background, the illusion noticeably changes. Since all conditions of the lateral inhibition account are untouched within the staircase, lateral inhibition (which is a local model) fails to model these perceptual changes. Another ramp was placed around the staircase, whose direction was opposite to that of the original, larger ramp. The result here is that though the inner ramp is rather narrow, it still dominates perception. The chapter concludes that long-range interactions between boundary edges and areas enclosed by them provide a much more plausible account for these brightness phenomena, and local models are insufficient.
The Breathing Light Illusion
Authors: Gori Simone , Giora Enrico , Alan Stubbs D.
Published: June 2017

This chapter discusses the Breathing Light Illusion. The Breathing Light Illusion is a size and brightness illusion elicited by the self-motion of the observer. The stimulus consists of a circular white spot that is presented on a black background, characterized by blurred boundaries. The blurred spot, which in static view seems to glow and exhibits a self-luminance appearance, is perceived as wider, brighter, and more diffuse when it is approached but smaller, darker, and sharper when one recedes from it. A possible explanation of the phenomenon is related to the superimposition of the afterimage on the physical stimulus during dynamical viewing.
Illusory Variations in Apparent Dot Brightness Induced by Density Modulations
Authors: Mulligan Jeffrey B.
Published: June 2017

When small, closely spaced dots are moved closer together, they appear brighter. The effect is observed for dot spacings of half a degree of visual angle or less and can be cancelled either by dimming the dots themselves or adding a compensating modulation to the background. The effects are easily observed and challenge current models of brightness perception. This illusion demonstrates that we are unable to judge the brightness of a small dot independently of the total amount of light falling in its local neighborhood. All of the dots are rendered with the same intensity, but the dots appear brighter in the regions where the density is higher.
The Chinese Lantern Illusion
Authors: Roncato Sergio , Bettella Sandro , Casco Clara
Published: June 2017

This chapter discusses a distortion in the perception of straightness not with reference to a line but to a contour formed by a sequence of aligned angles, such as those forming the borders of Chinese lanterns. An outline contour may appear to deviate from straightness when the contrast sign along the contour inverts. These local distortions may be observed with a jagged contour as well. This chapter provides some demonstrations in which regular rectangles contoured by a sawtooth borders appear to periodically contract/expand in synch with the phases of luminance variation of surfaces or borders. To explain these phenomena, we need to call into cause a large spatial range of interpolation of the local distortions along the contour.
Backscroll Illusion
Authors: Fujimoto Kiyoshi
Published: June 2017

Human vision recognizes the direction of a human, an animal, and objects in translational motion, even when they are displayed in a still position on a screen as filmed by a panning camera and with the background erased. Because there is no clue to relative motion between the object and the background, the recognition relies on a facing direction and/or movements of its internal parts like limbs. Such high-level object-based motion representation is capable of affecting lower-level motion perception. An ambiguous motion pattern is inserted to the screen behind the translating object. Then the pattern appears moving in a direction opposite to that which the object implies. This is called the backscroll illusion, and psychophysical studies were conducted to investigate phenomenal aspects with the hypothesis that the illusion reflects a strategy the visual system adopts in everyday circumstances. The backscroll illusion convincingly demonstrates that natural images contain visual illusions.
Induced Motion
Authors: Léveillé Jasmin , Yazdanbakhsh Arash
Published: June 2017

Induced motion is the perception of an illusory motion component in one object or stimulus element due to the presence of another object moving truly in the opposite direction. The phenomenon has been known for several centuries, having been reported in both natural scenes and reproduced in laboratory experiments. Despite the ubiquity of induced motion, attempts to explain the phenomenon have generally revolved around very few principles. Foremost among these is the notion of object-centered reference frame, which stipulates that the visual system encodes objects relative to each other rather than in absolute coordinates relative to an observer. This chapter discusses this phenomenon.
The Kayahara Silhouette Illusion
Authors: Troje Nikolaus F.
Published: June 2017

Since it was first published online by Japanese artist Nobuyuki Kayahara, the spinning silhouette of a young girl (the spinning dancer illusion) has been reposted on countless websites where it serves as an eye-catcher that lures users into clicking their way toward different forms of commercial advertisements. Spinning about a vertical axis, the perception of the figure is bistable: it can be seen as either spinning clockwise or counterclockwise, with the former interpretation apparently dominating the latter. This asymmetry generated a number of weird theories about brain laterality that further contributed to the popularity of the Kayahara silhouette on the Internet. These theories are obviously not backed by any serious research, but the animation is in fact a puzzling visual illusion. Primarily based on depth ambiguity, it employs the viewing-from-above bias and offers a number of sophisticated perceptual conflicts.
Stereokinetic Phenomena
Authors: Zanforlin Mario
Published: June 2017

Stereokinetic phenomena are visual illusions of three-dimensional objects produced by various drawings stuck on a platform rotating on the frontal plane. They are of theoretical interest because the phenomena cannot be explained by a “rigidity assumption” like other structures from motion, but they can be explained by a Gestalt general principle that minimizes speed differences. Other unique factors included (a) they do not appear to rotate but describe a circular translation (a movement analogous to that of a hand drawing a circle with the thumb oriented to the left and all its points moving at the same speed); (b) they appear to be three-dimensional and solid; and (c) they appear of a well-defined length in depth. This chapter discusses stereokinetic phenomena, including the related principles regarding the rigidity assumption, speed minimum difference, minimum principle, rotating figures, three-dimensional illusions, rotating circles, rotating ellipses, and rotating bar.
About Face
Authors: Thompson Peter
Published: June 2017

Inverting the eyes and the mouth in a smiling face renders the expression grotesque. However, when this image is itself rotated through 180 degrees, the grotesque expression is no longer apparent—the smiling expression returns. This illusion, first shown with the face of the then UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has been explained as showing the detrimental effects of inversion on configural or holistic processing of faces. This explanation is, however, not entirely satisfactory and the illusion is still not fully understood. Variants and relevant parameters of the effect are explored, as are related concepts of inversion, expression, and face perception.
The Mona Lisa Gaze Effect
Authors: Todorović Dejan
Published: June 2017

The Mona Lisa effect is the phenomenon in which certain portraits appear to direct their gaze at observers almost regardless of where observers are located with respect to the picture. This phenomenon has been well known for almost 2,000 years, yet it has not been studied much. The effect does not essentially depend on the motion of the observer. Rather, the effect is due to the fact that perception of gaze direction of a “looker” does not depend only on the position of the irises within the sclera but also on the orientation of the looker’s head with respect to the observer.
The Illusions of Numerosity
Authors: Luccio Riccardo
Published: June 2017

The illusions of numerosity can be broadly divided into two main categories (a) illusions of numerosity that can be observed in many classical illusions of linear or area extent just replacing the uninterrupted lines by rows of dots, or putting the elements to judge in the area, and (b) illusions in which the participants are clearly aware that the numbers of the elements to estimate are equal in two patterns, but despite this fact they judge that the elements in one pattern are “more” than in the other. Using a constant stimuli method both length/area and numerosity illusions move in the same direction, whereas using a magnitude estimation method the illusions disappear or move in opposite direction. All of this suggests the existence of at least two different cognitive mechanisms at the basis of this phenomenon.
The Aperture Capture Illusion
Authors: Palmer Evan M. , Kellman Philip J.
Published: June 2017

Perception of object shape is typically accurate and robust, even when objects move behind occluding surfaces, thus fragmenting their visible regions across space and over time. However, when an object is seen moving behind an occluding surface with only two misaligned apertures, a striking perceptual illusion occurs. The object appears distorted in the same direction as the offset of the apertures. This “aperture capture illusion” reveals the limits of spatiotemporal object formation and gives clues as to how the human visual system perceives dynamically occluded objects under normal circumstances. These concepts as well as related factors are explored in this chapter.
The Graph-Paper Effect
Authors: Georgeson Mark
Published: June 2017

Most visual illusions involve distorted or altered perception of objects or events or misinterpretation of image information. The discrepancy between what we experience and what is physically present in the world or in the retinal image can be large, surprising, and dramatic. It is much rarer to see things that simply are not there at all. Repetitive stimuli, such as grating patterns or flickering lights, can induce perception of a range of illusory geometric patterns, forms, and movements—during or after exposure to the inducing stimulus. This chapter describes one such illusory phenomenon—the graph-paper effect—a striking illusion of moving, oriented lines and edges; links it to a family of related effects; and offers a general theory for these effects in terms of neural inhibition and disinhibition at the level of the visual cortex.
Latter-day Saint Covenant Theology
Authors: Givens Terryl L.
Published: June 2017

Protestant covenant theology is predicated on opposition of Old Testament and New Testament, literal Israel and spiritual Israel, covenant of works and covenant of grace, Moses and the gospel. The Book of Mormon conflates all those polarities into the New and Everlasting Covenant that became central to Smith’s understanding of his prophetic calling and the massive project of “restoration” to which he devoted his life. When Smith published the Book of Mormon, the scripture’s title page heralded a new version of covenant theology, with an emphatic declaration of salvational assurance: the Book of Mormon’s very purpose, its final editor tells readers on the title page itself, is “to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel that they are not cast off forever.” Smith pushes the time frame of the covenant into premortal worlds and defines apostasy as the loss of this cosmic context and purpose of making the human family divine. Executing the plan involves adoption, an earthly Zion, and temples for sacraments. 107
Sacramental Ordinances—Non-Salvific
Authors: Givens Terryl L.
Published: June 2017

As with Protestants, Mormons believe in ordinances that are given for fortifying the faithful. These include “the sacrament,” or the Lord’s Supper, administered weekly as a commemorative event and to renew covenants of remembrance and obedience. Patriarchal blessings are modeled on the blessings Jacob gave to his posterity. Blessing the sick began as a spiritual practice but developed into a two-part ordinance, involving anointing with oil and “sealing” the anointing. Mormons practice the blessing of children, generally shortly after birth. Other ordinances include father’s blessings, setting apart blessings, and dedications of graves or buildings or mission fields. Mormons also believe ordinances will yet be revealed, pertaining, for example, to resurrection.
Identification of transcript regulatory patterns in cell differentiation
Authors: Gusnanto Arief , Gosling John Paul , Pope Christopher
Published: June 2017

Motivation

Studying transcript regulatory patterns in cell differentiation is critical in understanding its complex nature of the formation and function of different cell types. This is done usually by measuring gene expression at different stages of the cell differentiation. However, if the gene expression data available are only from the mature cells, we have some challenges in identifying transcript regulatory patterns that govern the cell differentiation.

Results

We propose to exploit the information of the lineage of cell differentiation in terms of correlation structure between cell types. We assume that two different cell types that are close in the lineage will exhibit many common genes that are co-expressed relative to those that are far in the lineage. Current analysis methods tend to ignore this correlation by testing for differential expression assuming some sort of independence between cell types. We employ a Bayesian approach to estimate the posterior distribution of the mean of expression in each cell type, by taking into account the cell formation path in the lineage. This enables us to infer genes that are specific in each cell type, indicating the genes are involved in directing the cell differentiation to that particular cell type. We illustrate the method using gene expression data from a study of haematopoiesis.

Availability and implementation

R codes to perform the analysis are available in http://www1.maths.leeds.ac.uk/∼arief/R/CellDiff/.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Panoptes: web-based exploration of large scale genome variation data
Authors: Vauterin Paul , Jeffery Ben , Miles Alistair , Amato Roberto , Hart Lee , Wright Ian , Kwiatkowski Dominic
Published: June 2017

Motivation

The size and complexity of modern large-scale genome variation studies demand novel approaches for exploring and sharing the data. In order to unlock the potential of these data for a broad audience of scientists with various areas of expertise, a unified exploration framework is required that is accessible, coherent and user-friendly.

Results

Panoptes is an open-source software framework for collaborative visual exploration of large-scale genome variation data and associated metadata in a web browser. It relies on technology choices that allow it to operate in near real-time on very large datasets. It can be used to browse rich, hybrid content in a coherent way, and offers interactive visual analytics approaches to assist the exploration. We illustrate its application using genome variation data of Anopheles gambiae, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax.

Availability and implementation

Freely available at https://github.com/cggh/panoptes, under the GNU Affero General Public License.
Sleep-related movement disorders
Authors: Gradassi Alessandro , Provini Federica
Published: June 2017

Sleep-related movement disorders are conditions characterized by simple and usually stereotyped movements that disturb sleep. They comprise periodic limb movement disorder, nocturnal leg cramps, sleep-related bruxism, sleep-related rhythmic movement disorder, and movement disorders due to drugs or medical conditions. Some of these movements, such as bruxism, might occur during both wakefulness and sleep, but a clear worsening of the symptoms during sleep is necessary in order to include the condition among sleep-related movement disorders. Sleep-related movement disorders may occasionally be present in healthy individuals, but the manifestations must disturb sleep with daytime consequences in order to be classified within this group of disorders. Finally, sleep-related movement disorders must be distinguished from parasomnias, such as sleepwalking or rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD), which normally show more complex muscular patterns and behaviors.
Sleep disorders in neurodegenerative diseases other than Parkinson disease and multiple system atrophy
Authors: Manni Raffaele , Terzaghi Michele
Published: June 2017

This chapter examines sleep–wake disturbances occurring in the most common neurodegenerative disorders. It reviews sleep alterations in Alzheimer disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. It also discusses sleep problems in progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, Huntington disease, and spinocerebellar ataxias. Status dissociatus as an extreme form of sleep alteration in advanced neurodegenerative diseases is also considered. The chapter reviews the key points for the treatment of disrupted sleep in neurodegenerative disorders, with a focus on pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions to improve sleep continuity. It also summarizes paraphysiological age-related changes in sleep patterns and discusses indications and procedures for clinical and instrumental assessment of sleep disorders in neurodegenerative disorders.
Sleep disorders in multiple sclerosis
Authors: Ferini-Strambi Luigi , Marelli Sara
Published: June 2017

Though often unrecognized, sleep disorders in MS are seen at higher frequency than the general population, and they may contribute to pain, fatigue and depression—symptoms commonly observed in MS patients. Since several immunological factors in serum have been implicated in the development of sleep disorders, and MS is proven to be characterized by immune abnormalities, the notion that MS and sleep disorders share a similar background seems reasonable. Investigation of sleep disorders in MS is important, especially considering that the treatment of sleep disturbance may contribute to a reduction in debilitating symptoms, such as fatigue. Thus, an increased clinical awareness and appropriate treatment of sleep disorders in the MS population may significantly improve the overall quality of life in these patients.
Gastrointestinal functioning during sleep
Authors: Orr William C.
Published: June 2017

Sleep is associated with substantial changes in gastrointestinal functioning that have considerable clinical relevance Symptoms of sleep-related dysfunction are common and are primarily related to sleep-related heartburn and regurgitation. Sleep disturbances accompany several other gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Sleep-related gastroesophageal reflux (GER) has been shown to plan a major role in the pathogenesis of more complicated gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), notably via a prolongation of acid contact. Mucosal damage has been shown to be more closely associated with this pattern of reflux in comparison with waking reflux, which is associated with more frequent but very short reflux events. Sleep disturbance is also associated with a visceral hyperalgesia that enhances pain responses associated with acid–mucosal contact. Sleep does influence intestinal motility, but further research is needed to confirm the details of exactly how intestinal motility is modulated by sleep.
Sleep in older adults
Authors: Silvestri Rosalia
Published: June 2017

Significant and progressive sleep alterations occur in elderly people, including both circadian and ultradian modifications of sleep. Among these, reduced melatonin and a diminished role of environmental zeitgebers impair sleep rhythmicity, with a tendency toward polyphasic sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). The loss of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and EDS are significant, along with behavioral and cognitive alterations in patients with dementia. Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and restless legs syndrome (RLS)/Willis–Ekbom disease may further aggravate the burden of insomnia and sleep fragmentation, thereby favoring multiple nocturnal arousals with sympathetic activation and cardiovascular dysfunction.
Morbidity, mortality, societal impact, and accident in sleep disorders
Authors: Garbarino Sergio
Published: June 2017

Sleep disorders are associated with several morbidities, most strongly with psychiatric disorders, cognitive impairment, and impaired quality of life, as well as with increased mortality. Sleep problems are common across the lifespan from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. Physiological sleep continuity with respect to circadian rhythms is considered to be important for the maintenance of cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune function, physiological homeostasis, and psychological balance. Nowadays, it is reasonable to include sleep disturbances among the top 10 potentially modifiable cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The links between sleep disorders and morbidity as CVD show bidirectional associations. Because these disorders are chronic, they may also have a deleterious societal impact on a patient’s employment status, ability to work, risk of accident, and health. The relationship between work performance and sleep quality is reciprocal and potentially complex. This chapter illustrates the principal sleep disorders and their relevance as indicators of health status.
The Tragedy of Indian Philosophy
Authors: Bhushan Nalini , Garfield Jay L.
Published: June 2017

This chapter shows that the colonial period is continuous in important respects with premodern periods. It also shows that there is nothing special about English as a foreign language and that philosophy and other important intellectual literature was produced not only in Sanskrit but also in imported and Indian vernacular languages for much of Indian history.
A Mirror Is for Reflection
Authors: Flanagan Owen
Published: June 2017

This volume offers a snapshot of the present state of academic investigation into the nature of Buddhist ethics. Over the past decade many scholars have come to think that the project of fitting Buddhist ethical thought into Western philosophical categories may be of limited utility, and the focus of investigation has shifted in a number of new directions. Contributions to these recent investigation from many of the leading figures in the academic study of Buddhist philosophy are collected here alongside exciting new work from a number of early-career scholars. Topics include the nature of Buddhist ethics as a whole as well as the role in Buddhist ethics of karma and rebirth, mindfulness, narrative, intention, personhood, agency, free will, politics, anger, and equanimity, among other areas. The volume offers a rich and accessible introduction to contemporary work on Buddhist thought for students and scholars new to this area of philosophy, as well as chapters taking up more technical philosophical and textual topics. The contributors aim to engage Buddhist traditions in a rigorous, critical, and respectful philosophical dialogue, rather than to document these traditions as historical curiosities. The chapters of this volume stand as contributions to the emerging field of cosmopolitan philosophy, demonstrating by example why considering ethical questions such as how we ought to live, act, and train our minds from a plurality of cultural perspectives is itself an ethical imperative today.
Equanimity in Relationship
Authors: McRae Emily
Published: June 2017

In Buddhist ethical traditions, equanimity along with love, compassion, and sympathetic joy form what are called the four boundless qualities, which are affective states one cultivates for moral and spiritual development. But there is a sense in which equanimity seems very unlike the three others: love, compassion, and sympathetic joy all imply an emotional investment in others, whereas equanimity seems to imply an absence of such investment. This observation has provoked debate as to how to properly understand the relationship between equanimity and the other three boundless qualities. This essay proposes that equanimity—like love, compassion, and sympathetic joy—is itself a virtue of good intimate relationships and not in conflict with such virtues. To show this, the essay focuses on an important activity of intimate, loving relationships, which, it argues, requires equanimity: dealing with ugliness.
Todos Somos Cubanos, Pero No Todos Somos Iguales
Authors: Clealand Danielle Pilar
Published: June 2017

Chapter 7 is an examination of racist practices in Cuba and explores the commonality and nature of racial discrimination. This chapter begins the discussion of the bottom portion of the model to show how racism operates on the island. The economic crisis of the 1990s marked the first serious challenge to racial ideology in Cuba, as inequalities increased with significant racial dimensions. Racism and discrimination became much more visible, particularly to nonwhites. The chapter outlines some of the practices that have taken place to limit nonwhites’ opportunities in the emergent sector and how anti-black stereotypes have informed policy and practice. Using survey data, it demonstrates who is most likely to experience discrimination in Cuba and how.
Introduction
Authors: Olcott Jocelyn
Published: June 2017

The introduction examines some of the mythology and misconceptions surrounding the International Women’s Year (IWY) conference. It particularly considers the fictional confrontation between the US feminist Betty Friedan and the Bolivian labor activist Domitila Barrios de Chungara and why that imagined encounter came over time to stand in for the conference itself. It describes the ways that IWY was shaped by debates of the 1970s over questions such as sovereignty and geopolitics, the meanings of development and feminism, and the changing nature of civil society. It explains how the three UN-designated IWY themes—equality, development, and peace—stood in for geopolitical divides but had become widely contested concepts.
Counter-congresses
Authors: Olcott Jocelyn
Published: June 2017

This chapter focuses on the activities that took place during the final weekend before the IWY events closed. A committee at the intergovernmental conference considered—and rejected—a proposal to list sexism among the impediments to women’s equality, alongside terms such as foreign occupation, racial discrimination, and neocolonialism. The discussion reignited long-standing debates about equality and sexual difference. Meanwhile, conflicts broke out between supporters and opponents of the Pinochet government in Chile as nearly 1,000 demonstrators protested human rights abuses. Across town, a group of young women’s liberationists demonstrated in favor of abortion rights and public services to alleviate domestic labor burdens.
The Final Push
Authors: Olcott Jocelyn
Published: June 2017

This chapter focuses on efforts at the IWY intergovernmental conference to finalize the World Plan of Action that made recommendations for programs and policies from the local level to the United Nations. Conflicts arose over what to include in the enumeration of obstacles to women’s emancipation. Although “sexism” had been ruled out during an earlier meeting, the plan’s introduction listed issues such as apartheid, neocolonialism, and, most controversially, Zionism. The Declaration of Mexico, which served as a preamble to the World Plan of Action, would become the first official UN document to liken Zionism to apartheid and other forms of state-sponsored racial discrimination. These discussions renewed debates about where or whether a line existed that divided “women’s issues” from “politics.”
Beyond Mexico City
Authors: Olcott Jocelyn
Published: June 2017

This chapter examines the legacies of the IWY intergovernmental conference and NGO tribune, with particular emphasis on the networks and media projects that emerged out of the gatherings and the subsequent women’s conferences either organized or inspired by the United Nations. Although the formal UN conferences provided an indispensable organizational infrastructure for many of these endeavors, the most significant outcomes—such as women’s microcredit programs and enduring transnational networks of Third World women—emerged from the more chaotic and unscripted moments in Mexico City rather than the choreographed, protocol-bound conference. Through these encounters, IWY fostered a shared vocabulary and access to shared networks and endeavors that have sustained transnational and increasingly diverse feminisms.
Kalahari Cheetahs
Authors: Mills Gus , Mills Margaret
Published: June 2017

This book demonstrates how cheetahs are adapted to arid savannahs like the southern Kalahari, and makes comparisons with other areas, especially the Serengeti. Topics dealt with are: demography and genetic status; feeding ecology, i.e. methods used for studying diet, diets of different demographic groups, individual diet specializations of females, prey selection, the impact of cheetah predation on prey populations, activity regimes and distances travelled per day, hunting behaviour, foraging success and energetics; interspecific competition; spatial ecology; reproductive success and the mating system; and conservation. The major findings show that cheetahs are well adapted to arid ecosystems and are water independent. Cheetah density in the study area was stable at 0.7/100 km2 and the population was genetically diverse. Important prey were steenbok and springbok for females with cubs, gemsbok, and adult ostrich for coalition males, and steenbok, springhares, and hares for single animals. Cheetahs had a density-dependent regulatory effect on steenbok and springbok populations. Females with large cubs had the highest overall food intake. Cheetahs, especially males, were often active at night, and competition with other large carnivores, both by exploitation and interference, was slight. Although predation on small cubs was severe, cub survival to adolescence was six times higher than in the Serengeti. There was no difference in reproductive success between single and coalition males. The conservation priority for cheetahs should be to maintain protected areas over a spectrum of landscapes to allow ecological processes, of which the cheetah is an integral part, to proceed unhindered.
Hunting behaviour
Authors: Mills M.G.L. , Mills M.E.J.
Published: June 2017

Factors affecting hunting success, such as detection of prey, distances from which prey was charged and chased, and escape tactics of prey, were studied. Overall hunting success was 33.4 %. Hares were easier to catch than springhares, but springhares provided a larger meal and were more abundant. There was higher hunting success for steenbok and duiker than for springbok, and springbok hunts were energetically more expensive. However, this was offset by springbok providing a larger amount of food per kill. The amount of meat eaten from gemsbok calves and adult ostrich was similar, but ostrich were more vigilant and difficult to approach and less common than gemsbok. There were no differences in overall hunting success between cheetah demographic groups. The benefit of cooperative hunting to coalition males was that it enabled them to kill larger prey and allowed females with cubs and sibling groups to hone young cheetahs’ hunting skills.
Breeding, cub survival, and female reproductive success
Authors: Mills M.G.L. , Mills M.E.J.
Published: June 2017

Cheetahs are aseasonal breeders, with a weak tendency towards seasonality corresponding to the birth peak in springbok lambs. Cub survival from birth to adolescence was 31.3% compared with 4.8% in the Serengeti. Predation was the major cause of cub mortality in the den, but it was usually impossible to identify the predator. The low survival of cheetah cubs recorded on the Serengeti Plains may be exceptional; in the den, apart from predation, starvation through desertion due to the migratory nature of the prey may sometimes occur; on leaving the den the extremely open landscape may make them especially vulnerable to predation compared with other areas. The mean period between a female losing cubs prematurely, or raising them to independence, until she gave birth again was 3.9 ± 1.6 months. The minimum mean number of cubs raised by a female in her lifetime was 3.5 ± 3.3. This appears to be higher than in the Serengeti.
Blindfolding the Midwives
Authors: Dacome Lucia
Published: June 2017

Chapter 5 shifts attention from the makers of anatomical models to their users by examining the creation and employment of anatomical models in mid-eighteenth-century midwifery schools. In particular, it considers the collection of midwifery models assembled by the Bolognese surgeon and man-midwife Giovanni Antonio Galli (1708–1782) in order to establish a midwifery school in his own residence. The collection included some two hundred models realized in different materials, such as wax, clay, and glass, and was subsequently acquired by Pope Benedict XIV who donated it to the Institute of the Sciences. This chapter investigates how the midwifery models of Galli’s collection translated embodied skill and tacit knowledge into the visual and material language of anatomy. Moreover, it examines how models’ visualization of pregnancy and childbirth participated in the redefinition of midwives’ realms of competence and expertise.
The meanings of ‘angel’ in English, Arabic, and Hebrew
Authors: Habib Sandy
Published: June 2017

This chapter explores the meanings of English angels and its Arabic and Hebrew near-equivalents. Using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage theory, semantic analysis is carried out, and an explication is constructed for each term. The results show that there are similarities and differences between the three concepts. The similarities include, among other things, the categorization of the three non-human beings and their good nature. The differences are manifested mainly in the conceptualization of the hierarchy among these beings, their visual representations/appearances, and relation to people. As the explications are constructed from simple, universal human concepts, they are translatable into any language, and thus are accessible to cultural outsiders.
Personhood constructs in language and thought
Authors: Levisen Carsten
Published: June 2017

This chapter analyses personhood constructs, a particular type of noun whose meanings conceptualize invisible parts of a person. The meaning of personhood constructs originates in cultural discourses, and they can vary considerably across linguistic communities. They are reflective of society’s dominant ethnopsychological ideas, and they co-develop with historical changes in discourse. Drawing on insights from previous studies, a semantic template is developed in order to account for the differences but also the similarities in personhood constructs. With a detailed case study on Danish personhood constructs, the chapter tests the template on the translation-resistant Danish concept of sind, along with two other Danish nouns: sjæl ‘soul’ and ånd ‘spirit’. The case study provides a model for how personhood constructs can be empirically explored with tools from linguistic semantics.
The semantics of honeybee terms in Solega (Dravidian)
Authors: Si Aung
Published: June 2017

In this chapter, the semantics of three honeybee words from the Dravidian language Solega is discussed, with particular attention paid to methodological issues. These include sourcing naturalistic data for an under-described language, and objectively determining the boundary between core meaning elements and peripheral encyclopedic knowledge. Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) explications for perceptually similar honeybees are presented, with notes on challenging issues, such as unambiguously placing the honeybees along a gradient of physical size, as well as incorporating information on ecological relationships between honeybees and other named species. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the Solega folk taxonomy of honeybees.
Callimachus and the Poetics of the Diaspora
Authors: McInerney Jeremy
Published: June 2017

This chapter reads Callimachus as a poet of the Hellenistic diaspora. It argues not only that his poems reflect the experience of Greeks born outside Greece, for whom the cultural baggage of earlier centuries is a repository of myths and stories which can be manipulated and reshaped, but also that contemporary issues of patronage and Ptolemaic geopolitics influenced the poet’s treatment of older themes. Time and space are collapsed. Set against the tribulations of the Ptolemaic dynasty in the mid-third century, Callimachus’ Hymn to Artemis emerges not as a purely literary reworking of an earlier, Homeric genre, but as a pointed and deliberate commentary on contemporary politics. The personal, the political and the poetic intersect and reinforce each other.
VOAux
Authors: Danckaert Lieven
Published: June 2017

The starting point of this chapter is the observation that the diachrony of the OV/VO alternation is very different in clauses with a head-final (VPAux) and a head-initial (AuxVP) T-projection. Special attention is paid to the synchronic and diachronic syntax of those cases in which a head-initial VP co-occurs with a head-final TP, a configuration which yields the order ‘VOAux’. The availability of this pattern can be considered surprising in the light of recent work on the linearization of syntactic structures (Biberauer et al. 2014). Importantly, corpus data reveal that the VOAux-order is only productive in Classical Latin. It is also argued that there is good evidence that in the Latin VOAux-pattern the string ‘VO’ forms a (VP) constituent. The chapter concludes by giving more details about the time course of the loss of the VOAux-order.
What Might it Mean to have a Systematic Idealist, but Anti-Platonist, Practical Philosophy?
Authors: Redding Paul
Published: June 2017

While in broad agreement with Rorty’s emphasis on the role of redescription in Hegel’s method, and with his wish to free Hegel from the constraints of traditional metaphysics, this chapter argues against Rorty’s account of Hegel’s redescriptive methodology. His account is, it suggests, tied to a misleading Sartrean interpretation of Hegel’s famous “master–slave” dialectic—an interpretation that is in fact closer to Fichte’s use of the notion of recognition than Hegel’s own. When Hegel’s concept of recognition is understood in relation to the logic of his concept of the will, a more nuanced account of recognition is achieved. This is one that coheres with a “redescription” of the task of metaphysics that portrays it as an inquiry into a modally conceived actual world. Unlike Rorty’s redescription, this is one that preserves the relevance of the value of truth and not merely that of freedom for metaphysics.
Verb stem formation and event composition in Oji-Cree
Authors: Slavin Tanya
Published: June 2017

This chapter investigates the structure of the verb stem in Oji-Cree, a dialect of the Algonquian language Ojibwe. It argues that a stem constitutes an independent semantic domain that corresponds to an event. This conception of stems explains why certain roots, called weak roots, must be preceded by modifiers, thereby satisfying a so-called left-edge requirement, while other roots, called strong roots, have no such requirement. Weak roots are semantically deficient and the obligatory pre-radical modifier is necessary to create a complete event. In contrast, an (optional) modifier before a strong root has scope over a complete event. The difference is illustrated by the morpheme /caaki/ ‘all’. When it combines stem-internally, its scope is restricted to internal arguments. However, when it combines stem-externally, it can have a quantificational reading with scope over an external argument. The semantic difference between stem-internal and stem-external composition is also correlated with some phonological differences.
The Broken Voice
Authors: Eaglestone Robert
Published: June 2017

‘Which writer today is not a writer of the Holocaust?’ asked the late Imre Kertész, Hungarian survivor and novelist, in his Nobel acceptance speech: ‘one does not have to choose the Holocaust as one’s subject to detect the broken voice that has dominated modern European art for decades’. This book attends to this broken voice in literature in order to explore the meaning of the Holocaust in the contemporary world, arguing, again following Kertész, that the Holocaust will ‘remain through culture, which is really the vessel of memory’. Drawing on the thought of Hannah Arendt, it identifies and develops five concepts—the public secret, evil, stasis, disorientalism and kitsch—in a range of texts by significant writers (including Kazuo Ishiguro, Jonathan Littell, Imre Kertész, W. G. Sebald, and Joseph Conrad) as well as in work by victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust and of atrocities in Africa. In this way, the book explores the interweaving of complicity, responsibility, temporality, and the often problematic powers of narrative which make up some part of the legacy of the Holocaust.
International Society and Islamist Non-State Actors
Authors: Toros Harmonie , Dionigi Filippo
Published: June 2017

The Anarchical Society with its state-centric conceptualization of world politics may appear ill equipped to account for the increasing influence of non-state actors. However, despite this state-centrism, this chapter argues that Bull’s concept of international society constitutes a useful interpretative framework to account for the discourse and practice of such actors. The essay focuses on the organization Islamic State, which offers an example of how a non-state armed actor can challenge and confront international society, while at the same time engage with and mimic its discursive and material practices. The use of international society’s vocabulary, practices, and institutions constitutes for IS a way to attempt to elevate its status from informal organization to state. However, once established as a para-state entity, IS has engaged in norm contestation whereby it has confronted the Western-centric conception of order of international society and countered it with the ideal of a ‘caliphate’.
Anarchy and Patriarchy in World Politics
Authors: True Jacqui
Published: June 2017

This essay considers anarchy in light of the dynamics of patriarchy in world politics. Western and non-Western patriarchal structures shape and constrain what states are, what they do, and how. They have played a crucial role in the constitution of state identities, diplomatic practices, and the maintenance, transformation, and expansion of the society of states. The unravelling of patriarchal structures in many parts of the world has implications for international society and the quest for order and justice. The increasing breakdown of patriarchal social contacts is fuelling gendered violence at all levels, including the explicit targeting of women and girls in intra-state and international conflicts. This violence is at once an embodiment of, and a threat to, sovereign statehood. If patriarchal society once consolidated the anarchical society in Europe, then it now also challenges that society from within and without as well as the possibility of its expansion.