bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Jurisdiction as Property in England, 900–1100
Authors: Lambert Tom
Published: January 2018

Lordship over land throughout the medieval period involved a bundle of rights that characteristically encompassed both the economic (e.g. rights to rents and other recurring dues from the resident peasantry) and the legal (e.g. rights relating to the punishment of wrongdoing). Changes in the content of this bundle are the subject of a long tradition of historical scholarship, which has helped shape influential narratives of the rise and fall of feudalism. This chapter offers a new account of the origins in England of what this literature knows as ‘jurisdictional’ rights: rights not just to receive legal revenues but to perform legal functions. The decades around the millennium witnessed economic, legal and administrative changes that made legal revenues a focus of competition, and a powerful way of asserting ownership of such revenues was to perform associated legal functions.
‘Everything Belongs to God’
Authors: Rech Walter
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines and contextualizes Sayyid Qutb’s doctrine of property and social justice, which he articulated at a time of deep social conflicts in Egypt. The chapter describes how Qutb, along with other writers concerned with economic inequality in the 1920s–40s such as Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949) and Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri (1895–1971), conceptualised private ownership as a form of power that must be limited by religious obligations and subordinated to the public good. The chapter further shows that Qutb made this notion of restrained property central to a broader theory of social justice and wealth redistribution by combining the social teachings of the Qur’an with the modern ideal of the centralized interventionist state. Arguably this endeavour to revitalise the Quranic roots of Islamic charity and simultaneously appropriate the discourse of modern statehood made Qutb’s position oscillate between legalism and anti-legalism.
The Power of Public Positions
Authors: Sinclair Thomas
Published: January 2018

The Kantian account of political authority holds that the state is a necessary and sufficient condition of our freedom. We cannot be free outside the state, Kantians argue, because any attempt to have the “acquired rights” necessary for our freedom implicates us in objectionable relations of dependence on private judgment. Only in the state can this problem be overcome. But it is not clear how mere institutions could make the necessary difference, and contemporary Kantians have not offered compelling explanations. A detailed analysis is presented of the problems Kantians identify with the state of nature and the objections they face in claiming that the state overcomes them. A response is sketched on behalf of Kantians. The key idea is that under state institutions, a person can make claims of acquired right without presupposing that she is by nature exceptional in her capacity to bind others.
‘(Luck and Relational) Egalitarians of the World, Unite!’
Authors: Lippert-Rasmussen Kasper
Published: January 2018

In recent years, egalitarian political philosophy has been marred by a family dispute between luck and relational egalitarianism. This chapter presents a certain view about what constitutes the core difference and disagreement between the two views. This enables us to set aside a number of issues, e.g., the role of responsibility, which are better discussed as intraluck or intrasocial relational egalitarian issues. Second, a defense is made of a guarded reductionist claim that any objectionable inegalitarian social relation can be analyzed as an unequal distribution of a relevantly related social good. Third, the chapter ends with a proposal of an ecumenical egalitarian theory that incorporates insights from both views, as well as a third egalitarian view: dispositional egalitarianism, which seems implicit in Samuel Scheffler’s work. A specific luck-ist version of the ecumenical view, which is grounded in the value of fairness, is tentatively suggested.
Varieties of Relational Egalitarianism
Authors: Miklosi Zoltan
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores the relational critique of distributive conceptions of justice, according to which the proper focus of egalitarian justice is the egalitarian nature of social relations rather than the equal distribution of certain goods. It maintains that the relational critique constitutes a fundamental challenge to distributive egalitarianism only if it rejects the “core distributive thesis” that holds that the distribution of some nonrelational goods has relation-independent significance for justice. It argues that several relational proposals are compatible with that thesis, and therefore constitute extensions or revisions of the distributive conception rather than alternatives to it, and that those relational views that reject the core distributive thesis are the least plausible ones. Finally, the chapter shows that relational views are often ambiguous regarding the nature of the significance of egalitarian relations, i.e. whether it consists in their contribution to well-being, or in being the fitting response to equal moral status.
Complicity and Coercion
Authors: Zakaras Alex
Published: January 2018

This chapter argues that citizens of modern states are typically complicit in the injustices committed by their governments, and that this complicity gives rise to an obligation to participate responsibly in politics. The argument proceeds in three broad steps: first, a causal account of individual complicity in collective injustice is developed. Second, drawing on this account, it is argued that even politically passive citizens are typically complicit in their government’s injustices, despite the fact that they are best understood as coerced accomplices to state action. Finally, it is argued that the morally appropriate response to complicity in political injustice—or the danger thereof—is responsible political participation.
Liquidity Squeeze on SMEs during the Great Recession in Europe
Authors: Coricelli Fabrizio , Frigerio Marco
Published: January 2018

We find that European SMEs significantly increased their net trade credit to sales ratio during the Great Recession. For the aggregate of SMEs, trade credit did not provide any buffer to the contraction in bank loans. In fact, through increased net trade credit, SMEs suffered a squeeze in their liquidity and this phenomenon reflects the weak bargaining power of SMEs in their trade credit relationship with larger firms. Therefore, increased net trade credit by SMEs does not reflect an efficient reallocation of credit, and it calls for policy actions. These policy actions are highly relevant, given that the liquidity squeeze had significant adverse effects on the real performance of SMEs, contributing to the recession and to the subsequent timid recovery of European economies. We explore various policies that could be implemented to relieve SMEs from the liquidity squeeze induced by the increase in their receivables.
Determinants of Bank Lending in Europe and the United States
Authors: Bruno Brunella , D'Onofrio Alexandra , Marino Immacolata
Published: January 2018

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the main drivers of bank lending in Europe and the United States over the period from 2008 to 2014. We relate bank characteristics prior to the global financial crisis to their lending behaviour during and after the crisis period. Our analysis confirms the existence of a bank lending channel, that seems stronger in Europe than in the United States, especially if we look at corporate loans rather than at the whole loan portfolio. We uncover that the main bank characteristics affecting lending are size, capitalization, liquidity, and ownership structure, as well as, to a lesser extent, reliance on deposits and exposure to government bonds. Some of these factors have indeed shielded bank lending as predicted, but the results are not always in the expected direction, which points to the existence of a revised version of the traditional bank lending channel.
Information in the Financial System
Authors: Giovannini Alberto
Published: January 2018

The financial system is one of the primary users of information technology, which in recent decades has experienced phenomenal progress. This chapter discusses how information and communication technology has changed the financial system, and what policy challenges arise from the interactions of information technology progress and financial innovation. I focus on the asset management and banking industries. In the case of asset management, progress in information technology has partially transformed the industry, and potentially made it more efficient. In the case of banking, the industry has been changed profoundly, has grown significantly, but at the same time it has become more fragile. The chapter discusses the implications of these phenomena for policymaking.
Asset Encumbrance and CDS Premia of European Banks
Authors: Banal-Estanol Albert , Benito Enrique , Khametshin Dmitry
Published: January 2018

Asset encumbrance refers to the existence of bank balance sheet assets being subject to arrangements that restrict the bank’s ability to freely transfer or realize them. Asset encumbrance has recently become a much discussed subject and policymakers have been actively addressing what some consider to be excessive levels of asset encumbrance. Despite its importance, the phenomenon of asset encumbrance remains poorly understood. We build a novel data set of asset encumbrance metrics based on information provided in the banks’ public disclosures for the very first time throughout 2015. We provide descriptive evidence of asset encumbrance levels by country, credit quality, size, and business model, using different encumbrance metrics. Our empirical results point to the existence of an association between CDS premia and asset encumbrance that is negative, not positive. That is, on average, encumbrance is perceived to be beneficial. Still, certain bank-level variables play a mediating role in this relationship. For banks that have high exposures to the central bank, high leverage ratios, and/or are located in southern Europe, asset encumbrance is less beneficial and could even be detrimental in absolute terms.
Editors’ Introduction
Authors: Schneider Axel , Woolf Daniel
Published: January 2018

This concluding volume in The Oxford History of Historical Writing covers a very small period in comparison with some of its companions: barely two‐thirds of a century. As with the other volumes, the boundary dates are both fluid and imprecise: 1945 is a watershed date for the world in the sense that it marked the end of the Second World War and the division of Europe into a Western and an Eastern bloc. Elsewhere in the world, other dates are more meaningful: for China, 1949 is the critical year; and in much of Africa the decolonization of the 1950s and 1960s marked a significant rupture with past, colonial historiography. Unlike the earlier volumes, our period is also an unfinished one, for though some obvious sub‐periods are broken at points such as the early 1960s, the fall of European communism at the end of the 1980s, and the rapid rise of both globalization and radical Islam during the 1990s, it is difficult to predict, in early 2010 as this introduction is written, just where the story of post‐war historiography will end, or how. What ...
Women’s and Gender History
Authors: Des Jardins Julie
Published: January 2018

This chapter looks at women’s history and its successor, gender history, which emerged as strong new approaches beginning in the 1970s—precisely when the wider feminist movement began to have its most profound impact on at least Euro-American societies. Gender history and women’s history are not the same. The former, larger category overlaps with the latter, and also with areas such as masculinity history, critical race theory, and queer studies. However, it has only been since the 1980s that historians have considered ‘gender’ an historical subject or ‘a useful category of historical analysis’. Nevertheless, various radical, Marxist, and progressive historians had planted the seeds of gender history as early as the 1920s and 1930s, even as they privileged neither women nor gender as subjects. Their questioning of power structures and engagement of politics and relativist concepts were integral to the development of the field later in the twentieth century.
From the Search for Normality to the Search for Normality: German Historical Writing
Authors: Berger Stefan
Published: January 2018

This chapter demonstrates the overwhelming dominance of a Marxist, Soviet-inspired agenda, and the supremacy of social and especially economic history. During the Cold War, only the historians in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) followed the Western path. Their counterparts in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) adhered to the Marxist-Leninist framework of history-writing prescribed by the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED). The divided world of the Cold War ensured that history-writing in the FRG and GDR became highly polarized. Anti-communism remained the underlying rationale of much historical writing in the FRG during the 1950s, and anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism comprised the ideological backbone of the GDR’s historical profession. Ultimately, the Cold War was crucial in incorporating West and East German historians into different transnational networks. After 1945, the two Germanies were attempting to regain some kind of national as well as historiographical ‘normality’ following major political and historiographical caesuras.
French Historical Writing
Authors: Middell Matthias
Published: January 2018

This chapter traces French historiography, which counts among the most professionalized in the world, influencing global trends in the interpretation of the Middle Ages, of early modern social and political developments, of the French Revolution, of contemporary history, and of the comparison of civilizations and the history of colonial empires. The ‘professionalization’ of French historiography dates back to the nineteenth century, and included not only the creation of an institutional setting that gave rise to a highly differentiated discipline, but also an intense search for new methods among historians that guaranteed innovation and resistance to the ongoing process of fragmentation. The label ‘Annales School’ reduced a diversity of practices to the straightforward opposition of old-fashioned ‘positivist’ historiography versus a new historiography. Internationally, it influenced the image of French historiography to such a degree that the ‘Annales’ became identified with the most valuable contributions by French historians to the discipline.
African Historical Writing
Authors: Falola Toyin
Published: January 2018

This chapter looks at African historical writing. Several intellectual currents fused to produce the emergence of modern African historiography. First, the global black intellectual movement, expressed in the politics of Pan-Africanism, argued that the knowledge of African history was key to the understanding of the past and future of black people. Second, within Africa itself, a tradition of indigenous writing had already demonstrated the richness of the continent’s history. The third current that moved writing about Africa to the mainstream academy began in the 1940s during the era of decolonization, the transfer of power from Europeans to Africans, and the creation of independent nations. The chapter then explores a key methodological innovation that emerged in African studies first but has had application in other fields—oral tradition as a pathway into pasts either largely devoid of written records or dominated by the written records of colonial occupiers.
Historical Writing in the United States
Authors: Tyrrell Ian
Published: January 2018

This chapter studies American historical writing. In the United States, the legacy of the Progressive historians advocating a pragmatic study of the past in the interests of social and political usefulness was a powerful influence that continued to be evident after the Second World War. This Progressive agenda had flow-on effects that shaped other characteristics of American scholarship. One was recurrent but often misleading debates over conflict versus consensus on the issues of American national character, ideology, and politics; another was flexibility and innovation in interpretation, with receptiveness to new ideas derived from the influence of other humanities and the social sciences; still another was distrust of grand theory, and an instrumental and subordinate attention to historiography. The chapter then offers an outsider’s view of American historiography from the vantage point of Australia, and with a focus on the extra-academic life of American historians, including the development of ‘public history’.
Thai Historical Writing
Authors: Jory Patrick
Published: January 2018

This chapter describes how in Thailand—which never really experienced a process of colonization and decolonization—the writing of history went back to the tradition of royal annals and was, for large parts of the twentieth century, under the direct influence, if not control, of the royal family. Indeed, modern history-writing in Thailand remained dominated by the presence of the monarchy. In addition to the quasi-divine status of the kings in traditional historiography, the kings acquired a newer significance in the tumultuous modern era. While European colonization was the great historical rupture that thrust other Southeast Asian kingdoms into modernity, Siam was not directly colonized. Credit for the modernization of the Thai kingdom and the preservation of formal political independence—two central ideas in the formulation of Thai nationalism—was written into official history as being due to the genius of the kings.
Chinese Historiography in the Age of Maturity, 960–1368
Authors: Hartman Charles
Published: January 2018

This chapter looks at how the Song dynasty (960–1279) reconsolidated central power and eliminated the provincial regimes that had developed in the wake of Tang decentralization. During the first thirty years after 960, they fostered astute policies that promoted and took advantage of continuing economic expansion. To administer their new polity, the Song emperors recruited through the examination system a new class of bureaucratic elite that Western writings on China often call the ‘literati’. The aristocrats of Tang had given way to the merchants and bureaucrats of Song. However, although the Song expanded Chinese economic and political power into South China, it never completed the conquest of all the traditional Chinese lands in the north. The Song coexisted with a series of alien or conquest dynasties to its north and west.
Kingship, Time, and Space: Historiography in Southeast Asia
Authors: Whitmore John K.
Published: January 2018

This chapter demonstrates how the topic of Southeast Asian historiography divides itself into three fairly distinct categories that progress through this period. First, there was the epigraphy, — materials carved mainly into stone (but also metal). These were the main surviving forms of writing for almost all the classical polities that emerged in the region from the seventh century on. The second category consisted of writings on paper (or other materials like palm leaves) from the royal courts of two specific regions, eastern Java and northern Vietnam, during the eleventh through the fourteenth centuries. Finally, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as the international trade routes brought and reinforced universal ideologies deeper into the region, localities began to write their own histories and to integrate these histories into the grand cosmic schemes of these religions.
Religious History
Authors: Sizgorich Thomas
Published: January 2018

This chapter explains how the characteristics that defined ‘religious history’ during the closing centuries of antiquity and the opening centuries of the Middle Ages are the following: religious history orders discursive recollection of events involving human actors and institutions in accordance with certain grand narratives that are themselves derived from holy texts; religious history regularly locates the foundational truths upon which historical interpretation is grounded beyond the observable, physical world, and within a system of reality that is accessible and knowable only through revelatory contact with the divine; and religious history is most often particularly concerned with locating moments in the past in which human individuals, communities, and institutions were touched and altered by encounters with the numinous.
Contextualization of Mental Representations and Evaluative Responses
Authors: Ye Yang , Gawronski Bertram
Published: January 2018

This chapter provides a theory-based analysis of East–West differences in context effects on evaluative responses. Drawing on documented cultural differences in social cognition and a recently proposed representational theory of contextualized evaluation, the chapter discusses how cultural differences in attention and thinking styles may influence the integration of contextual information into mental representations of conflicting evaluative information and, thus, context effects on evaluative responses. The analysis reveals two potential patterns of cultural differences, with diverging predictions regarding the impact of contextual cues on evaluative responses among East Asians and Westerners. Implications of the current analysis for cross-cultural research are discussed.
The Dialectical Self
Authors: Chen Sylvia Xiaohua , Spencer-Rodgers Julie , Peng Kaiping
Published: January 2018

Originating in East Asian epistemologies, naïve dialecticism gives rise to contradictory, ever-changing, and interrelated perceptions of all entities, including the self. It influences the self in three fundamental ways, specifically, by affecting the (1) internal consistency, (2) cross-situational consistency, and (3) temporal stability of the content and structure of people’s self-conceptions. This chapter reviews the cross-cultural research that shows that Westerners possess more consistent and stable self-conceptions over time and across situations, whereas East Asians possess more variable and contextualized self-views, at both an explicit and implicit level. The chapter further discusses some of the consequences of the dialectical self (e.g., in bilingual/bicultural contexts) and presents directions for future research.
Contextual and Cultural Factors Influencing Malleable Racial Identity
Authors: Garcia Julie A. , Sanchez Diana T. , Shih Margaret
Published: January 2018

Recent research indicates that people from multiracial backgrounds may have more malleable racial identification than those with monoracial backgrounds. For multiracial individuals, context may play an important role in racial self-identification. An Asian/White biracial person, for example, might identify more as Asian when around other Asian people or when speaking an Asian language. Also, over one’s lifetime, multiracial people are more likely to change their racial identification than keep it constant. But how do these fluctuations in racial self-definition affect psychological well-being? This chapter discusses how individual difference variables, namely dialectical self-views, moderate the effect of racial identity fluctuation on psychological well-being. In particular, it discusses how malleable racial identification predicts lower psychological well-being only for those with less dialectical-self views (i.e., little tolerance for change and inconsistency).
Cultural demand and supply in an imperial trading centre
Authors: Palmer Fiona M.
Published: January 2018

The Liverpool Philharmonic Society lies fifth in line among the oldest concert-giving organisations in Europe. This chapter, tapping the Society’s archive, examines the fundamental internal and external hierarchies which governed and shaped the early development of the Society’s orchestra. To what extent were core values dictated by external supply and demand and to what extent by the personal interests of the leading figures in the Society? What conclusions can be reached about the elements of Liverpool’s activities that were independently governed by local demands? Probing the social expectations and financial structures that underpinned the Society’s regulations, committees, income, expenditure, venues, audience, performers, repertoire and programming is revealing. It allows us to contextualize the issues facing those who promoted ‘the Science and Practice of Music’ in this prosperous commercial port. The operational models established in these early years laid the foundation for a Society whose orchestra continues to the present day.
Pioneering the orchestra-owned label
Authors: Aguilar Ananay
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses the London Symphony Orchestra’s creation and development of the pioneering orchestra-owned label LSO Live as a response to a classical music industry in crisis. The investigation of the label’s business model is framed within a production of culture perspective that considers six categories: industry structure, organizational structure, occupational careers, law and regulation, technology, and market. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and industry data, this chapter demonstrates how the London Symphony Orchestra increased its artistic and managerial independence and, in doing so, effectively multiplied its local and international reputation. As an example of forward-looking managerial culture and leadership, the LSO Live initiative continues to be imitated around the globe.
Orchestral connections in the cultures of decolonizationreflections on British, Caribbean and Indian contexts
Authors: Ramnarine Tina K.
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines orchestras in relation to the cultures of decolonization in Britain, the Caribbean and India. It adopts comparative, ethnographic and reflexive views of orchestras (symphony, steel and Indian film) to explore bordering practices and the politics of memory. The discussion focuses on the traumatic as well as transformative aspects of memory, the articulation of different subject positions, and the orchestra as a musical institution which is implicated in the cultural transitions of decolonizing politics. Theoretical tools for thinking about orchestras, empire, heritage and reclamation are drawn from postcolonial critiques and the new histories of empire. The argument emphasizes the potential of comparison as a mode of theorization and as a route to revisionist histories, as well as the political aspects of orchestral practices.
Some Moments in History
Authors: Gallo Ester
Published: January 2018

Chapter one sets the historical context in which both nationalist and middle-class reformist movements developed in colonial Kerala and India across caste, class, gender, and religious diversity. It focuses on the reformist movements known as the Yoga Kshema Sabha (henceforth YKS) and Nambudiri Yuva Jana Sangham (YJS) which developed at the beginning of the twentieth century to voice the class ambitions of young Nambudiri Brahmins. The YKS and YJS ethos will be discussed in relation to the colonial de-legitimation of indigenous kinship and to the broader history of gender reform that has marked the middle classes in Kerala. An analysis of YKS documents will highlight how the debate on kinship expressed the aim of drawing a ‘divine elite’ into the arena of inter-community competition and the place of reformed domesticity in this process.
Spectating
Authors: Holt Robin
Published: January 2018

This chapter weaves Kant’s concept of reflective judgment into Adam Smith’s conception of an inner person he called ‘the impartial spectator’. Smith argues that all trade (of the amiable and hence civilizing form) is grounded in our capacity for sympathy. Whilst this is in part self love and so vanity, Smith argues we can learn to become praiseworthy (rather than just praised) by inculcating within us an imagined spectator whose role is to critically assess our feeling, thought, and action. In discussing the play Celebration by Harold Pinter, whose central characters are two strategists, Holt considers the viability of Smith’s ideas in relation to the strategic capacity for self presentation and hence judgment.
The Public
Authors: Holt Robin
Published: January 2018

The chapter continues to discuss the association of judgment and sovereignty using Franz Kafka’s story Das Urteil (The Judgment). It does so in order to then introduce the public nature of spectating and how this has been played out in the thinking of Jurgen Habermas concerning speech situations, and in Hannah Arendt’s writings on the polis. Rather than pitch the public in contrast to the private, the chapter suggests spectating plays on the binary in ways that enrich both. This coming together of the private and public is then woven into the understanding of strategic inquiry as an organizational forming of self-presentation.
Classical Boundary-Layer Theory
Authors: Ruban Anatoly I.
Published: January 2018

Chapter 1 discusses the flows that can be described in the framework of Prandtl’s 1904 classical boundary-layer theory, including the Blasius boundary layer on a flat plate and the Falkner–Skan solutions for the boundary layer on a wedge surface. It presents Schlichting’s solution for the laminar jet and Tollmien’s solution for the viscous wake. These are followed by analysis of Chapman’s shear layer performed with the help of Prandtl’s transposition theorem. It also considers the boundary layer on the surface of a fast rotating cylinder with the purpose of linking the circulation around the cylinder with the speed of its rotation. It concludes discussion of the classical boundary-layer theory with analysis of compressible boundary layers, including the interactive boundary layers in hypersonic flows.
Trailing-Edge Flow
Authors: Ruban Anatoly I.
Published: January 2018

Chapter 3 focuses on the high-Reynolds number flow of an incompressible fluid near the trailing edge of a flat plate. It begins with Goldstein’s (1930) solution for a viscous wake behind the plate, and shows that the displacement effect of the wake produces a singular pressure gradient near the trailing edge. It further shows that this singularity leads to a formation triple-deck viscous-inviscid interaction region that occupies a small vicinity of the trailing edge. A detailed analysis of the flow in each tier of the triple-deck structure is conducted based on the asymptotic analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations. As a result, the so-called ‘interaction problem’ is formulated. It concludes with the numerical solution of so-called ‘interaction problem’.
Incipient Separation Near Corners
Authors: Ruban Anatoly I.
Published: January 2018

Chapter 4 analyses the transition from an attached flow to a flow with local recirculation region near a corner point of a body contour. It considers both subsonic and supersonic flow regimes, and shows that the flow near a corner can be studied in the framework of the triple-deck theory. It assumes that the body surface deflection angle is small, and formulates the linearized viscous-inviscid interaction problem. Its solution is found in an analytic form. It also presents the results of the numerical solution of the full nonlinear problem. It shows how, and when, the separation region forms in the boundary layer. In conclusion, it suggests that in the subsonic flow past a concave corner, the solution is not unique.
Real realism
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2018

How much of an anti-realist is Husserl? Or to put it differently, how many of our realist intuitions can his transcendental idealism accommodate? In Chapter 6, I contrast Husserl’s position with two allegedly realist views, namely speculative realism and neuro-representationalism, and argue that Husserl’s theory might be in a better position to defend our natural realism than either of these two alternatives. I next discuss to what extent Husserl’s endorsement of transcendental idealism is motivated by his attempt to safeguard the objectivity of the world of experience and ward off a form of global scepticism. As will become clear, not unlike Kant, Husserl did not merely think that transcendental idealism and empirical realism are compatible, he also thought that the latter requires the former.
Conclusion
Authors: Zahavi Dan
Published: January 2018

In the previous chapters, I have chartered Husserl’s route from descriptive phenomenology to transcendental idealism. I have discussed how the latter is phenomenologically motivated, what kind of transcendental philosophy it amounts to, and what its metaphysical implications are. Let me by way of conclusion return to the last question. In ...
Integrating Mind and Brain Science
Authors: Kaplan David M.
Published: January 2018

There is growing appreciation that understanding the complex relationship between neuroscience and psychological science is of fundamental importance to achieving progress across these scientific domains. One primary strategy for addressing this issue centers around understanding the nature of explanation in these different domains. This chapter provides a field guide to some of the core topics that have shaped and continue to influence the debate about explanation and integration across the mind and brain sciences. In addition to surveying the overall intellectual terrain, it also introduces the main proposals defended in the individual chapters included in the volume and highlights important similarities and differences between them.
Marr’s Computational Level and Delineating Phenomena
Authors: Shagrir Oron , Bechtel William
Published: January 2018

A key component of scientific inquiry, especially inquiry devoted to developing mechanistic explanations, is delineating the phenomenon to be explained. The task of delineating phenomena, however, has not been sufficiently analyzed. We contend that Marr’s characterization of the computational level (CL) provides a valuable resource for understanding what is involved in delineating phenomena. Unfortunately, the distinctive feature of Marr’s computational level, his dual emphasis on what is computed and why it is computed, has not been appreciated in philosophical discussions of Marr. Accordingly we offer a distinctive account of CL. This then allows us to develop two important points about delineating phenomena. First, the accounts of phenomena that figure in explanatory practice are typically not qualitative but precise, formal, or mathematical representations. Second, delineating phenomena requires consideration of the demands the environment places on the mechanism—identifying, as Marr put it, the basis of the computed function in the world.
Role of oxygen free radicals in carcinogenesis and brain ischemia
Authors: Floyd Robert A.
Published: January 2018

Even though oxygen is necessary for aerobic life, it can also participate in potentially toxic reactions involving oxygen free radicals and transition metals such as Fe that damage membranes, proteins, and nucleic acids. Oxygen free radical reactions and oxidative damage are in most cases held in check by antioxidant defense mechanisms, but where an excessive amount of oxygen free radicals are produced or defense mechanisms are impaired, oxidative damage may occur and this appears to be important in contributing to several pathological conditions including aging, carcinogenesis, and stroke. Several newer methods, such as in vivo spin‐trapping, have become available to monitor oxygen free radical flux and quantitate oxidative damage. Using a combination of these newer methods collectively focused on one model, recent results show that oxidative damage plays a key role in brain injury that occurs in stroke. Subtle changes, such as oxidative damage‐induced loss of glutamine synthetase activity, may be a key event in stroke‐induced brain injury. Oxygen free radicals may play a key role in carcinogenesis by mediating formation of base adducts, such as 8‐hydroxyguanine, which can now be quantitated to very low levels. Evidence is presented that a new class of free radical blocking agents, nitrone spin‐traps, may help not only to clarify if free radical events are involved, but may help prevent the development of injury in certain pathological conditions.—Floyd, R. A. Role of oxygen free radicals in carcinogenesis and brain ischemia. FASEB J. 4: 2587‐2597, 1990.
NK cell‐induced cytotoxicity is dependent on a Ca2+ increase in the target
Authors: McConkey David J. , Chow Sek C. , Orrenius Sten , Jondal Mikael
Published: January 2018

In previous work we showed that programed cell death (PCD) in thymocytes is mediated by a sustained increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, resulting in the activation of an endogenous endonuclease, DNA fragmentation, and cell death. In this study we investigated the roles of Ca2+ and DNA fragmentation in target cell killing by natural killer (NK) cells. The effector cells induced a rapid, sustained increase in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in Jurkat target cells. Buffering the target cell cytosolic Ca2+ with the Ca2+‐selective dye, quin‐2, prevented target cell killing. Extensive DNA fragmentation was associated with killing in every target tested, and this response was also blocked by quin‐2. The endonuclease inhibitor, aurintricarboxylic acid, inhibited both DNA fragmentation and killing without influencing the Ca2+ increase in target cells. Thus, it is concluded that NK cell killing depends on a Ca2+ increase and appears to involve endogenous endonuclease activation in target cells.— McConkev. D. J.; Chow, S. C.; Orrenius, S.; Jondal, M. NK cell‐induced cytotoxicity is dependent on a Ca2+ increase in the target. FASEB J. 4: 2661‐2664; 1990.
Use of Oxidized Regenerated Cellulose/Collagen Matrix in Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Systematic Review
Authors: Chicone Gisele , de Carvalho Viviane Fernandes , Paggiaro André Oliveira
Published: January 2018

OBJECTIVE:

Diabetic wounds that do not heal completely usually exhibit inflammatory markers, increased protease activity, and reduced levels of growth factors and cell count. A systematic review was performed to determine whether there is enough evidence to support the use of an oxidized regenerated cellulose/collagen matrix (ORC+C) to treat diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).

METHODS:

Study authors analyzed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on ORC+C dressings for the treatment of DFUs. A literature search was conducted for all available reports of relevant studies published in journals indexed in PubMed, LILACS, and SciELO databases. There were no restrictions based on date of publication. A population-intervention-comparison-outcome framework was built on MeSH terms and keywords. Two independent researchers analyzed all articles for data collection and used the Cochrane Collaboration tool for risk-of-bias assessment.

RESULTS:

At first, 316 related studies were located in the databases. After evaluating these studies for methodological similarities, only 3 were considered eligible for the review. One RCT was considered at high risk of bias. Results from this meta-analysis of 2 studies showed no significant improvement in wound healing rates of DFUs when ORC+C was compared with standard wound care.

CONCLUSIONS:

Because of several methodology flaws in the reviewed studies, these results suggest that there is currently no research evidence to suggest that the use of ORC+C improves wound healing rates of DFUs. Additional research with high-quality RCTs focused on diabetic ulcers is necessary.
Testing Elevated Protease Activity: Prospective Analysis of 160 Wounds
Authors: Lockmann Anike , Schill Tillmann , Hartmann Franziska , Grönemeyer Lisa-Lena , Holzkamp Ricarda , Schön Michael P. , Thoms Kai-Martin
Published: January 2018

OBJECTIVE:

Given that local elevated protease activity (EPA) has been implicated in impaired wound healing, a prospective single-center study was conducted to assess protease activity in various wound types.

METHODS:

Protease activity was determined using an easy-to-use test system (Woundchek Protease Status Test Kit; Systagenix, Gatwick, United Kingdom) in 160 wounds in 143 patients. The assay detects the combined activity of inflammatory proteases, mainly matrix metalloproteinases 8 and 9 and human neutrophil elastase.

RESULTS:

Local EPA was detected in 29 of 153 validly tested wounds (18.95%). No difference was detected between acute and chronic wounds, regardless of associated or causative conditions, with the sole exception of surgical wounds. Surgical wounds showed EPA significantly less frequently than nonsurgical wounds. Among nonsurgical wounds, EPA was detected more frequently in acute compared with chronic wounds. Wounds with signs of unimpeded healing (granulation or epithelialization) showed EPA less often than wounds covered with necrotic tissue or a fibrin layer. However, 14% of wounds with epithelialization or granulation exhibited EPA potentially impeding wound healing. Wounds treated with moisture-retentive wound dressings showed EPA significantly less frequently compared with wounds bandaged with dressings with less moisture-retentive properties. Remarkably, none of the wounds treated with collagen/oxidized regenerated cellulose/silver, which is a protease-modulating dressing, showed EPA.

CONCLUSIONS:

To the study authors’ knowledge, this is the largest study assessing EPA in various wound types. The convenient applicability of the test system provides a basis for future studies assessing the pathophysiologic relevance of EPA. In some unsuspicious wounds, early detection of EPA might precede impaired healing and prompt protease-modulating treatment before failure to heal becomes apparent.
Avstick: An Intravenous Catheter Insertion Simulator for Use with Standardized Patients
Authors: Devenny Andrew , Lord Danielle , Matthews Joshua , Tuhacek Julia , Vitlip Jennifer , Zhang Mingxu , Bucha Amy C. , Wang Liyun , Buckley Jenni M. , Cowperthwait Amy
Published: January 2018

An overwhelming majority of hospitalized patients undergo intravenous (IV) catheter insertion in order to receive hydration and necessary medication. Current IV insertion training techniques include manikins that are unable to react or give feedback to the trainee. The Avstick® is a realistic training device that can be worn by an actor, allowing a nurse trainee to perform an IV catheter insertion on a live patient without causing the person harm. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Avstick in nursing education to increase nurse-patient communication and trainee self-efficacy.
Mechanisms of Blood Flow Restriction: The New Testament
Authors: Jessee Matthew B. , Mattocks Kevin T. , Buckner Samuel L. , Dankel Scott J. , Mouser J. Grant , Abe Takashi , Loenneke Jeremy P.
Published: January 2018

When restricting blood flow for the purpose of increasing or maintaining muscle fitness, the aim is to reduce the amount of arterial flow into the limb and restrict the venous flow out of the limb. Doing so has been shown to elicit positive adaptations with regards to skeletal muscle size, and strength, while some evidence also eludes to beneficial effects on vascular and bone tissue. Regarding skeletal muscle, the main benefits of blood flow restriction are the ability to stimulate increases in size and strength while avoiding the greater mechanical stress associated with traditional high-load resistance training, and the greater volumes required when exercising with low loads to failure. While the most robust benefits are observed following blood flow restriction during low-load resistance training, evidence suggests positive adaptations occur while restricting blood flow during low-intensity aerobic exercise, and perhaps even during periods of disuse in the absence of exercise. Although the exact mechanisms are unclear, most of the evidence seems to allude to cell swelling and metabolite-induced fatigue during exercise stimulating synthetic pathways that can lead to muscle growth. While the blood flow restriction stimulus has been shown to be relatively safe for participants, the practitioner should be cognizant of the relative pressure being applied to the underlying tissue. This is important as cuff type, cuff width, and limb circumference can all influence the restrictive stimulus. Therefore, to ensure a similar, safe stimulus all variables should be accounted for.
Virtual Surgical Planning: The Pearls and Pitfalls
Authors: Efanov Johnny I. , Roy Andrée-Anne , Huang Ke N. , Borsuk Daniel E.
Published: January 2018

Objective:

Over the past few years, virtual surgical planning (VSP) has evolved into a useful tool for the craniofacial surgeon. Virtual planning and computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) may assist in orthognathic, cranio-orbital, traumatic, and microsurgery of the craniofacial skeleton. Despite its increasing popularity, little emphasis has been placed on the learning curve.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis of consecutive virtual surgeries was done from July 2012 to October 2016 at the University of Montreal Teaching Hospitals. Orthognathic surgeries and free vascularized bone flap surgeries were included in the analysis.

Results:

Fifty-four virtual surgeries were done in the time period analyzed. Forty-six orthognathic surgeries and 8 free bone transfers were done. An analysis of errors was done. Eighty-five percentage of the orthognathic virtual plans were adhered to completely, 4% of the plans were abandoned, and 11% were partially adhered to. Seventy-five percentage of the virtual surgeries for free tissue transfers were adhered to, whereas 25% were partially adhered to. The reasons for abandoning the plans were (1) poor communication between surgeon and engineer, (2) poor appreciation for condyle placement on preoperative scans, (3) soft-tissue impedance to bony movement, (4) rapid tumor progression, (5) poor preoperative assessment of anatomy.

Conclusion:

Virtual surgical planning is a useful tool for craniofacial surgery but has inherent issues that the surgeon must be aware of. With time and experience, these surgical plans can be used as powerful adjuvants to good clinical judgement.
Ebola Infection in Pregnancy: A Global Perspective and Lessons Learned
Authors: HADDAD LISA B. , HORTON JOHN , RIBNER BRUCE S. , JAMIESON DENISE J.
Published: January 2018

The 2014 to 2016 Ebola outbreak, primarily based in 3 West African countries, had far-reaching global effects. Importantly, the crisis highlighted large gaps in reproductive health services in affected countries and inadequate health care system preparedness for obstetrical patients in the setting of highly contagious infectious diseases. We aim to review Ebola virus effects with a focus on the obstetrical implications in the context of this recent Ebola outbreak, discuss the lessons learned following this outbreak and propose current measures specific to obstetrics that should be considered in preparation for the next concerning emergent infectious disease.