bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Above- and below-ground resource acquisition strategies determine plant species responses to nitrogen enrichment
Authors: Zhang Dianye , Peng Yunfeng , Li Fei , Yang Guibiao , Wang Jun , Yu Jianchun , Zhou Guoying , Yang Yuanhe
Published: February 2021

Background and Aims

Knowledge of plant resource acquisition strategies is crucial for understanding the mechanisms mediating the responses of ecosystems to external nitrogen (N) input. However, few studies have considered the joint effects of above-ground (light) and below-ground (nutrient) resource acquisition strategies in regulating plant species responses to N enrichment. Here, we quantified the effects of light and non-N nutrient acquisition capacities on species relative abundance in the case of extra N input.

Methods

Based on an N-manipulation experiment in a Tibetan alpine steppe, we determined the responses of species relative abundances and light and nutrient acquisition capacities to N enrichment for two species with different resource acquisition strategies (the taller Stipa purpurea, which is colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and the shorter Carex stenophylloides, which has cluster roots). Structural equation models were developed to explore the relative effects of light and nutrient acquisition on species relative abundance along the N addition gradient.

Key Results

We found that the relative abundance of taller S. purpurea increased with the improved light acquisition along the N addition gradient. In contrast, the shorter C. stenophylloides, with cluster roots, excelled in acquiring phosphorus (P) so as to elevate its leaf P concentration under N enrichment by producing large amounts of carboxylate exudates that mobilized moderately labile and recalcitrant soil P forms. The increased leaf P concentration of C. stenophylloides enhanced its light use efficiency and promoted its relative abundance even in the shade of taller competitors.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight that the combined effects of above-ground (light) and below-ground (nutrient) resources rather than light alone (the prevailing perspective) determine the responses of grassland community structure to N enrichment.
A systematic review of computational methods for predicting long noncoding RNAs
Authors: Xu Xinran , Liu Shuai , Yang Zhihao , Zhao Xiaohan , Deng Yaozhen , Zhang Guangzhan , Pang Jian , Zhao Chengshuai , Zhang Wen
Published: February 2021

Accurately and rapidly distinguishing long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) from transcripts is prerequisite for exploring their biological functions. In recent years, many computational methods have been developed to predict lncRNAs from transcripts, but there is no systematic review on these computational methods. In this review, we introduce databases and features involved in the development of computational prediction models, and subsequently summarize existing state-of-the-art computational methods, including methods based on binary classifiers, deep learning and ensemble learning. However, a user-friendly way of employing existing state-of-the-art computational methods is in demand. Therefore, we develop a Python package ezLncPred, which provides a pragmatic command line implementation to utilize nine state-of-the-art lncRNA prediction methods. Finally, we discuss challenges of lncRNA prediction and future directions.
d-PBWT: dynamic positional Burrows–Wheeler transform
Authors: Sanaullah Ahsan , Zhi Degui , Zhang Shaojie
Published: February 2021

Motivation

Durbin’s positional Burrows–Wheeler transform (PBWT) is a scalable data structure for haplotype matching. It has been successfully applied to identical by descent (IBD) segment identification and genotype imputation. Once the PBWT of a haplotype panel is constructed, it supports efficient retrieval of all shared long segments among all individuals (long matches) and efficient query between an external haplotype and the panel. However, the standard PBWT is an array-based static data structure and does not support dynamic updates of the panel.

Results

Here, we generalize the static PBWT to a dynamic data structure, d-PBWT, where the reverse prefix sorting at each position is stored with linked lists. We also developed efficient algorithms for insertion and deletion of individual haplotypes. In addition, we verified that d-PBWT can support all algorithms of PBWT. In doing so, we systematically investigated variations of set maximal match and long match query algorithms: while they all have average case time complexity independent of database size, they have different worst case complexities and dependencies on additional data structures.

Availabilityand implementation

The benchmarking code is available at genome.ucf.edu/d-PBWT.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Risk and uncertainty can be analyzed in cyberspace
Authors: Brantly Aaron F
Published: February 2021

Perceptions of risk and uncertainty are pervasive in all international interactions. How states perceive risk and uncertainty and how they respond to these conditions impacts their policies and diplomatic behaviors. Despite a robust literature encompassing of risk and uncertainty within conventional state to state interactions including conflict, state interactions in cyberspace have received less attention. How states perceive and interpret risk and uncertainty in cyberspace varies widely by state. Very often, these perceptions are mutually incompatible and lead to a sub-optimal status quo that fosters increased risk and uncertainty. While the prospects of uncontrolled escalation or worries about a “Cyber Pearl Harbor” might be hyperbole, the reality remains that for decision-makers within states assessing the conditions of and the actions undertaken in cyberspace at present foster instability and encourages risk-seeking behaviors. This work analyzes the formulation of state perceptions of risk and uncertainty and seeks to establish a heuristic within which risk and uncertainty can be analyzed.
The metronome marks for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in context
Authors: Noorduin Marten
Published: February 2021

In recent years, Beethoven’s metronome marks for his Ninth Symphony have experienced a renewed relevance, with several ensembles incorporating the indicated speeds in their performances. Nevertheless, previous research has shown that some of the marks have been incorrectly transmitted, and there is the suspicion that further mistakes are still undiscovered. Focusing particularly on the second and fourth movements, this article discusses the historical sources and scholarly contexts for these markings, within a historical framework that draws on Beethoven’s general tempo principles, as well as observations from contemporaries. The article suggests that the trio of the second movement has three speeds that can be justified historically, although the most popular option, minim = 160, arguably has the least supporting evidence. The discussion also draws attention to another metronome mark for the final section of the symphony that has been often overlooked. Finally, it argues that one of the most often cited examples of an erroneously transmitted metronome mark, the dotted minim = 96 for the Schreckensfanfare found in the later sources, is consistent with Beethoven’s wider practice, and should provide an incentive for performers to experiment with historically informed tempi in this familiar repertory.
Bicarbonate uptake rates and diversity of RuBisCO genes in saline lake sediments
Authors: Wang Beichen , Huang Jianrong , Yang Jian , Jiang Hongchen , Xiao Haiyi , Han Jibin , Zhang Xiying
Published: February 2021

There is limited knowledge of microbial carbon fixation rate, and carbon-fixing microbial abundance and diversity in saline lakes. In this study, the inorganic carbon uptake rates and carbon-fixing microbial populations were investigated in the surface sediments of lakes with a full range of salinity from freshwater to salt saturation. The results showed that in the studied lakes light-dependent bicarbonate uptake contributed substantially (>70%) to total bicarbonate uptake, while the contribution of dark bicarbonate uptake (1.35–25.17%) cannot be ignored. The light-dependent bicarbonate uptake rates were significantly correlated with pH and turbidity, while dark bicarbonate uptake rates were significantly influenced by dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, temperature and salinity. Carbon-fixing microbial populations using the Calvin-Benson-Bassham pathway were widespread in the studied lakes, and they were dominated by the cbbL and cbbM gene types affiliated with Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria, respectively. The cbbL and cbbM gene abundance and population structures were significantly affected by different environmental variables, with the cbbL and cbbM genes being negatively correlated with salinity and organic carbon concentration, respectively. In summary, this study improves our knowledge of the abundance, diversity and function of carbon-fixing microbial populations in the lakes with a full range of salinity.
Characterization of carotenoids and genes encoding their biosynthetic pathways inAzospirillum brasilense
Authors: Mishra Shivangi , Singh Chanotiya Chandan , Shanker Karuna , Kumar Tripathi Anil
Published: February 2021

Azospirillum brasilense is a non-photosynthetic member of the family Rhodospirillaceae. Some strains of this bacterium are reported to produce bacterioruberin type of carotenoids, which are generally produced by halophilic or psychrophilic bacteria. Since no other member of Rhodospirillaceae produces bacterioruberin type of carotenoids, we investigated the presence of genes involved in bacterioruberin and spirilloxanthin biosynthetic pathways in A. brasilense Cd. Although genes encoding the spirilloxanthin pathway were absent, homologs of several genes (crtC and crtF) involved in the biosynthesis of bacterioruberins were present in the genome of A. brasilense Cd. However, the homolog of CruF responsible for the final step in bacterioruberin biosynthesis could not be found. We also characterized the carotenoids of A. brasilense Cd using thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, absorption spectra and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). Resolution of the methanol extract of carotenoids in ultra-performance liquid chromatography showed nine peaks, out of which six peaks showed absorption spectra characteristic of carotenoids. HRMS of each peak produced 1–14 fragments with different m/z values. Two of these fragments were identified as 19′-hydroxyfucoxanthinol and 8′-apoalloxanthinal, which are the carotenoids found in aquatic microalgae.
Relationship Between Geographical Indications and Trade Marks under Turkish Law
Authors: Tekin Ufuk
Published: February 2021

While geographical indications show geographical origin, trade marks show commercial origin. Therefore, it is possible to say that both geographical indications and trade marks have distinctive character. Indeed, when an application is filed to register a geographical indication as a trade mark, an important question is whether the sign is distinctive enough. In such cases, the distinctive character of these commercial and geographical ‘signs’ can overlap and intersect with each other. In this article, the intersection and relationship between geographical indications and trade marks will be evaluated by considering two different scenarios. In the first one, the trade mark application precedes the registration of the geographical indication, while in the second the application for the geographical indication is filed before the conflicting trade mark. The analysis is carried out by taking into account various provisions of the Turkish Industrial Property Code (IPC), the judicial practice of the Turkish Court of Cassation and international regulations. In this context, the relationship between several absolute grounds for refusal in such a situation and which of these provisions is the most applicable will be examined. In particular, an attempt will be made to explain the role of the absolute ground for refusal regulated in the new Turkish Industrial Property Code for the first time, namely that signs containing or consisting of a geographical indication cannot be registered as a trade mark (Art. 5.1(i)).
Investigating the effects of environmental patents and climate change mitigation technologies on sustainable economic growth in the Middle East
Authors: Abedi Sadegh , Moeenian Mehrnaz
Published: February 2021

Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth.
An HDG method for the Steklov eigenvalue problem
Authors: Monk Peter , Zhang Yangwen
Published: February 2021

We propose a hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method for approximating the Steklov eigenvalue problem. We prove optimal convergence rates for the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions, and under some regularity assumptions we obtain a superconvergent rate for the eigenvalues. Moreover, after we eliminate the flux variable and the scalar variable, the reduced eigenvalue problem is linear and our result holds on any sufficiently regular mesh made of general polyhedral elements. Finally, we present numerical experiments to confirm our theoretical results.
The Effects of “Dry Swab” Incubation on SARS-CoV-2 Molecular Testing
Authors: Parikh Bijal A , Wallace Meghan A , McCune Broc T , Burnham Carey-Ann D , Anderson Neil W
Published: February 2021

Background

Widespread testing of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in shortages of collection devices and transport media. We evaluated the stability of flocked swabs inoculated with SARS-CoV-2-containing specimen incubated dry (i.e., without transport medium) at room temperature.

Methods

A pool of SARS-CoV-2 positive specimen was used to inoculate flocked swabs. Five swabs were placed immediately into universal transport media (UTM) following inoculation, and tested immediately (day 0). Fifteen of the swabs were placed into sterile 15-mL conical tubes and incubated at room temperature for 1, 2, or 7 days. Following incubation, swabs were hydrated in separate vials of UTM and tested. This protocol was repeated for viral transport media (VTM) and saline. As a comparison, a series of swabs was prepared and tested in parallel, but stored in the corresponding liquid transport media (UTM, VTM, or saline) and incubated at room temperature. Testing was performed at 1, 2, and 7 days postinoculation in duplicate. All molecular testing was performed using the Roche cobas SARS-CoV-2 assay.

Results

All dry swabs tested on days 1, 2, and 7 provided results that were within 2 cycle thresholds (CTs) of the average CT values for swabs hydrated in the same media and tested on day 0. There was no statistical difference in CT values between swabs incubated in liquid media versus dry swabs incubated at room temperature prior to hydration in liquid media.

Conclusions

The utilization of “dry swabs” may simplify specimen collection, negate the need for liquid transport media, and mitigate safety risks while preserving the accuracy of testing.
Diagnosis of a chronic spinal cord injury via televisit in a patient from an underserved community
Authors: Breton Jeffrey M , George Keith M , Riesenburger Ron I
Published: February 2021

A 42-year-old woman from a medically underserved community in rural New England was referred by her primary care provider (PCP) for televisit during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic following 2 years of chronic neck pain and numbness in her left hand that was initially concerning for demyelinating disease. Upon further evaluation, it was revealed that she had experienced a traumatic fall with a concussion and symptoms consistent with central cord syndrome but had refused magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at her initial medical evaluation. On MRI conducted 1 month prior to neurosurgical evaluation she was found to have a disc bulge and 4-mm T2-hyperintense lesion at the C4–C5 level that was consistent with a chronic spinal cord injury secondary to spinal trauma with associated vertebrogenic injury. This televisit confirmed the diagnosis of chronic spinal cord injury for this patient and allowed for discussion of future interventions, avoided further unnecessary referrals, and increased access to care.
A comparative study of the strength of flickering in cataclysmic variables
Authors: Bruch Albert
Published: February 2021

Flickering is a universal phenomenon in accreting astronomical systems that still defies detailed physical understanding. It is particularly evident in cataclysmic variables (CVs). Attempting to define boundary conditions for models, the strength of the flickering is measured in several thousand light curves of more than 100 CVs. The flickering amplitude is parametrized by the full width at half-maximum of a Gaussian fit to the magnitude distribution of data points in a light curve. This quantity requires several corrections before a comparison between different sources can be made. While no correlations of the flickering strength with simple parameters such as component masses, orbital inclination, or period were detected, a dependence on the absolute magnitude of the primary component and on the CV subtype is found. In particular, flickering in VY Scl type novalike variables is systematically stronger than in UX UMa type novalikes. The broad-band spectrum of the flickering light source can be fit by simple models but shows excess in the U band. When the data permitted to investigate the flickering strength as a function of orbital phase in eclipsing CVs, such a dependence was found, but it is different for different systems. Surprisingly, there are also indications for variations of the flickering strength with the superhump phase in novalike variables with permanent superhumps. In dwarf novae, the flickering amplitude is high during quiescence, drops quickly at an intermediate magnitude when the system enters into (or returns from) an outburst and, on average, remains constant above a given brightness threshold.
Height in adolescence as a risk factor for glioma subtypes: a nationwide retrospective cohort study of 2.2 million subjects
Authors: Tschernichovsky Roi , Katz Lior H , Derazne Estela , Berliner Matan Ben-Zion , Simchoni Maya , Levine Hagai , Keinan-Boker Lital , Benouaich-Amiel Alexandra , Kanner Andrew A , Laviv Yosef , Honig Asaf , Dudnik Elizabeth , Siegal Tali , Mandel Jacob , Twig Gilad , Yust-Katz Shlomit
Published: February 2021

Background

Gliomas manifest in a variety of histological phenotypes with varying aggressiveness. The etiology of glioma remains largely unknown. Taller stature in adulthood has been linked with glioma risk. The aim of this study was to discern whether this association can be detected in adolescence.

Methods

The cohort included 2 223 168 adolescents between the ages of 16 and 19 years. Anthropometric measurements were collected at baseline. Incident cases of glioma were extracted from the Israel National Cancer Registry over a follow-up period spanning 47 635 745 person-years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for glioma and glioma subtypes according to height, body mass index (BMI), and sex.

Results

A total of 1195 patients were diagnosed with glioma during the study period. Mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 38.1 (11.7) years. Taller adolescent height (per 10-cm increase) was positively associated with the risk for glioma of any type (HR: 1.15; P = .002). The association was retained in subgroup analyses for low-grade glioma (HR: 1.17; P = .031), high-grade glioma (HR: 1.15; P = .025), oligodendroglioma (HR: 1.31; P = .015), astrocytoma (HR: 1.12; P = .049), and a category of presumed IDH-mutated glioma (HR: 1.17; P = .013). There was a trend toward a positive association between height and glioblastoma, however this had borderline statistical significance (HR: 1.15; P = .07). After stratification of the cohort by sex, height remained a risk factor for men but not for women.

Conclusions

The previously established association between taller stature in adulthood and glioma risk can be traced back to adolescence. The magnitude of association differs by glioma subtype.
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Authors: Breen Patrick
Published: February 2021

In Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner and six other men launched the deadliest slave revolt in the history of the United States. The revolt began in the middle of the night, August 21–22, 1831, and by the middle of the day on August 22 the rebels had killed nearly five dozen whites, including many women and children. Whites responded in many ways. Many panicked, and some rallied to oppose the rebels. Some of these irregular white forces stumbled upon Turner and his men at James Parker’s farm, not far from Jerusalem, Southampton’s county seat. The encounter ended quickly and indecisively, but the whites had stopped the rebel advance. Following this first battle, Turner tried to rally his men, something that became increasingly hard to do as more and more whites from nearby counties in Virginia and North Carolina came to Southampton. By the morning of August 23, the rebels were defeated at a series of engagements and the organized phase of the revolt ended. Whites quickly and brutally reasserted their control over Southampton, torturing many of the accused and killing roughly three dozen black suspects without trials. Worried about the possibility of a more extensive bloodbath, white leaders in Southampton, who knew that owners were compensated for the value of their slaves who had been condemned by the state, soon clamped down on the extralegal massacre of suspected rebels. On August 31, 1831, trials of suspect rebels began. By the time that the trials were finished the following spring, thirty slaves and one free black had been condemned to death. Of these people, nineteen were executed in Southampton, and twelve had their sentences commuted to transportation from the state of Virginia. Turner himself, one of the condemned, was hanged on November 11, 1831, although not before Thomas R. Gray, a lawyer who was defense council for other slave rebels, interviewed the jailed rebel leader. Gray published this transcript as The Confessions of Nat Turner, which presented Turner’s religious motivations. Immediately after the revolt, several southern state legislatures took up laws regulating slavery; the Virginia legislature also considered and rejected a gradual emancipation scheme. Since the revolt, Nat Turner and his legacy have been contested by many, including scholars, novelists, artists, and filmmakers.
Roman Roads and Transport
Authors: Bekker-Nielsen Tønnes
Published: February 2021

The total length of the Roman Empire’s highway network is not known, but can be estimated at well above 100,000 kilometers. Some roads were surveyed and built from scratch, others created by upgrading pre-existing routes. The bibliography on the subject is correspondingly vast, running into thousands of titles. Most published studies are focused on the remains of the roads as preserved in the landscape, taking a morphological approach and identifying or dating roads on the basis of their alignment and construction. Some more recent studies, however, take a contextual approach (“dots on the map”), identifying and dating ancient roads from their relation to known and datable features such as settlement sites, necropoleis, or forts. Within ancient history generally, focus has shifted from the construction and administration of roads or their use for military campaigns to a wider consideration of their place in the economic life of the Roman world. Unlike sea transport, which exploited the winds, ancient land transport was at all times dependent on muscle power, human or animal, and hence more costly than sea transport. On the other hand, transit times by land were more predictable and communications could be maintained throughout the year, whereas ships mostly remained in port during the winter months. The highway network was also fundamental to the maintenance of official communication through the so-called cursus publicus or vehiculatio, with stations along the major overland routes. In some areas, road transport was complemented by shipping on navigable rivers or—rarely—canals.
Buddhism and Motherhood
Authors: Sasson Vanessa R.
Published: February 2021

Motherhood is a relational concept by its very nature. Biologically, it is tied to the children a woman produces. It is tied to concepts like fertility, pregnancy, abortion, and loss. But motherhood is more than a biological fact. The way motherhood is imagined and interpreted affects women’s direct experiences socially, politically, and medically. When motherhood is limited to a biological fact, it can limit women’s lives. But as this entry will hopefully make clear, motherhood is more than that. It is also a paradigm, a metaphor, even a religious practice. Among the themes highlighted here, we will consider specific mothers first—the Buddha’s two mothers (Māyā and Mahāpajāpatī [Skt. Mahāprajāpatī]), along with other famous mothers in Buddhist narrative (such as the mother of the Buddha’s son). We will consider one of the most important doctrines related to motherhood—namely, that one must love all beings the way a mother loves her only son—and the paradox such a teaching embodies. Pollution is an important challenge presented by motherhood (with the famous Blood Pond Hell that all mothers are destined for), along with filial piety (so that sons might save their mothers instead). Buddhist literature often shatters the concept of motherhood with tales like that of Kisā Gotamī, who only achieves awakening after losing her son, and yet motherhood is also sometimes carried over into discussions of renunciation, as monastics might embody motherhood (or parenthood) despite shaved heads. Some of the themes discussed here appear in other entries of this bibliographic collection, because when we study one piece of a tradition, we inevitably find ourselves studying all of it.
Mary Midgley
Authors: McKinnell Liz
Published: February 2021

Mary Beatrice Midgley (née Scrutton; b. 13 September 1919–d. 10 October 2018) wrote twenty philosophical books that use an engaging style and surprisingly domestic metaphors to convey profound thought about a diverse range of topics, including human nature, animals, environmentalism, ethics, science, gender, and the practice of philosophy itself. Her first book was the influential Beast and Man, published in 1978, and her last was What Is Philosophy For?, a defense of the need for philosophical thinking, published just before her death at the age of ninety-nine. Midgley has recently garnered more philosophical attention and is now widely recognized as an original and incisive voice in philosophy. The daughter of a pacifist curate, Midgley was born in Dulwich, London, before moving to Cambridge, Greenford, and Kingston. A nature-loving child, with passions for drama and poetry, she was educated at Downe House School near Newbury, before reading Classics and Greats at Somerville College, Oxford, between 1938 and 1942. Here she met her fellow members of the wartime Quartet of women philosophers (see the separate Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy articles on “G. E. M. Anscombe,” “Philippa Foot,” and “Iris Murdoch”). The four became great friends and influenced each other throughout their working lives. Their connections include a frustration with the narrowness of the systematic philosophy that was in vogue during their formative years, and the revival of virtue in moral philosophy. Unlike her contemporaries, Midgley published little work until her fifties, after she had raised children and left academic philosophy. As Midgley said, “I wrote no books until I was a good 50, and I’m jolly glad because I didn’t know what I thought before then.” For this reason, Midgley’s writing is striking in its consistency. Articles of this kind often chart changes of mind and theoretical revisions. While Midgley’s thought undoubtedly developed and expanded, there are no early or late periods, marked by stark differences of view. One of Midgley’s criticisms of her predecessors concerned their neglect of the history of ideas. Midgley holds that to understand a philosophical system, we must understand the context in which it arose. Philosophy and culture are interconnected: the great thinkers of any era are influenced by their historical circumstances, and the patterns of thought within a culture are, whether we realize it or not, profoundly philosophical. Philosophy, she argues, is indispensable, because it allows us to make sense of our current predicaments and—where necessary—make changes to our patterns of thought.
The Global Financial Crisis and White-Collar Crime
Authors: Rex Justin , Headworth Spencer
Published: February 2021

No senior Wall Street executives were imprisoned for actions that contributed to the global financial crisis. The few criminal prosecutions for management were reserved for executives at small and regional financial firms. This stands in stark contrast to the approximately 1,000 executives jailed after the 1989 savings and loan crisis. It also runs counter to public support for criminal accountability post-crisis as well as the general trend toward criminal social control in the United States. Likewise, few firms faced criminal prosecution. Instead, the primary punishment resulted from civil penalties leveled against individuals and firms, with most of the largest banks paying billions in fines to regulatory agencies and in restitution to victims. Now that the five- or ten-year statute of limitations for the criminal fraud statutes most relevant to questionable pre-crisis behavior has passed, and the political salience and public outcry over financial misdeeds has subsided, the window of opportunity for criminal accountability is closed. Still, the lack of accountability raises important questions for financial regulation, the state of prosecution for white-collar crime, the nature of financial industry influence over politics, and the broader health of US democracy. What role did Wall Street, and the broader financial services industry, play in bringing about the crisis? What behaviors, if any, crossed the line from legitimate business activity intro criminal behavior? Is that distinction easily drawn? And if actors did behave criminally, why did state and/or federal prosecutors not pursue criminal charges more aggressively? What can be learned from countries that used criminal prosecutions more successfully? Even if criminal behavior occurred, is strong prosecution the appropriate remedy to deter future crime and prevent another financial crisis? There is substantial agreement that financial industry behavior contributed to, and amplified the severity of, the crisis. There is, however, much less agreement about whether white-collar crime occurred; if it did, why it went unpunished; and whether criminal punishment is the proper response on moral or practical grounds. The historical and political context for how white-collar crime was (re)framed, how this framing contributed to the deregulation of the financial industry, and the rise of its political power explain how the Wall Street’s behavior was understood, rationalized, and left largely unpunished.
Actus Reus
Authors: Foster Michelle
Published: February 2021

Actus reus is an area of substantive criminal law and is an act by an individual that is deemed to be improper by societal laws. It is one of the elements of a crime and works in connection with mens rea or criminal intent. Illegal or immoral thoughts cannot be legally punished, but once those thoughts are put into action, there is a concurrence between the two elements. There are three types of actus reus, which include a voluntary act, possession, and omission. Within actus reus voluntariness is presumed on the part of the actor. If an accused party wishes to claim an action was involuntary, then an excuse defense would be necessary in criminal court. Possession is also a type of actus reus when an individual is in the possession of or has the possession of an item that is known by the individual to be illegal under the law. As an example, if a person is wearing a jacket that contains a bag of marijuana in the pocket and the person knows that the substance is illegal, then even if the marijuana is not the wearer’s marijuana, the action of possession is fulfilled due to the marijuana being an illegal substance. Omission is the third type of criminal act. Omission is satisfied when a person does not act when that person is required under law to do so. A person would be required to act when there is a contractual obligation to act or a duty to act, such as would be the case of a parent and a child. The parent has a duty to act to protect the child from harm. A defense to possession or omission is possible. Defenses include an alibi or an affirmative defense. A justification defense is one type of an affirmative defense where the accused party claims the action was not criminal given the circumstances of the situation such as duress, etc. An excuse defense is the second type of an affirmative defense in which the accused claims they should not be held accountable for the improper conduct for a reason such as age, intoxication, or insanity. Incomplete offenses, known as inchoate crimes, have their own section within criminal law but are treated similarly to completed offenses.
Gendered Crime Pathways
Authors: Boppre Breanna
Published: February 2021

Within the field of criminology, research has been devoted toward understanding individuals’ pathways into crime, which consider important circumstances and events over the life course starting during childhood. However, the initial research in this area was generalized, and it largely neglected potential variation across gender. Arguably, general pathways research was not truly representative of all individuals as the theoretical perspective was developed using primarily samples of boys and men. Consequently, the gendered pathways perspective emerged to account for girls and women’s distinct pathways to crime. Since then, other scholars have also applied a gendered lens to consider boys and men’s pathways as well. Ultimately, using a gendered lens to understand individuals’ pathways accounts for the biological, psychological, and social circumstances that shape both entry into criminal behavior and societal responses. While adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, poverty, and parental incarceration, impact pathways among both boys and girls, reactions, coping mechanisms, and legal responses vary across gender, leading to specific contexts of pathways to crime.
Isaac Newton
Authors: Snobelen Stephen D.
Published: February 2021

Isaac Newton (b. 1642–d. 1727) played a pivotal role in the early modern Scientific Revolution through his contributions in three fields: mathematics, optics, and physics. Additionally, Newton contributed to the scientific method, designed and built the first working reflecting telescope, engaged in extensive correspondence with other natural philosophers, and served as president of the Royal Society of London for more than a quarter century. His accomplishments also include his leadership at the Royal Mint in London (first as warden in 1696 and then as master from 1699 until his death). He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705. Newton’s life can be divided into three phases according to geographical region. From 1642 to 1661 he lived in Lincolnshire, where he was born (Woolsthorpe) and attended grammar school (the King’s School, Grantham). He came to Trinity College in 1661 to begin his undergraduate training and became Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 1669. In 1696, he moved to London to take his position at the Mint. He was given a state funeral and buried at Westminster Abbey. Newton’s development of calculus introduced a potent mathematical tool with a wide range of applications (Gottfried Leibniz independently shared this innovation); his prism experiments showed that sunlight is heterogenous; his three laws of motion continue to serve physics and engineering; and his inverse-square law of universal gravitation helped make planetary science and the Space Age possible. Newton’s status as a polymath is underscored by his practice of alchemy (chymistry), and his forays into chronology and his study of doctrine, prophecy, and church history. The steadily increasing collection of transcribed manuscripts produced by the Newton Project has given scholars unprecedented access to his thought and has made research into the interrelations between his intellectual endeavors possible. In addition to being important to science and scientists, Newton is studied by historians, historians of science, philosophers, philosophers of science, theologians, sociologists, and literary scholars. This article on Newton and Newtonianism reflects this range of study and brings together classic studies along with cutting-edge research. Note: articles alluded to in summaries of collections of papers are mostly not repeated elsewhere under the specific subject headings.
Bāuls
Authors: Hanssen Kristin
Published: February 2021

Bāuls live in the Bengali-speaking region in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Admired for their enigmatic songs performed to the rhythm of a small drum and a one-string droning instrument, Bāuls are widely viewed as icons of Bengali regional identity. Many singers with a Muslim orientation call themselves Fakirs; most live in Bangladesh, while the majority of singers with a Hindu orientation self-identify as Vaiṣṇava, and some as Śāktas, and are found mainly in West Bengal. Bāuls are householders or renouncers; they tend to be poor and to have a lower caste identity. A number of Bāuls support themselves through singing songs for alms on passing trains, but many supplement this income through part-time work, while still others work full time. Very few earn their living as professional performers. They sing at festivals and fairs and are summoned to perform at ashrams to honor the demise of holy persons. When performing at religious celebrations in villages, or secular events in towns (arranged by the middle classes), Bāuls usually band together as a troupe and are accompanied by lay musicians. Male Bāuls are particularly easy to identify. They dress in white or ocher garments, patchwork vests, and coats when singing for a larger audience and when they beg for alms. Men often wind their hair into a topknot and wrap a turban round their head. Bāul women likewise dress in white or ocher clothes, but, stressing modesty, they tie their hair into a bun when collecting alms and let it loose when they perform on stage. Yet, despite their visibility and popularity, opinions are divided among scholars as to how Bāuls should be defined. These disparate views may in part be traced to colonial Bengal, during which time the educated classes elevated Bāuls as carriers of Bengali tradition in their attempt to fashion a sanitized, unique, and authentic sense of self, stripped of elements that they regarded as problematic. Evidence suggests, however, that most but not all Bāuls learn body-centered practices from murśids or Vaiṣṇava gurus, who belong to different lineages, and who teach esoteric knowledge, not just to Bāuls but a range of other followers, including lay householders and mendicants. From a scholarly viewpoint, given that the body constitutes the main instrument for worship and that the larger universe exists within the human frame, which also harbors the divine in humans, these body-centered practices may be broadly classified as tantric. In 2005, Bāul songs were included in UNESCO’s established Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Psychoanalysis in Global Politics and International Relations
Authors: Zevnik Andreja , Mandelbaum Moran
Published: February 2021

Critical and poststructural theories were introduced to global politics in early to mid-1990s. Since then there has been a proliferation of critical thinking in global politics with Derridean and Foucauldian approaches being the most popular. While psychoanalysis made its appearance and gained in popularity alongside other critical approaches to international politics in mid-1995, it has never become one of the “go to” theories. However, since 2010 psychoanalysis has been slowly reemerging on the global politics scene. If initially psychoanalytic approaches focused on a number of different theorists such as Castoriadis, Jung, Freud, and Lacan, the most recent thinking draws most significantly on the contribution of Lacanian psychoanalysis and thinkers such as Žižek, Butler, or Kristeva, all of whom heavily rely on Lacan. In postcolonial studies a distinct psychoanalytic account was also developed by Frantz Fanon. This contribution provides an overview of psychoanalytic approaches in the study of global politics with a focus on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and its derivatives (Žižek, Fanon, Butler, and Kristeva). The reason for the selected focus is simple—this has been the most popular approach since the introduction of this thinking to the discipline. Lacanian theory revolves around concepts such as desire, jouissance (radical/excess enjoyment), fantasy, and drive, and is concerned with explaining the social bond—that is how the subject comes to existence and what social factors determine the subject’s existence in society. Its distinct contribution to the field of global politics is its focus on conscious and unconscious factors. In other words, it focuses on that which can be represented and that which remains unrepresented but still impacts the world. Affects, symptoms, or unconscious material impact the way the subject (and society) behaves. While the theory’s foundations are in psychiatry (and many critiques of psychoanalysis point that out vehemently), psychoanalysis is not a theory of the individual and neither is it concerned with the individual psyche. It is a theory of society; Lacan even characterized it as antiphilosophy. Psychoanalysis has appeared in a number of different contexts in global politics. The presented selection is not exhaustive though the aim was to include the most significant contributions the theory has made to the discipline’s different subfields. Key areas include the state, sovereignty, ontology, Political Subjectivity, law and foreign policy; and subdisciplines such as postcolonialism (the theories of Frantz Fanon), racism, affect, Radical Politics and Cultural Criticism, and development and aid, as well as trauma, populism and nationalism.
Jesuits in Colonial Latin America
Authors: Wilde Guillermo
Published: February 2021

The Jesuits have impacted the history of colonial Latin America as have few other religious orders. Founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and a group of companions, the Society of Jesus defined its profile from the beginning as an order devoted to apostolic activity, especially through missions, and education, which led it to promote new forms of preaching and teaching. Its expansion in the world coincides with the Catholic Counter-Reformation fostered by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), in which the Jesuits had a decisive participation. The growth and expansion of the order in Latin America was rapid and continuous. The first Jesuits arrived in Brazil in 1549, in Peru in 1568, and in Mexico in 1572, and they soon became involved in the main religious, social, economic, and political activities of each region. They founded numerous colleges and residences in the most important cities and dozens of missions, or reducciones, villages among the indigenous populations living on the so-called borderlands of the colonial domains of Spain and Portugal. The several Jesuit establishments in Latin America were territorially organized into provinces, which maintained constant and fluid communication with the headquarters of the order in Rome, where its highest authority, the superior general, resided. Demands by local governments, an increase in the number of operarios, and an expansion of the political and ecclesiastical jurisdictions led to the establishment of new Jesuit provinces in the 17th century, most especially that of Paraguay, which became one of the most famous in Latin America. Each province was staffed by both priests and coadjutor brothers (lay Jesuits who had not completed their training) from different European countries, mainly Spain, as well as Creoles and mestizos born in America. Both internally and externally, the writing of documents of different types served as a central instrument of communication and government of the various Jesuit establishments. This abundance of documents produced is why the corpus of research of the Jesuit order in Latin America is profuse.
Wilhelm Wundt
Authors: Araujo Saulo de Freitas
Published: February 2021

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (b. 1832―d. 1920) was a central figure in German culture between the second half of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century. Coming from a medical and neurophysiological background with a PhD in medicine, Wundt shifted his interest toward psychological and philosophical questions, becoming full professor of philosophy: first, at the University of Zurich in 1874; then, at the University of Leipzig in 1875. In the early 21st century, he is known worldwide as one of the founders of scientific psychology. In Leipzig, he founded in 1879 the Psychological Laboratory, which later became the first psychological institute in the world. Moreover, he founded the first journal for experimental psychology, which he called Philosophische Studien (Philosophical Studies), later Psychologische Studien (Psychological Studies). In so doing, he created the first international training center for psychologists, attracting to Leipzig students from all over the world. Wundt had a significant impact upon the development of scientific psychology in many countries, not least in the United States, where his former students founded psychological laboratories inspired by the Leipzig model. Apart from his contributions to psychology, Wundt also developed a philosophical system that is crucial to understanding his psychological program and methodology, but which has not received due attention among psychologists. Wundt’s writings have been published in different, mostly enlarged editions throughout his career. The great majority of these volumes have not yet been translated into English, and the same holds true for much of the relevant research literature.