bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Survival of Easter Island
Authors: Boersema Jan J.
Published: May 2015

In this book, Jan J. Boersema reconstructs the ecological and cultural history of Easter Island and critiques the hitherto accepted theory of the collapse of its civilization. The collapse theory, advanced most recently by Jared Diamond and Clive Ponting, is based on the documented overexploitation of natural resources, particularly woodlands, on which Easter Island culture depended. Deforestation is said to have led to erosion, followed by hunger, conflict, and economic and cultural collapse. Drawing on scientific data and historical sources, including the shipping journals of the Dutch merchant who was the first European to visit the island in 1722, Boersema shows that deforestation did not in fact jeopardize food production and lead to starvation and violence. On the basis of historical and scientific evidence, Boersema demonstrates how Easter Island society responded to cultural and environmental change as it evolved and managed to survive.
Static Green's Functions in Anisotropic Media
Authors: Pan Ernian , Chen Weiqiu
Published: May 2015

This book presents basic theory on static Green's functions in general anisotropic magnetoelectroelastic media including detailed derivations based on the complex variable method, potential method, and integral transforms. Green's functions corresponding to the reduced cases are also presented including those in anisotropic and transversely isotropic piezoelectric and piezomagnetic media, and in purely anisotropic elastic, transversely isotropic elastic and isotropic elastic media. Problems include those in three-dimensional, (two-dimensional) infinite, half, and biomaterial spaces (planes). While the emphasis is on the Green's functions related to the line and point force, those corresponding to the important line and point dislocation are also provided and discussed. This book provides a comprehensive derivation and collection of the Green's functions in the concerned media, and as such, it is an ideal reference book for researchers and engineers, and a textbook for both students in engineering and applied mathematics.
Anglican Enlightenment
Authors: Bulman William J.
Published: May 2015

This is an original interpretation of the early European Enlightenment and the religious conflicts that rocked England and its empire under the later Stuarts. In a series of vignettes that move between Europe and North Africa, William J. Bulman shows that this period witnessed not a struggle for and against new ideas and greater freedoms, but a battle between several novel schemes for civil peace. Bulman considers anew the most apparently conservative force in post-Civil War English history: the conformist leadership of the Church of England. He demonstrates that the church's historical scholarship, social science, pastoral care and political practice amounted not to a culturally backward spectacle of intolerance, but to a campaign for stability drawn from the frontiers of erudition and globalization. In seeking to sever the link between zeal and chaos, the church and its enemies were thus united in an Enlightenment project, but bitterly divided over what it meant in practice.
Bills of Rights in the Common Law
Authors: Leckey Robert
Published: May 2015

Scholars have addressed at length the 'what' of judicial review under a bill of rights - scrutinizing legislation and striking it down - but neglected the 'how'. Adopting an internal legal perspective, Robert Leckey addresses that gap by reporting on the processes and activities of judges of the highest courts of Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom as they apply their relatively new bills of rights. Rejecting the tendency to view rights adjudication as novel and unique, he connects it to the tradition of judging and judicial review in the Commonwealth and identifies respects in which judges' activities in rights cases genuinely are novel - and problematic. Highlighting inventiveness in rights adjudication, including creative remedies and guidance to legislative drafters, he challenges classifications of review as strong or weak. Disputing claims that it is modest and dialogic, he also argues that remedial discretion denies justice to individuals and undermines constitutional supremacy.
Equitable Principles of Maritime Boundary Delimitation
Authors: Cottier Thomas
Published: May 2015

Equity emerged as a powerful symbol of aspired redistribution in international relations. Operationally, it has had limited impact in the Westphalian system of nation states - except for maritime boundary delimitations. This book deals with the role of equity in international law, and offers a detailed case study on maritime boundary delimitation in the context of the enclosure movement in the law of the sea. It assesses treaty law and the impact of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It depicts the process of trial and error in the extensive case law of the International Court of Justice and arbitral tribunals and expounds the underlying principles and factors informing the methodology both in adjudication and negotiations. Unlike other books, the main focus is on equity and its implications for legal methodology, in particular offering further guidance in the field of international economic law.
Caring Autonomy
Authors: Lõhmus Katri
Published: May 2015

Despite its absence in the written text of the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights now regularly uses the concept of autonomy when deciding cases concerning assisted dying, sexuality and reproductive rights, self-determination, fulfilment of choices and control over body and mind. But is the concept of autonomy as expressed in the ECtHR reasoning an appropriate tool for regulating reproduction or medical practice? Caring Autonomy reveals and evaluates the type of individual the ECtHR expresses and shapes through its autonomy-based case law. It claims that from a social and ethical perspective, the current individualistic interpretation of the concept of autonomy is inadequate, and proposes a new reading of the concept that is rooted in the acknowledgment and appreciation of human interdependence and the importance of interpersonal trust and care.
International Order in Diversity
Authors: Phillips Andrew , Sharman J. C.
Published: May 2015

International relations scholars typically expect political communities to resemble one another the more they are exposed to pressures of war, economic competition and the spread of hegemonic legitimacy standards. However, historically it is heterogeneity, not homogeneity, that has most often defined international systems. Examining the Indian Ocean region - the centre of early modern globalization - Andrew Phillips and J. C. Sharman explain how diverse international systems can emerge and endure. Divergent preferences for terrestrial versus maritime conquest, congruent traditions of heteronomy and shared strategies of localization were factors which enabled diverse actors including the Portuguese Estado da India, Dutch and English company sovereigns and mighty Asian empires to co-exist for centuries without converging on a common institutional form. Debunking the presumed relationship between interaction and homogenization, this book radically revises conventional thinking on the evolution of international systems, while deepening our understanding of a historically crucial but critically understudied world region.
Political Thought and the Public Sphere in Tanzania
Authors: Hunter Emma
Published: May 2015

Political Thought and the Public Sphere in Tanzania is a study of the interplay of vernacular and global languages of politics in the era of decolonization in Africa. Decolonization is often understood as a moment when Western forms of political order were imposed on non-Western societies, but this book draws attention instead to debates over universal questions about the nature of politics, concept of freedom and the meaning of citizenship. These debates generated political narratives that were formed in dialogue with both global discourses and local political arguments. The United Nations Trusteeship Territory of Tanganyika, now mainland Tanzania, serves as a compelling example of these processes. Starting in 1945 and culminating with the Arusha Declaration of 1967, Emma Hunter explores political argument in Tanzania's public sphere to show how political narratives succeeded when they managed to combine promises of freedom with new forms of belonging at local and national level.
Barbarism and Religion
Authors: Pocock J. G. A.
Published: May 2015

This sixth and final volume in John Pocock's acclaimed sequence of works on Barbarism and Religion examines Volumes II and III of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, carrying Gibbon's narrative to the end of empire in the west. It makes two general assertions: first, that this is in reality a mosaic of narratives, written on diverse premises and never fully synthesized with one another; and second, that these chapters assert a progress of both barbarism and religion from east to west, leaving much history behind as they do so. The magnitude of Barbarism and Religion is already apparent. Barbarism: Triumph in the West represents the culmination of a remarkable attempt to discover and present what Gibbon was saying, what he meant by it, and why he said it in the ways that he did, as well as an unparalleled contribution to the historiography of Enlightened Europe.
Lost in China?
Authors: Jones Carol A. G.
Published: May 2015

Rule of law is a core Hong Kong value, providing a defensive wall around the territory and protecting its way of life against 'mainlandisation'. Before the 1997 retrocession to China, fears were widespread that the rights and freedoms enjoyed under colonial rule would be eroded, that the rule of law would be weakened and that corruption would increase. Soon, the first blows were struck against the rule of law via an NPCSC ruling which overturned the judgment of the Court of Final Appeal. Successive interventions by Beijing in Hong Kong's legal and political affairs have given rise to fears about the loss of the rule of law and loss of identity. These fears have subsequently provoked mass street demonstrations, including the 'Umbrella Revolution' of 2014. But, as this book shows, Hong Kongers also use less explicit arts of resistance to maintain their identity.
Resistance and Change in the International Law on Foreign Investment
Authors: Sornarajah M.
Published: May 2015

Since the 1990s, conflicts within international law on foreign investment have arisen as a result of several competing interests. The neoliberal philosophy ensured inflexible investment protection given by a network of investment treaties interpreted in an expansive manner, which led to states creating regulatory space over foreign investment. However, NGOs committed to single causes such as human rights and the environment protested against inflexible investment protection. The rise to prominence of arguments against the fragmentation of international law also affected the development of investment law as an autonomous regime. These factors have resulted in some states renouncing the system of arbitration and other states creating new treaties which undermine inflexible investment protection. The treaty-based system of investment protection has therefore become tenuous, and change has become inevitable. Emphasising the changes resulting from resistance to a system based on neoliberal foundations, this study looks at recent developments in the area.
Enlightenment and Utility
Authors: de Champs Emmanuelle
Published: May 2015

Jeremy Bentham, the founder of classical utilitarianism, was a seminal figure in the history of modern political thought. This lively monograph presents the numerous French connections of an emblematic British thinker. Perhaps more than any other intellectual of his time, Bentham engaged with contemporary events and people in France, even writing in French in the 1780s. Placing Bentham's thought in the context of the French-language Enlightenment through to the post-Revolutionary era, Emmanuelle de Champs makes the case for a historical study of 'Global Bentham'. Examining previously unpublished sources, she traces the circulation of Bentham's letters, friends, manuscripts, and books in the French-speaking world. This study in transnational intellectual history reveals how utilitarianism, as a doctrine, was both the product of, and a contribution to, French-language political thought at a key time in European history. The debates surrounding utilitarianism in France cast new light on the making of modern Liberalism.
The Politics of Gay Marriage in Latin America
Authors: Díez Jordi
Published: May 2015

Addressing one of the defining social issues of our time, The Politics of Gay Marriage in Latin America explores how and why Latin America, a culturally Catholic and historically conservative region, has become a leader among nations of the Global South, and even the Global North, in the passage of gay marriage legislation. In the first comparative study of its kind, Jordi Díez explains cross-national variation in the enactment of gay marriage in three countries: Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Based on extensive interviews in the three countries, Díez argues that three main key factors explain variation in policy outcomes across these cases: the strength of social movement networks forged by activists in favor of gay marriage; the access to policy making afforded by particular national political institutions; and the resonance of the frames used to demand the expansion of marriage rights to same-sex couples.
American Dionysia
Authors: Johnston Steven
Published: May 2015

Violence and tragedy riddle democracy - not due to fatal shortcomings or unnecessary failures, but because of its very design and success. To articulate this troubling claim, Steven Johnston explores the cruelty of democratic founding, the brutal use democracies make of citizens and animals during wartime, the ambiguous consequences of legislative action expressive of majority rule, and militant practices of citizenship required to deal with democracy's enemies. Democracy must take responsibility for its success: to rule in denial of violence merely replicates it. Johnston thus calls for the development of a tragic democratic politics and proposes institutional and civic responses to democracy's reign, including the reinvention of tragic festivals and holidays, a new breed of public memorials, and mandatory congressional reparations sessions. Theorizing the violent puzzle of democracy, Johnston addresses classic and contemporary political theory, films, little known monuments, the subversive music of Bruce Springsteen, and the potential of democratic violence by the people themselves.
The Invention of English Criticism
Authors: Gavin Michael
Published: May 2015

Early literary criticism was undisciplined. Unlike the staid essays and monographs of later academic scholarship, English criticism first appeared in the contentious world of the London theater: dramatists and other poets argued about their craft in contending prefaces and dedications, and their disputes spilled into the public sphere in pamphlet wars, mock epics, lampoons, and even novels. Across these forms, criticism was personal, political, and unconcerned with analysis for its own sake. Yet this unruly discourse laid the groundwork both for modern literary criticism and for the discipline of literary studies. The Invention of English Criticism explores the earliest uses of criticism and the attempts by some to convert a field of literary debate into an archive of useful knowledge. Criticism's undisciplined past thus illuminates its contested, ambivalent, and never fully disciplined present.
The Western Case for Monogamy Over Polygamy
Authors: Witte, Jr John
Published: May 2015

For more than 2,500 years, the Western tradition has embraced monogamous marriage as an essential institution for the flourishing of men and women, parents and children, society and the state. At the same time, polygamy has been considered a serious crime that harms wives and children, correlates with sundry other crimes and abuses, and threatens good citizenship and political stability. The West has thus long punished all manner of plural marriages and denounced the polygamous teachings of selected Jews, Muslims, Anabaptists, Mormons, and others. John Witte, Jr carefully documents the Western case for monogamy over polygamy from antiquity until today. He analyzes the historical claims that polygamy is biblical, natural, and useful alongside modern claims that anti-polygamy laws violate personal and religious freedom. While giving the pro and con arguments a full hearing, Witte concludes that the Western historical case against polygamy remains compelling and urges Western nations to hold the line on monogamy.
Swift and History
Authors: Marshall Ashley
Published: May 2015

Swift has been said to have little interest in history; his attempts to write it have been disparaged and his desire to become Historiographer Royal ridiculed. Ashley Marshall argues that history mattered enormously to Swift. He read a vast amount of history and uses historical examples copiously in his own works. This study traces Swift's classical and modern historiographical inheritance; analyses his unsuccessful attempt to write a history of England; and offers radical re-reading of his History of the Four Last Years of the Queen. A systematic analysis of Swift's view of 'authority' is highly revealing. His attitudes toward power and authority, sovereigns' and subjects' rights, parliamentary representation, and succession are reflected in his lifelong engagement with and pervasive use of the past. Studying Swift and history enables a deeper understanding of his authoritarian and historiographically Tory outlook - and how it changed when Swift's party fell from power in 1714.
Random Wireless Networks
Authors: Vaze Rahul
Published: May 2015

This book discusses the theoretical limits of information transfer in random wireless networks or ad hoc networks, where nodes are distributed uniformly in space and there is no centralised control. It provides a detailed analysis of the two relevant notions of capacity for random wireless networks – transmission capacity and throughput capacity. The book starts with the transmission capacity framework that is first presented for the single-hop model and later extended to the multi-hop model with retransmissions. Reusing some of the tools developed for analysis of transmission capacity, a few key long-standing questions about the performance analysis of cellular networks are also provided for the benefit of students. The discussion goes further into the concept of hierarchical co-operation that allows throughput capacity to scale linearly with the number of nodes. The author finally discusses the concept of hierarchical co-operation that allows throughput capacity to scale linearly with the number of nodes.
The Institutional Effects of Executive Scandals
Authors: Rottinghaus Brandon
Published: May 2015

Watergate, Iran-Contra, Lewinsky, Enron, Bridgegate: according to the popular media, executive scandals are ubiquitous. Although individual scandals persist in the public memory and as the subject of academic study, how do we understand the impacts of executive indiscretion or malfeasance as a whole? What effect, if any, do scandals have on political polarization, governance, and, most importantly, democratic accountability? Recognizing the important and enduring role of scandals in American government, this book proposes a common intellectual framework for understanding their nature and political effects. Brandon Rottinghaus takes a systematic look the dynamics of the duration of scandals, the way they affect presidents and governors' capacity to govern, and the strategic choices executives make in confronting scandal at both the state and national levels. His findings reveal much about not only scandal, but the operation of American politics.
Core Competencies in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance: A Systematic Review
Authors: Ripoll Gallardo Alba , Djalali Ahmadreza , Foletti Marco , Ragazzoni Luca , Della Corte Francesco , Lupescu Olivera , Arculeo Chris , von Arnim Gotz , Friedl Tom , Ashkenazi Michael , Fisher Philipp , Hreckovski Boris , Khorram-Manesh Amir , Komadina Radko , Lechner Konstanze , Stal Marc , Patru Cristina , Burkle Frederick M. , Ingrassia Pier Luigi
Published: May 2015

Disaster response demands a large workforce covering diverse professional sectors. Throughout this article, we illustrate the results of a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies to identify existing competency sets for disaster management and humanitarian assistance that would serve as guidance for the development of a common disaster curriculum. A systematic review of English-language articles was performed on PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, ERIC, and Cochrane Library. Studies were included if reporting competency domains, abilities, knowledge, skills, or attitudes for professionals involved disaster relief or humanitarian assistance. Exclusion criteria included abstracts, citations, case studies, and studies not dealing with disasters or humanitarian assistance. Thirty-eight papers were analyzed. Target audience was defined in all articles. Five references (13%) reported cross-sectorial competencies. Most of the articles (81.6%) were specific to health care. Eighteen (47%) papers included competencies for at least 2 different disciplines and 18 (47%) for different professional groups. Nursing was the most widely represented cadre. Eighteen papers (47%) defined competency domains and 36 (94%) reported list of competencies. Nineteen articles (50%) adopted consensus-building to define competencies, and 12 (31%) included competencies adapted to different professional responsibility levels. This systematic review revealed that the largest number of papers were mainly focused on the health care sector and presented a lack of agreement on the terminology used for competency-based definition. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:430–439)
Effect of external turbulence on the evolution of a wake in stratified and unstratified environments
Authors: Pal Anikesh , Sarkar Sutanu
Published: May 2015

Direct numerical simulations are performed to study the evolution of a towed stratified wake subject to external turbulence in the background. A field of isotropic turbulence is combined with an initial turbulent wake field and the combined wake is simulated in a temporally evolving framework similar to that of Rind & Castro (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 710, 2012a, p. 482). Simulations are performed for external turbulence whose initial level varies between zero and a moderate intensity of up to 7 % relative to the free stream and whose initial integral length scale is of the same order as that of the wake turbulence. A series of simulations are carried out at a Reynolds number of 10 000 and Froude number of 3. Background turbulence, especially at a level of 3 % or above, is found to have substantial quantitative effects in the stratified simulations. Turbulence inside the wake increases due to the entrainment of external turbulence, and the energy transfer through turbulent production from mean to fluctuating velocity also increases, leading to reduced mean velocity. The profiles of normalized mean and turbulence quantities in the stratified wake exhibit little change in the vertical direction but the horizontal spread increases in comparison to the case with undisturbed background. The spatial organization of the internal wave field is disrupted even at the 1 % level of external turbulence. However, key characteristics of stratified wakes such as the formation of coherent pancake vortices and the long lifetime of the mean wake are robust to the presence of fluctuations in the background. A corresponding series of simulations for the unstratified situation is carried out at the same Reynolds number of 10 000 and with similar levels of external turbulence. The change of mean and turbulence statistics is found to be weaker in the unstratified cases compared with the corresponding stratified cases and also weaker relative to that found by Rind & Castro (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 710, 2012a, p. 482) at a similar level of external turbulence relative to the free stream and similar integral length scale. Theoretical arguments and additional simulations are provided to show that the level of external turbulence relative to wake turbulence (dissimilar between the present investigation and Rind & Castro (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 710, 2012a, p. 482)) is a key governing parameter in both stratified and unstratified backgrounds.
The mixing region in freely decaying variable-density turbulence
Authors: Movahed Pooya , Johnsen Eric
Published: May 2015

A novel set-up is proposed to numerically study turbulent multimaterial mixing, starting from an unperturbed material interface between a light and a heavy fluid. We conduct direct numerical simulation (DNS) to better understand the role of density gradient alone on the turbulence, specifically with regard to the mixing region dynamics and anisotropy across scales. Freely decaying isotropic turbulent fields of different densities but identical kinematic viscosities are juxtaposed. The rationale for this strategy is that conventional turbulence scalings are based on kinetic energy per unit mass and kinematic viscosity. Thus, by matching the initial kinematics (root-mean-square velocity) and the dissipation (kinematic viscosity), the turbulence (kinetic energy per unit mass) decays at the same rate in both fluids. With this set-up, the effect of the density gradient alone on the turbulence can be considered, independently from other contributions (e.g. mismatch in kinetic energy per unit mass, acceleration field, etc.). We examine the mixing region dynamics at large and small scales for different density ratios and Reynolds numbers. After an initial transient, we observe a self-similar growth of the mixing region, which we explain via theoretical arguments verified by the DNS results. Inside the mixing region, the momentum of the heavier eddies causes the mean interface location to shift toward the light fluid. A higher density ratio leads to a wider, less molecularly mixed mixing region. Although anisotropy is evident at the large scales, the dissipation scales remain essentially isotropic, even at the highest density ratio under consideration (12:1). The intermittency of the velocity field exhibits isotropy, while the mass fraction field is more intermittent in the direction of the density gradient.
The effect of a low-viscosity near-wall film on bypass transition in boundary layers
Authors: Jung Seo Yoon , Zaki Tamer A.
Published: May 2015

Bypass transition in a two-fluid boundary layer is examined using direct numerical simulations (DNSs). A less-viscous wall film is considered and the impact on transition location is evaluated at two different viscosity ratios and free-stream turbulence intensities. The less-viscous wall film absorbs the mean shear from the outer stream, weakens the lift-up mechanism, and alters the disturbance field inside the boundary layer. These effects all favour a delay in the onset of bypass transition. However, the viscosity and mean-shear discontinuities across the two-fluid interface introduce a new mechanism for the generation of wall-normal vorticity in the boundary layer, and can therefore promote transition to turbulence. Conditionally averaged statistics and streak tracking techniques are adopted in order to examine the impact of the wall film on the bypass transition process. It is shown that the weaker amplification of the streaks in the outer fluid can delay breakdown to turbulence, despite the additional disturbance generation at the two-fluid interface. The efficacy of the wall film in delaying transition is demonstrated at moderate level of free-stream turbulence intensity, but is reduced as the turbulence intensity is increased.
Mixed-Methods for Comparing Tobacco Cessation Interventions
Authors: Momin Behnoosh , Neri Antonio , Zhang Lei , Kahende Jennifer , Duke Jennifer , Green Sonya Goode , Malarcher Ann , Stewart Sherri L.
Published: May 2015

Introduction: The National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) and National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) are both well-positioned to promote the use of population-based tobacco cessation interventions, such as state quitlines and Web-based interventions.

Aims: This paper outlines the methodology used to conduct a comparative effectiveness research (CER) study of traditional and Web-based tobacco cessation and quitline promotion approaches.

Methods: A mixed-methods study with three components was designed to address the effect of promotional activities on service usage and the comparative effectiveness of population-based smoking cessation activities across multiple states.

Results/Findings: The cessation intervention component followed 7,902 smokers (4,307 quitline users and 3,595 Web intervention users) to ascertain prevalence of 30-day abstinence rates seven months after registering for smoking cessation services. User characteristics and quit success was compared across the two modalities. In the promotions component, reach and use of traditional and innovative promotion strategies were assessed for 24 states, including online advertising, state Web sites, social media, mobile applications, and their effects on quitline call volume. The partnership intervention component studied the extent of collaboration among six selected NCCCPs and NTCPs.

Conclusions: This study will guide program staff and clinicians with evidence-based recommendations and best practices for implementation of tobacco cessation within their patient and community populations and establish an evidence base that can be used for decision making.
Conversion of a New Zealand 30-Metre Telecommunications Antenna into a Radio Telescope
Authors: Woodburn Lewis , Natusch Tim , Weston Stuart , Thomasson Peter , Godwin Mark , Granet Christophe , Gulyaev Sergei
Published: May 2015

The conversion of a former 100-foot (30-m) telecommunications antenna (Earth Station) in New Zealand into a radio telescope is described. A specification of the antenna and the priorities for its actual conversion are initially presented. In describing the actual conversion, particular emphasis is given to mechanical and electrical components, as well as to the design of the telescope control system, telescope networking for VLBI operations, and telescope maintenance. Plans for RF, front- and back-end developments based upon radio astronomical priorities are outlined.
ON CYCLE-SUPERMAGICNESS OF SUBDIVIDED GRAPHS
Authors: RIZVI SYED TAHIR RAZA , KHALID MADIHA , ALI KASHIF , MILLER MIRKA , RYAN JOE
Published: May 2015

Lladó and Moragas [‘Cycle-magic graphs’, Discrete Math.307 (2007), 2925–2933] showed the cyclic-magic and cyclic-supermagic behaviour of several classes of connected graphs. They discussed cycle-magic labellings of subdivided wheels and friendship graphs, but there are no further results on cycle-magic labellings of other families of subdivided graphs. In this paper, we find cycle-magic labellings for subdivided graphs. We show that if a graph has a cycle-(super)magic labelling, then its uniform subdivided graph also has a cycle-(super)magic labelling. We also discuss some cycle-supermagic labellings for nonuniform subdivided fans and triangular ladders.
Comparison of phenotypic tests for detecting penicillin G resistance with presence ofblaZgene inStaphylococcus aureusisolated from bovine intramammary infections
Authors: Russi Norma B , Maito Julia , Dieser Silvina A , Renna María S , Signorini Marcelo L , Camussone Cecilia , Neder Verónica E , Pol Martín , Tirante Liliana , Odierno Liliana M , Calvinho Luis F
Published: May 2015

Few studies have described the relationship between genotypic and phenotypic methods for detecting penicillin resistance inStaphylococcus aureusisolated from bovine intramammary infection (IMI). Six phenotypic methods for penicillinase detection were compared with a genotypic method testing the presence of the β-lactamase geneblaZinStaph. aureus(n= 150) isolated from bovine IMI. Highest sensitivities and specificities were observed for disk diffusion (DD) (93 and 97·4%), minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) (90·3 and 97·4%), Cefinase™ (85·9 and 97·4%) and Diatabs™ (85·7 and 98·7%). The estimated cut-off points estimated in the present study can be considered close to the ones indicated by CLSI (2013). The molecular detection ofblaZgene is the only method that may indicate the real or potential capacity of producing β-lactamase inStaph. aureus. Considering that from a clinical standpoint a false negative result from a phenotypic test is the most unfavourable situation, a combination of standard DD with Diatabs™ or Cefinase™ should be performed by routine mastitis laboratories to minimise false negative results.
Becoming Indonesian citizens: Subjects, citizens, and land ownership in the Netherlands Indies, 1930–37
Authors: Djalins Upik
Published: May 2015

For decades after their introduction in 1854, state-defined categories of subjects and citizens in the East Indies remained largely uncontested. But a furore erupted when Indo-Europeans — legally Europeans and citizens of the Netherlands — demanded rights to own land, rights exclusively apportioned to the autochthonous population. This article recounts a contentious campaign in the 1930s by the Indo-European Association to gain rights to own land, and the vehement rejection by Indonesians expressed in various civic outlets. I argue that by challenging state categories of entitlement, race, and belonging, the debates on rights to own land defined more sharply notions of citizenship among the Indies population. Drawing on ‘acts of citizenship’, I situate the discourse of rights at the centre of the debate on colonial citizenship. In so doing, I offer an insight into the genealogy of exclusion that has haunted the idea of citizenship in postcolonial Indonesia.
Benedict Anderson and Siam Studies
Authors: Ockey James
Published: May 2015

In the wake of the bloody coup of 1 October 1965, three young Indonesia scholars, Ruth McVey, Fred Bunnell, and Ben Anderson, all working with George Kahin at Cornell University, set out to explain how things had gone so wrong. They began their analysis with a careful examination of the patterns of promotion and transfer in the Indonesian military, which seemed to indicate that tensions between Javanese and other officers played a major part in the coup. Keen to make this information available to other scholars, they quickly wrote up a draft version of their findings and tentative conclusions, and circulated it to a few friends and colleagues. This fateful decision, ironically, would reshape our understanding of Siam. Subsequently banned from entering Indonesia, McVey and Anderson would produce influential work on Siam, while mentoring younger scholars through thesis supervision and edited volumes. This collection,Exploration and irony in studies of Siam over forty years, is comprised of nine of Anderson's articles each outlined below, with an introduction by Tamara Loos, a successor of Anderson as director of Cornell's Southeast Asia Program. Loos' introduction places the articles in historical perspective, and in the context of Anderson's own personal history, including his networks of colleagues and students, and his other work. The essays provide an opportunity to reflect on Anderson's contribution to Siam Studies, as they illuminate the influence he had in opening up new directions for research, and new ways of conceptualising Thai politics.
Food and the consumer: could labelling be the answer?
Authors: Kerr Maeve A. , McCann Mary T. , Livingstone M. Barbara E.
Published: May 2015

Extensive research into the impact of nutrition labelling across Europe has shown that many consumers can effectively use a nutrition label to rank a food for healthiness. The present paper considers observational and laboratory evidence which has examined the impact of nutrition labelling (on food packaging and at point of purchase) on dietary behaviour. In addition, the potential counterproductive effects of foods bearing ‘healthy’ nutrition labels are examined. The observational evidence provides a useful insight into the key characteristics of nutrition label use. Those most likely to engage with nutrition labels are more likely to have a diet related disease and/or be on a weight loss diet and have a good overall diet quality. Experimental evidence, while limited, suggests that serving size information may be overlooked by consumers. In fact, there may be a tendency among consumers to overeat foods that are perceived to be healthier. The findings from the present paper suggest that if nutrition labelling is to be considered a strategy to facilitate consumers in managing their energy intake, it must coincide with salient, consistent and simple serving size information on the front of food packages and at the point of purchase. There is a clear need for more experimental research using robust methodologies, to examine the impact of nutrition information on dietary intake. In the meantime, there should be greater attention given to portion size within national dietary guidance.
OPPORTUNITY AND PREFERENCE LEARNING
Authors: Schubert Christian
Published: May 2015

Robert Sugden has suggested a normative standard of freedom as ‘opportunity’ that is supposed to help realign normative economics – with its traditional rational choice orientation – with behavioural economics. While allowing preferences to be incoherent, he wants to maintain the anti-paternalist stance of orthodox welfare economics. His standard, though, presupposes that people respond to uncertainty about their own future preferences by dismissing any kind of self-constraint. We argue that the approach lacks psychological substance: Sugden's normative benchmark – the ‘responsible person’ – can hardly serve as a convincing role model in a contractarian setting. An alternative concept is introduced, and some implications are briefly discussed.
The transformation of rural elites in late medieval Flanders: oligarchy, state formation and social change in the Liberty of Bruges (c. 1350–c. 1525)
Authors: BUYLAERT FREDERIK , RAMANDT ANDY
Published: May 2015

Proceeding from an in-depth analysis of the Liberty of Bruges, an important rural district in the late medieval Low Countries, this contribution frames rural elite formation by means of two debates which are seldom used in combination, namely, the debates on state building and on the commercialisation of rural society. We challenge the thesis, inspired by modernisation theory, that socio-economic transformation engendered political change in pre-modern Europe as newly emerging rural bourgeoisies are alleged to have become an important political factor, shifting their allegiances between lords and peasants as they saw fit. The evidence discussed shows instead a trend towards oligarchy from the fifteenth century onwards, in which an increasingly exclusive social network came to combine hitherto separated forms of political power, largely at the expense of the growing number of wealthy rural bourgeois. It is argued that this transformation of the rural political elites is closely tied to changes in the established relations between the central government and the regional elites of the Low Countries.
The End of Entail: Information, Institutions, and Slavery in the American Revolutionary Period
Authors: Priest Claire
Published: May 2015

For historians and property law scholars, the abolition of the fee tail estate in land by many states during the American Revolutionary Period serves as a principal symbol of the power of republican ideology during the Founding Era. Political leaders of the Founding Era deplored the system of hereditary privilege that defined the European aristocratic political order. Property served as the foundation of that order: political, economic, and social privileges were associated with ownership of landed estates. Property and inheritance law enabled families to retain land, and, therefore, the privileges associated with landed estates, over the generations. Therefore, American historians celebrate the abolition of the fee tail estate and primogeniture by some states as a practical and tangible achievement of the Republican Revolution.
A NOTE ON REMITTANCES, MONETARY REGIMES, AND NONTRADABLE INFLATION DYNAMICS
Authors: Lartey Emmanuel K.K.
Published: May 2015

This paper examines the dynamic and desirable properties of monetary regimes in a remittances recipient economy, with emphasis on the effect on sectoral output and nontradable inflation dynamics. The findings indicate that under a fixed exchange rate regime, an increase in remittances creates increased demand for nontradable goods, and hence a rise in nontradable inflation, as well as expansion in output of nontradables. Under a nontradable inflation targeting regime, however, a decrease in nontradable inflation and an expansion in tradable goods production are observed following an increase in remittances. A near-zero nontradable inflation rate and managed variability in the nominal exchange rate typify the optimal monetary policy, suggesting that an inflation targeting regime is preferable to a fixed exchange regime under such a scenario. A VAR analysis shows that the dynamics of inflation in El Salvador and the Philippines is in consonance with those observed in the model under the fixed exchange rate and nontradable inflation targeting regimes, respectively.
The role of autocatalysis on the chemical diversity of the prebiotic ocean of early Earth
Authors: Canepa Carlo
Published: May 2015

The spontaneous formation of catalytic polypeptides of various lengths in a primordial ocean endowed with a source of amino acids from micrometeorites was investigated and found to be sufficient to induce the transformation of potential substrates under the assumption of a high propensity of the environment to catalyse the formation of the peptide bond. This work aims to include in this picture the effect of autocatalysis, i.e. the ability of a polypeptide with a specific length to promote the formation of the peptide bond. Once the formation of an autocatalytic species is attained, the concentrations of the polypeptides, substrates and products of reaction exhibit a time-dependent rate of formation and undergo a catastrophic change. While in the absence of autocatalysis the concentrations of polypeptides are stationary and the formation of reaction products is limited by the proper frequency λ, autocatalysis induces a steady growth of the concentrations of polypeptides and a 100 − 105-fold increase of reaction products at t = ω−1<0.46 Gyr, with a subsequent linear growth in time according to the law u/z0 = 1+s(ω−1+t)/z0, provided the autocatalytic species be active with length fewer than 70 amino acid units. A relationship was found between the catalytic ability of the environment (expressed by the ratio η/ηh of the rate coefficient for peptide bond formation to the corresponding rate coefficient for hydrolysis) and the time of the sharp increase of the concentration of both the polypeptides and their products of transformation. Although the formation of autocatalytic polypeptides is able to rapidly induce a sharp increase in the concentration of both polypeptides and their products of transformation, the crucial formation of the first autocatalytic polypeptides relies on the ability of the environment to promote the formation of the peptide bond. The value of the ratio η/ηh, constrained by the available time for chemical evolution to values bordering the catalytic activity of present-day enzymes, suggests that the correlation between the presence of water and the formation of a complex chemistry should be taken with caution.
The risks of instrumentalizing the narrative on sexual violence in the DRC: Neglected needs and unintended consequences
Authors: Heaton Laura
Published: May 2015

Public understanding of humanitarian emergencies tends to focus on one story and one type of victim. Examples are manifold: amputees in Sierra Leone, victims of kidnapping in Colombia, or victims of chemical weapons in Syria. At times, the aid community, and the media in turn, seizes upon a particular injustice – landmines, female genital mutilation and child soldiers are examples from recent decades – and directs resources and attention its way. Similarly, thematic trends tend to dominate aid discourse, with funding proposals to donors replete with references to the frameworkdu jour. In a related phenomenon highlighted by author and aid worker Fiona Terry, “[w]ords are commandeered to give a new gloss to familiar themes: ‘capacity building’ became ‘empowerment’, which has now become ‘resilience’”. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the conflict has been largely defined by sexual violence, and raped women are its most prominent victims.
Dynamic interplay between catalytic and lectin domains of GalNAc-transferases modulates protein O-glycosylation
Authors: Lira-Navarrete Erandi , de las Rivas Matilde , Compañón Ismael , Pallarés María Carmen , Kong Yun , Iglesias-Fernández Javier , Bernardes Gonçalo J. L. , Peregrina Jesús M. , Rovira Carme , Bernadó Pau , Bruscolini Pierpaolo , Clausen Henrik , Lostao Anabel , Corzana Francisco , Hurtado-Guerrero Ramon
Published: May 2015

Protein O-glycosylation is controlled by polypeptide GalNAc-transferases (GalNAc-Ts) that uniquely feature both a catalytic and lectin domain. The underlying molecular basis of how the lectin domains of GalNAc-Ts contribute to glycopeptide specificity and catalysis remains unclear. Here we present the first crystal structures of complexes of GalNAc-T2 with glycopeptides that together with enhanced sampling molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate a cooperative mechanism by which the lectin domain enables free acceptor sites binding of glycopeptides into the catalytic domain. Atomic force microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering experiments further reveal a dynamic conformational landscape of GalNAc-T2 and a prominent role of compact structures that are both required for efficient catalysis. Our model indicates that the activity profile of GalNAc-T2 is dictated by conformational heterogeneity and relies on a flexible linker located between the catalytic and the lectin domains. Our results also shed light on how GalNAc-Ts generate dense decoration of proteins with O-glycans.
High-power multi-megahertz source of waveform-stabilized few-cycle light
Authors: Pronin O. , Seidel M. , Lücking F. , Brons J. , Fedulova E. , Trubetskov M. , Pervak V. , Apolonski A. , Udem Th. , Krausz F.
Published: May 2015

Waveform-stabilized laser pulses have revolutionized the exploration of the electronic structure and dynamics of matter by serving as the technological basis for frequency-comb and attosecond spectroscopy. Their primary sources, mode-locked titanium-doped sapphire lasers and erbium/ytterbium-doped fibre lasers, deliver pulses with several nanojoules energy, which is insufficient for many important applications. Here we present the waveform-stabilized light source that is scalable to microjoule energy levels at the full (megahertz) repetition rate of the laser oscillator. A diode-pumped Kerr-lens-mode-locked Yb:YAG thin-disk laser combined with extracavity pulse compression yields waveform-stabilized few-cycle pulses (7.7 fs, 2.2 cycles) with a pulse energy of 0.15 μJ and an average power of 6 W. The demonstrated concept is scalable to pulse energies of several microjoules and near-gigawatt peak powers. The generation of attosecond pulses at the full repetition rate of the oscillator comes into reach. The presented system could serve as a primary source for frequency combs in the mid infrared and vacuum UV with unprecedented high power levels.