bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inequality and Transitions to Democracy
Authors: Haggard Stephan , Kaufman Robert R.
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores the relationship between inequality, distributive conflict, and regime change during the Third Wave of democratic transitions (1980–2008). It first provides an overview of the theory and existing quantitative findings on the link between inequality and democratic transitions before discussing the results obtained by using an empirical approach that selects all transitions in the relevant sample period identified in the Polity and CGV datasets. It shows that about half of the transitions analyzed are the result of the mobilized de facto power envisioned by both the sociological and rational choice distributive conflict theories. Cases of democratization driven by distributive conflict constituted only slightly more than half of the universe of transitions during the period, and neither transitions in general nor those driven by distributive conflict were correlated with economic inequality. The emergence of democracy in the advanced industrial states stemmed in part from fundamental changes in class structures.
Distributive Conflict Transitions
Authors: Haggard Stephan , Kaufman Robert R.
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the role of institutions and collective action in distributive conflict transitions by focusing on causal process observation of the distributive conflict and elite-led transition processes. Selecting on the dependent variable, it considers all of the cases in the Polity and CGV datasets with respect to variables of core theoretical interest: the authoritarian status quo, the organizational foundations of mass mobilization, and features of the exit of authoritarian rulers. The chapter first explains how the nature of authoritarian regimes can affect modes of transition, drawing comparisons with cases of elite-led transitions, before discussing both the repressiveness of the system and the social and economic targets of repression. It then explores the strategies of regime opponents and how authoritarian exit actually occurs in the distributive conflict cases. It also investigates the role played by political parties and political entrepreneurs in democratic transitions.
The Visible Order of Student Lecture Notebooks
Authors: Berger Susanna
Published: January 2018

This chapter turns to the functions of images integrated into manuscript sources. It presents the first analysis of the visual representations in the Paris philosophy notebooks. It demonstrates how the study of printed visual representations and the activity of drawing became central components of philosophical training in the early modern period. As this chapter is the first to deal with drawn materials, it begins with a brief excursus on theoretical uses of this practice in the Renaissance. It then provides an important context to understanding the texts and images in the notebooks, describing the teaching of philosophy and the format of lectures in Paris and Leuven in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Next, it presents an overview of the functions of the prints and drawings found in Paris and Leuven student notebooks.
The Generation of Art as the Generation of Philosophy
Authors: Berger Susanna
Published: January 2018

This chapter studies how early modern thinkers understood the connection between the generation of art and the generation of philosophical understanding. It argues that in this period, the generation of mental representations was understood through practices of artistic production, and that the notion of generation itself was central to philosophy. The first section explores descriptions of cognition that compare thinking to the creation of artistic works. It discusses the accounts of a broad range of artists and scholars, including Dürer and Willibald Pirckheimer (1470–1530), Bosse and Girard Desargues (1591–1661), Descartes, and others to show how constant the association between artistic generation and mental generation was in this period. The second section examines the celebrated frontispiece to the Leviathan that Bosse created in collaboration with Hobbes. It argues that previous accounts of the frontispiece have failed to capture the full complexity of this etching. It offers a new account of this famous image — one that emphasizes the process of the state's generation.
The Alchemy of War
Authors: Gunitsky Seva
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines how the outcome of the Great War demonstrated democracy's effectiveness on both the battlefield and the factory floor, leading to a short-lived but intense period of democratization on the European continent and beyond. Between 1918 and 1922, over a dozen new states adopted democratic institutions including independent parliaments, civil liberties, and universal suffrage. At the same time, semi-democracies like Britain and Belgium expanded voting rights to previously excluded groups like women and working-class men. The chapter then looks at how the overstretch of the postwar wave contributed to the collapse of democracy and set the stage for a series of confrontations between rival institutional arrangements.
Introduction
Authors: Mestyan Adam
Published: January 2018

This introductory chapter provides a background of Arab patriotism. Patriotism in Arabic became manifest in two aspects. Firstly, it was an empire-wide ideology of power that provided a tactical vocabulary for Arabic-speaking elites to negotiate co-operation among themselves and with the Ottoman system. In the Egyptian province, it served the goal of achieving a tacit compromise with the semi-independent governor. Secondly, patriotism was a communal emotion, a physical experience of togetherness, constituted in and through public occasions. Such experiences allowed elite and ordinary individuals to imagine themselves as part of a community. Importantly, these were not just any experiences, but experiences that were made possible by new, public practices, institutions, and technologies. This book, therefore, focuses on performance culture as a key aspect of patriotism.
The Ottoman Legitimation of Power: The Khedivate
Authors: Mestyan Adam
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the Ottoman legitimation of power: the khedivate. What Mehmed Ali had achieved with his army, Ismail Pasha—the governor of the Egyptian province—continued with money and the efforts of his mother, Hoşyar. The result was the khedivate. The khedivate was not a simple case of a tributary state. Ismail and Hoşyar reconnected their rule to the sultan's authority in 1863, and they continued to strengthen Ismail's power by the Ottoman universe. They also reactivated the quest to change the law of succession. This was to exclude everyone from the dynastic order in favor of Ismail's eldest son, Tevfik. They achieved the new dynastic order of primogeniture in 1866. As a next step, the khedivate was codified in 1867. Together, the two changes constituted a singular strategy and created the framework of a new political order.
A Gentle Revolution
Authors: Mestyan Adam
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores how intellectuals—in the Arabic press and in the Arabic theater—reached to the spatial and sensorial transformation of Cairo and the work of the khedivate. The intellectual production within or associated with government circles constituted a “gentle revolution.” The gentle revolution was an attempt to make patriotism the official ideology of the khedivate. This involved the use of the learned Arabic language as official language of the khedivate and the retelling of Muslim history of Egypt as an Arab narrative. This new Muslim memory has to compete with and conform the European aesthetics of Ismail Pasha and the actual Ottoman belonging of Egypt. Spatial transformation brought politics to be performed in front of the powerful. Thus, the language as a public representation had to be adjusted.
Distinction and Patriotism: Muṣṭafā Kāmil and the Making of an Arab Prince
Authors: Mestyan Adam
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the peak and end of Arab patriotism in Ottoman Egypt. The sudden death of Tevfik in 1892 helped to complete the restoration of khedivial legitimacy. However, patriotic intellectuals retained an uneasy relationship with khedivial authority. The symbolic figure of this relationship was Muṣṭafā Kāmil who was to become the first Egyptian nationalist politician. His entrance into politics defines the end of patriotism and opens a contested era of anticolonial nationalism. The early 1890s was also characterized by a theatrical boom in Arabic. Plays were translated and composed in Arabic, which challenged public norms and textual standards. There were more private stages, and the first theater building in Cairo was also built for performances exclusively in Arabic. Moreover, female writers appeared not only as playwrights but also as critics in journals.
The Ottoman Origin of Arab Nationalisms
Authors: Mestyan Adam
Published: January 2018

This concluding chapter explores the relationship between nineteenth-century patriotism and twentieth-century nationalisms. One line of reasoning regarding the relationship of the Egyptian version of Arab patriotism and twentieth-century pan-Arabism might focus on the power and image of the khedives among Ottoman and non-Ottoman Arabs. Another argument can be made about the relationship as only a discursive one between Ottoman Arab patriotisms and all kinds of Arab nationalist ideologies. It is possible to see the educated textual production of patriotism as a pool of texts and concepts in Arabic that would serve as resources for later ideologies. A third, easier argument can be made about the relationship between Arab patriotism in Egypt and twentieth-century Arabism in Egypt. Overall, the theory of patriotism may serve as an explanation of the religious potential that silently impregnated secularist Arab nationalisms in the twentieth century, both at the level of ideas and at the level of social life.
The Age of Transformation in Ottoman Political Thought
Authors: Turnaoğlu Banu
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines how the reigns of Sultan Selim III and Mahmud II witnessed significant changes in Ottoman political thought and the idea of a modern state. Concepts like republic, liberty, independence, equality, and nation began to appear widely in political writings. This change in political language was affected largely through the efforts of French missionaries, promoting republican ideas in the Ottoman sphere to win the support of the Porte. For the first time in Ottoman political thought, a republic was discussed as a form of a government, but still not as an alternative to the Ottoman monarchy. An extensive reform process changed the traditional ideas of nizam (order) and adalet (justice), improved relations with the West, and generated a modern bureaucratic centralized state.
Political Thought in the Balkan Wars
Authors: Turnaoğlu Banu
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on how the Second Constitutional period, with its three decisive wars (in the Balkans and across the continent), had a huge impact on the ways in which the population of the Empire felt about politics and on what they expected from it. This shift was consolidated by the Triumvirate of Enver, Cemal, and Talat Pasas, whose collective decisions dominated Ottoman politics from 1913 to 1918. They took up a blend of German militarist, nationalist, and idealist elements, combining elitism and mass mobilization, positively valuing violence, and normalizing war. Revolutionary ideals and the values of rationalism, progress, liberty, brotherhood, equality, and liberalism were set aside in the name of struggle, threat, leadership, unity, power, and heroism.
The Victory of Radical Republicanism
Authors: Turnaoğlu Banu
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses how in the aftermath of the War of Independence, the abolition of the monarchy in 1922 was followed by the monarch's flight from the country, ushering in a smooth establishment of the new regime. Modern Turkish historiography has assumed that abolishing the sultanate and proclaiming the Republic ensued with little debate or deliberation, and both were made possible by the outstanding character of Mustafa Kemal. However, the claim the Turkish republicanism was shaped merely by Mustafa Kemal's ideas deliberately ignores the competing conceptions of republicanism—radical, Islamic, and liberal—that fought one another in the revolutionary context for political dominance. It also understates the depth of republican thinking within opposition circles and groups.
The Discrete Optimal Assignment Problem
Authors: Galichon Alfred
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the finite-dimensional case, which is the case when the marginal probability distributions are discrete with finite support. In this case, the Monge–Kantorovich problem becomes a finite-dimensional linear programming problem; the primal and the dual solutions are related by complementary slackness, which is interpreted in terms of stability. The solutions can be conveniently computed by linear programming solvers, and the chapter shows how this is done using some matrix algebra and Gurobi.
Power Diagrams
Authors: Galichon Alfred
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the case when the attributes are d-dimensional vectors, the matching surplus is the scalar product, the distribution of workers' attributes is continuous, and the distribution of the firms is discrete. It discusses the geometry of the optimal assignment of workers to firms and relates it to the important notion of power diagrams in computational geometry. It shows that the optimal assignment map is the gradient of a piecewise affine convex function, and the equilibrium prices of the firms are shown to be the solution to a finite-dimensional convex minimization problem. The chapter discusses how to perform this computation in practice.
Quadratic Surplus
Authors: Galichon Alfred
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the case when the attributes are d-dimensional vectors and the surplus is the scalar product; it assumes that the distribution of the workers' attributes is continuous, but it relaxes the assumption that the distribution of the firms' attributes is discrete. This setting allows us to entirely rediscover convex analysis, which is introduced from the point of view of optimal transport. As a consequence, Brenier's polar factorization theorem is given, which provides a vector extension for the scalar notions of quantile and rearrangement.
Some Applications
Authors: Galichon Alfred
Published: January 2018

This chapter presents a number of applications of optimal transport theory to economics. These applications are biased toward the author's own research. The emphasis is put on the formal structures, in particular in connection with optimal transport. Thus, the results are presented somewhat loosely, and empirical applications are not discussed at all. The applications include: partial identification in econometrics in section, inversion of demand systems in section, computation of hedonic equilibria, identification via vector quantile methods, quantile regression, multidimensional screening, and pricing of financial derivatives.
El Barrio and La Feria
Authors: Auyero Javier , Berti María Fernanda
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses the extreme levels of material deprivation and the meager forms of palliative state assistance that characterize daily life in Arquitecto Tucci. It first reviews the neighborhood's recent history as one marked by deindustrialization and informalization before considering the formation and pacification of the informal street market known as La Salada (an important source of jobs for the local population) and the depacification of its surrounding area. In particular, it examines the role played by violence in the origins of La Salada, as well as the ways in which the daily functioning of the market has become more “civilized” (that is, devoid of violence) over time. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the increasing levels of interpersonal violence in the area adjacent to La Salada, which it ascribes to expanding opportunities for crime.
Toward a Political Sociology of Urban Marginality
Authors: Auyero Javier , Berti María Fernanda
Published: January 2018

This book has examined how violence dislocates individuals' lives and disrupts the collective life of Arquitecto Tucci. It has also identified economic and political forces at the root of the whirlpool of violence that wreaks havoc in Tucci's daily life. This conclusion summarizes the book's main findings and proposes a political sociology of urban marginality by highlighting parallels and convergences with other territories of urban relegation in the Americas. It argues that, to make better sense of concatenated violence—and the individual and collective actions it generates—it is necessary to pay attention to state actions and inactions, such as police brutality, police participation in crime (such as the drug trade), and the almost total (and patriarchal) institutional disregard for—and occasional complicity with—domestic and sexual violence.
On the Selection of Good Leaders in a Political Meritocracy
Authors: Bell Daniel A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines which abilities and virtues should set the standard for the selection and promotion of public officials/servants so that China's political system can be improved. The discussion draws on the following assumptions: it is good for a political community to be governed by high-quality rulers; China's one (ruling) party political system is not about to collapse; the meritocratic aspect of the system is partly good; and it can be improved. The chapter then offers suggestions about which qualities matter most for political leaders in the context of large, peaceful, and modernizing (nondemocratic) meritocratic states, followed by suggestions about mechanisms that increase the likelihood of selecting leaders with such qualities. The findings reveal which abilities, social skills, and virtues matter most for political leaders in the context of a large, peaceful, and modernizing political meritocracy. These findings are used as a standard for evaluating the Chinese meritocratic system.
Introduction
Authors: Owen John M.
Published: January 2018

This book examines political Islam in relation to Western ideologies of the past. It argues that political Islam, or Islamism, cannot be understood without reference to the broad ideology to which it is a reaction: secularism. Focusing on ideological contests in Europe and the Americas that stretched across countries and decades, the book outlines six broad lessons for policy makers and citizens trying to deal with the prolonged ideological travails in the Middle East. It also advances the claim that understanding the Islamist–secularist struggle requires that we understand the origins, dynamics, and ultimate end of similar ideological struggles in the history of the Western world. Finally, it describes the content of each ideology—Lutheranism, monarchism, liberalism, Islamism, and so on—and emphasizes the fact that each ideology was caught in a struggle with one or more alternatives.
Foreign Interventions Are Normal
Authors: Owen John M.
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the third lesson for Islamism and secularism: foreign interventions are normal. The United States is known to engage in various military interventions worldwide, including Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is not the only country that uses force to change other countries' domestic regimes or leaders. More than 200 such interventions have been attempted by great powers over the past 500 years. Indeed, Western history shows that such forcible interventions are a normal part of transnational ideological struggles. The chapter examines the dynamics at work in all three historic cases of ideological contests in Europe: the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, the struggle between monarchism and republicanism, and the struggle between communism, fascism, and democracy. It suggests that we should expect more foreign interventions as long as Muslims contend over the best way to order their societies.
Certain Ancient Number Systems
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses ancient number systems, beginning with the Babylonian system. Almost every history of early Western mathematics begins with the Babylonian conception of number, a so-called sexagesimal (base 60) system for writing large numbers, formulations of multiplication tables, and ideas for astronomy. The current number system needs symbols for just ten numbers in order to represent any number we wish, compared to that of the Babylonians which needed just two symbols. The chapter also considers the early Egyptian number writing, which was an additive system, as well as the Greek alphabet and sequential number system, Roman numerals, Aztec numerals, and the Mayan system.
The Arab Gift
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on the Arabs' contributions to the modern number system. It first considers the role played by Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwārizmī, the greatest Arab mathematician of his day, learned of the new Indian numbers from the Arabic translation of Brahmagupta's Brahmasphutasiddhanta, and wrote a textbook on arithmetic using the new Indian numbers. In around 820 AD, al-Khwārizmī wrote The Book of Restoration and Equalization. It was translated into Latin under the title Algebra et Almucabala, and that is how the term “algebra” came to be understood as what it is today. The chapter also looks at the Indian astronomer Kanka, who visited the House of Wisdom in Baghdad in 770 AD and brought with him many manuscripts from India, including the Brahmasphutasiddhanta.
Diophantus’s Arithmetica
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses Diophantus's Arithmetica and its contribution to symbolic modern mathematics. Some historians in the past have suggested that algebra began with Diophantus, whose Arithmetica is characterized by the crudeness of its notation. Only six of the thirteen books survive as copies of the original Arithmetica in Greek. The chapter considers the debate among scholars over the origins of a symbol used by Diophantus in Arithmetica, which also appears in Heron of Alexandria's Metrica, written in the first century AD. It suggests that Diophantus's notation does not solidly distinguish operational symbols, such as powers or summation, from numbers or indeterminate objects.
Hierarchies of Dignity
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses what Rafael Bombelli called dignità, which translates to the English word “dignity” and is equivalent to what we refer to as “exponents.” It first considers Bombelli's L'Algebra (1579), which introduces a new kind of notation for the unknown and its powers. Written in Italian, L'Algebra used equality in a different sense than we do. For Bombelli, the higher powers meant hierarchies of dignity. He was not only inventing genuine symbols when depicting dignità as little cups holding numbers, but also inventing words that were new to mathematics. The chapter also examines how the problem of finding the roots of polynomials became the problem of factoring polynomials. Finally, it looks at René Descartes's idea of using numerical superscripts to mark positive integral exponents of a polynomial in his La Géométrie.
Vowels and Consonants
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on the evolution of the vowel–consonant notation. In particular, it discusses François Viète's contribution to algebra through his use of vowels to represent unknowns and consonants to represent known quantities. Viète, a French mathematician, expressed his famous computation for π‎ in proposition II of his Isagoge. Even Christoff Rudolff and Nicolas Chuquet had no proper notation for expressing such an infinite sum of nested square roots. Viète was showing us an intimate link between Greek geometry and algebra, a link from the mathematics of lines, figures, and solids to the underlying channels of symbolic algebra. The chapter also considers Viète's work on what are now called “homogeneous equations” as well as the significance of his lettering system to symbolic algebra.
Conclusion
Authors: Mazur Joseph
Published: January 2018

This concluding chapter argues that symbols contribute to the beauty in mathematics—the elegance of proofs, simplicity of exposition, ingenuities, simplification of complexities, making sensible connections. It explains how equations built from simple symbols become symbols in their own right, offering powerful connections to the idea that something innocuous can occur over and over again in seemingly unrelated fields, sometimes relating the ephemeral to the physical. It compares mathematical symbols to symbols in poetry, noting that both perform the same function: to make connections between experience and the unknown and to transfer metaphorical thoughts capable of conveying meaning. While individual symbols may not have much effect on a mathematician's creative thinking, the chapter suggests that in groups they acquire powerful connections through similarity, association, identity, resemblance and repeated imagery.
A Theory of Currency Policy Preferences
Authors: Frieden Jeffry A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter sets forth a theoretical framework for the analysis of the politics of exchange rates. It relies on three factors—international exposure, tradability, and pass-through—to explain as much of currency policy preferences as possible. This can provide building blocks for a broader analysis of the politics of exchange rates. The chapter begins with a statement of the dependent variables of the study. It then presents the author's reasoning and the empirical expectations that flow from it. This is followed by a brief summary of other scholarly studies of the economics and politics of exchange rates in order to situate this study within the broader literature.
Conclusions
Authors: Swidler Ann , Watkins Susan Cotts
Published: January 2018

This concluding chapter explains how hard the task of the AIDS enterprise is. It is difficult because the visions that inspire the romance of altruism are often at odds with the visions of the brokers on whom the donors depend and with the visions of those living in villages or slums who long for help that will permit them to survive from day to day. It is particularly difficult for the giant institutional altruists such as USAID and Save the Children. Their tasks are hard because foreign aid, by definition, is sent to faraway places. The task is yet more daunting when it comes to AIDS prevention efforts in Africa, where the goal of institutional altruists is to change intimate behaviors that for many local people are central to life's joys and to its meanings.
Forging History
Authors: Goossen Benjamin W.
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores how the Kulturkampf pushed Mennonite leaders to articulate their relationship to German nationalism. Emerging from the formation of the German Empire, including the abolition of military exemption in Prussia, spokespersons disagreed over the appropriate response. While conservatives found military service and by extension German nationalism incompatible with Mennonite faith, progressives argued that such logic only confirmed the charges from patriots. Torn between the poles of non-resistant theology and nationalist ideology, Mennonite communities descended into chaos. Defending the sanctity of human life, pacifists argued that it would be un-Mennonite and un-Christian to support a militarist Germany and abandoned their homeland. Meanwhile, progressive Mennonite leaders advanced a specifically Anabaptist version of German nationalism.
Mennonite Nationalism
Authors: Goossen Benjamin W.
Published: January 2018

This chapter describes how postwar Mennonite nationalism was an accidental phenomenon. While previous leaders, especially in the USSR and the Americas, had portrayed their confession in separatist national terms, these assertions were largely discontinuous with the late 1940s. Rather than an inevitable confession-wide awakening, religious nationalism was a temporary response to historical contingencies. While its resurgence confirms the pervasiveness of collectivist thinking in war-torn Europe, it also raises questions about the nature of its appeal among minority populations. Mennonite nationalism, for all its reach, had few true converts. Refugees adopted it to access desirable services, but were often reluctant to discard Germanness; North American aid workers found it politically expedient, but many privately considered it theologically bankrupt.
Living through Communism
Authors: Pop-Eleches Grigore , Tucker Joshua A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter provides a more focused living through communism model to explain attitudinal divergence among post-communist citizens. In particular, it lays out the specific variables expected—based on the history of communism and how it developed in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe—to have potentially increased the intensity of the communist message to which citizens were exposed and the resistance that citizens might have had to that exposure. The chapter takes a two-part approach to doing so. The first half of this chapter provides some general background on Soviet communism. The second half presents and motivates the living through communism intensifying and resistance hypotheses that will be tested in chapters 4–7.
Methods and Data
Authors: Pop-Eleches Grigore , Tucker Joshua A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter looks at the questions of data and methodology. It is divided into three parts. The first part introduces in much greater detail the intuition behind the study's methodological approach. The second part provides information regarding the modeling choices made in the analyses, the justification for doing so, and a discussion of some of the consequences of the choices for how one ought to interpret the findings. The third part describes both the survey data sets analyzed and the aggregate-level data collected to augment these surveys. Ultimately, the chapter can function almost as a stand-alone reference section that is easily accessibly at any time during the reading of the book.
Democracy
Authors: Pop-Eleches Grigore , Tucker Joshua A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter analyzes the mechanisms underlying the large and temporally resilient democratic values deficit among residents of post-communist countries. While a number of pre-communist and post-communist demographic, political, and economic factors affect democratic support patterns, these features of living in a post-communist country alone cannot account for the significant democratic deficit of post-communist citizens. However, the study found very strong support for the effects of exposure to communism at the individual level: the extent of the democratic deficit increases substantially with the length of time a given individual spent living in a communist regime, even after controlling for a citizen's age. The data, therefore, strongly suggest that the legacy of living through communism contributed to anti-democratic attitudes in the post-communist period.
Temporal Resilience and Change
Authors: Pop-Eleches Grigore , Tucker Joshua A.
Published: January 2018

This chapter addresses the question of the temporal resilience of communist socialization effects. To do so, it develops three stylized models of attitudinal change, which carry very different implications for the temporal evolution of both aggregate-level post-communist exceptionalism and within-country attitudinal differences between different age cohorts. The first model, fleeting legacies, predicted a fairly rapid attitudinal convergence of post-communist citizens toward the views of their non-communist counterparts. The second model, generational replacement, entails a much slower process of attitudinal convergence based on the gradual dying-off of the older and more heavily exposed age cohorts and the coming of age of new cohorts with shorter or no direct communist exposure. The third model, temporary divergence, allows for the possibility that the attitudinal legacies of communism could actually increase, at least temporarily, over the course of the post-communist transition.
Benefits of Fiscal Policies on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Authors: Mandakh Undram , Hu Irène , Erdenebayar Erdenechimeg , Bold Khorolmaa , Purevdorj Tseden , Ochir Chimedsuren
Published: January 2018

Objectives: Overweight, obesity, and their associated chronic diseases have become prevalent in many developing countries in Asia, defining them as major public health issues. One of the main contributors to overweight and obesity is the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). In this article, we reviewed the latest literature examining the benefits of a SSB tax. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted on: (i) policy documents and government reports to examine the current applications of SSB taxation; and (ii) published studies on price elasticity of demand (PED) of SSBs to examine the health and economic benefits of SSB taxation. Results: Articles included in our review have used or estimated negative PED, ranging from -0.63 to -1.3, and have shown an associated decrease in BMI and prevalence of overweight and obesity. Conclusion: Most studies so far have focused on the health and economic impacts of SSB taxation among high- and upper-middle income countries. Further research is needed to understand the impact of SSB taxation on lower-middle and low-income countries, which are facing comparable, if not more serious, obesity and overweight threats.
Association Between IL-28B Polymorphism and Clinical Laboratory Features in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis D
Authors: Bayarsaikhan Uyanga , Gidaagaya Sarantuya , Namdag Bira , Batjargal Azjargal
Published: January 2018

Objectives: We aimed to determine an association between IL-28B rs12989760 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and clinical laboratory parameters in patients with chronic hepatitis D. Methods: A total of 59 patients who were chronically infected with HDV were had their serum tested for the presence of qHBsAg, anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc, anti-HCV, anti-HDV IgM, anti-HDV IgG, HDV RNA, HBV DNA and AFP. Liver function tests, coagulation tests and CBC were also performed. IL-28B polymorphism was performed using a TaqMan 5' allelic discrimination assay by real time PCR. Results: Of these 59 patients, 40 patients (67.8 %) carried the rs12979860CC homozygote genotype, 11 patients (18.6%) were rs12979860CC homozygote and 8 patients (13.6%) were rs12979860CT heterozygote. Alkaline phosphatase and direct bilirubin values were higher (p<0.05) and total protein levels were lower (p<0.05) in patients who were homozygotes for the T allele as opposed to the carriers of the C allele. AFP levels were significantly higher (p=0.02) in the rs12979860 TT genotype group. Liver enzymes including AST, ALT and GGT were significantly not higher in patients who carry C allele (p>.05). Conclusion: The most frequent genotype was IL-28B rs12979860CC among patients with chronic hepatitis D. The IL-28B rs12979860 polymorphism was associated with some abnormal liver function test parameters and AFP levels. Additional studies are necessary to understand the immune mechanisms of IL-28B polymorphism in HDV infection.
Exposure to Leather Tanning Factories Lowers Semen Quality in Mongolian Men
Authors: Myagmartseren Purevtogtokh , Geater Alan , Sriplung Hutcha
Published: January 2018

Objectives: To examine the difference in semen qualities of male workers in leather tanning factories and of those in other industries. Methods: Eighty reproductive aged male workers from six leather tanning factories and eighty-five from non-tanning workplaces participated in the study as the exposed subjects and non-exposed subjects, respectively. Each subject was given a physical examination, required to complete a questionnaire, and asked to supply a semen specimen. Semen analysis on fresh specimens followed the latest World Health Organization guideline. Semen parameters were compared between the exposed and non-exposed subjects using tabulation and chi-square test for categorical variables and t-test or rank-sum test for continuous variables. Multiple linear or logistic regression models were constructed to examine the independent effects of exposure. Results: After adjusting for confounding variables, exposed subjects had significantly higher percentages of grade C motility (p=0.008), mid-piece defect (p=0.009), and tail-defect (p=0.029) in their spermatozoa compared to non-exposed subjects. Liquefaction time was also longer (p=0.046). Conclusion: Leather tanning workers have significantly higher percentages of grade C motility, mid-piece defect, and tail-defect in their spermatozoa.
Prevalence of Blue Spot among Mongolian Newborn Infants
Authors: Batbaatar Suvd , Yadamsuren Enkhtur , Sonom Lkhamsuren , Unshigbayar Oyunchimeg , Sharkhuu Myagmarjav , Badrakh Burmaajav
Published: January 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of Mongolian spots in Mongolian infants. Methods: This hospital-based, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted nationwide among 2641 newborn infants in Ulaanbaatar and in 21 provinces hospitals within 96 hours postpartum in 2015. Results: The prevalence of Mongolian spots in Mongolian infants was 91.3%. The prevalence of spots in females was 92.1% and in male newborns it was 90.6% (p>0.05). The prevalence of Mongolian spots in the Western provinces was lower than in the rest of other provinces (98.3% and 95% CI: 96.4-99.4). For of infants with Khalkha parentage, 92.7% had Mongolian spots, while 64.7% of infants with Kazakh parentage had Mongolian spots. The Mongolian spots are commonly located in infant’s lower back (88.3%) and had an average length of 3.7±2.7 cm, width of 2.7±1.9 cm and an average area of 14.2±23.3 cm2. The appearance of Mongolian spots on the infant’s legs, face, chest, hands, feet, knee, and cheeks were less frequent. Conclusion: The prevalence of Mongolian spots among Mongolian infants was 91.3% [95%CI: 87.2-95.3] and significant difference was observed between Mongolian and Kazakh infants.
Prediction of Preeclampsia by Maternal Factors and Biophysical Markers During the First-trimester
Authors: Tserensambuu Urjindelger , Chuluun-Erdene Ariunbold , Janlav Munkhtsetseg , Tudevdorj Erkhhembaatar
Published: January 2018

Objectives: In this study, we examined the predictive effect of maternal factors, first-trimester mean arterial pressure (MAP) and uterine artery mean pulsatility index (mUt.A-PI) on the subsequent development of preeclampsia (PE). Methods: Maternal characteristics and medical history were recorded and biophysical markers included uterine artery flow velocity wave forms mUt.A-PI and MAP were measured in 393 single pregnancies who getting antenatal care at 11+0-13+6 weeks. Results: Sixty six (16.8%) cases had preeclampsia and 327 (83.2%) cases were unaffected by preeclampsia. One hundred nineteen (30.3%) of the 393 pregnancies were nulliparous, 274 (69.7%) pregnancies were multiparous. Seventy one (25.9%) women had a history of preeclampsia in previous pregnancy and 203 (74.1%) women had no history of preeclampsia. For MAP as a predictor of PE, the cutoff point for MAP was 89.5 mmHg (sensitivity 71.2%, specificity 75.5%, J0.467, AUC 0.792, P<.001). The cutoff point of mUt.A-PI was 2.34 (sensitivity 33.3%, specificity 77.7%, J0.12, AUC-0.577, P<.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that woman who had PE previously had highest odds ratio (OR=5.81, p<0.001) for developing PE. Conclusion: The strongest predictor of PE was a previous history of PE. The MAP was a more accurate predictor of PE than the mUt.A-PI measurement
Clinical Characteristics of Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy With Hippocampal Sclerosis and Temporal Lobe Epilepsies Due to Other Etiologies
Authors: Myangaa Amarjargal , Dashjamts Tuvshinjargal , Guntev Tsagaankhuu , Avirmed Tovuudorj
Published: January 2018

Objectives: This study compared the clinical characteristics of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (mTLE-HS) to patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to other etiologies. Methods: In this prospective study, all patients with a clinical diagnosis of TLE were recruited at “Sanus’’ outpatient neurological clinic from June 2016 to June 2017. We took note if patients had mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) (if they had clear signs of MTS and/or atrophy in their MRI) or any other MRI abnormality. Results: A total of 88 patients (36 patients with mTLE-HS and 52 patients with TLE due to other etiologies) were included in this study. High frequency of seizure (p<0.05), oroalimentary automatism (p<0.05), postictal nose wiping (p<0.001), and absence of psychomotor automatism (p<0.05) were commonly seen in patients with mTLE-HS, while vertiginous auras (p<0.05) was more frequently seen in those with TLE due to other etiologies. Conclusion: Clinical characteristics of patients with mTLE-HS were high frequency of seizure, oroalimentary automatism, postictal nose wiping, and absence of psychomotor automatism, while vertiginous auras was more frequent in those with TLE due to other etiologies.
Controversy of Islamic Law on The Distribution of Inheritance to the Heirs of Different Religion
Authors: Yusuf Asdar
Published: January 2018

The ability and willingness to have sufficient property is always desired by people because the generations that have enough supply of life is better than the begging ones. However, the ownership or transfer of property rights in Islam is clearly regulated through inheritance, sale, gifts, grants, endowments, alms, and other lawful means, such as loans and mortgages. The ownership or transfer of property through inheritance is an important part of Islam. Inheritance relationship between offspring was not easily done, both based on the particular culture and religion. Among the Hindus, especially in Bali, girls do not receive inheritance. The same also applies to Western society in England some time ago. In Padang-Muslim society, men do not receive it. In Javanese society, inheritance is divided equally, without differentiating boys and girls. Such inheritance is based on the cultural standards and anthropocentric paradigm (man as the center of everything). Interesting to be studied is the case in which Muslim whose parents or relatives are still non Muslims or live in a non Muslim state, when they died, the children are legally entitled to the inheritance of their parents or relatives, while in the hadith narrated in Bukhari and Muslim explicitly stated the prohibition of inheritance of different religion.
Scrotal swelling as the presenting feature of antenatal intestinal perforation with meconium pseudocyst: a case report
Authors: Garland Rebecca , Kumar Yadlapalli , Thorogood Simon , Munyard Paul
Published: January 2018

Background:

Scrotal swelling in the neonatal period is a common finding with a range of underlying causative processes, ranging from the benign to surgical emergencies. This case highlights some of the diagnostic difficulties in an unusual clinical presentation.

Case Presentation:

We describe a case of antenatal intestinal perforation presenting as scrotal swelling in a newborn of 35 weeks gestation. Antenatal ultrasound scans had not raised suspicion and there was no abdominal distension apparent in the immediate neonatal period. Clinical impression was initially of testicular torsion prior to radiological assessment, which demonstrated pneumoscrotum and free peritoneal gas requiring urgent surgery.

Conclusion:

It is important to consider intra-abdominal pathology in association with a patent processus vaginalis as a cause for scrotal swelling in the newborn, in addition to urological causes. Following surgical management, it is important to exclude cystic fibrosis as an underlying cause for meconium ileus.
Students’ Speaking Skill in English Immersion School
Authors: Fadil Mohammad , Sumardi Sumardi , Ngadiso Ngadiso
Published: January 2018

This research aims to describe: (1) students' English speaking skill in English immersion school; (2) students’ strengths and weaknesses in speaking skill in English immersion school; (3) factors affecting students' speaking skill in English immersion school. The research was designed as a case study, conducted at a school applying English immersion in Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia in Academic Year 2017-2018. The research used purposive sampling. Data were collecated by interview, questionnairre, observation, and document analysis. The informants were grade 2 students, English teachers, and the school founder. The analysis found that: (1) on the scale of 1-5 (1=very bad, 2=bad, 3=fair, 4=good, 5=very good), students’ English speaking skills were at levels of very good (2.22%), good (6.67%), fair (37.78%), bad (44.44%), and very bad (8.89%); (2) students’ strengths in English speaking skills were related to vocabulary with average score of 2.7, and the weaknesses dealt with fluency with average score of 2.25; (3) factors that were assumed to affect students’ English speaking skills were environment, local accent, vocabulary mastery, English use, preference, and habits. It is recommended that all parties involved in the English immersion program evaluate the running of the program and the content of the program to provide learning outputs through English immersion. Commitment to using English should be strengthened, especially in English Week program. Improvement on English teachers’ is needed by involving them in trainings. Finally, similar research at non-English immersion school is necessary to ensure the comparative results gained from both types of school.
Crescimento e diagnose de deficiências nutricionais em Physalis peruviana L.
Authors: Moschini Bruno Paulo , Coelho Viviane Amaral Toleto , Peche Pedro Maranha , De Souza Filipe Bittencourt Machado , Coutinho Givago , Barbosa Caio Morais de Alcantra , Freire Ana Izabella
Published: January 2018

O cultivo de Physalis peruviana L., popularmente conhecido como fisális, apresenta grande potencial econômico e está sendo aos poucos incorporado aos plantios do grupo de pequenas frutas no Brasil. Entretanto, ainda há necessidade de se aprimorar o manejo cultural, principalmente em questões relativas às necessidades nutricionais, bem o estabelecimento de parâmetros de diagnose visual de deficiência nutricional. Objetivou-se com este trabalho descrever os sintomas visuais de deficiências nutricionais, bem como avaliar o efeito da omissão de nutrientes no crescimento e nutrição mineral de fisális. O experimento foi conduzido em casa de vegetação do Departamento de Ciências do Solo da Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brasil. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado com três repetições e oito tratamentos, em solução nutritiva baseada em solução de Hoagland e Arnon com os seguintes tratamentos: omissões individuais de Ca, Mg, B, Zn, Mn, Fe e múltiplas de CaB e MgMn. Avaliou-se o número médio de folhas por planta (NF); altura (ALT); diâmetro do caule (DC); produção de matéria seca da parte aérea (PMPA), das raízes (PMR) e total (PMT); relação parte aérea/raízes (PA/R); o crescimento relativo da parte aérea e das raízes; bem como a diagnose visual. As deficiências dos nutrientes nas mudas de fisális se traduziram por sintomas típicos, com exceção da omissão do Zn que não manifestou nenhum sintoma de carência. As omissões de Fe e CaB foram as mais limitantes para o crescimento vegetativo dessa espécie.