bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Questioning the Symmetry Between Analysis and Synthesis in Chemical Practices
Authors: Bensaude-Vincent Bernadette
Published: December 2024

This paper interrogates the general assumption of the symmetry between analysis and synthesis. It argues that the emphasis on symmetry between analytic and synthetic operations proceeds from a reconceptualization of the empirical tradition of chemical analysis under the aegis of mathematical and philosophical notions. Given that the experimental analyses and syntheses are viewed as mere translations of a mode of reasoning onto the material realm, I refer to this approach as the intellectualist tradition. I highlight the contrast between this intellectualist approach, which describes analysis and synthesis as two distinct and successive operations, and more pragmatic approaches to analysis and synthesis as practical arts that emphasize the synchrony between the two processes rather than their symmetry.
Spagyria, Scheidung, and Spagürlein: The Meanings of Analysis for Paracelsus
Authors: Kahn Didier , Newman William R.
Published: December 2024

Paracelsus is often lauded for having created a new disciplinary identity for alchemy by basing it on the twin operations of analysis and synthesis. Indeed, his neologism for the field, Spagyria, is often said to express this pairing by embodying the Greek terms for decompounding and compounding (σπάν and ἀγείρειν). The present article disputes both this etymological claim and the underlying belief that Paracelsus had an interest in synthesis that paralleled his very strong promotion of analysis (Scheidung). As the authors argue, there is good reason to think that Paracelsus actually modeled the word Spagyria on the early modern Swiss coin that went by the name Spagürlein, Spagürli, or Spagürle. This derivation was appropriate for a discipline based on Scheidung, since the coin was the product of numerous metallurgical processes involving separation. The claim that Spagyria was a fusion of σπάν and ἀγείρειν was actually a product of Paracelsus’s followers, not of the Swiss chymist himself.
A Fresh Look at Newton’s Method of Analysis and Synthesis
Authors: Shapiro Alan E.
Published: December 2024

In Query 23, which Newton added to the Latin translation of the Opticks, he declared that investigations in natural philosophy should follow the mathematical methods of analysis, to discover principles and propositions, and synthesis, to demonstrate new propositions. He has proposed a method of reasoning and knowledge. In the next sentence, however, he states that analysis allows us to proceed from “compositions to ingredients,” which appears to be chymists’ method of decomposing material things. This study confirms that Newton did indeed follow mathematicians’ concept of analysis and synthesis in his optical investigations. Through analysis he discovered principles or propositions—for example, that sunlight consists of rays of different colors—while the synthesis demonstrated new propositions, such as the formation of the rainbow and not that white light is composed of rays of different colors. With the exception of this single query, Newton never used the terms “analysis” and “synthesis” in his optical writings. Only in the second half of the eighteenth century, beginning with the French, were these terms applied to the decomposition and recombination of rays of light. The second part of this paper traces this transition to the modern usage of the terms “analysis” and “synthesis.”
Knowing Diseases and Medicines Forward and Backward: Analysis and Synthesis from Galen to Early Modern Academic Medicine
Authors: Ragland Evan R.
Published: December 2024

Early modern academic physicians followed Galen’s models on many points, including reasoning from signs of diseases back to hidden causes and from causes to signs. Galen’s Art of Medicine (Ars medica, Ars parva, Tegni) famously spurred reflections on the methods of teaching and discovery, which included his categories of analysis, synthesis, and dissolution of the definition. Medieval and early modern physicians at times described analysis as reasoning from effects to causes, and synthesis from causes to effects. Diagnosis often depended on reasoning backward from signs to hidden seats of diseases and causes (analysis), and from causes and organs to signs and symptoms (synthesis). At patients’ bedsides, physicians also moved forward in time, observing disease progression and the effects of therapeutic interventions. From the early 1600s on, physicians at Leiden University followed the Paduan model and used postmortem dissections to confirm or go beyond the diagnoses and prognoses made during daily clinical teaching in the local hospital. These Galenic physicians did not develop radically new medical frameworks, but they did gradually add to the store of pathological and therapeutic knowledge. They based these gradual innovations on their humanist scholarship, as well as on their knowledge of diseases and therapies going forward with living patients, and their inferences from postmortem evidence back to the historical causes of patients’ diseases and deaths. By the mid-1600s, this established pedagogical practice allowed physicians and students pushing new medical theories to generate important new pathological knowledge, notably of consumption (phthisis). By the later 1600s, and into the 1700s, it appears that physicians still reasoned back from signs to hidden anatomical states, using causal principles of natural philosophy, but reserved the terms “analysis” and “synthesis” for mathematics and, especially, chemistry. Although the new Paris medicine, around 1800, explicitly eschewed theoretical systems and causal principles in favor of correlating and counting close descriptions of anatomical and clinical phenomena, the practices of reasoning back from symptoms to impaired organ functions and anatomical states revealed in postmortem dissections appear significantly continuous across the early modern period.
Algorithmen erleben in Virtual Reality
Authors: Göbel Erik , Andres Daniela , Korwisi Kristof , Latoschik Marc Erich , Hennecke Martin
Published: December 2024

Algorithmisches Denken ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung für das Erlernen des Programmierens. Die abstrakte Natur und das tatsächliche Verständnis von Algorithmen spielen aber oft eine untergeordnete Rolle, wenn das Programmieren mithilfe spezifischer Umgebungen und Programmiersprachen erlernt wird. Anstatt zugrunde liegende Muster zu erkennen, erwerben die Lernenden oft hauptsächlich die Fähigkeit, konkrete Probleme in einer konkreten Programmiersprache zu lösen. Es stellt sich daher die Frage, wie abstrakte Algorithmen losgelöst von einer konkreten Programmiersprache erfahrbar und verständlich gemacht werden können. Robot Karol ist eine in Schulen oft verwendete Lernumgebung, in der ein Roboter durch einen kleinen Befehlssatz programmier- und steuerbar ist. In Anlehnung an bereits existierende 2D-Versionen von Robot Karol sollen bei dem in diesem Beitrag vorgestellten Ansatz die Nutzer:innen in einer mit Virtual Reality (VR) umgesetzten Umgebung verschiedene Aufgaben im Stil des Robot Karol erfüllen. Der von uns gewählte VR-Ansatz beinhaltet im Gegensatz zu existierenden Desktop-Versionen keine syntaktische Komponente. Die Aktionen der Nutzer:innen werden direkt umgesetzt und visualisiert, wodurch die wesentlichen algorithmischen Abläufe greifbarer gemacht werden sollen.
Sprachpolitik im Spannungsfeld von Nationalismus und Identitätsdebatten – Überblicksartikel
Authors: Gotzmann Andreas
Published: December 2024

Während der Emanzipationsphase entwickelte sich Sprache, angetrieben durch den Nationalismus, zu einem zentralen Aspekt der miteinander verwobenen Politik des Staates und jüdischer Identitätsdebatten. Sowohl die repressive Integrationspolitik des Staates als auch jüdische Umbewertungen von heiliger Sprache und Muttersprache wurden durch den sich wandelnden Begriff von Sprache beeinflusst. Die Mehrsprachigkeit der jüdischen Kultur traf auf die Dominanz der Vorstellung von einer reinen, geregelten Sprache, über die nationale Zugehörigkeit definiert wurde. – During the Emancipation period, and driven by nationalism, language emerged as a central aspect of the interrelated policies of the state and debates about Jewish identity. Both the stateʼs repressive integration policies and Jewish redefinitions of sacred language and mother tongue were influenced by the changing concept of language. The multilingualism of Jewish culture met with the dominance of the idea of a pure, regulated language through which a concept of national belonging was defined.
Gebrochene Sprache in deutschsprachig-jüdischer Gegenwartsliteratur
Authors: Banki Luisa
Published: December 2024

Die mehrsprachige Gestaltung vieler Texte deutschsprachig-jüdischer Gegenwartsliteratur knüpft an literarische Traditionen polyglotten Schreibens in der Diaspora an und aktualisiert diese für die eigene Gegenwart. Dieser Artikel stellt unterschiedliche Formen und Funktionen von Mehrsprachigkeit vor, untersucht deren poetologische Bedeutung in Texten von Tomer Gardi, Lena Gorelik und Channah Trzebiner und diskutiert sie im Kontext eines neuen post-monolingualen Paradigmas. – The multilingualism of many works of contemporary German-Jewish literature draws on literary traditions of polyglot writing in the diaspora and actualizes them for the present. This article presents various forms and functions of multilingualism, examines their poetological significance in works by Tomer Gardi, Lena Gorelik, and Channah Trzebiner, and discusses them in the context of a new post-monolingual paradigm.
A Cyclic p-y Elastoplastic Model Applied to Lateral Loaded Pile in Soft Clays
Authors: Cheng Xinglei , Lu Dechun , Wang Piguang
Published: December 2024

The p-y method as a simplified analysis tool has been widely used to analyze the behavior of laterally loaded piles. This chapter develops a novel cyclic p-y elastoplastic model within the framework of the single-surface bounding surface theory. The model can capture the soil stiffness degradation during cyclic loading by incorporating the cumulative plastic displacement to an interpolation function of the elastoplastic resistance coefficient.
Lateral Cyclic Responses of OWT Monopile in Soft Clays
Authors: Cheng Xinglei , Lu Dechun , Wang Piguang
Published: December 2024

It is very important to analyze the lateral cyclic response of monopiles for the design of offshore wind turbines (OWTs). A three-dimensional finite element method for lateral cyclic responses of large-diameter monopiles is developed based on a simplified constitutive model of clays that has been successfully encoded into the ABAQUS software package (as detailed in Chap. 2).
Seismic Response of OWT Monopile in Clays
Authors: Cheng Xinglei , Lu Dechun , Wang Piguang
Published: December 2024

The safe and stable operation of monopile offshore wind turbines (MOWTs) under seismic and environmental loading is a major challenge facing designers. A numerical method was developed for simulating the dynamic interaction of the soil-pile-structure system by employing an elastoplastic bounding surface constitutive model that can capture the cyclic degradation of clay stiffness well.
Lateral Cyclic Responses of OWT Tripod Suction Bucket in Clays
Authors: Cheng Xinglei , Lu Dechun , Wang Piguang
Published: December 2024

Tripod suction bucket foundations are increasingly used to support offshore wind turbines (OWTs) due to their economic advantages and high overturning resistance. In the harsh marine environment, OWT tripod bucket foundations are subjected to long-term lateral cyclic loads from wind, waves and current.
Seismic Responses of OWT Tripod Suction Bucket in Clays
Authors: Cheng Xinglei , Lu Dechun , Wang Piguang
Published: December 2024

Tripod suction buckets offer many advantages as foundations for offshore wind turbines including fast and economic installation and high overturning resistance. In this application, tripod suction buckets are subjected to dynamic loads such as wind and waves as well as earthquakes.
On Lurie’s theorem and applications
Authors: Davies Jack Morgan
Published: December 2024

Lurie’s theorem states that there exists a sheaf of ring spectra on the site of formally étale Deligne–Mumford stacks over the moduli stack of p-divisible groups of height n, which agrees with the classical Landweber exact functor theorem (LEFT) on affines. In other words, this theorem is a global, higher categorical refinement of the LEFT. In recent work, Lurie has introduced many of the ingredients one needs to prove this theorem, and in this article, we gather these ingredients together and prove Lurie’s theorem. Applications of this theorem to Lubin–Tate theories, topological modular and automorphism forms, and Adams operations are also discussed.
Oka-1 manifolds: New examples and properties
Authors: Forstnerič Franc , Lárusson Finnur
Published: December 2024

In this paper we investigate Oka-1 manifolds and Oka-1 maps, a class of complex manifolds and holomorphic maps recently introduced by Alarcón and Forstnerič. Oka-1 manifolds are characterised by the property that holomorphic maps from any open Riemann surface to the manifold satisfy the Runge approximation and Weierstrass interpolation conditions, while Oka-1 maps enjoy similar properties for liftings of maps from open Riemann surfaces in the absence of topological obstructions. We also formulate and study the algebraic version of the Oka-1 condition, called aOka-1. We show that it is a birational invariant for compact algebraic manifolds and holds for all rational manifolds. This gives a Runge approximation theorem for maps from compact Riemann surfaces to uniformly rational projective manifolds. Finally, we study a class of complex manifolds with an approximation property for holomorphic sprays of discs. This class lies between the smaller class of Oka manifolds and the bigger class of Oka-1 manifolds and has interesting functorial properties.
Lignin hygroexpansion in compression and opposite wood - a molecular dynamics study
Authors: Hartwig-Nair Marie , Nasedkin Alexandr , Hackenstrass Klara , De Santis Emiliano , Florisson Sara , Wohlert Malin
Published: December 2024

Softwood branches develop compression wood (CW) in the lower parts of the branch, while opposite wood (OW) develops on the upper. These wood types differ in structure at several length scales, among others in the chemical composition of their lignin matrix. While OW mostly contains guaiacyl (G) units, CW is known to contain a substantial fraction of 4-hydroxyphenyl (H) lignin. In this study, the impact this difference has on lignin hygroexpansion and interaction with water is studied by the means of atomistic models and molecular dynamics computer simulations of lignin systems at different levels of hydration. It was found that, despite the minor difference in chemical composition, there are differences in swelling, structure and water dynamics. CW lignin is found to have a higher uniaxial swelling coefficient, since the phase separation between lignin and water is more pronounced. This behavior is linked to structural differences, where intermolecular

$${\pi -\pi }$$

π
-
π

stacking is more common in CW lignin and hydrogen bonding to water more pronounced in OW lignin. These findings are of interest for understanding the role of lignin in CW, and general understanding of moisture interaction with lignin inside wood cell walls.
Analysis of trends in the context of implant therapy in a university surgical specialty clinic: a 20-year retrospective study
Authors: Raabe Clemens , Couso-Queiruga Emilio , Tjokro Jennifer , Buser Daniel , Bornstein Michael M. , Fonseca Manrique , Schwarz Frank , Chappuis Vivianne
Published: December 2024

Objectives

To analyze the trends in the context of implant therapy in a 3-year patient population and compare it with data obtained over the last 20 years.

Materials and methods

All adult subjects who received treatment in the context of implant therapy between 2020 and 2022 were included in this retrospective study. Data regarding patient demographics, indications and location of implant therapy, implant characteristics, surgical techniques, complications, and early implant failures were recorded and compared to data obtained in the years 2002–2004, 2008–2010, and 2014–2016.

Results

Between 2020 and 2022, n = 1555 implants were placed in n = 1021 patients. The mean age at implant placement was 59.9 + 15.1 years, demonstrating an increase over time in the age group 61–80 years of 23.1% and > 80 years of 3.2% (p < 0.0001). Single tooth gaps (48.9%) remained the main indication. The use of narrow diameters ≤ 3.5 mm increased (9.4% vs. 26.6%, p < 0.0001), while implant lengths > 10 mm decreased (45.7% vs. 23.5%, p < 0.0001). A reduction in more invasive techniques and an increase in computer-assisted implant surgeries (CAIS) of 19.5% was found.

Conclusions

The mean age of patients receiving dental implant therapy, with the use of narrow-diameter and shorter implants has progressively increased in the last 20 years. The observed trends suggest a transition from conventional to CAIS, accompanied by the introduction of minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Clinical relevance

The adoption of narrower and shorter implants, along with minimally invasive techniques and CAIS, enables clinicians to tailor treatment plans that accommodate the unique needs of aging patients and optimize clinical outcomes.
Two similar permafrost degradation landslides at Paatuut, West Greenland, caused tsunamis of substantially different magnitudes
Authors: Svennevig Kristian , Keiding Marie , Sørensen Erik Vest , Løvholt Finn , Glimsdal Sylfest , Perez Lara F. , Owen Matthew J. , Morino Costanza
Published: December 2024

On November 21, 2000 CE, the c. 48 × 106 m3 Paatuut landslide in West Greenland triggered a tsunami with a maximum runup height of c. 45 m. Although a field team examined the landslide in the immediate aftermath, prior events and processes, in addition to the cause of the landslide, were never studied. We combined field data, satellite images, and historical photos to bridge this knowledge gap. Our investigation unveiled that a hitherto unknown c. 55 × 106 m3 landslide occurred at the same slope in May or June of 1996. This landslide was a frozen debris avalanche, and we suggest a result of permafrost degradation since c. 1949. The subsequent 2000 landslide and tsunami removed and obscured the traces of the 1996 landslide. Interestingly, the 1996 landslide caused a tsunami with a runup height of only 15 m near the landslide impact area, one-third of the 2000 tsunami. We applied tsunami modelling and interpretation of morphological field evidence to explore why these volumetrically similar landslides on the same slope could produce markedly different tsunami runup heights. The deposit of the 1996 landslide on the coastal slope produced a large, unconsolidated, wet sediment volume that could be entrained in the 2000 landslide, and in addition, reducing the basal friction of this later event. Furthermore, differences in drop height and rheology between the two landslides may explain the different tsunamigenic potential. We see evidence of much older post-glacial landslide activity on the slope, constituting a static preconditioning factor for the landslides. The 1996 and 2000 landslides demonstrate the incomplete record of large landslides in the Arctic and the importance of considering the runout path, substrate, and entrainment in determining the tsunamigenic potential of landslides. Above all, they also demonstrate the sensitivity of these Arctic slopes to global warming and associated permafrost degradation.
Potential of biochar to mitigate methane production in paddy soils—application of a new incubation and modelling approach
Authors: Middelanis Thomas , Looschelders Dana , Mueller Peter , Knorr Klaus-Holger
Published: December 2024

Paddy soils are a significant source of methane (CH4) affecting the global climate. Therefore, it is important to investigate both emission mitigation strategies and the underlying biogeochemical processes. The application of biochar into paddy soils has emerged as a promising measure to mitigate CH4 emissions. However, it has not yet been clarified why such effects are usually weaker in field studies than in laboratory incubations and which properties of biochar specifically decrease the production of CH4. We conducted two incubation experiments, one with 1.5% addition of untreated biochars and one with same amounts, but pH-levelled, rinsed biochars. According to the common experimental design of existing incubation studies (experiment 1) biochar addition induced a mean soil pH increase of 0.28 after anaerobic incubation compared to the contro. In these treatments, biochar significantly extended the pre-methanogenic stage (mean 24.23%). However, this effect was weakened or even reversed when pH-levelled, rinsed biochars were amended in experiment 2, which was intended to mimic the persistent long-term effects in the field. This indicated that the provision of electron accepting capacities to suppress methanogenesis may be less important than previously thought. The addition of biochar significantly lowered CH4 production rates m in both experiments with no significant influence of the pH (mean 25.89%), though. Our study demonstrated that incubation studies on CH4 production in paddy soils can be improved by separating the pre-methanogenic and the methanogenic stage. This facilitates future research to compare characteristics of biochar, but also combinations of measures to optimise CH4 mitigation strategies.
Green synthesis and optimization of selenium nanoparticles using chitosan or cationic cellulose nanofibers
Authors: Sam Samanta , Fiol Nuria , Aguado Roberto J. , Saguer Elena , Carrasco Félix , Delgado-Aguilar Marc , Tarrés Quim
Published: December 2024

Spherical selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) were synthesized by green chemical reduction method using biocompatible chitosan (CS) or as reported herein for the first time, cationic cellulose nanofibers (CCNFs) as stabilizers. CNFs were cationized using (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethylammonium chloride (CHPTAC), followed by high-pressure homogenization. The anionic demand of the CCNFs was found to be 2000 ± 2 µeq/g and the degree of substitution was 0.25 ± 0.01. The optimization of Se NP synthesis was done using response surface methodology with controlled composite design. Two response surface models were developed to optimize the size and stability of CS-Se NPs and CCNF-Se NPs. Concentrations of Na2SeO3, ascorbic acid, and CS or CCNFs were used as three variables, and their interaction was studied as a function of size and zeta potential. The results indicate that the variables fitted into the model and was validated using a combined contour plot of size and zeta potential. From the model, CS-Se NPs of size and zeta potential in the range between 10 and 70 nm and 30–40 mV were synthesized, while CCNF-Se NPs of size and zeta potential in the range between 50 and 85 nm and 30–35 mV were synthesized. EDX spectra confirmed elemental Se formation, and XRD pattern verified the presence of α-monoclinic Se crystallites. Additionally, the FTIR spectra confirmed the interaction between the stabilizing agent and Se NPs. Thus, CS- and CCNF-stabilized Se NPs were sustainably synthesized making them suitable for incorporation into CNFs and can be used as an active agent in food packaging application.

Graphic abstract
A preliminary assessment of mercury, methylmercury and other potentially toxic elements in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) from the Almadén mining district
Authors: Barquero J. I. , Hidalgo J. J. , Esbrí J. M. , Higueras P. , García-Ordiales E.
Published: December 2024

The food chain of the Valdezogues River system is at considerable risk due to the presence of mercury in the environment and to intense bioaccumulation and biomagnification processes in some fish species, particularly in piscivorous. Moreover, the presence of mercury in fish is a reliable indicator of the presence of its most toxic form, methylmercury. Of interest is that selenium, when present together with mercury in food, represents a significant decrease in the risks related to the ingestion of methylmercury. This study presents the concentrations of total mercury, methylmercury, selenium, and other elements in Micropterus salmoides from a transect of the Valdeazogues River. This water course cuts across the Almadén mining district, which has been the most important producer of this element for over 2000 years. Results highlight the highest total- and methylmercury concentrations ranging between 0.47 and 7.61 mg kg−1 ww for total mercury, and with methylmercury representing between 79.7 and 92.1% of total mercury. These are the highest concentrations in the element ever found in this species. Seven sampling sites were examined along a 34 km long transect of the river, starting at an open pit lake corresponding to a decommissioned Hg mine (El Entredicho open pit, isolated from the river course), with the rest of the sites located downstream. Concentrations of mercury are the highest in this open pit lake and decrease steadily downstream. Concentrations of selenium are also high to very high, ranging between < 2.5 and 11.4 mg kg−1 ww. The Se/Hg molar ratio, as well as the HBVSe index, show values indicating low risk, except for specimens of low size/age from the most highly Hg contaminated site considered in this study. The rest of the potentially toxic elements (Se, As, Pb, Zn, Sb and Cu) show no concerning values even though the area is heavily populated with decommissioned polymetallic mines.
Rights of Nature Through a Legal Expressivist Lens: Legal Recognition of Non-Anthropocentric Values
Authors: Baard Patrik
Published: December 2024

The shortcomings of existing legal tools to abate species extinctions and habitat losses raise the attractiveness of recognizing rights of nature (RoN), in effect granting legal standing directly to non-human entities and collectives. RoN have been recognized in several domestic legislations and attract increasing popularity and enthusiasm. Yet, from an analytical and general perspective RoN rely on a contentious relation between concepts such as intrinsic value and interests, respectively, as justifying RoN. Consequently, a general analytical defense of RoN has not been provided and recognition hitherto has been constrained to the contingent factors of domestic legislations. Here, I will provide an examination of RoN by way of expressive theories of law where law expresses (some) ethical values. Expressive theories of law have not previously been related to RoN. I will examine whether such theories have the potential of defending RoN as rights that legislatures have strong general reasons to recognize. The examination of RoN through the lens of expressivist legal theories provide a better understanding of RoN, and the analytical and conceptual commitments they presuppose, including the relation between ethics and law and the values underpinning RoN to be expressed by law.
Effects of species traits on the catchability of butterflies with different types of Malaise traps and implications for total catch biomass
Authors: Hoffmann Lara , Palt Martin , Mignien Lucas , Uhler Johannes , Haase Peter , Müller Jörg , Stoll Stefan
Published: December 2024

Increasing evidence for insect biodiversity decline requires an identification of the causes but also an improved understanding of the limitations of the various underlying sampling methods. Trap comparisons foster comparability of larger-scale biodiversity studies by providing a deeper understanding of the variations in species abundances and trait compositions due to variations in trap characteristics. In our study, we compared five Malaise trap types on their catchability of butterfly species and noctuid moths and examined for the butterflies how this can be related to traits. We showed marked differences in species and trait occurrence in the samples of the different trap types which seemed to be influenced by roof colour (white, black) and trap shape (Townes trap: high, wide roof, Bartak trap: low, narrow roof). We found most butterfly species and most butterfly biomass in the white-roofed Townes trap. All butterfly traits were represented with most individuals in this trap. Compared with its black counterpart, it showed increased catches for pale butterflies and forest species. We found that dark-roofed traps captured fewer butterfly species and had a lower butterfly biomass. Townes traps captured more butterflies with larger wingspans, egg-laying locations higher above ground, and tree feeding behaviour compared to Bartak traps. Depending on the season and habitat, the differences in species capture may affect overall insect biomass.
Equal Opportunity and Luck: Empirical Exploration Using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging
Authors: Asada Yukiko , Smith Nathan K. , Grignon Michel , Hurley Jeremiah , Kirkland Susan
Published: December 2024

Equality of opportunity (EOp) is a broad category of egalitarian theories that has attracted considerable attention in recent decades. Empirical implementations of EOp primarily focus on the explained component of inequality, classifying determinants of the outcome (e.g., health) into effort—legitimate causes of inequality—and circumstance—illegitimate causes of inequality. Largely overlooked is unexplained variation, which in statistical analysis manifests as residuals and is often ignored as a statistical annoyance. The true random component of residuals is now often referred to as luck. In this paper, we propose the playing field framework that serves as a pragmatic test as to whether residuals signal unfairness in empirical EOp analyses and that enables empirical explorations of roles of luck within the EOp framework. Using a large sample of Canadian older adults, our empirical application of the playing field framework shows that distributions of residuals are not always fair, though there is no consistent pattern of unfairness across age-sex groups. The paper’s three main conclusions are: luck matters; luck should be explicitly incorporated in the EOp framework through the brute luck-effort characterization; and residuals are not just an innocuous statistical annoyance but can represent unfair inequality, and ignoring them can underestimate unfair inequality.
$1/f$ Noise in the Heliosphere: A Target for PUNCH Science
Authors: Wang Jiaming , Matthaeus William H. , Chhiber Rohit , Roy Sohom , Pradata Rayta A. , Pecora Francesco , Yang Yan
Published: December 2024

We present a broad review of

$1/f$

1
/
f

noise observations in the heliosphere, and discuss and complement the theoretical background of generic

$1/f$

1
/
f

models as relevant to NASA’s Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. First observed in the voltage fluctuations of vacuum tubes, the scale-invariant

$1/f$

1
/
f

spectrum has since been identified across a wide array of natural and artificial systems, including heart rate fluctuations and loudness patterns in musical compositions. In the solar wind the interplanetary magnetic field trace spectrum exhibits

$1/f$

1
/
f

scaling within the frequency range from around
$\unit[2 \times 10^{-6}]{Hz}$
to around
$\unit[10^{-3}]{{Hz}}$
at 1 au. One compelling mechanism for the generation of

$1/f$

1
/
f

noise is the superposition principle, where a composite

$1/f$

1
/
f

spectrum arises from the superposition of a collection of individual power-law spectra characterized by a scale-invariant distribution of correlation times. In the context of the solar wind, such a superposition could originate from scale-invariant reconnection processes in the corona. Further observations have detected

$1/f$

1
/
f

signatures in the photosphere and corona at frequency ranges compatible with those observed at 1 au, suggesting an even lower altitude origin of

$1/f$

1
/
f

spectrum in the solar dynamo itself. This hypothesis is bolstered by dynamo experiments and simulations that indicate inverse cascade activities, which can be linked to successive flux tube reconnections beneath the corona, and are known to generate

$1/f$

1
/
f

noise possibly through nonlocal interactions at the largest scales. Conversely, models positing in situ generation of

$1/f$

1
/
f

signals face causality issues in explaining the low-frequency portion of the

$1/f$

1
/
f

spectrum. Understanding

$1/f$

1
/
f

noise in the solar wind may inform central problems in heliospheric physics, such as the solar dynamo, coronal heating, the origin of the solar wind, and the nature of interplanetary turbulence.
The individuation of mathematical objects
Authors: Assadian Bahram , Fraser Robert
Published: December 2024

Against mathematical platonism, it is sometimes objected that mathematical objects are mysterious. One possible elaboration of this objection is that the individuation of mathematical objects cannot be adequately explained. This suggests that facts about the numerical identity and distinctness of mathematical objects require an explanation, but that their supposed nature precludes us from providing one. In this paper, we evaluate this nominalist objection by exploring three ways in which mathematical objects may be individuated: by the intrinsic properties they possess, by the relations they stand in, and by their underlying ‘substance’. We argue that only the third mode of individuation raises metaphysical problems that could substantiate the claim that mathematical objects are somehow mysterious. Since the platonist is under no obligation to accept this thesis over the alternatives, we conclude that, at least as far as individuation is concerned, the nominalist objection has no bite.
The puzzle of defeated suspension
Authors: Vollmer Michael
Published: December 2024

As scholars have commonly observed, a central difference between epistemic and practical normativity is the fact that the reasons of the former kind balance prohibitively, while reasons of the latter kind do so permissively. To explain the prohibition to believe or disbelieve in the face of tied evidence, several scholars have appealed to normative reasons in favour of a third doxastic option, the suspension of judgement. However, the question remains as to what happens if these latter reasons are defeated. In such cases, one seems to be stuck in an impasse: either one is forced into an epistemic dilemma– where neither of one’s doxastic options seems permissible– or one must relax the prohibitive balancing principle– where there might be, after all, situations in which believing in the face of tied evidence is rationally permissible. In this paper, I discuss different ways to derive this puzzle of defeated suspension, as well as the most common strategy in responding to it. I argue that an appeal to undefeated reasons to suspend judgement comes with significant downsides and, thus, one should seek a different response: in extreme forms of the puzzle of defeated suspension, a form of higher-order suspension becomes rational. If one treats higher-order suspension as an additional doxastic option, one can avoid the puzzle in its entirety. Furthermore, an analogue puzzle of higher-order doubt merits the same treatment.
Integrating biodiversity impacts into seafood life cycle assessments: pathways for improvement
Authors: Bergman Kristina , Gröndahl Fredrik , Hasselström Linus , Strand Åsa , Thomas Jean-Baptiste E , Hornborg Sara
Published: December 2024

Purpose

The decline in biodiversity caused by human activities is a major global challenge. An important driver of biodiversity loss, especially in the oceans, is seafood production. However, methods for quantifying biodiversity impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) are currently heavily focused on terrestrial systems. This study aims to identify and evaluate methods addressing aquatic biodiversity loss relevant for LCAs of seafood and to provide recommendations to research and LCA practitioners.

Methods

The methodology comprised four key phases. First, environmental impacts from seafood production were identified and linked to biodiversity impacts. Second, it was assessed which impacts were addressed in existing seafood LCAs. Next, available biodiversity impact assessment methods were identified through a literature review. Finally, the identified assessment methods were evaluated and matched against the identified environmental impacts from seafood production to evaluate the efficacy of current LCA practices.

Results and discussion

A total of 39 environmental impacts linked to seafood production were identified. Of these impacts, 90% were categorized as causing biodiversity loss and included effects on genetic, species, and ecosystem level. Only 20% out of the impacts associated to aquatic biodiversity loss had been included in previous seafood LCAs, indicating a narrow scope in practice, as methods were available for half of the impacts. The available methods were, however, mainly focused on impact on species level and on the drivers pollution and climate change rather than the main drivers of marine biodiversity loss: exploitation and sea-use change.

Conclusions

Although many of the impacts from seafood production were related to biodiversity pressures, LCAs which are widely used to describe the environmental performance of seafood, disregard most biodiversity impacts from seafood production. The most severe limitations were the lack of methods for the pressures of exploitation and sea-use change and for effects on ecosystem and genetic biodiversity.

This study provides recommendations to practitioners on how to best account for biodiversity impacts from seafood depending on the studied system, geographic area, and dataset. Future research should progress methods for impact pathways within the drivers exploitation and sea-use change, and effects on ecosystem biodiversity and genetic biodiversity.
Public Wrongs and Human Rights: An Orderly Approach?
Authors: Malby Steven
Published: December 2024

Criminal law is a system for societal ordering, as much as it is for protection against interpersonal harm and wrongs. Whilst such laws can engage rights to privacy and freedoms of expression and movement, international human rights rarely feature in criminal theory. Using Duff’s public wrongs theory, a normative argument is made for recognition of international human rights within the national civil order, as well as through a proposed supra-national human rights polity. This is tested through identification of human rights criminalization principles from public ordering cases in the European Court of Human Rights. International human rights offers a formal route to recognition of liberal principles, as well as adding possible new boundary conditions within criminal theory.
Why Don’t the Police Make Me Feel Safe? Using Black’s Theory of Law to Potentially Extend Current Findings on Crime Victims’ Fear
Authors: McGrath Shelly A. , Whaley Rachel , Abbott Jessica , May David C.
Published: December 2024

Despite an extensive body of literature centering around the fear of crime, victim fear, especially as it is affected by policing, remains understudied. To fill this research gap, we use National Crime Victimization (NCVS) data to analyze whether and to what extent police can influence fear of crime among violent crime victims, and whether variables inherent within propositions outlined by Black (1976) interact with police effort and actions, including whether an arrest was made in the case, to predict such fear. Findings suggest that few such variables interact with whether an arrest was made, and no variables interact with police effort in impacting victim fear. Specifically, only living in an urban area and renting rather than owning one’s home interact with an arrest being made in one’s case in predicting victim fear such that living in an urban area and having one’s case cleared with an arrest results in greater fear whereas being a renter whose case is cleared with an arrest yields decreased fear. Further, like earlier empirical work, we find that police effort itself increases victim fear while an arrest being made, in and of itself, has no significant effect on victim fear. A deeper analysis into our results and directions for future research are also discussed.
A Steep Road to Improve the Accountability of the Credit Rating Industry: the Chinese Way or the Western Way?
Authors: Bush Chunping
Published: December 2024

Regulators in the US, EU and China embarked on several episodes of reforms to improve the accountability of credit rating agencies after the Financial Crisis 2007–2008. The US reform implemented a new civil liability provision, although the new regime remains weak, largely caused by the regulator’s inability in taking a tough liability approach on powerful credit rating agencies but giving in to the economic demands of the country. In contrast, the EU’s provision is much more balanced; however, it left too much leeway to the national laws’ interpretation. The parameters of civil liability under the Chinese law largely coincide with the Western laws, although with a unique robustness by reversing the burden of proof. The recent reforms improved the accountability of credit rating agencies to some extent, nonetheless, more work is needed to give effect to these regulatory reforms with further collaboration. This paper critically analyses the robustness of the Chinese civil liability regime with the reversed burden of proof, which arguably sits uncomfortably with the Western laws. It calls for an improvement of the current civil liability regime in the US and China by adopting the EU model, which is more feasible to balance the responsibilities of key players in the financial market.
Environmental and management determinants of blackleg crown canker disease (Leptosphaeria maculans) of canola (Brassica napus)
Authors: Bondad Jamina J. , Whish Jeremy P. M. , Sprague Susan J. , Maher Rebecca , Barry Kara M. , Harrison Matthew T.
Published: December 2024

Blackleg disease (Leptosphaeria maculans) impacts canola (Brassica napus) productivity worldwide, but the factors driving severity are not well defined. This study characterised blackleg disease progression from leaf lesion appearance to crown canker development. Leaf lesion severity at four crop growth stages and crown canker severity were empirically associated in crops planted at different times. The biotrophic growth rate of L. maculans in planta was determined at temperatures between 12 and 28 °C. Data from 24 Australian field experiments on spring B. napus cultivars were analysed to relate infection timing relative to crop growth stage and site conditions to crown canker severity at maturity. Despite variations in lesions across seasons and planting times, no significant relationship was found between lesion severity or incidence and crown canker severity. Crown canker severity increased significantly when younger plants were infected. The average in planta hyphal growth rate of L. maculans was 0.13 mm/°C-day. The analyses of biotrophic hyphal growth alongside the timing of infection were used to identify the onset of crown canker development. Simulations showed that thermal time and plant available water accounted for 61% and 36% of the variance in crown canker severity for moderately susceptible and moderately resistant genotypes, respectively. Blackleg crown canker severity is a nuanced interplay between time of infection relative to crop growth stage, genetic resistance, temperature, and moisture. Disease-crop models incorporating these factors could be used to explore how, for example, sowing time, level of host genetic resistance or extreme weather conditions affect disease infection and crop yield.
Cancer Clones Revised
Authors: Laplane Lucie
Published: December 2024

Cancers are hard to treat, and this is largely because cancer cells evolve and diversify through space and time, in patients. The study of clonal evolution relies on the study of cancer cell lineages, and the cutting of these lineages into clones, each clone representing cancer cells with distinctive properties relevant to cancer development and treatment. This notion of clone implies a (set of) simplification(s) that misrepresents the reality. The simplification has been useful and productive, but I argue that maintaining a critical awareness of what is done through this simplification can also be useful and productive. I distinguish three types of simplifications and show that each can offer a panel of therapeutic alternatives that may complement our arsenal of strategies in the battle against clones. The clinical challenge of better treating cancer partly relies on better defining (delineating) clones, but also partly on the more fundamental way we conceive clones. With or without changing the definition, changes in the way we conceive of clones induce changes in the way we treat clones.
The Use of Internal Markets in Corporate Groups and Legitimising the Group Interest in Intra-group Trading
Authors: Nielsen Julie Bryske Møller
Published: December 2024

The present article analyses internal markets in corporate groups and whether the nature of and motives behind intra-group trading warrant legalisation of group interests in intra-group trading. Firstly, it is examined why both corporate groups and internal markets in groups are formed in the first place. The article then takes a closer look at the terms used for intra-group trading, including both the advantages and challenges of using arm’s length terms as a standard. The last part of the article revolves around the potential regulation of intra-group trading. This includes both an examination of the discussions on legitimising the group interest at EU level so far, and a discussion of the interests worth legalising in intra-group trading and an outline for potential regulation. Lastly, the article examines some of the challenges and regulatory focal points that legislators may encounter if they pursue such regulation.
The k-Distance Mutual-Visibility Problem in Graphs
Authors: Cera López Martín , García-Vázquez Pedro , Valenzuela-Tripodoro Juan Carlos , Yero Ismael G.
Published: December 2024

The concept of mutual visibility in graphs, introduced recently, addresses a fundamental problem in Graph Theory concerning the identification of the largest set of vertices in a graph such that any two vertices have a shortest path connecting them, excluding internal vertices of the set. Originally motivated by some challenges in Computer Science related to robot navigation, the problem seeks to ensure unobstructed communication channels between navigating entities. The mutual-visibility problem involves determining a largest mutual-visibility set in a graph. The mutual-visibility number of a graph represents the cardinality of the largest mutual-visibility set. This concept has sparked significant research interest, leading to connections with classical combinatorial problems like the Zarankiewicz problem and Turán-type problems. In this paper, we consider practical limitations in network visibility and our investigation extends the original concept to k-distance mutual-visibility. In this case, a pair of vertices is considered S-visible if a shortest path of length at most k exists, excluding internal vertices belonging to the set S. The k-distance mutual-visibility number represents the cardinality of a largest k-distance mutual-visibility set. We initiate the study of this new graph parameter. We prove that the associate decision problem belongs to the NP-complete class. We also give some properties and tight bounds, as well as, the exact value of such parameter for some particular non trivial graph classes.