bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A plugin for the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor that uses MaxEntScan to predict variant spliceogenicity
Authors: Shamsani Jannah , Kazakoff Stephen H , Armean Irina M , McLaren Will , Parsons Michael T , Thompson Bryony A , O’Mara Tracy A , Hunt Sarah E , Waddell Nicola , Spurdle Amanda B
Published: November 2018

Assessing the pathogenicity of genetic variants can be a complex and challenging task. Spliceogenic variants, which alter mRNA splicing, may yield mature transcripts that encode non-functional protein products, an important predictor of Mendelian disease risk. However, most variant annotation tools do not adequately assess spliceogenicity outside the native splice site and thus the disease-causing potential of variants in other intronic and exonic regions is often overlooked. Here, we present a plugin for the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor that packages MaxEntScan and extends its functionality to provide splice site predictions using a maximum entropy model. The plugin incorporates a sliding window algorithm to predict splice site loss or gain for any variant that overlaps a transcript feature. We also demonstrate the utility of the plugin by comparing our predictions to two mRNA splicing datasets containing several cancer-susceptibility genes.

Availability and implementation

Source code is freely available under the Apache License, Version 2.0: https://github.com/Ensembl/VEP_plugins.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
EphA4 Regulates Hippocampal Neural Precursor Proliferation in the Adult Mouse Brain by d-Serine Modulation of N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Signaling
Authors: Zhao Jing , Taylor Chanel J , Newcombe Estella A , Spanevello Mark D , O’Keeffe Imogen , Cooper Leanne T , Jhaveri Dhanisha J , Boyd Andrew W , Bartlett Perry F
Published: November 2018

The hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) is a major region of the adult rodent brain in which neurogenesis occurs throughout life. The EphA4 receptor, which regulates neurogenesis and boundary formation in the developing brain, is also expressed in the adult DG, but whether it regulates adult hippocampal neurogenesis is not known. Here, we show that, in the adult mouse brain, EphA4 inhibits hippocampal precursor cell proliferation but does not affect precursor differentiation or survival. Genetic deletion or pharmacological inhibition of EphA4 significantly increased hippocampal precursor proliferation in vivo and in vitro, by blocking EphA4 forward signaling. EphA4 was expressed by mature hippocampal DG neurons but not neural precursor cells, and an EphA4 antagonist, EphA4-Fc, did not activate clonal cultures of precursors until they were co-cultured with non-precursor cells, indicating an indirect effect of EphA4 on the regulation of precursor activity. Supplementation with d-serine blocked the increased precursor proliferation induced by EphA4 inhibition, whereas blocking the interaction between d-serine and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) promoted precursor activity, even at the clonal level. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that EphA4 indirectly regulates adult hippocampal precursor proliferation and thus plays a role in neurogenesis via d-serine-regulated NMDAR signaling.
Cryptanalysis of a Compact Anonymous HIBE with Constant Size Private Keys
Authors: Lin Xi-Jun , Sun Lin , Qu Haipeng , Xian He-Qun
Published: November 2018

Recently, Zhang et al. proposed a new anonymous hierarchical identity-based encryption (anonymous HIBE) over prime order groups to achieve both constant size private key and constant size ciphertext. Moreover, a double exponent technique was used to provide anonymity. They proved that their scheme is secure and anonymous against chosen plaintext attacks in the standard model. In this paper, we point out that their scheme is insecure.
Empowerment-enabling home and school environments and self-rated health among Finnish adolescents
Authors: Simonsen Nina , Lahti Anna , Suominen Sakari , Välimaa Raili , Tynjälä Jorma , Roos Eva , Kannas Lasse
Published: November 2018

Perceived health during adolescence has not only immediate consequences for individuals and for society, but also long-term. We need to understand better the health development in this period of the lifespan. Empowerment may be one pathway through which social factors and conditions translate into health effects. This study aimed to examine whether empowerment-enabling home and school environments are associated with self-rated health among adolescents, and whether the associations differ between genders, age or majority/minority language groups. Anonymous questionnaire data from respondents aged 11, 13 and 15 years were obtained from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, conducted in Finland in 2014 in Finnish- and Swedish-speaking schools (n = 5925/1877). The proportion rating their health as excellent varied between 33.6 (11-year-olds) and 23.1% (15-year-olds), boys rating their health as excellent more often than girls in all age groups. Findings showed that indicators of both empowerment-enabling home and school environments were independently and positively related to adolescents’ self-rated health. Whereas a respectful, accepting, kind and helpful attitude among classmates and a good home atmosphere were quite consistently associated with excellent health, there were gender and age differences with concern to the other empowerment-enabling indicators. Moreover, there were gender-, age- and language-related differences regarding adolescents’ perceptions of how empowerment enabling their environments were. Home and school environments that create opportunities through encouragement and care, and through strengthening feelings of being secure, accepted and respected are potentially empowerment enabling. This study suggests that such environmental qualities are important for the perceived health of young people.
Accidentally About Me
Authors: Morgan Daniel
Published: November 2018

Why are de se mental states essential? What exactly is their de se-ness needed to do? I argue that it is needed to fend off accidentalness. If certain beliefs – for example, nociceptive, proprioceptive or introspective beliefs – were not de se, then any truth they achieved would be too accidental for the subject to count as knowing. If certain intentions – intentions that are in play whenever we intentionally do anything – were not de se, then any satisfaction they achieved would be too accidental for the subject to count as intentionally acting. How states hook on to their referent is relevant in a systematic but underexplored way to whether they non-accidentally achieve their aim – truth in the case of beliefs, satisfaction in the case of intentions. In the relevant cases, the way of hooking on to a referent needed to avoid being accidental is the way a de se state hooks on to its referent.
Building HIV Workforce Capacity Through a Residency Pathway: Outcomes and Challenges
Authors: Budak Jehan Z , Volkman Kathleen , Wood Brian R , Dhanireddy Shireesha
Published: November 2018

To help address the impending HIV physician shortage, we launched an HIV Medicine Pathway within our Internal Medicine Residency in 2008. Between 2015 and 2017, surveys showed a decrease in the number of graduates providing primary care for people living with HIV. We suggest evaluation of long-term outcomes from similar training programs and stronger support for HIV primary care career development.
New Testament Christianity in the Roman World
Authors: Maier Harry O.
Published: November 2018

The book explores the social contexts of New Testament writings from Acts onward, along with other relevant Jewish and Christian literature. Moving from large to increasingly smaller spheres, the study examines how at each level beliefs and practices related to the gods and the cosmos, the empire, the city, and the household shaped a shifting and context-specific Christian faith and a set of affiliated identities. In each case, the discussion considers intersections with the New Testament and other early Christian and Jewish literature. The introduction discusses theories of canon formation, the history of the Roman Empire relevant to New Testament study, and the concept of lived religion as a means to understand ancient Christianity. Chapter 2 discusses the gods, sacrifices, festivals, divine epithets, temple architecture, magic, neighborhood religion, demonology, pagan and Christian ritual, and Greco-Roman and Jewish views of the cosmos. Chapter 3 examines the empire’s political and administrative structure, urbanization, taxation, nomenclature, patronage, and emperor worship. Chapter 4 treats the organization and governance of cities, liturgies, urban demography, poverty, mortality, economic production, trade associations, and integration of Jews in city life. Chapter 5 considers terms and definitions of the ancient household and family; architecture; domestic rituals; rites of passage; slavery and manumission; expectations of men, women, children, and slaves; funerary practices; and fictive kinship. Chapter 6 discusses the self; the social constitution of identity; physiological understandings of the body; Greco-Roman gender construction; philosophical theories concerning the interrelationship of body, soul, and ethics; and Jewish and early Christian conceptualizations of the self.
The Gods and the Cosmos
Authors: Maier Harry O.
Published: November 2018

The chapter discusses ancient beliefs about the gods and the cosmos and describes ancient religious practices and their intersections with New Testament writings. It presents the unsystematic nature of beliefs about the gods and other powers, the meaning of divine epithets as means to access the divine, and divine epiphanies as markers of ever-present deities. It describes the form and function of temples and the role of sacrifice and votive offerings as means to communicate with divinities. It discusses the role of festivals and processions as well as daily rituals embedded in household practices and the role of neighborhood experts in guiding devotion. It considers magic, its uses, and the need to protect oneself from it in everyday life. Jewish and Christian views of demons and cosmic forces are presented. Also discussed are Christian rituals of Eucharist and baptism in the context of ancient practices and cosmology.
Improving Community Capacity to Conduct Comprehensive Prevention Needs Assessments
Authors: Fagan Abigail A. , Hawkins J. David , Catalano Richard F. , Farrington David P.
Published: November 2018

Prevention science emphasizes the need for data-driven prevention, but communities often face significant challenges in determining how to collect and analyze data to inform their prevention efforts. Based on the guidance provided to community coalitions in the CTC system, this chapter describes the ways that communities can gather and assess data on risk and protective factors and behavioral health problems experienced by local youth. The advantages and disadvantages of using archival and self-reported data are compared and the benefits of conducting the CTC Youth Survey with middle and high school students are highlighted. Methods for analyzing these data and creating community consensus on the prioritized risk and protective factors that should be targeted by EBIs are also discussed.
A State-Wide Effectiveness Trial of CTC in Pennsylvania
Authors: Fagan Abigail A. , Hawkins J. David , Catalano Richard F. , Farrington David P.
Published: November 2018

This chapter provides an example of how a community-based prevention system can be delivered at scale and with quality, using a state-wide dissemination of CTC in Pennsylvania as an example. As an early adopter of CTC, Pennsylvania began funding coalitions to implement CTC and EBIs in the mid-1990s. The chapter describes how the state formed successful partnerships between local community members, prevention scientists, and state-level agencies, including the creation of a state-level organization to oversee and help ensure successful implementation of CTC coalitions and EBIs. The chapter also summarizes the results of process and quasi-experimental outcome evaluations conducted in Pennsylvania. These evaluations have shown that CTC communities have successfully created and sustained broad-based, high-functioning coalitions, selected and sustained EBIs, and experienced reductions in youth behavioral health problems.
The ZX Spectrum
Authors: McAlpine Kenneth B.
Published: November 2018

The ZX Spectrum, even for its time, was a very simple machine, yet it was a runaway commercial success, almost single-handedly kickstarting the UK games industry. This chapter examines the launch of the ZX Spectrum and the challenges its hardware design presented to game developers. In fact, the ZX Spectrum was as rudimentary as digital music can get. It offered no hardware sound support, and its single-channel beeper provided a single bit of resolution and was controlled directly by the machine’s main CPU, making it a real challenge to create synchronous music and gameplay. Nonetheless, it was not long before developers managed to work out inventive ways to use it, harnessing the power of creative synthesis and performance coding to move from simple, monophonic beeps to sophisticated multichannel prog rock arrangements complete with percussion and effects.
The Game Boy
Authors: McAlpine Kenneth B.
Published: November 2018

This chapter examines the cultural phenomenon that was Nintendo’s Game Boy and suggests that its portability and low cost was pivotal in taking chiptune from primarily a desktop activity to something that could be taken onstage and gigged. Crucial to the Game Boy’s success was Tetris, the machine’s ‘killer app’. It was such a hit that its music made the transition from silicon to vinyl, demonstrating that video game music could be popular music in its own right. After the release of Nanoloop and Little Sound DJ in the late 1990s, musicians realized that the Game Boy was more than just a handheld gaming device; it was a cheap and very portable music workstation. The chapter concludes by looking at how this idea has driven a new wave of equipment hacking, as users have rediscovered and reinvented vintage consoles as musical instruments.
Fakebit, Fans, and 8-Bit Covers
Authors: McAlpine Kenneth B.
Published: November 2018

Musicians have for centuries reinterpreted and recontextualized the music of other songwriters, composers and performers, and this chapter explores how this musical reinvention has manifested itself as part of the contemporary chipscene. The chapter explores how in the early days of 8-bit gaming, game soundtracks often borrowed heavily from the popular electronic music of the time, often featuring arrangements of Jarre, Vangelis, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The chapter also explores how, today, there are bands who take those classic video game themes and perform them as live five- or six-piece rock bands. It discusses how social media has provided a platform for the performance and distribution of video game covers and examines how, as musicians have demanded simple, self-contained production environments to develop chip music, new hardware and software synthesizers have been developed to meet that need, an approach that is known as fakebit and that highlights the value that different participants in the scene place on authenticity.
Chips with Everything
Authors: McAlpine Kenneth B.
Published: November 2018

As chiptune has grown in significance and popularity, the sound has begun to feature more in commercial releases, not just in commercial music tracks but in television advertising campaigns and movie soundtracks. The final chapter explores the tension that is created when an underground style of music like chiptune connects with the mainstream. It examines the Timbaland case, in which the hip-hop and R & B artist was accused of plagiarism, having sampled the music from a Finnish demo; discusses how national and international exhibitions of 8-bit video game art and music are providing a platform that legitimizes chiptune as a form of contemporary cultural expression; and highlights how, when executed with due reverence and care, as happened with the soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, can add extra layers of context and meaning to a production. It concludes by asking ‘what next’?
Balanchine and Kirstein's American Enterprise
Authors: Steichen James
Published: November 2018

George Balanchine is today one of the most celebrated figures in twentieth-century ballet and is closely identified with the two institutions he helped found in collaboration with Lincoln Kirstein: the School of American Ballet and the New York City Ballet. During the early years of their efforts in the 1930s, Balanchine and Kirstein’s enterprise underwent numerous changes and transformations. The complexity of their endeavors has been misrepresented in many existing accounts of their lives and careers, in part because their activities have not been assessed as a whole. This book chronicles Balanchine’s and Kirstein’s work between 1933 and 1940 in the spheres of ballet, opera, Broadway musicals, and Hollywood cinema. This new account shows the ways in which their collective and individual efforts influenced and affected one another and ultimately shaped the character of the institutions they would eventually found. The work of the short-lived organizations the American Ballet (1935–38) and Ballet Caravan (1936–40) brought together dozens of dancers and collaborators, and the activity of these companies was closely related to work of the School of American Ballet as well as Balanchine’s projects in Broadway musical theater and film.
1933
Authors: Steichen James
Published: November 2018

This chapter revisits how George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein first met and began their collaborative enterprise to found an American ballet company and school in 1933. In addition to seeking out performances by Balanchine’s company Les Ballets 1933, Kirstein took an interest in choreographers Léonide Massine and Serge Lifar. Kirstein ultimately settled on Balanchine as the artistic leader for his venture despite doubts about the choreographer’s health and commitment to ballet pedagogy. Initially the organization was to be located in Hartford, Connecticut, under the auspices of a museum, but owing to misalignment in institutional priorities between Balanchine and Kirstein it was soon relocated to New York City. There is also evidence that Kirstein was the primary advocate of making a school the focus of the organization in its inception and that Balanchine’s primary interest was to create new ballets.
1934
Authors: Steichen James
Published: November 2018

This chapter chronicles the first public performances by dancers from the School of American Ballet in 1934. Although these performances have been construed as previews prior to the company’s official debut in 1935, both were important milestones in the life of the organization. The June 1934 performance at Woodlands, the family estate of Edward Warburg, was a somewhat makeshift affair and revealed the haphazard management of the enterprise. It offered not only the first public performances of Serenade but revised versions of two of Balanchine’s existing ballets, Dreams and Mozartiana. A second more public engagement in Hartford in December 1934 witnessed the premieres of two additional works, Transcendence and the collegiate satire Alma Mater (with a score by Kay Swift). These early offerings of the American Ballet met with mixed reactions and criticism as they were not geared to a wide audience and were not overtly American in character.
1936
Authors: Steichen James
Published: November 2018

This chapter chronicles the formation and first season of the dance company Ballet Caravan, revealing the troupe’s close ties to the American Ballet and School of American Ballet. Contrary to prior accounts, Ballet Caravan was in its initial conception neither a dancer-driven initiative nor a carefully conceived attempt by Kirstein to pursue an American artistic agenda. Instead it was conceived of barely six weeks prior to its first performances in July 1936 as a practical response to an array of institutional crises facing the American Ballet, including Balanchine’s health problems and business partner Edward Warburg’s lack of interest in remaining involved with the enterprise. The American Ballet and Ballet Caravan thus reveal themselves, at least in the Caravan’s first season of the summer and fall of 1936, as more contiguous than distinct, sharing personnel, aesthetic values, choreographic styles, as well as the involvement of Balanchine himself.
The Behavioral Science of Firearms
Authors: Pirelli Gianni , Wechsler Hayley , Cramer Robert J.
Published: November 2018

The authors present the most relevant factors and considerations involved in the intersection between behavioral science and firearms. The intent is to provide a comprehensive review of these issues in the context of the professional literatures in these areas and to serve as an informational and educational source for a wide range of readers and as a reference text for practitioners, institutional and law enforcement personnel, legislators, and academicians and students in fields such as psychology, criminal justice, and public health. Concepts are presented using a best-practices model that encourages and promotes empirically supported practice, research, policy, and overall decision-making. This book is distinct from all others published in this area, given its inclusion and integration of the following: (1) a focus on the behavioral science of firearm-related matters; (2) review of the professional literatures and case law/legal statutes, particularly as related to firearm development and use, laws, regulations, violence, suicide, and safety; (3) considerations and information from various relevant areas: psychology, sociology, criminal justice, law, and others specific to the general public (e.g., media); (4) presentation of a framework for the assessment of civilians seeking firearms permits, reinstatement of their firearms subsequent to revocation, and considerations for relevant others, such as military, law enforcement and corrections personnel, and security and armed guards; (5) issues related to treatment and self-care in the context of firearm use and ownership; (6) a focus on how the principles and empirical knowledge within behavioral science can inform and improve firearm-related policy, practice, and research.
Mental Health
Authors: Pirelli Gianni
Published: November 2018

In this chapter, the authors provide a broad overview of diagnosable psychiatric disorders, their symptoms, and examples of current theoretical and empirical thought underlying these conditions. In providing a primer concerning mental health, they first review the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), with respect to how psychopathology is defined and the nature of the diagnostic system. They then shift to definitions, key examples, and example theories for (i) clinical disorders (e.g., depressive and anxiety disorders), (ii) personality disorders (with an emphasis on borderline and antisocial personality disorders), and (iii) substance use disorders. While this chapter draws heavily from the DSM-5, such is done primarily for educational and illustrative purposes within the broader context of discussing key issues related to the behavioral science of firearms.
Suicide
Authors: Pirelli Gianni
Published: November 2018

In this chapter, the authors cover suicide, both generally and more specifically related to firearms. First, they review suicide-related terminology and definitions. Understanding suicide is critically important, especially when considering the professions that interact with potentially suicidal persons with access to firearms, including civilians as well as law enforcement and military personnel. Second, grounded in the best available data concerning and research associated with suicide, the authors provide an overview of various theoretical perspectives as to why people die by suicide and present key risk and protective factors in this regard. In this context, they review firearm-related suicide statistics, risk and protective factors, and relevant laws and critique the limitations of available data and policies. They also outline considerations related to suicide risk assessment, management, and prevention. Finally, they provide various case examples of firearm-related suicides to highlight the need to develop best practices concerning suicide risk and firearm safety.
Evaluation
Authors: Pirelli Gianni
Published: November 2018

In this chapter, the authors address evaluations across settings and contexts, such as mental health screenings conducted in community, outpatient, and inpatient settings, with particular attention to the considerations necessary for evaluators, including the need to develop and maintain firearm-specific and cultural competence. They present considerations associated with seven firearm-related subcultures that medical and mental health practitioners are likely to encounter with some regularity. They also speak to the importance of researchers, academics, and students developing such competence. They outline the concept of forensic mental health assessment and demonstrate how certain firearm-specific evaluations are a type of this. They provide considerations related to evaluating civilians applying for firearm permits and those seeking reinstatement of gun rights in forfeiture matters. They review the various models of risk assessment and a firearm-specific framework for conducting these evaluations: the Pirelli Firearm-10. Considerations for law enforcement and related professions are also presented.
Treatment
Authors: Pirelli Gianni
Published: November 2018

This chapter is the second part of the section of the book pertaining to the emerging roles of medical and mental health professionals in firearm-related matters. In this chapter, the authors provide a broad overview of therapeutic interventions, including outlining considerations in the following areas: (i) psychology as a science; (ii) contemporary treatment modalities, such as psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, and dialectical behavioral therapy approaches, among others; (iii) treatment for violence risk and violent offenders; (iv) treatment for victims of violence and domestic violence; (v) treatment for risk of suicide and self-harm; and (vi) youth interventions. The authors also address general considerations for health and wellness, firearm safety, barriers to treatment and restoration of gun rights, and vicarious trauma and self-care for practitioners.
Mahalia Jackson’s Apollo Recordings
Authors: Burford Mark
Published: November 2018

For many, Jackson’s output for Apollo during her eight years with the label remain the most admired recordings of her career and prime exemplars of post-war gospel singing. This chapter, the first in-depth analysis of this body of work, begins with a discussion of trajectories of production, instrumental backing, and sources of Jackson’s sacred repertory at her Apollo sessions. Musically, the majority of Jackson’s gospel recordings for Apollo can been sorted according to three recurring “feels”—a “swing” feel, a “gospel” feel, and a “free” feel employed in her performance of hymns—and hybrids of these. Analysis of these recordings reveals illuminating details pertaining to Jackson’s voice and gospel performance practice.
Social World
Authors: Andrade Nathanael
Published: November 2018

As a child and maiden at Palmyra, Zenobia had to weather various life transitions, including menstruation, marriage, pregnancy, and widowhood. This chapter gives us a glimpse of Zenobia’s formative years and examines various elements of Palmyrene domestic life in order to situate Zenobia within general patterns of lived experience. Particular attention is paid to household relations; amenities and consumption; the impact of gender, social status, and age; slavery and slave owning; and religious practices of women. As a young woman of wealth, Zenobia did not engage in manual work; this was done by either slaves or paid domestic servants. They also tended to her dress and jewelry, meal preparation, and other domestic labor. As for divine worship, Zenobia expressed her devotion to many gods and had an active religious life.
Coming of Age
Authors: Andrade Nathanael
Published: November 2018

As a Palmyrene woman, Zenobia was expected to marry by members of her community. This chapter traces Zenobia’s life from childhood to maidenhood and then to marriage and maternity, which was considered the threshold of womanhood in Palmyra. A number of social factors affected her transition: her clothes, her hygiene, and her education. Zenobia wore tunics covered with a mantle or cloak, and at various stages of her life, she experimented with different styles of jewelry. As a young girl, her hair was uncovered; after marriage and childbirth, her hair was normally concealed from men outside her household. Little is known of Zenobia’s education as a child or young girl, but as a ruler, she could read and write both Palmyrenean and Greek. Also discussed in this chapter are norms affecting courtship and betrothal that brought Zenobia to Odainath’s household.
Dynasty
Authors: Andrade Nathanael
Published: November 2018

After Odainath died, Zenobia assumed political authority over Palmyra on behalf of her son Wahballath, proclaiming him “king of kings” and governor of Odainath’s territories. Her reign was eventful. As queen, Zenobia emulated powerful women rulers, whether contemporary or from remote antiquity. She controlled a vast amount of Roman territory from Egypt to Anatolia and upper Mesopotamia. But rather than admitting to a breach with the Roman court, Zenobia insisted that she was governing Roman territory on its behalf. As ruler, she governed diverse subjects, including Jews, Christians, and Manichaeans.
Civil War
Authors: Andrade Nathanael
Published: November 2018

In early 272, the emperor Aurelian, who deemed Zenobia’s authority to be illegitimate and her bid for power unsanctioned, invaded her territory. Zenobia responded by claiming the titles of Augusta and Augustus for herself and Wahballath. Suffering a series of defeats, Zenobia attempted to flee Palmyra as Aurelian’s forces invested the city. While the sources diverge in their treatment of Zenobia’s fate, the evidence indicates that Aurelian displayed her in his triumph and settled her with Wahballath and her other children at Tibur, near Rome. There she spent the rest of her life.
The Public Company Transformed
Authors: Cheffins Brian
Published: November 2018

The publicly traded company has played a dominant role in the American economy for decades. The Public Company Transformed examines the history of the American public company from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day. The analysis is oriented around constraints that have affected the discretion available to public company executives, such as monitoring by the board of directors, activism by shareholders, complying with regulation, dealings with unions, and pressure from competitors. The chronological departure point is the managerial capitalism era, which prevailed in large American corporations following World War II. Managerial capitalism’s rise, its 1950s and 1960s heyday, and its fall in the 1970s and 1980s are canvassed. Prosperity that American public companies and their executives enjoyed during the 1990s is described, as is a reversal of fortunes in the 2000s precipitated by corporate scandals and the financial crisis of 2008. The Public Company Transformed concludes by offering conjectures on the future of the public corporation, indicating in so doing that predictions the public company will soon be an afterthought are likely to be proved incorrect.
Managerial Capitalism
Authors: Cheffins Brian R.
Published: November 2018

This chapter focuses on managerial capitalism, which prevailed in large American public companies from the end of World War II until the 1980s. The chapter opens by summarizing managerial capitalism’s key features. Managerial capitalism’s rise to prominence is explored next. The superseding of “financial capitalism” is described and reasons that a divorce between the ownership of shares and managerial control became the norm in large firms are canvassed. The remainder of the chapter describes the nature of managerial capitalism during its 1950s and 1960s heyday. Particular emphasis is placed on explaining why corporate wrongdoing was a rarity despite seemingly wide discretion being bestowed upon public company executives.
Crimea in War and Transformation
Authors: Kozelsky Mara
Published: November 2018

Crimea in War and Transformation examines the capacity of violence to permanently alter peoples and spaces.The war named for Crimea began as a border dispute between Russia and the Ottoman Empires in 1853, but transferred unexpectedly to Crimea in September 1854 after European Allies joined forces with the Sultan. In the course of one day, belligerent armies doubled the peninsula’s population and pressed the local population into labor. Within one month, ravenous men fell upon orchards like locusts, and slaughtered Crimean livestock. For more than one year, engineering brigades mowed down forests to build barracks. Both sides of the war used scorched earth tactics. At the apex of violence, desperate Russian officials scapegoated Crimea’s native Muslim population, accusing these and other civilians of hoarding food and collaborating with the enemy. Before humanitarian impulses prevailed, officials initiated a deadly deportation, forcing thousands of Tatars from their homes.
Summoning Hostility
Authors: Idris Murad
Published: November 2018

The writings of al-Fārābī and Aquinas make visible a morality that informs the oppositions between the peaceful and the warlike, and between just war and illegitimate aggression. In their typologies of different groups and cities, each designates some group as warlike, or as waging war for no good reason. Each contrasts this group’s disposition to illegitimate aggression to other kinds of violence and war, including, for Aquinas, “just war.” But each also implies—at times inadvertently—that recourse to violence can radically transform those who use it, which puts into question the political work of such classifications and elisions. Indeed, each describes a peace-loving group that wages war. Unlike diagnoses of the warlike disposition, the commitment to peace privileges “intentions” in a way that elides and ultimately sanctions the desire to correct others—one’s brothers, neighbors, friends, and enemies—in the name of peace.
Interlude II
Authors: Idris Murad
Published: November 2018

The second Interlude unfolds additional intersections across all the chapters. These intersections emerge through geographic linkages, the contexts of colonialism, and histories of textual citation. First, it considers the translation of Grotius’s theological writings into Arabic for theorizing the politics of the missionary. Second, it highlights that some jurists turned some states into pirates, and others turned pirates into states. Third, it analyzes claims about Ibn Khaldūn’s significance for Europe and for Islam, as well as for theorizations of the desert nomad, such as Kant’s. Finally, it offers a reading of Pufendorf’s claim that Hobbes duplicates Plato’s Laws and only mimics Cleinias’s arguments, and it ultimately situates Hobbes on the enemy, neighbor, pirate, and nomad in relation to empire.
Toward a Decolonial Feminist Universalism
Authors: Khader Serene J.
Published: November 2018

This chapter distinguishes the features that make certain feminisms complicit in imperialism from universalism and develops a nonideal universalist position that is simultaneously feminist and anti-imperialist. Characteristic of imperialism-complicit missionary feminisms are commitments to ethnocentrism, justice monism, idealization, and what this chapter calls “moralism.” Ethnocentric justice monism is the view that gender justice can only be actualized within one set of (Western) cultural forms. Idealization and moralism involve the adoption of a false social ontology according to which the West’s ostensible superiority comes from endogenous cultural factors, the West represents the desired future of all societies, and Western action is driven by concern with justice. In contrast, nonideal universalists hold that feminism is opposition to sexist oppression and recognize that transnational feminist praxis is a justice-enhancing project. Justice-enhancing projects are not monist about justice, and they recognize the practical character of judgments about what will aid transitions out of nonideal conditions.
The Employment Patterns of Young Adults, 1989–2014
Authors: Hout Michael
Published: November 2018

A strong start in life includes includes getting started in the world of work. Age, race, and education all affect young people’s employability and labor force experiences. First, just a few years can make a big difference among the young. Twenty-four-year-olds are not nearly as raw as 18-year-olds; they may have more education as well. Second, gender matters. Young women have different employment patterns from young men. Third, black and Hispanic youth have more employment difficulties than white and Asian youth. Fourth, college graduates have much better employment prospects than people with less education. Evidence presented here indicates that credentials outweigh experience, partly because so much employment growth is limited to occupations that require a college degree; but this probably applies in other occupations as well. All of these broad patterns replicate year after year, but economic conditions at the time can make them larger or smaller.
The Children of Low-Status Immigrants and Youth Unemployment in the United States and Western Europe
Authors: Alba Richard , Foner Nancy
Published: November 2018

This chapter examines the challenges faced by the children of low-status immigrants in education and the labor market. While youth in general face more challenges in the early twenty-first-century than their parents and grandparents did, many of these second-generation youth face a special set of hurdles because of their disadvantaged immigrant origins. In education, the second generations originating from low-status groups suffer “ethnic penalties.” One reason is that many adults in positions of authority in school systems and workplaces hold prejudices that lead to subtle or occasionally blatant discrimination against these second-generation youth. The problems in the educational system are compounded by those these youth face when they enter the labor market. In general, they are less likely to be employed than native youth with comparable educational attainment, and sometimes, as in France and Germany, these employment penalties are large.
Transforming High School and Addressing the Challenge of America’s Competitiveness
Authors: Litow Stanley S. , Suh Grace
Published: November 2018

This chapter examines the transformation of academic preparation to address the challenge of America’s competitiveness. American workers need higher skill levels more than at any time in history. In the heyday of manufacturing and skilled labor, vocational education or career and technical education (CTE) provided the critical workplace skills that promoted youth employment and economic mobility. However, today’s, and tomorrow’s, knowledge-based jobs require more than a high school diploma. Therefore, the task for today’s CTE is to create a clear path to student success, ensuring college and career readiness. The P-TECH 9–14 School Model, which is showing significant promise in raising education attainment levels while bolstering the American economy, is one needed solution. P-TECH offers a roadmap to achieving a broader set of reforms that, if implemented, would significantly strengthen US competitiveness and support economic growth.
Operatic Satire
Authors: Woodfield Ian
Published: November 2018

Following a highly successful year in Vienna, during which he composed three operas for the German troupe at the National Theater, Dittersdorf returned to take up his administrative positions in Silesia. Evidently hoping for a return engagement, he set to work on several new Singspiels. A setting of Die Hochzeit des Figaro (now lost) renewed his personal competition with Mozart. Probably because he blamed members of the opera buffa company in Vienna for the conspicuous failure of his opera Democritto corretto, he cast the Beaumarchais play as a satire, in which Joseph’s well-known Italian stars were lampooned. Mozart himself was cast as Cherubino, slight in stature, with a pale visage, and wholly obsessed with dancing.
Italian Opera Reprieved
Authors: Woodfield Ian
Published: November 2018

In the light of the imminent closure of the opera buffa troupe, Da Ponte arranged a collective benefit for the performers: a lighthearted satirical piece entitled L’ape musicale, which featured the most popular music of recent seasons. His campaign to persuade Joseph II to change his mind over the decision to discontinue Italian opera bore fruit in January 1789, following the Russian victory at Ochakiv, following which a lighter public mood was briefly evident in Vienna. Da Ponte could now offer his pasticcio on behalf of the whole troupe as an expression of gratitude for the reprieve they had been granted.
Da Ponte as Impresario
Authors: Woodfield Ian
Published: November 2018

The last-minute decision to reprieve the opera buffa left Da Ponte needing to recruit singers as a matter of urgency. In doing so, he made use of Ferrarese del Bene’s recent experience of performing in Florence. The new season got off to a poor start, as the National Theater was facing increasingly stiff competition from the commercial stage. A new run of Le nozze di Figaro was scheduled, although by the summer of 1789 Joseph II was too ill to attend. The capture of Belgrade transformed the rather dark public mood in Vienna, and Così fan tutte was staged until the death of Joseph II led to the closure of the theaters.
The Pornometric Gospel
Authors: Forster Chris
Published: November 2018

The chapter argues that the aesthetic ideology and justification of the centrality of the female nude in art was affected by the widespread circulation of cheap reproductions of nudes (in Salon catalogs or on postcards). While the genre of the nude was central to art, and the training of artists, this value was undermined by the widespread availability of “pornographic” nudes. This chapter traces the response to this altered condition in the work of two artists: Walter Sickert and Wyndham Lewis. Sickert’s Camden Town nudes attempt to recuperate the nude for art through a gritty realism. Wyndham Lewis’s novel Tarr, however, rejects the nude as a subject for art entirely and develops an entire aesthetics predicated on the rejection of the naked body as an appropriate subject for art. The author traces this rejection to the changed status of the nude in an era of mechanically reproduced images.
Where Are We and Where Are We Going?
Authors: Iversen Leslie
Published: November 2018

Cannabis research is flourishing despite the difficulties that scientists have in accessing high-quality cannabis. However, many questions remain: Can new medicines be discovered and developed based on the current knowledge of the biosynthesis, actions, and inactivation of endocannabinoids? Can genetic screening identify people who are particularly susceptible to cannabis use disorder and possibly to psychosis? Can researchers pinpoint in more detail how endocannabinoids modulate neural activity and how they change on exposure to stress? Scientific research will tackle all these questions and more in the coming decades. This chapter presents a broad view of the case for medical cannabis, along with some cautions. The case for the legalization of cannabis as a recreational drug is also presented.
Can This Be Art?
Authors: Winner Ellen
Published: November 2018

While philosophers have tried to define art by necessary and sufficient features, this effort has failed. Art is a socially constructed, open concept that eludes formal definition. While art cannot be tightly defined, we can loosely define art by listing possible characteristics of works of art—recognizing that this list must remain an open one. We may not be able define art, but philosophers and psychologists together have revealed the difference between observing something with or without an aesthetic attitude. While any artifact may be used as a work of art, we respond differently to that artifact when we believe it is was created intentionally as a work of art rather than a non-art artifact. We adopt an aesthetic attitude, paying attention to the surface form and the expressive properties of the object. This conclusion is consistent with Kant’s idea of the aesthetic attitude being a form of disinterested contemplation.
Silver Bullets
Authors: Winner Ellen
Published: November 2018

Just as we often hear the unsupported claim that any kid could have made a work of abstract expressionism, we also often hear the claim (equally unsupported) that arts education makes our kids smarter. This is a claim about alleged transfer of learning from the arts to a non-arts outcome. Arts-infused schools, it is said, will raise academic achievement and standardized test scores. Music lessons will raise a child’s IQ. Research discussed here tests these claims, showing that they are unsubstantiated. We will have to look elsewhere for the value of an arts education. The more likely outcomes of quality arts education are not IQ and test score improvements but rather broad habits of mind—learning to observe closely, learning to envision, learning to explore and learn from mistakes, learning to stick with something over time, and developing the habits of critique and evaluation and reflection on one’s process.
Unredeemed Land
Authors: Mauldin Erin Stewart
Published: November 2018

An important reconsideration of the Civil War’s role in southern history, Unredeemed Land examines the ways that military conflict and emancipation reconfigured the landscape of the rural South, and uncovers the environmental constraints that shaped the rural South’s transition to capitalism during the late nineteenth century. Dixie’s “King Cotton” required extensive land-use techniques, fresh soil, and slave-based agriculture in order to remain profitable. But wartime destruction and the rise of the contract labor system closed off those possibilities and necessitated increasingly intensive cultivation in ways that worked against the environment. The resulting disconnect between farmers’ use of the land and what the natural environment could support went hand-in-hand with the economic dislocation of freedpeople, poor farmers, and sharecroppers. Drawing on extensive archival and governmental sources and a wealth of interdisciplinary scholarship in the natural sciences, this work demonstrates how the Civil War and emancipation accelerated ongoing ecological change and altered land use in ways that hastened the postbellum collapse of the region’s subsistence economy, encouraged the expansion of cotton production, and ultimately kept cotton farmers trapped in a cycle of debt and tenancy.
Introduction
Authors: Mauldin Erin Stewart
Published: November 2018

The American Civil War marked a watershed moment in the history of southern agriculture. Throughout the antebellum period, the Cotton Kingdom’s geographic boundaries remained relatively limited. After the war, however, the diversity of the antebellum agricultural landscape disappeared. Landowners, yeomen, and recently freed slaves in all areas of the South invested heavily in cotton cultivation, often accruing enormous debts to do so. But why did postwar southern farmers rely on continuous cotton cultivation? What caused such a fundamental shift in attitudes toward self-sufficiency in farming areas known for their relative crop diversity? Why did poor whites and emancipated blacks grow cotton at the expense of everything else despite shrinking financial incentives? The introduction surveys the way this book answers those questions: by connecting postwar agricultural shifts to the ecological legacies of the Civil War and emancipation.