bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automatism, Insanity, and the Psychology of Criminal Responsibility
Authors: Schopp Robert F.
Published: December 2009

This is a book about the role that psychological impairment should play in a theory of criminal liability. Criminal guilt in the Anglo-American legal tradition requires both that the defendant committed some proscribed act and did so with intent, knowledge, or recklessness. The second requirement corresponds to the intuitive idea that people should not be punished for something they did not do 'on purpose' or if they 'did not realize what they were doing'. Unlike many works in this area, this book addresses the automatism and insanity defences by examining the types of functional impairment that typical candidates for these defences actually suffer. What emerges is a much wider conceptual framework that allows us to understand the significance of psychological states and processes for the attribution of criminal responsibility in a manner that is logically coherent, morally defensible, and consistent with research in psychopathology.
Reconstructing the State
Authors: Easter Gerald M.
Published: December 2009

Why do some state-building efforts succeed when others fail? Using formerly unavailable archival sources, this book presents an explanation for the rise and subsequent collapse of the Soviet state. The study explains how personal networks and elite identity served as informal sources of power that influenced state strength. Reconstructing the State also offers alternative interpretations of how the weak Bolshevik state extended its reach to a vast rural and multi-ethnic periphery as well as the dynamics of the center-regional conflict in the 1930s that culminated in the Great Terror.
Information, Incentives and the Economics of Control
Authors: Archibald G. C.
Published: December 2009

This 1992 book examines alternative methods for achieving optimality without all the apparatus of economic planning (such as information retrieval, computation of solutions, and separate implementation systems), or a vain reliance on sufficiently 'perfect' competition. All rely entirely on the self-interest of economic agents and voluntary contract. The author considers methods involving feedback iterative controls which require the prior selection of a 'criterion function', but no prior calculation of optimal quantities. The target is adjusted as the results for each step become data for the criterion function. Implementation is built in by the incentive structure, and all controls rely on consistency with the self-interest of individuals. The applicability of all the methods is shown to be independent of the form of ownership of enterprises: examples are given for industries which are wholly privately owned, wholly nationalized, mixed and labour-managed.
Greek Tragedy and Political Philosophy
Authors: Ahrensdorf Peter J.
Published: December 2009

In this book, Peter Ahrensdorf examines Sophocles' powerful analysis of a central question of political philosophy and a perennial question of political life: should citizens and leaders govern political society by the light of unaided human reason or religious faith? Through an examination of Sophocles' timeless masterpieces - Oedipus the Tyrant, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone - Ahrensdorf offers a sustained challenge to the prevailing view, championed by Nietzsche in his attack on Socratic rationalism, that Sophocles is an opponent of rationalism. Ahrensdorf argues that Sophocles is a genuinely philosophical thinker and a rationalist, albeit one who advocates a cautious political rationalism. Ahrensdorf concludes with an incisive analysis of Nietzsche, Socrates and Aristotle on tragedy and philosophy. He argues, against Nietzsche, that the rationalism of Socrates and Aristotle incorporates a profound awareness of the tragic dimension of human existence and therefore resembles in fundamental ways the somber and humane rationalism of Sophocles.
Holocaust Drama
Authors: Plunka Gene A.
Published: December 2009

The Holocaust - the systematic attempted destruction of European Jewry and other 'threats' to the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945 - has been portrayed in fiction, film, memoirs, and poetry. Gene Plunka's study will add to this chronicle with an examination of the theatre of the Holocaust. Including thorough critical analyses of more than thirty plays, this book explores the seminal twentieth-century Holocaust dramas from the United States, Europe, and Israel. Biographical information about the playwrights, production histories of the plays, and pertinent historical information are provided, placing the plays in their historical and cultural contexts.
Ludic Proof
Authors: Netz Reviel
Published: December 2009

This book represents a new departure in science studies: an analysis of a scientific style of writing, situating it within the context of the contemporary style of literature. Its philosophical significance is that it provides a novel way of making sense of the notion of a scientific style. For the first time, the Hellenistic mathematical corpus - one of the most substantial extant for the period - is placed centre-stage in the discussion of Hellenistic culture as a whole. Professor Netz argues that Hellenistic mathematical writings adopt a narrative strategy based on surprise, a compositional form based on a mosaic of apparently unrelated elements, and a carnivalesque profusion of detail. He further investigates how such stylistic preferences derive from, and throw light on, the style of Hellenistic poetry. This important book will be welcomed by all scholars of Hellenistic civilization as well as historians of ancient science and Western mathematics.
Conrad in Perspective
Authors: Najder Zdzislaw
Published: December 2009

Zdzislaw Najder, one of the world's leading authorities on Joseph Conrad and author of the major biography Joseph Conrad: A Chronicle (1983), is widely acclaimed for his particular insights into Conrad's Polish background. The fruits of thirty years of Conrad study appear in this landmark volume of his essays, which explore a wide range of topics: Conrad's national and cultural heritage; his fictions, from the unfinished 'Sisters' and Lord Jim to The Secret Agent; his attitude towards Russia in general and Dostoevsky in particular; his concepts of man and society; and the role of the idea of honour in his work. In a series of more general essays Najder goes on to place Conrad's work within a broad European philosophical, political and literary context. Conrad in Perspective offers new insights into the life and work of one of the twentieth century's greatest novelists by one of his most perceptive critics.
Writing, Gender and State in Early Modern England
Authors: Matchinske Megan
Published: December 2009

The period from the Reformation to the English Civil War saw an evolving understanding of social identity in England. This book uses four illuminating case studies to chart a discursive shift from mid-sixteenth-century notions of an individually generated, spiritually motivated sense of identity, to Civil War perceptions of the self as inscribed by the state and inflected according to gender, a site of civil and sexual invigilation and control. Each centres on the work of an early modern woman writer in the act of self-definition and authorization, in relation to external powers such as the Church and the monarchy. Megan Matchinske's study illustrates the evolving relationships between public and private selves and the increasing role of gender in determining different identities for men and women. The conjunction of gender and statehood in Matchinske's analysis represents an original contribution to the study of early modern identity.
Women's Reading in Britain, 1750–1835
Authors: Pearson Jacqueline
Published: December 2009

The growth of female reading audiences from the mid-eighteenth century to the early Victorian era represents both a vital episode in women's history and a highly significant factor in shaping the literary production of the period. This book offers for the first time a broad overview and detailed analysis of this growing readership, its representation in literature, and the extent of its influence. It examines both historical women readers, including Laetitia Pilkington, Elizabeth Carter, Frances Burney and Jane Austen, and a wide range of texts in which the figure of the woman reader is important, from Gothic (and other) novels to conduct books and educational works, letters, journals and memoirs, political and economic works, and texts on history and science. Jacqueline Pearson's study offers illuminating insights which help to make sense of the ambivalent and contradictory attitudes of the age to the key figure of the woman reader.
The Darkness of God
Authors: Turner Denys
Published: December 2009

For the medieval mystical tradition, the Christian soul meets God in a 'cloud of unknowing', a divine darkness of ignorance. This meeting with God is beyond all knowing and beyond all experiencing. Mysticisms of the modern period, on the contrary, place 'mystical experience' at the centre, and contemporary readers are inclined to misunderstand the medieval tradition in 'experientialist' terms. Denys Turner argues that the distinctiveness and contemporary relevance of medieval mysticism lies precisely in its rejection of 'mystical experience', and locates the mystical firmly within the grasp of the ordinary and the everyday. The argument covers some central authorities in the period from Augustine to John of the Cross.
The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350
Authors: Lopez Robert S.
Published: December 2009

Professor Robert Lopez provides an incisive analysis of the economic structure of the Middle Ages. He makes use of modern economic concepts to explain how an underdeveloped economic system gave birth to the commercial revolution through which Europe succeeded in developing itself. The book goes far beyond the familiar picture of medieval European society, with its magnificent cathedrals and imposing castles, to concentrate instead on the walled cities and open countryside, for it was here that the revolution was born. Deftly and concisely, Professor Lopez traces the history of this remarkable economic upheaval which saw the rise of merchants and craftsmen and the decline of agricultural dependence by the society.
Blackness and Value
Authors: Barrett Lindon
Published: December 2009

Blackness and Value investigates the principles by which 'value' operates, and asks if it is useful to imagine that the concepts of racial blackness and whiteness in the United States operate in terms of these principles. Testing these concepts by exploring various theoretical approaches and their shortcomings, Lindon Barrett finds that the gulf between 'the street' (where race is acknowledged as a powerful enigma) and the literary academy (where until recently it has not been) can be understood as a symptom of racial violence. The book traces several interrelations between value and race, such as literate/illiterate, the signing/singing voice, time/space, civic/criminal, and academy/street, and offers relevant and fresh readings of two novels by Ann Petry. While approaches to race and value are commonly examined historically or sociologically, this intriguing study provides a new critical approach that speaks to theorists of race as well as gender and queer studies.
Aristocrats in Bourgeois Italy
Authors: Cardoza Anthony L.
Published: December 2009

This book provides a full account of the Italian nobility in the post-unification era. It challenges interpretations which have stressed the rapid fusion of old and new elites in Italy and the marginality of the nobility after 1861, and instead highlights the continuing economic strength, social power and political influence of Italy's most prominent regional aristocracy. In Piedmont, the nobles were able to develop more indirect forms of influence to satisfy their hunger for leadership based on something older than constitutions or electoral politics. They remained a largely separate group within local society, distinguished by their attachment to the values of lineage, military service, landownership, and social exclusivity. This aristocratic exclusivity and influence survived the agricultural depression of the nineteenth century, before succumbing finally to the devastating effects of World War I.
Historiography and Ideology in Stuart Drama
Authors: Kamps Ivo
Published: December 2009

This study explores the Stuart history play, a genre often viewed as an inferior or degenerate version of the exemplary Elizabethan dramatic form. Writing in the shadow of Marlowe and Shakespeare, Stuart playwrights have traditionally been evaluated through the aesthetic assumptions and political concerns of the sixteenth century. Ivo Kamps's study traces the development of Jacobite drama in the radically changed literary and political environment of the seventeenth century. He shows how historiographical developments in this period materially affected the structure of the history play. As audiences became increasingly sceptical of the comparatively simple teleological narratives of the Tudor era, a demand for new ways of staging history emerged. Kamps demonstrates how Stuart drama capitalised on this new awareness of historical narrative to undermine inherited forms of literary and political authority. This book is the first sustained attempt to account for a neglected genre, and a sophisticated reading of the relationship between literature, history and political power.
Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, and Translation in the Middle Ages
Authors: Copeland Rita
Published: December 2009

Translation played a crucial role in the emergence of vernacular literary culture in the Middle Ages. This is the first book to consider the rise of translation as part of a broader history of critical discourses from classical Rome to the late Middle Ages, and as such adds significantly to our understanding of the development of European culture.
The Fall into Eden
Authors: Wyatt David
Published: December 2009

In this book David Wyatt examines the mythology of California as it is reflected in the literature of the region. He argues that in the literature of the West, the energies, which, in other regions, had been concentrated in covenant theology or the rationalisation of Southern history, are displaced into an encounter with landscape. Tracing the early literature of California to Dana, Leonard, and Fremont, Wyatt studies their development of self-consciousness and awareness of the physical beauty in nature. He then examines in separate chapters the writings of Muir, King, and Mary Austin during a time of domestication and exploitation of the land when landscape became, of necessity, an idea or lost ideal. Of twentieth-century writers, the book focuses on Norris, Steinbeck, and Chandler, who seemed to struggle against the land, charting the advance of human hopes against the vast open spaces of the West. Professor Wyatt concludes with the writer's return to landscape as source and end in the poetry of Jeffers and Snyder.
The Politics of Open Economies
Authors: Bowie Alasdair , Unger Daniel
Published: December 2009

This book asks why some countries have responded to the external constraints and opportunities arising from their global and regional economic context by opening up their economies. In particular, the authors examine the role domestic political and economic factors play in shaping the decision to become more open, or more inward-looking. The countries of Southeast Asia have generally enjoyed economic success in the postwar period. The authors argue that one of the explanations for this success has been their integration into the global division of labor, and analyze decision-makers' reasons for following this course. They place particular emphasis on external events, notably the two oil shocks of the 1970s, and the more recent outflow of investment capital and manufacturing capacity from Japan and East Asia.
Dowland: Lachrimae (1604)
Authors: Holman Peter
Published: December 2009

Dowland's Lachrimae (1604) is perhaps the greatest but most enigmatic publication of instrumental music from before the eighteenth century. This new handbook, the first detailed study of the collection, investigates its publication history, its instrumentation, its place in the history of Renaissance dance music, and its reception history. Two extended chapters examine the twenty-one pieces in the collection in detail, discussing the complex internal relationships between the cycle of seven 'Lachrimae' pavans, the relationships between them and other pieces inside and outside the collection, and possible connections between the Latin titles of the seven pavans and Elizabethan conceptions of melancholy. The extraordinarily multi-faceted nature of the collection also leads the author to illuminate questions of patronage, the ordering and format of the collection, pitch and transposition, tonality and modality, and even numerology.
Creative Conflict in African American Thought
Authors: Moses Wilson Jeremiah
Published: December 2009

Building upon his previous work and using Richard Hofstadter's The American Political Tradition as a model, Professor Moses has revised and brought together in this book essays that focus on the complexity of, and contradictions in, the thought of five major African-American intellectuals: Frederick Douglass, Alexander Crummell, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois and Marcus M. Garvey. In doing so, he challenges both popular and scholarly conceptions of them as villains or heroes. In analyzing the intellectual struggles and contradictions of these five dominant personalities with regard to individual morality and collective reform, Professor Moses shows how they contributed to strategies for black improvement and puts them within the context of other currents of American thought, including Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, Social Darwinism, and progressivism.
Early Cold War Spies
Authors: Haynes John Earl , Klehr Harvey
Published: December 2009

Communism was never a popular ideology in America, but the vehemence of American anticommunism varied from passive disdain in the 1920s to fervent hostility in the early years of the Cold War. Nothing so stimulated the white hot anticommunism of the late 1940s and 1950s more than a series of spy trials that revealed that American Communists had co-operated with Soviet espionage against the United States and had assisted in stealing the technical secrets of the atomic bomb as well as penetrating the US State Department, the Treasury Department, and the White House itself. This book, first published in 2006, reviews the major spy cases of the early Cold War (Hiss-Chambers, Rosenberg, Bentley, Gouzenko, Coplon, Amerasia and others) and the often-frustrating clashes between the exacting rules of the American criminal justice system and the requirements of effective counter-espionage.
Basic Simple Type Theory
Authors: Hindley J. Roger
Published: December 2009

Type theory is one of the most important tools in the design of higher-level programming languages, such as ML. This book introduces and teaches its techniques by focusing on one particularly neat system and studying it in detail. In this way, all the key ideas are covered without getting involved in the complications of more advanced systems, but concentrating rather on the principles that make the theory work in practice. This book takes a type-assignment approach to type theory, and the system considered is the simplest polymorphic one. The author covers all the basic ideas, including the system's relation to propositional logic, and gives a careful treatment of the type-checking algorithm which lies at the heart of every such system. Also featured are two other interesting algorithms that have been buried in inaccessible technical literature. The mathematical presentation is rigorous but clear, making the book at a level which can be used as an introduction to type theory for computer scientists.
Antitrust Law
Authors: Hylton Keith N.
Published: December 2009

This book is an effort to consolidate several different perspectives on antitrust law. First, Professor Hylton presents a detailed description of the law as it has developed through numerous judicial opinions. Second, the author presents detailed economic critiques of the judicial opinions, drawing heavily on the literature in law and economics journals. Third, Professor Hylton integrates a jurisprudential perspective into the analysis that looks at antitrust as a vibrant field of common law. This last perspective leads the author to address issues of certainty, stability, and predictability in antitrust law, and to examine the pressures shaping its evolution. The combination of these three perspectives offers something new to every student of antitrust law. Specific topics covered include perfect competition versus monopoly, enforcement, cartels, section 1 doctrine, rule of reason, agreement, boycott, power, vertical restraints, tying and exclusive dealing, horizontal mergers, and conglomerates.
Competing for the Future
Authors: Kressel Henry , Lento Thomas V.
Published: December 2009

Everybody knows that digital technology has revolutionised our economy and our lifestyles. But how many of us really understand the drivers behind the technology - the significance of going digital; the miniaturization of circuit boards; the role of venture capital in financing the revolution; the importance of research and development? How many of us understand what it takes to make money from innovative technologies? Should we worry about manufacturing going offshore? What is the role of India and China in the digital economy? Drawing on a lifetime's experience in the industry, as an engineer, a senior manager and as a partner in a venture capital firm, Henry Kressel offers an expert personalized answer to all these questions. He explains how the technology works, why it matters, how it is financed and what the key lessons are for public policy.
The Brain-Shaped Mind
Authors: Goldblum Naomi , Glick Shifra
Published: December 2009

Will brain scientists ever be able to read our minds? Why are some things harder to remember than others? Based on recent brain research and neural network modelling, The Brain-Shaped Mind addresses these, and other, questions, and provides a clear account of how the structure of the brain influences the workings of the mind. Neuroscientists are now learning about our minds by examining how the neurones in the brain are connected with one another and the surrounding environment. This book explores how neural networks enable us to recognise objects and learn new things, and what happens when things go wrong. The reader is taken on a fascinating journey into what is arguably one of the most complicated and remarkable aspects of our lives.
The Cognitive Semiotics of Film
Authors: Buckland Warren
Published: December 2009

In The Cognitive Semiotics of Film, Warren Buckland argues that the conflict between cognitive film theory and contemporary film theory is unproductive. Examining and developing the work of 'cognitive film semiotics', a neglected branch of film theory that combines the insights of cognitive science with those of linguistics and semiotics, he investigates Michel Colin's cognitive semantic theory of film; Francesco Casetti and Christian Metz's theories of film enunciation; Roger Odin's cognitive-pragmatic film theory; and Michel Colin and Dominique Chateau's cognitive studies of film syntax, which are viewed within the framework of Noam Chomsky's transformational generative grammar. Presenting a survey of cognitive film semiotics, this study also re-evaluates the film semiotics of the 1960s, highlights the weaknesses of American cognitive film theory, and challenges the move toward 'post-theory' in film studies.
Thomas Reid and the Story of Epistemology
Authors: Wolterstorff Nicholas
Published: December 2009

The two great philosophical figures at the culminating point of the Enlightenment are Thomas Reid in Scotland and Immanuel Kant in Germany. Reid was by far the most influential across Europe and the United States well into the nineteenth century. Since that time his fame and influence have been eclipsed by his German contemporary. This important book by one of today's leading philosophers of knowledge and religion will do much to reestablish the significance of Reid for philosophy today. Nicholas Wolterstorff has produced the first systematic account of Reid's epistemology. Relating Reid's philosophy to present-day epistemological discussions the author demonstrates how they are at once remarkably timely, relevant, and provocative. No other book both uncovers the deep pattern of Reid's thought and relates it to contemporary philosophical debate. This book should be read by historians of philosophy as well as all philosophers concerned with epistemology and the philosophy of mind.
Nutritional Biochemistry of the Vitamins
Authors: Bender David A.
Published: December 2009

The vitamins are a chemically disparate group of compounds whose only common feature is that they are dietary essentials that are required in small amounts for the normal functioning of the body and maintenance of metabolic integrity. Metabolically they have diverse function, as coenzymes, hormones, antioxidants, mediators of cell signaling and regulators of cell and tissue growth and differentiation. This book, first published in 2003, explores the known biochemical functions of the vitamins, the extent to which we can explain the effects of deficiency or excess and the scientific basis for reference intakes for the prevention of deficiency and promotion of optimum health and well-being. It also highlights areas where our knowledge is lacking and further research is required. It provides a compact and authoritative reference volume of value to students and specialists alike in the field of nutritional biochemistry, and indeed all who are concerned with vitamin nutrition, deficiency and metabolism.
The Search for Neofascism
Authors: Gregor A. James
Published: December 2009

A study of the informal logic that has governed the half-century of academic writing devoted to what has been generally identified as 'neofascism', together with a careful assessment of those political movements and regimes considered the proper objects of inquiry. The intent of the study is both pedagogical and cautionary. Its central thesis of the work is that terms like 'fascism', 'generic fascism', and 'neofascism' are often used with considerable indifference, applied uniquely to political movements and regimes considered on the 'right' rather than the 'left', intended more often to denigrate rather than inform. The result has been confusion. Within that context some of the most important political movements of our time are considered, including, among others, the Alleanza Nazionale of Italy and the Bharatiya Janata Party of India, both of which have discharged leadership roles in their respective governments: identifying either as 'neofascism' has clear implications for international relations.
Networks
Authors: Whittle Peter
Published: December 2009

Point-to-point vs. hub-and-spoke. Questions of network design are real and involve many billions of dollars. Yet little is known about optimising design - nearly all work concerns optimising flow assuming a given design. This foundational book, first published in 2007, tackles optimisation of network structure itself, deriving comprehensible and realistic design principles. With fixed material cost rates, a natural class of models implies the optimality of direct source-destination connections, but considerations of variable load and environmental intrusion then enforce trunking in the optimal design, producing an arterial or hierarchical net. Its determination requires a continuum formulation, which can however be simplified once a discrete structure begins to emerge. Connections are made with the masterly work of Bendsøe and Sigmund on optimal mechanical structures and also with neural, processing and communication networks, including those of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Technical appendices are provided on random graphs and polymer models and on the Klimov index.
Parasites and Infectious Disease
Authors: Esch Gerald
Published: December 2009

This series of entertaining essays provides a unique insight into some of the key discoveries that have shaped the field of parasitology. Based on interviews with 18 of the world's leading parasitologists and epidemiologists, the stories of their contributions to discovery in contemporary parasitology and infectious disease biology are told. Taken together, the essays provide a historical account of the development of the field, serving as a bridge between these discoveries and current research. The book provides a real insight into the thought processes and approaches taken in generating break through scientific discoveries, ranging from immunology to ecology and from malaria and trypanosomiasis to schistosomiasis and Lyme disease. This engaging and lively introduction to discovery in parasitology will be of interest to all those currently working in the field and will also serve to set the scene for future generations of parasitologists.
Substance and Separation in Aristotle
Authors: Spellman Lynne
Published: December 2009

This book is a study of Aristotle's metaphysics in which the central argument is that Aristotle's views on substance are a direct response to Plato's Theory of Forms. The claim is that Aristotle believes that many of Plato's views are tenable once one has rejected Plato's notion of separation. There have been many recent books on Aristotle's theory of substance. This one is distinct from previous books in several ways: firstly, it offers a completely new, coherent interpretation of Aristotle's claim that substances are separate in which substances turn out to be specimens of natural kinds. Secondly, it covers a broad range of issues, including Aristotle's criticism of Plato, his views on numerical sameness and identity, his epistemology and his account of teleology. There is also a discussion of much of the recent literature on Aristotle.
The Politics of Persons
Authors: Christman John
Published: December 2009

It is both an ideal and an assumption of traditional conceptions of justice for liberal democracies that citizens are autonomous, self-governing persons. Yet standard accounts of the self and of self-government at work in such theories are hotly disputed and often roundly criticized in most of their guises. John Christman offers a sustained critical analysis of both the idea of the 'self' and of autonomy as these ideas function in political theory, offering interpretations of these ideas which avoid such disputes and withstand such criticisms. Christman's model of individual autonomy takes into account the socially constructed nature of persons and their complex cultural and social identities, and he shows how this model can provide a foundation for principles of justice for complex democracies marked by radical difference among citizens. His book will interest a wide range of readers in philosophy, politics, and the social sciences.
Stimulating Consumption: Yerba Mate Myths, Markets, and Meanings from Conquest to Present
Authors: Folch Christine
Published: December 2009

Before Najla passes me the gourd brimming with yerba mate, she makes sure to wipe the end of the metal drinking straw with the fragrant leaves of a local herb—for the flavor and to clean it she explains in her Venezuela-accented Spanish. We sit under the welcome shade of a veranda, each taking our turn to drain the gourd and then returning it to Najla to fill once more with warm water from the teakettle. After splashing a pitcher of cold water on the concrete to cool it, her husband offers us a rare privilege: the liberty to ask any question we wish about the Druze religion. The Druze, an offshoot from eleventh-century Shi'a Islam, are endogamous and usually reveal the tenets of their faith only to those born within their community. Though we are speaking a mixture of English and Spanish, we are all guests at the Lebanese mountaintop home of Najla's deceased grandfather, an important Druze warlord during the civil war of the 1970s and 1980s. Najla and her husband are vacationing from their home in the Persian Gulf and staying with her unmarried female cousins, our hosts.
“Jerry, Don't Go”: Domestic Opposition to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act
Authors: SNYDER SARAH B.
Published: December 2009

Though now seen as a key turning point in the Cold War, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act provoked considerable opposition in the United States. The principal line of criticism was that the United States had given away too much in the negotiations and had required little of the Soviets. The Helsinki Final Act initially was unpopular domestically with Eastern European ethnic groups as well as members of Congress due to concerns about its implications for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and the Soviet presence in Eastern Europe. At the root of many of these complaints was a larger critique of United States President Gerald Ford's policy of détente with the Soviet Union. Understanding the sources of opposition to the Helsinki Final Act in the United States illuminates the potential conflict between foreign policy formulation and domestic politics, and it reflects the Ford administration's inability to explain his support for the agreement to the American public. Furthermore, the controversy engendered by the Helsinki Final Act illustrates how contentious Cold War politics remained even in an era of supposed détente with the Soviet Union and demonstrates the extent to which the pact's long-term benefits were unforeseen by participants at the time. The Ford administration was never able to counter condemnation of the Helsinki Final Act sufficiently, enhancing existing skepticism about his leadership and policy toward the Soviet Union.
John Napier and the mathematics of the ‘middle future’ apocalypse
Authors: Almond Philip
Published: December 2009

This article explores the notion of ‘middle future’ apocalypticism through the work of the late sixteenth-century Scottish theologian and the discoverer of logarithms, John Napier. Middle future apocalypticism envisaged the end of the world, not in the immediate or far distant future but (rather like modern environmental apocalypticism) within the next 100–200 years. It enabled the understanding of the present in apocalyptic terms, and set out the requisite conditions, tasks and obligations – social, political and personal – essential for bringing to reality those events which were necessary precursors of the coming of Christ. John Napier's 1593A Plaine Discovery of the whole Reuelation of Saint Iohnwas the first Scottish work on the book of Revelation. Though later to be derided by historians of mathematics and science, in its time, it was highly influential, not only in Scotland and England but also in Protestant communities on the Continent. I explore the complex mathematics which Napier brings to bear and suggest that the middle future apocalypticism of Napier, as demonstrated in the carefully articulated mathematics of history in this work, is both socially conservative and socially active. Living in the seventh age, as Napier believed he did, did not entail either ‘downing tools’ and passively awaiting the end, nor actively hastening the end by radical social upheaval. But it did mean in the here and now fighting the Antichrist of Rome, bringing in Reformed religion and spreading the true Gospel.
‘Thy word is truth’: the role of faith in reading scripture theologically with Karl Barth
Authors: Molnar Paul D.
Published: December 2009

Following the thinking of Karl Barth, this article demonstrates how and why reading the Bible in faith is necessary in order to understand the truth which is and remains identical with God himself speaking to us in his Word and Spirit. After developing how faith, grace, revelation and truth are connected in Barth's theology by being determined by who God is in Jesus Christ, this article explains why Barth was essentially correct in claiming that we cannot know God truly through a study of religious experience but only through Christ himself and thus through the Spirit. I illustrate that for Barth the truth of religion simply cannot be found in the study of religion itself but only through revelation. That is why he applied the doctrine of justification by faith both to knowledge of God and to reading scripture. In light of what is then established, I conclude by briefly exploring exactly why the thinking of Paul Tillich, and three theologians who follow the general trend of Tillich's thinking (John Haught, John A. T. Robinson and S. Mark Heim), exemplify the correctness of Barth's analysis of the relation between religion and revelation, since each theologian is led to an understanding of who God is, how we reach God and how the doctrine of the Trinity should be understood that actually undermines Barth's emphasis on the fact that all knowledge of God and all doctrine should be dictated solely by who God is in Jesus Christ.
A Layered Structure in the Organic Envelopes of the Prismatic Layer of the Shell of the Pearl Oyster Pinctada margaritifera (Mollusca, Bivalvia)
Authors: Dauphin Y. , Brunelle A. , Cotte M. , Cuif J.P. , Farre B. , Laprévote O. , Meibom A. , Salomé M. , Williams C.T.
Published: December 2009

The organic interprismatic layers of the mollusc Pinctada margaritifera are studied using a variety of highly spatially-resolved techniques to establish their composition and structure. Our results show that both the interlamellar sheets of the nacre and interprismatic envelopes form layered structures. Additionally, these organic layers are neither homogeneous in composition, nor continuous in their structure. Both structures play a major role in the biomineralization process and act as a boundary between mineral units.
On the recent warming in the Murray‐Darling Basin: Land surface interactions misunderstood
Authors: Lockart Natalie , Kavetski Dmitri , Franks Stewart W.
Published: December 2009

Previous studies of the recent drought in the Murray‐Darling Basin (MDB) have noted that low rainfall totals have been accompanied by anomalously high air temperatures. Subsequent studies have interpreted an identified trend in the residual timeseries of non‐rainfall related temperature variability as a signal of anthropogenic change, further speculating that increased air temperature has exacerbated the drought through increasing evapotranspiration rates. In this study, we explore an alternative explanation of the recent increases in air temperature. This study demonstrates that significant misunderstanding of known processes of land surface – atmosphere interactions has led to the incorrect attribution of the causes of the anomalous temperatures, as well as significant misunderstanding of their impact on evaporation within the Murray‐Darling Basin.
Dynamical effects of solar heating below the cloud layer in a Venus‐like atmosphere
Authors: Yamamoto Masaru , Takahashi Masaaki
Published: December 2009

The dynamics of Venus' lower‐atmospheric superrotation remain an open issue. In the present study, we investigate the sensitivity of the superrotation to diabatic heating rate below the cloud layer using a simplified GCM. A fully developed superrotation fails to develop in the lower atmosphere under the condition with a fairly low diabatic heating below the cloud layer, as is thought to be realistic. Additional radiative forcing in the lower atmosphere and/or eddy momentum source should be considered to produce lower‐atmospheric superrotation. The diabatic heating rate below the cloud layer controls the formation of the multiple superrotation states (slow, fast, and extremely fast superrotations). Small changes in the weak lower‐atmospheric heating lead to drastic changes of the middle‐ and lower‐atmospheric superrotation.
Plasticity-related Gene 5 (PRG5) Induces Filopodia and Neurite Growth and Impedes Lysophosphatidic Acid– and Nogo-A–mediated Axonal Retraction
Authors: Broggini Thomas , Nitsch Robert , Savaskan Nic E.
Published: December 2009

Members of the plasticity-related gene (PRG1-4) family are brain-specific integral membrane proteins and implicated in neuronal plasticity, such as filopodia formation and axon growth after brain lesion. Here we report on the cloning of a novel member of the PRG family, PRG5, with high homologies to PRG3. PRG5 is regulated during brain and spinal cord development and is exclusively allocated within the nervous system. When introduced in neurons, PRG5 is distributed in the plasma membrane and induces filopodia as well as axon elongation and growth. Conversely, siRNA mediated knockdown of PRG5 impedes axon growth and disturbs filopodia formation. Here we show that PRG5 induces filopodia growth independently of Cdc42. Moreover, axon collapse and RhoA activation induced by LPA and myelin-associated neurite inhibitor Nogo-A is attenuated in the presence of PRG5, although direct activation of the RhoA-Rho-PIP5K kinase pathway abolishes PRG5 -formed neurites. Thus, we describe here the identification of a novel member of the PRG family that induces filopodia and axon elongation in a Cdc42-independent manner. In addition, PRG5 impedes brain injury-associated growth inhibitory signals upstream of the RhoA-Rho kinase pathway.
Pandora, a PAthway and Network DiscOveRy Approach based on common biological evidence
Authors: Zhang Kelvin Xi , Ouellette B. F. Francis
Published: December 2009

Motivation: Many biological phenomena involve extensive interactions between many of the biological pathways present in cells. However, extraction of all the inherent biological pathways remains a major challenge in systems biology. With the advent of high-throughput functional genomic techniques, it is now possible to infer biological pathways and pathway organization in a systematic way by integrating disparate biological information.

Results: Here, we propose a novel integrated approach that uses network topology to predict biological pathways. We integrated four types of biological evidence (protein–protein interaction, genetic interaction, domain–domain interaction and semantic similarity of Gene Ontology terms) to generate a functionally associated network. This network was then used to develop a new pathway finding algorithm to predict biological pathways in yeast. Our approach discovered 195 biological pathways and 31 functionally redundant pathway pairs in yeast. By comparing our identified pathways to three public pathway databases (KEGG, BioCyc and Reactome), we observed that our approach achieves a maximum positive predictive value of 12.8% and improves on other predictive approaches. This study allows us to reconstruct biological pathways and delineates cellular machinery in a systematic view.

Availability: The method has been implemented in Perl and is available for downloading from http://www.oicr.on.ca/research/ouellette/pandora. It is distributed under the terms of GPL (http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php)

Contact:  francis@oicr.on.ca

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Social Constructions of Young Children in ‘Special’, ‘Inclusive’ and Home Environments
Authors: Nind Melanie , Flewitt Rosie , Payler Jane
Published: December 2009

The paper tells of the social constructs surrounding young children with learning difficulties in their home, ‘special’ early education setting and ‘inclusive’ or mainstream early education setting in England. The exploratory study focused on how three‐ to four‐year‐old children made sense of their environments and how their identities were constructed by different parties in the different contexts. Ethnographic case studies were conducted using semi‐structured and informal interviews with parents and practitioners, documentary analysis, fieldnotes, and live and video observations. Shared constructions across the contexts for each child were common, with constructions of them being happy and making progress pervasive across the children and settings. Differences in constructions across settings indicated that qualities could shine or negative constructions be tempered, thus showing the role of the environment and the culture of inclusion in socially constructing children with special needs.
An improved manufacturing process for Xyntha/ReFacto AF
Authors: KELLEY B. , JANKOWSKI M. , BOOTH J.
Published: December 2009

Summary.  ReFacto® Antihemophilic Factor is a second‐generation antihaemophilia A product manufactured using a process that includes therapeutic grade human serum albumin (HSA) in the cell culture medium, but is formulated without HSA as a stabilizer. Even though this second‐generation antihaemophilia product has a good safety profile, a programme was implemented to eliminate all animal‐ and human‐derived raw materials from the production process, thus producing a third‐generation product. To that end, HSA has been removed from the master and working cell banks and from the culture medium. The hybridoma‐derived monoclonal antibody formerly used in the purification process has been replaced by a chemically synthesized affinity peptide, and a virus‐retaining filtration step has been added to enhance the clearance of large viruses, such as retroviruses. The purification process has been validated for the removal of a panel of model viruses and provides significant clearance of all viruses tested. Host cell‐ and process‐derived impurity removal validations also were conducted, including host cell DNA and protein, in addition to the affinity peptide. Compared with the product manufactured according to the original process, these changes had no detectable effect on the structural integrity, stability or clinical efficacy of this antihaemophilia A product. The product produced by the improved manufacturing process is named Xyntha™/ReFacto AF.
Over‐expression of CCL3  MIP‐1α in a blastoid mantle cell lymphoma with hypercalcemia
Authors: Hattori Norimichi , Nakamaki Tsuyoshi , Ariizumi Hirotsugu , Homma Mayumi , Yamochi‐Onizuka Toshiko , Ota Hidekazu , Tomoyasu Shigeru
Published: December 2009

We analyzed a case with the blastoid variant of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL‐BV), a rare subtype of B‐cell lymphoma, presenting with marked hypercalcemia at diagnosis. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed elevated serum levels of interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), macrophage inflammatory protein‐1α (MIP‐1α), and type I collagen telopeptide, but not parathyroid hormone, calcitriol or parathyroid hormone‐related peptide at diagnosis, suggesting local osteoclastic hypercalcemia in this case. By reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis, we found predominant expression of mRNA for MIP‐1α in addition to those for receptor‐activator of nuclear‐factor kappa B ligand (RANKL), TNF‐α, and IL‐6 in lymphoma cells obtained from the patient. Furthermore, recombinant MIP‐1α significantly stimulated 3H‐thymidine uptake by isolated MCL cells in vitro. Treatment with intravenous fluids, bisphosphonate, and methylprednisolone followed by combination chemotherapy promptly corrects the hypercalcemia and successfully induced complete remission, which was accompanied by a decrease of these cytokines in the serum, including MIP‐1α. In the present case, MIP‐1α, an osteoclast‐activating factor produced by mantle lymphoma cells, may contribute to the development of hypercalcemia. It likely acts through RANKL expression in tumor cells and/or stroma cells, as indicated in multiple myeloma (MM) and adult T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL). Furthermore, MIP‐1α is also involved in the development of an aggressive phenotype on MCL by stimulating proliferation of these lymphoma cells. In summary, the present study demonstrated that MIP‐1α is an important factor in the development of both hypercalcemia and an aggressive phenotype in some types of B‐cell lymphoma.