bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic accuracy of subjective kinetic assessment of masses in contrast-enhanced mammography in comparison with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Subramaniam Prema , Renganathan Rupa , Suganya P. , Mandal Adrija
Published: May 2023

Background

Contrast-enhanced MRI (CE MRI) of the breast is currently the most sensitive imaging technique for detecting invasive breast cancer, and it provides both morphologic and functional information through kinetics for characterizing breast masses. Contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) uses the same principle of neo-angiogenesis to detect early cancers similar to MRI with comparable diagnostic performance. However, there is an important limitation in CEM in characterizing the breast lesions because of the non-availability of kinetic information. To the best of our knowledge, very few studies have assessed the CEM kinetics. In this study, we have evaluated the accuracy of subjective assessment of contrast kinetics in CEM and compared it with the subjective and quantitative kinetic assessment in CE MRI. If the performance of CEM is comparable to MRI, it may add an additional dimension to CEM in characterizing the breast masses in addition to detection.

Results

Kinetic information of 123 lesions in 90 patients was analyzed in CEM and MRI. Of these, 26 (21.1%) were benign, 4 (3.3%) were high risk lesions, and 93 (75.6%) were malignant breast lesions. Comparison of subjective and quantitative assessment in CE MRI had almost perfect agreement with a kappa value of 0.816, and both were used as reference standards for comparing CEM kinetics. Comparison of subjective assessment of kinetic patterns in CEM using only CC and MLO views showed moderate agreement with both quantitative (kappa − 0.483) and subjective (0.547) CE MRI kinetics. When the delayed image obtained at 8 min was included for kinetic analysis, CEM kinetics showed substantial to almost perfect agreement with quantitative (kappa − 0.673) and subjective (kappa − 0.855) CE MRI kinetics, respectively.

Conclusion

We hope that this study results would encourage the breast radiologist to assess the kinetic information from CEM and use CEM as a single, simple and cost-effective imaging modality in detecting and characterizing breast masses.
Effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels on the internalising dimension as a transdiagnostic risk factor: Mendelian randomisation study
Authors: Konzok Julian , Baumeister Sebastian-Edgar , Winkler Thomas W. , Leitzmann Michael F. , Baurecht Hansjörg
Published: May 2023

Background

Observational studies indicate a relationship between vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D; 25OHD) deficiency and the development of internalising disorders, especially depression. However, causal inference approaches (e.g. Mendelian randomisation) did not confirm this relationship. Findings from biobehavioural research suggests that new insights are revealed when focusing on psychopathological dimensions rather than on clinical diagnoses. This study provides further evidence on the relationship between 25OHD and the internalising dimension.

Aims

This investigation aimed at examining the causality between 25OHD and internalising disorders including a common internalising factor.

Method

We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomisation using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data for 25OHD (417 580 participants), major depressive disorder (45 591 cases; 97 674 controls), anxiety (5580 cases; 11 730 controls), post-traumatic stress disorder (12 080 cases; 33 446 controls), panic disorder (2248 cases; 7992 controls), obsessive–compulsive disorder (2688 cases; 7037 controls) and anorexia nervosa (16 992 cases; 55 525 controls). GWAS results of the internalising phenotypes were combined to a common factor representing the internalising dimension. We performed several complementary analyses to reduce the risk of pleiotropy and used a second 25OHD GWAS for replication.

Results

We found no causal relationship between 25OHD and any of the internalising phenotypes studied, nor with the common internalising factor. Several pleiotropy-robust methods corroborated the null association.

Conclusions

Following current transdiagnostic approaches to investigate mental disorders, our results focused on the shared genetic basis between different internalising phenotypes and provide no evidence for an effect of 25OHD on the internalising dimension.
α-Ketoglutarate-dependent Enzymes in Breast Cancer and Therapeutic Implications
Authors: Xiong Jingjing , Yan Chaojun , Zhang Qing , Zhang Jing
Published: May 2023

α-Ketoglutarate (αKG)-dependent dioxygenases are a superfamily of enzymes that require oxygen, reduced iron, and αKG for their catalytic functions. Therefore, they have the potential to sense the availabilities of oxygen, iron, and specific metabolites, including αKG and its structurally related metabolites. These enzymes play essential roles in various biological processes, including cellular adaptation to hypoxia, epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation of gene expression, and metabolic reprogramming. Many αKG-dependent dioxygenases are dysregulated in cancer pathogenesis. Herein, we review how they are regulated and function in breast cancer, which may offer new therapeutic intervention strategies for targeting this family of enzymes.
Rapid Transition from a High-Fat, High-Fructose to a Low-Fat, Low-Fructose Diet Reverses Gains in Bone Mass and Strength
Authors: LITTLE-LETSINGER SARAH E. , LETSINGER AYLAND C. , ELIZONDO JON P. , BREIDENBACH BRIANNE M. , HOGAN HARRY A. , LIGHTFOOT J. TIMOTHY , BLOOMFIELD SUSAN A.
Published: May 2023

Purpose

Obesity is thought to negatively impact bone quality and strength despite improving bone mineral density. We hypothesized that 1) continuous consumption of a high-fat, high-sugar (HFS) diet would impair bone quality and strength, and 2) a change from an HFS diet to a low-fat, low-sugar (LFS) would reverse HFS-induced impairments to bone quality and strength.

Methods

Six-week-old male C57Bl/6 mice (n = 10/group) with access to a running wheel were randomized to an LFS diet or an HFS diet with simulated sugar-sweetened beverages (20% fructose in place of regular drinking water) for 13 wk. HFS mice were subsequently randomized to continuing HFS feeding (HFS/HFS) or transition to the LFS diet (HFS/LFS) for four additional weeks.

Results

HFS/HFS mice exhibited superior femoral cancellous microarchitecture (i.e., greater BV/TV, Tb.N, Tb.Th, and decreased Tb.Sp) and cortical bone geometry (i.e., lower Ct.CSA and pMOI) compared with all other groups. At the femoral mid-diaphysis, structural, but not material, mechanical properties were greatest in HFS/HFS mice. However, HFS/HFS exhibited greater femoral neck strength only when compared with mice assigned to diet transition (HFS/LFS). Osteoclast surface and the percentage of osteocytes staining positive for interferon-gamma were greater in HFS/LFS mice, consistent with reduced cancellous microarchitecture postdiet transition.

Conclusions

HFS feeding enhanced bone anabolism and structural, but not material, mechanical properties in exercising mice. A change from an HFS to LFS diet returned the bone structure to that of continuously LFS-fed mice while compromising strength. Our results indicate rapid weight loss from obese states should be performed with caution to prevent bone fragility. A deeper analysis into the altered bone phenotype in diet-induced obesity from a metabolic standpoint is needed.
MODEL GUNA LAHAN UNTUK PENGENDALIAN BANJIR DI PERKOTAAN
Authors: Madjid Zulfakar
Published: May 2023

Bencana yang sering terjadi dan menyebabkan banyak dampak bahaya di Indonesia adalah banjir. Dampak bahaya bisa mencapai dua dari tiga dari segala bencana yang terjadi. Masalah banjir umumnya terjadi karena banyak faktor interaksi, seperti faktor alam dan kegiatan manusia. Salah satu kegiatan manusia yang dapat menyebabkan banjir adalah bekas tanah yang tidak cocok. Kondisi tanah yang digunakan biasanya tidak didasarkan pada konservasi tanah dan air, terutama kesesuaian untuk kemampuan lahan, sehingga menyebabkan infiltrasi tanah datang lebih sedikit dan kehilangan fungsi . Lahan bekas model di lahan banjir sangat penting untuk mengoptimalkan lahan yang digunakan proporsi yang sesuai untuk mengendalikan banjir. Dengan model guna lahan kita dapat mengetahui daerah banjir, nilai konversi tanah dan juga daerah yang tidak sesuai. Model ini memiliki 3 (tiga) unsur, model spasial untuk menentukan daerah banjir, model hidrologi untuk lahan untuk penggunaan optimal, dan model spasial ke daerah yang dianjurkan. Dari penelitian ini kita bisa mengetahui proporsi optimal untuk setiap lahan yang digunakan di Kota Samarinda maka banjir dapat dikendalikan. Proporsi optimal penggunaan lahan guna mengendalikan banjir adalah ketika debit puncak (Q) tidak melebihi kapasitas sungai yang ada.
PENGOLAHAN AIR MENGGUNAKAN MEMBRAN ULTRAFILTRASI SEBAGAI UPAYA MENDUKUNG GERAKAN NASIONAL MENGATASI KRISIS AIR BERSIH
Authors: Yuliati Selastia
Published: May 2023

Pengolahan air bersih dalam penelitian ini bertujuan menghilangkan semua kandungan parameter kimia, biologis yang terdapat didalam air baku. Air baku yang  diolah berupa air gambut, air payau serta air sungai musi. Air tersebut diolah mengunakan teknologi membrane dan bertujuan untuk mendapatkan air bersih yang memenuhi standar kesehatan. Membran yang  digunakan adalah membran ultrafiltrasi berbasis polimer polysulfon. Metoda yang digunakan dalam pembuatan membran tersebut adalah metoda Inversi fasa dari formula Loeb and Sourirajan yaitu melarutkan polimer Polysulfon kedalam campuran larutan Dimethyl Asetamida (DMAc) dan Poliethylen Glicol (PEG) sebagai aditif. Membrane yang dihasilkan yaitu berukuran pori 0,0014 mm memenuhi standar ultrafiltrasi. Tujuan khusus penelitian ini selain mendapatkan membran polysulfon yang kegunaannya untuk pengolahan air besih atau air minum, juga mengkaji beberapa parameter yang digunakan sehingga diperoleh  kondisi yang optimum. Metoda yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metoda eksperiment, perancangan alat serta Penerapan Teknologi Tepat Guna (TTG). Bahan baku sebelum diolah dilakukan analisa pendahuluan dan selanjutnya dilakukan proses pretreatment. Beberapa alat filter yang digunakan diantaranya  filter mangan, mangan zeolit, fiter besi, carbon aktif serta silica yang bergunakan menurunkan semua parameter yang terdapat didalam air baku. Air hasil pretreatment untuk selanjutnya dilewatkan melalui membrane ultrafiltrasi.   Produk yang dihasilkan mengacu pada standar kualitas air bersih dan air minum  yang diizinkan oleh MENKES NO 492/MENKES/PER/IV/2010 tentang pengadaan air bersih dan air minum. Hasil analisa menunjukkan penurunan rata-rata parameter air baku gambut dan payau setelah melewati membrane adalah 77,8% dan 32,6%, sedangkan  untuk air musi mencapai 92,5%. Air bersih maupun air minum yang dihasilkan telah memenuhi  standar baku mutu.
SISTEM PENYALURAN AIR LIMBAH DOMESTIK SKALA KOMUNAL DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN SIMPLIFIED SEWERAGE DAN SMALLBORE SEWER
Authors: Soedjono Eddy Setiadi
Published: May 2023

Tujuan dari penulisan ini adalah merencanakan pengembangan Sistem Penyaluran Air Limbah (SPAL) dan Instalasi Pengolahan Air Limbah (IPAL) skala komunal untuk seluruh wilayah Perumahan Singhasari Residence, Kabupaten Malang dan dilakukan pembagian wilayah pengembangan yang dibagi dalam 3 zona pelayanan, yakni wilayah pelayanan I, II dan III. Hasil kajian aspek teknis, diperoleh debit air limbah yang masuk ke pengembangan IPAL eksisting sebesar  0,027 m3/det. Sedangkan debit yang masuk pada unit IPAL wilayah I adalah 0,017 m3/det. Pada rencana pengelolaan SPAL dan IPAL komunal berbasis masyarakat akan sulit untuk dilaksanakan karena rumah yang berada di Perumahan Singhasari Residence berstatus rata-rata sebagai rumah kedua milik warga. Berdasarkan hasil analisa diperoleh biaya OM untuk wilayah I adalah Rp 5000/m3. Sedangkan biaya OM untuk pengembangan SPAL IPAL eksisting adalah Rp 3500/m3.
KAJIAN ALTERNATIF TEKNOLOGI DESALINASI DALAM PRODUKSI AIR TAWAR UNTUK DESA LABUAN BAJO, NTT
Authors: Ersa Ghina Rizqina
Published: May 2023

Peningkatan jumlah penduduk menuntut terhadap penyediaan air bersih yang lebih besar. Namun, pencemaran air terus terjadi akibat manusia itu sendiri sehingga menurunkan kualitas air permukaan. Selain itu, intrusi air laut menyebabkan air tanah terkontaminasi oleh air laut sehingga rasanya menjadi asin. Kajian literatur ini bertujuan memberikan suatu inovasi tepat guna untuk mengatasi permasalahan krisis air bersih di Indonesia. Berbagai macam teknologi seperti Multi-Effect Distillation (MED), Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MFD), Vapor Compression (VC), Reverse Osmosis (RO), dan Elektrodialisis. Selain teknologi tersebut, adapula yang menggunakan proses biodesalinasi dengan menggunakan mangrove, bakteri, maupun kombinasi keduanya. Desa Labuan Bajo, merupakan salah satu destinasi wisata nusantara, memiliki sistem penyediaan air bersih yang buruk. Berdasarkan pembahasan dalam studi kasus maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa Desa Labuan Bajo dapat menggunakan teknologi RO sebagai teknologi desalinasi dalam penyediaan air besih untuk kegiatan domestik dan non domestik. Desa Labuan Bajo dapat menggunakan Pantai Batu Gosok sebagai sumber air baku. Debit produksi yang diperlukan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan domestik dan non-domestik Desa Labuan Bajo yaitu sebanyak 720 m3/hari. Berdasarkan kajian teknologi desalinasi yang sesuai adalah menggunakan teknologi reverse osmosis.
KEBIJAKAN PENGELOLAAN SAMPAH PLASTIK DI INDONESIA: STUDI KASUS KOTA SURABAYA
Authors: Nisaa Ainul Firdatun
Published: May 2023

Manajemen sampah plastik perkotaan menjadi sorotan beberapa tahun belakang karena jumlah timbulan sampah plastik yang meningkat setiap tahunnya. Begitu juga dengan adanya potensi sampah plastik yang tidak terkelola atau lepas ke lingkungan, seperti terlepas ke badan air dan berakhir di lautan. Kebijakan sampah plastik yang diterapkan pemerintah Indonesia mulai diadopsi beberapa kota di Indonesia, termasuk di Surabaya. Namun, masih terdapat celah pada kebijakan di tingkat nasional dan daerah, seperti belum dikeluarkannya peraturan mengenai larangan penggunaan plastik sekali pakai. Kebijakan manajemen sampah plastik yang ada di Surabaya saat ini masih berupa surat edaran walikota. Studi ini meninjau kondisi eksisting manajemen sampah plastik Kota Surabaya dan mengaitkannya dengan kebijakan manajemen sampah plastik skala nasional yang ada. Dengan menelusuri aliran sampah plastik dari sumbernya hingga berakhir di tempat pemrosesan akhir, kita dapat mengetahui celah terlepasnya sampah plastik ke lingkungan. Jumlah sampah yang masuk ke Benowo setiap harinya pada tahun 2019 mencapai 1689 ton/hari. Sampah plastik Kota Surabaya yang terlepas ke lingkungan diperkirakan mencapai sekitar 94,64 ton/hari atau 44% dari total sampah kota yang tidak terkelola dengan baik setiap harinya. Sampah yang terlepas ke lingkungan bisa karena ditimbun atau dibuang secara ilegal, dibakar, atau bahkan lepas ke badan air. Studi ini membahas hal-hal apa saja yang bisa diperbaiki dari manajemen sampah plastik di Indonesia, khususnya Surabaya. Kombinasi pendekatan bottom-up dan top-down dianggap sebagai salah satu cara untuk mengakselerasi perbaikan manajemen sampah plastik di Surabaya. Pembelajaran dari Kota Surabaya tentu bisa juga diaplikasikan di kota-kota lain di Indonesia yang memiliki profil serupa dengan Surabaya.
EFFECT OF VEGETATION AND BUILDING DENSITIES TO URBAN THERMAL COMFORT (CASE STUDY OF DENPASAR CITY)
Authors: Hadibasyir Hamim Zaky , Firdaus Nada Salsabila
Published: May 2023

Denpasar is the capital of Bali Province, which is one of the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia. Anthropogenic activities have changed the land use and land cover (LULC) that affect the land surface temperature (LST) and thermal comfort. Good quality of thermal comfort can improve the livelihood of its citizen as well as the tourists. This research aims a) to analyses the density distribution of vegetation and buildings, b) to map the distribution of LST and thermal comfort, and c) to analyses the effect of vegetation and building density on thermal comfort in Denpasar City. LST and thermal comfort were extracted using Landsat 9. Thermal comfort was assessed using urban thermal field variance index (UTFVI). Then, Pearson correlation and simple regression were applied to investigate the relationship and effect of Effect of vegetation and building densities to urban thermal comfort. In general, high density of vegetation is located in the northern part of North Denpasar District, north and east of East Denpasar District, and south of South Denpasar District. High density buildings are scattered in the southern Denpasar District, the western eastern Denpasar District, the northern South Denpasar District, and parts of the West Denpasar District. Low UTFVI values indicate good thermal comfort. Greater vegetation and lower building densities are likely to have an impact by improving thermal comfort levels in a location. This research can be served as a guidance in urban heat island mitigation as well as ecological restoration planning.
Parasites in cats and dogs
Authors: Elsheikha Hany
Published: May 2023

This workshop discussed the wide range of parasites that can infect cats and/or dogs, looked at routes of transmission, diagnosis and, most importantly, methods of treatment and control.
Why is nutrition important?
Authors: Lakeman Nicola
Published: May 2023

This workshop outlined the importance of discussing nutrition in each consult, and the role it plays in disease prevention and management, and also in animal welfare.
Are professionals receiving sufficient training in ‘feline friendly’ techniques?
Authors: Hill Rebecca
Published: May 2023

Recognising stress in feline patients is imperative in promoting patient welfare and ensuring a safe experience for both the patient and veterinary worker. This study looked at whether veterinary professionals were confident at recognising stress in feline patients and whether they could adapt their handling methods accordingly. It also addressed whether veterinary workers were satisfied with the training they received on the subject during their qualifications. Finally, it looked at whether veterinary professionals were aware of the Kessler and Turner Stress Scoring System and whether an updated version has a place in current practice. It was evident from the responses of the questionnaire that there is a gap in veterinary curricula when it comes to teaching ‘feline friendly’ methods and that most professionals confident in minimising stress for their patients have developed their techniques through experience and through owning cats themselves.
The Wandering Army
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

At the outbreak of the War of Austrian Succession in 1742, the British Army's military tactics were tired and outdated, stultified after three decades of peace. The army's leadership was conservative, resistant to change, and unable to match new military techniques developing on the continent. Losses were cataclysmic and the force was in dire need of modernization, both in terms of strategy and in leadership and technology. The book traces the British Army's accumulation of military knowledge across the following century. An essentially global force, British armies and soldiers continually gleaned and synthesized strategy from warzones the world over: from Europe to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The book records how the army and its officers put this globally acquired knowledge to use, exchanging information and developing into a remarkable vehicle of innovation-leading to the pinnacle of its military prowess in the nineteenth century.
‘I Was Come to Take Canada’
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter recounts the most important operations in North America: the capture of Louisbourg, Quebec and Montreal, and with it, the elimination of a French presence in Canada. It first discusses the promotion of James Wolfe to brigadier and his deployment to America on the advice of General Sir John Ligonier, whom William Pitt, as the new prime minister, had asked to replace Cumberland as captain-general of the British Army. The chapter also elaborates on the promotion of Jeffrey Amherst to major general to command the expedition, mentioning that Wolfe was too junior for overall command. Amherst and Wolfe had very different views on the planning and prosecution of war. Where Amherst saw the need for caution, good intelligence and detailed planning of operations to bring about battle in optimal circumstances, Wolfe's self-education and military experiences had inculcated the requirement for decision and action. As the chapter emphasizes, this subtle but crucial difference in approach would define the campaign to conquer New France.
The ‘Great Book of War’
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores how military officers visited former battlefields and siegeworks to learn the art of war throughout the eighteenth century. It mentions that the frequent destinations included the coastal defences of northern France, the fortifications of the Low Countries, the historical and recent battlefields of Switzerland, Germany and Austria, as well as strategically important locations on the frontiers of France, Germany and Switzerland. The chapter highlights that terrain, geography and military structures can be seen in this way to be the means of the transmission of knowledge and learning, as the visible and undying reminder of past military experience. The chapter also emphasizes that maps and books relating to the campaigns being studied were an essential prerequisite for a successful martial grand tour and would allow tourists to understand not just the battlefield they were visiting but the broader political and strategic aspects of the wider war. Focusing on eighteenth-century military knowledge, the chapter argues that the strength of memory associated with physical place was profound.
‘No Idea of Any Other Than a Direct Attack’
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter chronicles the arrival of William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne in North America. As the chapter narrates, they found themselves in the midst of the ongoing siege of Boston shortly after their arrival. The city was overlooked to the north and south by hills, command of either of which would offer the Americans the ability to bombard both the city and the harbour. The chapter then reviews the preparations of General Sir Thomas Gage, the British commander-in-chief, to occupy the Dorchester Heights, which commanded the harbour to the south of Boston. It also investigates the implications of the news they received, reporting that the Americans were building a redoubt on top of Breed's Hill, which commanded the harbour to the north. Howe advocated landing at the base of the hill and launching a frontal assault on the redoubt as quickly as possible. Clinton, on the other hand, suggested outflanking the American position at Breed's Hill. The chapter elaborates on Clinton's outflanking manoeuvre. It then discusses how historians have criticised Howe for incorrectly using specialist and light troops as regular infantry for assaults on heavily fortified and defended positions.
‘Indirect Manoeuvres’
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores Henry Clinton's plans to facilitate economic war against the Americans. It argues that the raiding strategy was, after all, the approach he had originally advocated, and it allowed him to employ military power indirectly against the Americans. The chapter then examines how Clinton orchestrated a series of limited maritime raids, arguing that the raiding strategy was at least in part a campaign of terror to dissuade the population from supporting the rebellion. It particularly looks at Clinton's endeavour to draw Washington forward by indirect manoeuvres. As the chapter stresses, Clinton had learned what did and did not provoke a reaction from Washington. Seizing terrain itself rarely forced Washington to move, but this was not the case if Clinton threatened a vital line of communication. In the face of these threats on such vital lines, the Americans would have no option but to act. The chapter tracks the root of strategic and operational dissonance in North America as the war of independence approached its conclusion: the intellectual battle between those who advocated the pursuit of decisive battle at all costs and those who sought to manoeuvre their enemy into defeat. The failure to resolve this dissonance, as the chapter emphasizes, largely explains the defeat of British arms in North America.
The ‘Wandering Army’
Authors: Davies Huw J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter focuses on Major General Sir Eyre Coote who served as a brigade commander during the deployment of Britain's expeditionary force to the Mediterranean. It addresses his frustration at the slow pace of operations, the seeming interminable drifting around the Mediterranean, sometimes searching for targets of opportunity but mostly cooped up aboard the flotilla of transports or spending time ashore in Gibraltar, Minorca or Turkey. His frustrations were widely shared, but, as the chapter stresses, in the course of the 18 months in which the force was deployed to the Mediterranean, the British Army was reborn. The chapter then explores how subordinates began to understand their general's intent, anticipate his decisions and work towards a common objective. As they got to know and trust one another more, knowledge exchange became more frequent. Those with extensive past experiences discussed their knowledge with their subordinates in a variety of settings. As a result, the chapter underlines that informal adaptation and innovation in the field was encouraged, offering new solutions to the challenges posed by France's revolutionary armies.
Democracy without Opposition
Authors: Kirshner Alexander S.
Published: May 2023

This chapter investigates the reception of legitimate opposition during France's Revolutionary era. In particular, it draws on this history to weigh noncompetitive alternatives to opposition. The dream of a popular regime innocent of political competition or opposition marked the writing of the Abbé Sieyès and the Marquis de Condorcet. Both theorists are influential forerunners of fundamental developments in contemporary democratic theory—such as the embrace of deliberative and epistemic approaches to self-government. Both thinkers recognized a distinction between an ideal democracy and an oppositional regime. They recognized that securing one might mean forgoing the other, that these were arguably rival visions of political life. And they both explicitly rejected brute oppositional politics.
Convoys
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

During the Napoleonic Wars, thousands of merchant ships crisscrossed narrow seas and wide oceans, protected by Britain's warships. These were wars of attrition and raw materials had to reach their shores continuously: timber and hemp from the Baltic, sulfur from Sicily, and saltpeter from Bengal. Britain's fate rested on the strength of its economy—and convoys played a vital role in securing victory. This book examines how convoys ensured the protection of trade and transport of troops, allowing Britain to take the upper hand. Detailing the many hardships these ships faced, from the shortage of seaman to the vicissitudes of the weather, the book sheds light on the innovation and seamanship skills that made convoys such an invaluable tool in Britain's arsenal. The convoy system laid the foundation for Britain's narrow victory over Napoleon and his allies in 1815 and, in doing so, established its naval and mercantile power at sea for a hundred years.
Introduction
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This introductory chapter provides an overview of convoys, which were and are temporary gatherings of ships voyaging between friendly ports, keeping together to be protected by escorting warships. The convoy system was at the heart of British naval strategy, yet historians of the sailing navy have tended to regard convoying as incidental to the main business of winning the naval war. Victory was achieved by blockading enemy ports, or by battle. Thus, the successful outcome of trade protection in the war against Napoleon has been presumed, a judgement shaped by the attitudes of many contemporary naval officers. However they regarded it, officers and seamen in the Royal Navy spent most of their time convoying merchant ships, military transports and store ships, either in European waters or around the world. The chapter then describes the difficulty of manning British warships, as well as the complex organisation of convoys.
The Admiralty and Trade Protection, 1803–1815
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This chapter examines the role of the Board of Admiralty in trade protection. The navy measured success by the number of enemy warships or privateers destroyed or captured, but this was of tangential importance to shipowners, merchants, brokers and insurers. Their primary concern was the safe arrival of their merchantmen. Fusing these separate motivations was one of the central problems for the Admiralty. For the twelve years of war, 1803 to 1815, threats to trade were extraordinarily complex and they changed continually, as did the seagoing trade patterns of neutral nations. Between those two dates, at different times and in different combinations, Britain was at war with France, Spain, Holland, the north German states, Prussia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Russia, and, after 1812, the United States of America. A more complex and continual problem, however, faced the Admiralty throughout these war years: the shortage of seamen. Ultimately, the Convoy Act of 1803, which built on that of 1798, set the framework by which the Admiralty regulated the convoy system.
Warships and Merchantmen
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This chapter evaluates the inadequacy of warships available at the sudden renewal of war in May of 1803. The priority was to get ships to sea and as a stop-gap solution the Navy Board turned to chartering or purchasing merchant ships for converting to warships. The search was undertaken by Transport Board surveyors who were travelling around the ports in the country looking for prospective transports. These ships, known as ‘Hired Armed Ships’ (HMAS) or ‘Hired Armed Brig’ (HMAB), operated in an identical fashion as a warship, commanded by a commissioned lieutenant or commander, and subject to the Naval Discipline Act and the Articles of War. The chapter then looks at frigates, brig sloops, ship sloops, gun brigs, bomb vessels, and small warships. It also considers the relationships between naval officers and merchantmen, before examining the shortfall of skilled seamen.
The East and West Indies
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This chapter describes how the largest and most valuable outward convoys to leave Britain during any year were the combined East and West India fleets. Nature and economic conditions linked the East and West Indies trades. World weather patterns, combined with the timing of harvests and markets, determined that some of these large convoys set out down the Channel and Western Approaches at the most dangerous time of the year. However, the strongest link between the two trades was the combined wealth that they brought to the British state, enabling the war against Napoleon to be prosecuted for twelve long years. Tea came from the East and sugar, coffee, and raw cotton from the West, together with the import and export of gold and silver. Almost a quarter of all exports were re-exports of these goods.
The Battle for the Baltic
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This chapter explores how the convoys to and from the Baltic were the most important to Britain for the means of fighting the war. Their routes lay through a war zone where effectively two wars were being fought, one by Britain against France and her allies Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, while Sweden and Russia were fighting an intense land and sea war in the northern Baltic. The situation improved on the last day of 1810, when Russia again opened her ports to British ships. In spite of difficulties, trade flourished. Not only was the Baltic the only region that could supply the enormous quantities of naval stores required in British shipyards and by other expanding industries, year after year, but the timber, hemp, and iron from that region were of the first quality.
The North Atlantic
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This chapter studies Britain's new trade protection war against the United States, after the United States declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812. British North Atlantic convoys had to keep trade flowing, build up naval stores in Halifax to maintain warships, while troops had to be transported to defend British North America, and later take part in raids on United States soil. The conflict in the North Atlantic went through several phases during this short, 2.5-year war, in which 78 convoys escorted 2,661 transports and merchantmen from Britain to and from Halifax, St John's, Newfoundland, and Quebec. In the initial six months of the American war, British convoys to the West Indies and North America were very vulnerable to American warships and privateers because the number of available naval escorts were thin, as they were still engaged in the European war. Ultimately, the end of the American war was a stalemate. In the western Atlantic, the Americans had plenty of seamen, but few warships and no merchant ships which could get to sea because of the British blockade. In the northern and eastern Atlantic, the British had plenty of warships available, but were very short of seamen.
Epilogue
Authors: Knight Roger
Published: May 2023

This epilogue offers a comparison of the British convoys of the wars against Napoleonic Europe and America with those of the mid-twentieth century against Hitler's Germany. There are many parallels and contrasts between British convoys of the Napoleonic Wars and the Second World War. The technological race, which was central to the success of Britain and the allies during the later conflict, did not exist before 1815. Perhaps the most marked difference is the outcome of the war, with the contrast of the strength of the British economy in 1815 as opposed to the financial exhaustion of 1945. An obvious similarity between these two wars was the lack of enough small warships to serve as convoy escorts. Moreover, in both these world wars Britain had to import almost all its strategic war materials with which to fight the war. Thus, both convoy generations had to solve the central conundrum of trade protection.
The Long Shadow of Default
Authors: Gill David James
Published: May 2023

The Long Shadow of Default focuses on an important but neglected example of sovereign default between two of the wealthiest and most powerful democracies in modern history. The United Kingdom accrued considerable financial debts to the United States during the final stages of the First World War and immediate postwar period in the form of war loans. In 1934, the British government unilaterally suspended payment on these U.S. loans, which totaled $4.7 billion. This book examines why the United Kingdom was one of the last major powers to default on its war debts to the United States and how these outstanding obligations affected diplomatic and economic relations between both governments. It goes on to argue that these large and unpaid debts cast a surprisingly long and sometimes dark shadow over policymaking on both sides of the Atlantic. Memories of British default would limit transatlantic cooperation in the years immediately before and after the Second World War, inform Congressional debates about managing the economic difficulties of the 1970s, and generate legal challenges for both governments that were resolved only in the 1990s. The United Kingdom’s war debts to the United States remain unpaid and outstanding to this day. Despite the passage of more than a century since the end of the Great War, neither side has had the political will to resolve these outstanding obligations.
By covering a period of one hundred three years, The Long Shadow of Default provides one of the most detailed historical analyses of any sovereign default to date. This book brings attention to an often-neglected episode in financial history to inform, refine, and sometimes challenge the wider study of sovereign default.
Fragile Victory
Authors: Cronin James E.
Published: May 2023

The liberal democratic order that seemed so stable in North America and Western Europe has become precarious. This book argues that liberalism has never been secure and that since the 1930s the international order has had to be crafted, redeployed, and extended in response to both victories and setbacks. Beginning with the German and Japanese efforts in the 1930s to establish a system based on empire, race, economic protectionism, and militant nationalism, the book shows how the postwar system, established out of a revulsion at the ideas of fascism, repeatedly reinvented itself in the face of the Cold War, anticolonial insurgencies, the economic and political crises of the 1970s, the collapse of communism, the rise of globalization, and the financial crisis of 2008. The book emphasizes the links between internal and external politics in sustaining liberal order internationally and the domestic origins and correlates of present difficulties. The book provides the context necessary to understand such diverse challenges as the triumph of Brexit, the election of Trump, the rise of populism, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Set the Traps
Authors: Tripodi Francesca Bolla
Published: May 2023

This chapter discusses how conservative elites manipulate the power of search and keywords. It explains the purpose of search engine optimization (SEO) to influence the rank of search results. Markets relied on SEO techniques to maximize the likelihood of clicks on the content that highlights the company or its cause in an effort to integrate corporate interests into modern media operations. Similarly, conservative elites engage with SEO strategies to highlight the exposure of conservative brands, causes, and content. The chapter mentions the ethical complications of relevance spamming and tricking algorithms. It acknowledges the central role that social media played during the #BlackLivesMatter public awareness strategy.
A Zoning Straitjacket Binds Neighborhoods of Detached Houses
Authors: Ellickson Robert C.
Published: May 2023

This chapter looks at evidence from Silicon Valley, Greater New Haven, and Greater Austin and elsewhere, to demonstrate that local politics tends to freeze zoning classifications. It highlights the statement that if one was to visit a childhood neighborhood decades from now, it would remain virtually unchanged. The impact of the politics of local zoning invariably works to freeze land uses, especially in a neighborhood of detached houses. The chapter stresses change or the reality of the paucity of change in legal rules over time, noting decades-old zoning maps and ordinances that are seldom available online. It mentions that the local planning office typically has files that reveal the locality's prior policies.
Benefit-Cost Analysis of Land Use Policies
Authors: Ellickson Robert C.
Published: May 2023

This chapter emphasizes the virtues of applying benefit-cost analysis to assess the quality of zoning practices. Although benefit-cost analysis does not pay heed to some relevant considerations, it remains the most useful tool of policy analysis. The chapter discusses how the federal government has applied the technique to assess proposed federal programs for decades. Most commentators on land-use controls, including supporters of prevailing zoning practices, implicitly use benefit-cost analysis as their method of assessment. The chapter identifies various benefits and costs that should be included in the analysis, such as environmental effects, and others, such as the promotion of racial segregation, that should not.
The Impact of War Mobilization on Economic Potential
Authors: Field Alexander J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter provides an overview of the economic consequences of U.S. mobilization for World War II. It begins by describing the state of the U.S. economy in 1941. The record of U.S. manufacturing output during the war is indubitably impressive. In contrast, the record with respect to productivity is disappointing, whether one looks at the manufacturing sector alone or the total economy, and whether one considers only the period of war mobilization and demobilization, or the years that followed as well. This book argues that total factor productivity in manufacturing fell during the war because the conflict forced a wrenching shift away from products and processes in which manufacturers had a great deal of experience toward the production of goods in which they had little. The chapter explains economic growth and growth accounting with regard to U.S. mobilization for World War II. It also assesses two earlier transitions which provide insight into the adverse initial consequences of process and product mix changeovers. The first involves the electrification of the internal distribution of power within factories during the early decades of the twentieth century. A second and particularly interesting case is Ford's 1927 shift from producing Model Ts to Model As.
Bright Shiny Objects
Authors: Field Alexander J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter addresses the narrative of learning by doing, which is central to the claim that World War II production experience had persisting positive effects on aggregate supply. References almost always begin with the Liberty ships and go on to cite examples of the inverse relationship between cumulated output and unit labor requirements for B-24s, C-47s, or Oerlikon antiaircraft guns. To the extent these oft-reported gains were real, they were, nonetheless, associated with striking declines in overall manufacturing productivity during the war. The chapter explores why this was so and also why that experience did little to boost either military or civilian capability after the war. The main explanation for the limited postwar impact is that the manufacture of most of the products in question ceased even before the end of the conflict or, if not, soon after. In contrast with what was true during the war, postwar military hardware had limited production runs and much higher costs per unit. Moreover, learning to produce a sequence of military durables had an important opportunity cost: it disrupted advance in the manufacture of metal-intensive consumer durables. The chapter then considers the legacy of wartime capital accumulation.
Productivity Growth in the Rest of the Economy
Authors: Field Alexander J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter studies productivity growth between 1941 and 1948 in nine sectors other than manufacturing. These sectors include construction, wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, railroad transportation, electric and gas utilities, telephone and telegraph, trucking and warehousing, and mining. Sectoral total factor productivity (TFP) growth rates along with their shares in the national economy are used to apportion national economy productivity growth among the different sectors. The chapter then compares TFP advance in the private domestic economy in the 1929–41 and 1941–48 time periods. Aggregate TFP growth was relatively higher in the 1929–41 period than in the 1941–48 period, a conclusion that appears to be robust to the choice of different deflators to calculate real output growth. In sectors outside manufacturing, a combination of strong aggregate demand, scarce labor, and (in most cases) meager capital growth seems to have been a more powerful stimulus to TFP advance over the course of wartime mobilization and demobilization than conditions faced within manufacturing.
Military Distribution and Its Legacy
Authors: Field Alexander J.
Published: May 2023

This chapter assesses whether distribution internalized within the military generated learning of persisting relevance for the postwar period. There is a plausible case that, as in the instance of manufacturing, it did not, that the wartime experience was sui generis and without lasting implications for the golden age of U.S. economic growth (1948–73). There is also a counter case suggesting that the logistics experience, even if not a postcard illustration of efficiency and high productivity, nevertheless laid the groundwork for and stimulated advances in the postwar period, particularly in civilian distribution. Ultimately, U.S. total factor productivity growth rates after 1973 proved disappointing, with the exception of the information technology boom between 1995 and 2005. U.S. manufacturing continued to shrink as a proportion of the economy, and the most progressive sectors of the economy were those that produced the information technology and exploited it to manage distribution networks.
The Origins of Judaism
Authors: Adler Yonatan
Published: May 2023

Throughout much of history, the Jewish way of life has been characterized by strict adherence to the practices and prohibitions legislated by the Torah. These rules eventually came to regulate all aspects of Jewish life, from morning until night and from cradle to grave. But precisely when did this unique way of life first emerge, and why specifically at that time? This study methodically engages ancient texts and archaeological discoveries to reveal the earliest evidence of Torah observance among ordinary Judeans. A litany of elements characterising Judaism are examined: the dietary laws; the ritual purity rules; a ban on figural art; tefillin and mezuzot; circumcision; the Sabbath prohibitions; the Passover sacrifice and the Festival of Unleavened Bread; fasting on the Day of Atonement; the central rituals of the Sukkot festival; and the temple menorah. Also examined is the emergence of the synagogue as an institution dedicated to the public dissemination of the Torah. This detailed examination reveals that we possess no compelling evidence dating to any time prior to the middle of the second century BCE which suggests that the Judean masses knew of the Torah and were observing its laws in practice. To explain these results, the book seeks the genesis and earliest development of Judaism either during the Early Hellenistic period, when Judea found itself under foreign domination by the two great Hellenistic kingdoms, or during the Late Hellenistic period, after the Judeans had gained autonomy under the leadership of the priestly Hasmonean family.
A Cultural History of the British Empire
Authors: MacKenzie John
Published: May 2023

As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial delegates dispersed British cultural forms. Facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. But this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas had unintended and surprising results. This book examines the importance of culture in British imperialism. The book describes how colonized peoples were quick to observe British culture — and adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, the empire itself was increasingly undermined. From the extraordinary spread of cricket and horse racing to statues and ceremonies, the book presents an engaging imperial history — one with profound implications for global culture in the present day.