bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Mutation Ala677→Val in the Methylene Tetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene: A Risk Factor for Arterial Disease and Venous Thrombosis
Authors: Arruda Valder R , von Zuben Paula M , Chiaparini Luiz C , Annichino-Bizzacchi Joyce M , Costa Fernando F
Published: July 2018

Mild hyperhomocysteinemia has been identified as a risk factor for arterial disease and for venous thrombosis. Individuals homozygous for the thermolabile variant of the methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR) which results from a common mutation Ala677→Val and is found in 5-15% of the general population, have significantly elevated plasma homocysteine levels and may account for one of the genetic risk factors in vascular disease. We have analyzed the prevalence of MTHFR-T homozygotes in patients with arterial disease or venous thrombosis. We studied 191 patients with arterial disease and 127 individuals with venous thrombosis and compared with 296 unmatched controls. The results showed that there was a high prevalence of homozygotes for the mutated MTHFR-T allele among a group of patients with arterial disease (19%) in the absence of hyperlipoproteinemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus when compared to controls (4%), odds ratio of 5.52 (95% C.I., 2.27 to 13.51). The prevalence of homozygotes among patients with venous thrombosis was 11%, odds ratio of 2.93 (95% C.I., 1.23 to 7.01). The risk of venous thrombosis remained high, odds ratio of 2.63, even after we excluded 27 patients with hereditary thrombophilia (e.g. factor V Leiden, dysfibrinogene- mia, deficiency of protein C, protein S, antithrombin III, or factor XII) from the 127 overall cases with venous thrombosis. These data support the hypothesis that being a homozygote for the MTHFR-T is a risk factor for the development of arterial diasease and also for venous thrombosis.
Defective Interaction between von Willebrand Factor and Platelet Glycoprotein I b – A Familial Study of Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease
Authors: Kauhanen Petteri , Beer Jürg H , Lassila Riitta
Published: July 2018

Hemostatic variables and platelet function were assessed as a part of a genetic study in 15 patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) and 15 healthy siblings from ten families. D-dimer, a degradation product of cross-linked fibrin, was increased in the PAOD group (mean ± SD) (448 ± 177 vs. 333 ± 121 ng/ml, p <0.05). Ristocetin-induced maximal platelet aggregation (RIPA) was reduced in the PAOD group in response to both a higher (0.75 mg/ml) (67 ± 28 vs. 87 ± 14%, p = 0.02) and a lower (0.55 or 0.60 mg/ml) (33 ± 21 vs. 59 ± 32%, p = 0.02) concentration of ristocetin. Accordingly, the rate of primary aggregation was smaller, and a larger threshold concentration of ristocetin was needed to cause aggregation. However, ristocetin cofactor activity, von Willebrand factor (vWF) antigen and its multimer distribution, plasma glycocalicin, platelet glycoprotein lb content and the binding of vWF to frozen and thawed washed platelets were equal in both groups. Thus, the observed reduced RIPA in patients with PAOD is likely to reflect a down-regulation or blunted binding affinity in the platelet surface glycoprotein Ib.
Factor VIII Ise (R2159C) in a Patient with Mild Hemophilia A, an Abnormal Factor VIII with Retention of Function but Modification of C2 Epitopes
Authors: Suzuki Hiroshi , Shima Midori , Arai Morio , Kagawa Kazuhiko , Fukutake Katuyuki , Kamisue Seiki , Nakai Hiroaki , Morichika Shogo , Tanaka Ichiro , Inoue Masakazu , Gale koren , Tuddenham Edward G D , Yoshioka Akira
Published: July 2018

We found a patient with mild hemophilia A who had no detectable factor VIII antigen (FVIII:Ag), as shown by two-site ELISA using inhibitor
alloantibodies (TK). We then analyzed A2, A2/B, and C2 antigen of the patient's DDAVP-induced FVIII using several anti-FVIII
monoclonal antibodies. Factor VIII activity (FVIII : C) was increased from 12 to 42 Uldl by the administration of DDAVP. The DDAVPinduced increases in the A2 and A2/B antigens were 40 and 36 Uldl, respectively. However, the increase in the C2 antigen was only 7.5 Uldl. SSCP analysis and subsequent sequencing demonstrated an Arg to Cys transition at codon 2159. The anti-FVII1:C titer of monoclonal antibody, NMC-VIII15 which recognized the C2 domain, against normal plasma was 450 Bethesda Ulmg of IgG. However, the titer against DDAVP-treated patient's plasma was only 15 Bethesda Ulmg. We also tested DDAVP-induced increase in the FVIII : Ag in another mild hemophilia A patient with the same mutation at Arg2159. Increase in his C2 antigen levels was only 19% of those in the A2 and A2/B antigen. We designate this abnormal FVIII as FVIII Ise. Our results show that a missense mutation at Arg2159 to Cys modifies the antigenicity of the C2 domain.
Hypertensive Disorders during Pregnancy and Risk of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Very Preterm Infants
Authors: de Lima Filipa , Machado Ana , Guimarães Hercília , Rocha Gustavo ,   Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Study Group
Published: July 2018

Introduction It is not yet fully known whether hypertensive disorders (HTD) during pregnancy impose an increased risk of development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm newborn infants.

Objective To test the hypothesis that preeclampsia and other HTD are associated with the development of BPD in preterm infants.

Materials and Methods Data on mothers and preterm infants with gestational age 24 to 30 weeks were prospectively analyzed in 11 Portuguese level III centers. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistics 23.

Results A total of 494 preterm infants from 410 mothers were enrolled, and 119 (28%) of the 425 babies, still alive at 36 weeks, developed BPD. The association between chronic arterial hypertension, chronic arterial hypertension with superimposed preeclampsia, and gestational hypertension in mothers and BPD in preterm infants was not significant (p = 0.115; p = 0.248; p = 0.060, respectively). The association between preeclampsia–eclampsia and BPD was significant (p = 0.007). The multivariate analysis revealed an association between preeclampsia–eclampsia and BPD (odds ratio [OR] = 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.529–13.819; p = 0.007) and a protective effect for BPD when preeclampsia occurred superimposed on chronic arterial hypertension in mothers (OR = 0.077; 95%CI 0.009–0.632; p = 0.017).

Conclusion The results of this study support the association of preeclampsia in mothers with BPD in preterm babies and suggest that chronic hypertension may be protective for preterm babies.
Structural, magnetic and mechanical properties of Nd6.8Fe63.3Nb4.0Co1.3Cr1.1Zr0.9B22.6 nanocrystalline hard magnet
Authors: Tao Shan , Ahmad Zubair , Zhang Pengyue , Zheng Xiaomei , Zhang Suyin
Published: July 2018

Microstructural, magnetic and mechanical properties of Nd6.8Fe63.3Nb4.0Co1.3Cr1.1Zr0.9B22.6 nanocrystalline hard magnets produced by rapid solidification technique and subsequent thermo-magnetic annealing have been investigated in this study. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the as-cast Nd6.8Fe63.3Nb4.0Co1.3Cr1.1Zr0.9B22.6 magnet has 60% Nd2Fe14B, 16% α-Fe, 9% Fe3B and 15% amorphous phases, whereby, Nd2Fe14B being the majority phase. Thermomagnetic annealing induces a complete crystallization of Nd2Fe14B, α-Fe, Fe3B and amorphous phases and establishes ideal volume fractions between phases leading to improvement in magnetic properties. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy show nano-scaled hard Nd2Fe14B grains surrounded with soft α-Fe and Fe3B grains. The Nd6.8Fe63.3Nb4.0Co1.3Cr1.1Zr0.9B22.6 magnet annealed at 993 K for 15 min shows values of coercivity iHc, remanence Br and maximum energy product (BH)max up to 861 kA/m, 0.68 T and 81.9 kJ/m3, respectively. Compressional stress strain measurements elucidated that mechanical properties of alloys are affected by the morphology of phases as well as crystal structure. As-cast Nd6.8Fe63.3Nb4.0Co1.3Cr1.1Zr0.9B22.6 magnet demonstrates the hardness (Hv) of 960 ± 20 and compressive stress (σf) of 1270 ± 10 MPa, which tend to decrease by thermo-magnetic annealing process.
Using non-invasive sampling methods to determine the prevalence and distribution of Chlamydia pecorum and koala retrovirus in a remnant koala population with conservation importance
Authors: Wedrowicz Faye , Mosse Jennifer , Wright Wendy , Hogan Fiona E.
Published: July 2018

Context Pathogenic infections are an important consideration for the conservation of native species, but obtaining such data from wild populations can be expensive and difficult. Two pathogens have been implicated in the decline of some koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations: urogenital infection with Chlamydia pecorum and koala retrovirus subgroup A (KoRV-A). Pathogen data for a wild koala population of conservation importance in South Gippsland, Victoria are essentially absent. Aims This study uses non-invasive sampling of koala scats to provide prevalence and genotype data for C. pecorum and KoRV-A in the South Gippsland koala population, and compares pathogen prevalence between wild koalas and koalas in rescue shelters. Methods C. pecorum and KoRV-A provirus were detected by PCR of DNA isolated from scats collected in the field. Pathogen genetic variation was investigated using DNA sequencing of the C. pecorum ompA and KoRV-A env genes. Key results C. pecorum and KoRV-A were detected in 61% and 27% of wild South Gippsland individuals tested, respectively. KoRV-A infection tended to be higher in shelter koalas compared with wild koalas. In contrast with other Victorian koala populations sampled, greater pathogen diversity was present in South Gippsland. Conclusions In the South Gippsland koala population, C. pecorum is widespread and common whereas KoRV appears less prevalent than previously thought. Further work exploring the dynamics of these pathogens in South Gippsland koalas is warranted and may help inform future conservation strategies for this important population. Implications Non-invasive genetic sampling from scats is a powerful method for obtaining data regarding pathogen prevalence and diversity in wildlife. The use of non-invasive methods for the study of pathogens may help fill research gaps in a way that would be difficult or expensive to achieve using traditional methods.
Electroplating of Pt–Ni–Cu nanoparticles on glassy carbon electrode for glucose electro-oxidation process
Authors: Eshghi Abolfath , kheirmand Mehdi
Published: July 2018

Platinum and nickel–copper nanoparticles were electrodeposited on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by using cyclic voltammetry (CV)-based electroplating technique. Morphology and chemical composition of the newly designed electrode was studied via scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray and elemental mapping analysis. This electrode was eventually employed to electro-oxidation of glucose using CV, chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. Pt–Ni–Cu/GCE is capable of electro-oxidation of glucose at a low potential and generating high peak current density. The results of CV and CA revealed the high catalytic activity of the Pt–Ni–Cu/GCE and steady-state activity for glucose electro-oxidation. Compared to the other electrodes reported in the previous literature, Pt–Ni–Cu/GCE shows a better potential as an anode. Low electrochemical charge transfer resistance ( Rct) is of particular advantages for the Pt–Ni–Cu/GCE. This electrode is a good choice as an anode for application in direct glucose alkaline fuel cells.
The Effect of Indentation Load, Tilted Angle, and the Amount of Surface Removal to the Fracture Toughness of Silicon Nitride Measured by the Surface Crack in Flexure (SCF) Test Method
Authors: Nindhia T. G. T.
Published: July 2018

The surface crack in flexure (SCF) is a method for the evaluation of the fracture toughness of advanced ceramics. Conventionally is practiced by using a Knoop indenter to make a very small precrack. Removal on indent and the plastically deformed zone is required before the fracture test. The purpose of this removal is to eliminate residual stresses under the Knoop impression and to obtain a semi elliptical precrack shape. In this work the influence of the variation of several experimental parameters is investigated. Fracture toughness values by the SCF method are compared with those measured using the SEVNB (single edge V-notched beam) method. The material chosen for this purpose was gas pressured sintered silicon nitride (Si3N4) containing 3wt.%Al2O3 and 3 wt.%Y2O3 (SL200B, Ceram Tec, Plochingen, Germany). The varied parameters were indentation load, orientation of the indentation crack with respect to the bending axis and the amount of material removed from the surface. Additional investigations were performed to determine the crack geometry for various indentation loads. A procedure was developed to facilitate the location and measurement of the precrack size on the fracture surfaces. The effect of measurement accuracy of the results is evaluated. The fracture toughness of specimens with a surface removal in the range suggested from ASTM C 1421 were found to agree with the results obtained from SEVNB. A surface removal below the recommendation resulted in low values of fracture toughness. Increasing the amount of surface removal moderately was found to still fit with results obtained from SEVNB. Surface removal of much more from the recommended amount leads to failure from natural flaws. Observations from serial sectioning revealed that precracks obtained from HK20 and HK30 have an irregular precrack shape with large lateral cracks. It is suggested to use HK5 and HK10 to produce semi-elliptical surface cracks.
Low energy solution ball milling of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) reinforced aluminium nanocomposites and its mechanical properties
Authors: Baig Z , Mamat O , Mustapha M , Ali S , Yasir M
Published: July 2018

Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) possess outstanding properties which can be utilized to reinforce Al metal for various applications of automotive and aerospace sectors. The major hurdle for real-time applications is the GNPs dispersion in Al matrix which is a challenging task. To address this issue, a combination of processing like solvent dispersion via tip sonication and low energy ball milling at 200 and 300rpm were employed to investigate the GNPs dispersion at various fractions and their effects on final nanocomposite properties. Microstructural analysis of nanocomposite powder was carried out to investigate dispersion analysis. A decrease in relative density with increase in GNPs content showed by all samples. Hardness and wear characterization of the nanocomposite samples were performed. It was found that 0.3wt%GNPs/Al samples has shown maximum increase in hardness (35.61%) and reduce wear rate of (76.68%) than pure Al at 300rpm milling. Finally, GNPs have shown their reinforcing effect by increasing hardness and wear rate by provide effective lubrication.
Requirement for and polarized localization of integrin proteins duringDrosophilawound closure
Authors: Park Si-Hyoung , Lee Chan-wool , Lee Ji-Hyun , Park Jin Young , Roshandell Mobina , Brennan Catherine A. , Choe Kwang-Min
Published: July 2018

Wound reepithelialization is an evolutionarily conserved process in which skin cells migrate as sheets to heal the breach and is critical to prevent infection but impaired in chronic wounds. Integrin heterodimers mediate attachment between epithelia and underlying extracellular matrix and also act in large signaling complexes. The complexity of the mammalian wound environment and evident redundancy among integrins has impeded determination of their specific contributions to reepithelialization. Taking advantage of the genetic tools and smaller number of integrins in Drosophila, we undertook a systematic in vivo analysis of integrin requirements in the reepithelialization of skin wounds in the larva. We identify αPS2-βPS and αPS3-βPS as the crucial integrin dimers and talin as the only integrin adhesion component required for reepithelialization. The integrins rapidly accumulate in a JNK-dependent manner in a few rows of cells surrounding a wound. Intriguingly, the integrins localize to the distal margin in these cells, instead of the frontal or lamellipodial distribution expected for proteins providing traction and recruit nonmuscle myosin II to the same location. These findings indicate that signaling roles of integrins may be important for epithelial polarization around wounds and lay the groundwork for using Drosophila to better understand integrin contributions to reepithelialization.
A similarity-based approach to leverage multi-cohort medical data on the diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Zhang Hongjiu , Zhu Fan , Dodge Hiroko H , Higgins Gerald A , Omenn Gilbert S , Guan Yuanfang ,   the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: July 2018

Motivation

Heterogeneous diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) manifest a variety of phenotypes among populations. Early diagnosis and effective treatment offer cost benefits. Many studies on biochemical and imaging markers have shown potential promise in improving diagnosis, yet establishing quantitative diagnostic criteria for ancillary tests remains challenging.

Results

We have developed a similarity-based approach that matches individuals to subjects with similar conditions. We modeled the disease with a Gaussian process, and tested the method in the Alzheimer's Disease Big Data DREAM Challenge. Ranked the highest among submitted methods, our diagnostic model predicted cognitive impairment scores in an independent dataset test with a correlation score of 0.573. It differentiated AD patients from control subjects with an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.920. Without knowing longitudinal information about subjects, the model predicted patients who are vulnerable to conversion from mild-cognitive impairment to AD through the similarity network. This diagnostic framework can be applied to other diseases with clinical heterogeneity, such as Parkinson's disease.
Institutions for People with Disabilities in North America
Authors: Noll Steven
Published: July 2018

The institution or asylum in North America was established as a mechanism for confining, controlling, and containing groups of individuals classified and labeled as mentally ill or intellectually disabled and defined as deviant, defective, or delinquent. These congregate facilities, established both for the protection of the individuals housed there and for the simultaneous protection of society from those same people, developed into massive structures designed to accommodate thousands of residents/patients/inmates. The rationale behind the rapid rise of the institution throughout the nineteenth and into the mid-twentieth centuries paralleled the growth of modern medicine and psychiatry. By the 1950s, institutions housed hundreds of thousands of individuals. Yet by the start of the twenty-first century, the institutional model had been intellectually discredited, and these facilities had been all but abandoned. This rather astounding demise mirrored broader social, scientific, and medical trends.
Picturing Disability in Eighteenth-Century England
Authors: Turner David M.
Published: July 2018

The eighteenth century is often seen as a time when disability became increasingly marginalized in visual culture. However, a glimpse beyond the classical tastes of “high” art reveals not a disappearance but a flourishing of representations of physical and sensory difference. Eighteenth-century popular art and satirical prints examined the disabled body not just as a symbol of misfortune or target for medical intervention, but also as a source of pleasure or an object of satire that conveyed wider messages about the times. A rich and varied range of pictorial representations of disability in the long eighteenth century (ca. 1680–ca. 1830) contributed to social, cultural, and medical understandings of bodily difference in English culture. People with disabilities played important roles as artists, models, and critics in an era before modern “disability arts.”
Disabled Veterans and the Wounds of War
Authors: Gerber David A.
Published: July 2018

War is an abiding cause of death, disability, and disease. Disabled and chronically ill veterans of military conflict, as well as civilian victims of wars, have been neglected, both in popular memories and in academic research. But as long as people find disabled veterans convenient symbols of patriotism and sacrifice, they will continue to be a special project of the state, with a unique status separate from nondisabled and disabled civilians. Though there is still no synthesis of the history of disabled veterans, the outlines of one have been taking shape, emphasizing (1) the evolving nature of injuries to bodies and minds in the contexts of warfare, weaponry, and military medicine; (2) military citizenship; (3) identity; and (4) cultural representations.
Toy Consumption as Political Challenges for Making Dreams Come True
Authors: Klintman Mikael
Published: July 2018

This chapter looks at political consumerism in the toy sector, offering a brief history of consumer concerns and distinguishing among four strands of political consumerist research in this sector. A primary factor facilitating political consumerism of toys is that toy companies are extremely concerned about their reputation. Manufacturers cannot assume that parents and other carers do their usual risk-benefit analysis with the same level of risk acceptance concerning toys. Factors constraining political consumerism in this sector include long product chains and difficulties in discovering unethical practices and dangerous substances. Actors involved in the political consumerism of toys come from all societal spheres, including retailers. Regulators take action when risks have been discovered by civil society actors or scientists, but international divergence in regulation constitutes an obstacle to concerted action. Future research needs to examine synergies and trade-offs among various risks in toy products.
User Innovation and Peer Assistance in Small-Scale Renewable Energy Technologies
Authors: Hyysalo Sampsa , Juntunen Jouni K.
Published: July 2018

There have been many attempts to include citizens as more active players in the proliferation of renewable energy technologies. However, the roles that citizen users play in renewables proliferation are not limited to adoption, but include technological domestication, innovation, and market creation. This chapter first reviews innovation by citizen users in the early phases of small-scale renewable energy technologies (S-RET) technology development in wind turbines, solar collectors, and low-energy housing. It then examines user innovation and peer assistance in the later phases of diffusion in air-source and ground-source heat pumps, pellet-burning systems, and solar collectors. It reviews research user motivations, diffusion pathways, and peer intermediation, and pays particular attention to how the forms of innovative citizen energy communities are changing from locality-based community energy initiatives to distributed and Internet-mediated energy communities. The chapter concludes by drawing policy implications regarding user innovation and peer assistance in the transformation of energy systems.
The Local at the Forefront of Energy Transition
Authors: Emelianoff Cyria
Published: July 2018

This chapter proposes a multi-scalar and territorial reading of the transition toward renewable electricity, recognizing the importance of local authorities and local policies, closely linked to subjacent citizen mobilizations. The comparative analysis of German and Swedish electrical transitions allows the author to highlight the political dimensions of these two transition paths. The contrasted relationship to nuclear energy, the decentralized culture of Germany, and the weight of political ecology prove crucial to understanding the rhythms and modalities of transition toward renewable energies. The multi-scalar governance of the energy transition, also contrasted, has paradoxical effects. Less developed and more confrontational in Germany, space is opened for alternatives and citizen initiatives, creating a potential for the questioning and evolution of this transition. By contrast, the strong multi-scalar integration of Swedish policies might disserve the low carbon transition, since it strengthens the neoliberal alignment of energy transition policies.
Embodied Rhythm and Musical Impact of Corporal Punishment in Twentieth-Century Opera
Authors: Johnson Shersten
Published: July 2018

Operatic dramas often set to music the extremes of human bodily experience—disease, death, and violence—all duly tinged with hues of eroticism. Not surprisingly then, the genre includes a number of works that stage scenes of corporal punishment. These moments of physical suffering can focus attention on the body in a way that even Mimi’s consumption or Carmen’s stabbing cannot. This chapter examines three such scenes in operas by Britten (Billy Budd), Adams (Nixon in China), and Lloyd Webber (Jesus Christ Superstar) to see how music, action, and text multimodally represent not only the cruel impact of blows, but also the emotional impact for victim, punisher, onstage onlookers, and audience. Close readings of the three scenes draw on theories of embodied rhythm and mimetic listening to engage the question of how this music “gets into our bodies” and helps us to experience the dramas.
Music Changes the Brain
Authors: Lennard Paul
Published: July 2018

This chapter examines ways in which listening to or making music changes our brains morphologically and functionally. Evidence for short-term plasticity in response to music is reviewed. Critical periods early in life, when exposure to music and music training can alter brain development, are summarized. Evidence that the brains of musicians and nonmusicians differ is presented. It is shown that nonmusicians process music primarily in the nondominant cerebral hemisphere, while musicians have structural and functional shifts of lateralization to the dominant cerebral hemisphere. This shift is discussed in terms of a theory that nonmusicians process music holistically in the nondominant cerebral hemisphere, while trained musicians tend to apply syntax to music, using language-processing circuitry in the dominant cerebral hemisphere.
Outing the Perverse
Authors: Person Leland S.
Published: July 2018

This reader-centered essay examines four of Poe’s murder tales (“The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Imp of the Perverse,” and “The Cask of Amontillado”) by focusing on the way Poe seduces readers into identifying with criminals. Using Poe’s concept of “perverseness”—the irresistible impulse to do what one should not—the essay examines the ways that Poe plays with perverseness as a means of manipulating reader response. The Imp impels confession in “Imp of the Perverse” but compels both murder and confession in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” as perverseness becomes an authorial power. “The Cask of Amontillado” represents the culmination of Poe’s experiment with perverseness, as he manipulates reader responses through first, second, and third readings of the tale.
The Perversity of Public Opinion in Poe’s Later Satires and Hoaxes
Authors: Margolis Stacey
Published: July 2018

This essay argues that Poe’s late satires attempt to dramatize the power of public opinion in Jacksonian democracy, especially insofar as that opinion asserts its authority by overriding individual thought and belief. Beyond Poe’s disdain for the stupidity and malleability of popular beliefs, in other words, what haunts the strained comedy of his increasingly bitter late satires is his interest in how such beliefs acquire a seemingly uncontestable power. In these stories, public opinion is sinister because it is collective without being intentional; it emerges, but it is traceable to no will and no plan, communal or otherwise. In satires like “Mellonta Tauta” and “Some Words with a Mummy,” Poe examines the inevitably thwarted desire to stabilize meaning by tracing opinion to an original source. In “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” Poe parodies the attempt to ground individual belief in something less ephemeral than collective opinion.
The Philosopher’s Baroque: Benjamin, Lacan, Deleuze
Authors: Egginton William
Published: July 2018

This essay examines three twentieth-century intellectuals, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan, and Gilles Deleuze, who, inspired by historical baroque thought or cultural production, developed a body of thought around the concept “baroque” that has in turn pollinated a new field of inquiry that continues to thrive today. These groupings are only partially distinct because, as we will see, the philosophical Baroque draws in some ways from baroque philosophy, although it is more often and obviously motivated by reflections on aesthetics and form. Each of these thinkers was concerned with a distinct aspect or figure of baroque culture or thought. In Walter Benjamin’s case, he drew out significant aspects of the Baroque in his never-to-be-accepted Habilitationsschrift on German tragic drama. In Jacques Lacan’s case, he devoted several weeks of his 1972–1973 seminar on feminine sexuality to the Baroque. Finally, Gilles Deleuze’s contribution came in the form of a book-length study of the German baroque philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz. In this essay, I summarize what each of these thinkers extracted from his engagement with that specific aspect of baroque culture or thought that fascinated him at the time, before concluding with some thoughts about how these three, in many ways wildly different thinkers, overlap in their consideration of the Baroque.
Husserl’s Middle Period and the Development of his Ethics
Authors: Drummond John J.
Published: July 2018

This chapter considers several important themes of Husserl’s middle period through the prism of important developments in his ethical thought. The chapter examines the transformation in Husserl’s ethics from the idealized consequentialism of his early thought to a personalist ethics based on the notion of absolute loves and the absolute duties they impose. The examination proceeds by considering, first, the role the Husserlian themes of the personalistic attitude, time-consciousness, and absolute consciousness play in this transformation. Consideration is given, second, to the Fichtean themes introduced into Husserl’s later ethical reflections and their consistency with the more general phenomenological positions Husserl has taken in the middle period. The chapter concludes that the metaphysical directions taken in Husserl’s later ethical thought cannot be justified phenomenologically.
Phenomenology and German Idealism
Authors: Schnell Alexander
Published: July 2018

The thesis of this chapter consists in putting forward the idea that, from the point of view of their speculative foundation, the works of the founding fathers of phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger) admit of a unity, the nature of which is clarified by certain crucial contributions from German idealism. The perspective that the author is concerned to develop consists in attempting to show that, if phenomenology is understood as a transcendental philosophy, then to grasp its meaning, recourse to German idealism is unavoidable. To this end, the author examines the two “fundamental bases,” which amount to an epistemological and an ontological perspective; and he sketches how, from a perspective that draws “metaphysical” conclusions from these phenomenological analyses, these two parts can be understood as belonging to a single project. The essential objective will thus consist in showing how the concept of the transcendental in phenomenology relies on classical transcendental idealisms.
Love and Time
Authors: Ben-Ze’ev Aaron , Krebs Angelika
Published: July 2018

The connection between romantic love and time has always fascinated lovers, who ask themselves if their love will endure always and forever. And if it does, will it be the same as it is now? This chapter argues that romantic love can indeed endure for a long time without necessarily declining into something like friendship or companionate love. In order to show this, it provides various conceptual tools that can help to understand enduring emotions in general and enduring romantic love in particular, such as the distinctions between acute, extended, and enduring emotions, or between superficial and profound emotions. Finally, it tests this position by applying it to the issues of old age, sickness, and death, as exemplified in Michael Haneke’s film Amour.
Pentecostal Ecclesiologies
Authors: Yong Amos
Published: July 2018

What can be said about ‘pentecostal ecclesiology’ when there are arguably many ‘pentecostalisms’ and just as many ecclesial forms across the world of pentecostal-charismatic Christianity? This chapter provides a basic sketch of such phenomenological diversity and then moves to present as a viable candidate for pentecostal ecclesiological reflection a pneumatological framework of the church as renewed by the Spirit and always renewing. The first section provides some historical perspective on the classical pentecostal movement The second and third sections argue that pentecostal ecclesiological dynamism is inspired largely by its pneumatic spirituality; they map emerging ecclesiological tendencies under the rubrics ‘the church as the charismatic fellowship of the Spirit’ and ‘the church as the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit’. While the former reflects some of the renewal distinctives about pentecostal ecclesiological self-understanding, the latter situates the pentecostal understanding of the church within the mainstream of ecclesiological developments.
The Shape of the Pauline Churches
Authors: Adams Edward
Published: July 2018

This chapter considers what the Pauline epistles reveal about the nature of the Pauline churches and to this end looks at a range of issues: their genus; their formation; their composition; how Paul configures their identity; their leadership structure; their rituals; their meetings; the kinds of places in which they met. The discussion reflects the state of contemporary scholarship on the Pauline communities, but it also seeks to make a fresh contribution to the subject. A critique of the now dominant ‘house-church’ reconstruction of the Pauline congregations is offered, and a more diversified picture is proposed.
African Ecclesiologies
Authors: Chu Ilo Stan
Published: July 2018

This chapter examines the key issues in scholarship on the identity and mission of the Christian church in Africa, while also exploring in depth the identity of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa. First, the chapter discusses the methodological questions in scholarship in this area, while highlighting the types and models of African ecclesiology in general. Second, it historicizes the narrative of the church in Africa, showing the theological trajectories of scholarship on ecclesia in Africa in the Roman Catholic tradition. Finally, it briefly surveys the key themes being developed in African Catholic ecclesiology from the Second Vatican Council (1962–5) to the Second African Synod (2009). It concludes with a thematic account of how the priorities and practices of the church of Christ are being enacted in the mission of the church in Africa with regard to the challenges facing the Christian faith there.
Karl Barth
Authors: Bender Kimlyn
Published: July 2018

Karl Barth’s ecclesiology is marked by a deeply Christological character set within a Trinitarian context. While the emphasis of Barth’s early ecclesiology was primarily critical in nature and exhibited stark apocalyptic contrasts, his mature ecclesiology moved in ever more Christological, constructive, and analogical directions while not abandoning its highly dialectical and eschatological qualities. Barth’s mature ecclesiology is characterized by an emphasis upon the covenantal unity of Christ with his church grounded in an eternal election, upon the inalienable distinction and asymmetrical relation that ever remains between them, and upon church’s calling by the Holy Spirit and ordained task of witness. This witness is not a repetition or extension of the perfect and complete work of Christ but the commission to proclaim this perfect work and to live a life of correspondence to it, all for the sake of a watching world.
Reasons and Action Explanation
Authors: Wald Benjamin , Tenenbaum Sergio
Published: July 2018

The problem of deviant causation has been a serious obstacle for causal theories of action. We suggest that attending to the problem of deviant causation reveals two related problems for causal theories. First, it threatens the reductive ambitions of causal theories of intentional action. Second, it suggests that such a theory fails to account for how the agent herself is guided by her reasons. Focusing on the second of these, we argue that the problem of guidance turns out to be related to a number of other issues in the literature on action explanation, and that it is much more general: it threatens not only causal theories but any theory of action. Finally, we suggest that a certain version of the view that acting has a constitutive or formal aim can overcome this problem.
Practical Reasoning
Authors: Kauppinen Antti
Published: July 2018

This chapter discusses two contemporary pictures of practical reasoning. According to the Rule-Guidance Conception, roughly, practical reasoning is a rule-guided operation of acquiring (or retaining or giving up) intentions to come to meet synchronic requirements of rationality. According to the Reasons-Responsiveness Conception, practical reasoning is, roughly, a process of responding to apparent reasons. Its standards of correctness derive from what we objectively have reason to do, if things are as we suppose them to be. I argue that a version of the latter has some significant advantages. This has some surprising consequences for how we should conceive of the structure and process of instrumental reasoning in particular.
The Normativity of Meaning
Authors: Liebesman David
Published: July 2018

One way to argue that meaning is normative, familiar from Kripke, is to hold that facts about meaning determine how we ought to speak. Another way to argue that meaning is normative, familiar from Davidson, is to hold that facts about meaning are determined by facts about rationality. I survey the prospects for these attempts to vindicate the normativity of meaning. I then step back and consider the relationship between normativity and metasemantics.
Motivating Reasons and Normative Reasons
Authors: McNaughton David , Rawling Piers
Published: July 2018

Reasons for action are traditionally divided into “motivating reasons,” which explain why someone did something, and “normative reasons,” which concern why she should (or should not) have done it. We explore various positions concerning both types of reason, and the relations between them. We discuss Davidson’s causal account of action, reasons internalism and externalism, constructivism, motivational internalism and externalism, and practical normative realism (PNR)—the view that there are truths concerning what you have reason to do (this is opposed by error theorists and noncognitivists, whose views we also briefly address). In our account of PNR, we distinguish between what you ought to do and what you have most reason to do, by appealing to the idea of reasonable credences. And we include two appendices, one resisting Lewis’s argument to the effect that advocates of PNR must reject motivational internalism, the other responding to a concern about future contingents.
Edges and Interactions beyond Europe
Authors: Sweeney Naoíse Mac , Wells Peter S.
Published: July 2018

Iron Age Europe, once studied as a relatively closed, coherent continent, is being seen increasingly as a dynamic part of the much larger, interconnected world. Interactions, direct and indirect, with communities in Asia, Africa, and, by the end of the first millennium AD, North America, had significant effects on the peoples of Iron Age Europe. In the Near East and Egypt, and much later in the North Atlantic, the interactions can be linked directly to historically documented peoples and their rulers, while in temperate Europe the evidence is exclusively archaeological until the very end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The evidence attests to often long-distance interactions and their effects in regard to the movement of peoples, and the introduction into Europe of raw materials, crafted objects, styles, motifs, and cultural practices, as well as the ideas that accompanied them.
Hellenistic Astronomy
Authors: Bowen Alan C.
Published: July 2018

This chapter focuses on four texts in Hellenistic astrologia, which covers both astrology and astronomy. Its guiding thesis is that understanding ancient astrologia should not be restricted to the mathematics deployed but should include its contexts, such as its relations to other intellectual disciplines and to broader philosophical and cultural concerns about how to live one’s life. The texts studied are Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca 1–2 (ca 50 bce), Vitruvius, De architectura 9 (ca 25 bce), Geminus, Introductio astronomiae (ca 50 bce), and Pliny, Naturalis historia 2 (77 ce). What each includes is found to depend on the readers addressed and how its author sought to persuade or inform them. Hellenistic astrologia is a work in progress during the two centuries about the millennium, with different writers urging in different contexts divergent views of what astrologia should be and why it is important.
Hellenistic Geography from Ephorus Through Strabo
Authors: Roller Duane W.
Published: July 2018

Geography as a scholarly discipline originated in the period from the 4th century BCE through the 1st century CE. Ephorus in the 340s BCE was the first to write about it in detail, and the slightly later explorations of Pytheas to the North Atlantic and Baltic, and Alexander the Great to India, provided data that allowed Eratosthenes of Cyrene, after ca 250 BCE, to write the first scholarly treatise on geography, even inventing the term. Other Hellenistic authors added to the topic, especially Hipparchus and Polybius. Fantasy geography—mythical places at the end of the known world—also developed, but such works could contain valuable information. The culmination of Hellenistic geographical thought was the 17-book treatise of Strabo of Amaseia, completed ca 25 CE. It is the most complete ancient work on geography, and the source for most of the previous history of geography, including numerous quotations from works now lost.
The Longue Durée of Alchemy
Authors: Keyser Paul T.
Published: July 2018

This chapter addresses the prehistory and long evolution of the ancient Greek science of materials, their properties and transformation. The ancient Greek science of materials, their properties and transformation, came to be called alchemy. Models and procedures focused on the production or imitation of valuable substances, especially silver metal, purple dye, and gems. Ancient materials science mastered many effective techniques, and the earlier models of the properties and transformations of materials were consonant with models of the same eras purporting to explain disease, living beings, or the cosmos. What later became more precise and focused remains here a collection of related practices and goals, elements from which were later compounded and fused into what became known as “alchemy.” Much of Greco-Roman alchemy was no delusion or deception: it was the oldest, broadest, and most accomplished of the ancient sciences, deserving a place in scholarship equal to “astronomy” and “medicine.”
Greco-Roman Surgical Instruments
Authors: Bliquez Lawrence J.
Published: July 2018

The chapter looks at Greek and Roman surgical instruments. The survival of Greco-Roman surgical instruments falls into two divisions: tools available in Hippocratic times (fifth to fourth century bce), and instruments at the disposal of surgeons, mostly Greek, from the late Republic through the Empire (first century bce to fifth century ce). From the former, most survivals are cupping vessels from graves. The texts suggest the Hippocratic physician often created his tool on the spot or had a tool prepared for an immediate need, whereas most of an Imperial surgeon’s repertoire consisted of instruments professionally made and sold by smiths. The various kinds of instruments are described, explained, and illustrated: cupping vessels, scalpels, phlebotomes (for phlebotomy), lithotomes (for bladder stones), needles, probes, cauteries, hooks, forceps, saws, drills, chisels, files, levers, tubes, douches, specula, and abortives.
Egyptian Medicine
Authors: David Rosalie
Published: July 2018

This chapter studies ancient Egyptian medicine, which for nearly two millennia before the Greek conquest had combined both rational and irrational procedures. For Egyptians, magic was a divine force that, together with the creative word, could turn concepts into reality. Visible conditions were generally treated according to the perceived cause (such as bone setting or simple surgery); however, for fever, where the cause remained hidden, magic was used. The author makes extensive use of funerary evidence (mummies and tomb goods), since very few texts survive, and depictions of physical deformity or disease are restricted to portrayals of lower class people. The preserved texts, including especially the Ebers Papyrus and the Edwin Smith Papyrus, present fragmentary information about physiology and offer case studies that prescribe surgical, pharmaceutical, or magical treatments. Effective remedies identified in the Egyptian pharmacopoeia include laxatives, antacids, anti-diarrheals, and antiseptics.
Hippocrates and Early Greek Medicine
Authors: Craik Elizabeth
Published: July 2018

The chapter surveys early Greek medicine, primarily the works attributed to Hippocrates, but also evidence for other medical writing, such as that in the Anonymus Londinensis papyrus, and in the fragments of the pre-Socratics. It is noted that the fragments of Alcmaeon indicate experience in dissection of animals, that Diogenes of Apollonia gives a detailed account of the vascular system, and that Plato has an extensive biomedical section in Timaeus. In general, early medical writers show concern with the relation of microcosm to macrocosm and of human life to the universe; also, with opposing principles (hot and cold, wet and dry, thick and thin, rare and dense) such that health is commonly seen in terms of bodily balance and avoidance of excess. The seventy or so works of the Hippocratic corpus cover a wide range of subjects, notably prognostic signs, surgery, gynecology, case histories and aphoristics lore.
Distilling Nature’s Secrets
Authors: Fraser Kyle
Published: July 2018

This chapter re-examines the historiography of Greco-Egyptian alchemy. The author challenges the representation of alchemy as a superficial amalgam (or “syncretism”) of Greek philosophical theories. He argues for an indigenous Egyptian development of the art, rooted distantly in the artisanal traditions of the temples, and stresses the originality of alchemical matter theory, which drew creatively on Greek philosophical (especially Aristotelian) concepts. The alchemists were also innovative technicians, developing new methods and apparatus in pursuit of the goal of transmutation. These theoretical and technical innovations contradict the commonplace image of alchemy as an irrational pseudo-science. The esotericism of alchemy, far from undermining its rational development, served to stimulate research, since the secrets of the ancient masters could only be decoded in the light of laboratory experience. Alchemy does not provide evidence for a (supposed) decline into mystical obscurantism in the late ancient world.