bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genomic insights into a critically endangered island endemic songbird provide a roadmap for preventing extinction.
Authors: Crates Ross , Takach Brenton von , Young Catherine , Stojanovic Dejan , Neaves Linda , Murphy Liam , Gautschi Daniel , Hogg Carolyn , Heinsohn Robert , Bell Phil , Farquharson Katherine
Published: September 2023

Small, fragmented or isolated populations are at risk of population
decline due to fitness costs associated with inbreeding and genetic
drift. The King Island scrubtit Acanthornis magna greeniana is a
critically endangered endemic subspecies of the nominate Tasmanian
scrubtit A. m. magna, with an estimated population of <100
individuals persisting in three patches of swamp forest. The Tasmanian
scrubtit is widespread in wet forests on mainland Tasmania. We sequenced
the scrubtit genome using PacBio HiFi and undertook a population
genomics study of the King Island and Tasmanian scrubtit using a
double-digest restriction site-associated DNA (ddRAD) dataset of 5,239
SNP loci. The genome was 1.48 Gb long, comprising 1,518 contigs with an
N50 of 7.715 Mb. King Island scrubtits formed one of four overall
genetic clusters, but separated into three distinct subpopulations when
analysed separately. Pairwise FST values were greater among the King
Island scrubtit subpopulations than among most Tasmanian scrubtit
subpopulations. Genetic diversity was lower and inbreeding coefficients
were higher in the King Island scrubtit than all except one of the
Tasmanian scrubtit subpopulations. We observed crown baldness in 8/15
King Island scrubtits, but 0/55 Tasmanian scrubtits. Six loci were
significantly associated with baldness, including one within the DOCK11
gene which is linked to early feather development. Contemporary gene
flow between King Island scrubtit subpopulations is unlikely, with
further field monitoring required to quantify the fitness consequences
of its small effective size, low genetic diversity and high inbreeding.
Evidence-based conservation actions can then be implemented before the
taxon goes extinct.
Association of chronotype and depressive symptoms in Chinese infertile population undergoing assisted reproductive technology
Authors: Wang Danni , Jiang Fei , Zhu Mengli , Jia Yuedi , Song Xiaohuan , Jieyu Wang , Xu Qianhua , Luo Guiying
Published: September 2023

Objective: To assess the association between chronotype and
depressive symptoms in an infertile population undergoing assisted
reproductive technology. Design: Cross-sectional study.
Setting: The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical
University Reproductive Medicine Center in Hefei, China.
Population: 1022 infertile patients who sought assisted
reproductive technology at the Center between August and October 2022,
were assessed for inclusion in this study. Methods: On the day
of ovulation injection, we collected socio-demographics by inviting
infertile patients to complete questionnaires and assessed the subjects’
chronotypes through the Morning and Evening Questionnaire-5 Items
(MEQ-5). Main Outcome Measures: Depressive symptoms, assessed
with validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and expressed as
PHQ-9 scores. Results: Overall, 9%, 68%, and 22% of
participants were categorized as evening, neutral, and morning
chronotypes, respectively. There were significant differences between
chronotype on levels of depressive symptoms, subjects with morning
chronotype (odds ratios = 0.32, 95% confidence intervals: 0.18-0.57)
and neutral chronotype (odds ratios = 0.47, 95% confidence intervals:
0.28-0.77) had lower odds of depressive status, compared to those with
evening chronotype, but no partner effect of chronotype was found (
p >0.05, respectively). Conclusions: Our
findings suggest that morning and neutral chronotypes may be
significantly associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms.
In addition, the effect of earlier chronotypes in men on depressive
symptoms in women warrants relevant clinical attention when considering
treatment.
Light-controlled molecular tweezers capture specific amyloid oligomers
Authors: Qian Chengyuan , Chen Jiefang , Wang Cheng , Wang Qiang , Wang Xiaoyong , Wang Xiaohui
Published: September 2023

Amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) oligomers, characteristic symptom of Alzheimer’s
disease (AD), have been identified as the most neurotoxic species and
significant contributors to neurodegeneration in AD. However, due to
their transient and heterogeneous nature, the high-resolution structures
and exact pathogenic processes of Aβ oligomers are currently unknown.
Using light-controlled molecular tweezers (LMTs), we describe a method
for precisely capturing specific Aβ oligomers produced from synthetic Aβ
and AD animal models. Light irradiation can activate LMTs, which are
composed of two Aβ-targeting pentapeptides (KLVFF) motifs and a rigid
azobenzene (azo) derivative, to form a tweezer-like cis configuration
that preferentially binds to specifc oligomers matching the space of the
tweezers via multivalent interactions of KLVFF motifs with the
oligomers. Surprisingly, cis-LMTs can immobilize the captured oligomers
in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) in vivo under light
irradiation. The LMTs may serve as spatiotemporally controllable
molecular tools to extract specific native oligomers for the structure
and function studies via their reversible photoisomerization, which
would improve the understanding of the toxic mechanisms of Aβ oligomers
and development of oligomer-targeted diagnosis and therapy.
Fracture aperture generation using surface scan measurements of natural rock samples
Authors: Stock Brandon , Frampton Andrew
Published: September 2023

In sparsely fractured crystalline rock, aperture variability exhibits
significant control of the flow field through the fracture network.
However, its inclusion in models is hampered due to a lack of field
measurements and adequate numerical representation. A model for aperture
generation is developed based on self-affine methods which includes two
key parameters, the Hurst exponent and a scaling parameter, and which
accounts for relative anisotropy and correlation between the adjacent
surfaces forming the fracture. A methodology for analysing and
extracting the necessary parameters from 3D surface scans of natural
rock fractures is also developed. Analysis of the Hurst exponent and
scaling parameter space shows that input combinations following a linear
upper bound can be used to generate aperture fields which accurately
reproduce measurements. It is also shown that the Hurst and scaling
parameters are more sensitive than the correlation between the upper and
lower fracture surfaces. The new model can produce an aperture ensemble
that closely corresponds with the aperture obtained from the surface
scans, and is an improvement on previous methods. The model is also
successfully used to up-scale fracture apertures based on measurements
restricted to a small sub-section of the sample. Thereby, the aperture
fields generated using the model are representative of natural fracture
apertures and can be implemented in larger scale fracture network
models, allowing for numerical simulations to included representation of
aperture internal heterogeneity.
The dominant source and volume of highest river floods have shifted in Finland and northern Russia.
Authors: Shevnina Elena
Published: September 2023

We analyzed observations on floods in rivers located in Finland and
northern Russia where hazardous floods often happen during a spring
flooding period. We evaluated the length of spring flooding periods, the
volume of spring floods, the yearly maximum water discharges (annual
floods) and their dates from hydrographs. The hydrographs were evaluated
using the daily water discharges given in yearly books published by the
national hydrological services. The long term time series of annual and
spring floods were used to define shifts (step changes) by applying the
moving window technique. Three statistical criteria namely the Student
test, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and the Mann-Whitney test were used.
Our results suggest that the annual floods were recorded in the spring
flooding period in more than 85 % of the rivers selected. In the last
two decades, the number of annual floods that happened in autumn-winter
season increased almost twice in the southern Finnish rivers. The
melting snow remains the dominant source for the highest floods in the
rivers located in northern Finland and Russia. The step changes were
defined in half of the time series of the annual floods and spring
floods. In over a one-third of the records of the spring floods, the
step changes dated to the late 1990s, since then the volume of floods
increased by 21 % on average. The step changes in the records of the
annual floods dated to the early 1950s, mid 1970s and early 1990s.
Is drone becoming the new “apparatus of domination”?: Battlefield surveillance in the twenty-first century warfare
Authors: Korac Srdjan
Published: September 2023

The paper looks at the military use of burgeoning technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in designing the visual regime of the drone as a tool for control of combat efficiency in twenty-first-century warfare. The author posits his analysis in critical theory and critical war/military studies with focus on the operationally relevant use of technical properties of the visual regime of drone observed through a wealth of video material uploaded to YouTube and related to the ongoing war in Ukraine. While many analyses delve into the combined practices of intelligence gathering, targeting, and killing aimed at the enemy, the author investigates how recent combat practices unveil the potential for an emerging role of drone surveillance: the scrutinization of combat performance of one?s own soldiers. In the age of a highly professionalized and industrialized warfare, inherent to the politics of military interventionism aimed at maintaining liberal peace across the globe, the shift towards a pervasive control over the combat ?assembly line? reconstitutes technological character of the drone so that it becomes an apparatus of domination. The author concludes that the drone as mobile platform for surveillance displays hidden potentials to reinforce the existing relations of domination and cautions that the advent of nano-drones could socially constitute far more intrusive and intimate control of ground troops.
Towards a theory of theoretical formations: From Althusser to Lenin
Authors: Dedic Nikola
Published: September 2023

In his theoretical efforts, Lenin made two excursions into philosophy - first
in the book Materialism and Empirio-criticism and then in Philosophical
Notebooks. There are obvious differences between these two works, which are
reflected in the attitude towards Hegel (first rejection and then enthusiasm
and acceptance of Hegel?s dialectical method), but also significant
similarities. The paper points out that what links Lenin?s two books is the
concept of theoretical formation. We derive the term theoretical formation
from Lenin?s concept of socio-economic formation: in every society, a large
number of modes of production coexist, which are overdetermined by one mode
as dominant. Society is thus not a complete and rounded form, but a
contradictory overdeterimned formation. The main thesis of the paper is that
Lenin applies the concept of over determined formation to the reading of
philosophy. Philosophical discourse is never whole but is split between two
irreconcilable tendencies - materialism and idealism. Philosophical work is
nothing but a struggle for the theoretical dominance of one tendency over
another. This struggle between philosophical tendencies is, as Louis
Althusser points out, an extension of the class struggle in theory and takes
place both in the entire history of philosophy and within each individual
philosophical text. The philosophical text is thus a contradictory formation
of unequal and combined development.
Post-patriarchal society and the authority of dialogue - on free faith, atheism and the meaning of language
Authors: Vukasinovic Zelimir
Published: September 2023

The paper is an attempt at understanding the historic nature of the
transition to postmodernity, metaphysically reflected in Nietzsche?s words
?God is dead?, as it is, in its various aspects, manifested through the form
of post-patriarchal society. Post-patriarchal society is interpreted here as
an order of values anchored in the empty place previously held by original
and ultimate authority. Within the context of the (un)certain end of
metaphysics, it is, implicitly, necessary to explore the presuppositions on
which religion and the meaning of language are based today. Thus,
Nietzsche?s experience of the epoch will be considered in relation to
Zizek?s perception of ?a genealogical desert between man and God?, which
provides a theoretical framework for the reinterpretation of our
understanding of the relation between religion, atheism and modernity.
The Economics of Audit Production: What Matters for Audit Quality? An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Midlevel Managers within the Audit Firm
Authors: Aobdia Daniel , Choudhary Preeti , Newberger Noah
Published: September 2023

As audits of public companies are labor intensive, require a variety of team members, and involve year-round work, practitioners and academics have increasingly focused on identifying audit production factors that drive audit quality. Using proprietary data, we analyze the cost-benefit tradeoffs of two audit production characteristics, client expertise and the relative amount of auditing done during the early phases of the audit, and find that both are associated with more effective audits and higher fees. We analyze whether the influence of these characteristics varies across audit team members. We find that middle manager production characteristics explain audit effectiveness and higher fees and relatively more so than those of lead/review partners. These results extend the literature and practitioner discussions about drivers of audit quality by highlighting the importance of middle management, which, to our knowledge, has largely been overlooked by the archival audit literature and regulatory guidance on audit quality indicators.

Data Availability: This paper exploits proprietary PCAOB data. Data descriptions are available in the text.

JEL Classifications: D20; D22; J24; L23; M11; M4; M42; M48.
Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Age at Natural Menopause and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Among Postmenopausal Women: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Data From 13 Cohort Studies
Authors: Chung Hsin-Fang , Dobson Annette J. , Hayashi Kunihiko , Hardy Rebecca , Kuh Diana , Anderson Debra J. , van der Schouw Yvonne T. , Greenwood Darren C. , Cade Janet E. , Demakakos Panayotes , Brunner Eric J. , Eastwood Sophie V. , Sandin Sven , Weiderpass Elisabete , Mishra Gita D.
Published: September 2023

OBJECTIVE

To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) (natural menopause before age 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and identify any variations by ethnicity.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2D before menopause from six ethnic groups: White (n = 177,674), Chinese (n = 146,008), Japanese (n = 9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n = 2,228), Black (n = 1,838), and mixed/other (n = 1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2D associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI.

RESULTS

Over 9 years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2D. Overall, POI (vs. menopause at age 50–51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2D (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.20–1.44), and there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (P < 0.0001). T2D risk associated with POI was higher in White (1.53; 1.36–1.73), Japanese (4.04; 1.97–8.27), and Chinese women born in 1950 or later (2.79; 2.11–3.70); although less precise, the risk estimates were consistent in women of South/Southeast Asian (1.46; 0.89–2.40), Black (1.72; 0.95–3.12), and mixed/other (2.16; 0.83–5.57) ethnic groups. A similar pattern, but with a smaller increased risk of T2D, was observed with early menopause overall (1.16; 1.10–1.23) and for White, Japanese, and Chinese women born in 1950 or later.

CONCLUSIONS

POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2D in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2D among women.
The Impact of Type 2 Diabetes on the Outcomes of Solid Organ Transplants in the U.S.: Data from a National Registry
Authors: Stepanova Maria , Ravi Kumar Ameeta , Brandt Pamela , Gundurao Nagashree , Cusi Kenneth , Al-Qahtani Saleh M. , Younossi Zobair M.
Published: September 2023

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major driver of chronic diseases across the globe. The aim was to assess the impact of T2D on the outcomes of solid organ transplantations. Method: We used Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) 2006-2021 to collect data for all patients ≥18 years who received a lung, heart, liver, or kidney transplant in the U.S. Results: We included 462,692 solid organ transplant recipients: 31,503 lung, 38,004 heart, 106,639 liver, 286,440 kidney transplants. The prevalence of pre-transplant T2D was 15% in lung, 26% in heart, 25% in liver, and 30% in kidney transplant groups, increasing over time. Post-transplant mortality was significantly higher among transplant recipients with T2D vs. those without T2D [lung transplant: 32.1% vs. 29.3% (3 years), 46.4% vs. 42.6% (5 years), p<0.01; heart transplant: 11.2% vs. 9.1% (1 year), 24.4% vs. 20.6% (5 years), p<0.0001; liver transplant: 10.6% vs. 8.9% (1 year), 26.2% vs. 22.0% (5 years), p<0.0001; kidney transplant: 5.3% vs. 2.5% (1 year), 20.8% vs. 10.1% (5 years), p<0.0001]. Independent association of pre-transplant T2D with higher post-transplant mortality was significant after adjustment for clinico-demographic confounders: adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) in lung transplant recipients = 1.08 (1.03-1.13), heart transplant aHR = 1.26 (1.20-1.32), liver transplant aHR = 1.25 (1.21-1.28), kidney transplant aHR = 1.65 (1.62-1.68) (p<0.01). Conclusions: The prevalence of T2D in solid organ transplant candidates is increasing. In all solid organ transplants, pre-transplant T2D is independently associated with higher post-transplant mortality, the most profoundly in kidney transplants.
Are we any Close to Utilizing Targeting SIRT Signaling Pathway for Enhancing the Oocyte Quality in Women with Advanced Maternal age: Bringing from Bench to Bedside: A Narrative Review
Authors: K Kochar Kaur
Published: September 2023

Earlier we had reviewed the role of sirtuins regarding SIRTs in the form of epigenetic modifiers regarding postponement of Diabetic Kidney Disease (DKD) apart from in placental growth in pregnancy besides how resveratrol could be used in numerous chronic inflammatory diseases and Autoimmune Diseases to target SIRT1. Furthermore, we had reviewed the role of mitochondrial function in reproductive endocrinology as well as its significance in sustenance of oocyte quality. Recently lot of work has been conducted to improve the oocyte quality in women presenting with advanced age or those coming in with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) with use of various anti-oxidant along with anti-inflammatory agents like melatonin, resveratrol. Thus we conducted a narrative review utilizing search engine PubMed, google scholar ;web of science; embase; Cochrane review library utilizing the MeSH terms like Sirtuins; maternal ageing; Oxidative stress (OS); organs ageing; oocytes quality; embryo quality; implantation; mitochondria function; Epigenetics; DNA methylation; Histone deacetylation; Histone crotonylation; melatonin; resveratrol; nicotinamide mononucleotide; nicotinamide riboside; from1990 to 2023 till date. We found a total of 300 articles out of which we selected 110 articles for this review. No meta-analysis was done. We observed Oxidative stress to be the mode implicated in mitigating oocyte quality. Escalated corroboration from animal model in addition to Clinical studies have validated that Sirtuins confer protection from OS aiding in improvement of oocyte quality through an anti-oxidant action .Thus escalating research has concluded that Sirtuins possess protective part to oocyte quality. Soon there might be a time with the rate at which this research in mounting women will not need to cryopreserve gametes only due to choosing professional carreers.
A 10-Year Retrospective Analysis of Uterine Rupture in a University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, Nigeria
Authors: CB Oguejiofor
Published: September 2023

Background: One of the most serious obstetric emergencies that seriously endanger both mother and fetus and dramatically increase maternal and perinatal mortality in our community is uterine rupture. The aim of the study is to ascertain the prevalence of uterine rupture and the various aetiologies/predisposing factors associated with it. Methods: From January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2016, patients with ruptured uteruses were studied retrospectively and cross-sectionally at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, Nigeria. Outcome measures included prevalence rate, surgical choices, maternal and fetal outcomes, and maternal case fatality rate. Stata 13.0 (StataCorp LP, Texas, USA) was used to analyze the data. Results: There were 10,777 deliveries and a total of 66 cases of ruptured uterus were treated, giving a ratio of 1 in 163 deliveries or prevalence of 6.0/1000 deliveries. Sixty four case notes were retrieved giving retrieval rate of 97.0% and prolonged obstructed labour was the commonest aetiologic factor identified (42.2%). Other associated factors were grand multiparity (36.0%), previous caesarean section (28.1%), previous myomectomy (3.1%), injudicious use of oxytocin (25.0%), use of misoprostol (3.1%) and abnormal lie (17.2%). Twenty of the patients (31.3%) had repair of the ruptured uterus alone, and 28(43.8%) had repair with bilateral tubal ligation. Six of the patients (9.4%) had total abdominal hysterectomies while 10(15.6%) had sub-total hysterectomies. There were a total of 4 maternal deaths giving a case fatality rate of 6.3%. The fetal outcome was poor with only 11 (17.2%) survivors. Conclusion: Only 17.2% of surviving fetuses had a good result, and 6.1 per 1000 deliveries involved uterine rupture. The rupture of gravid uterus will be decreased, if not completely eliminated, by adequate health education, widespread availability of comprehensive obstetric care facilities, enhanced antenatal care, a decline in the prevalence of primary caesarean sections, and population empowerment of women
Benign Metastasizing Leiomyoma
Authors: S Walawe Nayaka
Published: September 2023

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma is a rare condition usually seen in reproductive age women which presented with multiple benign smooth muscle tumors in extra uterine sites, which display unusual growth pattern. In this report, a case of benign metastasizing leiomyoma is discussed.
Promoting adoption and utilization of cloud computing services for agile software developers
Authors: Mwansa Gardner
Published: September 2023

The recent past has witnessed an upsurge of cloud technology which has, undoubtedly become an indispensable basis for contemporary application deployments. Cloud computing is vital in providing efficiency and scalability, borne in its “as a service” types of delivery models. As application developers consider the move into this cloud environment, there is an increasingly need to understand key factors necessary for dealing with challenges related to the use of cloud technologies, to realise full potential and benefits of cloud computing. This research paper attempts to establish an adoption framework particularly focussing agile developers with a view to promoting adoption and utilisation of cloud computing.

A blend of methodological approaches was employed in the study. A pilot study was initially used with 36 respondents who were involved in the field of software development successfully participating. Based on some results of this pilot study and objectives underpinning the research, an in-depth study involving a case study was conducted on a select group of individuals who are professional in the domain area, enabling a better description of processes, concepts and procedures in context.

Guided by Technology, organisation, and environment (TOE) framework themes, and interactions between and amongst each other, five propositions were structured around the problem to create new thinking on promoting cloud computing adoption and its utilisation by agile developers.

It was found that Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) using agile development methodologies can benefit from using the proposed framework when choosing to move into utilisation of cloud computing resources.
Management of crises of brazilian brands on social networks
Authors: Barros Manoel Joaquim F. de , Melo Paulo , De Oliveira Bispo Lívia V.
Published: September 2023

Consumer behavior in a digital environment is the central element of this study and represents a relevant theme and a challenge for marketing managers. The starting question of this study is related to concepts such as transparency and digital swarm proposed by the South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han. These concepts are relevant to understand the Brazilian context of brands involved in the digital environment. This study uses a qualitative approach for data collection, through the methodology of multiple case studies. For data collection, the netnography method of research and content analysis were used for the evaluation of results. The findings reject the theory proposed by Byung-Chul Han, since Brazilian consumers seem to be avid to engage in storms caused by online crises. In addition, they present enough capability to articulate the promotion of concrete negative effects from the point of view of economic losses, political pressures, and shocks in the stock market segment. For future studies, analyses in other international contexts are suggested to compare and discuss about the exercise of freedom by citizens in a digital environment and its negative impacts on the corporate assets of organizations.
Teamwork and its impact on employee performance mediated by job satisfaction
Authors: Phulpoto Nazar Hussain
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this research is to study the effect of teamwork on employee performance in the services sector of Pakistan. The study has also investigated the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between teamwork and employee performance. A total of 180 employees participated in this study from different service organizations in Pakistan through convenience sampling. The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using regression, correlation, and mediation analysis. The findings of the study contribute to the existing body of knowledge on teamwork and employee performance. The results indicated that there is a positive relationship between teamwork and employee performance. Moreover, the mediating role of job satisfaction was found to be significant in the relationship between teamwork and employee performance as well. Job satisfaction offers employees with a sense of belongingness to their organization and helps them develop trust in their team members. Thus, it can help improve teamwork effectiveness. The findings of this study should be useful for practitioners who are interested in promoting teamwork within their organizations as well as improving employee performance.

Keywords: Teamwork, employee performance, job satisfaction, Pakistan.
On the Essence of the Soul II
Authors: Kalligas Paul , Koutras Nickolaos
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses a passage from the Timaeus that is examined in the immediately preceding treatise IV 2 [4]. It looks at an initial problem pertaining to the relation of the soul with the intellect forces to which Plotinus seeks recourse to the relevant Platonic text. It also explores the peculiar adventure of the treatise IV 2 [4] in the context of the manuscript tradition of the Enneads. treatise IV 2 [4]. The chapter reveals how the intelligible world seems to be subdivided into two parts: the higher of these is Intellect, while the lower is composed of the souls. It explains that the soul is not divisible in its entirety as its higher functions bear very little affinity to the body.
How That Which Is after the First Comes from the First, and On the One
Authors: Kalligas Paul , Koutras Nickolaos
Published: September 2023

This chapter covers Plotinus' earliest attempt to treat one of the most central issues within his ontological system and preoccupied him until the end of his life, which was how Intellect is produced from the One. It establishes some of most important theoretical underpinnings of Plotinus' systems, such as the complete transcendence of the first principle and its supreme unity. It also comes across certain cases of vagueness, such as the characterization of the first principle as noēton and the question of why and how something simple can give rise to something multiple and composite. The chapter elaborates Plotinus' relevant theory that represented an important innovation in the orbit of Platonism. It characterizes a scholastic orientation and a methodical attempt to provide support for the theses introduced through references to Plato's written works.
On the Question Whether There Are Ideas of Particulars
Authors: Kalligas Paul , Koutras Nickolaos
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the treatise that is directly related to Plotinus' psychological theory, specifically with his view on the “undescended” nature of the soul. It tackles one of the consequences of Plotinus' peculiar theory on the soul, where he made clear that the soul does not come into direct contact with the body, nor is it affected by it. It also addresses the question of what the soul's relation to the intelligible Forms is, especially in view of its experiential ability to become integrated. The chapter opens up a whole field of philosophical thinking on whether it is possible to identify individual beings in the supra-sensible realm. It highlights the significance of Plotinus' recognition of the existence of individual Forms in the intelligible world as it represents an attempt to account for the variety of possible approaches to that world.
“Excellent Assistants of the Priest”
Authors: Chowning Margaret
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines the developments of lay association amidst the era of Porfirio Díaz. The developments revolved around the continued dominance of women in lay associations and the difficulties of getting men to participate. The modernization of church administration and institutions, also known as Romanization, attempted to standardize and generalize certain favored dogmas and devotions and then centralize ecclesiastical administration and orient it more toward Rome. The chapter notes the key feature of Romanization revolving around the creation of new bishoprics, new parishes, and new seminaries. It cites how priests and bishops knew the significance of women in the behind-the-scenes political goals of the church.
“The Men Are Somewhat Preoccupied. Fortunately, the Mexican Woman Carries the Standard of Our Beliefs”
Authors: Chowning Margaret
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on women and Catholic politics in the Porfiriato. It discusses lay associations' key roles in promoting the church's political projects during the Porfiriato, such as religious education, the Catholic press, and the visibility of Catholic practice. The church's main political goals had shifted to the cultural realm. The principal concern of churches was to reenergize and organize the laity and to spread and deepen Catholic culture, which was partly entrusted to a new generation of priests. However, the success of the project was fundamentally dependent on the laity, especially the organized laity. The chapter elaborates on the changes in the nature of women's activism on behalf of the church.
Scenarios of Risk
Authors: Winkler John J.
Published: September 2023

This chapter reveals the cockfight to be one of the central and underrated topoi in the Athenian poetics of manhood. It also considers a remarkable real-life drama that elaborates the image of combat inscribed in the cockfight and highlights its role in the self-definition of Athenian men. The ambiguity of cockfighting, as both a military, masculine ideal and a potential terror to the less aggressive, picks up the ambiguity of young manhood itself. From there, the chapter turns to the format of zero-sum competition as a ground-plan for personal behavior and value in ancient Greece. It also compares jury trials and drama as venues for self-definition and for an audience's judgment of a man's success at being a man. Finally, the chapter discusses a type of play where one can see the scenario of risk aestheticized into a form whose extrapolation from Athenian social life is less recognizable.
The Straits of Messina
Authors: Spence Sarah
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the importance of Sicily to the beginnings of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire can be defined in terms of the relationship between its center and its edges, a relationship first created by the identification of Sicily as provincia. This abstract formula for empire is clearly laid out in Cicero's lengthy attack on Verres, governor of Sicily from 73 to 71 BC, in the Verrines. Because of Cicero's identification of Sicily as the first province, the island comes to offer a space for discussions of empire throughout Roman literature. However, Sicily's importance to empire extends beyond Cicero. What Quintilian makes clear is that the physical relationship of Sicily to the mainland, its former unity, also plays a part in its importance. Yet Cicero's argument in the Verrine orations that includes the identification of Sicily as the origin of empire also frames the discussion with the tale of Proserpina's abduction.
Drepanum and the Limits of the Aeneid
Authors: Spence Sarah
Published: September 2023

This chapter examines how Sicily stands as an emblem of empire in Vergil's Aeneid. While we are inclined to approach the Aeneid as a poem of opposites—furor versus pietas; Juno versus Jupiter; Troy (or Carthage) versus Rome—the prominence of Sicily suggests that the poem resists such an approach. Sicily offers Vergil a narrative model based as much on accommodation as on opposition. While the political and geographic view of Sicily offered in Aeneid 3 presents a dream of future empire as accommodating and inclusive, the literary and mythic approach that accompanies it in Aeneid 5 demonstrates the pragmatic difficulties of such a scheme and the problems of such an imperial plan. The literary presentation developed in Aeneid 5 looks back to mythic origins, including the abduction of Proserpina, that predate Aeneas to expose rifts in the deep substrata of empire.
The Redemption of Proserpina
Authors: Spence Sarah
Published: September 2023

This chapter assesses the return of Proserpina in the Ovide Moralisé. The story of Ceres and Proserpina is presented here as a tale of redemption and purgation, virtually a foundation story of Purgatory that links the seven pomegranate seeds to the seven deadly sins, and the delay in return in terms of confession and redemption. In the Ovide, Ceres is glossed throughout as the church, first in her role as representing humanity, then, in her brandishing of the torch, as the light that shines in the darkness. Her return to Sicily, after her journey “par tout le mont,” is presented as a return to the dry land or dry heart, as it lacks the humidity of charity. By the fourteenth century, the overriding concerns of empire are no longer fully answered by Claudian's truncated version of the Proserpina story, though Etna remains central. Instead, this version of the tale in the Ovide speaks to a renewed interest in negotiation and redemption.
The Anomalous Case of Tunisia
Authors: Kadivar Mohammad Ali
Published: September 2023

This chapter covers the successful democratic transition in Tunisia after a short period of protest. It discusses how the Arab Spring started in Tunisia and inspired rebellion throughout the Arab world. Even though Egypt and Tunisia fronted short waves of popular uprisings, Egypt devolved to authoritarianism, while Tunisia's democratic transition consolidated and strengthened. Moreover. Tunisia reached a high level of electoral democracy on par with the democracies in South Africa and Poland, which was achieved through long mobilizations despite their lengthy mobilizations. The chapter also considers the opposition of Tunisia: civil society organizations and the country's largest trade union, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail.
Introduction
Authors: Daly Sarah Zukerman
Published: September 2023

This chapter illuminates the critical unexplained share of the vote delivered to bloodstained wartime belligerents by looking to the experiences, outcomes, and legacies of significant violence in war. It uses the tools of political behavior to discuss the important body of international relations scholarship that leverages these tools to understand public opinion toward the use of force. It also explains the electoral drivers and consequences of security in international and domestic manifestations. The chapter addresses why parties that have engaged in violent atrocities in civil war perform well in postwar democratic elections and how parties guilty of violence against the civilian population seek the population's votes. It explains why people vote for the very political actors guilty of violence against the civilian population.
What History Does to Us
Authors: Jackson Virginia
Published: September 2023

This chapter shows that this very White idea of lyric is in fact a raced illusion that was composed in response to Black and Indigenous figures in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century American poetics. The chapter highlights that it was also an illusion firmly grounded in a history of American lyricization in which Black poets framed it as a raced and gendered imaginary. Indigenous poets did, too, especially by the end of the nineteenth century, as did Spanish American and, later, Asian American poets, but the chapter focuses on the dialectical relation between Black and White poetics because that dialectic was so foundational to the poetry of the early nineteenth century. The chapter also hopes to show that many versions of Black poetics were internal rather than marginal to the larger web of American poetics. While the history of American racialization certainly cannot be reduced to an image in black and white, the chapter primarily concerns how “the afterlife of slavery” (to use Saidiya Hartman's phrase) emerged from, and in, and as the history of American poetics that began when slavery was still very much alive.
The Poetess
Authors: Jackson Virginia
Published: September 2023

This chapter organizes an unlikely comparison between the Black feminist activist poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the White Harvard Professor and best-selling poet of the nineteenth century, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, under the sign of the popular nineteenth-century figure of the Poetess. Unlike apostrophe or personification or prosody, the chapter emphasizes that the Poetess is not a figure many lyric theorists still associate with the structure of poetics. It stresses that the Poetess was a figure intimately associated with the work of women poets in the nineteenth century, but it was also, like apostrophe and personification and prosody, a figure that was detachable from the work of any particular poet. Nineteenth-century White male poets like Poe and Whitman employed Poetess poetics, and that was possible because the Poetess was not consubstantial with the author's gender or sexuality. Yet, as the chapter argues, using the figure of the Poetess was not like using poetic genres such as the elegy or the epistle; since the Poetess was more like a trope than a genre, it could be as definite and slippery as a turn of phrase, turning through many prosodic and rhetorical genres at once. The chapter aims to understand these nineteenth-century Black poetics in order to propose a new literary history, a new historical poetics, a new account of the invention of American lyric.
Evolutionary Nostalgia and the Romance of Origins
Authors: Heringman Noah
Published: September 2023

This concluding chapter surveys a proliferation of more recent histories of deep time, all of them taking the modern Geologic Time Scale as their starting point but diverging into the differing realms of ethnography, science fiction, climate fiction, literary scholarship, and discourse on the Anthropocene. Here, the main interest lies with deep time before geology, with a kind of language about the very ancient past that preceded and made possible the naturalized use of this metaphor in a scientific context. The chapter makes this argument on the basis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writings newly attuned to the uncertainty around questions now associated with prehistoric and prehuman times. Time is only as deep as the narratives that mark its extent, and although geology now provides a paradigmatic context for other deep time narratives, this does not mean that deep time is sealed in the black box of geological reckoning. The chapter asserts that deep time can be traced to an imaginative space between prehistory and geology.
Conclusion
Authors: Auerbach Adam Michael , Thachil Tariq
Published: September 2023

This concluding chapter examines comparative resonances of the book's key arguments. It also discusses the hard limits of the party machine networks as key conduits of political representation and responsiveness, in terms of their ability to improve the material well-being and security of the urban poor. The chapter then looks toward the future, and discusses how the highly localized worlds studied here might be affected by two current national trends in Indian politics: the centralization of political power and a rising Hindu majoritarianism. While these developments have attracted attention in high-profile debates on Indian democracy, few scholars have considered them from the vital, but often neglected, perspective of the urban poor. The chapter concludes by offering some necessarily speculative thoughts on what the future holds for the communities studied from during the past decade.
Atheory of Settler Colonialism
Authors: mcnamee lachlan
Published: September 2023

This chapter provides an overview of a theory of settler colonialism. It discusses colonization as a process over which states exert imperfect control, referencing how Greece was colonized by settlers. Generally, colonization can be defined as a form of state-building involving the displacement of indigenous peoples by settlers. Coercive frontier migration is a form of state-building because such migration reshapes patterns of sovereignty. The chapter then elaborates on the different instances of settler colonialism based on whether they are characterized by state or settler participation. It covers a toolbox of concepts for understanding the contingent place of coercive migration in state building.
Hit the Road, Jakarta: Indonesia’s Colonization of West Papua
Authors: mcnamee lachlan
Published: September 2023

This chapter discusses the colonization of West Papua by Indonesia. It explores debates on whether Indonesia's settlement projects in West Papua were used to Javanize West Papua. According to an unexplored trove of internal government documents, Indonesian settler colonialism in West Papua over the twentieth century was primarily driven by the twin logic of resource extraction and territorial consolidation. The chapter then covers the extent of Indonesian transmigration, ethnic cleansing, and religious composition change in each regency of West Papua. It looks into the differences in ideological and practical manifestations of state rule while considering West Papua and Papua New Guinea.
Belt and Road to Nowhere: China’s Ongoing Struggle to Colonize Xinjiang
Authors: mcnamee lachlan
Published: September 2023

This chapter references demographic data to examine the struggle of China to colonize Xinjiang after the emergence of an Islamist insurgency. It explains that the rise of a perceived Islamist insurgency in 1990 led to a reinvigoration of state efforts to settle Han Chinese in geopolitically sensitive areas of Xinjiang. However, Han settlers refused to respond to state schemes as expected. The chapter clarifies that China's rapid economic modernization development since the 1980s ultimately closed its western frontier and constrained colonization. It considers how mass incarceration and forever assimilation measures will backfire, especially when concerned with China's sovereignty over southern Xinjiang.
Things
Authors: Wen Xin
Published: September 2023

This chapter describes the symbiosis of humans and things on the Silk Road. It narrates the things that traveled with their human companions, including food, clothing, texts, animals, and luxury items. The chapter describes that each of these performed a different social function on the road: food and clothes were daily necessities that sustained the physical well-being of human travelers; texts gave their trips meaning; animals helped carry other things; and luxury items were most potent in negotiating the relations between diplomatic travelers and their hosts, and were often the very purpose of diplomatic journeys. The chapter investigates how a diplomatic trip altered the fate of the things even more dramatically than it did the fate of an envoy. For some goods, a diplomatic trip might be the end of their life story. For other goods, these trips could be transformational, a process nowhere clearer than in the category of luxury items. The chapter positions the human–thing symbiosis, rather than envoys alone, as the protagonists of the Silk Road.
Praising the Host
Authors: Wen Xin
Published: September 2023

This chapter lays out a program of common practices during envoys' encounters with foreign states in medieval Eastern Eurasia. It particularly examines how traveling diplomats interacted with their hosts. Focusing on other Dunhuang documents that were produced by envoys during their travels or in the process of diplomatic dealings, the chapter reveals the exact process of how traveling envoys dealt with their hosts by dividing each envoy–host encounter into five stages: reconnaissance, incoming road protection, audience with the sovereign, residency, and outgoing road protection. The chapter first surmises from these documents a “program” of successful envoy–host interaction that includes several standard sequential stages. It then assesses some failed diplomatic trips by this program, and asks what went wrong in these cases. The chapter investigates the social principles that governed such interactions: while it was the duty of the host to provide for the diplomatic travelers, the travelers were supposed to praise the generosity of the host. The chapter then emphasizes that diplomatic trips succeeded when such mutual obligations were observed, and faltered when one party failed to fulfill its responsibility.
Social Learning
Authors: Enquist Magnus , Ghirlanda Stefano , Lind Johan
Published: September 2023

This chapter focuses on aspects of social learning that are deemed relevant to understanding the differences between humans and animals. It summarizes what animals can learn socially and discusses the nature of social information, showing that many observations of social learning can result from associative learning. It also analyzes the limits of associative explanations and the limits of animal social learning. The chapter details other aspects of social learning, such as its efficiency in the face of combinatorial dilemmas and its role in supporting traditions and culture. It points out how associative learning, augmented with genetic predispositions, can account for most of animal social learning, including stimulus and local enhancement, emulation, and at least some cases of imitation.