bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fluid prediction of a deep carbonate reservoir using walkaround 3D-3C vertical seismic profiling data
Authors: Zhang Haohao , Lu Jun , Chen Benchi , Ma Xuejun , Cai Zhidong
Published: October 2019

The considerable depth and complicated structure of the Tahe Oilfield in the Tuofutai area of China make it very difficult to delineate its Ordovician carbonate fracture-cavity reservoir. The resolution of conventional ground seismic data is inadequate to satisfy current exploitation requirements. To further improve the understanding of the carbonate fracture-cavity reservoir of the Tahe Oilfield and to provide predictions of reservoir properties that are more accurate, a walkaround 3D-3C vertical seismic profiling (VSP) survey was conducted. First, we preprocessed raw VSP data and developed a method of joint PP- and PSV-wave prestack time migration. In contrast to ground seismic imaging profiles, VSP imaging profiles have a higher resolution and wider spectrum range that provide more detailed strata information. Then, using the joint PP- and PSV-wave prestack inversion method, we obtained the PP- and PSV-wave impedance and Poisson's ratio parameters of the Ordovician carbonate reservoir. Compared with the P-wave impedance of the ground seismic inversion, we found the VSP inversion results had higher accuracy, which enabled clearer identification of the internal characteristics of the carbonate reservoir. Finally, coupled with the Poisson's ratio attribute, we predicted the distribution of favorable reservoirs and interwell connectivity. The prediction results were verified using both logging and production data. The findings of this study demonstrate the applicability of the proposed technical method for the exploration of deep carbonate fracture-cavity reservoirs.
Long-term Health Outcomes of Patients Evaluated for Unexplained Fever in a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic
Authors: Weakley Kathryn E , Marshall Gary S , Statler Victoria A
Published: October 2019

A telephone interview was conducted with parents of 120 children seen in a pediatric infectious diseases clinic for unexplained fever who received no definitive diagnosis or were thought to have recurrent self-limited illnesses. Only 3 were diagnosed with a fever-related condition after 8 years of follow-up. The majority remained well.
Flowering time and the identification of floral marker genes in Solanum tuberosum ssp. andigena
Authors: Seibert Tanja , Abel Christin , Wahl Vanessa
Published: October 2019

Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants that includes agricultural species such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), eggplant (S. melongena), pepper (Capsicum annuum), and potato (S. tuberosum). The transition from the vegetative to reproductive stage has been extensively investigated in tomato as it affects fruit yield. While potato has mainly been studied with regards to the formation of storage organs, control of flowering time is a subject of increasing interest as development of true seeds is becoming more important for future breeding strategies. Here, we describe a robust growth regime for synchronized development of S. tuberosum ssp. andigena. Using SEM to analyse the developmental stages of the shoot apical meristem (SAM) throughout the floral transition, we show that andigena is a facultative long-day plant with respect to flowering. In addition, we identify the flower meristem identity gene MACROCALYX (StMC) as a marker to distinguish between the vegetative and reproductive stages. We show that the expression of WUSCHEL HOMEOBOX 9 (StWOX9) and ANANTHA (StAN) are specific to the inflorescence meristem and flower meristems in the cyme, respectively. The expression patterns of homologs of Arabidopsis flowering-time regulators were studied, and indicated that SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 (StSOC1) and StFD might regulate flowering similar to other plant species.
Searching for correlations in Gaia DR2 unbound star trajectories
Authors: Montanari F , Barrado D , García-Bellido J
Published: October 2019

Scattering events with compact objects are expected in the primordial black hole (PBH) cold dark matter (CDM) scenario, due to close encounters between stars and PBHs in the dense environments of dwarf spheroidals. We develop a Bayesian framework to search for correlations among Milky Way stellar trajectories and those of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies in the halo and in other nearby galaxies. We apply the method to a selection of hypervelocity stars (HVS) and globular clusters from the Gaia DR2 catalogue and known nearby (mostly dwarf) galaxies with full phase-space and size measurements. We report positive evidence for trajectory intersection ∼20–40 Myr ago of up to two stars, depending on priors, with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) when assuming the distance estimates of Marchetti, Rossi & Brown (2018). We verify that the result is compatible with their evolutionary status, setting a lower bound for their stellar age of ∼100 Myr. However, such scattering events are not confirmed when assuming Anders et al. (2019) distance estimates. We discuss shortcomings related to present data quality and future prospects for detection of HVS with the full Gaia catalogue and Sagittarius dSph.
Cosmology with stacked cluster weak lensing and cluster–galaxy cross-correlations
Authors: Salcedo Andrés N , Wibking Benjamin D , Weinberg David H , Wu Hao-Yi , Ferrer Douglas , Eisenstein Daniel , Pinto Philip
Published: October 2019

Cluster weak lensing is a sensitive probe of cosmology, particularly the amplitude of matter clustering σ8 and matter density parameter Ωm. The main nuisance parameter in a cluster weak lensing cosmological analysis is the scatter between the true halo mass and the relevant cluster observable, denoted $\sigma _{\ln M_\mathrm{ c}}$. We show that combining the cluster weak lensing observable ΔΣ with the projected cluster–galaxy cross-correlation function wp,cg and galaxy autocorrelation function wp,gg can break the degeneracy between σ8 and $\sigma _{\ln M_\mathrm{ c}}$ to achieve tight, per cent-level constraints on σ8. Using a grid of cosmological N-body simulations, we compute derivatives of ΔΣ, wp,cg, and wp,gg with respect to σ8, Ωm, $\sigma _{\ln M_\mathrm{ c}}$, and halo occupation distribution (HOD) parameters describing the galaxy population. We also compute covariance matrices motivated by the properties of the Dark Energy Survey cluster and weak lensing survey and the BOSS CMASS galaxy redshift survey. For our fiducial scenario combining ΔΣ, wp,cg, and wp,gg measured over 0.3−30.0 h−1 Mpc, for clusters at z = 0.35−0.55 above a mass threshold Mc ≈ 2 × 1014 h−1 M⊙, we forecast a $1.4{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ constraint on σ8 while marginalizing over $\sigma _{\ln M_\mathrm{ c}}$ and all HOD parameters. Reducing the mass threshold to 1 × 1014 h−1 M⊙ and adding a z = 0.15−0.35 redshift bin sharpens this constraint to $0.8{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$. The small-scale (rp < 3.0 h−1 Mpc) ‘mass function’ and large-scale (rp > 3.0 h−1 Mpc) ‘halo-mass cross-correlation’ regimes of ΔΣ have comparable constraining power, allowing internal consistency tests from such an analysis.
External photoevaporation of circumstellar discs constrains the time-scale for planet formation
Authors: Concha-Ramírez Francisca , Wilhelm Martijn J C , Portegies Zwart Simon , Haworth Thomas J
Published: October 2019

Planet-forming circumstellar discs are a fundamental part of the star formation process. Since stars form in a hierarchical fashion in groups of up to hundreds or thousands, the UV radiation environment that these discs are exposed to can vary in strength by at least six orders of magnitude. This radiation can limit the masses and sizes of the discs. Diversity in star forming environments can have long lasting effects in disc evolution and in the resulting planetary populations. We perform simulations to explore the evolution of circumstellar discs in young star clusters. We include viscous evolution, as well as the impact of dynamical encounters and external photoevaporation. We find that photoevaporation is an important process in destroying circumstellar discs: in regions of stellar density ρ ∼ 100 M⊙ pc−3 around $80{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of discs are destroyed before $2\, \hbox{Myr}$ of cluster evolution. In regions of ρ ∼ 50 M⊙ pc−3 around $50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of discs are destroyed in the same time-scale. Our findings are in agreement with observed disc fractions in young star-forming regions and support previous estimations that planet formation must start in time-scales <0.1–1 Myr.
A geomagnetic filter for the Fermi-LAT background
Authors: Prokhorov D A , Moraghan A
Published: October 2019

One of the unsolved questions in γ-ray astronomy is whether the extragalactic γ-ray background is of the discrete-source origin. To respond to this question, one first needs to reduce the data by differentiating charged particles from γ-rays. This procedure is usually performed on the basis of the detector responses. In this paper, we showed that the geomagnetic shielding effect at GeV energies can, to some extent, be used for this purpose for γ-ray telescopes in a low Earth orbit. We illustrated this method by applying it to the Fermi Large Area Telescope data. To partially decompose the charge-filtered background, we examined the contribution from star-forming galaxies by implying a radio/γ-ray connection in consideration of next-generation radio surveys.
OxyR Is a Convergent Target for Mutations Acquired during Adaptation to Oxidative Stress-Prone Metabolic States
Authors: Anand Amitesh , Chen Ke , Catoiu Edward , Sastry Anand V , Olson Connor A , Sandberg Troy E , Seif Yara , Xu Sibei , Szubin Richard , Yang Laurence , Feist Adam M , Palsson Bernhard O
Published: October 2019

Oxidative stress is concomitant with aerobic metabolism. Thus, bacterial genomes encode elaborate mechanisms to achieve redox homeostasis. Here we report that the peroxide-sensing transcription factor, oxyR, is a common mutational target using bacterial species belonging to two genera, Escherichia coli and Vibrio natriegens, in separate growth conditions implemented during laboratory evolution. The mutations clustered in the redox active site, dimer interface, and flexible redox loop of the protein. These mutations favor the oxidized conformation of OxyR that results in constitutive expression of the genes it regulates. Independent component analysis of the transcriptome revealed that the constitutive activity of OxyR reduces DNA damage from reactive oxygen species, as inferred from the activity of the SOS response regulator LexA. This adaptation to peroxide stress came at a cost of lower growth, as revealed by calculations of proteome allocation using genome-scale models of metabolism and macromolecular expression. Further, identification of similar sequence changes in natural isolates of E. coli indicates that adaptation to oxidative stress through genetic changes in oxyR can be a common occurrence.
Comparative analysis of different nuclear transfer techniques to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA variants
Authors: Tang M , Guggilla R R , Gansemans Y , Van der Jeught M , Boel A , Popovic M , Stamatiadis P , Ferrer-Buitrago M , Thys V , Van Coster R , Deforce D , De Sutter P , Van Nieuwerburgh F , Heindryckx B
Published: October 2019

Prevention of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases may currently be possible using germline nuclear transfer (NT). However, scientific evidence to compare efficiency of different NT techniques to overcome mtDNA diseases is lacking. Here, we performed four types of NT, including first or second polar body transfer (PB1/2T), maternal spindle transfer (ST) and pronuclear transfer (PNT), using NZB/OlaHsd and B6D2F1 mouse models. Embryo development was assessed following NT and mtDNA carry-over levels were measured by next generation sequencing (NGS). Moreover, we explored two novel protocols (PB2T-a and PB2T-b) to optimize PB2T using mouse and human oocytes. Chromosomal profiles of NT-generated blastocysts were evaluated using NGS. In mouse, our findings reveal that only PB2T-b successfully leads to blastocysts. There were comparable blastocyst rates amongst PB1T, PB2T-b, ST and PNT embryos. Furthermore, PB1T and PB2T-b had lower mtDNA carry-over levels than ST and PNT. After extrapolation of novel PB2T-b to human in vitro matured (IVM) oocytes and in vivo matured oocytes with smooth endoplasmic reticulum aggregates (SERa) oocytes, the reconstituted embryos successfully developed to blastocysts at a comparable rate to ICSI controls. PB2T-b embryos generated from IVM oocytes showed a similar euploidy rate to ICSI controls. Nevertheless, our mouse model with non-mutated mtDNAs is different from a mixture of pathogenic and non-pathogenic mtDNAs in a human scenario. Novel PB2T-b requires further optimization to improve blastocyst rates in human. Although more work is required to elucidate efficiency and safety of NT, our study suggests that PBT may have the potential to prevent mtDNA disease transmission.
SEA version 3.0: a comprehensive extension and update of the Super-Enhancer archive
Authors: Chen Chuangeng , Zhou Dianshuang , Gu Yue , Wang Cong , Zhang Mengyan , Lin Xiangyu , Xing Jie , Wang Hongli , Zhang Yan
Published: October 2019

Super-enhancers (SEs) are critical for the transcriptional regulation of gene expression. We developed the super-enhancer archive version 3.0 (SEA v. 3.0, http://sea.edbc.org) to extend SE research. SEA v. 3.0 provides the most comprehensive archive to date, consisting of 164 545 super-enhancers. Of these, 80 549 are newly identified from 266 cell types/tissues/diseases using an optimized computational strategy, and 52 have been experimentally confirmed with manually curated references. We now support super-enhancers in 11 species including 7 new species (zebrafish, chicken, chimp, rhesus, sheep, Xenopus tropicalis and stickleback). To facilitate super-enhancer functional analysis, we added several new regulatory datasets including 3 361 785 typical enhancers, chromatin interactions, SNPs, transcription factor binding sites and SpCas9 target sites. We also updated or developed new criteria query, genome visualization and analysis tools for the archive. This includes a tool based on Shannon Entropy to evaluate SE cell type specificity, a new genome browser that enables the visualization of SE spatial interactions based on Hi-C data, and an enhanced enrichment analysis interface that provides online enrichment analyses of SE related genes. SEA v. 3.0 provides a comprehensive database of all available SE information across multiple species, and will facilitate super-enhancer research, especially as related to development and disease.
Epigenetic reader complexes of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum
Authors: Hoeijmakers Wieteke Anna Maria , Miao Jun , Schmidt Sabine , Toenhake Christa Geeke , Shrestha Sony , Venhuizen Jeron , Henderson Rob , Birnbaum Jakob , Ghidelli-Disse Sonja , Drewes Gerard , Cui Liwang , Stunnenberg Hendrik Gerard , Spielmann Tobias , Bártfai Richárd
Published: October 2019

Epigenetic regulatory mechanisms are central to the development and survival of all eukaryotic organisms. These mechanisms critically depend on the marking of chromatin domains with distinctive histone tail modifications (PTMs) and their recognition by effector protein complexes. Here we used quantitative proteomic approaches to unveil interactions between PTMs and associated reader protein complexes of Plasmodium falciparum, a unicellular parasite causing malaria. Histone peptide pull-downs with the most prominent and/or parasite-specific PTMs revealed the binding preference for 14 putative and novel reader proteins. Amongst others, they highlighted the acetylation-level-dependent recruitment of the BDP1/BDP2 complex and identified an PhD-finger protein (PHD 1, PF3D7_1008100) that could mediate a cross-talk between H3K4me2/3 and H3K9ac marks. Tagging and interaction proteomics of 12 identified proteins unveiled the composition of 5 major epigenetic complexes, including the elusive TBP-associated-factor complex as well as two distinct GCN5/ADA2 complexes. Furthermore, it has highlighted a remarkable degree of interaction between these five (sub)complexes. Collectively, this study provides an extensive inventory of PTM-reader interactions and composition of epigenetic complexes. It will not only fuel further explorations of gene regulation amongst ancient eukaryotes, but also provides a stepping stone for exploration of PTM-reader interactions for antimalarial drug development.
A distinct class of eukaryotic MT-A70 methyltransferases maintain symmetric DNA N6-adenine methylation at the ApT dinucleotides as an epigenetic mark associated with transcription
Authors: Wang Yuanyuan , Sheng Yalan , Liu Yongqiang , Zhang Wenxin , Cheng Ting , Duan Lili , Pan Bo , Qiao Yu , Liu Yifan , Gao Shan
Published: October 2019

Rediscovered as a potential eukaryotic epigenetic mark, DNA N6-adenine methylation (6mA) varies across species in abundance and its relationships with transcription. Here we characterize AMT1—representing a distinct MT-A70 family methyltransferase—in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. AMT1 loss-of-function leads to severe defects in growth and development. Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing reveals that AMT1 is required for the bulk of 6mA and all symmetric methylation at the ApT dinucleotides. The detection of hemi-methylated ApT sites suggests a semi-conservative mechanism for maintaining symmetric methylation. AMT1 affects expression of many genes; in particular, RAB46, encoding a Rab family GTPase involved in contractile vacuole function, is likely a direct target. The distribution of 6mA resembles H3K4 methylation and H2A.Z, two conserved epigenetic marks associated with RNA polymerase II transcription. Furthermore, strong 6mA and nucleosome positioning in wild-type cells is attenuated in ΔAMT1 cells. Our results support that AMT1-catalyzed 6mA is an integral part of the transcription-associated epigenetic landscape. AMT1 homologues are generally found in protists and basal fungi featuring ApT hyper-methylation associated with transcription, which are missing in animals, plants, and true fungi. This dichotomy of 6mA functions and the underlying molecular mechanisms may have implications in eukaryotic diversification.
TSEA-DB: a trait–tissue association map for human complex traits and diseases
Authors: Jia Peilin , Dai Yulin , Hu Ruifeng , Pei Guangsheng , Manuel Astrid Marilyn , Zhao Zhongming
Published: October 2019

Assessing the causal tissues of human traits and diseases is important for better interpreting trait-associated genetic variants, understanding disease etiology, and improving treatment strategies. Here, we present a reference database for trait-associated tissue specificity based on genome-wide association study (GWAS) results, named Tissue-Specific Enrichment Analysis DataBase (TSEA-DB, available at https://bioinfo.uth.edu/TSEADB/). We collected GWAS summary statistics data for a wide range of human traits and diseases followed by rigorous quality control. The current version of TSEA-DB includes 4423 data sets from the UK Biobank (UKBB) and 596 from other resources (GWAS Catalog and literature mining), totaling 5019 unique GWAS data sets and 15 770 trait-associated gene sets. TSEA-DB aims to provide reference tissue(s) enriched with the genes from GWAS. To this end, we systematically performed a tissue-specific enrichment analysis using our recently developed tool deTS and gene expression profiles from two reference tissue panels: the GTEx panel (47 tissues) and the ENCODE panel (44 tissues). The comprehensive trait–tissue association results can be easily accessed, searched, visualized, analyzed, and compared across the studies and traits through our web site. TSEA-DB represents one of the many timely and comprehensive approaches in exploring human trait–tissue association.
Role of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibition to mitigate diabetic kidney disease risk in type 1 diabetes
Authors: van Raalte Daniël H , Bjornstad Petter
Published: October 2019

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a common complication of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and a major risk factor for premature death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Current treatments, such as control of hyperglycaemia and hypertension, are beneficial, but only partially protect against DKD. Finding new, safe and effective therapies to halt nephropathy progression has proven to be challenging. Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have demonstrated, in addition to glycaemic lowering, impressive protection against DKD and CVD progression in people with type 2 diabetes. Although these beneficial cardiorenal effects may also apply to people with T1D, supporting data are lacking. Furthermore, the increased rates of euglycaemic diabetic ketoacidosis may limit the use of this class in people with T1D. In this review we highlight the pathophysiology of DKD in T1D and the unmet need that exists. We further detail the beneficial and adverse effects of SGLT2 inhibitors based on their mechanism of action. Finally, we balance the effects in people with T1D and indicate future lines of research.
Predictors of Outcomes After Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy
Authors: Krishna Vibhor , Sammartino Francesco , Cosgrove Rees , Ghanouni Pejman , Schwartz Michael , Gwinn Ryder , Eisenberg Howard , Fishman Paul , Chang Jin Woo , Taira Takaomi , Kaplitt Michael , Rezai Ali , Rumià Jordi , Gedroyc Wady , Igase Keiji , Kishima Haruhiko , Yamada Kazumichi , Ohnishi Hideyuki , Halpern Casey
Published: October 2019

BACKGROUND

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy (FUS-T) is an emerging treatment for essential tremor (ET).

OBJECTIVE

To determine the predictors of outcomes after FUS-T.

METHODS

Two treatment groups were analyzed: 75 ET patients enrolled in the pivotal trial, between 2013 and 2015; and 114 patients enrolled in the postpivotal trials, between 2015 and 2016. All patients had medication-refractory, disabling ET, and underwent unilateral FUS-T. The primary outcome (hand tremor score, 32-point scale with higher scores indicating worse tremor) and the secondary outcome variables (Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor Part C score: 32-point scale with higher scores indicating more disability) were assessed at baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 mo. The operative outcome variables (ie, peak temperature, number of sonications) were analyzed. The results between the 2 treatment groups, pivotal and postpivotal, were compared with repeated measures analysis of variance and adjusted for confounding variables.

RESULTS

A total of 179 patients completed the 12-mo evaluation. The significant predictors of tremor outcomes were patient age, disease duration, peak temperature, and number of sonications. A greater improvement in hand tremor scores was observed in the postpivotal group at all time points, including 12 mo (61.9% ± 24.9% vs 52.1% ± 24.9%, P = .009). In the postpivotal group, higher energy was used, resulting in higher peak temperatures (56.7 ± 2.5 vs 55.6 ± 2.8°C, P = .004). After adjusting for age, years of disease, number of sonications, and maximum temperature, the treatment group was a significant predictor of outcomes (F = 7.9 [1,165], P = .005).

CONCLUSION

We observed an improvement in outcomes in the postpivotal group compared to the pivotal group potentially reflecting a learning curve with FUS-T. The other associations of tremor outcomes included patient age, disease duration, peak temperature, and number of sonications.
On the ratifiability of efficient cartel mechanisms in first-price auctions with participation costs and information leakage
Authors: Cao Xiaoyong , Hsueh Shao-Chieh , Tian Guoqiang
Published: October 2019

This paper addresses the ratifiability of an efficient cartel mechanism in a first-price auction. When a seller uses a first-price sealed-bid auction, the efficient all-inclusive cartel mechanism will no longer be ratifiable in the presence of both participation costs and potential information leakage. A bidder whose value is higher than a cut-off in the cartel will have an incentive to leave the cartel, thereby sending a credible signal of his high value, which discourages other bidders from participating in the seller’s auction. However, the cartel mechanism is still ratifiable where either the participation cost or information leakage is absent.
Tweeted Heresies
Authors: Hamidaddin Abdullah
Published: October 2019

How should we understand religion in Saudi Arabia? To what extent does religion control the various aspects of Saudi life? Why are more and more Saudis and generally Muslims leaning toward heresy? Why are many others exhibiting an indifference toward religion? And how does our understanding of the state of religion in Saudi Arabia inform us about the state of religion in other Islamic communities? This book explores the emergence of nonbelief and the response to it from the Salafi-Wahhabi religious institutions of Saudi Arabia. While previous studies have focused on particular institutions and their role in religious change, this study focuses on individuals that have criticized religion by taking advantage of the virtual space of social media. In doing so, they have questioned the most fundamental aspects of Saudi society: politics, religion, social justice, gender, sexuality, and the future of the country. Just as importantly, these individuals, who emerged first on the Internet, have mounted a frontal challenge to religious orthodoxy, whether through calls for religious reform or, even more provocatively, through debates over concepts of deity, duty to Allah, and morality.
Criticizing Religion
Authors: Hamidaddin Abdullah
Published: October 2019

This chapter defines the scope of this volume. It explores the impact of modernity on religion in general, and some key aspects of the Muslim response to modernity. The chapter highlights the difference between two ways of understanding the impact of modernity on Muslim religiosity: the first is the disengagement from religion in ways similar to modernity’s impact on religion in other societies; the second is the evolution of religion into a social and political identity, an evolution that has had serious consequences most notably the rise of the politics of cultural authenticity and the growth of political Islam. The book claims that the second way has had a monopoly on our understanding of Muslims and instead chooses to focus on the first way. The chapter also explores the ways Islam in Saudi has been understood, and how that has limited our understanding of society and religion in that country. Most importantly the chapter discusses some of the key social theories that highlight the reasons individuals disengage from religion and revert to either indifference towards religion, or heresy or even nonbelief.
Possessive Individualism
Authors: Bromley Daniel W.
Published: October 2019

The emergence of authoritarian governments in much of Europe, the British vote to leave the European Union, and widespread political anger in the United States suggest that anxiety and uncertainty now threaten to undermine stable democracies. Decades of stagnant household incomes and growing inequality are casting doubt on the benefits of capitalism. Meanwhile, millions of desperate migrants streaming north out of Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa further jeopardize political stability in the wealthy metropole. We have here an explanation for why the world finds itself in widespread dysfunction. First, there is a dominant culture of possessive individualism. This attitude has fostered political opposition to taxes, to higher wages for vast numbers of workers, and to various programs that would ease the economic burden on beleaguered households. Meanwhile, a culture of managerial capitalism suppresses wages and salaries, embraces automation, and moves jobs overseas. Voters have taken the measure of contemporary capitalism and are unimpressed. Many of the disillusioned have turned to authoritarian braggarts to rescue them from their misery. Xenophobia stalks the land. Escape from this crisis requires that the isolated acquisitive individual rediscover a sense of loyalty to others—as neighbors, as colleagues, and as participants in a shared social process of living rather than merely consuming. Escape also requires that the private firm be reimagined as a public trust in which the economic well-being of employees becomes a central part of its purpose. In the absence of these dual transformations, capitalism as we know it cannot endure.
Act 1 of Berg’s Lulu
Authors: Notley Margaret
Published: October 2019

This chapter has to do with Berg’s interpretation of Erdgeist in Act 1 of his opera and connects it to the new, expanded understanding of censorship. Building on work by Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, Robert C. Post wrote in 1998 that censorship “establishes the practices that define us as social subjects.” Post thereby offered a frame of reference for genres that have social practices as their subject matter, two of which critics have linked to Erdgeist: when Wedekind turned the first three acts of the Ur-Lulu into the basis of Erdgeist, he made the self-censorship that allows us to function in a society thematic in his new play. Berg chose to refine Wedekind’s material, but also to emphasize passages that reveal the origins of Erdgeist in a play Wedekind had conceived as a “monster tragedy”; in doing this, Berg clearly intended to prepare the second half of the opera.
Torts
Authors: Friedman Lawrence M.
Published: October 2019

This chapter discusses the development of tort law in the second half of the nineteenth century. Tort law experienced its biggest growth spurt in the late nineteenth century. The legal world began to sit up and pay attention. The very first English-language treatise on torts appeared in 1859: Francis Hilliard’s book, The Law of Torts, Or Private Wrongs. Then came Charles G. Addison, Wrongs and Their Remedies in 1860, in England. By 1900, there was an immense literature on the law of torts; Joel Bishop and Thomas M. Cooley had written imposing treatises on the subject; the case law had swollen to heroic proportions. Tort law was a product of the industrial revolution; England here had a head start; problems emerged there first, and so did their tentative legal solutions.
Problems of Memory
Authors: Fernández Jordi
Published: October 2019

Chapter 1 sets up the discussion that will lead to an account of memory and addresses some preliminary methodological issues. It specifies the kind of memory to be accounted for, as well as the features of memories of that kind which require explanation. These include one feature concerning the metaphysics of memory, one feature concerning its intentionality, two features concerning the phenomenology of memory, and two features concerning its epistemology. The chapter then distinguishes several ways in which those features can be approached, depending on which of them are taken to be basic. Finally, one of the possible approaches is selected for the book. According to this approach, the facts in virtue of which a mental state qualifies as a memory, and the content that the memory has, are fundamental aspects of that memory. The phenomenological and epistemological aspects of the memory are to be explained in terms of them.
The Intentionality of Memory
Authors: Fernández Jordi
Published: October 2019

Chapter 3 offers a proposal about the kind of content that memories have. According to this proposal, memories are self-referential in that they represent their own causal origin. A memory represents that it causally originates in a perception of an objective fact. The chapter outlines three alternative proposals about the content of memories; the proposal that memories only represent objective facts in the past, the proposal that they only represent past perceptual experiences of those facts, and the proposal that they represent both things. It is argued that the self-referential proposal enjoys the virtues of each of the three views, and it avoids the difficulties which threaten the three views as well.
Conclusion
Authors: Fernández Jordi
Published: October 2019

This chapter summarizes seven outcomes of the investigation. Memories are higher-order states, functionally characterized. Memories have self-referential contents. Memories represent our past experiences and, for that reason, they make us aware of what it was like for us to experience facts in the past. Memories represent their own causal connection to our past experiences and, for that reason, they make us aware of past experienced facts as being in the past. Memories represent our past perceptual experiences as being veridical and, for that reason, memories as presented to us as being our own. Memories inherit some of their content from our past perceptual experiences, and those perceptual experiences represent ourselves. For that reason, memory judgments are immune to error through misidentification. And, finally, memories represent more things than the experiences in which they originate did and, for that reason, they provide us with justification for belief which we did not have at the time we underwent those original experiences.
Dissent
Authors: Zick Timothy
Published: October 2019

This chapter considers a concept that connects all of the previous chapters to one another: dissent. Dissent is itself a central First Amendment concern. As the book’s chapters show, the Trump Era has been marked or marred by various efforts to challenge or suppress dissent. After briefly discussing the meaning of dissent, the chapter examines the democratic and social values of dissent and current challenges to participating in active dissent. It considers the steps necessary to preserving a culture of dissent in the United States. The positive and potentially uplifting lesson of the book is that time and again, dissent and dissenters have ultimately defeated the worst authoritarian impulses. However, this process has generally taken long stretches of time, during which the American people have considered and recalculated the costs and benefits of allowing dissenting voices to be heard.
Deconstructing “Decentralization”
Authors: Walch Angela
Published: October 2019

This chapter first describes the current use of the term “decentralized” as applied to permissionless blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Then, it analyzes the complex, contested nature of the term, delving into issues such as the different domains where power is exercised in blockchain systems and the fluid nature of power concentration and diffusion in these systems. Next, it provides examples of events that reveal sites of concentrated power in permissionless blockchain systems, focusing on the activities of software developers and miners. Finally, it explores the significant implications for law of using a fuzzy term like “decentralized” to make legal decisions, as misunderstandings about power hidden in the term can lead to flawed decisions across a wide swath of legal fields.
What Should Be Disclosed in an Initial Coin Offering?
Authors: Brummer Chris , Kiviat Trevor I. , Massari Jai
Published: October 2019

This chapter unsettles the all-too-common assumption that existing Securities Act registration and disclosure requirements offer adequate remedies for the increasingly obvious shortcomings of initial coin offerings (ICOs). It argues that, as currently constituted, the Securities Act and its accompanying regulations offer, at best, only a partial remedy to the disclosure challenges that ICOs pose. Even if subject to the full panoply of disclosures operative in public offerings, ICO promoters would not necessarily disclose all factors material to evaluating and pricing their tokens. Furthermore, even where disclosures are made, they may not be done in ways that investors can easily understand, and technical disclosures would not be subject to the kind of financial statement audits common in more traditional securities offerings.
Between Truth and Power
Authors: Cohen Julie E.
Published: October 2019

This book explores the relationships between legal institutions and political and economic transformation. It argues that as law is enlisted to help produce the profound economic and sociotechnical shifts that have accompanied the emergence of the informational economy, it is changing in fundamental ways. We are witnessing the emergence of legal institutions adapted to the information age, but their form and their substance remain undetermined and are the subjects of intense struggle. One level for legal-institutional transformation involves baseline understandings of entitlement and disentitlement. Both lawyers and laypeople tend to think of legal entitlements as relatively fixed, but the ongoing transformation in political economy has set things in motion in ways that traditional accounts do not contemplate. In particular, the datafication of important resources and the shift to a platform-based, massively intermediated communications environment have profoundly reshaped both the organization of economic activity and the patterns of information exchange. The authority of platforms is both practical and normative, and it has become both something taken for granted and a powerful force reshaping the law in its own image. Another level for legal-institutional transformation involves the structure and operation of regulatory and governance institutions. Patterns of institutional change in the networked information era express a generally neoliberalized and managerialist stance toward the law’s projects and processes. They reflect deeply embedded beliefs about the best uses of new technological capabilities to manage legal and regulatory processes and account for activities of legal and regulatory concern.
Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith
Authors: Jorgensen John , Lusthaus Dan , Makeham John , Strange Mark
Published: October 2019

Drawing on the historical and intellectual contexts of the Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith’s composition and paying sustained attention to its interpretation in early commentaries, this new annotated translation of the classic makes its ideas available to English readers like never before. The introduction orients the reader with the main topics taken up in the Treatise and also provides a scholarly resource for students, teachers, and researchers. The Treatise succinctly addresses many of the doctrines of greatest importance to Buddhists in China between the fifth and seventh centuries, in an attempt to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas in Buddhist texts introduced from India. One reason for the popularity of the Treatise is its compelling vision of how to realize why we are deluded and then follow a path to actualize our inherent buddhahood. “Awakening Mahāyāna Faith” refers to having the initial faith or trust that the Mahāyāna Buddhist path will work and is worth pursuing. It also provides a concise restatement of the complexities of the ten-stage path of bodhisattva (enlightened being) practice in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Treatise quickly became a foundational text for East Asian Buddhism when it appeared in sixth-century China. It profoundly shaped the doctrines and practices of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Chan, Tiantai, Huayan, and to a lesser extent Pure Land. Conceptual structures derived from the Treatise became a shared resource for East Asian philosophers and religious theorists over centuries.
“Not to Be Trammeled”
Authors: Givens Terryl , Hauglid Brian M.
Published: October 2019

Christian creeds go back to the first Christian centuries. Catholics produced creeds largely to establish the lines demarcating orthodoxy and heresy. Protestants at first were hostile to creeds and often invoked the Bible as the lone and sufficient creed for Christians. Joseph Smith’s hostility to creeds was common, especially among other restorationists. Eventually virtually all Protestants realized that without a creed, boundary maintenance was impossible. Early missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found it necessary to summarize and define the uniqueness of their message—effectively creating the first creeds. Joseph Smith, explicitly hostile to creeds as too circumscribing of belief, found himself forced by the same imperative to articulate his own summation of Mormon teachings. His Thirteen Articles of Faith are, however, wholly inadequate as a creed, since they omit many of the most core doctrines of the church. They are best understood, in Rodney Stark’s formula, as establishing an optimum tension with competing religious faiths—not too radical and not too familiar.
Epilogue
Authors: Givens Terryl , Hauglid Brian M.
Published: October 2019

The Pearl of Great Price has an importance in the Church of Jesus Christ far out of proportion to its size. The Book of Moses is the foundation for its most important doctrinal claims. The Book of Abraham undergirds its understanding of priesthood and its entire temple theology that is oriented around the eternal binding together of human families. Canonizing Joseph Smith’s autobiographical writings effectively dismantles the doctrine of sola scriptura. The controversies around the Book of Abraham mean that this canonical book of scripture represents the church’s greatest strengths and greatest vulnerabilities. However, the church is likely to weather these storms, as it has those of the past.
The Wilsonian Solution
Authors: Laderman Charlie
Published: October 2019

This chapter examines Woodrow Wilson’s pragmatic decision not to declare war on the Ottoman Empire after American entry into the First World War. It explains why this policy choice offers important insights into Wilson’s attitude toward the Allied powers, particularly the British Empire. It evaluates Wilson’s broader attitude to Britain and his attitude toward an Anglo-American alliance. The chapter emphasizes the clash between Wilson and Roosevelt over whether the United States should declare war on the Ottoman Empire, and what this reveals about their humanitarian visions and broader conceptions of international order. In doing so, it traces the emergence of Wilson’s own solution to the Armenian question as part of a reformed, American-led international system.
Why Globalization Didn’t Happen, 1948–1982
Authors: Fairbrother Malcolm
Published: October 2019

This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book, describing key political economic events, conditions, and changes in Canada, Mexico, and the United States from the 1940s to the early 1980s. The US government was broadly keen on regional economic integration throughout this period, but Canada and Mexico were opposed. As a consequence, this was in some ways a period of deglobalization. Canadian economists advocated freer trade (like their counterparts in the United States), but Canadian businesspeople prevented the state from pursuing it. In Mexico, political elites maintained a closed economy because they subscribed to the developmentalist economic ideas of the day. Public opinion everywhere was little informed about international economic issues, and had no significant role to play in shaping public policies.
The United States
Authors: Fairbrother Malcolm
Published: October 2019

Once Canada and Mexico each agreed to negotiate free trade, the United States began pressing its demands for content in the agreements that was consistent with what US business leaders wanted. In the end, private sector representatives were very pleased with the results of the negotiations. When NAFTA turned into a highly contentious issue, in 1992 and 1993, major American business associations and even individual firms campaigned hard for the agreement's ratification by Congress. That ratification was still not a sure thing, however, and Democratic president Bill Clinton needed to make NAFTA possible by advocating its ratification and supplementing it with side-agreements on labor and the environment. Clinton’s compromise position and the advocacy of business helped win over just enough critics to get NAFTA through, including in the face of substantial public skepticism.
Did Economists Cause Globalization?
Authors: Fairbrother Malcolm
Published: October 2019

Academic economists are broadly supportive of initiatives for globalization, and their endorsements make a difference politically: they carry the authority of expertise. But this chapter shows, contrary to what many people believe, that agreements like NAFTA are not really based on mainstream economic ideas. Compared to formal neoclassical trade theory, the priorities and worldviews of businesspeople—which are in some respects quite different—are much more politically influential. Economists’ ideas are so marginal in part because they are not politically useful for constructing broad business support for free trade. For that reason, even officials and negotiators who subscribe to neoclassical ideas do not talk about trade in neoclassical ways. Few people understand economists’ neoclassical trade theory, including its core concept of comparative advantage, which does not resonate with the lived experience of businesspeople.
A Political Economy Approach to U.S. Normalization Policy Toward Cuba
Authors: Betancourt Roger R.
Published: October 2019

In this chapter, five contributions are made to advance understanding of U.S.-Cuba relations. First, empirical evidence is provided on outcomes with respect to the flows of persons, goods and services, and capital between Cuba and the United States. While the evidence stresses the last decade, it goes back to the 1990s when feasible and relevant. Second, policies and their implementation by both the U.S. and Cuban governments are viewed as the actions of political agents that provide opportunities and challenges for these outcomes to fluctuate over time in pursuit of a variety of goals. Third, these outcomes are treated as responses of U.S. and Cuban entities and residents as economic agents to the policies and their implementations by the two governments. Fourth, throughout the chapter, interactions between different policies within each country as well as between the two countries are analyzed in terms of their impact on actual outcomes. Finally, in the last substantive section the role of political factors in the two recent U.S. administrations is highlighted to bring out interactions between political and economic dimensions and to illustrate the policies explicitly or implicitly adopted by the Donald Trump administration.
Open Adoption and Diverse Families
Authors: Goldberg Abbie E.
Published: October 2019

This book traces the experiences of diverse adoptive families—including lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families, and families who adopted through foster care and private adoption—as they manage birth family relationships across their children’s childhood. It explores the diversity among families in how open adoption is envisioned, enacted, and experienced over time. The author uses interview data from four time points spanning preadoption to 8 years postadoption to address a variety of questions, including: How do adoptive parents feel about openness when they first learn about it, and why do their feelings change over time? How do adoptive parents’ initial feelings about birth parents inform the types of relationships that they form with birth family? How do adoptive parents who strongly valued openness cope with and handle the disappointment of matching with birth parents who do not desire and/or are unable to enact a similar level of openness? What types of complex, unexpected, and nuanced trajectories of contact unfold over time between adoptive families and birth families? What types of boundary challenges occur between adoptive and birth family members, offline and online? How do adoptive parents talk about adoption with their children, and how does this vary depending on level and type of contact? How and to what extent do adoptive parents invoke environment versus genetics (i.e., birth family) in articulating children’s strengths, challenges, and physical features (e.g., height, skin color)? How do the experiences of adoptive parents differ by parent gender and sexual orientation?