bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mejora competitiva mediante reducida inversión nacional en infraestructura fluvial en Argentina
Authors: Amé Ricardo Mario
Published: May 2019

En este trabajo se demuestra que aunque se esgrima que las inversiones han de orientarse hacia la generación de factores de competitividad avanzados y especializados, lo cual no se pone en duda, también las que se aplican a aquellos estructurales básicos y genéricos, aún las poco significativas, pueden intensificar la especialización y mejorar la competitividad de un sector económico que ya la posea en cierto grado. En la década de los 90, la mejora estructural de la vía navegable del río Paraná o Hidrovía, realizada en Argentina, potenció las inversiones del sector oleaginoso, redujo los costos portuarios y de navegación y permitió elevar la competitividad del sector. Este resultado se obtuvo mediante una adecuada conjunción de políticas públicas, participación de la empresa privada y un aporte económico del Estado Argentino insignificante.
El modelo de regulación tarifaria para el servicio de electricidad y el costo de la energía eléctrica en Costa Rica
Authors: Sandoval Vásquez José Fulvio , Li Bonilla Federico
Published: May 2019

Se expone el modelo utilizado por la Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) para defi nir los ajustes en las tarifas de la electricidad para los usuarios fi nales. La metodología se desarrolla con base en un ejemplo y, posteriormente, se utiliza para estudiar un caso específico de aplicación que consiste en la solicitud de aumento tarifario realizada por el Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) a finales del año 2014. Mediante el estudio de este caso, se analizan los principales factores de costo que inciden en las tarifas a los usuarios fi nales y se realizan algunas recomendaciones con la fi nalidad de mejorar el procedimiento tarifario y no se aumenten innecesariamente las tarifas del servicio eléctrico.
Evolución histórica de los clusters: el caso del cluster TIC en Asturias (2006 y 2012)
Authors: Jiménez Almaguer Karla Paola , Junquera Cimadevilla Beatriz , De la Garza Ramos María Isabel
Published: May 2019

El presente trabajo analiza el proceso evolutivo de los clusters industriales tomando como referencia el cluster TIC en Asturias. Concretamente, se utilizó la metodología de estudio de casos para analizar tres aspectos de la dinámica de los clusters en los años 2006 y 2012: entorno, redes y características de las empresas que los integran. Los resultados indican que este cluster se ha beneficiado de las condiciones favorables del entorno que promovieron su creación. Asimismo, las principales redes son aquellas entre las empresas, aunque necesitan fomentarse las redes externas para promover la innovación. Del mismo modo, resulta imprescindible fomentar la especialización de las empresas y la transferencia y generación de conocimiento de sus integrantes para asegurar su crecimiento. Estos resultados señalan que es indispensable apreciar las condiciones que se han logrado y buscar la cooperación entre más actores del sector TIC.
El manual maestro de procesos y procedimientos, un paso hacia la gestión de la calidad: el caso del Consejo Nacional de Vialidad.
Authors: Vasquez Rodriguez Jorge Alberto
Published: May 2019

A inicios de la administración Arias Sánchez (2006-2010), el Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) se encontraba, según el Modelo de Capacidad y Madurez (CMM), en el nivel más bajo de la madurez de sus procesos y existía una serie de requerimientos de la Contraloría General de la República, para que se formalizaran los procedimientos clave de la institución. Con el propósito de iniciar un proceso de mejoramiento de procesos y procedimientos, en el 2009 se retoma la experiencia del Manual Maestro que había sido elaborado en el 2005, para la creación, aprobación, control, revisión de procesos, procedimientos y políticas operativas. A partir de ese instrumento, se elabora y formaliza una serie de procesos y procedimientos, que permiten a la institución ubicarse entre el segundo y el tercer nivel en la escala de madurez de procesos, conforme con el CMM. La presente investigación recoge esa experiencia del Conavi, del año 2009 al año 2015.
La compleja institucionalidad de la infraestructura vial nacional en Costa Rica, 1998-2014
Authors: Vásquez Rodríguez Jorge Alberto
Published: May 2019

En la Administración Figures Olsen (1994- 1998) la política de la infraestructura vial nacional fue redefinida para que la obra vial nacional fuera llevada a cabo con una mayor participación privada en deterioro del protagonismo público, mediante la ley 7798 “Ley de Creación del Consejo Nacional de Vialidad”, lo que era acorde con la transformación del Estado de Bienestar a un Estado con mayores rasgos neoliberales de la época. Lo anterior hizo surgir nuevos actores y redefinió la participación de los existentes y sus recursos y las reglas de la política de infraestructura vial nacional. Las nuevas reglas, los nuevos actores y los actores redefinidos, se vinieron a sumar a reglas formales así como actores existentes, lo que provocó una compleja institucionalidad de la política de la infraestructura vial nacional que incide decisivamente en la implementación de ella, el presente artículo pretende identificar y hacer evidente esa complejidad, con el propósito de que sea considerada en una futura redefinición de la política pública, para contribuir así, a tener una red vial nacional de calidad.
Estimación de efectos económicos en las personas teletrabajadoras de la UNED de Costa Rica
Authors: Rojas Campos Rosberly
Published: May 2019

Diversos estudios muestran que el factor económico es uno de los más relevantes para una persona teletrabajadora, al reducir los costos de viaje al trabajo, gastos de alimentación, vestido, entre otros. Al cumplirse un año de la implementación del teletrabajo en la UNED, se estima sus efectos económicos por medio de un cuestionario aplicado a 85 personas en esta modalidad entre los meses de marzo y abril del 2016, con una respuesta del 74,1%. Los resultados muestran que los beneficios económicos cercanos a U$10.000 dólares al año, más que compensan en el primer año las inversiones básicas necesarias para realizar el teletrabajo. Además, el perfil típico en la UNED en su mayoría corresponde a mujeres, profesionales, que viajan en su propio auto por alrededor de 1h: 48min una distancia promedio de 29,5 km, y teletrabajan 2 días.
La investigación cualitativa en las Ciencias de la Administración: aproximaciones teórico-metodológicas
Authors: Bolaños Garita Rolando
Published: May 2019

La variedad de elementos de orden teórico, conceptual, metodológico y operativo que se tejen alrededor de la investigación científica, y puntualmente desde la perspectiva cualitativa, obliga a escudriñar en el amplio universo de obras y propuestas que desde décadas atrás han venido generándose al respecto, lo cual en gran cantidad de ocasiones resulta contraproducente para el interesado (docente, investigador, estudiante), al no localizar con facilidad aquellas que le orienten en sus propósitos inherentes al campo de las Ciencias de la Administración, y confundiéndose más bien por la amplitud de posibilidades establecidas generalmente desde las Ciencias Sociales. Considerando tal problemática, fue presentada una propuesta ante la Comisión de Investigación y Extensión de la Escuela de Ciencias de la Administración en la UNED (P2016-016), tendiente a solventar, hasta donde fuera, posible dicha problemática. El presente aporte constituye la primera parte de los hallazgos inherentes a aquella propuesta.
Aspectos socio-organizacionales y de gestión de emprendimientos cooperativos en Costa Rica
Authors: Li Bonilla Federico , Hernández Castro Gustavo
Published: May 2019

El siguiente artículo explica los factores estratégicos (gestión ambiental, inclusividad, articulación institucional y productiva, alianzas estratégicas, innovación, sostenibilidad alimentaria, nuevos sectores económicos) referentes a la organización y gestión de emprendimientos cooperativos costarricenses. En una investigación mixta y exploratoria, realizada la muestra en todo el territorio nacional. El impacto social de veinte emprendimientos asociativos en Costa Rica. Se analiza que a pesar del esfuerzo de las socio-organizacionales y de su gestión, el impacto social, es aceptable (56%), en el tanto que el emprendimiento cooperativo no tenga una sólida visión y misión de su gestión empresarial. De esta forma se sistematiza la experiencia organizativa y de operación de los emprendimientos asociativos, mediante un análisis crítico de dichas experiencias, para obtener de estas organizaciones las lecciones aprendidas y con esto, establecer un marco referencial que sirva de retroalimentación a nuevos actores relacionados con el quehacer de dichas cooperativas.
Aplicación de las tecnologías de información y comunicación en empresas turísticas de Puerto Nuevo, Rosarito, Baja California
Authors: Cruz Estrada Isaac , Miranda Zavala Ana María
Published: May 2019

La investigación tiene como objetivo analizar la aplicación de las TIC en las empresas turísticas de Puerto Nuevo, Rosarito, Baja California, México. Puerto Nuevo se encuentra dentro del Municipio de Rosarito, existen alrededor de 30 restaurantes, su principal atractivo es la langosta. Se aplicó un cuestionario a los administradores de 23 empresas, tomando como base las registradas en el sitio de Internet del Comité de Turismo y Convenciones de Rosarito. Como parte de la metodología, se consideró a las organizaciones que al menos utilizaran en su operación con proveedores y clientes las redes sociales y contaran con un sitio de Internet. Se realizó revisión de literatura acerca de la inclusión de las TIC en el turismo y los beneficios del marketing digital, además de un análisis descriptivo y estimación del índice de adopción de innovaciones por categorías. Se encontró un índice de adopción medio de las TIC en la administración de los negocios, un índice de adopción bajo en marketing digital y la administración de relaciones con los clientes, lo cual explica la falta de difusión de los atractivos para el visitante, que limita identificar las diferentes opciones presentes en el destino turístico.
¿Es económicamente viable fabricar un automóvil 100% estadounidense?
Authors: Burgos Gómez Elio
Published: May 2019

El cambio en la participación en el mercado de la industria automotriz estadounidense, la migración de las fábricas hacia países con menores costos y el desempleo en ciudades vinculadas con los productores de automóviles, han llevado al actual Gobierno estadounidense a anunciar restricciones al comercio internacional, a amenazar con aumentos en los impuestos de importación y a plantear la renegociación del Tratado de Libre Comercio. En este ensayo se hace un análisis del flujo de las materias primas, del proceso de fabricación de autopartes y de la forma como se administra la industria, para poder establecer si es posible la autarquía en los procesos productivos actuales, particularmente en el sector automotriz.
Fondo Especial De La Educación Superior (FEES) para la Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica: estimación de tres posibles escenarios en el período 2018-2020
Authors: Espinach Rueda Monserrat
Published: May 2019

La Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED) de Costa Rica es una institución que recibe sus principales ingresos monetarios del Gobierno a través del Fondo Especial de la Educación Superior (FEES) amparado por los artículos 85 y 78 de la Constitución Política de Costa Rica, los cuales determinan un presupuesto del Estado para educación nacional como un porcentaje del Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) del país. Aplicando una metodología cuantitativa para calcular las proyecciones y apoyándose con herramientas como hojas de cálculo de Excel y el software estadístico y de probabilidades MegaStat, se formulan tres posibles escenarios de montos a recibir para la UNED por concepto del FEES. Los resultados obtenidos sirven como insumo de información para tener parámetros sobre posibles escenarios de montos a recibir por concepto del FEES para los años 2018, 2019 y 2020 que permitan realizar planes de acción presupuestarias diferentes ante distintos escenarios.
Respuesta productiva de conejos alimentados con follaje fresco de nacedero (Trichanthera gigantea, Lamiales:Acanthaceae)
Authors: Brenes-Soto Andrea
Published: May 2019

Productive response of rabbits fed with fresh leaves of nacedero (Trichanthera gigantea, Lamiales:Acanthaceae). Rabbit production is a viable activity in Costa Rica. It offers consumers a high quality meat, and for farmers a good income with a relatively low investment. Production performance, including weight gain and dressing percentage of rabbits fed with two levels of fresh “nacedero” leaves (Trichanthera gigantea) were evaluated. The experiment was conducted in a commercial farm, using 30 weanling animals (California breed) randomly distributed among three treatments (ten animals per treatment): T1: Control: 100% commercial extruded diet, T2: 85:15, 85% commercial extruded diet and 15% nacedero fresh leaves, T3: 70:30, 70% commercial extruded diet and 30% nacedero fresh leaves. Animals were individually weighed weekly for eight weeks, then slaughtered at 88 days of age and dressing percentage calculated. Significant differences (p<0,05) were found between animals from treatments 1 and 2 compared to treatment 3 according to Tukey test. Treatment 3 showed the lowest final weight (p=0,003), weight gain (p=0,008) and dressing percentage (p=0,002). Animals´ initial weights (included as a covariable) had an important effect in all parameter responses (p=0,02). Average initial weights were 441, 403 and 418 g; weight gain was 19, 19 and 17 g/animal/day and dressing percentage was 55, 54 and 51% for animals from treatments 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Dry matter intake was significantly less in animals from treatments 2 and 3 compared to control (p<0,05). It is suggested that 15% of substitution of fresh nacedero foliage in diets for fattening rabbits did not affect productive performance; and improve the use of plants with high potential as forages in productive systems with small animal` species.
Nivel de cumplimiento de instituciones públicas costarricenses en elaboración e implementación de los Programas de Gestión Ambiental Institucional
Authors: Chinchilla S Marco Vinicio
Published: May 2019

Level of compliance of Costa Rican public institutions in the elaboration and implementation of Institutional Environmental Management Programs. In Costa Rica, the State is one of the largest buyers and its potential impacts on the environment from resource consumption, waste generation and emissions are considerable. Every Costa Rican public institution is required by MINAE Executive Decree No. 36499 (issued in 2011) to develop and implement an Institutional Environmental Management Program (IEMP) to mitigate and control the impacts resulting from their organizational work. The aim of this study was to analyze the level of compliance of Costa Rican public sector institutions in the elaboration and implementation of the IEMP. Available records were consulted at the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), dividing the institutions into 4 categories: a) ministries; b) decentralized public sector institutions; c) decentralized territorial public sector; and d) other. An on-site assessment tool was then applied in 44 institutions, to determine the level of implementation. As of March 2013, 36.24% of public institutions had submitted an IEMP, with ministries scoring highest on compliance (83.3%). A higher level of implementation was identified for: adoption of an environmental policy, formalization of committees in charge of environmental management work, and systematization of consumption records. There is a need to strengthen staff training and awareness, along with internal disclosure of the IEMP, and incorporation of environmental criteria into the procurement of goods and services, among others. The mean score for the institutions was 70.16 (on a scale of 0 - 100). No significant difference was found between the categories of institutions (t-Student; p = 0.684). The lack of clarity in the application of punitive mechanisms, the low environmental commitment in many institutions and the lack of resources (human and financial) allocated to environmental actions could be affecting compliance with the decree.
Adherence and its impact on the reduction of lipid peril of patients seen in the form of telemedicine at a state university in Costa Rica
Authors: Rojas Suárez Karla , Rojas Espinoza Lourdes
Published: May 2019

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Costa Rica is no exception, with high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in all age groups, and lack of adherence to treatment as one of the main challenges. We analyze the variation in test results of lipid pro le in one control and one telemedicine group in the staff of a Costa Rican university. We followed 62 patients aged 20-70 years, with tests done after fasting 12 hours, and 6 months to a year between samples. A questionnaire was used to calculate rates of factors that affect the variation in laboratory results. The patients had greater commitment to self care in the telemedicine group, achieving a reduction in total cholesterol levels, with little or no variation in other lipoproteins, and a slight increase in triglyceride levels.
Greenhouse gases produced by primary schools in Belén, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Authors: Salazar-Acuña Esteban
Published: May 2019

There is no published information on greenhouse gas emision in public schools of Costa Rica. Using as reference the national voluntary standard INTE / ISO 12-01-06: 2011 I measured emissions in three primary schools: Escuela España, Escuela Fidel Chaves and Escuela Manuel Pilar Zumbado González. The estimates were made using emission factors from the National Meteorological Institute in 2013 as the reference year. The WARM model was used for removal emissions. The main sources were CH4 generation caused by the production of solid waste (69% in España, 70% in the Chavez and 67% in Zumbado) and wastewater management (28.4% in España, 28.8% in Chaves and 27.6% in Zumbado). These were followed by the generation of CO2e by electricity consumption (1.97% in the España, 1.83 in Chaves and 3.1% in Zumbado). The three schools show a similar trend in sources and emissions. This similarity suggests that the management of GHG emissions should focus on these sources in public primary schools in urban areas.
Polymeric compounds materials with polyethylene ( LDPE) and fibers Maclura tinctoria tree ( Moraceae )
Authors: Nikolaeva S. , Saavedra-Arias J.J , Sáenz-Arce G. , Salas R. , Vega Baudrit J. , Rodríguez G. , Pantyukhov P.
Published: May 2019

Costa Rica has extensive areas of tropical forests that, managed with care and knowledge, can provide renewable raw materials and conserve biodiversity. Here we characterize the branches, leaves and bark of the “Mora Tree”, Maclura tinctoria. We manufactured composite polymeric materials and applied infrared spectrometry, liquid chromatography, optical microscopy, and the analysis of thermal and mechanical properties. We found polyphenols in all parts of the tree. The natural substrate increases crystallization temperature and reduces the crystallinity of low density polyethylene (LDPE). The elasticity modulus is higher for the composite material than for the LDPE. The fibers of this species are a promissing alternative for new products and to reduce the environmental impact of traditional polymeric materials.
Practices of Performing at Senegalese Sabar Dance Events
Authors: Elina Seye
Published: May 2019

In my PhD thesis Performing a Tradition in Music and Dance (2014), I analyzed sabar dance events as ‘places’ for (re)constructing social relationships, identities, and tradition. In these celebrations, the participants in a sense perform themselves and their relationships to others present, embodying communal conceptions of their social roles and the related norms and values, but sometimes also challenging them. These performances of self can thus primarily be identified as cultural performatives, following Butler, but they still happen in the frame of the dance event, which allows also expressions deviating from the performatives of everyday situations. Here, I will consider how the modes of performance in sabar dance events can be characterized in addition to the obvious repetition and variation of traditional dance genres. Additionally, I will reflect on the value of practical involvement in performance as a methodological tool in ethnographic fieldwork.
Algorithmic Thinking and Musical Performance
Authors: Mieko Kanno
Published: May 2019

This presentation examines instances of elementary algorithmic thinking and musical examples that bear the same principles. A particular focus is given to the function of algorithmic thinking as a performative skill in action. The presentation takes as its background that the application of the procedural logic of algorithm has a long history in music, and that examples can be found in many types of music-making as activities. While much of this application is already discussed in the discipline of musical composition, I observe that the significant presence of algorithmic thinking in performance is still to be articulated. In the three sections titled ‘affordance’, ‘combinatoriality’, and ‘sequence’, I examine each concept in algorithmic operations, and how the same principle can be observed in musical practices. These three sections provide reflection on the nature of the processes involved in music-making. They also simultaneously argue that contemporary musicians possess the capacity to process necessary information and tasks algorithmically, consciously or not.
Objects that Matter - Performance Art and Objects
Authors: Pilvi Porkola
Published: May 2019

The Study on Objects (2018-) is an ongoing art project that focuses on everyday life objects we are surrounded by. While considering the objects and working with videos, I contemplate the relationship between new materialism and performance art. Feminist new materialism offers a perspective to explore many performance art works that reveal how we are related to objects and how we deal with them.
Gout - asymptomatic hyperuricemia with/without asymptomatic monosodium urate crystal deposition: To be treated or not?
Authors: Radak-Perovic Marija , Zlatkovic-Svenda Mirjana
Published: May 2019

Elevation of serum uric acid level without clinically visible arthritis (known as asymptomatic hyperuricemia) is not traditionally considered to be gout disease, but only a possible cause of it, even though it may be accompanied by tissue uric acid crystal deposition. On the other hand, gout is traditionally recognized as recurrent, overt arthritis, visible only after a long period of time due to uric acid accumulation in joints. Advanced imaging techniques have substantially changed the perception of this problem, identifying gout as a low-grade chronic inflammatory disease from the very beginning, visible only by phases of acute arthritis attacks. According to ultrasonography, uric acid crystal hyperechoic aggregates (tophi) are seen not only in the symptomatic gout disease phase, but also in the preceding ? asymptomatic (latent) ? gout phase. New perception of the problem was approved by the recently described NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps) phenomenon. Also, hyperuricemia has recently been identified as a systemic disorder, responsible not only for the apparent gout arthritis, but also for the renal and cardiovascular disease occurrence and progression. Positive effect of urate-lowering therapy (xanthine oxidase inhibitors and uricosurics) on hypertension and chronic kidney disease indicates a possibility of its utility in asymptomatic hyperuricemia and asymptomatic gout therapy, apart from the use in clinically manifested gout treatment and for certain conditions, such as tumor lysis syndrome.
Assessment of reliability and validity of Montenegrin version of the oral health impact profile for use among the elderly in Montenegro
Authors: Popovic Zorica , Djurickovic Mirjana , Ljaljevic Agima , Matijevic Snezana , Obradovic-Djuricic Kosovka
Published: May 2019

Introduction/Objective. The quality of life of elderly individuals has an active function in oral health; it is of great importance to learn that elders over the age of 65 years demonstrate an increase in seeking dental services. Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) is especially suitable for use in the elderly. The aim of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of OHIP-14 in the Montenegrin population aged 65 and over and to determine the influence of oral health on the quality of their life. Methods. The research was conducted from September to December 2016 in the central region of Montenegro, at the Medical University in Podgorica and in the nursing homes of the elderly. The study covered 170 individuals, both sexes, with an average age of 72.32 ? 6.85. The research instrument is OHIP-14 index. Standard statistical tests were used. The statistical significance level is 0.05. Results. The OHIP-14is linguistically and culturally adapted for the Montenegrin population. The value of the Cronbach Alpha Index is 0.892. The relationship between correlations for individual issues and total correlations ranges from 0.21 to 0.69. The value of OHIP-14 is 19.24 ? 7.49. Listed by domains: functional constraints 3.31 ? 1.75; physical pain 4.19 ? 1.31; psychological discomfort 2.52 ? 1.46; physical fitness 4.38 ? 1.40; mental incompetence 1.42 ? 1.23; social incapacity 1.18 ? 1.27 and handicap 2.21 ? 1.32. Conclusion. The OHIP-14 index is reliable and valid and is recommended for use in the Montenegrinspeaking area, for the elderly. There is a significant impact of oral health on the quality of life of the elderly in the central part of Montenegro.
Influence of Industrial Work Practice, Competence Examination Test and Learning Motivation on Student Competence
Authors: Santoso Tomi Rachmad
Published: May 2019

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui: (1) Pengaruh Praktek kerja industri, Uji kompentensi keahlian dan motivasi belajar secara parsial dan simultan berpengaruh terhadap kompetensi siswa, (2) Variabel yang paling dominan  berpengaruh terhadap kompetensi siswa.Pada penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan metode studi kasus. Sampel yang digunakan adalah siswa kelas XII Jurusan Teknik Kendaraan Ringan di SMKN Ihya’ Ulumudin Kabupaten Banyuwangi pada Tahun Pelajaran 2015-2016 dengan jumlah populasi sebanyak 84 siswa.Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan metode angket dan dokumentasi.Teknik analisis data menggunakan uji asumsi klasik, uji normalitas, uji heteroskedastisitas dan uji multikolinieritas. Sedangkan pengujian hipotesis menggunakan analisis regresi berganda,uji F statistik dan uji T. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa (1) Varibel bebas secara parsial berpengaruh signifikan terhadap variabel terikat. Simpulan dari penelitian ini adalah Praktek kerja industri, uji kompetensi keahlian dan motivasi belajar harus terus dilakukan dan ditingkatkan kualitasnya dengan sungguh-sungguh dan konsisten untuk meningkatkan kompetensi siswa.
Quality Regulation
Authors: Ogilvie Sheilagh
Published: May 2019

This chapter examines one major market failure that guilds might have helped solve: the potential for information asymmetries between producers and consumers about the quality of goods and services. Many guilds erected market regulations. To address such concerns, guilds required producers and products to be guild-certified, inspected workshops or wares, and penalized quality violations. Guilds also engaged in many unrelated activities which affected quality unintentionally. The chapter then assesses the evidence on information asymmetries about quality, the institutional mechanisms available to solve them, and the outcomes in different sectors of the European economy. It argues that guilds shed light on the balance between market failures, state failures, and the failure of particularized institutions in intermediating between producers and consumers.
Viruses as Complex Adaptive Systems
Authors: Sole Richard , Elena Santiago F.
Published: May 2019

Viruses are everywhere, infecting all sorts of living organisms, from the tiniest bacteria to the largest mammals. Many are harmful parasites, but viruses also play a major role as drivers of our evolution as a species and are essential regulators of the composition and complexity of ecosystems on a global scale. This book draws on complex systems theory to provide a fresh look at viral origins, populations, and evolution, and the coevolutionary dynamics of viruses and their hosts. New viruses continue to emerge that threaten people, crops, and farm animals. Viruses constantly evade our immune systems, and antiviral therapies and vaccination campaigns can be powerless against them. These unique characteristics of virus biology are a consequence of their tremendous evolutionary potential, which enables viruses to quickly adapt to any environmental challenge. This book presents a unified framework for understanding viruses as complex adaptive systems. It shows how the application of complex systems theory to viral dynamics has provided new insights into the development of AIDS in patients infected with HIV-1, the emergence of new antigenic variants of the influenza A virus, and other cutting-edge advances. The book also extends the analogy of viruses to the evolution of other replicators such as computer viruses, cancer, and languages.
Origins
Authors: Solé Ricard , Elena Santiago F.
Published: May 2019

The two most controversial questions in evolutionary virology are about the origin of viruses and whether viruses are alive or not. No consensus has been reach among researchers for either of them. The second question, is considered more semantic than real, and is strongly dependent on the first. The lack of agreement between scientists on virus origins is reflected by the number of theories brought forward to explain virus origins. This chapter reviews the most popular and up-to-date theories (regressive hypothesis, cellular origin hypothesis, protobiont hypothesis) without taking a position in support of any of them. However, it does take a strong position on the question of whether viruses are alive or simply large molecular complexes.
Rethinking the Attention Economy
Authors: Hindman Matthew
Published: May 2019

This chapter argues that digital survival depends on “stickiness”—firms' ability to attract users, to get them to stay longer, and to make them return again and again. Stickiness is like a constantly compounding Internet interest rate, in which a small early edge in growth creates a huge long-term gap. The chapter also argues that building a better version of attention economics starts with a key problem: our understanding of the Internet has been lopsided. The forces that disperse digital attention are widely understood, while the forces of concentration are not. The chapter shows that the models of the attention economy that this book proposes are quite general, with much of its evidence coming from the commercial sphere of the Web and digital media—where the dynamics of the attention economy are particularly stark, and where the online dynamics are not so different from familiar offline patterns. But one of the biggest contributions of these models is illuminating areas of the Web that go beyond purely commercial content.
Economic Development and Institutional Change, 1820–1914
Authors: Pamuk Şevket
Published: May 2019

This chapter studies the record in economic growth, income distribution, and human development for the areas within present-day borders of Turkey in both absolute and relative terms. Turkey's economy opened to foreign trade and foreign investment and specialization in agriculture increased during the nineteenth century. While the share of manufacturing activities declined, agricultural production for markets, both domestic and foreign, expanded, especially in the coastal regions. The chapter shows that the spread of industrialization around the world was quite uneven during the nineteenth century. The extent to which industrialization proceeded in different parts of the world can help explain much of the variation in economic growth observed worldwide until World War I.
Economic Development and Institutional Change, 1914–1950
Authors: Pamuk Şevket
Published: May 2019

This chapter explains how the period 1913 to 1950 was exceptionally difficult for Turkey. The country had to deal with the difficulties of the transition from being part of a larger empire to becoming a nation-state within new borders. Available data suggest income per capita declined by as much as 40 percent during World War I and remained depressed until the end of the War of Independence in 1922. Per capita incomes then increased rapidly in the 1920s and caught up with their pre-World War I levels and may have even slightly exceeded them by 1929. They then fell sharply, by more than 30 percent during World War II. Given these very large fluctuations in per capita income, it makes a big difference which end years are used in calculating the average growth rates for this period.
Intertwined Lives and Themes among Jewish Exiles
Authors: Benhabib Seyla
Published: May 2019

This introductory chapter outlines the entanglement of Jewish intellectuals and others as they confronted exile, migration, and, in some cases, statelessness. These intellectuals include Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Albert Hirschmann, Varian Fry, Judith Shklar, Carl J. Friedrich, and Isaiah Berlin. They faced these challenges because of their Jewish origins, regardless of whether they themselves identified as Jewish, whether they were believers, or whether they were practicing Jews or not. Meanwhile, the chapter considers that for German Jews, the experience of belonging and not belonging, of being rendered migrants and internal exiles in their own country, began in the mid-nineteenth century, with the granting of certain civil rights to Jews residing in German territories. Lastly, the chapter presents a brief layout of the succeeding chapters' content.
Whose Trial? Adolf Eichmann’s or Hannah Arendt’s?
Authors: Benhabib Seyla
Published: May 2019

This chapter explores Hannah Arendt's 1963 volume on Eichmann in Jerusalem. A Report on the Banality of Evil. Based on her coverage of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem from April 11 to December 15, 1961, this tangled controversy cast a long shadow on Arendt's otherwise illustrious career as a public intellectual and academic. The chapter shows that, although she was and continues to be severely attacked by the Jewish community, ironically this book is Arendt's most intensely Jewish work, in which some of the deepest paradoxes of retaining a Jewish identity under conditions of modernity came to the fore in her search for the moral, political, and jurisprudential bases on which the trial and sentencing of Adolf Eichmann could take place.
From the “Right to Have Rights” to the “Critique of Humanitarian Reason”
Authors: Benhabib Seyla
Published: May 2019

This chapter explores Jacques Rancière's trenchant critique of Hannah Arendt, after briefly recalling Arendt's discussion of the right to have rights. It shows how Rancière not only misreads Arendt, but much of what he defends as the necessary enactment of rights is quite compatible with an Arendtian understanding of political agency. The chapter then turns to the quandaries of “humanitarian reason,” in Didier Fassin's felicitous phrase. To address them, the chapter calls for a new conceptualization of the relationship between international law and emancipatory politics; a new way of understanding how to negotiate the facticity and the validity of the law, including international humanitarian law, such as to create new vistas for the political.
Legalism and Its Paradoxes in Judith Shklar’s Work
Authors: Benhabib Seyla
Published: May 2019

This chapter begins by analyzing Judith Shklar's early book, Legalism. An Essay on Law, Morals and Politics, in which she distinguishes among aspects of legalism as ideology, as creative policy, and as an ethos of the law. Shklar was unable to explain how these various dimensions of legalism could be reconciled plausibly with one another. Furthermore, while her critique of criminal international law is being revived today in the name of a certain skepticism toward institutions of international law, this critique needs to be balanced against her full-throated defense of the legitimacy of the Nuremberg trials. The final part of this chapter presents the complicated relationship of law and politics in Hannah Arendt's and Shklar's works.
A Well-Ordered Thing
Authors: Gordin Michael D.
Published: May 2019

Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834–1907) is a name we recognize, but perhaps only as the creator of the periodic table of elements. Generally, little else has been known about him. This book is an authoritative biography of Mendeleev that draws a multifaceted portrait of his life for the first time. As the book reveals, Mendeleev was not only a luminary in the history of science, he was also an astonishingly wide-ranging political and cultural figure. From his attack on Spiritualism to his failed voyage to the Arctic and his near-mythical hot-air balloon trip, this is the story of an extraordinary maverick. The ideals that shaped his work outside science also led Mendeleev to order the elements and, eventually, to engineer one of the most fascinating scientific developments of the nineteenth century. This book is a classic work that tells the story of one of the world's most important minds.
Anonymous Renovators of Icons
Authors: Vélez Karin
Published: May 2019

This chapter begins by examining how two peripheral artworks of the Virgin of Loreto, the eighteenth-century wooden statue from the Moxos missions and the seventeenth-century Roman painting by Caravaggio, each tapped into outside streams of Marian art. The same impetus for transformation is observed for the original icon of the Madonna of Loreto at the Italian shrine. Updates to this icon were spurred by an awareness of the world outside Loreto. The chapter concludes with a return to the frontier, to Canada, to consider some significantly named but lesser known Huron women converts who contributed to Mary's global public image. Overall, these case studies of modifications to the Virgin of Loreto reflect what mattered to people on both sides of the Atlantic about Mary at this time: she was alien, yet she was accessible; she moved, and she could also be moved.
Introduction
Authors: Shagan Ethan H.
Published: May 2019

This introductory chapter talks about how the transformation of belief, rather than the rise of unbelief, propelled Western thought into modernity. The resulting configuration has shaped the conditions of religion in a secular age. The explosion of religious conflict in the sixteenth century made belief an urgent problem in the Christian West. In addition, the chapter argues that the Reformation was not an engine of modernity; on the contrary, modern belief developed in reaction against the religion of Luther and Calvin as much as against the Council of Trent. However, despite their theological differences, Protestants, Catholics, and Anabaptists in the sixteenth century participated in a common project to make belief hard.
Problems of Authority and Language in Newton’s Chymistry
Authors: Newman William R.
Published: May 2019

This chapter traces a host of related linguistic and interpretive issues that emerge from Newton's self-identification as a would-be adept. From the beginning of his serious chymical studies in the 1660s, he seems to have been confident that he belonged among the elite sons of wisdom who had been chosen to receive the philosophers' stone as a donum dei, a gift of the Creator himself. The most striking thing about his chymical corpus is the remarkable contrast between the years of elaborate speculation that went into his decipherment of alchemical sources and the extraordinary rigor of his chrysopoetic experiments. Despite his private acceptance of extravagant “authorities” such as Edwardus Generosus and the author of Manna, Newton remained wedded to the most stringent methods of the “experimental philosophy” and refused to believe that he had succeeded at the aurific art until experiment might tell him otherwise.
Attempts at a Unified Practice
Authors: Newman William R.
Published: May 2019

This chapter considers how Newton combined his understanding of Johann de Monte-Snyders with motifs and practices drawn from Philalethes. To Newton, no single alchemist had revealed the entire set of processes necessary to acquire the philosophers' stone. On the alchemical principle that “one book opens another” (liber librum aperit), it was necessary to assemble the full set of stages from multiple authors in order to arrive at success. In order to get a sense of Newton's mature melding of Snyderian motifs with those drawn from other chymists, the chapter examines another manuscript from the King's College collection, Keynes MS 58. This fascinating text, though heavily Snyderian in orientation, brings in elements from Philalethes and Sendivogius as well in an attempt to arrive at foundational elements of a “master process” in Newton's overall chrysopoetic quest.
Poor Relief, Charity, and Self-Help in Crisis Times, 1834–69
Authors: Boyer George R.
Published: May 2019

This chapter traces the roles played by the Poor Law, charity, and self-help from 1834 to 1870. Workers responded to the reduced availability of outdoor relief after 1834 by increasing their saving and joining friendly societies, but few were able to save more than a small amount, which was exhausted by spells of unemployment or sickness lasting more than a few weeks. As a result, many households continued to apply for poor relief during downturns, and urban Poor Law unions continued to provide outdoor relief to the unemployed despite pressure not to from the central administration. Unions proved unable to cope financially with the sharp increases in demand for relief during crises, and by the 1860s many were convinced that the system required a radical restructuring.
‘Confusion in the Land’
Authors: Tannous Jack
Published: May 2019

This chapter focuses on Jacob of Edessa's treatises. Jacob of Edessa was perhaps the most learned Miaphysite in the world in his day, with a deep knowledge of the Christian tradition in both Greek and Syriac. Apparently, some people in Jacob's day held to the view that merely having correct belief was sufficient to make one a Christian; this was a view that Jacob strongly rejected. Being a Christian demanded both proper belief and proper action. For Jacob, Christianity was that by which “we are distinguished and different from all the pagan nations and the Jews, those who are in error and wicked and without law.” To deny the canons, therefore, was to surrender nothing less than one's Christian identity. As such, Jacob took these rules of the Church with utmost seriousness and left behind a sizeable body of material relating to their proper observation.
Continuities—Personal and Institutional
Authors: Tannous Jack
Published: May 2019

This chapter explores a series of continuities across a period of time—the sixth through the ninth centuries—that witnessed some of the most consequential changes in the late ancient world. In the seventh century, members of the dissident Miaphysite church were engaged in sophisticated translations from Greek into Syriac of a number of texts. These cultural efforts were undertaken apart from the Roman state. The development of cultural institutions among Middle Eastern Christian communities that existed and persisted independently from the state, and, even despite it, provided paths by which sophisticated ideas and cultural practices might be transmitted across centuries of great military upheaval and political discontinuity. What resulted is a non-state dependent bridge between the world of the late antique Roman-ruled Middle East and the world of medieval Abbasid Baghdad.
Rubbing Shoulders
Authors: Tannous Jack
Published: May 2019

This chapter addresses how Muslims and non-Muslims lived together, side-by-side and having a shared experience. This was the case in Syria from the earliest period of Muslim rule. Arab Muslim immigrants settled in preexisting towns and cities, and al-Jābiya and al-Ramla—two well-known Arab encampments—never took off as significant places of Muslim habitation. Outside Syria, one must also remember that the garrison cities in which Arab immigrants settled were themselves not hermetically sealed off from the populations around them. The chapter then considers some of the social milieux of exchange and vectors by which Muslims came into contact with non-Muslims—milieux where, through shared settings and shared experiences, non-Muslim ideas and practices came to be taken up by Muslims.
The Counterrevolutionary Moment
Authors: Getachew Adom
Published: May 2019

This chapter examines the institutionalization of empire as unequal integration in the League of Nations. Recasting the Wilsonian moment as a counterrevolutionary episode, it argues that Woodrow Wilson and Jan Smuts excised the revolutionary implications of the Bolshevik right to self-determination and repurposed the principle to preserve racial hierarchy in the new international organization. In this appropriation, Wilson and Smuts effectively remade self-determination as a racially differentiated principle, which was fully compatible with imperial rule. The chapter charts the implications of their account of self-determination by examining Ethiopia's and Liberia's membership in the international organization. It argues that rather than protecting their sovereign equality, the inclusion of Ethiopia and Liberia created the conditions of their domination through a burdened and racialized membership where obligations were onerous and rights limited.
Revisiting the Federalists in the Black Atlantic
Authors: Getachew Adom
Published: May 2019

This chapter recovers the largely forgotten projects of regional federation in the West Indies and Africa that anticolonial nationalists pursued alongside their reinvention of self-determination. In returning to the centrality of the federal imaginary to anticolonial nationalists, the chapter demonstrates that alternatives to the nation-state persisted at the height of decolonization. For federalists like Kwame Nkrumah and Eric Williams, freedom from alien rule did not sufficiently guarantee nondomination as powerful states, international organizations, and private actors exploited relations of economic dependence to indirectly secure political compulsion. The chapter reconstructs how Nkrumah and Williams positioned the United States as a model of postcolonial federation to make the case that regional federations could overcome the postcolonial predicament by creating larger, more diverse domestic markets, organizing collective development plans, ensuring regional redistribution, and providing for regional security. It also traces the ways that this model of regional federation gave way to forms of functional integration that bolstered the nation-state as critics rejected Nkrumah's and Williams's proposals for centralized federal states.
Economic Policy Becomes a Science
Authors: Colander David , Freedman Craig
Published: May 2019

This chapter explores Chicago's interaction with the mainstream of economics that conditioned its emergence. The catalyst to the postwar change was the mainstream adoption of welfare economics, which drew policy implications directly from economic theory. Composing a new approach, it directly specified what the “optimal” policy should be. This measure of decisiveness was in stark contrast to Classical Liberal methodology. For a Classical Liberal economist, policy did not follow directly from scientific economic theory. Instead, economic science and theory provided a useful tool that shed light on policy problems, but, on its own, had no immediate policy implications. These consequences could only be determined once one considered all the issues, not just a subset covered by economic theory. As a result, policy had to be deliberately separated from science.