bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modelling of Heat Transfer, Dendrite Microstructure and Grain Size in Continuous Casting of Steels
Authors: Karlinski de Barcellos V. , Lopes da Silva Gschwenter V. , Kytönen H. , Alexandre dos Santos C. , Alvares Spim J. , Louhenkilpi S. , Miettinen J.
Published: June 2010

The dendrite arm spacing and grain size in continuous casting has been studied by mathematical modelling and experimental measurements. Two in‐house tools have been used in the study. The heat transfer is calculated by the model called TEMPSIMU and the solidification as well as the microstructural phenomena by the thermodynamic‐kinetic software called IDS. The models are validated by comparison the calculated results with experiments from steel plants. In continuous casting, the solidification structure is also influenced by process parameters. In this study the effect casting speed, superheat and secondary cooling on arm spacings and grain size is also studied. The in‐house models and the obtained results are presented in this paper. Using the developed models, the heat transfer and microstructure can be controlled more accurately.
Thermodynamical Simulation of Carbon Profiles and Precipitation Evolution during High Temperature Case Hardening
Authors: Rudnizki J. , Zeislmair B. , Prahl U. , Bleck W.
Published: June 2010

Modern material and process design aim at cost reduction and property improvement simultaneously. As for carburized engineering components the carburisation is a time consuming process, the idea is to shorten the carburising time by increasing the carburising temperature. To avoid any deterioration in steel properties, the ambition is to hinder austenite grain growth by microalloying case hardening steels. Until now, the results revealed in the literature mainly rely on experimental investigations. However, a recent tendency is to model such processes tied to rigorous numerical approaches. In this paper, modelling of the carburising process of microalloyed steels is presented. The simulation focuses on the formation of carbon profiles in heat treated work pieces considering the influence of precipitates.
Predictive Value of Tumor Proliferative Indices in Periampullary Cancers: Ki‐67, Mitotic Activity Index (MI) and Volume Corrected Mitotic Index (M/V) Using Tissue Microarrays
Authors: Aloysius Mark M. , De Silva Hewavisenthi Shivanthi J. , Bates Timothy E. , Rowlands Brian J. , Lobo Dileep N. , Zaitoun Abed M.
Published: June 2010

Background

Morphometry [nuclear Ki‐67 labelling, mitotic activity index (MI), and volume‐corrected mitotic index (M/V)] for periampullary cancers using tissue microarrays has not been performed previously. The purpose of the study was to assess these indices on tissue microarray (TMA) sections constructed from patients with periampullary cancers and study their association with clinicopathological variables.

Methods

Immunohistochemical staining for Ki‐67 was performed on formalin‐fixed pancreatic TMA sections. Expression of Ki‐67 was assessed as the percentage of cancer cell nuclei expressing MIB1, MI as the mean percentage of Ki‐67 from 10 random high‐power fields, and M/V was calculated after standardizing MI for connective tissue volume and microscope parameters in the tumor using established protocols.

Results

Patients ≥70 years with periampullary cancers had higher Ki‐67 expression (>15) compared with patients <70 years of age (χ2 = 3.9, P = 0.047). Ki‐67 expression was higher in tumors ≥2 cm (χ2 = 4.9, P = 0.028) compared with smaller tumors. Higher MI (>15) was clearly associated with worsening histological grade (χ2 = 9.2, P = 0.010). The median survival for tumors of the pancreaticobiliary subtype (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma) was 43 months in the group with an M/V score of <20, compared with 18 months for the group with a score ≥20 (P = 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in survival, based on M/V score, for tumors of the intestinal subtype (ampullary and duodenal adenocarcinoma).

Conclusions

In periampullary cancers, Ki‐67 and MI are proliferative indices predictive of tumor behavior. M/V was predictive of survival in tumors of the pancreaticobiliary subtype.
POSSUM and Its Related Models as Predictors of Postoperative Mortality and Morbidity in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Gastro‐oesophageal Cancer: A Systematic Review
Authors: Dutta Sumanta , Horgan Paul G. , McMillan Donald C.
Published: June 2010

Background

Gastro‐oesophageal surgery is associated with appreciable postoperative morbidity and mortality. POSSUM (Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity) and its related models P‐POSSUM and O‐POSSUM have been developed to predict such events in general surgery. The aim was to undertake the first systematic review of the use of these models in gastro‐oesophageal surgery patients.

Methods

An online database search was carried out from 1991 to December 2008.

Results

Twenty‐two published studies in gastro‐oesophageal cancer surgery were identified. Twelve studies were found not to address the above aim, leaving ten relevant publications for analysis. Pooled data from these studies showed the weighted observed‐to‐expected ratio (O/E) for postoperative mortality using POSSUM (n = 1189), P‐POSSUM (n = 2314), and O‐POSSUM (n = 1755) was 0.37, 0.83, and 0.51, respectively. The weighted O/E for morbidity using POSSUM (n = 1038) was 0.86.

Conclusion

POSSUM and O‐POSSUM most significantly overestimated postoperative mortality in gastro‐oesophageal cancer patients. In contrast, P‐POSSUM had the least overestimation and may be the most useful predictor of likely postoperative mortality in these patients.
The Rod and the Serpent: History’s Ultimate Healing Symbol
Authors: Antoniou Stavros A. , Antoniou George A. , Learney Robert , Granderath Frank A. , Antoniou Athanasios I.
Published: June 2010

The snake has served as a medical emblem for more than 2400 years, since its association with the ancient Greek god of medicine and healing, Asclepius, in the 4th century BC. Its symbolic background can be traced further back to the worship of gods of earth’s blossom in ancient Egypt and earth‐related deities of the archaic period of Greek antiquity. It is featured entwined around a staff of knowledge and wisdom in most anaglyphs depicting Asclepius. The snake was impressed in the Old and the New Testament as well as in the Christian tradition as a symbol of sin, rejuvenation, death, resurrection, asthenia, and therapy. It is postulated that the double‐snake motif was reintroduced by Renaissance philosophers as a medical emblem due to the symbolic connections of Hermes with deliverance and redemption. However, its use during the last two centuries seems to lack substantial historical background. The historical, mythological, and traditional retrospection of the snake’s symbolism validates its appropriateness in the health‐care field.
Endoscopic transgastric pure NOTES cholecystectomy with naso‐gallbladder drainage tube placement and injection of a hyaluronic acid mixture (with Video)
Authors: Isayama Hiroyuki , Kogure Hirofumi , Koike Kazuhiko
Published: June 2010

Background

Endoscopic transgastric pure natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) cholecystectomy is a difficult procedure, and most human female cases are performed as hybrid NOTES, using a transvaginal route. We tried a transgastric pure NOTES procedure without laparoscopic procedure in an animal study after placing an endoscopic naso‐gallbladder drainage (ENGBD) tube and injecting a hyaluronic acid (HA) mixture.

Methods

We performed the method in four pigs, using a standard single‐channel endoscope. The ENGBD tube was placed first and the HA mixture was injected between the gallbladder (GB) serosa and liver bed.

Results

We determined the gastrotomy site using an ENGBD tube, which made the GB approach easy under fluoroscopic guidance. The scope was not retroflexed, but was rotated at the stomach fornix. The connecting tissues between the GB serosa and liver bed expanded following the injection of the HA mixture, facilitating GB removal with a Hook knife. The GB wall, liver, and vessels were observed clearly during the procedure, and there were no incorrect cuts.

Conclusion

We successfully performed a transgastric pure NOTES cholecystectomy in pigs. An ENGBD tube was useful as a guide to the GB, and for recognizing the cystic duct, and injecting the HA mixture facilitated the GB dissection.
Hierarchical Bayes Models for Response Time Data
Authors: Craigmile Peter F. , Peruggia Mario , Van Zandt Trisha
Published: June 2010

Human response time (RT) data are widely used in experimental psychology to evaluate theories of mental processing. Typically, the data constitute the times taken by a subject to react to a succession of stimuli under varying experimental conditions. Because of the sequential nature of the experiments there are trends (due to learning, fatigue, fluctuations in attentional state, etc.) and serial dependencies in the data. The data also exhibit extreme observations that can be attributed to lapses, intrusions from outside the experiment, and errors occurring during the experiment. Any adequate analysis should account for these features and quantify them accurately. Recognizing that Bayesian hierarchical models are an excellent modeling tool, we focus on the elaboration of a realistic likelihood for the data and on a careful assessment of the quality of fit that it provides. We judge quality of fit in terms of the predictive performance of the model. We demonstrate how simple Bayesian hierarchical models can be built for several RT sequences, differentiating between subject-specific and condition-specific effects.
Multilevel governance within the European Union
Authors: Dolinar Mojca Kucler
Published: June 2010

In the current economic and social crisis affecting Europe, dialogue is of great importance. The reaction of the EU to the present situation is evident from various discussions and documents. Following the ambitious Lisbon Strategy, a document created during a period of economic growth for most of the Member States, we now have before us the Europe 2020 Strategy. In this article, the author explores the contents of this strategy in light of the implementation of its goals of multilevel governance.
The European Union: A Crisis of Legitimacy?
Authors: Ward Tom
Published: June 2010

This article examines the extent to which the European Union can be considered to suffer from a crisis of legitimacy, a common refrain in recent years. It argues that critics inappropriately compare the EU with the standard democratic governance arrangements of a Member State, when the EU is a sui generis entity; a peculiar mix of supranationalism and intergovernmentalism. Nonetheless, the article assesses the EU against the criteria for a democratic legitimacy and finds that there are no obvious fundamental failings. That said, the EU is not perfect, and the article argues that it must address its communication deficit and begin a sustained period of real dialogue on its future direction and end point, territorially and constitutionally.
Cognitive performance among the elderly in relation to the intake of plant foods. The Hordaland Health Study
Authors: Nurk Eha , Refsum Helga , Drevon Christian A. , Tell Grethe S. , Nygaard Harald A. , Engedal Knut , Smith A. David
Published: June 2010

Fruits and vegetables are among the most nutritious and healthy of foods, and are related to the prevention of many chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between intake of different plant foods and cognitive performance in elderly individuals in a cross-sectional study. Two thousand and thirty-one elderly subjects (aged 70–74 years; 55 % women) recruited from the general population in Western Norway underwent extensive cognitive testing and completed a comprehensive FFQ. The cognitive test battery covered several domains (Kendrick Object Learning Test, Trail Making Test – part A, modified versions of the Digit Symbol Test, Block Design, Mini-Mental State Examination and Controlled Oral Word Association Test). A validated and self-reported FFQ was used to assess habitual food intake. Subjects with intakes of>10th percentile of fruits, vegetables, grain products and mushrooms performed significantly better in cognitive tests than those with very low or no intake. The associations were strongest between cognition and the combined intake of fruits and vegetables, with a marked dose-dependent relationship up to about 500 g/d. The dose-related increase of intakes of grain products and potatoes reached a plateau at about 100–150 g/d, levelling off or decreasing thereafter, whereas the associations were linear for mushrooms. For individual plant foods, the positive cognitive associations of carrots, cruciferous vegetables, citrus fruits and high-fibre bread were most pronounced. The only negative cognitive association was with increased intake of white bread. In the elderly, a diet rich in plant foods is associated with better performance in several cognitive abilities in a dose-dependent manner.
Canadian health care professionals' knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of nutritional genomics
Authors: Weir Mark , Morin Karine , Ries Nola , Castle David
Published: June 2010

Nutritional genomics has reached the public through applications of the Human Genome Project offered direct to consumers (DTC). The ability to pursue nutrigenetic testing without the involvement of a health care professional has received considerable attention from academic and policy commentators. To better understand the knowledge and attitudes of Canadian health care professionals regarding nutritional genomics and nutrigenetic testing, qualitative research in the form of focus group discussions was undertaken. Four key themes emerged: (1) concerns over DTC testing; (2) lack of health care professional competency; (3) genetic scepticism and inevitability; (4) expectation of regulation. Together, they indicate that health care professionals have little knowledge about nutritional genomics and hold contradictory attitudes towards genomics in general, and to nutritional genomics in particular. Respondents argue in favour of a delivery model where health care professionals act as intermediaries. They are also aware of their lack of competency to provide such services. To ensure greater public protection, respondents cite the importance of more stringent regulatory oversight of DTC genetic testing. Whether such an approach is necessary to address the various ethical and social issues raised by nutrigenetic testing remains an open debate.
Early Neoproterozoic limestones from the Gwna Group, Anglesey
Authors: HORÁK JANA M. , EVANS JANE A.
Published: June 2010

Limestone megaclasts up to hundreds of metres in size are present within the Gwna Group mélange, North Wales, UK. The mélange has been interpreted as part of a Peri-Gondwanan fore-arc accretionary complex although the age of deposition remains contentious, proposals ranging from Neoproterozoic to Early Ordovician. This paper uses strontium isotope chemostratigraphy to establish the age of the limestone blocks and thus provide a maximum age constraint on mélange formation. Results show that, although the carbonates are locally dolomitized, primary87Sr/86Sr ratios can be identified and indicate deposition sometime between the late Tonian and earliest Cryogenian. This age is older than that suggested by stromatolites within the limestone and indicates that the limestone did not form as cap carbonate deposits.
On the growth of the mixing zone in miscible viscous fingering
Authors: BOOTH R. J. S.
Published: June 2010

We investigate the growth of a mixing zone in the displacement of oil by a solvent. Such a zone usually takes the form of long thin fingers of solvent which protrude into the oil. However, despite the existence of reasonably good empirical models for the evolution of mixing zones, there is limited theoretical understanding of the observed growth. Of particular interest is the rate at which the leading edge of the mixing zone grows. In this paper we establish the structure of the mixing zone, and reveal a critical mechanism that plays a role in the growth of the leading edge of the mixing zone. It turns out that there is a close link between the growth rate of the mixing zone and a shape selection problem for Saffman–Taylor fingers.
Immune-stimulating effects of lactic acid bacteria in vivo and in vitro
Authors: Elmadfa Ibrahim , Klein Petra , Meyer Alexa L.
Published: June 2010

The health-promoting effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are well recognised, making them a popular functional food ingredient. Commercially available probiotic products are often promoted as capable of improving immune defences also in healthy subjects. However, while strain-specific differences exist in the effects of LAB, conventional yoghurt bacteria have proved beneficial as well. For comparing the immunological effects of conventional and probiotic LAB, young healthy women received either a commercially available probiotic fermented milk product or a conventional yoghurt for four weeks. Both treatments showed comparable effects resulting in a stronger immunological reaction to stimuli (natural cytotoxicity against cancer cells, mitogen-induced T-lymphocyte activation and stimulated cytokine production). To study the mechanisms behind these effects, conventional (Lactobacillus delbrueckii) and probiotic (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG), LAB were compared in vitro at the cellular level. Interestingly, L. rhamnosus GG was more potent in inducing maturation of dendritic cells (DC) that play a substantial role in directing the immune response to stimuli. In turn, L. delbrueckii provoked a higher secretion of proinflammatory cytokines as well as IL-10. These effects were, however, observed only after direct incubation of DC and LAB, not when both were separated by a layer of enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells. LAB also induced cytokine secretion in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a similar manner and this effect was reduced in a Caco-2 cell model, suggesting a modulating influence of gut epithelial cells. While both conventional and probiotic strains modulate the immune response, specific properties may offer therapeutic options in the treatment of certain diseases.
Vital exhaustion and cardiovascular prognosis in myocardial infarction and heart failure: predictive power of different trajectories
Authors: Smith O. R. F. , Kupper N. , Denollet J. , de Jonge P.
Published: June 2010

Background

We examined the different trajectories of vital exhaustion (VE) over a 12-month period and their impact on prognosis in a sample of myocardial infarction (MI) and chronic heart failure (CHF) patients.

Method

Consecutive MI (n=407) and CHF patients (n=297) were assessed at baseline, and at 3- and 12-month follow-up for symptoms of VE. Latent growth mixture modelling was used to examine the course of VE over time. The combined clinical endpoint was defined as cardiac hospital readmission or death.

Results

Four distinct trajectories for VE were found: low VE, decreasing VE, increasing VE, and severe VE. Sex, marital status, left ventricular ejection fraction, psychotropic medication, sample group (CHF v. MI) and depressive symptoms were associated with VE, varying according to classes. The mean follow-up period was 25.3 months in which 34.7% of the patients experienced an event. Multivariate Cox regression showed that, compared with patients in the low VE class, patients in the increasing VE class [hazard ratio (HR)=1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.58–3.61, p=0.01], and the severe VE class (HR=1.69, 95% CI 1.31–2.64, p=0.02) had an increased risk for adverse cardiovascular events (i.e. cardiovascular hospital readmission or cardiovascular death). Decreasing VE was not related to adverse cardiovascular events (HR=0.97, 95% CI 0.66–1.69, p=0.81).

Conclusions

VE trajectories varied across cardiac patients, and had a differential effect on cardiovascular outcome. Increasing VE and severe VE classes were predictors of poor cardiovascular prognosis. These results suggest that identification of cardiac patients with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes should be based on multiple assessments of VE.
Including information about co-morbidity in estimates of disease burden: results from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys
Authors: Alonso J. , Vilagut G. , Chatterji S. , Heeringa S. , Schoenbaum M. , Bedirhan Üstün T. , Rojas-Farreras S. , Angermeyer M. , Bromet E. , Bruffaerts R. , de Girolamo G. , Gureje O. , Haro J. M. , Karam A. N. , Kovess V. , Levinson D. , Liu Z. , Medina-Mora M. E. , Ormel J. , Posada-Villa J. , Uda H. , Kessler R. C.
Published: June 2010

Background

The methodology commonly used to estimate disease burden, featuring ratings of severity of individual conditions, has been criticized for ignoring co-morbidity. A methodology that addresses this problem is proposed and illustrated here with data from the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Although the analysis is based on self-reports about one's own conditions in a community survey, the logic applies equally well to analysis of hypothetical vignettes describing co-morbid condition profiles.

Method

Face-to-face interviews in 13 countries (six developing, nine developed;n=31 067; response rate=69.6%) assessed 10 classes of chronic physical and nine of mental conditions. A visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess overall perceived health. Multiple regression analysis with interactions for co-morbidity was used to estimate associations of conditions with VAS. Simulation was used to estimate condition-specific effects.

Results

The best-fitting model included condition main effects and interactions of types by numbers of conditions. Neurological conditions, insomnia and major depression were rated most severe. Adjustment for co-morbidity reduced condition-specific estimates with substantial between-condition variation (0.24–0.70 ratios of condition-specific estimates with and without adjustment for co-morbidity). The societal-level burden rankings were quite different from the individual-level rankings, with the highest societal-level rankings associated with conditions having high prevalence rather than high individual-level severity.

Conclusions

Plausible estimates of disorder-specific effects on VAS can be obtained using methods that adjust for co-morbidity. These adjustments substantially influence condition-specific ratings.
Neural correlates of trait anxiety in fear extinction
Authors: Sehlmeyer C. , Dannlowski U. , Schöning S. , Kugel H. , Pyka M. , Pfleiderer B. , Zwitserlood P. , Schiffbauer H. , Heindel W. , Arolt V. , Konrad C.
Published: June 2010

Background

Fear conditioning involves the amygdala as the main neural structure for learning fear responses whereas fear extinction mainly activates the inhibitory prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this study we investigated whether individual differences in trait anxiety affect amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation during fear conditioning and extinction.

Method

Thirty-two healthy subjects were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 T while performing a cued fear-conditioning task. All participants completed the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T). Activations of the amygdala and the dACC were examined with respect to the effects of trait anxiety.

Results

Analysis of the fMRI data demonstrated enhanced activation in fear-related brain areas, such as the insula and the ACC, during both fear conditioning and extinction. Activation of the amygdala appeared only during the late acquisition phase whereas deactivation was observed during extinction. Regression analyses revealed that highly trait-anxious subjects exhibited sustained amygdala activation and reduced dACC involvement during the extinction of conditioned responses.

Conclusions

This study reveals that high levels of trait anxiety are associated with both increased amygdala activation and reduced dACC recruitment during the extinction of conditioned fear. This hyper-responsitivity of the amygdala and the deficient cognitive control during the extinction of conditioned fear in anxious subjects reflect an increased resistance to extinct fear responses and may thereby enhance the vulnerability to developing anxiety disorders.
Psycho-educational interventions designed to prevent deployment-related psychological ill-health in Armed Forces personnel: a review
Authors: Mulligan K. , Fear N. T. , Jones N. , Wessely S. , Greenberg N.
Published: June 2010

Background

Employers such as the Armed Forces (AF) and emergency services, who predictably expose their staff to potentially traumatic events (PTEs), often provide psycho-educational briefings in an attempt to mitigate possible adverse psychological sequelae. Within the military, psycho-educational briefings are widely used, particularly following exposure to PTEs on operations. The aim of this review was to evaluate the efficacy of these interventions and make appropriate recommendations.

Method

A search of Medline, PsycINFO and EMBASE was conducted, bibliographies of retrieved articles were searched and experts in the field were consulted.

Results

Two surveys and seven intervention studies were identified for inclusion in the review. Only three studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Overall, the review found some evidence of benefit of psycho-educational interventions but it was not consistent across studies or outcomes and effects were small. However, there was also little evidence to suggest that they caused harm. There was some evidence that the beneficial effects may be greater for those who have been exposed to a higher number of PTEs.

Conclusions

Given the high operational tempo currently faced by coalition forces personnel, there remains a pressing need to identify the most effective way of minimizing the impact of exposure to potentially traumatic deployment incidents. To date, few psycho-educational interventions designed to prevent deployment-related psychological ill-health have been evaluated systematically in methodologically robust studies. The review recommends that future interventions are theoretically based and evaluated in cluster RCTs that examine both process and outcome variables.
Choosing to Target: What Types of Countries Get Different Types of World Bank Projects
Authors: Winters Matthew S.
Published: June 2010

Well-governed countries are more likely to make use of foreign aid for the purposes of economic development and poverty alleviation. Therefore, if aid agencies are providing funds for the sake of development, these countries should receive more aid and categorically different types of aid as compared with poorly governed countries. In poorly governed countries aid should be given in forms that allow for less discretion. Using an original data set of all World Bank projects from 1996 to 2002, the author distinguishes programmatic projects from investment projects and national from subnational investment projects. If the World Bank allows more discretion in well-governed countries, then it will choose to provide programmatic and national aid for these recipients. The author presents evidence that the World Bank provides a larger proportion of national investment lending in better-governed countries. With regard to programmatic lending, he finds mixed evidence. Among counties eligible for International Development Association (IDA) aid, good governance surprisingly is associated with a lower proportion of programmatic aid, whereas for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) borrowers, good governance is associated with a higher proportion. The author subjects these results to a number of robustness checks. Although he confirms the existing result in the literature that the World Bank provides larger overall amounts of aid to better-governed countries, his examination of the disaggregated data leads to questioning whether both lending wings of the World Bank are designing aid programs in the most prodevelopment way possible.
Power and the Ascendance of New Economic Policy Ideas: Lessons from the 1980s Crisis in Israel
Authors: Mandelkern Ronen , Shalev Michael
Published: June 2010

Recent explanations of transformations of macroeconomic policy under crisis conditions spotlight the intrinsic properties of ideas and the persuasiveness with which they are marketed. Bridging the divide between power and discourse approaches, this article reveals the causal role played by the power resources of expert ideational entrepreneurs, conditional on the political conjuncture in which they operate. The authors exploit a fortuitous natural experiment from the early 1980s, when the Israeli economy spiraled into hyperinflation. Two similar proposals for economic stabilization and reform were offered by different teams of economists, less than two years apart. While the government rejected the dollarization plan, its authorization of the stabilization plan inaugurated a new political-economic regime. This case, in which similar programs were advocated by different ideational entrepreneurs in a largely stable institutional and economic context, makes it possible to pinpoint why radically new ideas succeed or fail. Previously underutilized analytical tools are employed to conceptualize the power of idea carriers, at both the individual and the group level.
How Do Crises Lead to Change? Liberalizing Capital Controls in the Early Years of New Order Indonesia
Authors: Chwieroth Jeffrey M.
Published: June 2010

How do crises lead to change? Rationalist approaches to the question that emphasize inexorable structural responses and the pursuit of distributive preferences by newly dominant coalitions are inadequate because they obscure the social mediation of material events and the pervasive uncertainty that follows destabilization of the precrisis status quo. The latter constrains actors from fully grasping their distributive preferences. Until uncertainty is reduced, persuasion emerges as a key mechanism of change. Although constructivist approaches emphasize persuasive practices, they have yet to adequately specify the scope conditions underpinning the selection of new ideas. This article goes beyond much of the constructivist focus on domestic legitimacy and static notions of resonance by emphasizing external credibility and dynamic processes of resonance-building by norm entrepreneurs. The author specifies four features—what he calls the four Cs of crisis resolution—that shape the process of idea selection: carriers, composition, crossover appeal, and credibility. Developing these arguments in the case of the early years of New Order Indonesia, the article suggests that whenever a prominent and cohesive group of advocates promotes an idea that has sufficient ideational and distributive appeal and the endorsement of external actors whose seal of approval is perceived as important, intersubjective belief change, and thus institutional and policy change, is more likely.
BIZARRE chimpanzees do not represent “the chimpanzee”
Authors: Leavens David A. , Bard Kim A. , Hopkins William D.
Published: June 2010

Henrich et al. convincingly caution against the overgeneralization of findings from particular human populations, but fail to apply their own compelling reasoning to our nearest living relatives, the great apes. Here we argue that rearing history is every bit as important for understanding cognition in other species as it is in humans.
Fixed points of symplectic periodic flows
Authors: PELAYO ALVARO , TOLMAN SUSAN
Published: June 2010

The study of fixed points is a classical subject in geometry and dynamics. If the circle acts in a Hamiltonian fashion on a compact symplectic manifold M, then it is classically known that there are at least $\frac {1}{2}\,{\dim M}+1$ fixed points; this follows from Morse theory for the momentum map of the action. In this paper we use Atiyah–Bott–Berline–Vergne (ABBV) localization in equivariant cohomology to prove that this conclusion also holds for symplectic circle actions with non-empty fixed sets, as long as the Chern class map is somewhere injective—the Chern class map assigns to a fixed point the sum of the action weights at the point. We complement this result with less sharp lower bounds on the number of fixed points, under no assumptions; from a dynamical systems viewpoint, our results imply that there is no symplectic periodic flow with exactly one or two equilibrium points on a compact manifold of dimension at least eight.
Configuring the sound-box 1965–1972
Authors: Dockwray Ruth , Moore Allan F.
Published: June 2010

When a stereophonic track is heard through headphones or over loudspeakers, the image of a virtual performance is created in the mind. This virtual performance, which exists exclusively on the record, can be conceptualised in terms of the ‘sound-box’ (Moore 1993), a four-dimensional virtual space within which sounds can be located through: lateral placement within the stereo field; foreground and background placement due to volume and distortion; height according to sound vibration frequency; and time. From the mid-1960s, the increasing shift from mono to stereo meant that producers and engineers had to contend with the notion and potential of a song's sonic arrangement or mix, resulting in a disparity of sonic placement and a diverse range of sound-box configurations. By 1972, a normative positioning of sound sources within the sound-box was established, which we term the ‘diagonal mix’. This article focuses on the consolidation of this norm by means of a ‘taxonomy of mixes’ and the utilisation of visual representations which detail the sound-box configurations of a variety of pop/rock, easy listening and psychedelic tracks from 1966 to 1972.
Shaping sounds, shaping spaces
Authors: Camilleri Lelio
Published: June 2010

The recorded format is the medium through which popular music is diffused. Since the advent of multi-track recording, the studio has become a compositional tool in which musical ideas are formed into sounding matter. Direct access to the manipulation of sound layers and the possibility of mixing different sources and moving them in the stereo window become not only technical options but musical and compositional properties. In fact, the organization of the recording space reflects more and more the structural organization of the music itself; the sound of the record is a sort of sonicprint (sounding fingerprint) of the music of an artist in a particular period. This paper develops the idea of sonic space, a multi-dimensional representation of the recording space in which spatial, morphological and spectral spaces interact in order to form the structure on which the sounding matter of the piece is developed. Through the analysis of the properties of each space and their relationships, it is possible to point out normative behaviours, well defined associations between more musical aspects like motives, harmony, melodies and their organization in the sounding structure.
Bob Dylan's phonographic imagination
Authors: Negus Keith
Published: June 2010

In this article I emphasise the deliberate and reflexive way that Bob Dylan has approached studio recording, sketching the features of a phonographic aesthetic, to highlight a neglected aspect of Dylan's creative practice and to counter the view of Dylan as primarily a ‘performing artist’, one who approaches the studio in a casual manner as a place to cut relatively spontaneous drafts of songs that are later developed on stage. Drawing on Evan Eisenberg's discussion of the ‘art of phonography’ and the way recording radically separates a performance from its contexts of ‘origin’ (allowing recordings to be taken into a private space and subjected to intense, repeated listening), I argue that studio practice, a recording aesthetic and the art of phonography are integral to Dylan's songwriting. The process and practice of songwriting is realised through the act of recording and informed by listening to songs and performances from recordings, regardless of how much time is actually spent in the studio. Exploring how Dylan's phonographic imagination has been shaped by folk, blues and pop sonorities, along with film music, I argue that recording should be integrated into discussions of Dylan's art, alongside the attention devoted to lyrics, performance and biography.
The stadium in your bedroom: functional staging, authenticity and the audience-led aesthetic in record production
Authors: Zagorski-Thomas Simon
Published: June 2010

This article will discuss how two major contributing factors, functional staging and perceived authenticity, have had and continue to have a powerful influence on the sound of record production across geographical boundaries and throughout history. Functional staging is a concept building on the idea of phonographic staging developed by William Moylan and Serge Lacasse and related to Allan Moore's ‘sound-box’. The staging of sounds in the record production process is considered to be functional if the reason for their particular placement or treatment is related to the practicalities of audience reception rather than to aesthetics. It is not a question of whether the music has a function or not but whether that function has influenced the staging of the recorded music. Thus the divergence of staging techniques used in dance music and rock music that began in the 1970s can be seen as resulting from the different functions the music was put to by the different audiences. Music that is played back through large speakers in a club for the purpose of dancing needs to maintain the clarity of the rhythmic elements and so the ‘drier’ techniques of drum and percussive instrument mixing that characterise dance music developed. Rock, however, was more frequently played back in the smaller, less ambient, home environment and so reverberation was added to simulate the atmosphere of the large-scale venue. At the same time, a variety of culturally constructed notions of authenticity have developed within different musical audiences. Why is it that Queen felt the need to inscribe ‘no synthesisers were used in the making of this album’ on their early records and yet Brian May felt entirely comfortable constructing multiple layered performance ‘patchworks’ of guitar tracks? Why might the use of one type of technological mediation be considered more or less authentic than another? Using examples taken from recordings from all around the world and from ‘art’ and ‘popular’ forms of music, this article will explore how audience-led cultural trends in recording and production practice have resulted in the particular ‘sounds’ of different recorded music genres.
A field guide to equalisation and dynamics processing on rock and electronica records
Authors: Hodgson Jay
Published: June 2010

This paper examines two of the most common signal processing techniques, namely, equalisation and dynamics processing. As with all signal processing techniques, equalisation and dynamics processing modify audio signals in particular ways to suit the evolving requirements of a mix. Rock and electronica records currently feature the most extroverted uses for these techniques and, thus, the clearest examples for a field guide like this. It is for this reason, and this reason alone, that I focus on records from these two genres. I begin this field guide by suggesting a definition for ‘signal processing’ which is sufficiently broad to account for every technique that recordists currently use. I then relate that definition to the concept of ‘frequency response’. In my opinion, this concept is crucial to any understanding of signal processing – a core component of the knowledge base for audio engineering, which is the discipline under which signal processing is typically subsumed; the concept of ‘frequency response’ guides many of the decisions about signal processing that recordists make, especially those concerning equalisation. Finally, I explain how equalisation and dynamics processing work, and I offer a field guide to their most common applications on hit rock and electronica records today.
UNTYING A KNOT FROM THE INSIDE OUT: REFLECTIONS ON THE “PARADOX” OF SUPEREROGATION
Authors: Horgan Terry , Timmons Mark
Published: June 2010

In his 1958 seminal paper “Saints and Heroes”, J. O. Urmson argued that the then dominant tripartite deontic scheme of classifying actions as being exclusively either obligatory, or optional in the sense of being morally indifferent, or wrong, ought to be expanded to include the category of the supererogatory. Colloquially, this category includes actions that are “beyond the call of duty” (beyond what is obligatory) and hence actions that one has no duty or obligation to perform. But it is a controversial category. Some have argued that the concept of supererogation is paradoxical because on one hand, supererogatory actions are (by definition) supposed to be morally good, indeed morally best, actions. But then if they are morally best, why aren't they morally required, contrary to the assumption that they are morally optional? In short: how can an action that is morally best to perform fail to be what one is morally required to do? The source of this alleged paradox has been dubbed the ‘good-ought tie-up’. In our article, we address this alleged paradox by first making a phenomenological case for the reality of instances of genuine supererogatory actions, and then, by reflecting on the relevant phenomenology, explaining why there is no genuine paradox. Our explanation appeals to the idea that moral reasons can play what we call amerit conferring role. The basic idea is that moral reasons that favor supererogatory actions function to confer merit on the actions they favor—they play a merit conferring role—and can do without also requiring the actions in question. Hence, supererogatory actions can be both good and morally meritorious to perform yet still be morally optional. Recognition of a merit conferring role unties the good-ought tie up, and (as we further argue) there are good reasons, independent of helping to resolve the alleged paradox, for recognizing this sort of role that moral reasons may play.
UNDERIVATIVE DUTY: PRICHARD ON MORAL OBLIGATION
Authors: Hurka Thomas
Published: June 2010

This paper examines H.A. Prichard's defense of the view that moral duty is underivative, as reflected in his argument that it is a mistake to ask “Why ought I to do what I morally ought?”, because the only possible answer is “Because you morally ought to.” This view was shared by other philosophers of Prichard's period, from Henry Sidgwick through A.C. Ewing, but Prichard stated it most forcefully and defended it best. The paper distinguishes three stages in Prichard's argument: one appealing to his conceptual minimalism, one an epistemological argument that parallels Moore's response to skepticism about the external world, and one arguing that attempts to justify moral duties on non-moral grounds distort the phenomena by giving those duties the wrong explanation or ground. The paper concludes by considering Prichard's critique of ancient ethics and in particular the ethics of Aristotle. The paper is broadly sympathetic to Prichard's position and arguments; its aim is partly to make a case for him as a central figure in the history of ethics.
MORAL OBLIGATION, BLAME, AND SELF-GOVERNANCE
Authors: Skorupski John
Published: June 2010

This paper shows how moral concepts are definable in terms of reasons for the blame sentiment. It then shows how, given that definition, the categoricity of moral obligation follows from some plausible principles about reasons for blame. The nature of moral agency is further considered in this light. In particular, in what sense is it self-governing agency? Self-governing actors must be at least self-determining: that is, they must be able to think about what reasons they have, in order in order to assess what they have sufficient reason to believe, feel, or do. Thus any moral assessment implies that the person assessed is capable of self-governance in that sense. Furthermore, this notion of self-governance implies that an agent's moral obligations are relative to the agent's warranted beliefs. However it does not entail that moral agents must be autonomous, in the strong sense intended by Kant. Some consequences for modern conceptions of morality are considered.
A CONCEPTUAL AND (PRELIMINARY) NORMATIVE EXPLORATION OF WASTE
Authors: Cohen Andrew Jason
Published: June 2010

In this paper, I first argue that waste is best understood as (a) any process wherein something useful becomes less useful and that produces less benefit than is lost—where benefit and usefulness are understood with reference to the same metric—or (b) the result of such a process. I next argue for the immorality of waste. My concluding suggestions are that (W1) if one person needs something for her preservation and a second person has it, is avoidably wasting it, and refuses to allow the first to make some greater use of it, the secondmay bemorally wrong and that (W2) if one person needs something for her preservation understood according to her metric and a second person has it, is avoidably wasting it according tohis ownmetric, and refuses to allow the first to make some greater use of it, the secondismorally wrong.
THE DUTY TO SEEK PEACE
Authors: Boxill Bernard R.
Published: June 2010

Kant claimed that we have a duty to seek peace, and encouraged a hope for peace to support that duty. To encourage that hope he argued that peace was reasonably likely. He thought that peace was reasonably likely because he believed that historical trends would create opportunities to implement his plan for peace. But authorities claim that globalization is undermining such opportunities. Consequently Kant's arguments can no longer sustain our hope for peace. We can sustain that hope by devising a new plan for peace that globalization will give us opportunities to implement. But in order to devise such a plan we need to sustain our hope for peace. We can sustain such a hope by reflecting on the value of peace because hope is sustained not only by the belief that the object of hope is likely, but also by the conviction that it is valuable. In this way we can perhaps sustain a hope for peace that will support our duty to seek peace. But the fear of war and compassion for the victims of war may also support the duty to seek peace. Kant ignored these opportunities to support the duty to seek peace because they could support only the duty to avoid war. But Kant never showed that the duty to seek peace—as he saw it—outweighed the duty to avoid war. I conclude that Kant's arguments lead us to endless war rather than to peace.
GOALS, LUCK, AND MORAL OBLIGATION
Authors: Frey R. G.
Published: June 2010

InEthics and the Limits of Philosophy, Bernard Williams is rather severe on what he thinks of as an ethics of obligation. He has in mind by this Kant and W. D. Ross. For many, obligation seems the very core of ethics and the moral realm, and lives more generally are seen through the prism of this notion. This, according to Williams, flattens out our lives and moral experience and fails to take into account things which are obviously important to our lives. Once we take these things into account, what do we do if they come into conflict with some of our moral obligations, as Williams, in his earlier writings on moral luck, thought to be the case. I want here to explore some of these ideas, in a way that I think harmonious with Williams's general bent though not one that I intend as in any way detailed exegesis of Williams's work.