bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Directional Topography Influences Adipose Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Plasticity: Prospects for Tissue Engineering and Fibrosis
Authors: Liguori Gabriel Romero , Zhou Qihui , Liguori Tácia Tavares Aquinas , Barros Guilherme Garcia , Kühn Philipp Till , Moreira Luiz Felipe Pinho , van Rijn Patrick , Harmsen Martin C.
Published: May 2019

Introduction. Progenitor cells cultured on biomaterials with optimal physical-topographical properties respond with alignment and differentiation. Stromal cells from connective tissue can adversely differentiate to profibrotic myofibroblasts or favorably to smooth muscle cells (SMC). We hypothesized that myogenic differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ASC) depends on gradient directional topographic features. Methods. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) samples with nanometer and micrometer directional topography gradients (wavelength w=464-10, 990 nm; amplitude a=49-3, 425 nm) were fabricated. ASC were cultured on patterned PDMS and stimulated with TGF-β1 to induce myogenic differentiation. Cellular alignment and adhesion were assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy after 24 h. After seven days, myogenic differentiation was examined by immunofluorescence microscopy, gene expression, and immunoblotting. Results. Cell alignment occurred on topographies larger than w=1758 nm/a=630 nm. The number and total area of focal adhesions per cell were reduced on topographies from w=562 nm/a=96 nm to w=3919 nm/a=1430 nm. Focal adhesion alignment was increased on topographies larger than w=731 nm/a=146 nm. Less myogenic differentiation of ASC occurred on topographies smaller than w=784 nm/a=209 nm. Conclusion. ASC adherence, alignment, and differentiation are directed by topographical cues. Our evidence highlights a minimal topographic environment required to facilitate the development of aligned and differentiated cell layers from ASC. These data suggest that nanotopography may be a novel tool for inhibiting fibrosis.
MicroRNA Expression Changes in Women with Breast Cancer Stratified by DNA Repair Capacity Levels
Authors: Encarnación-Medina Jarline , Ortiz Carmen , Vergne Ralphdy , Padilla Luis , Matta Jaime
Published: May 2019

Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide and is the leading cause of death among Hispanic women. Previous studies have shown that women with a low DNA repair capacity (DRC), measured through the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway, have an increased BC risk. Moreover, we previously reported an association between DRC levels and the expression of the microRNA (miRNA) let-7b in BC patients. MiRNAs can induce genomic instability by affecting the cell’s DNA damage response while influencing the cancer pathobiology. The aim of this pilot study is to identify plasma miRNAs related to variations in DRC levels in BC cases.Hypothesis. Our hypothesis consists in testing whether DRC levels can be correlated with miRNA expression levels.Methods. Plasma samples were selected from 56 (27 cases and 29 controls) women recruited as part of our BC cohort. DRC values were measured in lymphocytes using the host-cell reactivation assay. The samples were divided into two categories: low (≤3.8%) and high (>3.8%) DRC levels. MiRNAs were extracted to perform an expression profile analysis.Results. Forty miRNAs were identified to be BC-related (p<0.05, MW), while 18 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed among BC cases and controls with high and low DRC levels (p<0.05, KW). Among these candidates are miR-299-5p, miR-29b-3p, miR-302c-3p, miR-373-3p, miR-636, miR-331-5p, and miR-597-5p. Correlation analyses revealed that 4 miRNAs were negatively correlated within BC cases with low DRC (p<0.05, Spearman’s correlation). Results from multivariate analyses revealed that the clinicopathological characteristics may not have a direct effect on specific miRNA expression.Conclusion. This pilot study provides evidence of four miRNAs that are negatively regulated in BC cases with low DRC levels. Additional studies are needed in order to have a complete framework regarding the overall DRC levels, miRNA expression profiles, and tumor characteristics.
MMP2andMMP10Polymorphisms Are Related to Steroid-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head among Chinese Han Population
Authors: Tian Ye , An Feimeng , Wang Jiaqi , Liu Chang , Wu Huiqiang , Cao Yuju , Wang Jianzhong , Wang Guoqiang
Published: May 2019

Background. Steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head is a relatively serious condition which seriously reduces patient quality of life. However, the pathogenesis of steroid-induced ONFH is still unclear. In recent years, more scholars have found that the pathogenesis of steroid-induced ONFH is related to susceptibility factors such asMMPs/TIMPssystem. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation betweenMMP2andMMP10gene polymorphisms and steroid-induced ONFH in Chinese Han population.Methods. Six SNPs inMMP2and two SNPs inMMP10were genotyped using Agena MassARRAY RS1000 system from 286 patients of steroid-induced ONFH and in 309 healthy controls. The association betweenMMP2andMMP10polymorphisms and steroid-induced ONFH risk were estimated by the Chi-squared test, genetic model analysis, haplotype analysis, and stratification analysis. The relative risk was estimated by odd ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Result. We found that the minor TG allele of rs470154 inMMP10was associated with an increased risk of steroid-induced ONFH (OR = 1.45, 95% CI, 1.03 – 2.05,p= 0.032). In the genetic model analysis, we found that rs2241146 inMMP2gene and rs470154 inMMP10gene showed a statistically significant association with increased risk of steroid-induced ONFH. The six SNPs (rs470154, rs243866, rs243864, rs865094, rs11646643, and rs2241146) showed a statistically significant association with different clinical phenotypes.Conclusion. Our results verify that genetic polymorphisms ofMMP2andMMP10contribute to steroid-induced ONFH susceptibility in the population of Chinese Han population, and our study provides new insights into the role thatMMP2andMMP10plays in the mechanism of ONFH.
Species, Risk Factors, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles of Bacterial Isolates from HIV-Infected Patients Suspected to Have Pneumonia in Mekelle Zone, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia
Authors: Adhanom Gebre , Gebreegziabiher Dawit , Weldu Yemane , Gebreyesus Wasihun Araya , Araya Tadele , Legese Haftom , Lopes Bruno S. , Saravanan Muthupandian
Published: May 2019

Background. Pneumonia is a condition, where bacterial infections are implicated as the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in humans. The actual burden of HIV-infected patients with pneumonia is not well documented in Mekelle region of Ethiopia. This study estimated the prevalence of bacterial pneumonia in HIV patients, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of pathogens implicated in pneumonia, and associated risk factors in Mekelle zone, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, during August-December 2016.Methods. Sputum specimens were collected from 252 HIV seropositive individuals with suspected pneumonia. Data on sociodemographics and risk factors were also collected using a structured questionnaire. Blood, Chocolate, and Mac Conkey agar plates (Oxoid, Hampshire, UK) were used to grow the isolates. The isolated colonies were identified based on Gram stain, colony morphology, pigmentation, hemolysis, and biochemical tests. The antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using the modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 and p-value < 0.05 with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was considered statistically significant.Results. Out of the 252 samples, 110 (43.7%) were positive for various bacterial species. The predominant bacterial species wereKlebsiella pneumoniae(n=26, 23.6 %) followed byStreptococcus pneumoniae(n=17, 15.5 %),Escherichia coli(n=16, 14.5%),Klebsiellaspp. (n=15, 13.6%), Staphylococcus aureus(n=9, 8.2%),Enterobacterspp. (n=7, 6.3%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa(4, n=3.6%),Proteusspp. (n=4, 3.6%),Citrobacter freundii(n=7, 6.3%),Streptococcus pyogenes(3, 2.7%), andHaemophilus influenzae(n=2, 1.8%). Young age (18-29), recent CD4+count less than 350 cells/mL, alcohol consumption, and HIV WHO stage II showed significant association with the occurrence of bacterial pneumonia. Resistance to penicillin, co-trimoxazole, and tetracycline was observed in 81.8%, 39.8%, and 24.5% of the isolates, respectively.Conclusions. The problem of pneumonia among HIV patients was significant in the study area. The high prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria isolated from the patient’s samples possesses a health risk in immunocompromised HIV patients. There is a need to strengthen and expand culture and susceptibility procedures for the administration of appropriate therapy to improve patients management and care which may aid in decreasing the mortality.
Association between Metformin Use and Coronary Artery Calcification in Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Authors: Lu Yi , Wang Yidong , Weng Ting , Chen Zexin , Sun Xiujuan , Wei Jia , Cai Zhejun , Xiang Meixiang
Published: May 2019

Objectives. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC) which is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. Metformin is the first-line antidiabetic medication. We aimed to investigate the association between metformin use and CAC. Methods. We included 369 patients with T2DM in this cross-sectional study. CAC scores, clinical characteristics, and antidiabetic drug prescription information of the patients were acquired. Baseline parameters were balanced for metformin and nonmetformin users using the propensity score matching (PSM) strategy. Results. Among the 369 subjects who met our inclusion criteria, 288 subjects were included for further analysis after PSM. Metformin prescription rather than other antidiabetic medications was related to lower CAC scores (OR [95% CI] = 0.55 [0.34–0.90]; P=0.018). Further multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that metformin was negatively associated with CAC severity (OR [95% CI] = 0.58 [0.34–0.99]; P=0.048), which was independent of age, BMI, eGFR, gender, cigarette smoking, duration of diabetes, hypertension, statin prescription, and number of nonmetformin antidiabetic agents. A subgroup analysis revealed a significant association between metformin and CAC scores in smokers (OR [95% CI] = 0.38 [0.16–0.93]; P=0.035), but the association was not observed in never-smokers (OR [95% CI] = 0.72 [0.34–1.51]; P=0.383). Conclusions. Metformin usage was independently associated with lower CAC scores in T2DM patients. The negative correlation between CAC scores and metformin was most prominent in patients with a history of cigarette smoking.
Recent Development of Optimization of Lyophilization Process
Authors: Kawasaki Hidenori , Shimanouchi Toshinori , Kimura Yukitaka
Published: May 2019

The objective of this review is to survey the development of the optimization of lyophilization. The optimization study of the lyophilizer has been roughly developing by the order of (i) trial-and-error approach, (ii) process modeling using mathematical models, (iii) scalability, and (iv) quality-by-design. From the conventional lyophilization studies based on the trial-and-error, the key parameters to optimize the operation of lyophilization were found out, i.e., critical material attributes (CMAs), critical process parameters (CPPs), and critical quality attributes (CQAs). The mathematical models using the key parameters mentioned above have been constructed from the viewpoints of the heat and mass transfer natures. In many cases, it is revealed that the control of the primary drying stage determines the outcome of the lyophilization of products, as compared with the freezing stage and the secondary drying stage. Thus, the understanding of the lyophilization process has proceeded. For the further improvement of the time and economical cost, the design space is a promising method to give the possible operation range for optimizing the lyophilization operation. This method is to search the optimized condition by reducing the number of key parameters of CMAs, CPPs, and CQAs. Alternatively, the transfer of lyophilization recipe among the lab-, pilot-, and production-scale lyophilizers (scale-up) has been examined. Notably, the scale-up of lyophilization requires the preservation of lyophilization dynamics between the two scales, i.e., the operation of lab- or pilot-scale lyophilizer under HEPA-filtrated airflow condition. The design space determined by focusing on the primary drying stage is large and involves the undesired variations in the quality of final products due to the heterogeneous size distribution of ice crystals. Accordingly, the control of the formation of the ice crystal with large size gave impact on the product quality and the productivity although the large water content in the final product should be improved. Therefore, the lyophilization should take into account the quality by design (QbD). The monitoring method of the quality of the product in lyophilization process is termed the “process analytical technology (PAT).” Recent PAT tools can reveal the lyophilization dynamics to some extent. A combination of PAT tools with a model/scale-up theory is expected to result in the QbD, i.e., a quality/risk management and an in situ optimization of lyophilization operation.
Vibration and Performance Analyses Using Individual Blade Pitch Controls for Lift-Offset Rotors
Authors: Park Jae-Sang , Kim Do-Hyung , Chae Sanghyun , Lee Ye-Lin , Go Jeong-In
Published: May 2019

This work attempts to reduce the hub vibratory loads of a lift-offset rotor using IBC (individual blade pitch control) in high-speed forward flight. As a lift-offset rotor for the present study, the rigid coaxial rotor of a XH-59A compound helicopter is considered and CAMRAD II is used to predict the hub vibration and rotor performance. Using the IBC with a single harmonic input at 200 knots, the vibration index of the XH-59A rotor is minimized by about 62% when the 3/rev actuation frequency is applied with the IBC amplitude of 1° and control phase angle of 270° (3P/1°/270°); however, the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio decreases by 3.43%. When the 2/rev actuation frequency with the amplitude of 2° and control phase angle of 270° (2P/2°/270°) and the 3/rev actuation frequency using the magnitude of 1° and control phase angle of 210° (3P/1°/210°) are used in combination for the IBC with multiple harmonic inputs, the vibration index is reduced by about 62%, while the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio increases by 0.37% at a flight speed of 200 knots. This study shows that the hub vibration of the lift-offset rotor in high-speed flight can be reduced significantly but the rotor performance increases slightly, using the IBC with multiple harmonic inputs.
Strong Relationship Between Vascular Function in the Coronary and Brachial Arteries
Authors: Broxterman Ryan M. , Witman Melissa A. , Trinity Joel D. , Groot H. Jonathan , Rossman Matthew J. , Park Song-Young , Malenfant Simon , Gifford Jayson R. , Kwon Oh Sung , Park Soung Hun , Jarrett Catherine L. , Shields Katherine L. , Hydren Jay R. , Bisconti Angela V. , Owan Theophilus , Abraham Anu , Tandar Anwar , Lui Charles Y. , Smith Brigham R. , Richardson Russell S.
Published: May 2019

Early detection of coronary artery dysfunction is of paramount cardiovascular clinical importance, but a noninvasive assessment is lacking. Indeed, the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation test only weakly correlated with acetylcholine-induced coronary artery function (
r
=0.36). However, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation methodologies have, over time, substantially improved. This study sought to determine if updates to this technique have improved the relationship with coronary artery function and the noninvasive indication of coronary artery dysfunction. Coronary artery and brachial artery function were assessed in 28 patients referred for cardiac catheterization (61±11 years). Coronary artery function was determined by the change in artery diameter with a 1.82 μg/min intracoronary acetylcholine infusion. Based on the change in vessel diameter, patients were characterized as having dysfunctional coronary arteries (>5% vasoconstriction) or relatively functional coronary arteries (<5% vasoconstriction). Brachial artery function was determined by flow-mediated dilation, adhering to current guidelines. The acetylcholine-induced change in vessel diameter was smaller in patients with dysfunctional compared with relatively functional coronary arteries (−11.8±4.6% versus 5.8±9.8%,
P
<0.001). Consistent with this, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation was attenuated in patients with dysfunctional compared with relatively functional coronaries (2.9±1.9% versus 6.2±4.2%,
P
=0.007). Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation was strongly correlated with the acetylcholine-induced change in coronary artery diameter (
r
=0.77,
P
<0.0001) and was a strong indicator of coronary artery dysfunction (receiver operator characteristic=78%). The current data support that updates to the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation technique have strengthened the relationship with coronary artery function, which may now provide a clinically meaningful indication of coronary artery dysfunction.
‘Bring the Puppy here’
Authors: Muitjens Glyn
Published: May 2019

As recent scholarship has demonstrated, the Hippocratic treatises include many ritual elements. Taking this blurred boundary between medicine and ritual as a starting point, I will focus on a particular operation in the Hippocratic treatise Barrenness (Steril. 18.3)—which stands out because of the exceptional specificity of the procedure described. I wish to argue that this specificity can be best accounted for by comparing the procedure to a ritual described in Sophron’s fragment 4A. Reading these texts together and pointing out their correspondences not only helps in explaining the procedure in Steril. 18.3 more satisfactorily than has been done to date, but also allows me to propose a new interpretation of the title of Sophron 4A and the contents of its ritual.
Christian Environmental Ethics and Economic Stasis
Authors: Snyder Brian F.
Published: May 2019

The growth paradigm assumes that economic growth is objectively good because it leads to increased prosperity and utility maximization. Christian ethics oppose this worldview because it rejects the idea that economic prosperity is objectively good. Instead, Christian ethics are theocentric, assuming that God and the relationship with the divine is objectively good. Material prosperity is seen to interfere with this relationship. Still, there are at least two views of the human-divine relationship that have implications for environmental ethics. The first and most popular view argues that the human-divine relationship is mediated by the human-in-community relationship. Alternatively, individualistic theism posits that the human-divine relationship is individually available without community-centeredness. This individualistic view has been criticized as leading to an insufficient ethic of environmental care, however, here we argue that a radical dualism consistent with the Christian Gospels can lead to an ethos of environmental benevolence.
Transoceanic Orientalism and Embodied Translation in Sayyida Salme/Emily Ruete’s Memoirs
Authors: Oruc Firat
Published: May 2019

Emily Ruete’s Memoirs of an Arabian Princess was first published, in German, in 1886, on the threshold of the nineteenth-century imperialist “Scramble for Africa.” Ruete’s exilic relationship with both Europe and Africa made her an insider-outsider, well positioned to capture the imperial stage of Enlightenment Orientalism in flux and transmit it across the oceans to a public who would have found the life she describes unimaginable. In relaying the story of how Sayyida Salme became Emily Ruete, the Memoirs employs a mode of translation that is simultaneously linguistic, cultural, religious, and material. In Ruete’s case, translation is an embodied act. As a translator, Salme/Ruete critically and comparatively translates Zanzibar, and by extension the “Orient,” for a Western audience by virtue of her body being able to enter into and to pass through multiple social and cultural spaces.
Spelling It Out−Convergence and Divergence in the Judicial Dialogue between cjeu and ECtHR
Authors: Frese Amalie , Olsen Henrik Palmer
Published: May 2019

In this article we investigate the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights as it manifests in explicit cross-references between the two Courts’ jurisprudence. The analysis detects cross-references, how they are used and indications of converge or divergence in the jurisprudence through their explicit citations and references. Our dataset consists of the entire corpus of judgments from both Courts from 2009 (when the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights came into force and until the end of 2016. On the basis of a content search for references to the other Court in both corpora we detect all their cross-references. We find that 1) the Courts’ use each other’s case law surprisingly little, but when they do, it is 2) primarily within the legal domains of criminal justice and immigration policies, and 3) displaying convergence towards the jurisprudence of the other Court.
The Rise of the Concept of Laws of Nature Revisited
Authors: Oakley Francis
Published: May 2019

Over the course of the past half-century and in the wake of the first articles published on the matter by Edgar Zilsel, Joseph Needham, and myself, historians of science have come to focus with growing insistence on the rise to prominence among the seventeenthw-century mechanical philosophers of the concept of (physical) laws of nature and on the significant role it played in the emergence of early-modern science. Revisiting the case I made on that matter in 1961, this paper goes on to engage in dialogue with the related but divergent argument John Henry framed in the course of his “Metaphysics and the Origins of Modern Science,” an article that appeared in in the pages of Early Science and Medicine in the year 2004.
Sacred Medicine and the Bible: Thomas Bartholin’s On Biblical Diseases (1672)
Authors: Ross Tricia M.
Published: May 2019

The Danish physician Thomas Bartholin, famous for his work as an anatomist, also nourished a career-long interest in accounts of medicine in the Bible that resulted in a series of books on the topic. His final such work, On Biblical Diseases (De morbis biblicis, 1672) attracted a wide readership and was regarded by contemporaries as a model of an early modern practice called medicina sacra, the analysis of biblical accounts of disease and healing. Taking Biblical Diseases as a focal point, I investigate methods and goals of early modern study of medicine in the Bible. Setting out early influences that shaped Bartholin’s development, I demonstrate connections between his work and its precursors. Examining Biblical Diseases itself, I indicate how Bartholin deployed contemporary medical, philological, theological, and historical knowledge to scrutinize biblical accounts. A brief glance at the reception of Biblical Diseases reveals that theologians and physicians alike utilized Bartholin’s work and how it influenced subsequent studies of medicine in the Bible.
Toward a Definition of Episcopal Ministry: Lutheran World Federation Work on Episkopé, 1983–2007
Authors: Zitting Heidi
Published: May 2019

This article examines how the episcopal ministry and related concepts such as ‘episkopé’, ‘installation’ and ‘consecration’ are understood and used in Lutheran World Federation (lwf) statements on the Episcopal Ministry from 1983 to 2007. Over this time, some Lutheran churches entered into full communion with both episcopal and non-episcopal churches. Some ecumenical partners were also invited to participate as active observers in the lwf process of drafting statements. Through the ecumenical work done and the comprehensive identity study undertaken by the lwf, the understanding of episcopal ministry in lwf documents has developed from a ‘Leuenberg-style’ general Protestantism to a ‘Porvoo-style’ understanding of episcopacy.
The Energy of Concepts: The Role of Concepts in Long-Term Intellectual History and Social Reality
Authors: Straumann Benjamin
Published: May 2019

In this paper the centrality of concepts for intellectual history is stressed. Naturally, this focus on concepts requires an account of what concepts are. More contentiously, an account of how concepts are best approached by intellectual historians also requires taking a stand vis-à-vis some prevailing notions of concepts. In particular, I will direct attention to the weaknesses of the historicist theory of concepts derived from the later Wittgenstein. By contrast, I will put forward an account of conceptual innovation and change in intellectual history based on a notion of concept loosely inspired by Frege. The first three parts of the paper lay out a framework for what I call “analytic contextualism,” which is then briefly illustrated with an example from the history of political thought in the fourth part. I argue that this framework should be attractive to intellectual historians for two reasons: First, Fregean concepts, due to their relative independence from context, explain long-term conceptual stability and change better than competing notions of concepts. Second, a Fregean notion of concept is better suited than its competitors to explain how concepts and conceptual innovation sometimes manage to have causal effect on institutions and social reality. To demonstrate the latter point, it will be shown that my account of concepts is consistent with, and well placed to exploit, recent philosophical advances in social ontology.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s Journeys in Christian and Islamic Book History
Authors: Ney Stephen
Published: May 2019

Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the Yoruba linguist and Anglican missionary bishop, interacted in the 1870s with communities of multilingual Islamic scholars on the north fringe of Yorubaland. This essay uses contemporary scholarship on the book culture of Ilọrin to shed light on Crowther’s letters, in particular his triumphant account of a formal audience with the emir of Ilọrin in 1872, during which his performance centred on the bilingual collection of Christian books he bore. He emphasized the uniqueness and novelty of his Christian books and their associated practices. Yet his accounts invite us to begin viewing Africa’s Christian and Islamic book histories through the same analytical frame, which reveals how they were constituted in part through their interactions. This allows us to see they had more in common than Crowther assumed and than many scholarly accounts of African book history assume, particularly in the areas of the physicality of books, the modes of performance associated with books, and the interpersonal transactions that books facilitate.
Centre Stage and Behind the Scenes with the “lion of Katanga”
Authors: Schalbroeck Eva
Published: May 2019

This article complicates the image of Benedictine missionary Jean-Félix de Hemptinne (1876–1958), a central figure of the 20th century Belgian colonial and evangelisation endeavour in the Congo, as a steadfast missionary with political, religious and economic power. It contextualises his ideas within wider debates on religion, civilisation and colonialism and looks at the strategies he employed to defend his authority. Through the figure of the Apostolic Vicar of Katanga, this article rethinks the ideas and the power mechanisms, in particular the “trinity” between church, state and capital and the church-state alliance, which underpinned the Belgian colonial and missionary enterprise.
Collective Progress in the Light of Equity Under the Global Stocktake
Authors: Zahar Alexander
Published: May 2019

The Global Stocktake compels states periodically to focus on the Paris Agreement’s ultimate aims. Without it, each state’s attention would have been fixated on its own Nationally Determined Contribution and little else. The Paris Rulebook clarifies how the stocktaking mechanism is to function—in all but one respect: although the rules keep the emphasis squarely on “collective progress” as the proper object of the stocktake’s assessment, the text is ambiguous on whether its implied opposite—individual state progress—is to be excluded from the assessment. The ambiguity rides mainly on the notion of “equity”—a term as dutifully inserted into key passages of the Rulebook as its explanation is studiously avoided. Whatever the negotiators may have intended in this respect, an objective construction of the Rulebook shows that an assessment of the individual progress of states is permitted to occupy a substantial part of the stocktaking process, except when it comes to formal reporting on the stocktake’s outputs. The non-exclusion of individual assessment from the dialogue that powers the stocktake means that, while the ideology of “national self-determination” may have succeeded in turning out an Article 15 Committee of unprecedented blandness, it has neglected to defend its flanks in the Global Stocktake, making for an unpredictable, yet potentially useful process.
The Paris Agreement and its Rulebook in a Problem-Solving Perspective
Authors: Andresen Steinar
Published: May 2019

The aim of this article is to assess and explain the effectiveness of the international climate regime in a problem-solving perspective, with a focus on mitigation. As CO2 emissions have increased by more than 60 per cent since the start of the climate negotiations, effectiveness is exceedingly low. In explaining the performance of the regime, the main focus is on its problem-solving ability, defined as a function of power, leadership, and institutional design. ‘Negative’ power and a lack of leadership constitute important reasons for low effectiveness. In this broader perspective, the role of institutional design, exemplified by the Paris Agreement and its Rulebook, is fairly modest, and its significance should not be exaggerated. The Agreement and Rulebook score high in terms of ambition, but whether the rules will ever realize those ambitions remains to be seen. Domestic interests and priorities of the most important emitting countries will be decisive in this regard.
Secular/Religious Myths of Violence: The Case of Nizārī Ismailis of the Alamūt Period
Authors: Mohammad Poor Daryoush
Published: May 2019

Contemporary narratives of violence, particularly in the aftermaths of the most recent expressions of violence by the so-called ‘Islamist’ groups have rekindled the false dichotomy of religious versus secular violence. Such a deforming prism which has also become dominant in political science traces the origins of violence to faith communities in medieval times and, among others, to Nizārī Ismailis, with whom the myth of the assassins have been associated. Despite the ground-breaking works of prominent scholars of Ismaili studies, the myth of the assassins still remains powerful in some disciplines including political theory. This paper deconstructs this narrative and attempts to highlight the agencies of individuals and communities, as human agents, as opposed to essentialist narratives in which faith, or a particular faith, in its abstraction, becomes responsible for the outbreak of violence. Moving beyond reductionist narratives of violence is critical for breaking the vicious cycle of violence which besets human societies around the globe.
Revitalisation of Cultural Heritage in Mongolia
Authors: Bumochir Dulam , Munkherdene Gantulga
Published: May 2019

In contemporary Mongolia—a country with 29 years’ history of international development policy—the conventional interpretation regarding the oppression of and liberation from the Soviet regime is no longer valid for understanding its politics of cultural heritage. Today, development projects and associated environmental, social and cultural assessments play a central role in safeguarding cultural heritage. Therefore, alternative interpretations are necessary to comprehend current and further processes of cultural heritage politics. This paper introduces two case studies of new cultural heritage politics involving Mongolia’s two ‘megaprojects’: Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mining, and River Eg hydroelectric station.
The Formation of Network Society in Vietnam: Promise or Peril?
Authors: Duong Mai
Published: May 2019

Empowered by information technology, the Vietnamese online community is becoming the most progressive and active social group in Vietnam. Using network society theory developed by Manuel Castells, this article investigates the impact of Facebook on the formation of cyber-networks in which internet users access uncensored information and voice their opinions about politics and everyday life. My arguments are based on an analysis of blogs, online discussion groups, and semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese activists, bloggers, and journalists. While the Vietnamese authorities struggle to find ways to control the dynamism of the developing cyber-society, these networks are leading Vietnamese netizens into the habit of using new media such as Facebook to become familiar with the basic values of cyber-democracy.
India’s Digital Archives: Online Spaces for Cultural Heritage
Authors: Müller Katja
Published: May 2019

Digital archives are spaces for managing collections and providing online access to heritage material stored in museums and archives. In India, conventions on preserving cultural heritage in combination with the national agenda of ‘Digital India’ influence recent projects on digitizing collections and creating online repositories. Looking at ‘Virtual Museums’ and ‘Euro-Indian Paintings’ as two projects initiated by the Indian Ministry of Culture, this article sheds light on the dynamics involved in digitizing Indian cultural heritage: the visions, implementation, and use of the digital collection. The projects represent substantial efforts at creating modern collection management systems that would assemble heritage information in a single, online accessible space. In practice, however, it is not only information and communications technology for development that drives the creation of digital archives but also bureaucratic habits, reluctance, and impediments to forming it. Conceptions shape digital spaces but so do their implementation and (dis)use.
Digital Smartness: Rethinking Communities and Citizenship in the Face of ‘Smart’ Technology
Authors: Schneider Florian
Published: May 2019

This introduction to the Asiascape: Digital Asia special issue on ‘smart communities’ discusses how new technologies have created a paradigm of ‘smartness’ that informs how innovators, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and administrators imagine sociality in urban spaces. This is visible in plans for turning Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taipei into ‘smart cities’, and countries such as India, Japan, and South Korea are similarly rolling out initiatives that promise to revamp urban life across the region. Such ‘solutionist’ attempts to address the complexities of contemporary social life through technology cleverly fuse surveillance techniques, capitalist structures, free labour practices, and neoliberal governance to create urban utopias of safety, convenience, and community. We have asked the contributors to this special issue to explore what people do, through and with digital technologies, as they establish, claim, contest, and alter various social relations in the name of ‘smart community’, and this article introduces and discusses their results.
Newspaper Reporting of Migrants in England 1851–1911: Spatial and Temporal Perspectives
Authors: Pooley Colin
Published: May 2019

England in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was no stranger to migrants and, inevitably, migrants were not always warmly received. They were often stigmatised for their perceived differences of language, religion and behaviour, and were blamed for a range of social ills including crime and low wages. In this article I examine print news reporting in six English port cities from c1850 to 1911. I focus on the ways in which crime reporting in particular characterised both offenders and victims, and the extent to which migrant origin was considered a relevant characteristic to report. It is argued that for the most part migrant origin was not widely mentioned in crime reports in regional newspapers, though there were periods when migrant origin was increasingly foregrounded and these coincided with times when migration to England was becoming increasingly politicised, especially before and immediately after the passing of the Aliens Act in 1905.
Milton’s Late Poems as Anti-Liturgy
Authors: Mohamed Feisal G.
Published: May 2019

This essay suggests “anti-liturgy” to describe Milton’s three late poems as a unified project in devotional verse, and to account for their avant-garde impulse to make the present strange. These qualities are brought into conversation with the posture on liturgy in Milton’s early poems, with Milton’s remarks on justification in De doctrina Christiana, with Catherine Pickstock’s arguments on liturgy, and with Alain Badiou’s thought on poetry and truth. For the late Milton, knowledge of futurity is a potter’s vessel dashed to pieces in an encounter with the eternal.
Chronicle of the Governors’ Association: an Investigation into the Resilience and Longevity of the Co-operative Structure of the Communal Sickness Fund ‘To Our Avail’
Authors: de Jager Erik J.
Published: May 2019

The project, Chronicle of the Governors’ Association is a combined history and anthropological field research project investigating the sustainability of a so-called ‘Institution for Collective Action’ in The Netherlands. The co-operative association, known as the ‘Governor’s’ Association’ or ‘To Our Avail’, acts as a sickness fund for male entrepreneurs, and is an expression of such an institution. Research into the functionality of this particular association was undertaken by the author during the years 2015–2016, with support from the University of Utrecht. By examining the history, background and workings of this 110-year-old co-operative sickness fund through collating data from many different sources, he identified the qualities that have ensured the long-term existence of this type of commons. The resulting archived data collection underpins the findings of this research.
Shelter Cats: From Admission to Adoption—Ethical and Welfare Concerns
Authors: Fragoso Sara
Published: May 2019

Despite the growing popularity of cats as pets, many cats end up housed for long periods of time in shelters. These shelters are increasingly under the spotlight by local communities in the way in which they deal with problematic issues, for they may be seen as an example or as target of criticism. In regards to cat (re)homing there are several relevant welfare and ethical issues. Shelters should have a proactive and well-defined strategy to improve welfare and reduce the number of sheltered cats. Those with the authority to make decisions should consider the available resources and hold in perspective the viewpoints of others, especially that of the cat. The challenge is to avoid judgments based on our own quality of life standards which may lead to decisions based on emotional factors to manage the situation. Is it moral for humans to poses the power to determine a cat’s fate? Despite not having an answer for what is the right solution, the way to proceed should be clearly defined. If there is a strategy and a plan, there is an opportunity to readjust and improve. What are the main reasons for all these problems? Most of the related questions don’t have direct answers. However, instead of reacting in order to solve the problem, we should proactively focus on prevention, mainly through population control and education, knowing that what seems good and right at that moment might be considered wrong and obsolete in a near future, in the light of the development of scientific knowledge and societal values.
Concepts and Images of the Future in Recent German Poetry
Authors: Grimm Reinhold
Published: May 2019

German poetry has been obsessed with concepts and images of the future for decades. The present article concentrates on the pertinent contributions by the two leading German poets, Günter Kunert and Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and their lyrical output since the late 1980s. What they portray is, on the whole, a rather gloomy picture, albeit not without a bit of redeemding irony.
The Accentual System of Thai Polysyllabic Words
Authors: Warotamasikkhadit Udom
Published: May 2019

Many Thai grammarians seem to ignore intonational rhythms that exist in the pronunciation of Thai words. It is erroneous to think that Thai words are monotonous and without rhythms. The Thais have pronounced words with fixed pronunciation patterns for years but many grammarians and Thai scholars ignore them. At the moment pronunciation of the language is chaotic because many Thai people do not know how to pronounce Thai words. They often make the wrong cuts at morpheme or word boundaries. The Royal Institute rules for the pronunciation of Thai words concerning the gemination of the final consonant of a syllable with an inserted [a] in conjoining words, as found in the dictionary of the Royal Institute of B.E. 2525, must be held responsible for these problems. This paper points out the word rhythms of Thai as found in daily speech of the Thai people.
Women/Warriors: Dual Images in Modern Thai Literature
Authors: Kriengkraipetch Suvanna
Published: May 2019

This paper aims at studying the image of women in modern Thai literature, with emphasis on analyses of the image of woman and the image of warrior. The main concept is that the two images, which seem contradictory, have usually appeared together in Thai literature in the past as well as today. One image is oftentimes obvious while the other is underlying. Women in Thai literature is, thus, present dual images, while the image of the ideal women emphasizes womanhood which is inferior in status to manhood in all respects.
Literature for Life
Authors: Sujjapun Ruenruthai
Published: May 2019

“Literature for life” is a unique type of Thai contemporary literature . It has risen to prominence in the history of Thai contemporary literature in at least two periods. The first period was between A.D.l947 and 1957 and the second was the October 14, 1973–October 6, 1976 era. Literature for life was influenced by the concept of “art for life’s sake,” which was much discussed in literary magazines between 1947 and 1957, particularly by Asni Phonlachan, who criticized traditional Thai literature from the point of view of “art for life’s sake” and Udom Sisuwan, who saw Sri Burapha’s novels as “literature for life”. The concept of “art for art’s sake” influenced not only critics but also writers during that decade. Literature for life returned to popularity in the period between October 14, 1973 (2516) and October 6, 1976 (2519) because of political conflict. Young activist writers expressing their beliefs in the need for social change made literature for life the mainstream of Thai literature during that time. Nowadays, political ideology being no longer so prominent an issue, literature for life is less powerful but still exits.
The Origin of the Work of Art
Authors: Charles Freeland
Published: May 2019

The following was presented at the Fourth Collegium in the Humanities held at Thammasat University on January 4 and 5, 2001. The paper is intended as an introduction to Heidegger’s important essay, "The Origin of the Work of Art". In the course of the paper, I discuss the following themes:Heidegger’s questioning of the concept of truth in terms of Aletheia, the self disclosing and concealing of Being, as the setting for a radical revaluation of techne, (the Greek word for art, as a practical, productive knowledge (Wissen)), in which techne will now be conceived as not only a way of kno wing that stands alongside theoria, but even more, as a decisive site for the disclosure of Being. The actuality of art, its "thingly" character, will not be seen as a static object, therefore, but as energeia, activity or "being-at-work". Techne will be thought as event, an event of Being, the site for the happening of Truth (Aletheia) This culminates in Heidegger’s delimitation, or definition, of art as the site or place (topos, Orter; in the German word Heidegger uses) of truth’s setting-itself-to- work. This is art’s "activity", its "actuality". Finally, the significance of this is.in the way it opens a new questioning of the European experience of nihilism as the "death of God", or withdrawal of gods, and the related triumph of knowledge in the form of scientific technicity, the calculative thinking of a techne that demands, challenges, provokes, and sets up Being as an object and conceives of earth , for example, as a "natural resource" to be exploited. The work of art, as the techne in which "truth (Aletheia) sets itself to work", what Heidegger might call "great art", is then to be seen as a possible way of overcoming (Verwindung) of nihilism and of questioning the essence of technology and calculative thinking. Through a questioning of the origin of the work of art, philosophical thinking will go beyond a mere "aesthetics" toward the more fundamental questioning of the "end of metaphysics". Through a return to an archaic Greek world opened in and by the temple, and through a thinking of all that is still yet to be thought, or that is still held in reserve in that experience, Heidegger seeks the possibility of a new beginning for the European, especially the Germanic, historical destiny. No doubt the revaluation of techne, not only in terms of the work of art, but in terms of the political and the founding of a nation and the opening of the destiny of a people, which is Heidegger’s way of thinking the actuality of the work of techne, are all crucial and deeply related themes. But, due to limitations of time and space in this paper, both the links of thi s with Heidegger’s meditations on the poetry of Holderlin, and the political dimensions of this work and Heidegger’s relation to National socialism during the 1930s, are not considered.
Thai Ways of Saying ‘No’ to a Request
Authors: Panpothong Natthaporn
Published: May 2019

This paper investigates what Thai speakers say when they prefer to reject a request and how they make their refusal less face-threatening. Five different situations including refusing a high status teacher, a low status housemaid, a close friend, a classmate, and a stranger are examined. The study has found that for Thai speakers, a teacher and a close friend are more difficult to reject than a low status, a classmate, and a stranger. Even though most of the respondents are not reluctant to reject people at further distance, they prefer to appear polite in refusing their requests. In the politeness model of Brown and Levinson (1987), a refusal is an act which threatens the requester’s positive face. In Thai society where people place high value on’ being kind and helpful’, an act of refusal might damage the refuser’s self-image as well. It is hypothesized here that politeness strategies are used not only to save the requester’s face but also to prevent the refuser him/herself from being considered unkind or unrefined.