bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Draft genome assembly of the Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata domestica, a model for motor skill variability and learning
Authors: Colquitt Bradley M , Mets David G , Brainard Michael S
Published: February 2018

Background

Vocal learning in songbirds has emerged as a powerful model for sensorimotor learning. Neurobehavioral studies of Bengalese finch (Lonchura striata domestica) song, naturally more variable and plastic than songs of other finch species, have demonstrated the importance of behavioral variability for initial learning, maintenance, and plasticity of vocalizations. However, the molecular and genetic underpinnings of this variability and the learning it supports are poorly understood.

Findings

To establish a platform for the molecular analysis of behavioral variability and plasticity, we generated an initial draft assembly of the Bengalese finch genome from a single male animal to 151× coverage and an N50 of 3.0 MB. Furthermore, we developed an initial set of gene models using RNA-seq data from 8 samples that comprise liver, muscle, cerebellum, brainstem/midbrain, and forebrain tissue from juvenile and adult Bengalese finches of both sexes.

Conclusions

We provide a draft Bengalese finch genome and gene annotation to facilitate the study of the molecular-genetic influences on behavioral variability and the process of vocal learning. These data will directly support many avenues for the identification of genes involved in learning, including differential expression analysis, comparative genomic analysis (through comparison to existing avian genome assemblies), and derivation of genetic maps for linkage analysis. Bengalese finch gene models and sequences will be essential for subsequent manipulation (molecular or genetic) of genes and gene products, enabling novel mechanistic investigations into the role of variability in learned behavior.
Single-molecule, full-length transcript sequencing provides insight into the extreme metabolism of the ruby-throated hummingbird Archilochus colubris
Authors: Workman Rachael E , Myrka Alexander M , Wong G William , Tseng Elizabeth , Welch Kenneth C , Timp Winston
Published: February 2018

Background

Hummingbirds oxidize ingested nectar sugars directly to fuel foraging but cannot sustain this fuel use during fasting periods, such as during the night or during long-distance migratory flights. Instead, fasting hummingbirds switch to oxidizing stored lipids that are derived from ingested sugars. The hummingbird liver plays a key role in moderating energy homeostasis and this remarkable capacity for fuel switching. Additionally, liver is the principle location of de novo lipogenesis, which can occur at exceptionally high rates, such as during premigratory fattening. Yet understanding how this tissue and whole organism moderates energy turnover is hampered by a lack of information regarding how relevant enzymes differ in sequence, expression, and regulation.

Findings

We generated a de novo transcriptome of the hummingbird liver using PacBio full-length cDNA sequencing (Iso-Seq), yielding 8.6Gb of sequencing data, or 2.6M reads from 4 different size fractions. We analyzed data using the SMRTAnalysis v3.1 Iso-Seq pipeline, then clustered isoforms into gene families to generate de novo gene contigs using Cogent. We performed orthology analysis to identify closely related sequences between our transcriptome and other avian and human gene sets. Finally, we closely examined homology of critical lipid metabolism genes between our transcriptome data and avian and human genomes.

Conclusions

We confirmed high levels of sequence divergence within hummingbird lipogenic enzymes, suggesting a high probability of adaptive divergent function in the hepatic lipogenic pathways. Our results leverage cutting-edge technology and a novel bioinformatics pipeline to provide a first direct look at the transcriptome of this incredible organism.
Influence of Supplemental Protein on the Life Expectancy and Reproduction of the Chinese Citrus Fruit Fly, Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) (Tetradacus minax) (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Authors: Wang Fulian , Chambi Consolatha , Li Zaiyuan , Huang Cong , Ma Yuekun , Li Chuanren , Tian Xiaohai , Sangija Frank , Ntambo Mbuya Sylvain , Kankonda Onesime M , Hafeez Sumaira , Anwar Toheed , Sharif Rahat
Published: February 2018

Bactrocera minax (Enderlein) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a major citrus pest in China, whose artificial rearing technology of the adult is not well documented to date. In this study, we tried to determine if supplementing proteins to the adult diet could result in the enhancement of some fitness parameters of B. minax. Four feeds with varying protein source were provided as F0 (water), F1 (sucrose), F2 (sucrose + yeast), and F3 (sucrose + peptone). F0 and F1 being the control, F2 and F3 were protein food types. The results showed that adults fed by F2 and F3 lived longer with 40.1 d and 32.8 d, respectively, had reduced death rates (death peaks were delayed for 5.6 d and 4.1 d, respectively), increased mating frequencies (8.1 and 5.3 per females, 4.7 and 7.3 per males, respectively), and longer mating durations (with 42 d and 34 d). In addition, females recorded an increased adult ovary development, more egg load (with 94.8 and 77.3 brood eggs per ovary) and to greater oviposition rates of 63.2 eggs/female and 19.3 eggs/female. Based on our results, protein supplements enhanced B. minax survival, mating, and fecundity. This study does not only provide basic knowledge to implement artificial rearing of B. minax, but also deepens our understanding on its physiology that could be used to enhance the management of the pest.
The diverse density profiles of galaxy clusters with self-interacting dark matter plus baryons
Authors: Robertson Andrew , Massey Richard , Eke Vincent , Tulin Sean , Yu Hai-Bo , Bahé Yannick , Barnes David J , Bower Richard G , Crain Robert A , Dalla Vecchia Claudio , Kay Scott T , Schaller Matthieu , Schaye Joop
Published: February 2018

We present the first simulated galaxy clusters (M200 > 1014 M⊙) with both self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) and baryonic physics. They exhibit a greater diversity in both dark matter and stellar density profiles than their counterparts in simulations with collisionless dark matter (CDM), which is generated by the complex interplay between dark matter self-interactions and baryonic physics. Despite variations in formation history, we demonstrate that analytical Jeans modelling predicts the SIDM density profiles remarkably well, and the diverse properties of the haloes can be understood in terms of their different final baryon distributions.
Background, Inception, and Development
Authors: Gao Qin
Published: February 2018

Chapter 2 tracks the background, inception, and development stages of Dibao. Dibao has undergone significant expansions and has impacted the lives of millions of low-income families. The chapter shows that, throughout its development, Dibao has been shaped by economic and political forces and has remained true to its dual functions of serving as a safety net to the poor and maintaining social control and political stability. A constant struggle in Dibao has been addressing the fundamental questions of how to conduct means testing, and how to determine benefits eligibility most effectively and achieve the program’s intended goal of serving as a safety net for the truly poor. Such challenges are embedded in Dibao’s dilemma between central regulation and local implementation and will continue in its future development.
Targeting Performance
Authors: Gao Qin
Published: February 2018

Chapters 4 through 8 focus on the evaluation of Dibao’s effectiveness and its impact on various outcomes. Specifically, Chapter 4 examines Dibao’s targeting performance. The chapter documents the existence of substantial targeting errors in both urban and rural Dibao. With regard to population targeting, across urban and rural areas, significant portions of eligible families were mistakenly excluded from receiving Dibao benefits. Others were mis-targeted or included erroneously in Dibao coverage. Rural Dibao has had more severe leakage and mis-targeting errors than urban Dibao. Urban Dibao benefits have also been more concentrated among the poor than have rural benefits. Both urban and rural areas had significant benefit gaps as reflected by large differences between the entitled amount and the actual amount received by families. Despite these errors and gaps, however, Dibao’s targeting performance is actually better than many other similar programs around the world.
Family Expenditures and Human Capital Investment
Authors: Gao Qin
Published: February 2018

Chapter 7 focuses on Dibao’s influence on family expenditures. The chapter documents the high expenditure demands on healthcare and education faced by most Dibao families across urban and rural areas. While Dibao has enabled urban recipient families to spend more on both of these items, it has helped rural families pay for healthcare but not education. Meeting survival needs is not found to be a priority in the use of Dibao money for either urban or rural recipients, suggesting that these families may be maintaining a bare-minimum level of livelihood while having to meet urgent health or education needs. In both urban and rural areas, Dibao receipt is associated with reduced spending on leisure. Rural Dibao receipt is also associated with reduced spending on alcohol, tobacco, gifts to others, and social insurance contributions, while the same effect is either not found or not examined in urban Dibao.
What’s Happened to the Gender Gap in Political Participation?
Authors: Burns Nancy , Schlozman Kay Lehman , Jardina Ashley , Shames Shauna , Verba Sidney
Published: February 2018

At some point in the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century, a stubbornly persistent gender gap in US political activity more or less vanished, fulfilling one part of the aspiration of women’s suffrage. This chapter asks why, seeking answers both in changes that have nothing to do with politics and in politics itself. As is typical when considering political participation, our account involves the interaction of several processes rather than a single cause. The most important transformation has been the increase in women’s education: women are now more likely than men to earn college and graduate degrees. In addition, a striking increase has taken place in the presence of women as high-profile and successful office seekers, especially since 1992. During a critical period in the 1990s, an influx of female candidates and elected officials appears to have kept the gender gap in participation from being even wider.
Moral Sedimentation
Authors: Prinz Jesse
Published: February 2018

Jesse Prinz begins this chapter by noting that existentialism is often regarded as a philosophy of radical freedom—leading existentialists emphasized the human capacity for choice and self-creation. At the same time, a countercurrent in existentialist thought calls freedom into question. This countercurrent draws attention to the ways in which behavior is determined by forces outside of our control. This is especially vivid in the moral domain. Borrowing a term from phenomenology, Prinz calls this phenomenon “sedimentation.” After tracing the idea of sedimentation and related concepts in existentialist thought, with special emphasis on the moral domain, Prinz argues that recent work in neuroscience, psychology, and other social sciences add support to the thesis that we are vulnerable to sedimentation. He concludes by considering various tactics against sedimentation that have been proposed, arguing that some of the more prominent historical tactics are problematic, while also pointing to some alternatives.
Choices Without Choosers
Authors: Levy Neil
Published: February 2018

Existentialists are often accused of painting a bleak picture of human existence. In this chapter, Neil Levy contends that, in the light of contemporary cognitive science, the picture is not bleak enough. And, although there are grounds for thinking the picture bleaker than existentialists suggest, he argues that it is not hopeless. The unified self that serves as the ultimate source of value in an otherwise meaningless universe may not exist, but we can each impose a degree of unity on ourselves. The existentialists were sociologically naïve in supposing a degree of distinction between agents and their cultural milieu that was never realistic. We are thrown into history, culture, and a biological and evolutionary history which we never fully understand and can only inflect, all without foundations and lacking even the security of knowing the extent to which or what we choose. Existentialism must face ontological, epistemological, and axiological insecurity.
The Neuroscience of Criminality and Our Sense of Justice
Authors: Hardcastle Valerie
Published: February 2018

Part IV begins with Valerie Hardcastle’s chapter on the neuroscience of criminality and our sense of justice. Taking the US courts as her stalking horse, Hardcastle analyzes appellate cases from the past five years in which a brain scan was cited as a consideration in the decision. She focuses on how a defendant’s race might be correlated with whether he is able to get a brain scan, whether the scan is admitted into evidence, how the scan is used in the trial, and whether the scan changes the outcome of the hearing. She then provides a comparative analysis of the cases in which imaging data were successful in altering the sentence of defendants and those in which the data were unsuccessful. She concludes by pointing to larger trends in our criminal justice system indicative of more profound changes in how we as a society understand what counts as a just punishment.
An American Archetype
Authors: Epstein William M.
Published: February 2018

Chapter 3 points out that the pursuit of the authentic self in the diverse styles of American psychotherapy and in the self-help literature is a pervasive expression of policy romanticism in American culture. The pursuit of the romantic self constitutes an archetype of American belief.
Reputation, Learning, and the Onset of Alliances
Authors: Crescenzi Mark J.C.
Published: February 2018

This chapter empirically investigates the link between reputation and cooperation among nations, especially in cases of security alliance formation, which are especially fraught and high-stakes processes for nations. Specifically, the focus here is on testing the argument that when states develop reputations for competence in cooperative situations, they are more likely to experience cooperation in other future interstate affairs. These findings provide support for the conclusion that, when nations seek alliance partners, they pay close attention to the past alliance-related behavior of their potential partners with other states. Specific, historical instances of Anglo-German and Anglo-Japanese alliance formation clarify the arguments of this chapter.
Implications and Conclusions
Authors: Crescenzi Mark J.C.
Published: February 2018

This chapter reviews the role of reputation in conflict and cooperation, and discusses potential extensions of the reputation model and applications. It reviews the lessons learned in previous chapters, and considers these questions: should scholars renews their focus on reputation as a causative factor in political behavior? And, do state leaders learn fromthe actions of other state leaders? Extensions includes a focus on non-state actors, both in cooperative and conflictual contexts. Finally, the chapter addresses policy implications of reputation and learning. Ultimately, this researchsuggests that shiftingperceptions inpolicy-making from aggressive strength to crisis competence can lead to greater peace and security in the international system.
The Lithic Garden
Authors: Doquang Mailan S.
Published: February 2018

This ambitious book offers new perspectives on the role of vegetal ornament in medieval church design. Focusing on an extensive series of foliate friezes articulating iconic French monuments, such as Cluny III, Amiens Cathedral, and Mont-Saint-Michel, it demonstrates that church builders strategically used organic motifs to integrate the interior and exterior of their structures, and to reinforce the connections and distinctions between the entirety of the sacred edifice and the profane world beyond its boundaries. Mailan S. Doquang shows that, contrary to widespread belief, monumental flora was not just an extravagant embellishment devoid of meaning and purpose, or an epiphenomenon, but a semantically charged, critical design component that inflected the stratified spaces of churches in myriad ways. The friezes encapsulated and promoted core aspects of the Christian faith for medieval beholders, evoking the viridity of the paradisiacal garden, Christ as the True Vine, the Eucharistic wine and ritual, and the golden vine of the Temple of Jerusalem, originally built by the wise King Solomon. By situating the proliferation of foliate friezes within the context of the Crusades, moreover, this study provides new insights into the networks of exchange between France, Byzantium, and the Levant, and contributes substantially to the “global turn” in the field of medieval art and architectural history.
Introduction
Authors: Doquang Mailan S.
Published: February 2018

This book offers new perspectives on the role of vegetal ornament in medieval church design by focusing on an extensive series of foliate friezes articulating iconic French monuments. It demonstrates that church builders strategically used organic motifs to integrate the interior and exterior of their structures, and to reinforce the connections and distinctions between the entirety of the sacred edifice and the profane world beyond its boundaries. This section introduces the reader to different types of foliate friezes, addresses the three primary themes that run through the body of the book (nature, meaning, and ornament), and provides a chapter summary.
The City
Authors: Mordden Ethan
Published: February 2018

This chapter looks into the growth of Chicago the city to understand why Chicago the musical occupies so unusual a spot in the history of American art. It explores the ways in which Chicago the city has become the site of many myths, memes, and signifiers and how these in turn have come to affect the musical. Chicago had the reputation of the can-do city, mixing its engineering marvels with an obsessive love of commercial activity. For two generations in the middle of the nineteenth century, Chicago (and St. Louis, its at times bitter rival) marked the western edge of America’s calendar of cities, the embarkation point for continental development. Chicago thus becomes a concentration of energies.
The Second Movie
Authors: Mordden Ethan
Published: February 2018

This chapter discusses the history of the second Chicago movie, Roxie Hart (1942). This film is a notable deviation from how the various Chicagos look at Roxie’s character, because here, for the first and only time, she is not a sociopath. True, she is still brusque and insolent, and especially contemptuous of Amos. But she is not a walking con job. Previously, Roxies wanted to get off even though they were guilty. This Roxie wants to get off because she is innocent; she has agreed to let the press and the law paint her as a murderess only to become notorious and thus break into show business. And there lies Roxie Hart’s most significant deviation, the first linking of crime and show biz that will prove so potent in the musical Chicago.
Introduction
Authors: Temperley David
Published: February 2018

This chapter presents the scope, rationale, and approach of the book. Unlike much previous research on rock, the book is focused on musical rather than sociocultural aspects; it is primarily theoretical (focused on general features of the style) rather than analytical (focused on understanding individual works), though it is argued that developing a stronger theoretical foundation for rock will benefit analysis. Rock is defined broadly, to include a wide range of late twentieth-century Anglo-American popular styles. The chapter addresses some potentially controversial aspects of the book, such as the idea of rock as a musical “language,” the use of concepts from common-practice theory, the use of music notation, and the focus on purely musical aspects of the rock style. The chapter also describes the corpus of harmonic analyses and melodic transcriptions that is used in the book.
Rhythm and Meter
Authors: Temperley David
Published: February 2018

Simple duple meter is predominant in rock; the metrical structure is usually clearly conveyed by the alternating “kick-snare” pattern in the drums. An important aspect of rock rhythm is anticipatory syncopation, the placement of accented events (such as stressed syllables) on weak beats just before the strong beat on which they are understood to “belong.” Adjacent syncopations at different levels (e.g., eighth-note and sixteenth-note syncopations) can create cross-rhythms. Harmonic rhythm—the rhythm of changes in harmony—is occasionally used in interesting ways in rock. Hypermeter—meter above the level of the measure—is generally regular, but irregularities are not uncommon; sometimes irregular and shifting meter occurs at lower levels as well.
Melody
Authors: Temperley David
Published: February 2018

Like melody in general, rock melody is understood to have a hierarchical “grouping structure,” with sub-phrases combining into phrases and then into larger units. A fundamental issue in rock melody is the alignment of melodic groups with meter; while “beginning-accented” groups are the norm, “end-accented” patterns and more irregular patterns also occur. Patterns of repetition—pitch and rhythmic repetition, as well as rhyme—are also important aspects of rock melody. Rock melody sometimes shows independence from the underlying harmony, a phenomenon known as “melodic-harmonic divorce.” Of particular interest is the use of the 3 and flat-3 scale degrees, which are sometimes used in rock melodies in close proximity; related to this is the issue of “blue notes,” notes which fall between the cracks of conventional chromatic-scale categories.
Strategies
Authors: Temperley David
Published: February 2018

Strategies are recurrent structural patterns that combine the musical dimensions explored in previous chapters—key/tonality, harmony, melody, rhythm/meter, phrase structure, timbre, form—for structural or expressive effect. One set of strategies concerns the boundary between the first VCU (verse-chorus unit) and the second; here there often seems to be an effort to balance continuity and closure. Another set of strategies involves the IV chord, which is used in rather specific ways to achieve cadential effects. VCUs often reflect an overall trajectory of tension, either “middle-peaking” or “end-peaking,” through increased rhythmic density, phrasal irregularity, and emphasis of non-tonic harmonies. Other strategies may be used to shape the energetic or tensional trajectory of a song as a whole. Finally, shifts in scale or tonal center can contribute greatly to the expressive impact of a song.
Understanding Distributions of Chadic Languages
Authors: MacEachern Scott
Published: February 2018

The distribution of Chadic languages in Africa is extremely diverse, including the widely dispersed Hausa language, the more restricted Central Chadic languages in the southern Lake Chad Basin, and the poorly understood Eastern Chadic languages in Chad. These distributions are disjunct in complex ways, and the relationships between Chadic and neighboring language families is extremely complicated. The genesis of these distributions lies in the mid-Holocene, with the occupation of the Lake Chad Basin by populations faced by the desiccation of the Sahara and the opening of arable lands further south. Further differentiation of Chadic languages appears to be associated with sociopolitical developments in the region, especially over the last 1,000 years. This chapter will consider the methodological challenges associated with studying the history of these populations using archaeological, linguistic, and genetic data, as well as providing an initial framework for understanding the social dynamics within which these linguistic distributions emerged.
Conquest and Contact in North African Languages
Authors: Ennaji Moha
Published: February 2018

This chapter investigates how language contact and conflict in North Africa impacts society, particularly education. It explores the intersections between cultures, languages, and education with the aim of providing a framework that would enrich the discussion of conquest and language conflict in terms of highlighting the role education and policy could play in the development and management of multilingual and multicultural societies. For the last sixty years, the linguistic situation in North Africa has witnessed many changes characterized by the significance of Arabic, which has been consolidated through the Arabization process, and by the important role of French, especially in higher education and in the private sector. While French remains widely used, Berber has finally been recognized as an official language and been introduced in elementary education in Morocco and Algeria. The shift is part of a larger movement toward pluralism and openness, especially since the Arab uprisings in 2011.
Language Movement and Civil War in West Africa
Authors: Albaugh Ericka A.
Published: February 2018

This chapter examines how civil war can influence the spread of language. Specifically, it takes Sierra Leone as a case study to demonstrate how Krio grew from being primarily a language of urban areas in the 1960s to one spoken by most of the population in the 2000s. While some of this was due to “normal” factors such as population movement and growing urbanization, the civil war from 1991 to 2002 certainly catalyzed the process of language spread in the 1990s. Using census documents and surveys, the chapter tests the hypothesis at the national, regional, and individual levels. The spread of a language has political consequences, as it allows for citizen participation in the political process. It is an example of political scientists’ approach to uncovering the mechanisms for and evidence of language movement in Africa.
The Invisible Niche of AUYL
Authors: Rudd Philip W.
Published: February 2018

In African cities, postcolonial ambiguity and contradiction bombard speakers, who hybridize traditional values with new urban identities and successfully bridge the old to the new with African Urban Youth Language (AUYL), a term inclusive of argot, slang, and register usage. Sheng, the AUYL from Nairobi, Kenya, exemplifies the metaphorical reversal of the old colonial order, symbolizing an invisible niche binding speakers neither to the traditional ethnic role nor to the old colonial empire and providing a sense of cosmopolitanism. African youth construct this new and modern identity, but the elites, seeing only fragmented nonstandard usage, treat the AUYL as illegitimate in order to render it nonexistent. This sociocultural chapter explores grammatical tendencies and lexical manipulations to disclose how AUYL is a “stylistic practice” (Eckert 2008) or bricolage (Hebdige 1979) that empowers speakers to construct a more complex, and meaningful, postcolonial social world.
Language Movement and Pragmatic Change in a Conflict Area
Authors: Nassenstein Nico
Published: February 2018

Since the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, the border areas of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been characterized by armed conflict and waves of cross-border migration, which have affected speakers’ realizations of the varieties of Kinyarwanda spoken in the area. The resulting recontextualized language use is best explored through a theoretical background of language ideologies and “border thinking.” With respect to Kinyarwanda, the fluid practice Kinyafranglais and the youth language Imvugo y’Umuhanda have emerged in relation to post-genocide language purification processes in Rwanda. In the ongoing conflict in DR Congo, secret metaphors in Kinyabwisha are used by Congolese armed groups when planning military operations, but they are also adopted by civilians when addressing delicate war-related topics. Pragmatic change in Rufumbira (Uganda) in the adjacent areas affect the realization of linguistic taboos, “sex talk,” and politeness strategies, which all deviate from patterns found across the border(s).
Urinary Bladder Cancer
Authors: Kogevinas Manolis , Figueroa Jonine , Garcia-Closas Montserrat , Mucci Lorelei
Published: February 2018

Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer worldwide, resulting in 430,000 new cases in 2012, and its incidence is substantially higher in men than women. Urothelial cell carcinoma, also known as transitional cell carcinoma, is the predominant histopathologic type. Bladder cancer occupies an important place in occupational epidemiology, in which associations with occupations exposed to aromatic amines were first identified in the 1950s. It is also among the first cancers for which an infectious etiology was identified, through parasitic infection with Schistosoma haematobium, which occurs in Africa and the eastern Mediterranean. Smokers have a two- to threefold increased risk of bladder cancer, and a fivefold higher risk for heavy smokers. Specific medical conditions, including urinary stones and diabetes, are positively associated with risk. Finally, bladder cancer is one of the few examples with consistent evidence of interactions between environmental exposures and genetic polymorphisms in cancer epidemiology.
Brain Cancer
Authors: Michaud Dominique , Savitz David , Mucci Lorelei
Published: February 2018

cBrain tumors constitute an array of histologic types, the most common being meningioma and glioma. Unlike other cancers, both benign and malignant brain tumors are concerning for survival because of their anatomic location. Two-thirds of brain tumors are benign. The most well established risk factor is high dose ionizing radiation, based on studies of atomic bomb survivors as well as children treated for tinea capitis. In contrast, nonionizing radiation including from cellular telephones, is not a risk factor. Tobacco use does not appear to be associated with glioma or meningioma. There is fairly consistent evidence of an inverse association between allergies and asthma with risk of glioma, potentially through levels of IgE. Finally, occupational epidemiology studies suggest potential positive associations with specific exposures. The identification of modifiable risk factors for brain tumors has been challenging, due in part to the diversity of tumor subtypes.
Laying the Cornerstone, 1825–1846
Authors: Sanders James W.
Published: February 2018

Benedict Fenwick, the second Roman Catholic bishop of Boston, had a rocky relationship both with the continued influx of Irish peasants and the Boston establishment. His priority was to lay the groundwork for Catholic higher education in Boston rather than establishing a parochial school system. Given that the Boston public schools presented a clear challenge to the faith of the Roman Catholic newcomers, one might expect that there would be a concerted counter-effort to provide a Catholic school alternative. However, the overall parochial school effort in Boston was much less than would have been expected. The major reasons for this “failure” were (1) the nature of the Catholic newcomers, who were overwhelmingly destitute Irish immigrants with no tradition of schooling in their homeland; (2) Bishop Fenwick’s background and personal characteristics; and (3) the policies adopted by the Boston establishment that controlled the public schools.
The Role and Location of Indeterminism
Authors: Franklin Christopher Evan
Published: February 2018

According to incompatibilists, free will and moral accountability exist only in nondeterministic worlds. But which ones? Where exactly must indeterminism be located, and what role must it play to make room for the possibility of freedom and accountability? This chapter evaluates three possible libertarian answers—non-action-centered accounts, nonbasic action-centered accounts, and basic action-centered accounts—and argues that libertarians should embrace a basic action-centered account that locates indeterminism at the moment of basic action (e.g., choice). Central to this chapter is showing that the source of the major problems with Kane’s event-causal libertarian theory can be traced to his problematic conception of the role and location of indeterminism and that we can avoid these problems by embracing the alternative conception developed in minimal event-causal libertarianism.
Defending White Rights
Authors: Golub Mark
Published: February 2018

Chapter 5 analyzes how color-blind constitutionalism developed into a powerful rights-based defense of white political interests in the Supreme Court’s affirmative action and post-Brown voluntary school desegregation cases. Understood as a form of conservative judicial activism, color-blindness requires a strong recognition of white victims as a racial group, and so necessarily enacts the very racial consciousness it claims to reject. Taken to its logical conclusion, color-blindness renders the pursuit of racial equality itself constitutionally suspect, and not just the use of race-conscious remedies as a means for achieving it.
Managing Civil Wars from the Perspective of Their Development
Authors: Tir Jaroslav , Karreth Johannes
Published: February 2018

After surveying the literature on the causes, consequences, and management of civil wars, we argue that novel ways of examining civil war management are needed. We advocate for a developmental view of civil wars in order to better understand how to prevent the escalation of low-level armed conflict to full-scale civil war. To prevent full-scale civil war, third parties need to (a) respond swiftly, (b) have the will and ability to impose tangible costs on (and offer benefits to) governments and rebels, and (c) remain involved over the long term. Our analysis shows that typical third-party civil war management approaches (mediation, peacekeeping, and intervention) fail to adequately address at least one of these issues. This motivates our argument in favor of focusing on a different type of third party that could arguably play a particularly constructive role in civil war prevention: highly structured intergovernmental organizations.
The Elements of Marketcraft
Authors: Vogel Steven K.
Published: February 2018

How do you craft a market? This chapter reviews some of the key institutions necessary to make markets function and flourish. A modern market economy requires much more than the rule of law and the protection of private property: corporate law, accounting systems, banking regulation, capital market regulation, corporate governance, labor regulation, antitrust policy, sector-specific regulation, intellectual property protection, and the deliberate fabrication of certain markets. These mechanisms structure markets by defining market actors, such as corporations; constructing goods, such as intellectual property rights; establishing market arenas, such as stock exchanges; setting the rules of exchange, such as trading practices; and promoting competition via regulation. In all of the substantive issue cases reviewed in this chapter, government regulation and private-sector coordination are not impediments to markets, but rather preconditions to their creation, expansion, and dynamism.
Nuclear War Outcomes
Authors: Kroenig Matthew
Published: February 2018

This chapter explores the idea that the nuclear balance of power matters for nuclear war outcomes. It tests this proposition by analyzing simulated nuclear exchanges between the United States and its nuclear-armed rivals: Russia, China, and North Korea. Drawing on both historical and contemporary data on the nuclear postures and strategies of these states, it shows that a state’s expected cost of nuclear war depends heavily on the nuclear balance of power. The results provide strong support for the superiority-brinkmanship synthesis theory. On the other hand, the major alternative explanation for nuclear war outcomes, the idea that the nuclear balance of power does not matter for nuclear war outcomes among states with secure, second-strike capabilities, does not find support.
Women’s Representation in Argentine National and Subnational Governments
Authors: Barnes Tiffany D. , Jones Mark P.
Published: February 2018

Tiffany D. Barnes and Mark P. Jones provide an analysis of women’s representation in Argentina. Argentina no longer retains the title of the most successful case of women’s representation in the region. Women’s legislative representation is just over the quota threshold—33%. They point out that the country has had more female presidents than any other Latin American country but lags behind in women’s representation among subnational executives, in national and subnational cabinets, and in party leadership. Gender quotas and electoral rules explain legislative representation, while political factors and informal institutions related to party selection processes for candidate and elected leadership positions are key for executives and parties. The consequences of women’s representation in Argentina have been significant in getting women’s issues represented and increasing men’s and women’s trust in government, and political engagement of women highlights that quotas have had pros and cons for women in Argentina.
Informal Institutions and Women’s Political Representation in Chile (1990–2015)
Authors: Franceschet Susan
Published: February 2018

Despite electing a female president, Michelle Bachelet, and at one point achieving gender parity in cabinet appointments, women’s presence in Chile’s national congress remains small, is only slightly higher at local levels, and is extremely limited among party and coalition leaders. In her gendered analysis of representation, Susan Franceschet argues this is because of the strong formal and informal institutions that limit the size of electoral districts, require large thresholds to win seats, and require coalition negotiation over candidates for elected office. Even though women have a mixed record of representation, their presence has had important policy consequences. A gender-focused presidency has been critical for passage of gender-attentive policies. Women in Chile’s legislative arenas have been more likely to bring gender issues to the agenda. Franceschet points out that Sernam, the women’s ministry, has played a critically important role in this. The electoral reforms approved by congress in 2015 include a gender quota, creating expectations that improvements will continue.
Marginalization of Women and Male Privilege in Political Representation in Uruguay
Authors: Johnson Niki
Published: February 2018

Niki Johnson shows that despite Uruguay being an institutionalized democracy, women have struggled to make numerical progress in politics. Formal and informal institutions that are inherently ridden with political biases limit women’s representation. Small district and party magnitudes along with male-biased candidate selection rules hindered women’s entry into office until the adoption of a gender quota, which was applied minimally by the main parties. Even with a quota, they still do not prioritize gender as a criterion for political office. Johnson points out that substantive representation of women has been historically strong. Uruguay has had a longstanding cross-party women’s caucus in the national parliament that has helped pass significant policies to help women. This contrasts with other countries where small numbers of women have meant more limited policy progress for women. Yet women still face numerous challenges both in terms of numbers and operating as women in politics in Uruguay.
Doing Valuable Time
Authors: Calhoun Cheshire
Published: February 2018

We are evaluators. We pursue what we take to be valuable, strive to live meaningfully, judge whether our present circumstances are good enough, and have standards for what we are willing to take an interest in rather than be bored by. We are also temporally oriented beings. We anticipate particular future events, previsaging them in imagination, and we live in the present under a general sense of what the future will be like. We often imagine how the temporal unfolding of events might have proceeded otherwise. And we understand our own life’s time as something to be spent and open to our choices about how to spend it. This is a book about the connection between these two features of human persons. It is also a book about the difficulties evaluators face in doing valuable time and the different ways we as evaluators connect and disconnect ourselves from our present and future. The author explores the nature of meaningful living, the motivating interest we take in our futures and lose in depression, how hope works to sustain difficult pursuits, the value of committing ourselves to having a particular future, the inevitability of boredom with the present, and the possibilities for being content with the imperfect present.
Latino and Muslim in America
Authors: Morales Harold D.
Published: February 2018

Even as many people view Latinos and Muslims as growing threats in US discourse, Latino Muslims celebrate their intersecting identities in their daily lives and in their mediated representations. The story of Latinos embracing Islam is set in an American religious landscape that is characteristically “diverse and fluid.” It follows distinctive immigration patterns and laws, metropolitan spaces, and new media technologies that have increasingly brought Latinos and Muslims into contact with one another. It is part of the mass exodus out of the Catholic Church, the digitization of religion, and the growth of Islam. It is set in a national context dominated by particular media politics, information economies, and the hyper-racialization of its inhabitants and their religious identities. The historically specific character of groups like Latino Muslims increasingly compels scholars to approach the categories of race, religion, and media as inextricably intertwined. This monograph therefore draws on and engages central categories, theories, and issues in the fields of religious, ethnic, and media studies. By carefully attending to the stories that Latino Muslims tell about themselves, the work examines the racialization of religion, the narrating of religious conversion experiences, the dissemination of post-colonial histories, and the development of Latino Muslim networks across the United States. This study of how being Latino and Muslim in America becomes mediated is a cautionary analysis of how so-called minority groups are made in the United States and how they become fragmented and nevertheless struggle for recognition in a “diverse and fluid” landscape.
The Second Half
Authors: Pagliari Stefano
Published: February 2018

This chapter explores the implementation of the derivatives rules included within the Dodd-Frank by US regulatory agencies. This phase brought to a halt the tightening in the regulation of derivatives markets that had been set in motion by the financial crisis, as regulators have come to exclude a number of actors and transactions from regulatory requirements mandated by Congress. In order to explain this outcome, this chapter will map the ecology of interest groups from within and outside the financial industry that have mobilized during the implementation of Dodd-Frank. The analysis will reveal how the breadth and cohesiveness of the opposition front that emerged in response to different rules have influenced the capacity of regulators to withstand pressures to whittle down the scope and strictness of Dodd-Frank during the implementation phase.
Positioning for Stronger Limits?
Authors: Helleiner Eric
Published: February 2018

Although commodity derivatives are a small segment of the overall global derivatives markets, their regulation attracted more public attention than any other single issue on the post-2008 derivatives reform agenda. The goal of regulatory reform in this sector in the United States, European Union, and G20 went beyond that of bolstering of transparency and resilience to include the more market-constraining objective of strengthening “position limits” that set a ceiling on the number of contracts that traders are allowed to hold. The initiatives to strengthen position limits after 2008 demonstrated the importance of a complex interplay of domestic, inter-state, and transnational political dynamics in shaping regulatory trends. Reform initiatives in this sector also highlighted some unexpectedly long delays and inconsistencies in the implementation of reforms.
Interpolation and extrapolation
Authors: Boudreau Joseph F. , Swanson Eric S.
Published: February 2018

This chapter deals with two related problems occurring frequently in the physical sciences: first, the problem of estimating the value of a function from a limited number of data points; and second, the problem of calculating its value from a series approximation. Numerical methods for interpolating and extrapolating data are presented. The famous Lagrange interpolating polynomial is introduced and applied to one-dimensional and multidimensional problems. Cubic spline interpolation is introduced and an implementation in terms of Eigen classes is given. Several techniques for improving the convergence of Taylor series are discussed, including Shank’s transformation, Richardson extrapolation, and the use of Padé approximants. Conversion between representations with the quotient-difference algorithm is discussed. The exercises explore public transportation, human vision, the wine market, and SU(2) lattice gauge theory, among other topics.
Percolation and universality
Authors: Boudreau Joseph F. , Swanson Eric S.
Published: February 2018

Percolation deals with global properties of random configurations of local objects. While simple to implement in models, understanding percolation requires skill in pattern recognition and analysis. A cluster recognition algorithm is developed to obtain properties of percolation models. The fractal nature of a percolating system is discussed, along with general features of fractals. Scaling laws and critical exponents, which are central features of modern approaches to complex systems, are also introduced and illustrated with percolating systems. The important concept of a correlation function is also used to characterize these systems. Finally, the insensitivity of large classes of model systems with respect to short range dynamics, known as universality, is discussed in the context of percolation. This is illustrated with the modern concepts of coarse graining and the renormalization group.
Simulation
Authors: Boudreau Joseph F. , Swanson Eric S.
Published: February 2018

This chapter is devoted to Monte Carlo simulation of stochastic processes, both fundamental processes and those involving radiation transport through macroscopic material. The computation of fundamental processes builds on the treatment of rotations and Lorentz transformations from the previous chapter and expands it with a discussion of computational techniques for the evaluation of Feynman diagrams. The simulation of radiation transport covers electromagnetic processes such as ionization energy loss, bremsstrahlung, and pair production. A discussion of real-life challenges in the simulation of radiation transport is included, as well as a brief discussion of simulation toolkits that are available for solving industrial-strength problems. The discussion is intended to give an overview of some of the principal computational and numerical techniques enabling these toolkits.