bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Inferred changes in El Niño–Southern Oscillation variance over the past six centuries
Authors: McGregor S. , Timmermann A. , England M. H. , Elison Timm O. , Wittenberg A. T.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. It is vital to understand how the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has responded to past changes in natural and anthropogenic forcings, in order to better understand and predict its response to future greenhouse warming. To date, however, the instrumental record is too brief to fully characterize natural ENSO variability, while large discrepancies exist amongst paleo-proxy reconstructions of ENSO. These paleo-proxy reconstructions have typically attempted to reconstruct ENSO's temporal evolution, rather than the variance of these temporal changes. Here a new approach is developed that synthesizes the variance changes from various proxy data sets to provide a unified and updated estimate of past ENSO variance. The method is tested using surrogate data from two coupled general circulation model (CGCM) simulations. It is shown that in the presence of dating uncertainties, synthesizing variance information provides a more robust estimate of ENSO variance than synthesizing the raw data and then identifying its running variance. We also examine whether good temporal correspondence between proxy data and instrumental ENSO records implies a good representation of ENSO variance. In the climate modeling framework we show that a significant improvement in reconstructing ENSO variance changes is found when combining information from diverse ENSO-teleconnected source regions, rather than by relying on a single well-correlated location. This suggests that ENSO variance estimates derived from a single site should be viewed with caution. Finally, synthesizing existing ENSO reconstructions to arrive at a better estimate of past ENSO variance changes, we find robust evidence that the ENSO variance for any 30 yr period during the interval 1590–1880 was considerably lower than that observed during 1979–2009.
Mid- and late Holocene dust deposition in western Europe: the Misten peat bog (Hautes Fagnes – Belgium)
Authors: Allan M. , Le Roux G. , Piotrowska N. , Beghin J. , Javaux E. , Court-Picon M. , Mattielli N. , Verheyden S. , Fagel N.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. Dust deposition in southern Belgium is estimated from the geochemical signature of an ombrotrophic peatland. The rare earth elements (REE) and lithogenic elements concentrations, as well as Nd isotopes, were determined by HR-ICP-MS and MC-ICP-MS, respectively, along an ~6 m peat section covering 5300 yr, from 2000 to 7300 cal BP, dated by the 14C method. Changes in REE concentration in the peat correlate with those of Ti, Al, Sc and Zr that are lithogenic conservative elements, suggesting that REE are immobile in the studied peat bogs and can be used as tracers of dust deposition. Peat humification and testate amoebae were used to evaluate hydroclimatic conditions. The range of dust deposition varied from 0.03 to 4.0 g m−2 yr−1. The highest dust fluxes were observed from 2750 to 2550 cal BP and from 5150 to 4750 cal BP, and correspond to cold periods. The ϵNd values show a large variability from −13 to −5, identifying three major sources of dusts: local soils, distal volcanic and desert particles.
In-flight calibration of the Cluster/CODIF sensor
Authors: Kistler L. M. , Mouikis C. G. , Genestreti K. J.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. The Cluster/CODIF sensor is a time-of-flight instrument that measures the ion composition over the energy range 40 eV e−1 to 40 keV e−1. It operated for 4 yr on S/C 1, 9 yr on S/C 3, and is still operational on S/C 4, after more than 12 yr. During this time the total ion detection efficiency has decreased by a factor of 50. In this paper, we describe the methods used to track the efficiency changes throughout the mission for the three different spacecraft and for the different ion species. The methods include calculations of the efficiencies using rate data collected in the instrument, comparisons with other instruments on the Cluster satellites, and checks based on geophysically reasonable assumptions.
The potential of radar-based ensemble forecasts for flash-flood early warning in the southern Swiss Alps
Authors: Liechti K. , Panziera L. , Germann U. , Zappa M.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. This study explores the limits of radar-based forecasting for hydrological runoff prediction. Two novel radar-based ensemble forecasting chains for flash-flood early warning are investigated in three catchments in the southern Swiss Alps and set in relation to deterministic discharge forecasts for the same catchments. The first radar-based ensemble forecasting chain is driven by NORA (Nowcasting of Orographic Rainfall by means of Analogues), an analogue-based heuristic nowcasting system to predict orographic rainfall for the following eight hours. The second ensemble forecasting system evaluated is REAL-C2, where the numerical weather prediction COSMO-2 is initialised with 25 different initial conditions derived from a four-day nowcast with the radar ensemble REAL. Additionally, three deterministic forecasting chains were analysed. The performance of these five flash-flood forecasting systems was analysed for 1389 h between June 2007 and December 2010 for which NORA forecasts were issued, due to the presence of orographic forcing. A clear preference was found for the ensemble approach. Discharge forecasts perform better when forced by NORA and REAL-C2 rather then by deterministic weather radar data. Moreover, it was observed that using an ensemble of initial conditions at the forecast initialisation, as in REAL-C2, significantly improved the forecast skill. These forecasts also perform better then forecasts forced by ensemble rainfall forecasts (NORA) initialised form a single initial condition of the hydrological model. Thus the best results were obtained with the REAL-C2 forecasting chain. However, for regions where REAL cannot be produced, NORA might be an option for forecasting events triggered by orographic precipitation.
Simulation of rock salt dissolution and its impact on land subsidence
Authors: Zidane A. , Zechner E. , Huggenberger P. , Younes A.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. Extensive land subsidence can occur due to subsurface dissolution of evaporites such as halite and gypsum. This paper explores techniques to simulate the salt dissolution forming an intrastratal karst, which is embedded in a sequence of carbonates, marls, anhydrite and gypsum. A numerical model is developed to simulate laminar flow in reactive fractures. The numerical model is based on the laminar steady state Stokes flow equation, and the advection dispersion transport equation coupled with the dissolution equation. The flow equation is solved using the nonconforming Crouzeix–Raviart (CR) finite element approximation for the Stokes equation. For the transport equation, a combination between Discontinuous Galerkin Method and Multipoint Flux Approximation Method is proposed. The numerical effect of the dissolution is considered by using a dynamic mesh variation that increases the size of the mesh based on the amount of dissolved salt. The numerical method is applied to a 2-D geological cross section representing a Horst and Graben structure in the Tabular Jura of north-western Switzerland. It simulates salt dissolution within the geological section and predicts the amount of vertical dissolution as an indicator of subsidence that could occur. Simulation results showed that the highest dissolution amount is observed near the normal fault zones, and therefore the highest subsidence rates are expected above fault zones.
Ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea constrained by multiple transient tracer measurements
Authors: Stöven T. , Tanhua T.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. Ventilation is the prime pathway for ocean surface perturbations, such as temperature anomalies, to be relayed to the ocean interior. It is also the conduit for gas exchange between atmosphere and ocean and thus the mechanism whereby, for instance, the interior ocean is oxygenated and enriched in anthropogenic carbon. The ventilation of the Mediterranean Sea is fast in comparison to the world ocean and has large temporal variability, so that quantification of Mediterranean Sea ventilation rates is challenging and very relevant for Mediterranean oceanography and biogeochemistry. Here we present transient tracer data from a field-campaign in April 2011 that sampled a unique suite of transient tracers (SF6, CFC-12, tritium and 3He) in all major basins of the Mediterranean. We apply the Transit Time Distribution (TTD) model to the data which then constrain the mean age, the ratio of the advective/diffusive transport mechanism, and the presence, or not, of more than one significant (for ventilation) water mass. We find that the eastern part of the Eastern Mediterranean can be reasonable described with a one dimensional Inverse Gaussian (1IG) TTD, and thus constrained with two independent tracers. The ventilation of the Ionian Sea and the Western Mediterranean can only be constrained by a multidimensional TTD. We approximate the ventilation with a two-dimensional Inverse Gaussian (2IG) TTD for these areas and demonstrate one way of constraining a 2IG-TTD from the available transient tracer data. The deep water in the Ionian Sea has higher mean ages than the deep water of the Levantine Basin despite higher transient tracer concentrations. This is partly due to the deep water of Adriatic origin having more diffusive properties in the transport and formation, i.e. a high ratio of diffusion over advection, compared to the deep water of Aegean Sea origin that still dominates the deep Levantine Basin deep water after the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) in the early 1990s. We also show that the deep Western Mediterranean has approximately 40% contribution of recently ventilated deep water from the Western Mediterranean Transition (WMT) event of the mid-2000s. The deep water has higher transient tracer concentrations than the mid-depth water, but the mean age is similar.
Modeling bulk density and snow water equivalent using daily snow depth observations.
Authors: McCreight J. L. , Small E. E.
Published: October 2013

Abstract. Bulk density is a fundamental property of snow relating its depth and mass. Previously, two simple models of bulk density (depending on snow depth, date, and location) have been developed to convert snow depth observations to snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates. However, these models were not intended for application at the daily time step. We develop a new model of bulk density for the daily timestep and demonstrate its improved skill over the existing models. Snow depth and density are negatively correlated at short (10 days) timescales while positively correlated at longer (90 days) timescales. We separate these scales of variability by modeling smoothed, daily snow depth (long time scales) and the observed positive and negative anomalies from the smoothed timeseries (short timescales) as separate terms. A climatology of fit is also included as a predictor variable. Over a half-million, daily observations of depth and SWE at 345 SNOTEL sites are used to fit models and evaluate their performance. For each location, we train the three models to the neighboring stations within 70 km, transfer the parameters to the location to be modeled, and evaluate modeled timeseries against the observations at that site. Our model exhibits improved statistics and qualitatively more-realistic behavior at the daily time step when sufficient local training data are available. We reduce density RMSE by 9.6% and 4.2% compared to previous models. Similarly, R2 increases from 0.46 to 0.52 to 0.56 across models. Removing the challenge of parameter transfer increases R2 scores for both the existing and new models, but the gain is greatest for the new model (R2 = 0.75). Our model shows general improvement over the existing models when data are more frequent than once every 5 days and at least 3 stations are available for training.
The Vegetarian Polis: Just Diet in Plato’s Republic and in Ours
Authors: Painter Corinne M.
Published: October 2013

In this article, I argue that the just society is vegetarian. However, I do so in a way not commonly attempted by contemporary animal rights theorists, insofar as I appeal to Plato to make my case. Although there are certainly other ways to argue for this position, appealing to Plato is (among other things) a significant and interesting way to lend historical credibility to this argument, and as such, the argument offered in this article provides an important contribution to existing analyses that attempt to establish that humans ought to be vegetarians.
Hogarth’s Animals
Authors: Beirne Piers
Published: October 2013

It is well established that discursive innovations in literature and philosophy encouraged pro-animal sentiments in 18th-century England. Far less well known in this regard is the "animal turn" in the graphic arts. This article seeks to redress this imbalance by documenting the extensive representation of animals in the paintings, drawings, and printed engravings of the English artist William Hogarth (1697-1764). It outlines the four chief ways in which Hogarth pictured animals-namely, as hybrids, as edibles, as "pets," and as signs of satire. In so doing the article asks, how did Hogarth see animals? How should we see Hogarth’s animals?
"Some Small Discrepancy": Jean-Christophe Bailly’s Creaturely Ontology
Authors: Pick Anat
Published: October 2013

This article situates Jean-Christophe Bailly’s The Animal Side in the continuum of Continental philosophy on animality and animal ontology. Exploring Bailly’s linking of thought and vision and his insistence on the pivotal role of animals in the emergence of European art and image-making, I argue that the political dimension--a central implication of Bailly’s text--calls for further attention and development. This points to a broader concern within contemporary Continental theory on the subject of animals: the need to connect new human and animal ontologies with ethical, political, and normative models for the effective articulation of post-anthropocentric collectivities.
Can Economists Speak for Farmed Animals?
Authors: McMullen Steven
Published: October 2013

Compassion, by the Pound is an excellent volume on the economics of animal agriculture. The authors’ analysis of animal welfare includes important contributions to the practice of cost-benefit analysis and a groundbreaking study of consumer preferences for more ethically produced animal products. Undergirding their economic analysis, however, is an inadequate engagement with animal ethics and economic ethics. This review highlights the strengths of this book and then considers three problems with the authors’ implicit ethical framework. This book highlights both the value and the difficulty of using standard economic methods to contribute to the field of animal ethics.
Electricity Demand in Wholesale Italian Market
Authors: Bigerna Simona , Bollino Carlo Andrea
Published: October 2013

In this paper we pursue two objectives: firstly we construct a theory based behavioral model of electricity demand in the Italian market; secondly we measure demand elasticity at hourly level, directly from consumer behavior. This is a novel approach providing the first attempt in the literature to estimate demand elasticity using individual demand bid data in the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX). Econometric estimation allows us to identify robust results, showing that elasticity varies significantly with: time of the day; day of the week; season of the year; pattern of line congestion; as well as according to the level of equilibrium price. This has meaningful policy implications: fostering more competition on the supply side could yield lower equilibrium prices and proportionately much higher quantities, for a lower offer curve shifted to the right would intersect a flatter portion of the demand curve.
Editor's Comments
Authors: Gerrity Robert
Published: October 2013

Editor's Comments
Book Reviews
Authors: Lee Sul H. , Murdock John W. , Payne Charles T. , Devlin Eleanor R. , Dudley Norman , Guthrie Gerry D.
Published: October 2013

Book Reviews
The Ethics of Computer Games
Authors: Sicart Miguel
Published: October 2013

Why computer games can be ethical, how players use their ethical values in gameplay, and the implications for game design.

Despite the emergence of computer games as a dominant cultural industry (and the accompanying emergence of computer games as the subject of scholarly research), we know little or nothing about the ethics of computer games. Considerations of the morality of computer games seldom go beyond intermittent portrayals of them in the mass media as training devices for teenage serial killers. In this first scholarly exploration of the subject, Miguel Sicart addresses broader issues about the ethics of games, the ethics of playing the games, and the ethical responsibilities of game designers. He argues that computer games are ethical objects, that computer game players are ethical agents, and that the ethics of computer games should be seen as a complex network of responsibilities and moral duties. Players should not be considered passive amoral creatures; they reflect, relate, and create with ethical minds. The games they play are ethical systems, with rules that create gameworlds with values at play. Drawing on concepts from philosophy and game studies, Sicart proposes a framework for analyzing the ethics of computer games as both designed objects and player experiences. After presenting his core theoretical arguments and offering a general theory for understanding computer game ethics, Sicart offers case studies examining single-player games (using Bioshock as an example), multiplayer games (illustrated by Defcon), and online gameworlds (illustrated by World of Warcraft) from an ethical perspective. He explores issues raised by unethical content in computer games and its possible effect on players and offers a synthesis of design theory and ethics that could be used as both analytical tool and inspiration in the creation of ethical gameplay.
Ignorance and Surprise
Authors: Gross Matthias
Published: October 2013

The relationship between ignorance and surprise and a conceptual framework for dealing with the unexpected, as seen in ecological design projects.

Ignorance and surprise belong together: surprises can make people aware of their own ignorance. And yet, perhaps paradoxically, a surprising event in scientific research—one that defies prediction or risk assessment—is often a window to new and unexpected knowledge. In this book, Matthias Gross examines the relationship between ignorance and surprise, proposing a conceptual framework for handling the unexpected and offering case studies of ecological design that demonstrate the advantages of allowing for surprises and including ignorance in the design and negotiation processes.

Gross draws on classical and contemporary sociological accounts of ignorance and surprise in science and ecology and integrates these with the idea of experiment in society. He develops a notion of how unexpected occurrences can be incorporated into a model of scientific and technological development that includes the experimental handling of surprises. Gross discusses different projects in ecological design, including Chicago's restoration of the shoreline of Lake Michigan and Germany's revitalization of brownfields near Leipzig. These cases show how ignorance and surprise can successfully play out in ecological design projects, and how the acknowledgment of the unknown can become a part of decision making. The appropriation of surprises can lead to robust design strategies.

Ecological design, Gross argues, is neither a linear process of master planning nor a process of trial and error but a carefully coordinated process of dealing with unexpected turns by means of experimental practice.
Dendritic Spines
Authors: Yuste Rafael
Published: October 2013

A leading neurobiologist explores the fundamental function of dendritic spines in neural circuits by analyzing different aspects of their biology, including structure, development, motility, and plasticity.

Most neurons in the brain are covered by dendritic spines, small protrusions that arise from dendrites, covering them like leaves on a tree. But a hundred and twenty years after spines were first described by Ramón y Cajal, their function is still unclear. Dozens of different functions have been proposed, from Cajal's idea that they enhance neuronal interconnectivity to hypotheses that spines serve as plasticity machines, neuroprotective devices, or even digital logic elements. In Dendritic Spines, leading neurobiologist Rafael Yuste attempts to solve the “spine problem,” searching for the fundamental function of spines. He does this by examining many aspects of spine biology that have fascinated him over the years, including their structure, development, motility, plasticity, biophysical properties, and calcium compartmentalization. Yuste argues that we may never understand how the brain works without understanding the specific function of spines. In this book, he offers a synthesis of the information that has been gathered on spines (much of which comes from his own studies of the mammalian cortex), linking their function with the computational logic of the neuronal circuits that use them. He argues that once viewed from the circuit perspective, all the pieces of the spine puzzle fit together nicely into a single, overarching function. Yuste connects these two topics, integrating current knowledge of spines with that of key features of the circuits in which they operate. He concludes with a speculative chapter on the computational function of spines, searching for the ultimate logic of their existence in the brain and offering a proposal that is sure to stimulate discussions and drive future research.
Exchange Rate Regimes in the Modern Era
Authors: Klein Michael W. , Shambaugh Jay C.
Published: October 2013

An analysis of the operation and consequences of exchange rate regimes in an era of increasing international interdependence.

The exchange rate is sometimes called the most important price in a highly globalized world. A country's choice of its exchange rate regime, between government-managed fixed rates and market-determined floating rates has significant implications for monetary policy, trade, and macroeconomic outcomes, and is the subject of both academic and policy debate. In this book, two leading economists examine the operation and consequences of exchange rate regimes in an era of increasing international interdependence.

Michael Klein and Jay Shambaugh focus on the evolution of exchange rate regimes in the modern era, the period since 1973, which followed the Bretton Woods era of 1945–72 and the pre-World War I gold standard era. Klein and Shambaugh offer a comprehensive, integrated treatment of the characteristics of exchange rate regimes and their effects. The book draws on and synthesizes data from the recent wave of empirical research on this topic, and includes new findings that challenge preconceived notions.
Voting in Practice
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter describes how politicians have manipulated the elements of electoral systems to show that many properties of methods of social choice and voting are real and can have practical consequences on the parts of candidates and voters. Several voting mechanisms used in practice in several countries, including the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, and France, are also discussed. By practice, it is shown that both the politicians and the voters are engaged in strategic behavior, which must be taken into account when the analysis of electoral systems worldwide is performed.
Fallacies of the Traditional Model in Voting
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter presents experimental evidence to show the drawbacks of the traditional model of theory of social choice and voting, in which inputs to voters are unrealistic, and voters are not willing to think and express themselves in those terms. Approval voting is discussed in the context of left–right spectra. Another shortcoming of the model is that there are no electoral systems in the world that provide voters with the freedom of expression they deserve and are willing to have. Also, the concept of aggregating rank-orders is useless because it has no concrete meaning.
Common Language
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses the common languages of grading used by judges in wine, figure skating, diving, and other competitions, and their connections with scales and levels of measurement of competence and performance of a competitor or an aspiring politician. When common languages are used by experts such as juries of experts who class wines and professors grading students, they have absolute meanings. Examples of common languages, including the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, the Richter scale ML, and the Mankoski pain scale, along with four levels of measurement proposed by experimental psychologist S. S. Stevens, are also described.
Strategy in Grading
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

Identification of grading methods immune to judges’ strategic manipulation is the main focus of the chapter, which discusses social grading function immunity to manipulation and encourages the use of order function for minimizing the judges’ manipulation probability. The advantage of use of order function for the judges is discussed along with the properties of the function. Order function does not require language improvement as it provides answers for judges from different cultures in a simple language. The Borda-majority method used by the International Skating Union is compared with the SGF method determined by the kth-order function, where k is the middlemost grade with an appeal to both judges and voters.
Meaningfulness
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter focuses on the importance of keeping the grade language simple, with common and absolute meaning that could be understood by all judges passing judgment for the grades. Reinforcement of social grading function (SGF) with aggregation function f is described through a theorem along with natural generalization of unanimity property. The importance of language consistency for grading is discussed via order functions. Preservation of two aggregation comparisons under continuous transformation is presented, which helps maintain SGF’s significance. Final outcomes of grades need not change if the order is consistently preserved in transformation of one language to another language.
Majority-Grade
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter focuses on the reasons why majority-grade is presented as the most appropriate of aggregation functions. Determining the final grade for practical and theoretical reasons, middlemost aggregation functions appear to be the best-suited choice as the functions avoid manipulation and agree with the majority. Narrowing of the choices to lower and upper middlemost aggregation functions leads to the inheritance of every good property of order functions. Properties singling out the majority grade include respecting consensus, Rawlsian criterion, and simplicity, among others. Problems establishing rank-orderings of candidates or alternatives determining final grades for an even number of judges are discussed.
Majority-Ranking
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter focuses on the use of majority-ranking compared with the traditional model of social choice theory. Social grading function as strategy-proof-in-ranking is used in the chapter to illustrate the dominance of the strategy for judges to assign grades according to their wishes. The difference of the ranking procedure used by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the majority-ranking is presented, highlighting ISU’s use of increasingly ad hoc devices for its majority-grade system. Precision of majority-ranking is compared with ISU’s ranking system along with the comparison of majority-ranking for the SCW, election Society with ISU’s ranking system. The chapter presents the majority-ranking characterization that equals majority-grade characterization.
Large Electorates
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter emphasizes the simplification of majority-ranking, stating that an increased number of judges in the jury or voters in an electorate or use of simplified common language help to simplify majority-values of competitors or candidates. Ordered set grades help obtain majority-value by beginning with the majority-grade or the lower middlemost grade and following alternating grades. Unambiguous order among the competitors can be determined with certainty given an increased number of judges or voters and relatively few grades. The competitor’s majority-gauge, which is strategy-proof-in-grading, is explained with the help of a theorem. Upper, lower, and difference tie-breaking rules that are strategy-proof-in-grading share properties with the majority-gauge-ranking.
Objections to Majority Judgment
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter focuses on majority judgment drawbacks. Properties, including participant-consistency, join-consistency, and proper cancellation, which majority judgment does not satisfy, are also lacking in other traditional models of social choice theory. The chapter concludes that majority judgment is a practical method for ranking and electing, and is a choice-monotonic, rank-monotonic, and strongly monotonic method. Drawbacks of traditional models are also highlighted, and it is stated that the traditional models lack guarantees of change in the estimation of voters without affecting the outcome of the election or ranking. The chapter discusses the critics of the majority judgment, who do not take into consideration the strategic behavior of judges and voters.
Approval Voting
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter discusses and analyzes approval voting, one of the point-summing methods where each voter is allowed to cast as many votes as he wishes. The form in which approval voting is practiced currently is an example of range-voting, in which there are only two meaningless scores. The approval voting experiments conducted under the conditions of the Orsay experiment of 2007 demonstrates support to the theoretical claims for and against it. The concept of approval judgment, which differs from approval voting in its traditional practice, which makes clear that the evaluations are absolute grades, is also discussed. One of the drawbacks of approval voting is that a candidate preferred by only one voter of the electorate is likely to be elected when strategic behavior is ignored.
The Game of Voting
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

This chapter compares majority judgment mechanism to other methods, including first-past-the-post and Borda’s method, among others, in the context of the game of voting. The concept of utilities, which depends on grade distribution of the electorate, is extended to election output. When the identity of the election winner is dependent on the utilities of voters, Condorcet-winner is elected by a large number of strong-equilibria strategy-profiles. The chapter explores best-response correspondence, according to which, if the number of possible equilibria is very small and sometimes unique, the Condorcet-winner emerges as the unique, possible equilibrium outcome and honest votes determine the election outcome.
Multicriteria Ranking
Authors: Balinski Michel , Laraki Rida
Published: October 2013

In this chapter, the majority judgment is extended to multicriteria problems. The most reasonable application of the majority judgment to multicriteria evaluation can be achieved by using a common language. The use of a particular procedure for multicriteria inputs will depend on the particular application. The chapter also describes several types of multicriteria majority judgments, including the judge-based majority judgment in which majority-grades of the sum of the points are calculated, and the criterion-based majority judgment in which first majority-grade of each criterion’s grades are calculated. It furthermore defines judge-based and criterion-based majority judgment procedures, which include a judge-based procedure and criterion-based procedure.
Divining a Digital Future
Authors: Dourish Paul , Bell Genevieve
Published: October 2013

A sociotechnical investigation of ubiquitous computing as a research enterprise and as a lived reality.

Ubiquitous computing (or ubicomp) is the label for a “third wave” of computing technologies. Following the eras of the mainframe computer and the desktop PC, ubicomp is characterized by small and powerful computing devices that are worn, carried, or embedded in the world around us. The ubicomp research agenda originated at Xerox PARC in the late 1980s; these days, some form of that vision is a reality for the millions of users of Internet-enabled phones, GPS devices, wireless networks, and "smart" domestic appliances. In Divining a Digital Future, computer scientist Paul Dourish and cultural anthropologist Genevieve Bell explore the vision that has driven the ubiquitous computing research program and the contemporary practices that have emerged—both the motivating mythology and the everyday messiness of lived experience.

Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the authors' collaboration, the book takes seriously the need to understand ubicomp not only technically but also culturally, socially, politically, and economically. Dourish and Bell map the terrain of contemporary ubiquitous computing, in the research community and in daily life; explore dominant narratives in ubicomp around such topics as infrastructure, mobility, privacy, and domesticity; and suggest directions for future investigation, particularly with respect to methodology and conceptual foundations.
Imagery in the 21st Century
Authors: Veigl Thomas
Published: October 2013

Scholars from science, art, and humanities explore the meaning of our new image worlds and offer new strategies for visual analysis.

We are surrounded by images as never before: on Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube; on thousands of television channels; in digital games and virtual worlds; in media art and science. Without new efforts to visualize complex ideas, structures, and systems, today's information explosion would be unmanageable. The digital image represents endless options for manipulation; images seem capable of changing interactively or even autonomously. This volume offers systematic and interdisciplinary reflections on these new image worlds and new analytical approaches to the visual.

Imagery in the 21st Century examines this revolution in various fields, with researchers from the natural sciences and the humanities meeting to achieve a deeper understanding of the meaning and impact of the image in our time. The contributors explore and discuss new critical terms of multidisciplinary scope, from database economy to the dramaturgy of hypermedia, from visualizations in neuroscience to the image in bio art. They consider the power of the image in the development of human consciousness, pursue new definitions of visual phenomena, and examine new tools for image research and visual analysis.
Carnal Resonance
Authors: Paasonen Susanna
Published: October 2013

An exploration of the modalities, affective intensities, and disturbing qualities of online pornography.

Digital production tools and online networks have dramatically increased the general visibility, accessibility, and diversity of pornography. Porn can be accessed for free, anonymously, and in a seemingly endless range of niches, styles, and formats. In Carnal Resonance, Susanna Paasonen moves beyond the usual debates over the legal, political, and moral aspects of pornography to address online porn in a media historical framework, investigating its modalities, its affect, and its visceral and disturbing qualities. Countering theorizations of pornography as emotionless, affectless, detached, and cold, Paasonen addresses experiences of porn largely through the notion of affect as gut reactions, intensities of experience, bodily sensations, resonances, and ambiguous feelings. She links these investigations to considerations of methodology (ways of theorizing and analyzing online porn and affect), questions of materiality (bodies, technologies, and inscriptions), and the evolution of online pornography.

Paasonen dicusses the development of online porn, focusing on the figure of the porn consumer, and considers user-generated content and amateur porn. She maps out the modality of online porn as hyperbolic, excessive, stylized, and repetitive, arguing that literal readings of the genre misunderstand its dynamics and appeal. And she analyzes viral videos and extreme and shock pornogaphy, arguing for the centrality of disgust and shame in the affective dynamics of porn. Paasonen's analysis makes clear the crucial role of media technologies—digital production tools and networked communications in particular—in the forms that porn takes, the resonances it stirs, and the experiences it makes possible.
Against Moral Responsibility
Authors: Waller Bruce N.
Published: October 2013

A vigorous attack on moral responsibility in all its forms argues that the abolition of moral responsibility will be liberating and beneficial.

In Against Moral Responsibility, Bruce Waller launches a spirited attack on a system that is profoundly entrenched in our society and its institutions, deeply rooted in our emotions, and vigorously defended by philosophers from ancient times to the present. Waller argues that, despite the creative defenses of it by contemporary thinkers, moral responsibility cannot survive in our naturalistic-scientific system. The scientific understanding of human behavior and the causes that shape human character, he contends, leaves no room for moral responsibility.

Waller argues that moral responsibility in all its forms—including criminal justice, distributive justice, and all claims of just deserts—is fundamentally unfair and harmful and that its abolition will be liberating and beneficial. What we really want—natural human free will, moral judgments, meaningful human relationships, creative abilities—would survive and flourish without moral responsibility. In the course of his argument, Waller examines the origins of the basic belief in moral responsibility, proposes a naturalistic understanding of free will, offers a detailed argument against moral responsibility and critiques arguments in favor of it, gives a general account of what a world without moral responsibility would look like, and examines the social and psychological aspects of abolishing moral responsibility. Waller not only mounts a vigorous, and philosophically rigorous, attack on the moral responsibility system, but also celebrates the benefits that would result from its total abolition.
The Consciousness Paradox
Authors: Gennaro Rocco J.
Published: October 2013

A defense of a version of the higher-order thought (HOT) theory of consciousness with special attention to such topics as concepts and animal consciousness.

Consciousness is arguably the most important area within contemporary philosophy of mind and perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the world. Despite an explosion of research from philosophers, psychologists, and scientists, attempts to explain consciousness in neurophysiological, or even cognitive, terms are often met with great resistance. In The Consciousness Paradox, Rocco Gennaro aims to solve an underlying paradox, namely, how it is possible to hold a number of seemingly inconsistent views, including higher-order thought (HOT) theory, conceptualism, infant and animal consciousness, concept acquisition, and what he calls the HOT-brain thesis. He defends and further develops a metapsychological reductive representational theory of consciousness and applies it to several importantly related problems. Gennaro proposes a version of the HOT theory of consciousness that he calls the "wide intrinsicality view" and shows why it is superior to various alternatives, such as self-representationalism and first-order representationalism. HOT theory says that what makes a mental state conscious is that a suitable higher-order thought is directed at that mental state.

Thus Gennaro argues for an overall philosophical theory of consciousness while applying it to other significant issues not usually addressed in the philosophical literature on consciousness. Most cognitive science and empirical works on such topics as concepts and animal consciousness do not address central philosophical theories of consciousness. Gennaro's integration of empirical and philosophical concerns will make his argument of interest to both philosophers and nonphilosophers.

Bradford Books imprint
Mechanical Sound
Authors: Bijsterveld Karin
Published: October 2013

Tracing efforts to control unwanted sound—the noise of industry, city traffic, gramophones and radios, and aircraft—from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century.

Since the late nineteenth century, the sounds of technology have been the subject of complaints, regulation, and legislation. By the early 1900s, antinoise leagues in Western Europe and North America had formed to fight noise from factories, steam trains, automobiles, and gramophones, with campaigns featuring conferences, exhibitions, and “silence weeks.” And, as Karin Bijsterveld points out in Mechanical Sound, public discussion of noise has never died down and continues today. In this book, Bijsterveld examines the persistence of noise on the public agenda, looking at four episodes of noise and the public response to it in Europe and the United States between 1875 and 1975: industrial noise, traffic noise, noise from neighborhood radios and gramophones, and aircraft noise. She also looks at a twentieth-century counterpoint to complaints about noise: the celebration of mechanical sound in avant-garde music composed between the two world wars. Bijsterveld argues that the rise of noise from new technology combined with overlapping noise regulations created what she calls a “paradox of control.” Experts and politicians promised to control some noise, but left other noise problems up to citizens. Aircraft noise, for example, measured in formulas understandable only by specialists, was subject to public regulation; the sounds of noisy neighborhoods were the responsibility of residents themselves. In addition, Bijsterveld notes, the spatial character of anti-noise interventions that impose zones and draw maps, despite the ability of sound to cross borders and boundaries, has helped keep noise a public problem. We have tried to create islands of silence, she writes, yet we have left a sea of sounds to be fiercely discussed.
Democracy as Problem Solving
Authors: Briggs Xavier de Souza
Published: October 2013

Case studies from around the world and theoretical discussion show how the capacity to act collectively on local problems can be developed, strengthening democracy while changing social and economic outcomes.

Complexity, division, mistrust, and “process paralysis” can thwart leaders and others when they tackle local challenges. In Democracy as Problem Solving, Xavier de Souza Briggs shows how civic capacity—the capacity to create and sustain smart collective action—can be developed and used. In an era of sharp debate over the conditions under which democracy can develop while broadening participation and building community, Briggs argues that understanding and building civic capacity is crucial for strengthening governance and changing the state of the world in the process. More than managing a contest among interest groups or spurring deliberation to reframe issues, democracy can be what the public most desires: a recipe for significant progress on important problems. Briggs examines efforts in six cities, in the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa, that face the millennial challenges of rapid urban growth, economic restructuring, and investing in the next generation. These challenges demand the engagement of government, business, and nongovernmental sectors. And the keys to progress include the ability to combine learning and bargaining continuously, forge multiple forms of accountability, and find ways to leverage the capacity of the grassroots and what Briggs terms the “grasstops,” regardless of who initiates change or who participates over time. Civic capacity, Briggs shows, can—and must—be developed even in places that lack traditions of cooperative civic action.
The Power of Words in International Relations
Authors: Epstein Charlotte
Published: October 2013

The role of discursive power in shaping international relations analyzed through the lens of whaling politics.

In the second half of the twentieth century, worldwide attitudes toward whaling shifted from widespread acceptance to moral censure. Why? Whaling, once as important to the global economy as oil is now, had long been uneconomical. Major species were long known to be endangered. Yet nations had continued to support whaling.

In The Power of Words in International Relations, Charlotte Epstein argues that the change was brought about not by changing material interests but by a powerful anti-whaling discourse that successfully recast whales as extraordinary and intelligent endangered mammals that needed to be saved. Epstein views whaling both as an object of analysis in its own right and as a lens for examining discursive power, and how language, materiality, and action interact to shape international relations. By focusing on discourse, she develops an approach to the study of agency and the construction of interests that brings non-state actors and individuals into the analysis of international politics. Epstein analyzes the “society of whaling states” as a set of historical practices where the dominant discourse of the day legitimated the killing of whales rather than their protection. She then looks at this whaling world's mirror image: the rise from the political margins of an anti-whaling discourse, which orchestrated one of the first successful global environmental campaigns, in which saving the whales ultimately became shorthand for saving the planet.

Finally, she considers the continued dominance of a now taken-for-granted anti-whaling discourse, including its creation of identity categories that align with and sustain the existing international political order. Epstein's synthesis of discourse, power, and identity politics brings the fields of international relations theory and global environmental politics into a fruitful dialogue that benefits both.