bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modelo matemático aplicado a molienda discontinua “Batch”
Authors: Pérez Matos Edgar Ademar , Pérez D. Elbert , Alvarado J. Luis , Corimanya M. José A.
Published: January 2018

El modelo matemático aplicado a molienda batch (a nivel laboratorio), es una herramienta muy importante para llegar a simular y luego predecir el producto granulométrico de cierto mineral tratado; esto es por cada cierto intervalo de tiempo transcurrido de molienda, obtener su respectivo análisis granulométrico reflejado a nivel laboratorio, que luego será corroborado con datos reales y además poder verificar su buena aproximación. El modelo involucra a las funciones selección y fractura quienes son constituidos por los tamaños granulométricos de cada malla en la referida distribución mineral. Consiguiendo de esta manera predecir en forma efectiva y confiable, evitando costo y sobre todo tiempo, sin la necesidad de realizar el proceso de molienda para cada predicción de molienda batch.
APLICACIÓN DE LA LÓGICA DIFUSA PARA DETERMINAR LA CALIDAD DE CUERPOS DE AGUA DE LA CUENCA DEL RÍO RÍMAC
Authors: Aguirre A. , Palomino E. , Salazar G.
Published: January 2018

El presente trabajo tiene como finalidad determinar la calidad de cinco cuerpos de agua de la Cuenca del Río Rímac los cuales pertenecen a la Categoría 1 A2: " Poblacional y Recreacional" Aguas que pueden ser potabilizadas con tratamiento convencional, mediante el análisis de datos que la Autoridad Nacional del Agua ANA proporcionó en su informe de Técnico de Monitoreo de la Calidad del Agua en la Cuenca del Río Rímac en el año 2013, con la finalidad de brindar una herramienta que cuantifique la calidad de los cuerpos de agua y facilite la toma de decisiones en la gestión ambiental de estos mediante la identificación de aquel que sea más propenso a la pérdida de su calidad como Categoría 1 A2. La aplicación de la metodología de Análisis de Grey Clustering y el Índice de la calidad de agua de Prati, permitieron realizar el análisis de forma objetiva, el criterio para la selección de los cuerpos de agua fue aquellos que cuyos puntos de monitoreo se encontraban más próximos al Río Rímac (aguas abajo) debido a su representatividad ya que ahí convergen todos los posible contaminantes [1] que pudiesen arrastrar desde aguas arriba. Finalmente se determinó que los cinco cuerpos de agua en estudio no se encontraban contaminados, lo cual les da las características de pertenecer a la Categoría 1 A2? ya que estos no representa un riesgo para la salud de las personas y puede ser potabilizada mediante un tratamiento convencional. Palabras clave.- lógica difusa, análisis de Grey Clustering, calidad de agua, gestión ambiental em> ABSTRACT The purpose of the present work is to determine the quality of five bodies of water within the Rimac river watershed, by analyzing the data provided by the Autoridad Nacional del Agua (ANA ‐ the National Water Authority) in its report on Technical Monitoring of Water Quality in the Rimac River Watershed (2013). These five bodies of water have been assigned to Category 1 A2 ("Domestic and Recreational Use") indicating that their water could be made potable through conventional treatment. The results can be used as a tool to evaluate the quality of bodies of water and facilitate their environmental management, by identifying those would be more prone to lose their qualification as Category 1 A2. Use of the Grey Clustering Analysis methodology and the Prati water quality index allowed us to carry out the analysis in an objective manner. The criteria for selecting the bodies of water was the proximity of their monitoring point to the Rimac river (downstream), because of their importance as a point of convergence of all the contaminants [1] that could be brought from upstream. It was found that the five bodies of water in consideration were not contaminated, so that they do belong to Category 1 A2. This means that they do not represent any risk for human health and can be made potable through conventional water treatment. Keywords.- fuzzy logic, Grey Clustering Analysis, water quality, environmental management.
Síria e narrativas de guerra por procuração o caso dos curdos
Authors: Luz Brancoli Fernando
Published: January 2018

O presente artigo pretende apontar caminhos alternativos para se observar o confronto civil na Síria (2011-presente), indicando que a materialização do discurso sobre guerras por procuração representa uma simplificação demasiada do que ocorre em campo. Diferente de um confronto de dois lados fixos, liderado por Estados, reforçamos que se trata de um conflito fluido, com alianças e objetivos se modificando ao longo do tempo e do espaço. Para isso, fazemos um estudo de caso dos grupos Curdos e suas múltiplas afiliações no teatro operacional.
Regional peace in Latin America a multifaceted explanation
Authors: Villani Chiara
Published: January 2018

Since the 19th century, Latin America has progressively become a zone of peace. Between 1800 and 2007, the region has been affected by only fourteen inter-state wars. In addition, the frequency of inter-state wars has rapidly declined over the decades, generating a consolidated zone of peace. This paper examines the reasons behind regional peace in Latin America, reviewing the main theories of war and peace and assessing their validity in explaining the absence of inter-state wars in the region. The study finds that each one of the theories considered addresses only a single aspect of this phenomenon. Based on that, a multifaceted explanation of regional peace in Latin America is proposed, combining different theories to provide a more complete analysis of the phenomenon. This explanation presents peace in Latina America as the result of two interacting elements: countries’ satisfaction with their borders and the presence of weak states in the region. While recognizing that political regimes can influence countries’ war-proneness (and that democratic regimes tend to be less war-prone than authoritarian regimes), this study shows that democracy is not the ultimate cause of regional peace in Latin America. Indeed, the presence of authoritarian regimes in the region did not hinder the creation of a zone of peace between the 19th and 20th century. However, the study highlights that the spread of democracy in the region helped consolidating the zone of peace and determined its evolution from mere absence of war to institutionalized security community.
Perspectivas políticas para o Líbano a conjuntura da crise no Oriente Médio
Authors: Magno de Farias Franco e Silva Marcio , Coli Calil N. A. de Oliveira Jansen
Published: January 2018

A República do Líbano possui como característica a sua configuração multireligiosa, étnica e cultural. Notabiliza-se por ser um país instável politicamente e servir de campo de batalha para diferentes povos. Assim, este artigo propõe-se a apresentar a evolução conjuntural histórica do Líbano, demonstrando a importância do confessionalismo como catalizador da sociedade libanesa, suas implicações no singular sistema de poder político; a dimensão internacional da política interna libanesa, o precário imbricamento social; os desafios conquistados pela UNIFIL e apresentar uma perspectiva para o futuro próximo do país, em razão da recente reformulação da lei eleitoral e da constante possibilidade de um amplo conflito no Oriente Médio
Bezpieczny i stabilny system bankowo-finansowy jako podstawa rozwoju gospodarki i społeczeństwa
Authors: Flejterski Stanisław , Zioło Magdalena
Published: January 2018

W artykule zaprezentowano problematykę bezpieczeństwa i stabilności systemów bankowego i finansowego w Unii Europejskiej po kryzysie 2008+. Celem opracowania było przedstawienie głównych czynników determinujących ryzyko w sektorze bankowo-finansowym oraz zwrócono uwagę na sposoby jego minimalizowania. W szczególności wskazano na kierunki ewolucji instytucji bankowo- finansowych oraz przybliżono mechanizmy i instrumenty wzmacniające nadzór nad sektorem bankowo-finansowym w UE po kryzysie 2008+.
Fuzje i przejęcia w niemieckim sektorze bankowym w latach 1997–2012
Authors: Dąbkowska Anna
Published: January 2018

Postępujące procesy globalizacyjne oraz liberalizacja rynku usług bankowych skłania banki na całym świecie do procesów koncentracji kapitału. Akwizycje innych instytucji finansowych poprzez starannie przeprowadzone fuzje i przejęcia prowadzą do wzrostu skali działania oraz do wzrostu wartości dla akcjonariuszy. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie procesów fuzji i przejęć na niemieckim rynku bankowym z zaznaczeniem, że owe transakcje dokonują się jedynie w obrębie poszczególnych podsektorów tego systemu bankowego. W analizie uwzględniono procesy konsolidacyjne wszystkich podsektorów niemieckiego rynku bankowego oraz opisano największe fuzje i przejęcia od czasów kryzysu finansowego.
Wybrane elementy polityki kredytu handlowego a wielkość spółdzielni mleczarskich
Authors: Domańska Teresa
Published: January 2018

W opracowaniu przedstawiono wyniki badań dotyczących zależności między wielkością spółdzielni mleczarskich a wybranymi elementami polityki kredytu handlowego. Badaniami objęto 60 spółdzielni mleczarskich, które w 2010 roku sporządziły oraz ogłosiły sprawozdanie finansowe w Monitorze Spółdzielczym B. Próba badawcza została podzielona na kwartyle według kryterium rosnącej wartości aktywów ogółem. Wartość aktywów ogółem spółdzielni mleczarskich istotnie wpływała na wybrane elementy polityki kredytu handlowego. Zarządzający małymi spółdzielniami mleczarskimi przyjmowali pozycję biorcy kredytu handlowego w celu pozyskania dodatkowych źródeł finansowania bieżącej działalności. Natomiast w spółdzielniach dużych i bardzo dużych zarządzający częściej przyjmowali pozycję dawcy kredytu, przy jednoczesnym wydłużaniu terminu inkasa należności. Zarządzający największymi spółdzielniami mleczarskimi stosują bardziej liberalną politykę kredytu handlowego w stosunku do spółdzielni małych.
Team Member Subjective Communication in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Teams
Authors: Arnold Markus C. , Hannan R. Lynn , Tafkov Ivo D.
Published: January 2018

This study investigates whether subjective communication from team members to a manager responsible for allocating performance-based bonuses increases team performance and whether the efficacy of such communication is reduced in heterogeneous teams. We draw on both economic and behavioral theories to predict that communication content, even though subjective, provides information that enables the manager to allocate bonuses so as to enhance the relation between individuals' contributions and rewards, thereby increasing individuals' effort and team performance. However, we also predict that the positive effect of team member subjective communication is more muted when team members' abilities are heterogeneous compared to homogeneous. We test these predictions via an experiment. Consistent with our predictions, team member subjective communication has a positive effect on team performance, and the positive effect is more muted for heterogeneous teams. Results of our study contribute to both theory and practice by enhancing our understanding of the role of subjective communication from team members to team managers in motivating effort in teams and, particularly, how its efficacy is affected by team composition.

Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.
Goodwill Impairment: The Effects of Public Enforcement and Monitoring by Institutional Investors
Authors: Glaum Martin , Landsman Wayne R. , Wyrwa Sven
Published: January 2018

This study investigates the determinants of goodwill impairment decisions by firms applying IFRS based on a comprehensive sample of stock-listed firms from 21 countries. Multivariate logistical regression findings indicate that goodwill impairment incidence is negatively associated with economic performance, but also related to proxies for managerial and firm-level incentives. In addition, whereas goodwill impairment tends to be timely for firms in high enforcement countries, firms in low enforcement countries tend to be less responsive to declines in the economic value of goodwill; CEO compensation concerns affect the impairment decision for firms in low enforcement; and CEO reputation concerns and management preference for smooth earnings influence goodwill impairment decisions in high, as well as low, enforcement countries. We also find that private monitoring through institutional investors substitutes for public enforcement in the context of goodwill impairment when a country's enforcement regime is relatively weak.
Expression pattern and alternative splicing of HTT gene in human tissues
Authors: Malakhova A. A , Elisaphenko E. A
Published: January 2018

The HTT gene (Huntingtin, IT-15) was described in 1993 as highly expressed in various parts of the brain and other human and rodent tissues. The interest to this gene is due to the fact that the expansion of trinucleotide repeats in the first exon leads to the Huntington's disease. However, the causes of selective death of striata neurons in the course of the disease development are still unknown. Studying the HTT expression pattern in different tissues allows us to understand the role of HTT isoforms in different human tissues and organs. We studied the expression and alternative splicing of HTT in different parts of the brain and other human tissues in healthy people and Huntington's disease patients. No aberrant HTT forms were found in striatal neurons. This confirms the important role of the HTT gene for this type of neurons.
Analyis of biological compatibility of polylactide nanofibrous matrix vitalized with cardiac fibroblasts in a porcine model
Authors: Chepeleva E. V , Balashov V. A , Dokuchaeva A. A , Korobejnikov A. A , Strelnikov A. G , Lependin S. O , Pavlova S. V , Agladze K. I. , Sergeevichev D. S , Pokushalov E. A
Published: January 2018

Currently the use of synthetic biodegradable polymers based on polyurethane, polycaprolactone, polylactic and polyglycolic acids structures and their co-polymers is one of the most perspective directions of tissue engineering development. Electrospinning was found as an optimal way to produce nanofibers suitable for building several types of biomaterial scaffolds that are used in cell therapy. This technology allows creating a stable biodegradable and highly biocompatible matrix. In this study we investigate the viability of cardiac fibroblasts cultivated on polymeric nanofibrous scaffolds in vitro and in vivo after implantation in the myocardium of an experimental animal. Polymeric nanofibers were produced on an electrospinning unit. Prepared matrixes were vitalized with cell cultures, received from atriums of several mini-pigs. Cell viability was estimated by the use of XTT based colorimetric assay. Two groups of mini-pigs were selected for this research. The first group underwent a procedure of intramyocardial implantation of a matrix, grown with cardiac cell culture. In the second group a clear polymeric matrix was implanted. Seven days after the procedure animals were sacrificed and fragments of myocardium containing implants were harvested. Frozen sections were prepared immediately, then a standard histological analysis and immunofluorescent staining were performed. Current results can be significant for further development of polymeric scaffolds and for research of biophysical and electrophysiological features of cardiac cell cultures, what will help to expand the abilities of contemporary regenerative medicine and may become a standard of autological biological therapy.
Medical education at the crossroads. How to step into the future of medicine and medicine of the future?
Authors: Kiyasov A. P , Deev R. V , Kiyasova E. V , Gumerova A. A
Published: January 2018

Global changes in recent decades, caused by scientific and technological breakthroughs, which are characterized as a genomic revolution and the fourth industrial revolution, raise new pressing issues both for society as a whole and for public health. The latter can not exist and develop without a qualitative, and most importantly, modern medical education, in which significant changes are also taking place. In particular, the transition to standards by the World Federation of Medical Education (WFME) and the Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) - «International Standards of Medical Education for Improving the Quality of Health» (Copenhagen, March 15-19, 2003). In this article, based on the analysis of trends in the development of health care and medical education, possible options for correcting approaches in the teaching of morphological disciplines (normal anatomy, histology, pathology) in medical universities are considered.
Legal regulation of biomedical cell products authorization and marketing in international practice
Authors: Aleksandrushkina N. A , Tarasova E. V , Makarevich P. I , Gabbasova L. A , Akopyan Zh. A , Kamalov A. A , Tkachuk V. A
Published: January 2018

Scientific progress and advances in medicine and biology have contributed to emergence of new treatments based on delivery of living cells, genetic material and tissue engineering. The Federal Law N180-FZ “On Biomedical Cell Products” has taken effect in Russia opening a new stage in development of biomedical technologies, the main objective of which is to create a unified harmonious environment for the development, production and sale of safe and effective cell therapy products. At the same time, the system of legal regulation of the market of cellular products abroad has been functioning for more than 10 years and continues to develop actively. This review analyses international experience in regulation of medical biotechnologies market and identifies main features and current problems of existing scheme of biomedical products marketing as well as highlights main issues to be addressed while forming regulatory and legal filed for biomedical cellular products (BMCP) in Russia.
A construção de um currículo e suas ressonâncias: a Proposta Curricular de História da América para o 2º grau – 1ª série (1975-1985)
Authors: Vieira Nathalia Fernandes
Published: January 2018

Este trabalho apresenta resultados parciais da pesquisa de Mestrado em História que pretende compreender as relações que envolvem a elaboração da Proposta Curricular de História para a 1ª série do 2º grau do Estado de São Paulo (1980) e da Coletânea de Documentos de História da América para o 2º grau – 1ª série (1983), produzidas por equipes de historiadores na CENP (Coordenadoria de Estudos e Normas Pedagógicas). Para isso, analisamos o contexto histórico de sua produção, que é de transição política – o processo de redemocratização do país em fins da Ditadura Civil-Militar que teve início com o golpe de 1964. A Proposta de 1980 aparece como um esforço de construção de uma nova narrativa histórica, oposta àquela disseminada nos “anos de chumbo” e inovadora em relação aos seus conteúdos e à metodologia de ensino. Para a 1ª série do 2º grau são sugeridos conteúdos de História da América e, como subsídio ao seu uso, é construída uma Coletânea, que traz documentos históricos de natureza variada (discursos, artigos jornalísticos e outros) seguidos de sugestões de uso didático. Para contextualizar os documentos curriculares, além do estudo bibliográfico, foram feitas entrevistas com membros da equipe de elaboração dos documentos, em especial historiadoras que fizeram parte do “boom” de estudos de História da América Latina na Universidade de São Paulo desde 1975 – Maria Lígia Prado, Maria Helena Capelato e Zilda Iokoi. As entrevistas e os documentos serão analisados com base na teoria crítica do currículo e na história das disciplinas escolares.
Fotografia, Patrimônio e Mundialização da Cultura: um relato de experiência da exposição “Barco de Fogo”
Authors: Leal Rosana Eduardo da Silva
Published: January 2018

As exposições fotográficas constituem importantes ferramentas de difusão artística, educativa e cultural. Quando realizadas no exterior, atuam como mecanismos de promoção e mundialização das culturas, servindo como instrumentos importantes de valorização do patrimônio e das identidades de povos e sociedades.  É nesta vertente que se situa o presente trabalho, que tem por objetivo analisar a relação entre fotografia, patrimônio e mundialização da cultura, por meio da exposição fotográfica “Barco de Fogo”, do artista sergipano Márcio Garcez. O barco de fogo constitui uma das manifestações culturais mais significativas do estado de Sergipe, fazendo parte do ciclo junino do estado. Sua produção envolve um considerado número de pessoas presentes desde o processo de confecção, passando pela soltura e chegando à apresentação. Sua confecção se dá nos barracões existentes no município, estando embasada em um trabalho coletivo que está associado a uma mistura de carpintaria, engenharia e artesanato. Tal manifestação cultural resulta de um saber-fazer construído por meio de sensibilidade, criatividade e engenhosidade de seus artesãos, conhecidos como fogueteiros. Para refletir sobre tais temas, trataremos do papel da fotografia como registro documental, etnográfico e histórico, considerando sua importância como fonte de pesquisa sobre o patrimônio dos povos e comportamentos culturais. Posteriormente apresentaremos a cultura dos barcos de fogo, tema principal da exposição aqui apresentada, bem como seu autor. E em seguida, trataremos das edições da referida mostra artística.
Notation of Fractions
Authors: Imhausen Annette
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses the development of the ancient Egyptian concept of fractions. The beginnings of fractions in ancient Egypt consisted of a small group of specific fractions written by special signs. These fractions are first attested within the context of metrological systems, but they retain their notation in later times as abstract fractions. The list of earliest fractions comprises 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4, and it may be inferred that fractions came to be understood as the inverses of integers. As a consequence, the Egyptian notation of fractions did not consist of numerator and denominator but rather of the respective integer of which the fraction was the inverse and a symbol to designate it as an inverse, that is, a fraction. Following the concept of fractions as inverses of integers, the next step would have been to express parts that consist of more than one of these inverses. This was done by (additive) juxtaposition of different inverses.
Mathematics in Practice and Beyond
Authors: Imhausen Annette
Published: January 2018

This chapter describes the role of mathematics in daily life in the Middle Kingdom. The dominant role of mathematics is displayed not only in a small corpus of so-called mathematical texts, but in other sources as well. Reliefs in tombs are often decorated with scenes from daily life, such as the filling of a granary and production of bread and beer. Likewise, models left in tombs show the same activities. Scribes are often integral parts of these representations, as, for example, in the model of filling a granary. The situations encountered in documents resulting from daily mathematical practice also vary. Instead of problems, instructions, and additional calculations, we are faced only with numbers, and it is up to us to recognize the mathematics behind them. The chapter discusses the distribution of rations, architectural calculations, and land measurement.
Quantal Response Equilibrium in Extensive-Form Games
Authors: Goeree Jacob K. , Holt Charles A. , Palfrey Thomas R.
Published: January 2018

This chapter lays out the general theory of quantal response equilibrium (QRE) for extensive-form games. The formulation of the model is necessarily more complicated because timing and information now play a direct role in the decision maker's choice. This can have interesting and unanticipated consequences. It first describes four possible ways to define QRE in extensive-form games, depending on how the games are represented. It then turns to the structural agent quantal response equilibrium (AQRE) extensive-form games. This is followed by a discussion of the logit AQRE model, which implies a unique selection from the set of Nash equilibria. This selection is defined by the connected component of the logit AQRE correspondence. The final section presents an AQRE analysis of the centipede game.
Heterogeneity
Authors: Goeree Jacob K. , Holt Charles A. , Palfrey Thomas R.
Published: January 2018

Players have different skills, which has implications for the degree to which they make errors. Low-skill hitters in baseball often swing at bad pitches, beginning skiers frequently fall for no apparent reason, and children often lose at tic-tac-toe. At the other extreme, there are brilliant chess players, bargainers, and litigators who seem to know exactly what move to make or offer to decline. From a quantal response equilibrium (QRE) perspective, these skill levels can be modeled in terms of variation in error rates or in responsiveness of quantal response functions. This chapter explores issues related to individual heterogeneity with respect to player error rates. It also describes some extensions of QRE that relax the assumption that player expectations about the choice behavior of other players are correct. For example, in games that are played only once, players are not able to learn from others' prior decisions, and expectations must be based on introspection. The chapter develops the implications of noisy introspection embedded in a model of iterated thinking.
Applications to Political Science
Authors: Goeree Jacob K. , Holt Charles A. , Palfrey Thomas R.
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers a set of closely related binary-choice games that have been applied to model questions in political science. It starts with an analysis of “participation games,” which are n-player games where each player has only two possible actions: to participate or not. The payoff for either decision depends on the number of other players who make that decision. In some cases, a threshold level of participation is required for the group benefit to be obtained. The first example is the “volunteer's dilemma,” which pertains to the special case where the threshold is 1, that is, only a single volunteer is needed. The chapter ends with an analysis of bargaining situations, including an application of agent quantal response equilibrium to bilateral “crisis bargaining” and of Markov QRE to the Baron–Ferejohn model of multilateral “legislative bargaining.”
Stories
Authors: Taves Ann
Published: January 2018

In 1934, Bill Wilson (1895–1971), a (failed) stockbroker, had an ecstatic experience of a blinding white light while hospitalized for alcoholism, which he associated with the feeling of a “presence” and which gave rise to a vision of a “chain reaction of alcoholics, one carrying this message and these principles to the next.” The vision led to the anonymously authored “Big Book” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st edn., 1939) and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1953) of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This chapter analyzes how Wilson told and retold his story publicly in the context of AA in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It traces the emergence of a gap between Wilson's personal version of his story and his public account of AA's beginnings.
Selves
Authors: Taves Ann
Published: January 2018

This chapter attempts to account for the production of complex texts that followers believe neither Joseph Smith nor Helen Schucman could have produced on their own. Smith and Schucman made different claims when it came to the production of the Book of Mormon and A Course in Miracles. Smith claimed to translate the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates inscribed in Reformed Egyptian, and Schucman claimed to scribe words dictated by the voice of Jesus. In order to identify underlying processes that allowed them to generate “selves” that seemed as if they were “other” both to themselves and their collaborators, we need to reconstruct what it was like to “translate” in Smith's case and “scribe” in Schucman's case based on the evidence supplied by them and those who observed them firsthand.
Conclusion
Authors: Taves Ann
Published: January 2018

This concluding chapter highlights the distinctive feature of the three cases—their claim that a suprahuman presence was involved in the emergence process—and discusses its implications for understanding emergent groups and the creative process. It argues that each of these suprahuman “presences” was motivated by an expansive vision and was intent on guiding the human collaborators toward a goal—a restored church, a fellowship of recovering alcoholics, and a metaphysical training program. Belief in these presences and their interest in guiding the group not only stabilized the process and structured the group, but also supported claims regarding the authorship of the key texts and the ultimate origins of the group. The chapter also considers key aspects of Emile Durkheim's Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.
Hobbes and the Epic Tradition of Political Theory
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter focuses on the informing intention that governed Hobbes's political thought. It argues that the intentions which inform Hobbes's political theory were epical in nature and that his theory can be understood as having an epical aim. It also suggests that from Plato to modern times, an epic tradition in political theory has existed and that Hobbes is one of its ornaments. The phrase “epic tradition” refers to a type of political theory which is inspired mainly by the hope of achieving a great and memorable deed through the medium of thought. Other aims that it may have, such as contributing to the existing state of knowledge, formulating a system of logically consistent propositions, or establishing a set of hypotheses for scientific investigation, are distinctly secondary.
Max Weber
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

Max Weber is widely regarded as one of the founders of twentieth-century social science and probably its greatest practitioner. Modern and ancient theorists commonly believed that founding was the most notable action of which political man is capable. Thus, to found a form of social science entails an act of demarcation that indicates the subject matter peculiar to the science, the kind of activities that are appropriate (e.g., empirical inquiry), and the norms that are to be invoked in judging the value of the results produced by the activities. This chapter analyzes the political nature of Weber's activity as a founder. It suggests that laying the foundations of social science was a possible action only because of the prestige of the natural sciences.
Reason in Exile
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers a theory proposed by two writers Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno nearly a half-century ago, which set out a very different version of the future where the opportunity created by crisis produced a bad infinity whose formula was “total domination through technology.” The crisis involved the destruction in Germany, Italy, Spain, and France of the type of liberal societies being promoted today in Central Europe and Russia, and the establishment of societies of varying degrees of totalitarianism. Although Horkheimer and Adorno were deeply critical of all dictatorships, they believed that the crisis could not be understood as the breakdown of parliamentary structures or the triumph of mass parties organized around a charismatic leader. Instead, the crisis centered in the culture of the intellect and involved the core notions in the heritage of the Enlightenment: faith in progress and its major driving forces, reason and science.
The Liberal/Democratic Divide
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter explores John Rawls's notion of the political by asking what kind of politics it promotes or encourages. It does so by raising what is for Rawls a nonquestion of the status of democracy within his version of liberalism. And because his Political Liberalism is a work of political philosophy, it comments on its conception of that vocation and its relation to a democratic politics. Although that too may appear to be another non-Rawlsian question, it goes to the difference between liberalism and democracy and to the question of how it is possible to theorize democracy without resorting to anti-or undemocratic impositions; or, if it is possible, whether Rawlsian constructivism and its sovereign theorist are the way to do it.
On the Theory and Practice of Power
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter analyzes Michel Foucault's conception of power. It suggests that the Foucaldian conception remains incomplete, which provides the opportunity to criticize current postmodern conceptions before they settle in as reigning orthodoxies. Foucault approached the notion of power through a running criticism of some of the distinctive categories of modern political theory. The most important of these were theory, action, and the sovereign state. Theory and action is a formula as old as Western political theory, but it became the hallmark of modern political thinking, both in Hobbes's conjunction of theory and technology and in Marx's linking of theory to revolution. Foucault viewed theory as a totalizing system of thought, an all-inclusiveness that was at once authoritarian and ignorant.
Democracy in the Discourse of Postmodernism
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the work of Richard Rorty, perhaps the leading philosopher, or lapsed philosopher, of postmodernism. His writings are one of the few, perhaps the only, major attempts to ally postmodernism with liberal democracy, rather than with Marxism or social democracy. He has supplied a focus to his writings that is as remarkable in its way, and as revealing, as the opening lines of the Communist Manifesto. The right questions, he writes in postmodernese, are “like” “What is it to inhabit a rich twentieth-century democratic society?” and “How can an inhabitant of such a society be more than the enactor of a role in a previously written script?” The first question would seem to be simply answered by saying, “Enjoy it.” But the second question carries a note of dissatisfaction; it is certainly not outrage or even sharply critical.
The Destructive Sixties and Postmodern Conservatism
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter analyzes the politics behind conservative attacks upon the Sixties and their simultaneous claim that it is contemporary conservatives who are the real radicals with truly revolutionary ideas. It suggests that the rhetorical formulations of both the defenders and critics of the Sixties may be indicative of a historical transformation occurring in both conservatism and radicalism. At its center is a reversal of historical roles and historical consciousness and, along with it, of the political identities formed around conceptions of past and future that once distinguished radicalism from conservatism. The complexity of a reversal that finds conservatives professing to be revolutionaries, while in actuality they are more accurately described as counterrevolutionary, may be a product of the strict taboos imposed by the American political tradition on discussion of the idea of counterrevolution.
What Revolutionary Action Means Today
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

Tocqueville claimed that American democracy had eliminated the causes of revolution. He believed that the revolutionary impulse would wither because for the first time in Western history the masses of ordinary human beings had a tangible stake in defending the status quo. This chapter, however, asks, is it right for the democratic citizen to undertake revolutionary action when the political system retains some of the formal features of democracy but is clearly embarked on a course that is progressively antidemocratic without being crudely repressive? What are the precise ways in which a system that is formally democratic conceals its antidemocratic tendencies? Are pseudo-democratic substitutes introduced that create the illusion of democracy? Was the idea of a democratic citizen partially skewed at the outset so that its development in America was truncated? And, finally, does it make sense even to discuss the possibility of revolution under the circumstances of an advanced, complex society? In what terms would it make sense to talk of revolution today—what would revolutionary action by democratic citizens be?
The People’s Two Bodies
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

In the span of a few short years, as Americans have watched the visible deterioration of their nation's power at home and abroad, they have experienced something unknown to American history since the early nineteenth century: a sense of collective vulnerability. Perhaps the clearest proof of the widespread perception of powerlessness is in the eagerness with which virtually all segments of the American public have supported the extraordinary increases in defense spending over the past decade. This chapter asks, what does it mean for America to ground its collective existence upon the type of power embodied in a highly advanced economy whose destructive effects upon nature, society, and the human body and psyche are documented daily with depressing regularity? The question is about political identity, about who Americans are as a people.
Democracy, Difference, and Re-Cognition
Authors: Wolin Sheldon S.
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the emergence of a new pluralism, one that is not couched in appeals to putatively shared values of patriotism, religion, family, private property, and the Founding Fathers, but that relies on provocation, flaunts fixed differences, and tirelessly exposes past injustices so distant in time as to strain common understandings of justice, responsibility, and remedy. What appears to be a confrontation between sharply opposed conceptions of pluralism is, however, more in the nature of an exaggeration or exacerbation of positions that share certain ideological beliefs. Notions of difference that emphasize ethnic, racial, religious, or gender singularity are radical extensions rather than rejections of pluralism. They share a decentered conception of the political; yet both are compelled to appeal to a center of authority to mediate, even though the idea of central authority cuts against the grain of both.
International Society in Victorian Political Thought
Authors: Bell Duncan
Published: January 2018

This chapter analyzes the overlapping ideas about international society to be found in the political thought of three leading late Victorian liberal thinkers: T. H. Green (1836–82), Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), and Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900). In so doing it focuses on what Stefan Collini has labeled the world of the “public moralists”—the world, that is, of influential and well-connected British intellectuals who flourished in the universities, in Parliament, and in the press. Despite their manifold political and philosophical differences, Green, Spencer, and Sidgwick shared and articulated complementary visions of the past, present, and future of international society. This was not simply a happy coincidence of views—it was an understanding of international politics generated from within their distinctive intellectual systems. They simultaneously reflected and contributed to late Victorian liberal thinking about international affairs.
Selection
Authors: Hendry Andrew P.
Published: January 2018

This chapter begins with a description of how natural selection works and how it is studied in natural populations. It draws on recent meta-analyses to answer fundamental questions about selection in nature, such as how strong and consistent it is, how often it is stabilizing (disfavoring extreme individuals) or disruptive (favoring extreme individuals), what types of traits (e.g., life history or morphology) are under the strongest selection, and how selection differs when fitness is indexed as mating success (sexual selection) or survival/fecundity (natural selection). The chapter also examines selection within “populations,” which are considered to be conspecific groups of individuals within which interbreeding is common (close to panmixia) but among which interbreeding (and therefore gene flow) is restricted.
Natural and Reproducible Capital
Authors: Caselli Francesco
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines possible factor biases in the way different countries use reproducible and natural capital, using an equation that also takes into account the bundle of capital goods which, combined with labor, is used to produce GDP. The goal of the chapter is to determine how the factor bias varies across countries, and in particular how it varies with income per worker. The factor bias requires three ingredients: relative supply, relative marginal products, and elasticity of substitution. After estimating the relative supply of reproducible capital and relative marginal productivities, the chapter infers the bias toward reproducible capital. The results reveal a negative relation between income and relative marginal products.
Capital and Labor
Authors: Caselli Francesco
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the efficiency with which the aggregate labor input and, respectively, the aggregate capital input are used in production. To this end, it uses an equation that takes into account coefficients that operate as augmentation coefficients for “natural capital equivalents,” that is, the capital input expressed in efficiency units of natural capital, and “unskilled-labor equivalents,” or the labor input in efficiency units of unskilled labor. After inferring augmentation coefficients for labor and capital, the chapter estimates variable capital shares and introduces a broader measure of labor inputs. The results reveal an imperfect elasticity of substitution between natural and reproducible capital.
An Endogenous Technology Framework
Authors: Caselli Francesco
Published: January 2018

This chapter presents an endogenous technology framework capable of rationalizing the finding that technology differences are biased toward skilled labor, reproducible capital, and labor. In this framework, firms in each country choose a technology characterized by a particular combination of efficiency units attached to different inputs. The optimal choice of technology depends on relative factor prices and, therefore, on relative factor supplies. The chapter first develops the analysis for a production function with only skilled and unskilled labor before extending the model to feature the four factors of production used in the empirical framework. The two-factor model establishes the conditions under which the intuition that countries will choose technologies that augment the abundant factor is valid. It shows that the key parameter is the elasticity of substitution between the two factors of production.
Skilled Labor, Unskilled Labor, and Experience Over Time
Authors: Caselli Francesco
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines what the joint behavior of relative wage and relative supply reveal about the underlying changes in technology, with a focus on the United States. It distinguishes workers by two characteristics: skill and experience. It classifies the labor force into four kinds of workers: experienced skilled workers, inexperienced skilled workers, experienced unskilled workers, and inexperienced unskilled workers. The equation takes into account the quantities of unskilled inexperienced inputs, unskilled experienced inputs, skilled inexperienced inputs, and skilled experienced inputs, as well as the elasticity of substitution between unskilled inexperienced and unskilled experienced workers, and skilled inexperienced and skilled experienced ones. The results confirm many previous findings of a significant skill bias in technical change between 1960 and 2010, and also reveal an experience bias in technical change over roughly the same period, especially among skilled workers and since the 1980s.
Conclusions
Authors: Caselli Francesco
Published: January 2018

This chapter concludes that the book has presented evidence showing that technology and technical change are more flexible than generally allowed. The efficiency of different factors changes across countries and over time at different rates. Indeed, in some instances the efficiency with which one factor is used can decline while the efficiency of others increases. Since the 1990s, it has been increasingly clear that technical change tends to have a skill bias, but this book's findings reveal that nonneutralities are much more pervasive than that. They also occur across countries, and not just over time. Furthermore, they invest a broader set of inputs: not only skilled and unskilled labor, but also experienced and inexperienced workers, natural and reproducible capital, and a broad labor aggregate and a broad capital aggregate. The book has merely scratched the surface of the likely patterns of nonneutrality that exist across countries and over time.
The African American Realignment and New Deal Liberalism
Authors: Schickler Eric
Published: January 2018

This chapter looks at the mass-level changes of civil rights realignment among African Americans. The entry of African Americans created a new constituency for Democratic politicians; decades of migration from the South magnified these voters' potential importance in northern swing states. In addition to assessing the timing of African Americans' shift to the Democrats, the analysis highlights African Americans' distinctive economic liberalism in the 1930s and 1940s. Perhaps not surprisingly, given their socioeconomic situation, these citizens stand out for their liberal views across a range of issues. An important point, not lost on political observers in the 1930s–1950s, was that African Americans' strong economic liberalism left them significantly closer to the Democrats on issues other than civil rights, making it more difficult for Republicans to envision winning back a substantial share of African American voters.
State Parties and the Civil Rights Realignment
Authors: Schickler Eric
Published: January 2018

This chapter discusses the incorporation of civil rights into the program of state Democratic parties in the North and compares their stance to that of state Republican parties. The main evidence is a collection of approximately a thousand state party platforms from 1920 to 1968. The platforms show that neither party paid much attention to civil rights prior to the late 1930s, but starting in the 1930s and accelerating in the 1940s, northern state Democratic parties moved to the left on civil rights. Their civil rights positions were generally more liberal than those of their same-state GOP counterparts by 1944–1946. Pro-civil rights positions were also more prevalent in states with a substantial African American population, high levels of urbanization, union density, and Jewish population. Thus, the same variables that were linked to strong support for New Deal liberalism after 1937 also came to be associated with state parties taking a strongly pro-civil rights position.
Facing a Changing Party
Authors: Schickler Eric
Published: January 2018

This chapter analyzes the battle for control of the national Democratic Party as the players empowered by the coalitional and ideological changes after 1937 battled not just against southern Democrats but also against national party leaders desperate to hold together the fragile North–South coalition. The bland national platforms that Democrats adopted in the 1940s and 1950s belied the vigorous efforts by the liberal civil rights coalition to push for a strong platform plank, which became a regular focal point of dispute starting in 1944. The national platform fights exemplify both the much stronger push for civil rights on the part of important Democratic constituencies (compared to Republicans) and the efforts of national party leaders to avoid a clear stand. A survey of convention delegates from 1956 shows that despite the two parties' similar national platforms, the distribution of delegate preferences was decidedly more pro-civil rights among Democrats.