bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Childhood and Education
Authors: Liberles Robert
Published: January 2010

This chapter shows how knowledge of the German language among Jews increased during the course of the 18th century. By the latter part of the century, governments increasingly mandated rudimentary education in the German language and basic math skills, but the greater focus on commerce had already paved the way for more attention to these subjects among Jews even prior to government intervention. Wealthier Jews could hire private instructors for themselves or for their children. Some Jews who could not afford a tutor taught themselves basic German skills. Dissatisfaction with Jewish education in Germany did not originate with the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Across the spectrum of Jewish life, by the late 18th century a strong sense had developed that an extensive reform of Jewish education was badly needed.
Religious and Communal Life
Authors: Liberles Robert
Published: January 2010

This chapter shows that during the 17th and 18th centuries, a number of changes influenced the religious lives of Jews and Christians alike. The Reformation enhanced the sense of individuality, and the printing press made knowledge more accessible. Historians who see Judaism either remaining static or moving uniformly toward the surrounding society fail to discern the complexities and inconsistencies that emerged within German Jewry. Although critics complained repeatedly that synagogue services revealed an atmosphere of religious indifference, enhanced notions of piety influenced both public and private dimensions of religious life. Some individuals — especially women — found new outlets to express their spirituality through personal prayer for themselves and their loved ones. By 1780, the meaning of being an observant Jew was not the same as it had been a century earlier.
Social Relations
Authors: Liberles Robert
Published: January 2010

This chapter shows that although residential and economic factors brought Jews into continual contact with Christians, Jews maintained most of their social relations with other Jews. Spare time activity and social relations may have been at a premium and are among the least researched spheres of Jewish daily life, but this should not imply that Jews did not enjoy leisure activities. Many males studied in their spare time. They also occasionally gambled, drank, and traveled together. Some males joined societies that provided companionship, and in a few communities, women formed such societies as well. Usually Jews and Christians encountered each other primarily in business, but some maintained sporadic casual relations as well.
Family Life
Authors: Maurer Trude
Published: January 2010

This chapter shows that traditional criteria for a “suitable match” remained largely valid even in the Weimar era. Family size declined, and during the Nazi period the birth rate dropped dramatically. At the same time, however, most Jews attached increased significance to the family as a (supposedly) protected sphere and nucleus of the community. Emphasis on the family served to reinforce traditional gender roles, despite the rise in female wage earning. Thus, there were contradictory developments in family life during the entire period.
Religious Practice in the Synagogue and at Home
Authors: Maurer Trude
Published: January 2010

This chapter discusses the revival of Jewish culture in general, and also more specifically in the Jewish Communities and religious life during the Weimar Republic. Large segments of German Jewry returned to religion after the major break of January 30, 1933, but this did not last. The Jewish holidays, celebrated mostly within the family until then, started gaining social and community significance, strengthening group consciousness, as greater emphasis was placed on holidays that had previously carried minor importance. With their comprehensive practical relief efforts in the initial years of the Nazi regime, the Jewish Communities became the center of Jewish life.
Constricting and Extinguishing Jewish Life
Authors: Maurer Trude
Published: January 2010

This chapter shows how Jews were deliberately terrorized starting in 1933. As of summer 1938 more extreme persecutions peaked in the pogrom of November 9-10 and the arrest and internment of about 30,000 men in concentration camps. This made the defenselessness and isolation of the Jews clear-cut. Even at that time they received little help from non-Jews. Emigration seemed the only remaining option. But this option became virtually impossible once the war started and was finally prohibited entirely in October 1941. At the same time, forced labor and the withdrawal of almost all food stripped Jews of the material basis for survival and all psychological strength.
Electric Folk
Authors: Sweers Britta
Published: January 2010

In the 1960s and 1970s, British musicians rediscovered traditional folk ballads, fusing the old melodies with rock, jazz, and blues styles to create a new genre dubbed “electric folk” or “British folk rock.” This revival featured groups such as Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, and Pentangle, and individual performers like Richard Thompson and Shirley Collins. While working in multiple styles, all were making music based on traditional English song and dance material. After reasonable commercial success, electric folk disappeared from mainstream notice in the late 1970s, yet performers continue to create it today. This multi-layered analysis explores electric folk as a cultural phenomenon, commercial entity, and performance style. Drawing on rare historical sources, contemporary music journalism, and first-hand interviews, the book argues that electric folk resulted from both the American folk revival of the early 1960s and a reaction against the dominance of American pop music abroad. In this process, the musicians turned to traditional musical material as a means of asserting their British cultural identity. Yet, they were less interested in the “purity” of folk ballads than in the music's potential for lively interaction with modern styles, instruments, and media. This book also delves into the impact of the movement on mainstream pop, American rock music, and neighboring European countries.
The Music
Authors: Sweers Britta
Published: January 2010

This chapter provides a broader overview of the different musical elements that form the hybrid genre electric folk. This includes adaptations from the tradition (e.g. Child Ballads, broadsides, uneven metric-rhythmic structures), borrowings from modern music (particularly progressive rock), and specifically hybrid elements like the sound combination of electric and acoustic instruments. The complexity of electric folk becomes particularly apparent in the variety of arrangement possibilities employed by the musicians. Another significant characteristic is the integration of traditional singing styles. The physical and ornamental techniques have been adapted from a variety of sources and were combined with new elements (including Bulgarian singing styles). The chapter is completed by a discussion of the performance practices such as rehearsal practices, differences between live and recorded versions, yet also amplification and volume of electric and acoustic instruments.
The Theology of Massive Resistance: Sex, Segregation, and the Sacred after Brown
Authors: Dailey Jane
Published: January 2010

This chapter asserts that segregationists were motivated by their fear of miscegenation to seek divine sanction for the separation of the races. It explains that in their reading of the Bible, segregationists make theological justification for their opposition to the atheistic Supreme Court decision. It adds that many of the ordinary white southerners who quoted Holy Scripture in support of segregation were women.
Flexing the Frame in Javanese Gamelan Music
Authors: Sutton R. Anderson , Vetter Roger R.
Published: January 2010

This chapter provides a study of composition and improvisation techniques in Javanese music: Javanese “Compositions” for Gamelan Ensemble: Gendhing; Ladrang Pangkur; Treatment (Garapan): Realizing Ladrang Pangkur in Performance; The Macro-form; Enriching the Form: Tempo Changes, Interruptions, and Irama Shifts; and Varying the Main Melody.
“Yang’s Eight Pieces”
Authors: Stock Jonathan P. J.
Published: January 2010

This chapter provides a close analysis of the song, dramatic action, tune families, and composition of Shanghai opera master Yang Feifei, including: Shanghai Opera and Yang Feifei; Analysis: Jin Yuan Seeks Her Son; Man Fan Yinyang; Sanjiaoban; and Daoqing Diao.
Architectonic Composition in South Indian Classical Music
Authors: Morris Robert
Published: January 2010

This chapter provides an analysis of a multi-section South Indian classical composition, covering: Indian Classical Music and Carnatic Music; Performance Contexts for Carnatic Music; Raga, Tala, and Musical Form in Carnatic Music; Introduction to Valachi Vacchi; and Analysis of Valachi Vacchi.
Cell Proliferation
Authors: Suter Bernhard , Bhide Pradeep G.
Published: January 2010

Cell proliferation is the earliest step in the protracted process of mammalian brain development. Various genetic and environmental factors modulate the pace of cell proliferation and the number and type of cells produced. This chapter describes the spatiotemporal features of cell proliferation and the effect of neurotransmitters, major constituents of the chemical environment of the developing brain that modulate the process of precursor cell formation. It focuses on three neurotransmitters that are the most abundant in the developing brain: dopamine, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and glutamate. The goal is to present an overview of the organization and activity of precursor cell populations and discuss the potential for modulation of precursor cell activity by neurotransmitters.
Intracellular Pathways of Neuronal Death
Authors: Mooney Sandra M. , Henderson George I.
Published: January 2010

Neuronal death is essential for normal development of the central nervous system. Without it, the nervous system can become overpopulated with poorly integrated neurons and circuitry that produces functional deficits. This chapter considers in vitro and in vivo studies of neuronal death.
Developmental Disorders and Evolutionary Expectations: Mechanisms of Resilience
Authors: Finlay Barbara L. , Yost Jeremy C. , Cheung Desmond T.
Published: January 2010

Every living organism can trace its lineage back to the unicellular organisms that first populated Earth. Humans are the descendants of creatures who have not only survived but successfully reproduced in the face of events such as gross atmospheric shifts, blasts of ionizing radiation, the impacts of comets, ice ages, global warming, earthquakes, and hurricanes. Any survivor of this wildly improbable lineage is made of tough stuff. This chapter examines the design features of the tough stuff of which we are made. It argues that only in this evolutionary context will disorders of development that sometimes emerge make mechanistic sense.
Neuronal Receptors for Nicotine: Functional Diversity and Developmental Changes
Authors: Mansvelder Huibert D. , Role Lorna W.
Published: January 2010

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the principal target-mediator of nicotine from smoking and chewing of tobacco. The effects of nicotine on offspring of pregnant smokers are widespread, ranging from altered neural development to increased susceptibility to addiction in adolescence. These facts underscore the importance of understanding nAChR functions in the prenatal mammalian brain. This chapter discusses the fundamental aspects of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors with which nicotine interacts in the context of potential effects on neural development and plasticity.
Frequency of Use and the Organization of Language
Authors: Bybee Joan
Published: January 2010

This book essentially argues for the importance of word frequency as a factor in the analysis and explanation of language structure. In other words, the roles of words and other linguistic phenomena such as morphology, phonology, and syntax are highly influenced by low, medium, or high frequency with which they occur. The book includes three decades of influential research in one thematic source. It provides an introductory overview that traces the development of thinking on this important subject. The discussion covers word frequency in lexical diffusion, morphophonemics, lexical and morphological conditioning of alternations using Spanish verbs as example, rules and schemas in the development and use of the English past tense, morphological classes as natural categories, regular morphology and lexicon, sequentiality as the basis of constituent structure, and mechanisms of change in grammaticization.
Chapter 2 Word Frequency in Lexical Diffusion and the Source of Morphophonological Change
Authors: Bybee Joan
Published: January 2010

Two ideas that have been around for almost a century need to be reexamined in the light of existing theories of linguistic change. These ideas involve the relationship between word frequency and morphophonological change. Morphophonological change can be divided into sound change, which is largely, perhaps entirely, phonetically motivated, and analogy, which is primarily conceptually motivated. This chapter argues that the relation between sound change and word frequency is just the reverse of the relation between analogy and word frequency. That is, sound changes affect the most frequent lexical items first. Infrequent items are the most resistant to phonetically motivated change, while frequent items are the most resistant to conceptually motivated change. This chapter considers the role of the child versus the adult speaker in the initiation of linguistic change.
Chapter 3 Explanation in Morphophonemics Changes in Provençal and Spanish Preterite Forms
Authors: Brewer Mary Alexandra
Published: January 2010

This chapter focuses on analogical changes in the preterite verbal paradigms of dialects of Castilian and Provençal. Though the changes work with different phonological material, indicating their independence from one another, the principles underlying the changes are the same. These changes point to the relative autonomy of certain forms, particularly the third singular and the first singular, which both resist change and serve as the basis of new analogical formations. Autonomy is said to depend on semantic simplicity, morphophonemic irregularity, and word frequency. Morphophonemic alternations (alternations with some morphosyntactic or lexical conditioning) would seem to be among the most arbitrary and conventional aspects of natural language. Their treatment in most theories characterizes them as synchronically arbitrary. This chapter argues that morphophonemic alternations are not arbitrary but rather tend to form diagrammatic relations. Evidence is presented to show that there is a basic-derived relationship among the forms of a stem paradigm that diagrams the basic-derived relationship in the semantic domain.
Chapter 7 Are Stem Changes as Natural as Affixes?
Authors: NEWMAN JEAN E.
Published: January 2010

A prominent claim made in the theory of natural morphology is that among morphological processes, affixation is more “natural” than internal stem changes. According to this theory, the criteria for “more natural” include the following: more common in the world's languages; more common within a single language; easier to acquire, and thus acquired earlier; later lost in aphasia; and easier to process in general. This chapter compares explanations traced to grammaticization with explanations based on synchronic processing preferences. It argues that the rarity of stem changes versus affixes in the languages of the world is due to the way each mode of expression develops diachronically and not to a postulated extra processing cost for stem changes. The acquisition difficulty associated with stem changes is due to their low type frequency in the languages in which they have been studied. This chapter describes an experiment in which subjects were taught an artificial language in which stem changes have type frequency comparable to affixes. In this experiment, subjects learned the stem changes as easily as the affixes.
Chapter 16 Mechanisms of Change in Grammaticization
Authors: MODER CAROL LYNN
Published: January 2010

This chapter examines the frequency effects associated with grammaticization using the case study of the development of the English auxiliary can. It argues that many of the phenomena associated with grammaticization relate directly to the frequency increase observed in this process. Semantic bleaching is attributed to habituation, phonological reduction to chunking, and the resulting reduction to the automatization of neuromotor routines. The developing autonomy of the new construction, also due to frequency, accounts for the growing semantic opacity of the parts of the construction and the entrenchment of its morphosyntactic characteristics.
Introduction: Empire in an Age of Discord
Authors: DAUGHTON J. P.
Published: January 2010

This chapter begins by describing the archives of French colonialism as being filled with stories of disagreement, conflict, and reconciliation like the exchanges between Monsieur Julia and Père Delmont. It then notes that this book tells the story of how French people with markedly different backgrounds, moral codes, and political perspectives shaped colonial and national politics between 1880 and 1914, the most intense period of colonial expansion in French history. It argues that missionaries are essential to understand republican attitudes toward colonialism. It adds that the criticisms and condemnations that shaped much of the interaction between missionaries and their detractors are essential to understand the formation of colonial policies. It discusses that the main impetus for developing republican civilizing programs was neither a purely liberal ideological nor a “humanitarian” one.
Defining French Influence in Indochina
Authors: DAUGHTON J. P.
Published: January 2010

This chapter discusses that no corner of the French empire offers a better example of how Catholic missionaries could see republican colonizers as Johnnies-come-lately than Indochina. It explains that historians of French Indochina portrayed missionaries as crucial facilitators of colonial expansion. It notes that debates over Catholic influence heralded significant changes in both long-held missionary and republican attitudes and practices. It discusses past and present religious violence and French colonialism. It also tells of the bishops, officials, and the uncertain history of missionary commitment. It examines the attitudes of the missionaries in one remote Catholic outpost. It also mentions some of the controversies wherein the Catholic missionaries were involved, but were then later cleared from those accusations.
Qui dit Français dit catholique
Authors: DAUGHTON J. P.
Published: January 2010

This chapter describes the establishment of the French missionary organization in Madagascar. It notes that the pacification of Madagascar was an official project that combined military force and the general goals of the republican civilizing mission. It also talks about the rise of Christianity in Madagascar. The chapter suggests that the invasion of Madagascar is a supreme example of a debacle. It adds that for more than five years after the invasion, Madagascar remained in the grips of social and political unrest. It tells of the violence that some of the missionaries experienced, and the response of the French troops. It also narrates the discouraging act imposed on the French protestant alternative. It examines the conflict formed between Protestant and Catholic missionaries. It discusses the renewed efforts of French Protestants to defend their right to religious freedom in Madagascar.
Martyrs, Patriots, Frenchmen
Authors: DAUGHTON J. P.
Published: January 2010

This chapter looks at popular missionary journals, political pamphlets, and works of mission history from the 1890s to 1914. It traces how conflicts between Catholics and anticlerical critics drove leaders of the missionary movement to redefine their vocation to dovetail with republican goals of colonizing and civilizing. The result was an imperial ideology defined exclusively by neither republicans nor missionaries, but rather by a combination of two competing traditions faced with the tasks of justifying expansion and keeping control in France's overseas empire.
A Working Father: One Man's Talk about Parenting at Work
Authors: Tannen Deborah , Kendall Shari , Gordon Cynthia
Published: January 2010

This chapter examines how fathers talk about family at work. Specifically, it considers how one man interactionally creates and draws upon his identity as a father at work in conversations with his coworkers, and how being a parent interpenetrates the work sphere. The extent to which the father talks about his family in personal terms and the kinds of interactional rituals he engages in with his coworkers (for example, troubles talk) contrast with prior observations about how men and fathers talk at work. The father's identity as a parent serves as a resource for sociability with his coworkers and for providing support for colleagues who are also parents. His parental responsibilities at times interfere with his work-related responsibilities and, through his talk about family at work, he positions himself as one half of a parenting team and also as a parenting expert. These findings provide insight into what it means to be a working father, while also providing a rare glimpse into the workplace discourse of a working father who does a significant amount of caregiving.
Role of Protein Kinase C and Related Pathways in Vascular Smooth Muscle Contraction and Hypertension
Authors: Qiao Xiaoying , Khalil Raouf A.
Published: January 2010

Intracellular signaling activities in vascular smooth muscles (VSMs) are central in the control of blood vessel diameter and the regulation of peripheral vascular resistance and blood pressure. Several studies have examined the molecular mechanisms underlying VSM contraction under physiological conditions and the pathological alterations that occur in vascular diseases such as hypertension. Vasoconstrictor stimuli activate specific cell surface receptors and cause an increase in intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), which forms a complex with calmodulin, activates myosin light chain (MLC) kinase, and leads to MLC phosphorylation, actin-myosin interaction, and VSM contraction. In unison, activation of protein kinase C (PKC) increases the myofilament force sensitivity to [Ca2+]i and MLC phosphorylation, and maintains VSM contraction. Identifying the subcellular location of PKC may be useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of VSM hyperactivity states associated with hypertension. Targeting of vascular PKC using isoform-specific PKC inhibitors may work in concert with cytokine antagonists, antioxidants, and matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors, and thereby provide new approaches in the treatment of VSM hyperactivity states and certain forms of hypertension that do not respond to Ca2+-channel blockers.
Retinal Cellular Metabolism and its Regulation and Control
Authors: Yu Dao-Yi , Cringle Stephen J , Yu Paula K , Su Er-Ning , Sun Xinghuai , Guo Wenyi , Morgan William H , Yu Xiao-Bo , Balaratnasingam Chandrakumar
Published: January 2010

The retina is an extension of the brain with a high functional activity and high metabolic rate but with only a limited blood supply. Consequently there is a delicate balance between high metabolic demands and limited nutrient supply. Oxygen is known to be the most supply-limited metabolite in the human retina, and intraretinal hypoxia is thought to be a major pathogenic factor in retinal diseases with a vascular component. These diseases include diabetic retinopathy, vascular occlusion, and glaucoma. The metabolic and functional properties of the retina are highly compartmentalized, and the highly layered structure of the retina provides an opportunity for investigating the properties of different subcellular components not achievable in the brain due to the complex cell architecture. This chapter demonstrates the marked heterogeneity of oxygen metabolism across the retina, even in different components of the same cell, and contrasts the requirements of the inner retina in vascularized and avascular retinas. Oxygen metabolism in animal models of retinal diseases is also examined, along with the control and regulation of ocular vasculature.
Cross Talk between the Autonomic and Central Nervous Systems: Mechanistic and Therapeutic Considerations for Neuronal, Immune, Vascular, and Somatic-Based Diseases
Authors: Lechin Fuad , Dijs Bertha van der
Published: January 2010

This chapter summarizes anatomical, physiological, pathophysiological, pharmacological, immunological, and some therapeutic information dealing with most types of diseases. Evidence is presented to support the notion that clinical symptoms (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, dermatological, nephrological, rheumatological, hematological, endocrinological, and others) depend on central nervous system (CNS) disorders that project to the peripheral organs throughout the peripheral autonomic nervous system (ANS) and neuroendocrine pathways. In addition, psychological disorders such as depression and psychosis also provoke ANS, hormonal, and immunological disorders that are responsible for different somatic symptoms. The chapter also demonstrates that the adrenal glands are hypoactive during both childhood and senescence. This peripheral ANS profile explains why they are affected by specific pathophysiological disorders that are rarely observed in young adult subjects. This chapter also presents data emanating from the routine assessment of circulating neurotransmitters that showed that diseases are underlain by peripheral nervous system or adrenal sympathetic overactivity.
Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Transdifferentiated Neurons in Cross Talk with the Tissue Microenvironment: Implications for Translational Science
Authors: Trzaska Katarzyna A. , Greco Steven J. , Moore Lisamarie , Rameshwar Pranela
Published: January 2010

Stem cells hold vast therapeutic potential in facilitating the treatment of many diseases with high mortality. Central to the advancement in stem cell therapy is a fundamental understanding of the basic biology. Currently, the rapidly growing field of stem cell research sees a dividing line between proponents of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and those of adult stem cells (ASCs). While ESCs offer a tremendous potential to generate any tissue within the body, there are questions regarding their stability, with the fear of tumorigenesis and ethical concerns. ASCs are found within most organs. The harvesting of a few cells within an organ does not affect the functions of the organ, thereby circumventing the ethical qualms associated with ESCs. However, ASCs raise questions regarding their potential to form varied tissues and their isolation from living organs. Recent reports have shown the ability of ASCs to generate tissues of germ layers other than their own. This cellular plasticity has wrought excitement, as well as skepticism, within the field.
Glutamatergic Signaling In Neurogenesis
Authors: Nakamichi Noritaka , Yoneda Yukio
Published: January 2010

This chapter summarizes recent studies on the functional expression of ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) by neural progenitor cells isolated from embryonic rat and mouse brains. Cells are cultured in the presence of growth factors toward the formation of round spheres termed as neurospheres for different periods under floating conditions, whereas a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis reveals expression of messenger RNA for particular iGluR and mGluR subtypes in undifferentiated cells and neurospheres formed with clustered cells during the culture with growth factors. Sustained exposure to an agonist for the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor not only inhibits the formation of neurospheres but also promotes spontaneous and induced differentiation of neurospheres into cells immunoreactive to a neuronal marker protein on immunocytochemistry and Western blot analyses. This chapter shows that glutamate could play a pivotal role in mechanisms underlying proliferation for self-renewal.
Neuroimmune Interactions That Operate In The Development And Progression Of Inflammatory Demyelinating Diseases: Lessons From Pathogenesis Of Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Fainardi Enrico , Castellazzi Massimiliano
Published: January 2010

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered an autoimmune chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by demyelination and axonal damage. The view of MS as a “two-stage disease”, with a predominant inflammatory demyelination in the early phase (relapsing-remitting MS form) and a subsequent secondary neurodegeneration in the early phase (secondary or primary progressive MS) of the disease, is now challenged by the demonstration that axonal destruction may occur independently of inflammation and may also produce it. Therefore, as CNS inflammation and degeneration can coexist throughout the course of the disease, MS may be a “simultaneous two-component disease”, in which the combination of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration promotes irreversible disability. This chapter discusses factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of MS, immune surveillance in the CNS, regulation of immune responses in the inflamed CNS, initiation of T helper 1 (Th1)-mediated immune reactions in the inflamed CNS, amplification of Th1-mediated immune responses in inflamed CNS and tissue damage, and development of autoimmunity in MS.
Immunomodulation in the Nervous and Vascular Systems During Inflammation and Autoimmunity: the Role of T Regulatory Cells
Authors: Chatzantoni Kokona , Mouzaki Athanasia
Published: January 2010

The immune system is characterized by a complex network of cells and organs specialized to extinguish foreign invaders or malfunctioning cells of the organism. Although innate immunity, B-cell function via antibody responses, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes are very important for protection of the body, T cells play a central role in the immune system and are more important for its regulation. This chapter discusses T-cell regulation within the immune system, along with central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms of positive and negative selection, anergy, and deletion. Immunomodulation in the nervous system as well as vascular system during inflammation and autoimmunity is described using the paradigms of two complex pathological conditions: multiple sclerosis and atherosclerosis. The role of T cells and T regulatory cells in breaking or maintaining tolerance is examined, together with the proposed ways of their therapeutic manipulations to ameliorate disease progression.
Proteases In Β-Amyloid Metabolism: Potential Therapeutic Targets Against Alzheimer‘;S Disease
Authors: Brakch Noureddine , Rholam Mohamed
Published: January 2010

Proteases are extremely important signaling molecules that are involved in numerous vital processes. Protease signaling pathways are strictly regulated, and therefore the dysregulation of their activity can lead to pathologies such as cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. An illustration of the functional role of proteases in physiological processes is demonstrated in the metabolism of β-amyloid. Under normal physiological conditions, the steady-state level of β-amyloid peptide in the brain is determined by the rate of production from amyloid precursor protein via β- and γ-secretases and rate of degradation by the activity of several known metallopeptidases. In conditions that affect the activity of these proteases (for example, genetic mutations, environmental factors, or age), overactive secretases or underactive β-amyloid-degrading enzymes could shift the balance of amyloid metabolism toward abnormal β-amyloid deposition in the brain, an early and invariant feature of all forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These proteases thus represent potential therapeutic targets against AD, and consequently, regulation of their activity by drugs is now considered as an important strategy in the neuroprotection.
A Volscian Mafia? Cicero and his Italian Clients in the Forensic Speeches
Authors: Lomas Kathryn
Published: January 2010

In the aftermath of the bitter Social War between ancient Rome and the Italians, ending in the extension of Roman citizenship to all Italians, the competing claims of existing local loyalties and the new demands made by integration into the Roman State, created an intense debate amongst the Italian nobility about the nature of regional identity and how to reconcile this with the profound changes in the relationship of Italian states to Rome. This chapter examines two interconnected themes: first, the Italians who were defended by Cicero or otherwise appear prominently in his forensic speeches, their background and the municipalities from which they originated, and Cicero's connections with them; second, how the Italian clients are characterised in the speeches, the role they play, and what this implies about Roman and Italian identity in the generation after the Social War.
Repetition and Unity in a Civil Law Speech: The Pro Caecina
Authors: Winterbottom Michael
Published: January 2010

This chapter examines the Pro Caecina in an attempt to analyse the relationship between Cicero's forensic speech and the complicated civil lawsuit to which it was tailored. A key to the analysis is found in the structure of the speech, investigated through the repetitions of words and themes which unify the many arguments employed. An approach centred on the structure of the speech forces a close engagement with the text. Earlier structural analyses provide a starting point, and insights from rhetorical theory and discourse analysis may be applied. Cicero's selection and ordering of material provide clues to his strategy, which must be deciphered before the text can be safely used as evidence for either the background of the case itself or the socio-legal context. Cicero's speech, despite its bewildering number of arguments, is a unity, and an excellent example of the advocate at civil law.
De Domo Sua: Legal Problem and Structure
Authors: Stroh Wilfried
Published: January 2010

On September 29, 57 BC, Cicero won his reinstatement into his house and grounds which had in part been dedicated to the gods by P. Clodius Pulcher. Cicero himself regarded the forensic speech delivered on that day, De domo sua, as an outstanding example of his own passionately inspired ‘power of eloquence’. This chapter argues that Cicero was right to place a high value on his speech, because he was conscious of the embarrassing difficulty with which he had had to struggle with regards to the legal dispute he faced involving his house. Though his deadly enemy P. Clodius Pulcher had performed the dedication in question with definitely spiteful intent, still it was performed in a legally correct, binding, and, according to Roman conceptions, irreversible manner. Thus, Cicero certainly had good reason to divert attention from the salient point through irrelevant polemics, and to mobilise the full power of his emotions on his own behalf to turn the trial in his favor.
The Dilemma of Cicero’s Speech for Ligarius
Authors: Jeffrey P. Johnson
Published: January 2010

This chapter assesses the strategy used by Cicero in his forensic speech for Quintus Ligarius. Because of the difficulties of this speech, that strategy is not readily apparent. Through a close reading of the text, however, it is evident that Cicero's goal was to refuse admitting his client's guilt but also to dress his speech in the language of a plea for mercy, thus catching Julius Caesar on both horns of a good dilemma. Pro Ligario is a fascinating speech, admired since Quintilian, who quotes from it copiously, and in modern times the subject of a great deal of speculation. In Pro Ligario, Cicero gives a double defence that is at once a way for his client to save face, a dilemma aimed at forcing Caesar into an acquittal, and a brilliant and independent piece of rhetoric.
Gibbon and the 'Watchmen of the Holy City'
Authors: Womersley David
Published: January 2010

The publication of the first volume of The Decline and Fall in 1776 immediately embroiled Gibbon in a dispute concerning his supposed irreligion. This book follows the implications and ramifications of Gibbon's sudden notoriety to recover the historian's experience of himself as author. It traces Gibbon's attempts to control, to manipulate, and at times to avail himself of, his public reputation from his first, silent, engagement with his critics when he revised the text of the first volume of The Decline and Fall, to that unfinished masterpiece of self-presentation, the Memoirs of My Life. It also shows how the debate about Gibbon's alleged hostility to Christianity shaped the posthumous publication of his Miscellaneous Works by his friend and literary executor, Lord Sheffield.
Revision and Religion
Authors: WOMERSLEY DAVID
Published: January 2010

Gibbon revised the text of the two final chapters of the first volume of The Decline and Fall, which had chiefly aroused the indignation of the clerical establishment on two occasions: for the second edition of 1776, and for the third edition of 1777. A meticulous collation of these revisions reveals an interesting drama of response on Gibbon's part. He was initially concerned by rumours that he was to be attacked for supposed irreligion, and, before any attacks had appeared, made concessive revisions for the second edition. However, once the first attacks had been published, Gibbon saw that they were mild and ineffective. His revisions for the third edition therefore reversed the concessions of the second edition, and indeed if anything intensified the deistical flavour of the book.
‘As common as any the most vulgar thing to sense’: Three Versions of the Death of a Father
Authors: WOMERSLEY DAVID
Published: January 2010

This chapter compares the three versions Gibbon composed of the death of his father. Although the movement from version to version is a good example of Gibbon's polishing of style, when these versions are placed within the context of the swift development in Gibbon's political sentiments which was occurring at just the moment of their composition, it is clear that Gibbon's stylistic preferences were co-ordinated with the broader considerations that arose from his contemplation of the scene of European politics.
INTRODUCTION
Authors: WOMERSLEY DAVID
Published: January 2010

This introductory chapter sets out the general subject of the book and illustrates Gibbon's evolving relationship with his reader by analysing changes in the footnotes to The Decline and Fall as it moves through its three instalments (published in 1776, 1781, and 1788). These changes in the style of the footnotes are related to the historian's increasingly deft management of his reputation. The final paragraphs describe and defend the deliberately promiscuous methodology of the book.
Landmarks
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The second Labour Government entered office at the worst of times. When the Labour Party took office, unemployment stood at 1,164,000. By July 1931, it had risen to 2,750,000. The easy belief that a Labour Government would be different had gone. The realization was evident in the deteriorating record of the party in by-elections. In August 1931, this weakened administration faced a sudden crisis, culminating in the resignation of the Labour Government with the exception of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden, and the Government's most senior trade unionist, Jimmy Thomas. All three took office in a new National Government, alongside Conservatives and Liberals. The National Government under MacDonald's leadership introduced a programme of cuts but, faced with further financial crisis, took Britain off the Gold Standard. This book examines the internal politics of the Labour Party, with emphasis on the impact of trade unions on party organization and procedures. The analysis also looks at the complexities of political identities within the party and the broader labour movement.
Organization and Culture
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The analysis of formal institutions and procedures provides an insufficient basis for an understanding of Labour Party organization. Over time, party institutions developed cultural identities that characterized patterns of behaviour as effective and ineffective, permissible and unacceptable. Such identities could be valuable sources of legitimacy for the party leadership, but they were sufficiently contestable to permit utilization by strategists keen to produce amendments in party practices and policies. The structures and procedures of the newly formed party owed much to the pre-existing practices and cultures of the principal affiliated bodies — the major trade unions and the Independent Labour Party. Control from above was tempered typically by critical initiatives from below, the tension that led the syndicalist turned elite theorist, Robert Michels, to propose an iron law of oligarchy. Yet Michels, dedicated to the ambition of a universalizing social science, neglected the significance of context. As this shifted, so patterns of organizational politics changed. One crucial component that Michels for good historical reasons failed to examine was the impact of office on labour organizations.
Party Structures and Strategies
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The roots of the Labour Party lay not in its parliamentary organization, but in its extra-parliamentary institutions and affiliated bodies. Some basic party structures went back to the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900. The foundation conference formulated the principle of affiliated bodies, their deliberations through a system of delegates in an annual conference, and a national executive whose structure would incorporate the range of affiliations. This party world was revised significantly by the constitution of 1918. Its procedures were subsequently affected by the electoral advances of the twenties, and the unexpected arrival in office. There developed patterns of authority, deference, and criticism; party institutions embodied a set of expectations within which a repertoire of tactical maneuvres became established.
The Miners: Institutions and Styles
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The coal industry's problems cast a sombre shadow over Labour Party politics in Britain throughout the 1920s. The continuing crisis was expressed through the lengthy and ultimately vain resistance of miners in the national disputes of 1921 and 1926. Defeats were the precursors to wage reductions, a longer working day, closures, job losses, short-time working — and a corrosive loss of optimism in many mining communities. The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) hoped that a Labour Government would provide a more constructive approach to the industry than the typically ‘hands off’ stance, flavoured with pro-owner sentiments, that characterized Government policy after hasty decontrol in the spring of 1921. Thereafter, the wartime and immediate post-war experience of state involvement in the industry served the MFGB as a benchmark for a desirable policy. This chapter also looks at the controversial appointment of Frank Hodges in April 1925 as Secretary of the Miners' International Federation.
Coal Crises and Labour Governments
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The leaders of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain responded positively to the record of the 1924 Labour Government in their public statements. The administration's minority status could provide a credible explanation for any shortcomings, and the Government's brief period in office was contemporaneous with a temporary improvement in miners' wages. Nevertheless, there were private concerns about the character of the relationship between the Federation and the Government which highlighted broader issues about the appropriate status of trade union priorities within the agenda of a Labour Party administration. The Minister for Mines, Emmanuel Shinwell, was a strong supporter of Ramsay MacDonald, and an acerbic critic of what he regarded as Left-Utopianism. In contrast, two Scottish Miners' Members, Duncan Graham and James Welsh, saw Shinwell's selection as an affront to miners' reasonable expectations. This chapter examines the crises that affected the coal industry in Britain and the politics underlying the Labour Government's response.
Bevin’s Union: Loyalism and Iconoclasm
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

As the Labour Party's political and industrial leaderships moved rapidly to define and to consolidate their position after the August 1931 collapse of the Labour Government led by Ramsay MacDonald, achievement of these objectives was hindered by accumulating tensions between Labour politicians and trade union leaders. Walter Citrine, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary, had been central to the bargaining over delicate issues between the Labour Government and the TUC. Increasingly, he had become dismayed about what he saw as Government insensitivity towards legitimate concerns of trade unions. Trade union priorities were central to the post-MacDonald Labour Party and they were expressed most forcibly by Ernest Bevin, the General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union. This chapter looks at Bevin's approach to politics, loyalism, and iconoclasm as a union leader towards the Labour Party.
Conflict and Negotiation
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

The first week of the first Labour Government, led by Ramsay MacDonald, saw a national strike by members of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF). Most of their footplate colleagues in the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) did not stop work, a division that produced considerable inter-union acrimony. The senior official of each union had experience in British politics: John Bromley of ASLEF and Jimmy Thomas of NUR. A shared political partisanship did not soften inter-union rivalries, and Bromley's commitment to the Labour Party did not reduce his readiness to protect his members' wage standards in the context of a Labour Government. The 1924 labour disputes occurred in a relatively buoyant economic context, but from 1929 deepening economic depression made industrial action a statement of despair as much as a bargaining tactic. From 1925 to 1930, the Labour leadership was given a backing by the trade unions that was remarkable in both breadth and depth.
Socialism in Our Time
Authors: Howell David
Published: January 2010

In April 1926, James Maxton became chairman of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). More than anyone, he would symbolize the party's radicalization. He also evoked affection from many outside and inside the ILP who nevertheless queried his political judgements. Maxton became chairman just as the first fruits of Clifford Allen's drive for a new party were appearing. Six commissions had been appointed to devise new policies, the most important of which acquired its formal authorization at the Gloucester Conference of 1925. Its remit was to develop a programme for the abolition of poverty within the broader context of an advance towards socialism. The commission's membership was impressive, led by J. A. Hobson as chairman and H. N. Brailsford as secretary. This commission epitomized the blend of progressive liberalism and ILP ethical socialism that characterized Allen's hopes for the Left. This chapter looks at the ILP's socialist agenda, economic policy, and politics with regards to its relationship with the Labour Party.