bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genome Assembly of the Dogface Butterfly Zerene cesonia
Authors: Rodriguez-Caro Luis , Fenner Jennifer , Benson Caleb , Van Belleghem Steven M , Counterman Brian A
Published: November 2019

Comparisons of high-quality, reference butterfly, and moth genomes have been instrumental to advancing our understanding of how hybridization, and natural selection drive genomic change during the origin of new species and novel traits. Here, we present a genome assembly of the Southern Dogface butterfly, Zerene cesonia (Pieridae) whose brilliant wing colorations have been implicated in developmental plasticity, hybridization, sexual selection, and speciation. We assembled 266,407,278 bp of the Z. cesonia genome, which accounts for 98.3% of the estimated 271 Mb genome size. Using a hybrid approach involving Chicago libraries with Hi-Rise assembly and a diploid Meraculous assembly, the final haploid genome was assembled. In the final assembly, nearly all autosomes and the Z chromosome were assembled into single scaffolds. The largest 29 scaffolds accounted for 91.4% of the genome assembly, with the remaining ∼8% distributed among another 247 scaffolds and overall N50 of 9.2 Mb. Tissue-specific RNA-seq informed annotations identified 16,442 protein-coding genes, which included 93.2% of the arthropod Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO). The Z. cesonia genome assembly had ∼9% identified as repetitive elements, with a transposable element landscape rich in helitrons. Similar to other Lepidoptera genomes, Z. cesonia showed a high conservation of chromosomal synteny. The Z. cesonia assembly provides a high-quality reference for studies of chromosomal arrangements in the Pierid family, as well as for population, phylo, and functional genomic studies of adaptation and speciation.
Does Obesity Increase the Risk and Severity of Falls in People Aged 60 Years and Older? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies
Authors: G R Neri Silvia , S Oliveira Juliana , B Dario Amabile , M Lima Ricardo , Tiedemann Anne
Published: November 2019

Background

Recent investigations suggest that obesity may be associated with an increased risk of falls; however, this theory has yet to be definitively confirmed. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the strength of the association between obesity and falls, multiple falls, fall-related injuries, and fall-related fractures among older adults.

Methods

MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, LILACS, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify observational studies that assessed the association between obesity and fall-related outcomes in participants aged 60 years and older. Two independent reviewers performed data extraction and quality assessment. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were pooled using random effect meta-analyses.

Results

Thirty-one studies including a total of 1,758,694 participants were selected from 7,815 references. Pooled estimates showed that obese older adults have an increased risk of falls compared with nonobese counterparts (24 studies; relative risk: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.07–1.26; I2: 90%). Obesity was also associated with an increased risk of multiple falls (four studies; relative risk: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.08–1.29; I2: 0%). There was no evidence, however, of an association between obesity and fall-related injuries (seven studies; relative risk: 1.04; 95% CI: 0.92–1.18; I2: 65%). Fall-related fractures were reported in only one study, which demonstrated a lower risk of hip fracture with obesity (odds ratio: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.63–0.68).

Conclusions

Obesity increases the risk of falls and multiple falls in people aged 60 years and older; however, there is insufficient evidence of an association with fall-related injuries or fractures. Prevention and treatment of obesity may play a role in preventing falls in older age.
Actor–Partner Effects of Childhood Disadvantage on Later Life Subjective Well-Being Among Individuals in Coresidential Unions
Authors: Lam Jack
Published: November 2019

Objectives

Prior research on cumulative disadvantage has primarily focused on individuals’ own childhood adversity for their later-life outcomes. Nevertheless, partner’s childhood disadvantage may also shape respondent’s later-life well-being.

Methods

Drawing on a household-level dataset, I examine respondent’s own childhood adversity as well as their partner’s childhood adversity (poor childhood health, parental divorce, or father’s long-term unemployment) on respondent’s subjective well-being, at aged 50 and older.

Results

Findings from the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) show poor childhood health of the male partner as associated with worse mental health and self-rated health of the female partner in later life. For both outcome measures, the partner effects were attenuated after adjusting for the female partner’s report of perceived social support. For self-rated health, adjusting for variation in the presence of a chronic illness and household income also attenuated the association.

Discussion

Partnered individuals are nested within a specific context, whereby stress and implications of early life disadvantage may be conceptualized at the couple-level. Future research that assesses how early life experiences of individuals may have implications for family members’ later-life well-being may be valuable.
Integration of bioenergetics in an individual-based model to hindcast anchovy dynamics in the Bay of Biscay
Authors: Bueno-Pardo Juan , Petitgas Pierre , Kay Susan , Huret Martin
Published: November 2019

The population of European anchovy of the Bay of Biscay collapsed at the beginning of the 21st century, causing the closure of its fishery between 2005 and 2010. In order to study both the human and environmental causes of the anchovy population dynamics, an approach coupling individual bioenergetics to an individual-based model was applied between 2000 and 2015. This modelling framework was forced with outputs from a physical–biogeochemical model. In addition to a base-case scenario with realistic forcing, alternative scenarios were run without inter-annual variability in either fishing mortality or environmental conditions. During the decrease in population biomass, a high fishing pressure coincided with a combination of environmental variables promoting the appearance of large individuals that could not survive severe winters because of their high energetic demands. The recovery of the population was favoured by a period of warm years with abundant food favouring the winter survival of age 1 individuals, in coincidence with the closure of the fishery. Our modelling approach also allows to test the consequences of a retrospective implementation of the current harvest control rule from 2000 which, according to our results, would have prevented the collapse of the population and avoided the fishery closure.
Reduced Consolation Behaviors in Physically Stressed Mandarin Voles: Involvement of Oxytocin, Dopamine D2, and Serotonin 1A Receptors Within the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Authors: Li Lai-Fu , Yuan Wei , He Zhi-Xiong , Ma Huan , Xun Yu-Feng , Meng Ling-Rong , Zhu Si-Jing , Wang Li-Min , Zhang Jing , Cai Wen-Qi , Zhang Xue-Ni , Guo Qian-Qian , Lian Zhen-Min , Jia Rui , Tai Fa-Dao
Published: November 2019

Background

Consolation is a type of empathy-like behavior that has recently been observed in some socially living rodents. Despite the growing body of literature suggesting that stress affects empathy, the relationship between stress and consolation remains understudied at the preclinical level. Here, we examined the effects of chronic emotional stress or physical stress exposure on consolation and emotional behaviors by using the socially monogamous mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus) in both males and females.

Method/Results

Physical stress voles were exposed to 14-day social defeat stress, whereas emotional stress voles vicariously experienced the defeat of their partners. We found that physical stress, but not emotional stress, voles showed reduced grooming toward their defeated partners and increased anxiety- and despair-like behaviors. Meanwhile, physical stress voles exhibited decreased neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is centrally involved in empathy. The densities of oxytocin receptors, dopamine D2 receptors, and serotonin 1A-receptors within the anterior cingulate cortex were significantly decreased in the physical stress group compared with controls. All the behavioral and physiological changes were similar between the sexes. Finally, we found that the reduced consolation behavior and some anxiety-like syndromes in physical stress voles could be alleviated by pretreatment with an oxytocin receptor, D2 receptors, or serotonin 1A-receptor agonist within the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas injections of corresponding receptor antagonists to the control voles decreased the consolation behavior and increased some anxiety-like behaviors.

Conclusions

Our results indicated that chronic physical stress exposure impaired consolation and induced anxiety-like behaviors in mandarin voles and oxytocin receptors, 5-HT1A receptors, and D2 receptors within the anterior cingulate cortex may play important roles in these processes.
Distance-based nearest neighbour forecasting with application to exchange rate predictability
Authors: Kyriazi Foteini , Thomakos Dimitrios D
Published: November 2019

Forecasting non-stationary time series, especially when the data generating processes contains a random walk component, is a difficult and sometimes impossible task. In this paper we suggest an intuitive, computationally fast and expedient way of forecasting time series of the above type using distance-based nearest neighbours (NN). We exploit to advantage the path and scale dependence present in a random walk model and so we provide a number of theoretical results (a) on the distances used for selecting the NN, (b) on a number of new forecasting models that use these distances and (c) on the properties of the resulting forecasts. We illustrate the efficacy of our method via a comprehensive empirical application on time series of exchange rates and commodities, where we present the resulting performance enhancements and discuss the importance of such results in a decision-making context, linking our forecasting approach with management mathematics and predictive analytics problems.
On the Modular Completion of Certain Generating Functions
Authors: Bringmann Kathrin , Ehlen Stephan , Schwagenscheidt Markus
Published: November 2019

We complete several generating functions to non-holomorphic modular forms in two variables. For instance, we consider the generating function of a natural family of meromorphic modular forms of weight two. We then show that this generating series can be completed to a smooth, non-holomorphic modular form of weights $\frac 32$ and two. Moreover, it turns out that the same function is also a modular completion of the generating function of weakly holomorphic modular forms of weight $\frac 32$, which prominently appear in work of Zagier [27] on traces of singular moduli.
Champion Coaching: How to Teach Ultrasound-Guided Breast Procedures
Authors: Carpentier Bianca M , Mainiero Martha B
Published: November 2019

Teaching ultrasound-guided percutaneous breast interventions to a trainee may be a challenge, given the often high-anxiety environment in the subspecialty of breast imaging. This article aims to teach an organized approach, including simulation practice with an emphasis on consistent feedback and role modeling, as well as practical and relevant physics, to help trainees accelerate acquisition of these important skills during their training.
Theileria ovis (Piroplasmida: Theileriidae) Detected in Melophagus ovinus (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) and Ornithodoros lahorensis (Ixodida: Argasidae) Removed From Sheep in Xinjiang, China
Authors: Zhao Li , Wang Jinling , Ding Yulin , Li Kairui , He Bo , Li Fei , Zhang Luyao , Li Xianqiang , Liu Yonghong
Published: November 2019

Theileria spp. are tick-transmitted, intracellular apicomplexan protozoan parasites that infect a wide range of animals and, as such, can cause significant economic losses. The aim of the present study was to detect and analyze apicomplexan parasites from two different ectoparasites that were collected from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The PCR-based detection of 18S rRNA indicated that Ornithodoros lahorensis specimens from Kashgar, Xinjiang, and Aksu were positive for Theileria spp., as were Melophagus ovinus specimens from Aksu. Meanwhile, phylogenetic analysis, based on the 18S rRNA gene sequences, revealed that the four amplified Theileria sequences could be attributed to T. ovis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the detection of T. ovis DNA in M. ovinus and the first molecular identification study to confirm the detection of T. ovis in O. lahorensis in China. Accordingly, the present study extends the known distribution of T. ovis.
Aberrant Accumulation of BRCA1 in Alzheimer Disease and Other Tauopathies
Authors: Nakamura Masataka , Kaneko Satoshi , Dickson Dennis W , Kusaka Hirofumi
Published: November 2019

BRCA1 plays an important roles in several biological events during the DNA damage response (DDR). Recently, some reports have indicated that BRCA1 dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Furthermore, it has also been reported that BRCA1 accumulates within neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in the AD brain. In this study, we examined the immunohistochemical distribution of BRCA1 and another DDR protein, p53-Binding Protein 1 (53BP1), in AD, Pick disease (PiD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration, and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17. In control subjects, neither BRCA1 nor phosphorylated BRCA1 (pBRCA1; Ser1524) immunoreactivity was observed in neurons or glial cells; and that for pBRCA1 (Ser1423) and 53BP1 were slightly detected in neuronal nuclei. The immunoreactivity for both BRCA1 and pBRCA1 (Ser1423) was localized within phosphorylated tau inclusions in all tauopathies, whereas that for pBRCA1 (Ser1524) was mainly associated with Pick bodies in PiD and to a lesser extent with NFTs in AD. On the other hand, 53BP1-immunoreactive deposits tended to be increased in the nucleus of neurons in AD and PSP compared with those in control cases. Our results suggest that DDR dysfunction due to cytoplasmic sequestration of BRCA1 could be involved in the pathogenesis of tauopathies.
Activation of the Unfolded Protein Response and Proteostasis Disturbance in Parkinsonism-Dementia of Guam
Authors: Verheijen Bert M , Lussier Celina , Müller-Hübers Cora , Garruto Ralph M , Oyanagi Kiyomitsu , Braun Ralf J , van Leeuwen Fred W
Published: November 2019

Guam parkinsonism-dementia (G-PD) is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder among the native inhabitants of the Mariana Islands that manifests clinically with parkinsonism as well as dementia. Neuropathologically, G-PD is characterized by abundant neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau, marked deposition of transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43), and neuronal loss. The mechanisms that underlie neurodegeneration in G-PD are poorly understood. Here, we report that the unfolded protein response (UPR) is activated in G-PD brains. Specifically, we show that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone binding immunoglobulin protein/glucose-regulated protein 78 kDa and phosphorylated (activated) ER stress sensor protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase accumulate in G-PD brains. Furthermore, proteinaceous aggregates in G-PD brains are found to contain several proteins related to the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and the autophagy pathway, two major mechanisms for intracellular protein degradation. In particular, a mutant ubiquitin (UBB+1), whose presence is a marker for UPS dysfunction, is shown to accumulate in G-PD brains. We demonstrate that UBB+1 is a potent modifier of TDP-43 aggregation and cytotoxicity in vitro. Overall, these data suggest that UPR activation and intracellular proteolytic pathways are intimately connected with the accumulation of aggregated proteins in G-PD.
Feasibility study on a novel tiny dosimeter using a barium titanate capacitor
Authors: Kuga Yuma , Ogawara Ryo , Ishikawa Masayori
Published: November 2019

In our laboratory we have confirmed that the capacitance of barium titanate-based capacitors changes due to radiation. Since a commercially available capacitor is very small and inexpensive, it may be used as a multidimensional dose meter in which a large number of capacitor elements are arranged, or may be embedded in the body and used as an in-vivo dose meter. In this study we examined the usefulness of a dosimeter using the capacitance change of a barium titanate capacitor. As a basic property, it was confirmed that the dose linearity was good. With regard to dose rate characteristics and response to fractionated irradiation, capacitance change due to aging affects measurement accuracy, but online measurement of capacitance change immediately before irradiation can be performed to correct aging effects during irradiation. By doing this, we confirmed that the dose rate characteristics and the response to fractionated radiation are improved.
Investigating the amphiatlantic status of Facelina bostoniensis (Couthouy, 1838) (Nudibranchia: Aeolidida)
Authors: Carmona Leila
Published: November 2019

The aeolid species Facelina bostoniensis (Couthouy, 1838) was originally described from Massachusetts and was later reported from the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. So far, no molecular systematic study of its amphiatlantic status has been carried out. Phylogenetic analyses (maximum likelihood and Bayesian) of DNA sequence data for the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and 16S rRNA genes confirm the amphiatlantic status of F. bostoniensis. My findings show that this species is restricted to the Atlantic realm and that the species recorded from the Mediterranean is not F. bostoniensis but F. vicina (Bergh, 1882). It is hypothesized that previous records of F. bostoniensis from the Mediterranean Sea were actually misidentifications of F. vicina.
Sinorhizobium meliloti YbeY is a zinc-dependent single-strand specific endoribonuclease that plays an important role in 16S ribosomal RNA processing
Authors: Babu Vignesh M P , Sankari Siva , Budnick James A , Caswell Clayton C , Walker Graham C
Published: November 2019

Single-strand specific endoribonuclease YbeY has been shown to play an important role in the processing of the 3′ end of the 16S rRNA in Escherichia coli. Lack of YbeY results in the accumulation of the 17S rRNA precursor. In contrast to a previous report, we show that Sinorhizobium meliloti YbeY exhibits endoribonuclease activity on single-stranded RNA substrate but not on the double-stranded substrate. This study also identifies the previously unknown metal ion involved in YbeY function to be Zn2+ and shows that the activity of YbeY is enhanced when the occupancy of zinc is increased. We have identified a pre-16S rRNA precursor that accumulates in the S. meliloti ΔybeY strain. We also show that ΔybeY mutant of Brucella abortus, a mammalian pathogen, also accumulates a similar pre-16S rRNA. The pre-16S species is longer in alpha-proteobacteria than in gamma-proteobacteria. We demonstrate that the YbeY from E. coli and S. meliloti can reciprocally complement the rRNA processing defect in a ΔybeY mutant of the other organism. These results establish YbeY as a zinc-dependent single-strand specific endoribonuclease that functions in 16S rRNA processing in both alpha- and gamma-proteobacteria.
Characterization of zygotic genome activation-dependent maternal mRNA clearance in mouse
Authors: Sha Qian-Qian , Zhu Ye-Zhang , Li Sen , Jiang Yu , Chen Lu , Sun Xiao-Hong , Shen Li , Ou Xiang-Hong , Fan Heng-Yu
Published: November 2019

An important event of the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) in animal embryos is the elimination of a subset of the maternal transcripts that accumulated during oogenesis. In both invertebrates and vertebrates, a maternally encoded mRNA decay pathway (M-decay) acts before zygotic genome activation (ZGA) while a second pathway, which requires zygotic transcription, subsequently clears additional mRNAs (Z-decay). To date the mechanisms that activate the Z-decay pathway in mammalian early embryos have not been investigated. Here, we identify murine maternal transcripts that are degraded after ZGA and show that inhibition of de novo transcription stabilizes these mRNAs in mouse embryos. We show that YAP1-TEAD4 transcription factor-mediated transcription is essential for Z-decay in mouse embryos and that TEAD4-triggered zygotic expression of terminal uridylyltransferases TUT4 and TUT7 and mRNA 3′-oligouridylation direct Z-decay. Components of the M-decay pathway, including BTG4 and the CCR4-NOT deadenylase, continue to function in Z-decay but require reinforcement from the zygotic factors for timely removal of maternal mRNAs. A long 3′-UTR and active translation confer resistance of Z-decay transcripts to M-decay during oocyte meiotic maturation. The Z-decay pathway is required for mouse embryo development beyond the four-cell stage and contributes to the developmental competence of preimplantation embryos.
HECTD1 promotes base excision repair in nucleosomes through chromatin remodelling
Authors: Bennett Laura , Madders Eleanor C E T , Parsons Jason L
Published: November 2019

Base excision repair (BER) is the major cellular DNA repair pathway that recognises and excises damaged DNA bases to help maintain genome stability. Whilst the major enzymes and mechanisms co-ordinating BER are well known, the process of BER in chromatin where DNA is compacted with histones, remains unclear. Using reconstituted mononucleosomes containing a site-specific synthetic abasic site (tetrahydrofuran, THF), we demonstrate that the DNA damage is less efficiently incised by recombinant AP endonuclease 1 (APE1) when the DNA backbone is facing the histone core (THF-in) compared to that orientated away (THF-out). However, when utilizing HeLa whole cell extracts, the difference in incision of THF-in versus THF-out is less pronounced suggesting the presence of chromatin remodelling factors that stimulate THF accessibility to APE1. We subsequently purified an activity from HeLa cell extracts and identify this as the E3 ubiquitin ligase, HECTD1. We demonstrate that a recombinant truncated form of HECTD1 can stimulate incision of THF-in by APE1 in vitro by histone ubiquitylation, and that siRNA-mediated depletion of HECTD1 leads to deficiencies in DNA damage repair and decreased cell survival following x-ray irradiation, particularly in normal fibroblasts. Thus, we have now identified HECTD1 as an important factor in promoting BER in chromatin.
Negative cooperativity between Gemin2 and RNA provides insights into RNA selection and the SMN complex's release in snRNP assembly
Authors: Yi Hongfei , Mu Li , Shen Congcong , Kong Xi , Wang Yingzhi , Hou Yan , Zhang Rundong
Published: November 2019

The assembly of snRNP cores, in which seven Sm proteins, D1/D2/F/E/G/D3/B, form a ring around the nonameric Sm site of snRNAs, is the early step of spliceosome formation and essential to eukaryotes. It is mediated by the PMRT5 and SMN complexes sequentially in vivo. SMN deficiency causes neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). How the SMN complex assembles snRNP cores is largely unknown, especially how the SMN complex achieves high RNA assembly specificity and how it is released. Here we show, using crystallographic and biochemical approaches, that Gemin2 of the SMN complex enhances RNA specificity of SmD1/D2/F/E/G via a negative cooperativity between Gemin2 and RNA in binding SmD1/D2/F/E/G. Gemin2, independent of its N-tail, constrains the horseshoe-shaped SmD1/D2/F/E/G from outside in a physiologically relevant, narrow state, enabling high RNA specificity. Moreover, the assembly of RNAs inside widens SmD1/D2/F/E/G, causes the release of Gemin2/SMN allosterically and allows SmD3/B to join. The assembly of SmD3/B further facilitates the release of Gemin2/SMN. This is the first to show negative cooperativity in snRNP assembly, which provides insights into RNA selection and the SMN complex's release. These findings reveal a basic mechanism of snRNP core assembly and facilitate pathogenesis studies of SMA.
Dreaming of a Meritocracy, Grappling with Reality
Authors: Stalnaker Aaron
Published: November 2019

This chapter examines early Confucian political theory, and argues that they were well aware of both the potentials and pitfalls of politics. This is most visible in their prescriptions about the cultivation, discipline, and employment of elites for the greater benefit of society. Mèngzǐ and Xúnzǐ dreamed of a perfect meritocracy where the wise are recognized, given power, and rule benevolently, overseen and selected by a sage king. This vision led to the persistent utopianism that Metzger and Angle criticize in later Chinese political thought. But Mèngzǐ and Xúnzǐ were also vividly aware of the extreme difference between actual conditions and their meritocratic dream, and developed a number of thoughtful responses to the failures of existing politics. These ideas form a philosophy of elite cultivation and discipline that analyzes the “rule by people” necessary to complement and implement the “rule of law.”
Social Democratic Capitalism
Authors: Kenworthy Lane
Published: November 2019

What configuration of institutions and policies is most conducive to human flourishing? The historical and comparative evidence suggests that the answer is social democratic capitalism — a democratic political system, a capitalist economy, good elementary and secondary schooling, a big welfare state, pro-employment public services, and moderate regulation of product and labor markets. Lane Kenworthy shows that this system improves living standards for the least well-off, enhances economic security, and boosts equality of opportunity. And it does so without sacrificing other things we want in a good society, from liberty to economic growth to health and happiness. Its chief practitioners have been the Nordic nations. The Nordics have gone farther than other rich democratic countries in coupling a big welfare state with public services that promote high employment and modest product- and labor-market regulations. Many believe this system isn’t transferable beyond Scandinavia, but Kenworthy shows that social democratic capitalism and its successes can be replicated in other affluent nations, including the United States. Today, the U.S. lags behind other countries in economic security, opportunity, and shared prosperity. If the U.S. expanded existing social programs and added some additional ones, many Americans would have better lives. Kenworthy argues that, despite formidable political obstacles, the U.S. is likely to move toward social democratic capitalism in coming decades. As a country gets richer, he explains, it becomes more willing to spend more in order to safeguard against risk and enhance fairness. He lays out a detailed policy agenda that could alleviate many of America’s problems.
Islamic Law and International Law
Authors: Powell Emilia Justyna
Published: November 2019

Islamic Law and International Law is a comprehensive examination of differences and similarities between the Islamic legal tradition and international law, especially in the context of dispute settlement. Sharia embraces a unique logic and culture of justice—based on nonconfrontational dispute resolution—as taught by the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad. This book explains how the creeds of Islamic dispute resolution shape the Islamic milieu’s views of international law. Is the Islamic legal tradition ab initio incompatible with international law, and how do states of the Islamic milieu view international courts, mediation, and arbitration? Islamic law constitutes an important part of the domestic legal system in many states of the Islamic milieu—Islamic law states—displacing secular law in state governance and affecting these states’ contemporary international dealings. The book analyzes constitutional and sub-constitutional laws in Islamic law states. The answer to the “Islamic law–international law nexus puzzle” lies in the diversity of how secular laws and religious laws fuse in domestic legal systems across the Islamic milieu. These states are not Islamic to the same degree or in the same way. Thus, different international conflict management methods appeal to different states, depending on each one’s domestic legal system. The main claim of the book is that in many instances the Islamic legal tradition points in one direction while Western-based, secularized international law points in another direction. This conflict is partially softened by the reality that the Islamic legal tradition itself has elements fundamentally compatible with modern international law.
Introduction
Authors: Powell Emilia Justyna
Published: November 2019

How do Islamic law states prefer to resolve their international disputes? Is it possible to identify general patterns that apply to all these states? Why are only some Islamic law states open to using international courts in attempting to solve their interstate disputes? A common Western attitude toward Islam has often served to create the assumption of a massive dichotomy between the Islamic legal tradition and international law across the entire Islamic milieu, projecting a continuing divergence between the two legal systems. Chapter 1 discusses the importance of understanding the Islamic milieu’s preferences with respect to international conflict management venues. It presents a short version of the Islamic theory of peaceful resolution (fully presented later in chapter 4) and discusses the broader significance of the project, locating it within the broader scholarly literature of interstate dispute resolution.
Islamic Law States and the International Court of Justice
Authors: Powell Emilia Justyna
Published: November 2019

This chapter focuses on the main judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and its relation to the Islamic milieu. It examines the Islamic milieu’s views of the Court’s compulsory and compromissory jurisdictions. The Court has been constructed according to the secular Western legal logic, and its jurisprudence rarely refers to the Islamic legal tradition. The chapter presents an analysis of the ICJ’s jurisprudence—judgments and advisory opinions—and the position of Islamic law-based arguments in the Court. Empirical analyses show that the Islamic milieu does not project a uniform attitude toward the ICJ. Depending on their domestic legal systems, some ILS are likely to accept the jurisdiction of the Court and some shy away from international adjudication. In particular, the presence of a secular court system and constitutional mentions of peaceful resolution of disputes promote a favorable attitude toward the ICJ among its Islamic audience.
Conclusion
Authors: Powell Emilia Justyna
Published: November 2019

This chapter summarizes the main arguments and the main empirical findings, stressing the timeliness of insights gained through this inquiry. It situates this research in the broader international law and political science literature, discussing the implications for policymakers. However disconcerting the dissonance between the Islamic legal tradition and international law may appear, there are more similarities between these two legal systems than the policy world and the scholarship take into account. The chapter discusses the importance of Islamic education in shaping states’ preferences vis-à-vis international conflict management. The inherent diversity of the Islamic milieu cannot be overlooked. International dispute resolution is what states make of it and it is up to them to define these mechanisms. In an important way, international law constitutes a broad enough framework to grant ILS space to tailor conflict management venues to their own needs and preferences, as dictated by their domestic legal systems.
Enacting Musical Time
Authors: Kozak Mariusz
Published: November 2019

What is musical time? Where is it manifested? How does it show up in our experience, and how do we capture it in our analyses? Enacting Musical Time offers several answers to these questions by considering musical time as the form of the listener’s interaction with music. Building on evidence from music theory, phenomenology, cognitive science, and social anthropology, the book develops a philosophical and critical argument that musical time is created by the moving bodies of participants engaged in musical activities. The central thesis is that musical time describes the form of a specific kind of interaction between musical sounds and a situated, embodied listener. This musical time emerges when the listener enacts his or her implicit kinesthetic knowledge about “how music goes”—knowledge expressed in the entire spectrum of behavior, from deliberate inactivity, through the simple action of tapping one’s foot in synchrony with the beat, to dancing in a way that engages the whole body. This idea is explored in the context of recent Western classical art music, where composers create temporal experiences that might feel unfamiliar or idiosyncratic, that blur the line between spectatorship and participation, and even challenge conventional notions of musical form. Basing the discussion on the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, and on the ecological psychology of J. J. Gibson, the volume examines different aspects of musical structure through the lens of embodied cognition and what phenomenologists call “lived time,” or time as it shows up in human lives.
Measuring Well-Being
Authors: Adler Matthew D.
Published: November 2019

This chapter discusses the well-being measure: a key component of the social welfare function (SWF) framework. This measure, w(·), assigns well-being numbers to individuals in outcomes so as to reflect admissible well-being comparisons (of well-being levels and/or well-being differences). In order for the SWF framework to function, these admissible comparisons must include interpersonal as well as intrapersonal comparisons; the chapter explains why. It then shows how von Neumann/Morgenstern (vNM) utility functions can be used to construct an interpersonally comparable well-being measure that respects individual preferences. A different preference-based well-being measure, the equivalent-income measure, is also reviewed. Although the preference view of well-being is dominant in the SWF literature, w(·) may instead be based upon a non-preference view of well-being, such as an hedonic or objective-good account. The chapter concludes by considering why some economists have been skeptical about interpersonal comparisons.
Research Frontiers
Authors: Adler Matthew D.
Published: November 2019

This chapter discusses how the SWF framework can be generalized to accommodate variable-population cases and differentiated individual responsibility. The framework, as presented in earlier chapters, assumes a fixed-population setup (the very same individuals exist in all outcomes). Conversely, a variable-population setup allows for individuals who exist in some outcomes but not others. Extending the SWF framework to this case means grappling with the philosophical literature on population ethics—specifically, grappling with the ethical significance of non-identity and deciding how to make ethical comparisons between outcomes with different total population sizes. Earlier chapters also focus solely on the pattern of well-being in outcomes—ignoring that two individuals who are at the same well-being level may be differentially responsible for their condition and thus have unequal ethical claims to a well-being improvement. The economic literature on equality of opportunity (EOp) provides a structure for generalizing the SWF framework to reflect differentiated responsibility.
The Case for Decriminalization
Authors: Flanigan Jessica
Published: November 2019

Sex work should be decriminalized because the criminalization of sex work violates the rights of sex workers and their clients and it has bad consequences. The case for decriminalization has three parts. First, criminalization violates the rights of sex workers and their clients. Second, decriminalization would be better on balance for sex workers’ and clients’ well-being. Third, criminalization is inegalitarian, especially because laws that prohibit the sale or purchase of sex subordinate both sex workers and their clients to fines and incarceration. Throughout this analysis, arguments are developed that fall along a spectrum of idealization.
Introduction
Authors: Dalsheim Joyce
Published: November 2019

This chapter introduces the book, beginning with its theoretical foundations in the study of nationalism and colonialism. It opens with the work of Lord Acton on how “the passengers exist for the sake of the ship,” in which the passengers are sovereign citizens in the nation-state. It considers the work of Eugen Weber on processes of cultural change that are fundamental to both colonization and nationalist projects. Introducing the modern state of Israel, it puts forth a thesis on how nationalism might be better understood as a form of self-colonizing, in which people must assimilate to the nation. In the case of Israel where “religion” and “nation” are conflated in the figure of the Jew, sovereign citizens must be Jewish in particular ways that limit Jewishness and freedom of religion. The chapter also explains why the book is framed with Kafka’s writing.
Before the Law There Stands a Jew
Authors: Dalsheim Joyce
Published: November 2019

This chapter is framed by Kafka’s parable, “Before the Law,” which deals with the paradoxes of social inclusion. This chapter includes a number of stories gathered during fieldwork that demonstrate some of the seemingly strange ways in which Israeli Jews struggle over Jewishness. It raises questions about those who have purportedly already gained political liberation through the establishment of their own nation-state to consider what such liberation means. The chapter provides historical background about the paradoxes of assimilation for Jews in Europe, and about pre-state arrangements that are often cited as the foundations of current struggles over Jewishness in Israel.
Self-Elimination
Authors: Dalsheim Joyce
Published: November 2019

Hannah Arendt wrote that “emancipation” of the European Jews should have been their admission into humanity as Jews. But attempts at assimilation actually made their future more precarious. They seemed to become part of European society but were neither admitted into society nor, indeed, into humanity. This chapter argues that assimilation does not end when Jews become sovereign citizens of their own state. Expanding on Patrick Wolfe’s theorizing on assimilation, it argues that self-determination in the Jewish state is also a form of self-elimination. Zionism is the ultimate Kafkaesque attempt at assimilation, an attempt to gain acceptance by mimicking those by whom one has been oppressed. The modern state was supposed to create the conditions in which Jews could flourish “as Jews.” Yet, because of the conflation of “religion” and “nation” in the figure of the Jew, the modern state actually limits the possible ways of being Jewish.
Mapping a Rhythmic Revolution Through Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Sources on Rhythm and Drumming in North India
Authors: Kippen James
Published: November 2019

The Indo-Persian and vernacular literatures from the late seventeenth to nineteenth centuries on rhythm and drumming in northern India bridge an enormous gap between archaic Sanskrit sources and the theory and practice of the last 100 years. This chapter sets many of these key texts in historical perspective and explores the trajectory of their descriptions and notations of tāl-metric-rhythmic structures that have always served to organize composition and improvisation. A shift is noted from quantitative to qualitative measurements as writers employed the tools of Arabic prosody and began to articulate new concepts: ṭheka-configurations of strokes by which tāls are identified and maintained in performance; ḵẖālī, the “empty” or “unsounded” beat; and band, patterns transformed by the absence of bass drum sonorities. Such changes are arguably due to the rapid rise of the tabla in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which gradually usurped the roles of other drums.
“Rhythm,” “Beat,” and “Freedom” in South Asian Musical Traditions
Authors: Wolf Richard K.
Published: November 2019

This chapter argues that a family of common rhythmic conceptions underlies many of the musical traditions of South Asia despite sometimes dramatic regional differences in language, culture, and religion. Two contrasting kinds of rhythmic representation are examined: one that objectifies through names and numbers, and one that points toward freedom and resists numeration. Evidence for the first is drawn from the analysis of ritual drumming in India and Pakistan as well as concepts and structures in the art music traditions of North and South India. The second concerns both drumming and the elastic rhythm of rāga ālāpana. Examination of a range of data turns many common conceptions of rhythm, beat, and freedom in South Asian music on their heads.
The Reception and Interpretation of “Old Testament” Figures in Literature and Art from Antiquity through the Reformation: Studies, 1983–2018
Authors: DiTommaso Lorenzo
Published: November 2019

This article presents a comprehensive bibliography of studies on Adam, Moses, Joseph, and other figures from the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the thirty-five years since the publication of Charlesworth’s two-volume Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. It focuses on the reception and interpretation of these figures in both literature and art from the antiquity through the Reformation. It is limited to survey-style studies and comprehensive works rather than those that examine a biblical figure in a single text or work of art, and in this respect is meant to serve as a gateway to advanced research.
Parents' Beliefs About Children
Authors: Miller Scott A.
Published: November 2019

This book addresses what parents believe about children—both children in general and their own children in particular. Its scope is broad, encompassing beliefs directed to numerous aspects of children’s development in both the cognitive and social realms, developments that span the age periods from birth through adolescence. Although the focus is on typical development, departures from the norm in both children’s functioning and parental practices are also discussed. Four questions are addressed for every topic considered: What is the nature of parents’ beliefs? What are the origins of parents’ beliefs? How do parents’ beliefs relate to parents’ behavior? And how do parents’ beliefs relate to children’s development? These questions tie in to long-standing theoretical issues in psychology, they are central to our understanding of both parenting practices and children’s development, and they speak to some of the most important pragmatic issues for which psychology can provide answers. The major goal of the book is to convey the main conclusions from the large body of work that has addressed these questions. Because much still remains to be learned, a second goal is to identify needed directions for further study.
Images of Mohammad Reza Beg
Authors: Mokhberi Susan
Published: November 2019

Engravings of Mohammad Reza Beg were struck for his visit to France in 1715. Many of the images highlighted his foreign clothing and habits such as smoking and bathing, which in most cases were recognizable curiosities and already had stimulated trends in French fashion and culture. In France, consumers bought and consumed goods, such as coffee and expensive fabrics, that had been considered exotic but, by the time of the Beg’s visit in 1715, had been adapted as their own. The prints functioned to highlight his foreign tastes, but at the same time, they tempered his exoticness to make him accessible to the French and more like themselves.
Epilogue
Authors: Mokhberi Susan
Published: November 2019

With the publication of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters in 1721, Persians transform from objects of curiosity—as witnessed in the reception of Mohammad Reza Beg in 1715—to objects of critical reflection. The experience of Montesquieu’s two fictional foreigners in France draws from the descriptions of the Beg’s encounter. Moreover, Montesquieu compares France and Persia based upon similarities, such as monarchy and luxury, that the two countries had been known to share. The Persian-French relationship that culminates in the Letters presents a model for France’s relationship to other Asian countries. France imagined foreign countries according to the current context and the French response to Asian countries could not be reproduced by other European nations.
In Between Spiderman and the Incredible Hulk: Crises of Collage, Mutating Identities, and Collective Subjectivities
Authors: Valente Joseph Michael
Published: November 2019

In this chapter, the reader will find a careful analysis of the impact of mutating identities written by a deaf educational anthropologist who places himself squarely in the liminal zone of identity as an in-betweener, identifying himself as culturally Deaf and as a deaf person who speaks. Using this as a starting point, he argues for a shift from a politics of identity toward a politics of vitalism that rejects a focus on individual bodies and differences and instead focuses on flows of vitality that emerge through difference and movement across multiple bodies and identities. In so doing, he disavows an essentialist and dualistic “us-them” framework and elucidates the richness of the in-between. This serves as a generative force to move beyond a subject’s struggle for an unattainable unified identity and instead seek connections with multiple bodies.
The Many Faces of a Himalayan Goddess
Authors: Halperin Ehud
Published: November 2019

Haḍimbā is a major village goddess in the Kullu Valley of the West Indian Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous, rural area known as the Land of Gods. This book is an ethnographic study of Haḍimbā and her dynamic, mutually formative relationship with her community of followers. It explores the part played by the goddess in her devotees’ lives, particularly in their encounters with players, powers, and ideas both local and external, such as invading royal forces, colonial forms of knowledge, and, more recently, modernity, capitalism, tourism, and ecological change. Haḍimbā is revealed as a complex social agent, a dynamic ritual and conceptual compound, which both mirrors her devotees and serves as a platform for them to reflect on, debate, give meaning to, and sometimes resist their changing realities. The goddess herself, it emerges, also changes in the process. Drawing on diverse ethnographic and textual materials gathered during periods of extensive fieldwork from 2009 to 2017, this study is rich with myths, accounts of dramatic rituals, and descriptions of everyday life in the region. The book employs an interdisciplinary approach to tell the story of Haḍimbā from the ground up, or rather from the center out, portraying the goddess in varying contexts that radiate outward from her temple to local, regional, national, and indeed global spheres. The resulting account makes an important contribution to the study of Indian village goddesses, lived Hinduism, Himalayan Hinduism, and the rapidly growing field of religion and ecology.