bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identifying the number of unreported cases in SIR epidemic models
Authors: Ducrot A , Magal P , Nguyen T , Webb G F
Published: May 2019

An SIR epidemic model is analysed with respect to the identification of its parameters and initial values, based upon reported case data from public health sources. The objective of the analysis is to understand the relationship of unreported cases to reported cases. In many epidemic diseases the reported cases are a small fraction of the unreported cases. This fraction can be estimated by the identification of parameters for the model from reported case data. The analysis is applied to the Hong Kong seasonal influenza epidemic in New York City in 1968–1969.
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) essential oil as an alternative for antibiotic in quail diet1
Authors: Dehghani Naghmeh , Afsharmanesh Mohsen , Salarmoini Mohammad , Ebrahimnejad Hadi
Published: May 2019

The thyme (Thymus vulgaris) essential oil was assessed as antibiotic growth promoter replacement in quail chick diet and in vitro test. In total, 250-d-old Japanese quail chicks (mixed sex) were allocated into 5 dietary treatments of 5 replications (6 females and 4 males in each cage with the size of 40× 90× 25 cm) under a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were included the control diet, control diet without any additive, control diet plus 100 ppm flavophospholipol as an antibiotic growth promoter, control diet plus 200 ppm TVE, control diet plus 300 ppm TVE, and control diet plus 400 ppm T. vulgaris essential (TVE) oil. Feed intake, BW gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), organs weight, morphology of intestine, serum lipids, and microbial population were measured on day 35. Lipid oxidation of stored muscle tissue was measured by TBARS test. GC–MS assay, DPPH method, and well diffusion method were evaluated for determination of components, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties, respectively. FCR improved significantly in 400 ppm TVE compared with 200 and 300 ppm TVE (P < 0.05). The serum triglyceride decreased significantly in both sexes receiving 400 ppm TVE compared with control. Villi height increased significantly in duodenum accompanied by decreasing crypt dept at all TVE levels compared with control and antibiotic. The breast muscle tissue of quail fed on 300 and 400 ppm TVE reduced the rate of oxidation during refrigerated storage compared with control. Thymol was the main component (35.40%) of the thymus oil. The considerable antioxidant activity of TVE was identified by IC50 of 58.48 µg/mL. Moreover, zones of growth inhibition of Gram-positive bacteria and Escherichia coli were numerically greater in different doses of TVE than antibiotics. Therefore, The TVE is suitable alternative component for antibiotic growth promoters by dosing consideration. However, it is possible that antibiotic resistance would increase for these natural compounds along the time.
Exploiting the Synergistic Effect of Kairomones and Light-Emitting Diodes on the Attraction of Phlebotomine Sand Flies to Light Traps in Brazil
Authors: da Silva Apoliana Araújo , Rebêlo José Manuel Macário , Carneiro Bruna Ferreira , Castro Maria Patrícia Pereira , de Sousa de Almeida Mayara , Ponte Islana Silva , Aguiar João Vitor Castro , Silva Francinaldo Soares
Published: May 2019

The synergistic effect of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and kairomones on the attraction of sand flies to light traps was evaluated. Octenol and lactic acid were used as chemical attractants. Green LEDs and the incandescent lamps were used as light attractants. Five CDC-type light traps with the respective combination of attractants (incandescent lamp, incandescent lamp + chemical attractant, green LED, green LED + chemical attractant, and chemical attractant alone [without light]) were set between 18:00 and 06:00 following a Latin square design. A total of 6,536 sand flies and 16 species were collected. The most frequent species collected was Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva, 1912) (Diptera, Psychodidae) accounting for 43.21% of all individuals. Order of success (mean, SD) of lactic acid attractant fly capture was as follows: LED + lactic acid (36.83 ± 4.74), LED alone (34.87 ± 4.61), incandescent lamp + lactic acid (22.80 ± 3.19), incandescent lamp alone (12.67 ± 2.03), and lactic acid (0.46 ± 0.13). Order of success of octenol attractant fly capture was as follows: LED + octenol (37.23 ± 5.61), LED alone (35.77 ± 5.69), incandescent lamp + octenol (18.63 ± 3.28), incandescent lamp alone (14.67 ± 2.86), and octenol alone (1.80 ± 0.65). With exception of lactic acid + incandescent light, chemical synergists played no part in significantly increasing light trap capture of phlebotomine sand flies. However, the use of LEDs, with or without such attractants, provided significantly higher capture compared to the incandescent lamp with or without such chemicals, showing that LEDs are suitable and efficient light sources for surveillance and monitoring of phlebotomine sand flies in Brazil.
Contextualising Generic and Universal Generalisations: Quantifier Domain Restriction and the Generic Overgeneralisation Effect
Authors: Lazaridou-Chatzigoga Dimitra , Stockall Linnaea , Katsos Napoleon
Published: May 2019

Generic generalisations (e.g. ‘tigers have stripes’, ‘ducks lay eggs’) refer to a characteristic property of a kind. Recently, the generics-as-default view has posited that we have a bias towards interpreting universally quantified statements as generic. Evidence offered for this view is the Generic Overgeneralisation (GOG) effect, which refers to the documented tendency of participants to misinterpret a quantificational statement like ‘all ducks lay eggs’ as if it were a generic and thus accept it as true, even though they know it is false. Across two experiments in English and Greek we systematically addressed the relevance of context and quantifier domain restriction for this kind of behaviour. Participants judged generic majority characteristic statements like ‘tigers have stripes’ or statements with universal quantifiers with different sensitivity to quantifier domain restriction preceded by one of three levels of context (neutral, contradictory and supportive). We found that context significantly affected the rates at which participants accepted universally quantified statements. Our results demonstrate that quantifier domain restriction is a viable alternative explanation for a significant proportion of the judgements of universally quantified statements that have been called GOG errors.
On the emergence of thousands of absorption lines in the quasar PG 1411+442: a clumpy high-column density outflow from the broad emission-line region?
Authors: Hamann Fred , Tripp Todd M , Rupke David , Veilleux Sylvain
Published: May 2019

Quasar outflows are fundamental components of quasar environments that might play an important role in feedback to galaxy evolution. We report on the emergence of a remarkable new outflow absorption-line system in the quasar PG1411+442 (redshift ∼0.089) detected in the UV and visible with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph, respectively. This new ‘transient’ system contains thousands of lines, including Fe ii and Fe ii∗ from excited states up to 3.89 eV, H i∗ Balmer lines, Na i D λλ5890, 5896, and the first detection of He i∗ λ5876 in a quasar. The transient absorber is spatially inhomogeneous and compact, with sizes ≲0.003 pc, based on covering fractions on the quasar continuum source ranging from ∼0.45 in strong UV lines to ∼0.04 in Na i D. cloudy photoionization simulations show that large total column densities log NH(cm−2) ≳ 23.4 and an intense radiation field ≲0.4 pc from the quasar are needed to produce the observed lines in thick zones of both fully ionized and partially ionized gas. The densities are conservatively log nH(cm−3) ≳ 7 based on Fe ii∗, H i∗, and He i∗ but they might reach log nH(cm−3) ≳ 10 based on Na i D. The transient lines appear at roughly the same velocity shift, v ∼ −1900 km s−1, as a ‘mini-BAL’ outflow detected previously, but with narrower Doppler widths, b ∼ 100 km s−1, and larger column densities in more compact outflow structures. We propose that the transient lines identify a clumpy outflow from the broad emission-line region that, at its current speed and location, is still gravitationally bound to the central black hole.
The s-process enriched star HD 55496: origin from a globular cluster or from the tidal disruption of a dwarf galaxy?
Authors: Pereira C B , Drake N A , Roig F
Published: May 2019

We present a new abundance analysis of HD 55496, previously known as a metal-poor barium star. We found that HD 55496 has a metallicity [Fe/H]  = −1.55 and is s-process enriched. We find that HD 55496 presents four chemical peculiarities: (i) a Na–O abundance anticorrelation; (ii) it is aluminium rich; (iii) it is carbon poor for an s-process enriched star, and (iv) the heavy second s-process peak elements, such as Ba, La, Ce, and Nd, present smaller abundances than the light s-process elements, such as Sr, Y, and Zr, which is not usually observed among the chemically peculiar binary stars at this metallicity. The heavy-element abundance pattern suggests that the main source of the neutrons is the 22Ne(α,n)25Mg reaction. Taking all these abundance evidences together into consideration strongly suggests that HD 55496 is a ‘second-generation of globular cluster stars’ formed from gas already strongly enriched in s-process elements and now is a field halo object. Our dynamical analysis, however, indicates that the past encounter probabilities with the known globular clusters are very low ($\le \!6{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$). This evidence, together with the retrograde motion, points to a halo intruder possibly originated from the tidal disruption of a dwarf galaxy.
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: mass–kinematics scaling relations
Authors: Barat Dilyar , D’Eugenio Francesco , Colless Matthew , Brough Sarah , Catinella Barbara , Cortese Luca , Croom Scott M , Medling Anne M , Oh Sree , van de Sande Jesse , Sweet Sarah M , Yi Sukyoung K , Bland-Hawthorn Joss , Bryant Julia , Goodwin Michael , Groves Brent , Lawrence Jon , Owers Matt S , Richards Samuel N , Scott Nicholas
Published: May 2019

We use data from the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectroscopy (SAMI) Galaxy Survey to study the dynamical scaling relation between galaxy stellar mass M∗ and the general kinematic parameter $S_K = \sqrt{K V_{\rm rot}^2 + \sigma ^2}$ that combines rotation velocity Vrot and velocity dispersion σ. We show that the log M∗ – log SK relation: (1) is linear above limits set by properties of the samples and observations; (2) has slightly different slope when derived from stellar or gas kinematic measurements; (3) applies to both early-type and late-type galaxies and has smaller scatter than either the Tully–Fisher relation (log M∗ − log Vrot) for late types or the Faber–Jackson relation (log M∗ − log σ) for early types; and (4) has scatter that is only weakly sensitive to the value of K, with minimum scatter for K in the range 0.4 and 0.7. We compare SK to the aperture second moment (the ‘aperture velocity dispersion’) measured from the integrated spectrum within a 3-arcsecond radius aperture ($\sigma _{3^{\prime \prime }}$). We find that while SK and $\sigma _{3^{\prime \prime }}$ are in general tightly correlated, the log M∗ − log SK relation has less scatter than the $\log M_* - \log \sigma _{3^{\prime \prime }}$ relation.
Prediction of IDH genotype in gliomas with dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion MR imaging using an explainable recurrent neural network
Authors: Choi Kyu Sung , Choi Seung Hong , Jeong Bumseok
Published: May 2019

Background

The aim of this study was to predict isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genotypes of gliomas using an interpretable deep learning application for dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion MRI.

Methods

Four hundred sixty-three patients with gliomas who underwent preoperative MRI were enrolled in the study. All the patients had immunohistopathologic diagnoses of either IDH-wildtype or IDH-mutant gliomas. Tumor subregions were segmented using a convolutional neural network followed by manual correction. DSC perfusion MRI was performed to obtain T2* susceptibility signal intensity-time curves from each subregion of the tumors: enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, peritumoral edema, and whole tumor. These, with arterial input functions, were fed into a neural network as multidimensional inputs. A convolutional long short-term memory model with an attention mechanism was developed to predict IDH genotypes. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was performed to evaluate the model.

Results

The IDH genotype predictions had an accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 92.8%, 92.6%, and 93.1%, respectively, in the validation set (area under the curve [AUC], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.969–0.991) and 91.7%, 92.1%, and 91.5%, respectively, in the test set (AUC, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.898–0.982). In temporal feature analysis, T2* susceptibility signal intensity-time curves obtained from DSC perfusion MRI with attention weights demonstrated high attention on the combination of the end of the pre-contrast baseline, up/downslopes of signal drops, and/or post-bolus plateaus for the curves used to predict IDH genotype.

Conclusions

We developed an explainable recurrent neural network model based on DSC perfusion MRI to predict IDH genotypes in gliomas.
Evolutionary transition between invertebrates and vertebrates via methylation reprogramming in embryogenesis
Authors: Xu Xiaocui , Li Guoqiang , Li Congru , Zhang Jing , Wang Qiang , Simmons David K , Chen Xuepeng , Wijesena Naveen , Zhu Wei , Wang Zhanyang , Wang Zhenhua , Ju Bao , Ci Weimin , Lu Xuemei , Yu Daqi , Wang Qian-fei , Aluru Neelakanteswar , Oliveri Paola , Zhang Yong E , Martindale Mark Q , Liu Jiang
Published: May 2019

Major evolutionary transitions are enigmas, and the most notable enigma is between invertebrates and vertebrates, with numerous spectacular innovations. To search for the molecular connections involved, we asked whether global epigenetic changes may offer a clue by surveying the inheritance and reprogramming of parental DNA methylation across metazoans. We focused on gametes and early embryos, where the methylomes are known to evolve divergently between fish and mammals. Here, we find that methylome reprogramming during embryogenesis occurs neither in pre-bilaterians such as cnidarians nor in protostomes such as insects, but clearly presents in deuterostomes such as echinoderms and invertebrate chordates, and then becomes more evident in vertebrates. Functional association analysis suggests that DNA methylation reprogramming is associated with development, reproduction and adaptive immunity for vertebrates, but not for invertebrates. Interestingly, the single HOX cluster of invertebrates maintains unmethylated status in all stages examined. In contrast, the multiple HOX clusters show dramatic dynamics of DNA methylation during vertebrate embryogenesis. Notably, the methylation dynamics of HOX clusters are associated with their spatiotemporal expression in mammals. Our study reveals that DNA methylation reprogramming has evolved dramatically during animal evolution, especially after the evolutionary transitions from invertebrates to vertebrates, and then to mammals.
Principled Labor Law
Authors: Gamonal C. Sergio , Rosado Marzán César F.
Published: May 2019

This book provides a Latin American perspective of the “idea” of labor law, which the authors call “principled labor law.” It a jurisprudential method based on worker protection, i.e., the protective principle, and its derivative principles: primacy of reality, nonwaiver, and continuity. We argue that principled labor law is needed given that many labor law scholars have declared a crisis in their field due to the ascendancy of “fissured,” “gig,” “precarious,” and “nonstandard” work. While some scholars reassert the basic idea of labor law—protecting workers—despite the contemporary world of work, others argue for a “capabilities” perspective that can displace traditional labor law, a “Third Way” perspective concerned with market regulation, or simply argue for laissez-faire. Latin American scholars, perhaps because of a language barrier, have had scant presence in those international debates. They would likely disagree with shifts away from labor protection. This book forcefully advocates for the continued empirical validity of labor protection as the basis for labor law. The authors describe principled labor law as observable in four cases: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. To show the utility of principled labor law, the authors then apply the method to legal cases from the least labor-protective country in the industrialized world, the United States. Through principled labor law, the authors focus on the Thirteenth Amendment as a labor-protective constitutional provision, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The authors show how principled labor law can provide a clear and simple method for consistent, labor protective jurisprudence in the United States and, hence, likely elsewhere.
Introduction
Authors: Sergio Gamonal C. , Rosado Marzán César F.
Published: May 2019

This chapter introduces the book’s main goal: to provide a “principled labor law” method to decide hard cases. It describes principled labor law as a Latin American method embedded in the principles of protection, primacy of reality, nonwaiver, and continuity. It argues that principled labor law can be useful even in the least likely case of labor protection, the United States, and explains how, if useful for the United States, it is likely helpful for other jurisdictions. It describes how principled labor law complements perspectives favoring freedom of association—the so-called labor constitution—but opposes views attempting to eviscerate the idea of protecting weaker parties from contemporary law, or those that envision labor law as merely a regulatory endeavor. It also describes how principled labor law shares similarities with the purposive perspective of Guy Davidov, but also contrasts with that perspective, to the extent principled labor law is mostly concerned, and is, in fact, “rulified” in favor of labor protection. It explains that principled labor law seems particularly needed to evade problems of legal endogeneity. The chapter concludes by arguing that the book provides a countercultural narrative for labor law in the United States that is also consonant with international labor standards and, as such, better brings U.S. labor law into the mainstream. Principled labor law may be less countercultural in other countries, but may also help there to renew jurisdictional commitments in favor of labor protection.
Continuity
Authors: Sergio Gamonal C. , Rosado Marzán César F.
Published: May 2019

Chapter 5 describes the principle of continuity, also called the principle of “stability” or “permanence,” in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The principle presumes employment contracts of indefinite duration where employers must provide cause to terminate the contract. The chapter describes how continuity provides judges and other adjudicators with the authority to protect workers against unfair dismissal, reinforce employer obligations despite contract modification and successorship, and reform precarious contracts into standard contracts of employment. The chapter then describes the uneven and weaker presence of continuity in the United States due to employment at will. It argues that employment at will needs to be derogated by statute, likely state by state. But despite the need to derogate employment at will, the chapter also underscores that about 15 percent of the U.S. workforce, that one employed in the public sector and in the unionized private sector, is not covered by employment at will. Moreover, even under employment at will, many private sector employees are covered by antidiscrimination, antiretaliation, tort, and public policies that together concoct a law of wrongful dismissal. Hence, while weak and uneven, some form of employment stability does pervade in the United States.
Australia
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

Australia’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws appear simple in expression but have proved illusive in securing successful prosecutions. The structure of the foreign bribery offense is complicated and requires numerous physical and mental elements to be established for each limb of the offense. Since 1999 when Australia enacted its foreign bribery laws, there have been several corporate and individual guilty pleas in foreign bribery cases but as yet no contested trials. The first case in 2011 arising out of the Securency banknote printing scandal has concluded with mixed results: several plea deals yet other prosecutions permanently stayed due to illegal conduct on the part of the investigative agencies. Other more recent cases have started but are early in the criminal justice system. The traditional approach of the Australian prosecutors is that once charges are laid, they expect a guilty plea to the offense charged or an agreed lesser offenses and then any discount is a matter for the sentencing court. Australia still lacks a structured approach to complex commercial crime including foreign bribery. While there are reforms pending before the Australian government on changes to the foreign bribery offense deferred prosecution agreements, a strict liability corporate offense of failing to prevent foreign bribery, and enhanced private sector whistle-blower laws, they are yet to be implemented. While resources at the Commonwealth level have improved over the years, they remain diffuse, underfunded, and under-resourced. Australian business is starting to adopt a more proactive response to manage offshore risk and the expected legislative reforms are pushing this along. Australian business increasingly knows it must address these issues in a global economy as its most significant trading partners are taking a similarly tough stand against bribery and corruption.
Brazil
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

In recent years, Brazil has become a major player in anti-corruption investigations and enforcement worldwide. The adoption of the Clean Company Act in 2013 signified a new chapter in corporate liability, promoting compliance as well as providing new enforcement tools for prosecutors faced with issues both domestically and abroad. The Lava Jato, or Car Wash, investigation, which began in 2014 and has now gone through numerous phases, in the process implicating many companies, Brazilian and foreign, as well as pubic officials, is ongoing. As the result of Lava Jato, Brazil has vaulted into the forefront of international cooperation efforts in the anti-corruption field. This chapter explains these developments, and endeavors to also explain the details of the Brazilian legislation, which while spurred by the OECD Antibribery Convention, is distinct in its scope and approach, as well as the allocation of enforcement authority and responsibilities among different government agencies and the Brazilian authorities’ compliance expectations. The use of negotiated resolutions, including plea bargains, and collaboration agreements, has dramatically increased, but issues remain as to whether all enforcement authorities will give effect to these agreements.
Canada
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

Like many OECD signatory countries, Canada has a checkered and inconsistent history of enforcement in relation to bribery and corruption offenses. In the past five years, however, Canada has taken deliberate and effective steps to strengthen its enforcement regime and was recently noted as one of the “most improved” nations in anti-bribery prosecutions by the OECD. In addition to a marked increase in prosecutions, these changes include the elimination of facilitation payments as a valid defense in 2017 and amendments to the governing legislation that allows Canadian authorities to prosecute nationals for crimes committed entirely abroad. The governing legislation in Canada relating to the bribing of foreign public officials is exclusively criminal in nature and has no statute of limitations. Both bribery and bookkeeping offenses are captured under the legislation. The combination of the lack of any time-based defenses, as well as the enhanced arsenal of the liberalization of the law of jurisdiction and the increased ambit of substantive offenses, point to a more robust enforcement regime for bribery and corruption offenses in Canada going forward.
China
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

China’s anti-corruption legislation prohibits both official corruption and commercial bribery. China is a civil law country. It does not have a uniform national anti-corruption law yet, and the relevant anti-corruption legal provisions are mainly in the PRC Criminal Law and the PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law. In addition to these two key legislations, there are also regulations and judicial interpretations issued by relevant government agencies and Supreme People’s Court to address implementation issues under the law. Since China’s president, Jinping Xi, came to power in 2012, China has launched an anti-corruption campaign. The 19th CCP Congress in 2017 continues to send strong signals to fight against corruption.
Cuba
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

Cuba has long been saddled with a culture of corruption. A lengthy history of colonialism and a state-controlled economy have produced a country with a weak economy, product shortages, low wages, and an understanding that taking a little for oneself is not only acceptable but, in many cases, necessary to get by. Scarcity and rationing of resources have led to an environment where obtaining goods and services requires grease payments, workers steal items from their employers to sell on the black market, and employees are often absent so that they can earn extra money from side jobs. At the same time, poorly paid bureaucrats, business managers, and even high-level government officials supplement their income through illicit use of their positions. The centralization of power, strict government control of the media, and lax compliance oversight have led to a lack of transparency and accountability. While high-level corruption on a large scale is less common in Cuba than other parts of Latin America, lower-level corruption is widespread. Over the years, the ruling Castro regime has taken a number of approaches to curbing corruption that have led to laws and institutions aimed at eliminating corrupt conduct, fraud, waste, abuse, and cronyism. However, there is little protection for whistle-blowers in Cuba. Accordingly, a vital tool in the effort to detect and prevent bribery, the misuse of government funds, fraud, and other types of corruption is largely missing.
France
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

Since the introduction of the offense of bribery of foreign public officials under French law in 2000, France has made undeniable progress in combating corruption. Numerous reforms have then been adopted (expansion of the scope of criminal prosecution, facilitation of the seizure and confiscation of assets in criminal matters, increasing of possible penalties, creation of the National Financial Prosecutor, . . .). French law criminalizes active and passive bribery, private and public bribery, domestic and foreign/international bribery as well as influence peddling. Nevertheless, the OECD was particularly critical of France over the last years. The French legislature recently took such criticism into account and strove to make further progress in preventing, detecting, and punishing corruption in order to reach the highest international standards. Law No. 2016-1691, known as “Sapin II law,” recently enhanced the French anti-bribery system by introducing a new duty for certain companies and their executives to prevent bribery and influence peddling by implementing a compliance program to prevent and detect such offenses. Sapin II law therefore testifies to France’s determination to effectively fight corruption.
Guatemala
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

This chapter provides an overview of Guatemala’s expanding anti-corruption legislation, which criminalizes certain types of corruption involving both domestic and foreign public officials. The chapter focuses, in part, on the country’s Decree 31-2012, which introduced new criminal offenses related to the bribery of foreign officials, expanded the concept of criminal liability for corporate offenses, and increased penalties for certain acts of bribery. The chapter describes Guatemalan government agencies involved in the investigation and enforcement of corruption-related crimes, as well as their cooperation with international bodies. Most notable among the latter is the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (“Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala” or CICIG), a UN-sponsored independent organization charged with investigating and prosecuting certain serious crimes in Guatemala, such as those involving public officials. Recent developments covered include increased investigation and prosecution of public corruption at its highest levels, although the chapter notes some skepticism regarding the continued effectiveness of the country’s anti-corruption drive.
Mexico
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

There have been significant changes to Mexican law recently that have provided prosecutors updated and enhanced tools to combat corruption. In May 2015, the Mexican Congress and the states approved a constitutional amendment that created the National Anti-Corruption System, which was put into full force and effect in 2017. This supplemented and broadened the already existing anti-corruption laws in Mexico’s public procurement process. Now individuals and legal entities can be criminally liable for bribery of public officials in Mexico. In November 2014, Mexico City passed modifications to the criminal code making bribery an offense that can be committed by both individuals and legal entities and created an innovative approach to calculating penalties against companies. However, even though laws have changed, much remains to be done. The OECD noted that Mexico has fully implemented very few of the recommendations that it has made to eradicate corruption. Mexico still had no prosecutions or convictions for foreign bribery. Corruption is still common in Mexico, with the widespread use of “gestores” or intermediaries to navigate the bureaucracies responsible for issuing licenses and permits, shell companies owned by family members of government officials seeking a bribe, fictitious service providers, and improper gifting and excessive hospitality to employees of state-owned entities. With the new Lopez Obrador Administration’s anti-corruption plan, further changes are anticipated in public procurement by the creation of a central mechanism to manage and monitor public contracts to achieve greater transparency. The new administration has also committed to creating an autonomous Special Prosecutor’s Office to independently investigate and prosecute corruption cases and to implement additional restrictions on entertainment and gifts provided to public officials.
Corporate Monitors and the Monitorship Process
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

The prospect of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act monitor is an unpleasant one for a company that just emerged from what likely was a long, expensive, and invasive investigation and wants to get back to business. A compliance monitor brings even more cost, effort, and scrutiny through evaluating the company’s anti-corruption compliance program, conducting interviews, performing testing, and making recommendations. Although rarely welcomed by companies, a well-executed monitorship can be a helpful endeavor that results in a stronger company. This chapter discusses the use of corporate compliance monitors as a condition to resolving corporate FCPA enforcement actions, common aspects of FCPA monitorships, and best practices for achieving a successful FCPA monitorship.
Deferred Prosecution Agreements, Nonprosecution Agreements, and Corporate Integrity Agreements
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

Companies—especially publicly traded companies—do not want to go to trial in criminal cases. In fact, they do not want to be indicted at all. Indictment, let alone trial, can have serious consequences. With the dramatic increase in corporate criminal prosecutions over the last two decades, a fourth option has emerged in the corporate criminal arena: deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) and nonprosecution agreements (NPAs), which are alternatives to the traditional “guilty” or “not guilty” approach that the law has generally taken to charged crimes. Collectively, these agreements are known as corporate pretrial diversion agreements. Whether the government elects to use one of these agreements depends on multiple factors.
Company Cooperation and U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

The U.S. Sentencing Commission has changed how the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines calculate fines for certain defendant companies. The amendments, effective November 1, 2010, make more readily available a long-standing three-level offense-level reduction. This change shifts the inquiry away from (1) the (mis)conduct of the company’s high-level personnel and toward (2) the effectiveness of the company’s compliance and ethics program. This move will surely benefit corporate defendants. Therefore, it is something for which compliance professionals and in-house legal counsel need to both understand and prepare. As the benefits of incentivizing companies to adopt proactive compliance, ethics, and self-reporting programs gain wider recognition, other countries eager to beef up their anti-bribery efforts can be expected to follow suit.
Department of Justice’s New Revised FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy
Authors: Boutros Andrew
Published: May 2019

On November 29, 2017, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein announced a new and significant shift in the Department of Justice’s Enforcement Policy for the FCPA. The Policy is designed to provide more certainty to companies regarding the benefits of cooperating with federal enforcement officials investigating corrupt business activities abroad. It is critical for companies to understand this policy shift, which can be beneficial to proactive companies. This chapter discusses this policy shift (as well as the DAG’s subsequent clarification of the policy in his “Yates Memo” speech of November 29, 2018), including the definition of what constitutes voluntary disclosure, full cooperation, and remediation, all of which are required for a company to receive the benefits of the policy.
Lifeworlds of Islam
Authors: Bamyeh Mohammed A.
Published: May 2019

Islam is what Muslims do. From this premise, the book elaborates a sociology of Islam in three concise chapters. The book shows that Islam has operated typically not in the form of standard dogmas, but usually as a compass for practical orientations (“lifeworlds”). This more pragmatic character of the faith established it as a relevant factor in three arenas in which common social life acquires meaning: participatory ethics, public philosophies, and global networks. The book argues that all three are poorly understood in recent literature, which tends to focus on one specific problem or another, and then in isolation from global and historical contexts. The book argues that the larger preoccupations of ordinary Muslims—how to live in a global society; how to guide life in the manner of a total philosophy; and how to relate to the world of daily struggles—are unique neither to the present period nor to religious life. But the career of a particular religion—Islam in this case—offers a focused empirical lens through which we may learn something more about the nature of global citizenship; the philosophical needs of ordinary people; and the sorts of ethics that facilitate social participation.
American States of Nature
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

The exact phrase, “state of nature,” was used thousands of times in the British colonies between 1630 and 1810, in juridical, theological, medical, political, economic, and other senses. From the plurality of meanings, a distinctive American state of nature discourse started to emerge by the 1760s. It combined existing European and American semantic ranges and sidelined others in moments of intense contestation, for instance during the 1765–66 Stamp Act crisis, and the 1774 First Continental Congress. In numerous laws and resolutions, forensic arguments, petitions, sermons, broadsides, books, pamphlets, letters, diaries, and college essays, the increasingly distinct and coherent American state of nature came to justify independence at least as much as colonial formulations of liberty, property, and individual rights did.
On Slavery and Race
Authors: Somos Mark
Published: May 2019

This chapter reviews and extends the discussion of slavery and race that runs through previous chapters, starting with Paxton’s Case. Patriots and their critics alike pointed out the tension between colonial rights claims grounded in the state of nature, and colonial slavery. Portrayals of Native American innocence and virtue in the state of nature coexisted with accounts of their savagery, successfully repelled by the early settlers whose descendants, it was claimed, consequently held rights to property and self-government independently from Britain, which failed to finance or protect them. Optimistic, self-critical, racist, and abolitionist revolutionaries, all fearful of American degeneracy and corruption, used state of nature depictions of both abhorrent and justifiable slavery, and noble and savage Native Americans, to advocate for their vision for the new United States. This chapter reviews the whole spectrum of such uses of the state of nature, including the landmark Somersett’s Case and Mohegan Case.
Skull and Cast “Libraries”
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall’s skull and cast collections served as his research “library.” He had a large one in Vienna, and he built a second one starting with some of his prized earlier pieces after settling in Paris in 1807, though he left a great number of pieces behind. Since the Renaissance, people had been collecting specimens from the natural world, amassing them in “cabinets of wonder” and even publishing catalogues of their pieces. In the Netherlands, Frederik Ruysch had not only collected a large number of fetuses and human body parts by the 1690s, but had incorporated some of them into artistic panoramas that even the laity craved to see. Gall fit into this collecting tradition with the skulls and casts he obtained from hospitals, asylums, and places of execution, and with those purchased, traded for, or gifted to him by friends and admirers. Nonetheless, there was also considerable grave robbing (resurrectionism) by overly zealous phrenologists in this era, worrying people and casting a dark shadow over his collecting endeavors. Parts of Gall’s Vienna collection can be seen in the Rollett Museum near Vienna, whereas his second collection and own skull are now in the Musée de l’Homme (Paris).
Settling in Paris
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall and Spurzheim arrived in Paris during October 1807, while the Napoleonic Wars were still raging and where Napoleon Bonaparte was reshaping every aspect of society. Napoleon despised foreigners and considered Gall’s doctrine absurd. He urged Georges Cuvier, one of his appointed guardians of French science, to reject it. Nonetheless, Gall made inroads, giving public lectures and demonstrations on his organologie that were well received, while seeing patients to support himself. Encouraged by these ventures, he and Spurzheim wrote a Mémoire and submitted it to the Institut National in 1808. Cuvier, who headed the evaluating committee and was being guided by Napoleon, rejected it as unoriginal and unsuitable for the division for Sciences Mathématiques et Physiques, even though the subject matter was basic anatomy and not more controversial organologie. Gall was furious and sent letters expressing his disappointment to Cuvier, but to no avail. Consequently, he published a book covering the submission, the rejection, and his retorts. And rather than leaving France, he opted to continue his lecturing and medical practice in the city with many amenities, and he continued to work on a series of volumes he was already calling his “great work.”
Controversial Final Years
Authors: Finger Stanley
Published: May 2019

Gall remained a controversial figure throughout his life, which ended in Paris in 1828. In his later years, he continued to fight with Georges Cuvier, who had overseen the rejection of his and Spurzheim’s Mémoire to the Institut National in 1808, and with Cuvier’s protégé, physiologist Pierre Flourens. Flourens initially looked favorably on Gall’s doctrine, but during the 1820s his brain lesion experiments on birds and other animals were heralded by the French élite as strong evidence against cortical localization of function. Despite this formidable opposition, Gall did find a supporter of localization of function in physician Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud, who started reporting in 1825 that lesions of the anterior part of the brain are more likely to affect speech than posterior brain damage. Gall’s health began to fail a year later, when he was 68 and began to have strokes. After he succumbed to a cerebral hemorrhage in 1828, his body was buried in Paris’ Cimetiére du Pére-Lachaise, but not his skull, which was examined by his followers and added to his collection. Gall’s organologie, now regarded as phrénologie, now began an even steeper decline in France and throughout the Continent, although “popular phrenology,” with less emphasis on the underlying science, continued to be influential on British and American landscapes.
Evaluation and Feedback
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

This chapter includes strategies for evaluating assessment information after it has been collected, and providing useful feedback to students. Using criterion referencing, rather than norm referencing, is the best choice for classroom assessment. Assessments with many levels are less reliable; usually, three or four levels is a good choice. Descriptive feedback, which is focused on student improvement, is more educative than evaluative feedback, which does not always provide students with the information they need. Design of evaluation methods like rubrics, rating scales, checklists, and narratives can facilitate all steps in the assessment process. Evaluation that casts musical elements as unrelated is often problematic and reductionist, as is assessment that attempts to use the same criteria for many possible artistic situations. Assessment design can attenuate these difficulties as well. Even though educational data is often overused and misused, it can still inform teachers’ instruction when thoughtfully and judiciously acquired and analysed.
Grading Basics
Authors: Shaw Brian P.
Published: May 2019

This chapter will provide music educators with a deeper understanding of the grading process. Some elements of grades and grading are immediately apparent, while others lurk powerfully below the surface. Grades are to function as communication about student achievement. However, the often-arbitrary nature of grading policies and calculations means that their communicative function is less effective. Grades can facilitate learning in addition to their reporting function. Standards-Based Grading is an approach that emphasizes student achievement in grades, and the exclusion of nonacademic information such as timely assignment completion, attendance, and effort. Various grading procedures are discussed.
Repetition, Speech, and Authority in Steve Reich’s “Jewish” Music
Authors: Fink Robert
Published: May 2019

Steve Reich’s “Jewish” works are logocentric to the core and thus, for all their sonic exuberance, culturally conservative. Beginning with experimental tape works like It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and My Name Is (1967), and blossoming into extended speech-driven multimedia “operas,” Reich doggedly explored his sense that the human voice transmitted something like prophetic Truth, tracing out his own path from the patriarchal tradition of Hebrew cantillation to the “self-presence” that philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau found at the origin of human language. As a composer, Reich put his musical ear (and his digital sampler) at the service of the logos, deriving both the visuals and the music of The Cave from distinctive speech patterns of its various “talking heads.” And yet, as Jacques Derrida famously noted, speech, music, and writing are not so easily separated—and the composer’s intent is exceeded by the complexity of his word-saturated operatic language.
Steve Reich’s Counterpoints and Computers
Authors: Bakker Twila
Published: May 2019

This chapter re-evaluates the role of Steve Reich’s 1980s Counterpoint series in the context of his reinvention as a venerated member of New York’s new music establishment. It aims to show how Reich's re-engagement with past compositional interests—now expressed in more conventional terminology—formed a significant step in facilitating his gradual transformation from outsider to insider. Running in parallel with Reich’s transition toward tradition was a significant change in the composer’s working methods through the use of computer technology, as found in works such as The Four Sections and Electric Counterpoint. An investigation into this important new development offers insights into how Reich has since then pragmatically incorporated digital compositional habits alongside previous analog ones, all while maintaining a secure foothold in the Western classical canon.
The New Human Science
Authors: Souza Joanne , Bingham Paul M.
Published: May 2019

All prior attempts to understand human origins, behavior, and history have led to paradoxes and dilemmas, highly resistant to resolution. This chapter reviews specific cases of failures to resolve these apparent paradoxes and dilemmas in human evolution and the social sciences. The authors argue that these failures are rooted in confusing proximate with ultimate causation. They further argue that a sound theory of human origins, behavior, and history (social coercion theory) can help to understand the human condition scientifically; specifically, this theory argues that all the unique properties of humans emerge from the unprecedented human social evolution, driven, in turn by the evolution of cost-effective coercive management of conflicts of interest. Finally, the authors argue that social coercion theory yields the first general theory of history, economics, and politics, which provides an approach to problems within the social sciences while armed with a grasp of ultimate causation. Consequently, formerly intractable scientific questions and social concerns become manageable and solvable.
Controversies Surrounding Evolutionary Psychology
Authors: Geher Glenn , Rolón Vania
Published: May 2019

The field of evolution and human behavior is a powerful area of inquiry, shedding new light on such facets of human behavior as infant attachment patterns, visual perception, the human emotion system, the nature of altruism, the nature of aggression, human intimate relationships, and more. In fact, over the past several decades, many significant scholars have contributed great work in this field. However, the resistance within academia to the very idea of evolutionary psychology is quite strong. These facts taken together make for an interesting (and often difficult) environment when teaching and researching in the field of evolutionary psychology. This chapter focuses on a host of reasons to expand the inclusion of evolutionary psychology within university curricula—along with a demarcation of the several intellectual forces that surround this field within the academy.